Xander woke to a dark room, drenched in sweat and breathing heavy. He sat
up in bed, looking around and trying to figure out what his nightmare had
been. He had been plagued with nightmares – even the occasional night
terror – since Sunnydale. He considered it a blessing that he didn't always
remember them; he saw enough monsters when he was awake. The victims in his
dreams had changed slowly over time, from Anya to –.
There was a knock at his door.
"Yeah?"
The door opened and a blonde head popped inside. "You okay?" Buffy asked.
Xander was still panting. "Yeah," he said. "Just... nightmare."
Buffy slipped inside his room and sat down on his bed next to him. "What was it this time?" she asked, hugging him despite his sweat.
"I don't know," Xander said. "Can't remember. It was probably something about..." he glanced down at Buffy. "About a girl."
"Anya?" Buffy asked.
Xander shook his head. "No," he said. "It was..." he glanced away. "Someone else."
"Dawn?" Buffy asked.
Xander's head whipped around. "What? No! Why does everybody think --"
"Ethan," Buffy said simply.
Xander plastered his hands to his face and shoved himself back on his bed. "Dawn's in love with him, not me," Xander said. "I really wish... I want. People to stop doing that. Dawn and I are not in love, we just... we get along really well."
"Okay," Buffy said quietly, lying down next to him. The two friends lay there for a few minutes, silent.
"How'd you know I was up?" Xander asked.
"Faith heard you yelling in your sleep," Buffy said. "She would have come herself, but... she thought you'd want it to be one of us."
Xander rolled his head to the side and kissed Buffy softly on the forehead.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"Being my friend," he said. He felt her smile in the darkness, and the pair lay there for another minute, when there was another knock at the door.
"Yeah," Xander said. The door opened and Willow popped her head in.
"You disappeared," she said, pouting.
"I got caught up," Buffy said.
"Come on, Will, there's room for all three of us here," Xander said.
"No there isn't," she said.
Xander grinned. "There is if you both cuddle up close to me?"
Buffy swatted her friend on the arm, but complied by then moving herself even closer. Willow walked around the other side and lay down on the bed.
"See?" he said. "That's better."
"You just like having a couple of hotties in bed with you," Willow accused.
"Um. Does the word 'duh' have any meaning to you?" Xander said. Willow and Buffy chuckled. "I missed you guys," he said.
The pair nodded their agreement, and Xander lay in bed silently with his girls.
"You stink," Buffy said.
"It's the sweat," Xander explained. "I should shower."
The two girls nodded. Vigorously.
"Okay," he said, sitting up and sliding off the bottom of the bed. He walked over to the wall and flipped the light switch, eliciting annoyed groans from the girls. "I'm gonna shower. You girls gonna be here when I get back?"
"No, I need to sleep," Buffy said. "Some of us didn't take four hour naps in the middle of the day."
Willow stuck her tongue out at the blonde. "I'll be here," she said. "We were just watching some TV."
Xander smiled at his redheaded best friend. "Okay," he said. "I'll be back soon. Night Buff."
Xander grabbed his towel and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door most of the way behind him. Buffy said goodnight to Willow and went off to her own room. Willow took the opportunity to do a little snooping. Hearing the water running and Xander singing – tunelessly – in the shower, Willow looked around Xander's room. Framed pictures of herself, Buffy, Dawn, Tara and Anya sat atop his dresser, as well as a picture of the whole group in the Magic Box. Willow decided it must have been taken by Riley, and she wondered where he got them. She was pretty sure they hadn't been there when she left on her last trip.
Moving away from his dresser, Willow looked around the rest of the room and found it to be sparsely decorated. Deciding that further investigation was needed, she paused for a moment to make sure she could still hear the water running, then went down on her knees and started looking under his bed.
Shoving aside a box of comic books, and a box of CD's, she found what she was *really* looking for; Xander's stash of porn. Pulling out what magazines she could find, Willow started flipping through them, looking, due to interest in Xander that she was recently made aware of, for any trends in what the girls looked like.
She didn't find any.
But she did notice that the pages of the magazines weren't worn at all. They were stuck together not by what most would expect, but by static electricity, built up from disuse. In fact, the more she looked at the magazines, the more she felt this was precisely the first time they had been touched since they were purchased.
