"I have something for you," said Giles, after signing for a delivery.
"Oooh, prezzies!" said Buffy, as she looked around at the rest of the group who had gathered at Giles's apartment the next morning. They all shrugged their ignorance.
"Yes. Well, this is actually for both you and Xander."
Xander looked up from the book he was reading. "For me? Giles, you shouldn't have."
"I assure you, I really should," said Giles as he pulled out a large sword from the box he had just received.
"Oooh," Buffy and Xander said simultaneously, both of them grinning.
"New toy," said Buffy.
"Yes, well, this sword is magically charmed. Specifically, it was created. . . well, a long time ago. . . we're not quite sure of the time frame, actually. Its magical properties keep us from properly dating it. It was forged by a master blacksmith for the lover of girl who was the Slayer at the time. Her watcher, who was also an adept in magic, imbued so that it does erm. . . things."
"Does things? You wanna vague that up a bit, Giles?"
"Right. Well, I've come across some more references to the White Knight. Apparently, every Slayer has a soul mate, one who will bring her comfort and help her with her burden. You, Xander, are almost unique, in that your powers allow you to aid her not only with the mental burden, but the physical as well."
"Almost unique?" asked Willow.
"Wait wait," said Xander. "Soul mates?"
Giles nodded. "Um. Yes. Did I fail to mention that before?"
"Yeah," said Buffy.
"Sorry. Must have slipped my mind."
"Kinda a big thing there, G-man."
"Right. Well. . . sorry."
"That's okay," said Buffy, who was watching Xander. . . who looked odd.
"Xan? You okay babe? You look kinda wigged."
"Huh?" he asked. "No. No, not wigged. No wiggage here. . . just. . . soul mates. It's big, you know?"
"Yeah," said Buffy. "Are you. . . okay? I mean. . ."
"I'm great," he said, smiling at her. "I mean, I'm still a little overwhelmed at this whole thing. The girl-"
"Woman," said Buffy.
"-who I've been in love with for years," Xander continued, not missing a beat, "falls in love with me, kinda. . . forcefully rejects her ex who was like this big. . . forever love type deal, and then I find out that we're not just prophesied, we're soul mates. So. . . okay, yeah. I guess a little wigged. But good wigged. Definitely good wiggage. A little time and I'll merely be whelmed."
"Okay," said Buffy, leaning over and giving Xander a kiss. "Good."
"Aww," said Willow. "You guys are so cute! Now stop, before I get to taste my breakfast again."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at the redhead, then turned to Giles. "You said something about 'almost unique'?"
"Yes. There was another, a few, actually, who had powers similar, although not the same, as Xander's. It appears the. . . mantle of the White Knight is passed down, much like the Slayer essence, but only, er, activated when in the presence of Slayers who will face a certain level of challenge."
"You mean, Xander got his powers because I slaying is gonna be extra hard?" Buffy asked.
"Um. . . yes, that would appear to be the case."
"Damn," Buffy said. "So what's the deal with the sword thingy?"
"As I said, it belonged to another Slayer who met with her White Knight. . . not the most recent one, she was about 250 years ago, and stationed in Spain, actually. It's quite fascinating, really. She was called early, at the age of -"
"Giles? The sword?"
"Oh. Yes, of course. Anyway, it appears that the Slayer for whom the sword was created was the first, and only so far, to ever be retired."
"Retired? I can be retired?"
"Yes. Believe me, it's as much a shock to me as it is to you. At the age of 25, apparently."
"How come you didn't know about this earlier?"
"Well, you know how notoriously short-lived Slayers are. Apparently the Inner Council saw fit to keep this information. . . all of it. . . from the actual Watchers for what are apparently some well thought out and, dare I say, considerate reasons."
"Considerate? The Council?" Xander asked, disbelievingly.
"Yes. You see, I contacted the Council in hopes that they might be willing to shed some light on the subject. When I told them I was researching the White Knight, well, I was put on hold for an hour. Then I was put in a conference call with the Inner Council, who was very forthcoming with information, and the reasons for keeping it a secret."
"Which are?"
