The Vengeance Demon, the Cheerleader and the Little Brother (creep.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my beloved iBook.

A/N: 29/5-03. And this one time at band-camp we… well actually I'm going to try to write the answer to a challenge. And I AM currently at band-camp, as a parental unit kind to my younger sisters, who play. We're at this cottage-camp deep in fjord-Norway. The mountains are high around the valley, with snow on top of them. Yet in the bottom of the valley, just outside the porch where I'm sitting, the apple-trees are blooming. It's raining, but I'm safely under roof. Well, let's see how this goes. The challenge can be found:

"What do you mean, your family is a 'little odd'?" Xander gave Anya a long, measuring look. "You're a former vengeance demon – isn't all of your family, you know, dead by now?"

Anya frowned at her fiancé, crossing her arms. "Look – when I went looking at Sunnydale High for someone to make a wish, I did a little background stuff to make myself seem more real. Complete with family and all of that. And, well, I'm not the most creative so I just watched some movies and took my family from there. When my power source was destroyed and I was stuck in this persona – the family stuck, too."

"You mean – before you came to Sunnydale this family of yours was just fiction? Not even real?"

"Right!" She smiled, apparently happy that he'd grasped the concept so quickly.

"This is. . . unreal." He shook his head.

"Well, better get used to it," Anya smirked. "Because, after the wedding, they're going to be your in-laws."

"An," Xander's voice uttered painfully, yet careful enough not to insult his fiancé. "What movie did you watch?"

"Xander Harris." He struck out his hand, introducing himself to his future in-laws. They looked oddly normal to be Anya's adopted family. Why his fiancé would consider them a little odd was beyond him. Two parents, a sister and a brother. The only thing missing from the picture, as far as he could see, was a dog.

"It's so nice to finally meet you. Anya has been talking about you every time I talk to her. I'm her mother, Christine Shipman." The woman he had defined as the mother was blonde with blue eyes, and if he squinted a little bit he could imagine Anya looking like her in 20 years time. "This is my husband and Anya's father, Bruce."

The man grunted something and struck out his hand.

"And these two are my sister, Torrance, and my brother, Justin." Anya put her arms around the two of them.

Xander's eyes crossed. "Weren't you on TV not long ago?"

"Xander," hissed his fiancé. "I told you about it."

"Not that," he replied, unable to get the weird feeling out of his head. "I've got it. You're a cheerleader, aren't you?" Justin turned around and made barfing noises.

"You watched the National Cheerleading championships?" Torrance was thrilled. "We came in second. But it was great."

"And may I just be the one to say, what a shame. With a fantastic…" he cringed at the look at Anya's face. "Routine like that, I can't see how the judges managed to defend their decision.

"Yeah. We were great, weren't we An?"

"Yes, you were. Do you want something to drink? Xander, help me get them something to drink." Xander pointed towards the sofa in his apartment before following Anya over to the kitchen.

"Please, just sit down."

"Xander, how could you look at Torrance like that? You were ogling her. You're only supposed to be ogling me. I am the one you love, right?"

"Of course, An. I wasn't ogling your sister, I was simply looking at her, like I would at Dawn. I asked you to marry me, right?"

Anya nodded. "But that was a life or death situation, Xander. I've read about all the crazy things people do when they think they're going to die."

"An? Is that what you were worried about? That I wouldn't marry you, because I didn't mean it?"

"When you say it like that it sounds so silly," Anya took out a jug of orange juice from the refrigerator and put it on a tray. Xander put glasses on the tray before he hugged her and kissed her nose.

"You have nothing to worry about, and I can see why you chose them as your family. They seem to care about you very much."

4/11-03. I think I'm done, I just found it again. I don't want to write more on it, but I don't want to have it lying around on the computer either, so I'll just post it. Maybe, some day, when I'm not overwhelmed with my studies, and other fanfic ideas I'll come back to it. It was fun to write, but I'm completely aware of the fact that it sucks. So no need to tell me that.