Willow frowned, put the porn back under the bed and got up to look around some more. She found books, everything from a single encyclopedia volume to Neuromancer, to a surprisingly worn out copy of 1984. Willow looked finally at Xander's walls, which were bare except for a single poster from a Maroon 5 concert the Original Sunnydale crew had attended – sans Giles.
She turned back to the pictures on his dresser, and picked up his picture of Tara. She smiled while looking at it, and rubbed her thumb over Tara's face lovingly.
"Andrew found those," Xander said from behind her. She jumped and dropped the frame on the ground, the glass shattering.
"Oh no!" she cried, crouching down to pick up the pieces. "Oh, Goddess, I've ruined it. Oh, Xander, I'm so sorry, I didn't –"
"Hey," he said, crouching down next to her, wearing naught but a towel. Xander grasped her wrist gently with one hand, and tilting her head up to him with his other. He saw tears streaming down her face.
"Hey, it's okay," he said gently.
"No, it was the last picture... of her, I didn't have... any..."
Xander stood her up and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay, sweetie," he said, embracing the young woman gently. "Like I was about to say, Andrew found out the Magic Box website was still up. Apparently Anya bought like a five-year contract or something, and the server space wasn't in Sunnydale. She had pictures of all of us on the site for... in case anything happened to us."
"Really?" Willow asked.
"I promise," Xander said. He walked over to his footlocker, kicked it open, reached inside and grabbed a bag. "I had him print them out on photo paper while you guys were gone. Took 'em to a store and got a whole set framed for everyone." He walked over to his best friend and handed her the bag.
Willow wiped away her tears and took the bag, opening it slowly. She reached inside and pulled out a framed picture of Tara, and then one of Xander.
"I was gonna give 'em to you guys tomorrow, but... I figure now's a good time."
"Oh, Xander," she said, throwing her arms around him. "You are the bestest best friend I could ever have. I love you."
"Love you too, Wills," he said, smiling at the embrace.
"Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"Your towel's slipping."
"I noticed."
"Gonna do something about that?"
"When I can figure out how to extricate myself from this situation with some semblance of dignity intact, yes."
"How about I close my eyes?"
"I can see that working."
Willow closed her eyes, felt Xander disengage from the hug and back away.
"Okay," Xander said a few moments later. Willow opened her eyes and saw Xander in front of her wearing his gym shorts. "Much better," he said.
Willow smiled at him and lay back down on his bed, pulling out the rest of the photographs. "These were all on the website?"
"Yeah," Xander said, sitting next to her. "There's a couple others that aren't as good quality. I think one of Riley, and maybe even Spike. Didn't bother with those."
"Mmm," Willow muttered, leaning into her friend. Willow snuggled up to him, nestling her head into his shoulder.
"Hey Will?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you ever think what might have happened... if we had ever gotten our timing right?"
"Mmm," she responded. Xander looked down and saw the redhead asleep on his torso. Xander chuckled.
"Always asleep when I say the important stuff," he said. Xander leaned down, kissed her softly on her forehead and turned off his bedside lamp and passed into a peaceful, dreamless sleep that, somehow, smelled of strawberries.
* * * * *
"Move it along," Andrew said quietly.
"What?" Kennedy asked.
"Keep moving without disturbing anything," Andrew said, urgently. "And don't knock."
"Why not?" she asked, turning on the young man.
"Because you're not allowed in there, and nobody is to be disturbing the occupants of the room," Andrew whispered.
"Since when am I supposed to listen to you?" she asked, cattily.
"Since his orders come from me."
Kennedy closed her eyes and turned around to find Faith standing behind her, arms crossed over her breasts.
"Help ya with something?" Faith asked.
"I... uh, my shelf. Fell."
"New or old?" Faith asked.
"It was there before we bought this place," Kennedy said.
"You mean before Giles did," Andrew said, having gained confidence from Faith's presence.
Kennedy whipped her head back around and glared. Andrew withered under her stare and sat down next to the door.
"Kennedy," Faith said, drawing the younger slayer's attention back to her. "Either learn to use a hammer, or wait until later."
"But –"
"But nothin'. You don't get to go in that room, or disturb anybody who does."
"Like who, for instance?" Kennedy asked, indignantly.
"Hey guys," Buffy said, skipping up to the door like a little kid. She saw the staring match between Kennedy and Faith. "Problem?"
"Handled," Faith said, not taking her eyes off the young Slayer.
"Good," said Buffy. She patted Andrew on the head, turned the knob and went inside.
