On the site of the new home Xander was busily using his pneumatic nail gun on a large piece of drywall when he heard a loud noise behind him. He stepped back, pulling up his safety glasses and watched the two large men scuffle for a moment.
"Hey!" he barked when one of them was almost impaled on a broken piece of wood. He quickly moved between the larger men and placed a hand on each heaving chest, easily pushing them back from each other. "What in the hell is going on that is so important that you're willing to die for it?" he glared impartially at each man.
"He called my wife a dog!" Owen said indignantly. Now Xander had met Miranda and while she was no looker she was one of the sweetest people that he had ever met.
"That's it? Christ Owen, Mike's jealous and just being nasty. Miranda worships the ground that you walk on, he'd be half as lucky to find a woman as great as she is."
Mike looked down with a grimace and nodded, "He's right. I'm sorry Owen, Patsy broke up with me last night and I'm still pissed." Owen's face softened and both men stepped back from Xander and apologized, ending up making plans for a quick beer later.
"That's all well and good but you two bozos were being distinctly unsafe and Mike was almost skewered like a lamb ka-bob. You both are working an extra hour without pay tomorrow, that should get the roof finished and maybe you'll leave your personal lives outside." Xander said sternly and both men mumbled an apology and quickly got back to work.
With a muffled oath Xander stripped off his gloves and walked outside, taking a moment to look at some of the other houses that were going up. Shaking his head at the workmanship on some and admiring others.
"Harris."
Xander looked over his shoulder at his boss, "Hey."
"You did good back there. I was afraid that I was going to have to fire them." Ben Bridges part owner of Springs Construction stepped up beside him.
"I wasn't sure that you wouldn't need to, but I like Miranda too much not to find some kind of solution."
"When Jack asked me to hire you I wasn't sure about hiring a man sight unseen, but you've been a good investment." Ben paused and grimaced as he looked at one of the houses that was going to grace the soon to be cul-de-sac. "Morningstar is really going downhill aren't they?"
Xander snorted, "If that roof survives the first heavy snowstorm I'll be pleasantly surprised."
"With your talent why are you wasting your time with us? Not that I don't mind taking advantage of your expertise mind you, but you could be doing better things."
"I graduated High School. That's it. And I don't really want to go back to college."
"You have the practical knowledge Xander. Hell, you're better than I am and I became an architect! You can look at plans and immediately see what's wrong and what's right about them. You have a gift and it's being wasted."
Xander looked over at Ben with a smile, "I appreciate the pep talk but it's not like I have people beating down my door. Listen, I still have about a ton and a half of drywall to get up. I'll see ya." And he disappeared back inside. Ben looked after him with a half smile then pulled out his cell phone.
"Jack? It's Ben."
****
It was later afternoon and Xander was stripped to the waist, his heavily muscled chest gleaming with sweat as he mowed the lawn. He was pretending to be totally ignorant of the housewives who were drooling as he made each pass of the lawn mower.
When Giles, Willow and Xander had moved in there had been a lot of speculation by the neighborhood. There were the obligatory welcoming cakes and cookies delivered under the guise of 'Welcome to the Neighborhood' but were in fact sophisticated recon missions of their own.
Rupert Giles, a handsome older Brit acted like he was the father of Willow and Xander but it was agreed that they three were not related. Rumors were rich with speculation but no one could disagree that the three were good neighbors.
A large truck pulled up and more tongue wagging when former neighbor Colonel Jack O'Neill jumped out and lazily surveyed the neighborhood. Curtains were twitched back and Jack gave a grin then turned to the new resident of the house that use to be his.
Xander finished the last pass and stopped the mower, giving Jack a mock salute. "Hey Jack, what's up?"
"Why don't we go inside? You have nosy neighbors."
Xander gave a curious glance around with one brown eye that shone with amusement, "Why do you think I mow without a shirt?" and both men laughed as they walked in together.
As soon as the door closed Jack looked around curiously, and was relieved to find that the house looked nothing like it did when he had lived there. There was new wallpaper and paint and new pictures on the walls. Leather couches and chairs and tons of books, both magical and not, littered every available flat surface.
"Well?" Xander demanded anxiously.
"We found her, she's fine and her and Jay went through to see Jay's friend."
"Thank you God." Xander sighed and went to the phone and dialed, he waited for the other side to pick up and said, "It's ok. She's fine." A pause, "Yeah, me too. Ok, later." And he hung up.
"Giles?"
