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Notes: This was the first fanfic I ever wrote and was written in November 1997, which makes it a second season AU now.
Willow yawned again. Glancing at the clock on the computer, she was surprised to see it was already 2:30 a.m. 'I guess I can go to bed now,' she thought. 'For once I'll be too tired to dream of Xander.' She decided to check her e-mail and then call it a night. Willow glanced at the screen surprised. A message from Xander? 'He never sends me e-mail,' she thought. The message was short and to the point:
Willow, Get off the computer and call me. I don't care what time it is. Xander
The message had been sent an hour ago. Willow sighed. 'Guess I won't get to sleep for awhile.' The she perked up. 'Xander calling me is good!' "Hello," Xander answered.
"You wanted to talk?" Willow said. 'I didn't even think it rang yet,' she thought.
"My aunt and uncle died. The social services people in Portland just called us. My cousin Drew is all alone. Anyway, we have to fly up there and pick him up, and make arrangements for the funeral and the estate and everything. You remember Drew right?"
"Of course, he visited you when we were eleven, right? And some other times?"
"Right. Since he's our age my parents are making me come — they think it'll be good for him to have a friend around, but I hardly know him. I haven't seen him since that time when we were eleven."
"When are you leaving?" Willow asked.
"In a couple of hours. It was the first flight my parents' could get. I wanted to let somebody know why I disappeared and since Buffy's probably out patrolling I figured you were my best shot. Hang on, just a sec," Xander said.
'Why am I always an afterthought next to Buffy to him?' Willow thought.
Xander came back on the line. "My parents want to know if you'll keep an eye on our house and feed the fish while we're gone. They'll pay you $25."
"They don't need to pay me. I'd be happy to do it."
"Great. We'll leave a key for you taped inside the mailbox. Well, I'll see you when we get back. Bye, Willow."
"Bye, Xander and I'm sorry about your aunt and uncle."
"Thanks." And he was gone. ----- Willow walked into the Harris house, and over to the fish tank in the living room. She picked up the fish food and sprinkled a few flakes into the tank.
She looked around. Everything seemed fine. The stairs seemed to beckon to her. 'Perhaps, I should check upstairs,' she thought. 'Just to make sure everything's okay.' Without thinking about it she found herself in Xander's room.
'I shouldn't be here,' she thought. Another voice in her head whispered that it was no big deal, she'd been in Xander's room countless times over the years. Clothes and other stuff were strewn around the room. She opened his closet door, not really sure what she was looking for.
She smiled when she saw the certificate they'd won in fifth grade for participating in the three-legged race at Sunnydale Elementary's end of the school year field day. Xander had gone around bragging to everyone that they would win, but halfway through the race Cordelia and her partner ('who was that?' Willow thought) had fallen over. Cordelia started to cry because she thought she had gotten grass in her hair. Her partner was so determined to win, he got up and kept going, doggedly dragging a loudly protesting Cordelia. She and Xander had started to giggle so badly they fell over and became hopelessly entangled. They came in dead last.
Willow's smile faded as she caught a picture of Xander and Jesse out of the corner of her eye. A guilty feeling crept over her. 'I shouldn't be here,' she thought again. 'I'm snooping.' But still she found herself walking over to Xander's pillow and picking it up. She imagined that it smelled like Xander. She imagined Xander's lips coming down on hers, and then . . .
An embarrassed blush crept over Willow's face and she hurriedly moved to his desk. 'Buffy would tell me to get over it,' Willow thought. 'Either I've got to stop thinking about Xander or I've got to tell him how I feel.'
It was the picture of Buffy in his top-drawer that sent her running from the room.