Kennedy frowned. "How come –"
"Andy," Faith said. "Kennedy needs a history lesson."
Kennedy's eyes shot wide. "No. I don't. Really. I'm good."
"Oh, sure you do," Faith said, smiling at the younger woman. "After all... there will be a test."
Kennedy groaned. Andrew stood and ran off to his room to get his materials to teach the History of the Scooby Gang. He returned a minute later with some papers, a number of transparencies and even a self-published book. Kennedy sent one last, pleading look at Faith, who merely smiled at her. Kennedy groaned and followed the young nerd to one of the conference rooms on the first floor.
And then Faith realized her dilemma. She wanted to keep people from going in the room, but doing so was really, really boring, and she wanted to hit something right about now.
"Stephanie!" she called out. A young slayer who was walking down the stairs with a group of other girls turned at Faith's call. The blonde girl turned to her friends for a second, then jogged over to Faith.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Chores," Faith said. "You're off for a week if you take this job."
The girl's eyes lit up. "What's the job?"
"Nobody but the M.I.C. goes in this room," Faith said. "Not Robin, or Andrew or anybody. Got me?"
Stephanie nodded. She knew very well who the 'Mega Inner Circle' contained. "How long?"
"'Til they come out," Faith said. "Andrew finishes up Kennedy's lesson and wants to take back over, that's fine."
"Kennedy has a lesson?" Stephanie asked.
"History."
Stephanie winced in sympathy for the girl. "Sure," she said. "Can I go grab a book first?"
Faith nodded and waited until the girl returned before heading off to the gym. Stephanie actually didn't mind the job. She got out of chores for a week and all she had to do was stop people from going in a room. And as a bonus, she thought as she delved into her book, she got to find out whether Renaldo was the Masked Intruder or if he was merely the innocent, guitar- playing, well-muscled, devilishly-handsome and oh-so-sexy wandering bard who happened to show up wherever the Masked Intruder did.
Five minutes into Stephanie's sitting, Amanda and Rona approached carrying a loveseat.
"Can't go in," Stephanie said, standing.
"Buffy asked us to bring this up," Rona said.
"Uh..."
The door opened, much to Stephanie's relief.
"Oh, good," Giles said, when he poked his head out. "We were rather running out of sitting room."
Giles opened the door fully and allowed the two young slayers in, before promptly thanking and shooing them out after they had put the couch down. The door slammed shut behind them.
"What's going on in there?" Stephanie asked. These two girls had been with the Sunnydale group, and she thought they might have some insight.
"No idea," Amanda said, Rona also shrugging her ignorance.
Stephanie shrugged back at them and went back to her reading.
* * * * *
"No," Xander laughed, sitting on the newly-arrived loveseat he currently shared with Buffy, who was leaning comfortably against him. "It wasn't like that at all. It was more of a... I don't know... a scowl with an over-extended forehead. I don't think you have the brow for it, Wills. When Angel threatened me, it wasn't so much that I was scared of him as a vampire, it was more... I was afraid he'd headbutt me, and somehow I'd be stuck brooding for the rest of my life."
"Well, what do you expect?" Dawn asked, leaning back on Xander's bed with the aforementioned redhead. "She's not a vampire either."
"Oh, but I was!" Willow said.
"Mmm, yes, I recall," said Giles, tossing some popcorn into his mouth. He was in an abnormally jovial mood. "I believe I had nightmares about what I saw that night."
"I had dreams, too," Xander said, grinning. "I wouldn't classify them as nightmares though."
Buffy swatted at his thigh. "When did Angel ever threaten you, anyway?"
"What, other than when he offered me to Spike as a snack, or when he left me for dead in the street, or when he tried to kill me outside of your house but Drusilla stopped him?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "And besides, that last one was when he was Angelus."
"Ah," Xander said. "Which totally excuses it."
"Don't avoid the question," Giles said, interested. "When did Angel threaten you?"
"Well, if we're separating, I'm not sure *Angel* ever really did. I threatened him once, but that's beside the point."
"Whoa, wait, what?" Willow interrupted. "When was this?"
"When Buffy died the first time," Xander said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He grabbed the popcorn from Giles and took a handful, which he took turns feeding to himself and the room's resident slayer. "I went down to Angel's apartment, he accused me of being in love with her, of which I accused him right back, then stood with a cross aimed at him till he took us down to the Master's lair. I told you guys this."