"It is normal procedure that a Slayer works alone. She requires isolation to do her job well. You, at least, have proved this false. The Inner Council knew about the White Knights, have known for a long time. But they never know when one will show up. So, they made the decision not to make the knowledge public to the rest of the council. Not even about the soul mates. You see, they felt it unfair to tell the Slayers of their chance of happiness, only for most of them to never know it. The sad fact is, most Slayers die before they ever meet their soul mates. Often, he is never known."
"That's so sad," said Willow.
"Yes, quite," Giles said. "So instead of dangling this in front of them, they decided to keep it secret, and only release the information once the soul mate, or White Knight in the very rare case, is identified. Once the information is given, the Watcher is instructed not to mention it in his or her diaries. To protect the hearts of the young girls to follow."
"Wow," said Xander. "Council with a heart. Who'd have guessed?"
"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling us everything?"
"The Slayer, whose lover owned the sword. It was Guinevere."
Willow gasped. Xander's eyes bulged out. Buffy's jaw dropped. Oz raised one eyebrow. Giles smiled wickedly.
"You mean. . . this is. . ." started Buffy
"Is it really. . ." asked Xander.
"It can't be. . ." said Willow.
"Are any of you planning on finishing your sentences?" Giles asked, amused at their shock.
"Excalibur?" asked Oz.
Giles smiled. "No. It is not Excalibur. Arthur was the only one able to wield it, and would therefore be of no use to us. You will recall, I said Guinevere's lover. . . not her husband."
"You did that on purpose!" Buffy yelled.
"I did, and it was fun," said Giles, proud of himself. "You should have seen the looks on your faces. Bloody priceless, if you ask me."
"So whose sword is it then? I never got that much into the Arthurian legend," said Xander.
"Lancelot. It was he who wielded this sword. And he was no slouch, let me tell you. You see, Guinevere had the unfortunate happenstance to meet her White Knight late in life. After she retired, she was married to Arthur. And she did love him. But she could not resist the connection she felt with Lancelot, and they did have an affair."
"Hey, so how come Buffy could resist me for three years?" Xander asked.
"Had you met yourself then?" Giles asked.
"Giles!" Buffy screeched.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't resist. Slayers who do find their soul mates automatically pair with them. White Knights are a different case. Of the 5 recorded cases of White Knights, 3 had known the Slayer before their powers manifested, and of those only one was involved with her romantically. The council is not certain, but they feel that the. . . innate fighting spirit within the White Knight is, at first, more apt to create a feeling of friendship and companionship than one of romance. Possibly, this is because of the. . . inevitability of it all. The two essences, Slayer and White Knight, know they will find love in time, so there is no need to rush it."
Xander nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Would have been nice, though, if I had known."
"But didn't you?" asked Willow. "I mean, you never gave up. Through Angel, and Cordelia, and. . . well, Ampata and Scott Hope and Owen Thurman and Faith. . . you never gave up."
"I guess, yeah," said Xander. "That makes sense."
"So what does the sword do?" asked Buffy.
"Well, it causes more damage than a normal sword, I'm not really sure how. It is also sharper, it can cut through diamond with ease, so you must be very careful with it. It can pierce many magical defenses as well, so I thought it might be prudent to use it against the Fargath demon, who will undoubtedly have some magical protections."
"Well that's just all kinds of fun," Xander said. "Hey, we could use this to stab demon boy in the heart!"
"Yes, that was my intention with having it shipped here," said Giles.
"Oh. Right."
"Well that's a barrel of fun. Any more surprises for us Giles?"
"Well, not so much a surprise, I suppose, as a discussion we need to have," Giles said, glancing at Xander.
"Uh oh," said Buffy. "Lecture time."
"No, no, not a lecture, as such. Really. A conversation that we need to have because of certain. . . possibilities that have been brought to my attention."
"What's it about, Giles?" Willow asked.
"Well. . . it's about, um. . . Faith," he said.
"Faith?" asked Buffy.
