Xander entered The Bronze and searched the crowd for Anya, his current date. When he saw Buffy sitting at a table by herself, he knew what had happened. He decided he'd take Buffy over Anya any day and made his way over to her table. "What's a pretty girl like you doing here all alone?" he asked, grinning.

"Xander, not now," she said, brushing him off and looking away. All she wanted was to be alone. She didn't think she could deal with Xander at the moment.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked even though he already knew the answer. Instead of leaving, he pulled out a chair and sat down.

She looked up, surprised that he would care. "Angel and I… I think we broke up."

"You want to tell me about it? Let me go get some drinks. I'll be right back." He got up and walked over to the bar before she had a chance to answer.

She thought about getting up and leaving. She knew that Xander was bad news, but she didn't care. She liked that someone cared, or at least pretended to. It comforted her.

Buffy woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. Her entire body ached. She had a throbbing headache and her stomach was turning constantly. She rolled over only to find Xander lying next to her, naked. "Oh God," she mumbled, noticing that she was also nude. She closed her eyes, praying that this was only a dream and she would wake up in her own bed or in Angel's apartment with his arms wrapped around her. Who was she kidding? She could remember everything. Angel had cheated on her and she had left him alone on the bench. She'd gone to The Bronze to clear her mind and be alone. She should've known that The Bronze was the most likely place to run into Xander or someone else, but she wasn't thinking about that at the time. She'd just figured that the loud music would drown any thoughts of Angel and Darla. Xander had come up and offered to buy her a drink. She'd accepted and soon one drink turned into two. She'd poured her heart out to him around the forth and at the sixth, he'd offered to take her home. He'd taken her to his home instead of hers, where she discovered he lived in his parents' basement. They talked for a while, and he kissed her. At first, she didn't know how to respond. She couldn't get the image of Angel and Darla out of her head. She hated him with every fiber of her being. She wanted to hurt him like he'd hurt her. Xander moved her over to the bed. He began to take off her clothes and… oh God. She swallowed back a wave of nausea and looked for something to wear. She spotted her clothes at the other side of the room, but didn't feel comfortable walking that far naked in front of Xander. She reached for his shirt at the foot of the bed. It wasn't as big of Angel's, but it still covered her. She remembered how Angel's shirt was warm and comforted her. Xander's shirt was cold from lying in the basement all night. She'd never felt more alone. She hurried to the bathroom, trying not to trip over the clothes and baby toys scattered across the floor. She just made it to the bathroom in time before she started retching, throwing up last night's pizza.

"Don't make a mess," Xander called groggily from the bedroom.

She remembered the night Xander had spiked her drink. Angel had stayed up with her all night, holding her hair back as her head hovered over the toilet. She knew someone like Xander would never do that. Xander would never be half the gentleman Angel was, but it was better to have someone than no one.

Two days had passed since Angel had told Buffy about Darla. He was almost positive they were over, but he was hanging on to the little bit of hope that she'd forgive him. He originally planned on giving her more time to make up her mind, but he didn't think he could wait any longer. She was all he could think about. He'd spent the past two days with a bottle of Tequila replaying their last date over in his mind. He'd made so many mistakes in their relationship, but she'd always forgiven him. He doubted she'd give him a second chance this time. He promised himself that if she did, he'd make everything perfect again. He rounded the corner into the alley near the vacant warehouse. His eyes adjusted to the change in light in the dim alleyway. Angel could make out a solitary figure leaning against the wall of the warehouse, glowing embers of a cigarette hovered near his mouth. He slowed his strides to a walk as he neared the bleached blonde.

"Hey, mate."

"Hi, Spike. Have you seen Buffy?" Angel asked when he recognized his friend's familiar English accent.

"Oh man, I thought you knew." Spike dropped his cigarette and put it with the ball of his foot.

"Knew what?"

"Xander shagged her. It's all he's been talking about for the last two days."

"What?" Angel's fist slammed into the wall, barely missing Spike's head.

"Hey, don't kill the messenger!"

"Where is he?"

"Look mate, why don't you go home and cool off first. Have a cold beer."

"I've had enough cold beers. Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know man."

Angel was out of control. He grabbed the collar of Spike's jacket and pushed him into the wall.

Spike's heart rate quickened and his breath became sharp. He knew Angel could kick his ass in a split second. "He's probably at The Bronze, but that's just a guess. I swear I haven't seen him," Spike said quickly, afraid Angel would do something rash. He had only seen Angel like this twice; when he walked in on Darla sleeping with another man and when he discovered he wouldn't be able to come up with the money to attend the New York City School of Visual Arts, something he had dreamed about all his life.

Angel shoved him into the wall one last time before storming off.

"Jesus Christ," Spike muttered once Angel was out of earshot.

Buffy had just gone off to the bathroom when Angel entered The Bronze. He instantly made his way over to Xander who was sitting at a table with Cordelia, Tiffany, Willow and Oz.

"What the fuck do you think your doing?" Angel asked through clenched teeth.

"I'm having a few drinks with my friends. What are you doing?" Xander answered sarcastically, knowing that that wasn't what Angel meant.

"Stay the hell away from her," Angel demanded.

"Oh, you mean Buffy," he said. "Listen, I don't need your permission. I'll fuck whoever the hell I want to fuck."

Angel was fuming. "What did you have to do to get her in bed with you? Did you completely drug her up or just spike her drink again?"

Angel's comments stung. Xander knew he was right, but he refused to show Angel he was hurt. "You know what the big shocker was? When I rammed my cock into her, she didn't bleed. I wasn't the one who popped her cherry."

Angel threw a punch straight for his face. Xander's stool tipped back, with him in it and he jumped out before it hit the floor. Angel slammed him into the small table and it fell to the ground, extremely close to where Tiffany was sleeping in her stroller.

"My baby!" Cordelia screamed and grabbed her daughter.

After she finished applying her make up, Buffy walked out of the bathroom and back to her table. Instead of finding the table like she left it with her friends and Tiffany, she found it was surrounded by a large crowd. She pushed her way through the people and discovered their table had been knocked over and chairs were scattered. Angel had a struggling Xander pinned to the ground and was violently throwing punches straight for his face. Blood was running down from Angel's nose, but he either didn't notice or refused to care. Xander tried to cover his face with his hands, but Angel kneed him in the stomach, causing him to curl up in pain. Angel swore under his breath, but his cursing wasn't audible enough for Buffy to hear exactly what he was saying. She rushed in to stop the fight.

"Knock it off, both of you!" she yelled.

They ignored her and continued to fight. She grabbed Angel's arm just as he was about to throw another punch. When he saw her pleading eyes, he stood up and jerked his arm away. He gave Xander, who was still lying on the floor, a hard kick in the groin before stepping away.

"You've got…" Buffy made a gesture toward her nose.

Angel wiped the blood with the back of his hand. He used his other hand to reach out and brush a strand of hair out of her face, but she stepped away. "Why Xander?" he asked.

"You know, this is really immature! You don't own me, Angel. Who I sleep with is none of your business anymore. Go home." She turned around and helped Xander up. His face was swollen and cut up. "You're bleeding." She touched a cut on his eyebrow.

"I'm fine." Xander said, brushing her off.

Angel made eye contact with Buffy and walked off.