A chorus of disagreements greeted him. "You never told us any of that," Buffy said. "Doofus."
"Sorry, I thought I had. I mean it was kind of a busy day," Xander said.
"So, if Angel didn't threaten you," Giles said, eating some more popcorn, "then Angelus did?"
Xander nodded again, to the confusion of most.
"Just when was this?" Willow asked, sternly. "And why am I all of a sudden thinking you've held a lot back from us?"
"I know when it was," Dawn said, smiling.
"You do?" Xander asked, confused.
"Uh huh. I was there."
"Wait, no way were you there," Xander said. "If you were there, where were you when you were where you weren't?"
"At the hospital," she said.
"You understood that?" Giles asked. The three young women around him all nodded. "I guess I really am showing my age."
"Awww!" the girls intoned. They all rushed to hug the elder man and lavish him with praises and reassurances.
Xander rolled his eyes. "Dirty old man," he said, smiling.
"You wish you had my skills," said Giles.
Silence reigned in the room for a moment, before everybody burst out laughing. Willow and Dawn resumed their positions on the bed, and Buffy hers by Xander.
"So what happened at the hospital?" Willow asked.
"Oh," Xander said. "I uh... well, there was – "
"Buffy had the flu, and Angelus showed up – with flowers, to either kill or turn her," Dawn said as though the question had been posed to her. Everyone else let her speak, as they knew she was more likely to give all the details than was Xander. "And so Xander's sitting there and he sees Angelus walk in, so he stands up, right? And then they talk back and forth, and Angelus says he's going to kill everyone, and Xander says basically go ahead and try, dickcheese..."
"I never said dickcheese," said Xander, as Buffy and Willow were chuckling.
"But the bit I remember was when Xander looks at Angel like he'd kill him right then and there, and Angel says... oh, what was it?"
"'You still love her,'" Xander said.
"Yeah," said Dawn, frowning. "There was more to it, though. Before and after." They all looked to Xander.
He coughed and smiled. "I think the full thing was uh... "He paused in order to drop his voice some, and add venom. 'Buffy's White Knight. You still love her. It must just eat you up that I got there first.'"
"Yeah, that's it," Dawn said, reconciling Xander's account with her memory.
"Wait, this was junior year?" Buffy asked.
"Uh huh," Xander said, nodding.
"When she had the flu," Willow said, thinking back to that time, "weren't you dating Cordelia?"
"Uh... yeah," Xander said.
Buffy was looking up at Xander, with a type of gaze he'd only seen from her once or twice before. "What did he say back?" Buffy asked.
Dawn smiled radiantly, her false-memory having returned to perfection. "He said, 'You're gonna die, and I'm gonna be there.'"
Buffy looked at Xander for another moment, then exchanged a glance with Willow as Giles watched the interaction with interest. Dawn watched as Xander glanced at the woman he was in love with, then away to the door.
"So," Dawn said, breaking the silence. "Any other adventures we don't know about?"
Xander shrugged. "I threatened to kill your sister once," he said. That made all three not involved in that particular incident sit up and take notice.
"You did what?" Giles asked.
"It's true," Buffy said, nodding solemnly. "It was actually the fall after I died – again, the first time. When those vampires kidnapped all you guys to resurrect the Master?"
"I recall being kidnapped and knocked unconscious," Giles said, Willow nodding along. "I fail to recall any death threats."
"It was very sweet," Buffy said. "Not, you know, at the time, but looking back, it was."
"Well, tell!" Willow said. "What happened?"
Buffy looked up at Xander, who shrugged.
"Okay, well it was like this," she said. "I had fallen for their ruse, and you guys got kidnapped by the other vamps. All except Xander, cuz he wasn't near the Master when he died. Right?"
"Um, yes, that's correct," said Giles.
"Well, I go back to the library as Xander's waking up, and I'm all distraught and asking him things, and I said 'Where would they have taken them?' And Xander looks at me for a second and says, in, I swear, one of the scariest moments of my life, he says 'If they hurt Willow, I'll kill you.' But they didn't, and we're all still alive, and nobody had to do any killing of Buffy."
Willow and Dawn were both looking at Xander with big puppy dog eyes, and Giles was cleaning his glasses.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," he said. Simultaneously, the girls got off the bed and gave him big hugs. Which he enjoyed.
"Xander," Willow said, "I think that is one of the sweetest things anybody's ever done for me."