"Faith!" Willow yelled. "She's still in a coma isn't she? Oh God, she's awake, and she's going to try to kill us all. Giles, we need to find her! I know, I can try to do a locator spell, and we can find her, and then Buffy and Xander can go fight her, because they can TOTALLY kick her ass and then we can put her in jail for like all eternity or better yet we can find a spell and move her to a demon dimension, because, really, that's where she could have lots of fun with all the killing and stuff and. . ." she paused, and saw everybody staring at her. "Sorry. I babble."
Giles smiled. "That's quite all right. And no, Faith has not woken up."
"Good," said Willow. "That's like the funnest coma, EVER."
Xander winced, knowing his suggestion would not go over well.
"Um. . . yes. Well, be that as it may, it has been brought to my attention that we may be able to. . . um. . . help her, as it were."
"Help her how?" Buffy asked. "She's in a coma, there's not really a lot we can do."
"That might not be entirely, you know, um, true," Xander said.
The whole group looked at him. Oz caught on first.
"Oh," he said. "Yeah."
Buffy was next. She furrowed her brow in thought.
Willow was the last to catch on. "What? Xander how. . . oh. Oh! NO! No, no, no, bad Xander!"
"Will, I'm not saying we have to do it," he said. "But. . . I have these healing powers now, and from what I read, I might be able to help her. I think it's at least worth talking about, don't you?"
"But she's like this big, cleavagey, slut bomb who, don't forget, killed people. Tried to kill us!"
"I know, Will, but, she has had a rough life. And I'm not saying that's an excuse, it's not, but. . . I think she deserves a second chance. We have a chance to do some real good here, that doesn't have to do with fighting, or with killing or anything like that, and I think at the very least, it needs to be talked about."
"But, what if she stays all evil?"
"I think that, if we can show her. . . that she can choose to not be evil, then she won't. She has the spirit of the Slayer, which is inherently good, and I don't think it would have chosen her if she didn't have some of that in her."
"But what if, Xan?"
"Well, Buffy took her down on her own last time. I think the two of us together can do just as well."
"Plus, we can use those chains I have to restrain her, if we have to," said Oz.
Buffy, Xander and Giles looked at Oz and Willow, unsure of how to react.
Willow rolled her eyes. "For when he wolfs out, you perverts."
"The point is, it's not too big a risk, and we could potentially gain a powerful ally," said Giles.
"Buffy? What do you think?" Xander asked.
"I don't know. . . it would be nice to have another Slayer, although we really haven't even needed me much recently, as far as vamps go. But the extra power would be nice. Still. . . I can't help but feel we shouldn't trust her. How would we know? How would we ever know that it's not just an act?"
"Well, I suppose it would just take some time, and some very delicate action on our parts, and a lot of trust. We must have. . ."
"Faith," said Xander, with a soft smile. "We have to trust in our ability to get through to her, and in our ability to sense if something's wrong. Look, I know she's not a favorite around here. . . I mean, she tried to strangle me. Despite that, I feel this is something we have to try. But I'm not gonna go for it unless you guys are behind me."
Xander looked around at the group's expressions. They all - with the exception of Oz - looked deep in thought.
"Are you sure you guys can take her?" Willow asked. Xander nodded. Willow sighed and nodded back.
"Well, I say we go for it," said Oz.
"Buffy?" Xander asked, taking her hand in his own. "What are you thinking?"
Buffy looked into his eyes. "I'm thinking I'm worried. That we have no idea what we might be getting into. I'm thinking that if we do this, we might be putting ourselves, and the people we love, in danger. But, I'm also thinking that you're probably right. If something happens, we can handle her. And if not, well, we're just that much stronger."
Xander brought her hand up and kissed it. "Good," he said. "But we still have to figure some things out before we try it."
"Like what?" Willow asked.
"Well, for starters, like where she'd stay. We can't really wake her up, convince her we're trying to help, and then say 'but go get your own place, because we can't put you up.'"
"She could stay here," Giles said. "But I only have the one room. And I doubt very much Buffy would be willing to share Xander as well as her slaying duties."
"Very much no," Buffy said.
"Also to mention, I'm not willing to be shared," said Xander. "I suppose I could try to find somewhere else to stay. I do have a steady job now."
"I am hesitant to let you go, though," said Giles. "I realize you are grown up, but nineteen is still quite young to be out on your own."