"Yeah, he had Willow do a spell and they knew she wasn't dead but were worried."
Jack sighed, "You should have heard it over speaker phone, it was even scarier."
"God." Xander sighed and headed for the kitchen, "Want a beer?"
"I could go for one." And had to catch it as it winged its way towards his nose. "Cripes Xan!"
A satisfied chuckle from Xander, then he grinned, "My hand eye coordination is improving, normally it would have whizzed by your ear into the living room."
Jack saluted with his beer and took a long drink. "Buffy is fine, Jay is good, Daniel is obsessed with our Willow, Dawn and Jon are all over each other, and Cassie is obsessed with you." He gave Xander a long look and the younger man squirmed.
"Relax Jack. I know that she wants to join the SGC and she's not going to let me get in the way of that. On the other hand I'm someone that she can talk to about everything."
Jack tilted his beer in acknowledgement, "There is that." He took a sip, "Have you ever thought about coming to work for us?"
"What?" After the conversation with Ben that day this was throwing him for a loop.
"I'm serious. So you've lost an eye, your hands still work. We have lot of stuff that needs fixing there, especially after something goes disastrously wrong."
Xander blinked his good eye, "Um, I like building houses." He strode to the window and looked out, then looked over his shoulder, "and I kinda like my life without the secrets."
Jack shrugged, "It's your choice. But remember, sometimes saving the world has its costs. You should know. Would you do anything different?"
Xander's memories were on fast forward, from the moment he had met Buffy, to the teary phone call from Willow about Buffy's abduction to everything in between. "Nope, not even losing my eye."
"There ya go." Jack said comfortably.
Turning fully around Xander sighed, "Let me think about it."
"You mean talk it over with the family and Cassie."
Snorting Xander nodded, "That too."
Giles pulled into the driveway and noticed the neatly trimmed lawn with a smile. He got out and turned to see Willow zip in beside him with her new sunshine yellow vw beetle.
"Hi Giles!" she said brightly as she climbed out of her car, pulling her huge purse after her with a grunt.
"Willow. Samantha called you?"
"No, Daniel did." Her smile made her glow and Giles sighed, "I'm losing all of my girls too quickly." She walked up to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning her head on his shoulder, "You'll never lose us Giles." And they headed inside.
Cassie walked up the sidewalk and knocked on the door before walking inside. "Hello?" she called. Willow came out, an apron tied around her waist, "Hi Cassie, I'm just finishing up dinner, you wanna stay?"
"Thanks, I'd like that. Mom's working late and I hate eating alone."
"Good. XANDER!" Willow yelled and they heard a muffled reply. Both women giggled and Cassie followed Willow back into the kitchen.
"So Cassie, what are you planning to do next?"
Cassie looked over at the doorway and shrugged her shoulders, "I'm headed for Texas and Air Force basic training next week, then I'm to get assigned to the SGC."
"Really?" Willow's eyebrows raised and she looked at her in surprise.
Cassie snorted, "I need the real world training then Uncle Jack can finish off the rest for me."
Xander slid in behind Cassie and placed a kiss on her cheek, then turned her in his arms and kissed her deeply.
"Get a room." Willow said mildly and turned to take the rice off the stove, "Giles! Let's eat!" she hollered and made the lovebirds jump.
"Geez Will." Xander complained and took the plates from the cupboard to set the table. Cassie laughed and got silverware and napkins and Willow began to bring in the meal behind them, with a satisfied smirk.
They four of them ate, watching Xander as he pushed his food around his plate distractedly.
Finally Giles set his silverware down, rested his elbows on the table and folded his fingers together. "Xander, what's on your mind?"
Xander looked up, "Huh?"
"Your empty mind Alexander LaVelle Harris!" Willow said with exasperation.
Cassie smothered a laugh and winked as Xander glared at her, then reluctantly smiled.
"Jack offered me a job at the SGC."
"To do what?" Giles asked.
"What I do best. Construction, rebuilding, stuff like that."
Cassie smiled, "Oh boy, would they love to have you! Especially Siler. You wouldn't believe the times they've been attacked or blown up or had the gate room trashed."
Willow cocked her head slightly, "It sounds like that they need you."
Giles indicated the same with a small movement of one of his hands, "I agree."
Xander looked at Cassie who smiled, "Hey, I'm going to Texas for 16 weeks. I think it would be great to find you at the SGC when I get home."
"Ok, I'll do it. If I hate it I'll blame you guys."
Giles smirked, "Of course Xander."