"What is it," Xander said, looking directly at Giles, "that girls find so appealing about threatening to kill someone?"
"Xander, I am more than twice your age. I have had dealings with women all my life, women of all ages, shapes, sizes, religions, and ethnicities. I have dealt with women in positions of power, and women who were subordinate to me, and I have found only one constant between them."
Xander waited with rapt attention, ready to hear the information that would forever demystify women for him.
"Don't try to understand them. You will only be rewarded with a headache," Giles said.
Xander's face fell, and he leaned back on the loveseat, his arm surrounding Buffy's just-close-enough form, landing his hand comfortably on her hip.
"All right, so what about you, Giles?" Dawn asked. "Any secrets we don't know about?"
"That would be why they are called secrets, wouldn't it?" Giles asked. "But who's to say that we've heard all of Xander's?"
"Oh come on," Xander said, looking around nervously. "How many could I possibly have?"
Most everyone seemed content with that, but Willow gave him an odd look, before turning back to the conversation, which currently seemed to be interrogating Giles.
Xander looked around the room, each person with small bag of photographs near them. He couldn't remember a time since Sunnydale when the people he loved the most had looked so happy. And that made him happy.
"Hey," Buffy said, looking up at him.
"Yeah?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"You okay? You got all quiet all of a sudden."
Xander smiled down at her. "Yeah," he said, looking around the room again. "I'm good."
Buffy leaned up and kissed her friend on the cheek, then settled back into his side.
----------
End Chapter 3
There was a knock at his door.
"Yeah?"
The door opened and a blonde head popped inside. "You okay?" Buffy asked.
Xander was still panting. "Yeah," he said. "Just... nightmare."
Buffy slipped inside his room and sat down on his bed next to him. "What was it this time?" she asked, hugging him despite his sweat.
"I don't know," Xander said. "Can't remember. It was probably something about..." he glanced down at Buffy. "About a girl."
"Anya?" Buffy asked.
Xander shook his head. "No," he said. "It was..." he glanced away. "Someone else."
"Dawn?" Buffy asked.
Xander's head whipped around. "What? No! Why does everybody think --"
"Ethan," Buffy said simply.
Xander plastered his hands to his face and shoved himself back on his bed. "Dawn's in love with him, not me," Xander said. "I really wish... I want. People to stop doing that. Dawn and I are not in love, we just... we get along really well."
"Okay," Buffy said quietly, lying down next to him. The two friends lay there for a few minutes, silent.
"How'd you know I was up?" Xander asked.
"Faith heard you yelling in your sleep," Buffy said. "She would have come herself, but... she thought you'd want it to be one of us."
Xander rolled his head to the side and kissed Buffy softly on the forehead.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"Being my friend," he said. He felt her smile in the darkness, and the pair lay there for another minute, when there was another knock at the door.
"Yeah," Xander said. The door opened and Willow popped her head in.
"You disappeared," she said, pouting.
"I got caught up," Buffy said.
"Come on, Will, there's room for all three of us here," Xander said.
"No there isn't," she said.
Xander grinned. "There is if you both cuddle up close to me?"
Buffy swatted her friend on the arm, but complied by then moving herself even closer. Willow walked around the other side and lay down on the bed.
"See?" he said. "That's better."
"You just like having a couple of hotties in bed with you," Willow accused.
"Um. Does the word 'duh' have any meaning to you?" Xander said. Willow and Buffy chuckled. "I missed you guys," he said.
The pair nodded their agreement, and Xander lay in bed silently with his girls.
"You stink," Buffy said.
"It's the sweat," Xander explained. "I should shower."
The two girls nodded. Vigorously.
"Okay," he said, sitting up and sliding off the bottom of the bed. He walked over to the wall and flipped the light switch, eliciting annoyed groans from the girls. "I'm gonna shower. You girls gonna be here when I get back?"
"No, I need to sleep," Buffy said. "Some of us didn't take four hour naps in the middle of the day."
Willow stuck her tongue out at the blonde. "I'll be here," she said. "We were just watching some TV."
Xander smiled at his redheaded best friend. "Okay," he said. "I'll be back soon. Night Buff."
Xander grabbed his towel and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door most of the way behind him. Buffy said goodnight to Willow and went off to her own room. Willow took the opportunity to do a little snooping. Hearing the water running and Xander singing – tunelessly – in the shower, Willow looked around Xander's room. Framed pictures of herself, Buffy, Dawn, Tara and Anya sat atop his dresser, as well as a picture of the whole group in the Magic Box. Willow decided it must have been taken by Riley, and she wondered where he got them. She was pretty sure they hadn't been there when she left on her last trip.