"OH! Xander, you could stay at my place!" said Buffy.
"Um. . . Buffy?" said Willow. "You know I love you guys, but I don't think I could take it if you guys were being the cute couple all the time. Might have to hurl a lot."
"Oh, I didn't mean my place like the dorm," Buffy said. "I meant, with my mom."
Xander looked surprised. "Your mom? I'm. . . not sure I'd be comfortable with that. I mean, I love your mom. She's great, and a great cook, and a nice lady. . .."
"But you'd feel kind of awkward living with your girlfriend's mom?"
"Yuh huh."
"Well, I'd have to run it by her, anyway. Plus, she hasn't done the obligatory boyfriend inspection yet."
"B-boyfriend inspection?" he stammered out, turning pale.
"Don't worry," Buffy said. "She already likes you. You eat her food. And I promise, if you live there, she will not be all weird, like she's your girlfriend's mother."
"But she is my girlfriend's mother."
"I know, silly, but she'll be cool. I swear! Besides, how else are we going to give Faith living space?"
"Using my own plan against me, are you Summers?"
Buffy grinned at him.
"Fine. Fine, fine. If your mom's okay with it, I'll stay there. But I'm paying rent. Your mom is putting you through college, she doesn't need to be suddenly feeding another mouth."
Buffy kissed him. "Mmm. . . you're so thoughtful. Is it any wonder I love you?"
"Oh, dear lord," said Giles, cleaning his glasses. "I do believe I'm getting a toothache."
Buffy glared at him.
"Buffy," said Xander. "Don't get angry at the nice man who will soon be living with a known murderer."
Buffy thought about this a second, then said "'Kay."
"Okay, so that's settled, for now at least. What else do we need to figure out?"
"How to convince a psycho killer not to kill?" asked Willow.
"I don't think that's really something you can plan for, Will. Just gotta see what happens," said Xander.
"Well, I guess we'll just deal with other stuff as it comes up, then," Buffy said.
"So, when should we. . ."
"I'll talk to Mom today," Buffy said. "We'll go from there, I guess."
----------
End Chapter 12
"Oooh, prezzies!" said Buffy, as she looked around at the rest of the group who had gathered at Giles's apartment the next morning. They all shrugged their ignorance.
"Yes. Well, this is actually for both you and Xander."
Xander looked up from the book he was reading. "For me? Giles, you shouldn't have."
"I assure you, I really should," said Giles as he pulled out a large sword from the box he had just received.
"Oooh," Buffy and Xander said simultaneously, both of them grinning.
"New toy," said Buffy.
"Yes, well, this sword is magically charmed. Specifically, it was created. . . well, a long time ago. . . we're not quite sure of the time frame, actually. Its magical properties keep us from properly dating it. It was forged by a master blacksmith for the lover of girl who was the Slayer at the time. Her watcher, who was also an adept in magic, imbued so that it does erm. . . things."
"Does things? You wanna vague that up a bit, Giles?"
"Right. Well, I've come across some more references to the White Knight. Apparently, every Slayer has a soul mate, one who will bring her comfort and help her with her burden. You, Xander, are almost unique, in that your powers allow you to aid her not only with the mental burden, but the physical as well."
"Almost unique?" asked Willow.
"Wait wait," said Xander. "Soul mates?"
Giles nodded. "Um. Yes. Did I fail to mention that before?"
"Yeah," said Buffy.
"Sorry. Must have slipped my mind."
"Kinda a big thing there, G-man."
"Right. Well. . . sorry."
"That's okay," said Buffy, who was watching Xander. . . who looked odd.
"Xan? You okay babe? You look kinda wigged."
"Huh?" he asked. "No. No, not wigged. No wiggage here. . . just. . . soul mates. It's big, you know?"
"Yeah," said Buffy. "Are you. . . okay? I mean. . ."
"I'm great," he said, smiling at her. "I mean, I'm still a little overwhelmed at this whole thing. The girl-"
"Woman," said Buffy.
