Xander stepped out of his bathroom while drying his hair off. When he, Oz and Giles finally climbed out of the ice cold water, Sanchez and his men were already gone. They were just able to reach the Hummer before the police and fire brigade services arrived. Oz'z wound had almost healed during their little swim, thanks to his werewolf abilities. So he drove Oz back to UC Sunnydale and Giles to his apartment, before heading home.

He went to grab himself a coke when suddenly the doorbell rang. He walked up to the door and opened it, surprised to see Buffy standing there.

"Buffy?" he asked surprised as the blonde pulled him into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" Buffy asked with fake outrage as he closed the door behind them "Not happy to see me?"

"Well of course," he said with a smile.

"I just heard you had some trouble here," she explained.

"Ah. Guess you already heard of our little encounter," he said and led her into the living room.

"Yep," she confirmed. "Willow and I wanted to first check on Oz. He told us he whole story. I just wanted to make that you are really okay."

"Well, I'm fine, "Xander told her. "Thanks for the concern."

Buffy looked around taking in the size of the apartment. "I can't believe that you could keep it," she exclaimed as she sat down on the comfortable sofa.

"Well, all documents about its funding burned down when City hall moved into orbit," Xander old her with a laugh. "And since I was the last owner I could also keep it, Xander explained and sat down on one of the seats. "So, what exactly happened in LA?"

Buffy snorted. "Work has a tendency of biting me in the ass."

"And what a cute ass it is," Xander told her with a leer. But Buffy only glared at him. "Oh come on. You were the one making innuendos earlier:"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Buffy said with a blush.

"Oh, don't be. It provided me with a lot of interesting pictures in my head," he told her with a smile "Again, what happened."

"We got a little visit form Mr. Carver," Buffy said with a sigh.

Xander nodded "Anyone hurt"?

"Only Angel's ego," Buffy told him and smiled, but grew serious again. "He made us an offer. Fighting with him against Sanchez."

"And?" Xander simply asked.

"Well, he made a lot of good points but I'm too tired to explain them in detail," Buffy said and yawned. "Summed up: I don't trust him, but the whole thing might work."

Buffy suddenly had an evil gleam in her eyes. "So, you blew a freighter up."

Xander chuckled, but nodded.

"So let me see," Buffy said and started counting on her fingers. "There has been, City hall, the high school and now a freighter. God, what is it with you and explosives."

Xander shook his head. "First Oz and now you too."

"Oh, regarding Oz;" Buffy interrupted him. "You might want to avoid Willow for a while. She is pretty angry that her boyfriend got hurt."

"Hey, I only promised her that he wouldn't shoot himself," Xander said and lifted his hands in surrender. "He got shot by a vamp. Different setting. And by the way: With him being a werewolf the wound should be gone by tomorrow."

"Right," Buffy admitted. "So no guns for the bad guys."

"At least not these ones," Xander said."Doesn't mean that he can't get any from a different source. And liked I said, vamps with guns are a lot of trouble. Those tonight at least were once they noticed us."

Buffy thought about that and nodded. She again went through the conversation she and Xander had earlier and came to a decision. "Can you teach me?" Buffy finally asked

"Teach you what?" Xander asked puzzled.

"How to use a gun," Buffy clarified. "You offered it to me just before we left."

Xander nodded. "No problem Buffster. Tomorrow good?"

"Fits perfectly," she said and stood up. "I should go now. Its quite a walk back to the dorms."

"You walked here?" Xander asked as he accompanied her to the door.

Buffy nodded. Xander took a set of key form one of the tables and handed the to Buffy. "Take the Hummer. It's parked in front of the building."

You serious?" Buffy asked with a smile, but as quickly she frowned. "And what am I going to tell the students that see me in it?"

"Tell them the truth," Xander said as he opened the door. "That you stole it."

"You think they will buy it?"

"Worked for me last time," Xander said and shrugged.

"Well thanks;" Buffy said and walked through the door. "Night Xander."

"Night Buffy," Xander said and closed the door behind him.

The End