Moving away from his dresser, Willow looked around the rest of the room and found it to be sparsely decorated. Deciding that further investigation was needed, she paused for a moment to make sure she could still hear the water running, then went down on her knees and started looking under his bed.
Shoving aside a box of comic books, and a box of CD's, she found what she was *really* looking for; Xander's stash of porn. Pulling out what magazines she could find, Willow started flipping through them, looking, due to interest in Xander that she was recently made aware of, for any trends in what the girls looked like.
She didn't find any.
But she did notice that the pages of the magazines weren't worn at all. They were stuck together not by what most would expect, but by static electricity, built up from disuse. In fact, the more she looked at the magazines, the more she felt this was precisely the first time they had been touched since they were purchased.
Willow frowned, put the porn back under the bed and got up to look around some more. She found books, everything from a single encyclopedia volume to Neuromancer, to a surprisingly worn out copy of 1984. Willow looked finally at Xander's walls, which were bare except for a single poster from a Maroon 5 concert the Original Sunnydale crew had attended – sans Giles.
She turned back to the pictures on his dresser, and picked up his picture of Tara. She smiled while looking at it, and rubbed her thumb over Tara's face lovingly.
"Andrew found those," Xander said from behind her. She jumped and dropped the frame on the ground, the glass shattering.
"Oh no!" she cried, crouching down to pick up the pieces. "Oh, Goddess, I've ruined it. Oh, Xander, I'm so sorry, I didn't –"
"Hey," he said, crouching down next to her, wearing naught but a towel. Xander grasped her wrist gently with one hand, and tilting her head up to him with his other. He saw tears streaming down her face.
"Hey, it's okay," he said gently.
"No, it was the last picture... of her, I didn't have... any..."
Xander stood her up and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay, sweetie," he said, embracing the young woman gently. "Like I was about to say, Andrew found out the Magic Box website was still up. Apparently Anya bought like a five-year contract or something, and the server space wasn't in Sunnydale. She had pictures of all of us on the site for... in case anything happened to us."
"Really?" Willow asked.
"I promise," Xander said. He walked over to his footlocker, kicked it open, reached inside and grabbed a bag. "I had him print them out on photo paper while you guys were gone. Took 'em to a store and got a whole set framed for everyone." He walked over to his best friend and handed her the bag.
Willow wiped away her tears and took the bag, opening it slowly. She reached inside and pulled out a framed picture of Tara, and then one of Xander.
"I was gonna give 'em to you guys tomorrow, but... I figure now's a good time."
"Oh, Xander," she said, throwing her arms around him. "You are the bestest best friend I could ever have. I love you."
"Love you too, Wills," he said, smiling at the embrace.
"Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"Your towel's slipping."
"I noticed."
"Gonna do something about that?"
"When I can figure out how to extricate myself from this situation with some semblance of dignity intact, yes."
"How about I close my eyes?"
"I can see that working."
Willow closed her eyes, felt Xander disengage from the hug and back away.
"Okay," Xander said a few moments later. Willow opened her eyes and saw Xander in front of her wearing his gym shorts. "Much better," he said.
Willow smiled at him and lay back down on his bed, pulling out the rest of the photographs. "These were all on the website?"
"Yeah," Xander said, sitting next to her. "There's a couple others that aren't as good quality. I think one of Riley, and maybe even Spike. Didn't bother with those."
"Mmm," Willow muttered, leaning into her friend. Willow snuggled up to him, nestling her head into his shoulder.
"Hey Will?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you ever think what might have happened... if we had ever gotten our timing right?"
"Mmm," she responded. Xander looked down and saw the redhead asleep on his torso. Xander chuckled.
"Always asleep when I say the important stuff," he said. Xander leaned down, kissed her softly on her forehead and turned off his bedside lamp and passed into a peaceful, dreamless sleep that, somehow, smelled of strawberries.
* * * * *
"Move it along," Andrew said quietly.
"What?" Kennedy asked.
"Keep moving without disturbing anything," Andrew said, urgently. "And don't knock."
"Why not?" she asked, turning on the young man.
"Because you're not allowed in there, and nobody is to be disturbing the occupants of the room," Andrew whispered.