"-who I've been in love with for years," Xander continued, not missing a beat, "falls in love with me, kinda. . . forcefully rejects her ex who was like this big. . . forever love type deal, and then I find out that we're not just prophesied, we're soul mates. So. . . okay, yeah. I guess a little wigged. But good wigged. Definitely good wiggage. A little time and I'll merely be whelmed."
"Okay," said Buffy, leaning over and giving Xander a kiss. "Good."
"Aww," said Willow. "You guys are so cute! Now stop, before I get to taste my breakfast again."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at the redhead, then turned to Giles. "You said something about 'almost unique'?"
"Yes. There was another, a few, actually, who had powers similar, although not the same, as Xander's. It appears the. . . mantle of the White Knight is passed down, much like the Slayer essence, but only, er, activated when in the presence of Slayers who will face a certain level of challenge."
"You mean, Xander got his powers because I slaying is gonna be extra hard?" Buffy asked.
"Um. . . yes, that would appear to be the case."
"Damn," Buffy said. "So what's the deal with the sword thingy?"
"As I said, it belonged to another Slayer who met with her White Knight. . . not the most recent one, she was about 250 years ago, and stationed in Spain, actually. It's quite fascinating, really. She was called early, at the age of -"
"Giles? The sword?"
"Oh. Yes, of course. Anyway, it appears that the Slayer for whom the sword was created was the first, and only so far, to ever be retired."
"Retired? I can be retired?"
"Yes. Believe me, it's as much a shock to me as it is to you. At the age of 25, apparently."
"How come you didn't know about this earlier?"
"Well, you know how notoriously short-lived Slayers are. Apparently the Inner Council saw fit to keep this information. . . all of it. . . from the actual Watchers for what are apparently some well thought out and, dare I say, considerate reasons."
"Considerate? The Council?" Xander asked, disbelievingly.
"Yes. You see, I contacted the Council in hopes that they might be willing to shed some light on the subject. When I told them I was researching the White Knight, well, I was put on hold for an hour. Then I was put in a conference call with the Inner Council, who was very forthcoming with information, and the reasons for keeping it a secret."
"Which are?"
"It is normal procedure that a Slayer works alone. She requires isolation to do her job well. You, at least, have proved this false. The Inner Council knew about the White Knights, have known for a long time. But they never know when one will show up. So, they made the decision not to make the knowledge public to the rest of the council. Not even about the soul mates. You see, they felt it unfair to tell the Slayers of their chance of happiness, only for most of them to never know it. The sad fact is, most Slayers die before they ever meet their soul mates. Often, he is never known."
"That's so sad," said Willow.
"Yes, quite," Giles said. "So instead of dangling this in front of them, they decided to keep it secret, and only release the information once the soul mate, or White Knight in the very rare case, is identified. Once the information is given, the Watcher is instructed not to mention it in his or her diaries. To protect the hearts of the young girls to follow."
"Wow," said Xander. "Council with a heart. Who'd have guessed?"
"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling us everything?"
"The Slayer, whose lover owned the sword. It was Guinevere."
Willow gasped. Xander's eyes bulged out. Buffy's jaw dropped. Oz raised one eyebrow. Giles smiled wickedly.
"You mean. . . this is. . ." started Buffy
"Is it really. . ." asked Xander.
"It can't be. . ." said Willow.
"Are any of you planning on finishing your sentences?" Giles asked, amused at their shock.
"Excalibur?" asked Oz.
Giles smiled. "No. It is not Excalibur. Arthur was the only one able to wield it, and would therefore be of no use to us. You will recall, I said Guinevere's lover. . . not her husband."
"You did that on purpose!" Buffy yelled.
"I did, and it was fun," said Giles, proud of himself. "You should have seen the looks on your faces. Bloody priceless, if you ask me."
"So whose sword is it then? I never got that much into the Arthurian legend," said Xander.
"Lancelot. It was he who wielded this sword. And he was no slouch, let me tell you. You see, Guinevere had the unfortunate happenstance to meet her White Knight late in life. After she retired, she was married to Arthur. And she did love him. But she could not resist the connection she felt with Lancelot, and they did have an affair."
"Hey, so how come Buffy could resist me for three years?" Xander asked.
"Had you met yourself then?" Giles asked.
"Giles!" Buffy screeched.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't resist. Slayers who do find their soul mates automatically pair with them. White Knights are a different case. Of the 5 recorded cases of White Knights, 3 had known the Slayer before their powers manifested, and of those only one was involved with her romantically. The council is not certain, but they feel that the. . . innate fighting spirit within the White Knight is, at first, more apt to create a feeling of friendship and companionship than one of romance. Possibly, this is because of the. . . inevitability of it all. The two essences, Slayer and White Knight, know they will find love in time, so there is no need to rush it."
Xander nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Would have been nice, though, if I had known."
"But didn't you?" asked Willow. "I mean, you never gave up. Through Angel, and Cordelia, and. . . well, Ampata and Scott Hope and Owen Thurman and Faith. . . you never gave up."
"I guess, yeah," said Xander. "That makes sense."
"So what does the sword do?" asked Buffy.
"Well, it causes more damage than a normal sword, I'm not really sure how. It is also sharper, it can cut through diamond with ease, so you must be very careful with it. It can pierce many magical defenses as well, so I thought it might be prudent to use it against the Fargath demon, who will undoubtedly have some magical protections."
"Well that's just all kinds of fun," Xander said. "Hey, we could use this to stab demon boy in the heart!"
"Yes, that was my intention with having it shipped here," said Giles.
"Oh. Right."
"Well that's a barrel of fun. Any more surprises for us Giles?"
"Well, not so much a surprise, I suppose, as a discussion we need to have," Giles said, glancing at Xander.
"Uh oh," said Buffy. "Lecture time."
"No, no, not a lecture, as such. Really. A conversation that we need to have because of certain. . . possibilities that have been brought to my attention."
"What's it about, Giles?" Willow asked.
"Well. . . it's about, um. . . Faith," he said.
"Faith?" asked Buffy.
"Faith!" Willow yelled. "She's still in a coma isn't she? Oh God, she's awake, and she's going to try to kill us all. Giles, we need to find her! I know, I can try to do a locator spell, and we can find her, and then Buffy and Xander can go fight her, because they can TOTALLY kick her ass and then we can put her in jail for like all eternity or better yet we can find a spell and move her to a demon dimension, because, really, that's where she could have lots of fun with all the killing and stuff and. . ." she paused, and saw everybody staring at her. "Sorry. I babble."
Giles smiled. "That's quite all right. And no, Faith has not woken up."
"Good," said Willow. "That's like the funnest coma, EVER."
Xander winced, knowing his suggestion would not go over well.
"Um. . . yes. Well, be that as it may, it has been brought to my attention that we may be able to. . . um. . . help her, as it were."
"Help her how?" Buffy asked. "She's in a coma, there's not really a lot we can do."
"That might not be entirely, you know, um, true," Xander said.
The whole group looked at him. Oz caught on first.
"Oh," he said. "Yeah."
Buffy was next. She furrowed her brow in thought.
Willow was the last to catch on. "What? Xander how. . . oh. Oh! NO! No, no, no, bad Xander!"
"Will, I'm not saying we have to do it," he said. "But. . . I have these healing powers now, and from what I read, I might be able to help her. I think it's at least worth talking about, don't you?"
"But she's like this big, cleavagey, slut bomb who, don't forget, killed people. Tried to kill us!"
"I know, Will, but, she has had a rough life. And I'm not saying that's an excuse, it's not, but. . . I think she deserves a second chance. We have a chance to do some real good here, that doesn't have to do with fighting, or with killing or anything like that, and I think at the very least, it needs to be talked about."
"But, what if she stays all evil?"
"I think that, if we can show her. . . that she can choose to not be evil, then she won't. She has the spirit of the Slayer, which is inherently good, and I don't think it would have chosen her if she didn't have some of that in her."
"But what if, Xan?"
"Well, Buffy took her down on her own last time. I think the two of us together can do just as well."
"Plus, we can use those chains I have to restrain her, if we have to," said Oz.
Buffy, Xander and Giles looked at Oz and Willow, unsure of how to react.
Willow rolled her eyes. "For when he wolfs out, you perverts."
"The point is, it's not too big a risk, and we could potentially gain a powerful ally," said Giles.
"Buffy? What do you think?" Xander asked.
"I don't know. . . it would be nice to have another Slayer, although we really haven't even needed me much recently, as far as vamps go. But the extra power would be nice. Still. . . I can't help but feel we shouldn't trust her. How would we know? How would we ever know that it's not just an act?"
"Well, I suppose it would just take some time, and some very delicate action on our parts, and a lot of trust. We must have. . ."
"Faith," said Xander, with a soft smile. "We have to trust in our ability to get through to her, and in our ability to sense if something's wrong. Look, I know she's not a favorite around here. . . I mean, she tried to strangle me. Despite that, I feel this is something we have to try. But I'm not gonna go for it unless you guys are behind me."
Xander looked around at the group's expressions. They all - with the exception of Oz - looked deep in thought.
"Are you sure you guys can take her?" Willow asked. Xander nodded. Willow sighed and nodded back.
"Well, I say we go for it," said Oz.
"Buffy?" Xander asked, taking her hand in his own. "What are you thinking?"
Buffy looked into his eyes. "I'm thinking I'm worried. That we have no idea what we might be getting into. I'm thinking that if we do this, we might be putting ourselves, and the people we love, in danger. But, I'm also thinking that you're probably right. If something happens, we can handle her. And if not, well, we're just that much stronger."
Xander brought her hand up and kissed it. "Good," he said. "But we still have to figure some things out before we try it."
"Like what?" Willow asked.
"Well, for starters, like where she'd stay. We can't really wake her up, convince her we're trying to help, and then say 'but go get your own place, because we can't put you up.'"
"She could stay here," Giles said. "But I only have the one room. And I doubt very much Buffy would be willing to share Xander as well as her slaying duties."
"Very much no," Buffy said.
"Also to mention, I'm not willing to be shared," said Xander. "I suppose I could try to find somewhere else to stay. I do have a steady job now."
"I am hesitant to let you go, though," said Giles. "I realize you are grown up, but nineteen is still quite young to be out on your own."
"OH! Xander, you could stay at my place!" said Buffy.
"Um. . . Buffy?" said Willow. "You know I love you guys, but I don't think I could take it if you guys were being the cute couple all the time. Might have to hurl a lot."
"Oh, I didn't mean my place like the dorm," Buffy said. "I meant, with my mom."
Xander looked surprised. "Your mom? I'm. . . not sure I'd be comfortable with that. I mean, I love your mom. She's great, and a great cook, and a nice lady. . .."
"But you'd feel kind of awkward living with your girlfriend's mom?"
"Yuh huh."
"Well, I'd have to run it by her, anyway. Plus, she hasn't done the obligatory boyfriend inspection yet."
"B-boyfriend inspection?" he stammered out, turning pale.
"Don't worry," Buffy said. "She already likes you. You eat her food. And I promise, if you live there, she will not be all weird, like she's your girlfriend's mother."
"But she is my girlfriend's mother."
"I know, silly, but she'll be cool. I swear! Besides, how else are we going to give Faith living space?"
"Using my own plan against me, are you Summers?"
Buffy grinned at him.
"Fine. Fine, fine. If your mom's okay with it, I'll stay there. But I'm paying rent. Your mom is putting you through college, she doesn't need to be suddenly feeding another mouth."
Buffy kissed him. "Mmm. . . you're so thoughtful. Is it any wonder I love you?"
"Oh, dear lord," said Giles, cleaning his glasses. "I do believe I'm getting a toothache."
Buffy glared at him.
"Buffy," said Xander. "Don't get angry at the nice man who will soon be living with a known murderer."
Buffy thought about this a second, then said "'Kay."
"Okay, so that's settled, for now at least. What else do we need to figure out?"
"How to convince a psycho killer not to kill?" asked Willow.
"I don't think that's really something you can plan for, Will. Just gotta see what happens," said Xander.
"Well, I guess we'll just deal with other stuff as it comes up, then," Buffy said.
"So, when should we. . ."
"I'll talk to Mom today," Buffy said. "We'll go from there, I guess."
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End Chapter 12