"Since when am I supposed to listen to you?" she asked, cattily.
"Since his orders come from me."
Kennedy closed her eyes and turned around to find Faith standing behind her, arms crossed over her breasts.
"Help ya with something?" Faith asked.
"I... uh, my shelf. Fell."
"New or old?" Faith asked.
"It was there before we bought this place," Kennedy said.
"You mean before Giles did," Andrew said, having gained confidence from Faith's presence.
Kennedy whipped her head back around and glared. Andrew withered under her stare and sat down next to the door.
"Kennedy," Faith said, drawing the younger slayer's attention back to her. "Either learn to use a hammer, or wait until later."
"But –"
"But nothin'. You don't get to go in that room, or disturb anybody who does."
"Like who, for instance?" Kennedy asked, indignantly.
"Hey guys," Buffy said, skipping up to the door like a little kid. She saw the staring match between Kennedy and Faith. "Problem?"
"Handled," Faith said, not taking her eyes off the young Slayer.
"Good," said Buffy. She patted Andrew on the head, turned the knob and went inside.
Kennedy frowned. "How come –"
"Andy," Faith said. "Kennedy needs a history lesson."
Kennedy's eyes shot wide. "No. I don't. Really. I'm good."
"Oh, sure you do," Faith said, smiling at the younger woman. "After all... there will be a test."
Kennedy groaned. Andrew stood and ran off to his room to get his materials to teach the History of the Scooby Gang. He returned a minute later with some papers, a number of transparencies and even a self-published book. Kennedy sent one last, pleading look at Faith, who merely smiled at her. Kennedy groaned and followed the young nerd to one of the conference rooms on the first floor.
And then Faith realized her dilemma. She wanted to keep people from going in the room, but doing so was really, really boring, and she wanted to hit something right about now.
"Stephanie!" she called out. A young slayer who was walking down the stairs with a group of other girls turned at Faith's call. The blonde girl turned to her friends for a second, then jogged over to Faith.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Chores," Faith said. "You're off for a week if you take this job."
The girl's eyes lit up. "What's the job?"
"Nobody but the M.I.C. goes in this room," Faith said. "Not Robin, or Andrew or anybody. Got me?"
Stephanie nodded. She knew very well who the 'Mega Inner Circle' contained. "How long?"
"'Til they come out," Faith said. "Andrew finishes up Kennedy's lesson and wants to take back over, that's fine."
"Kennedy has a lesson?" Stephanie asked.
"History."
Stephanie winced in sympathy for the girl. "Sure," she said. "Can I go grab a book first?"
Faith nodded and waited until the girl returned before heading off to the gym. Stephanie actually didn't mind the job. She got out of chores for a week and all she had to do was stop people from going in a room. And as a bonus, she thought as she delved into her book, she got to find out whether Renaldo was the Masked Intruder or if he was merely the innocent, guitar- playing, well-muscled, devilishly-handsome and oh-so-sexy wandering bard who happened to show up wherever the Masked Intruder did.
Five minutes into Stephanie's sitting, Amanda and Rona approached carrying a loveseat.
"Can't go in," Stephanie said, standing.
"Buffy asked us to bring this up," Rona said.
"Uh..."
The door opened, much to Stephanie's relief.
"Oh, good," Giles said, when he poked his head out. "We were rather running out of sitting room."
Giles opened the door fully and allowed the two young slayers in, before promptly thanking and shooing them out after they had put the couch down. The door slammed shut behind them.
"What's going on in there?" Stephanie asked. These two girls had been with the Sunnydale group, and she thought they might have some insight.
"No idea," Amanda said, Rona also shrugging her ignorance.
Stephanie shrugged back at them and went back to her reading.
* * * * *
"No," Xander laughed, sitting on the newly-arrived loveseat he currently shared with Buffy, who was leaning comfortably against him. "It wasn't like that at all. It was more of a... I don't know... a scowl with an over-extended forehead. I don't think you have the brow for it, Wills. When Angel threatened me, it wasn't so much that I was scared of him as a vampire, it was more... I was afraid he'd headbutt me, and somehow I'd be stuck brooding for the rest of my life."
"Well, what do you expect?" Dawn asked, leaning back on Xander's bed with the aforementioned redhead. "She's not a vampire either."
"Oh, but I was!" Willow said.
"Mmm, yes, I recall," said Giles, tossing some popcorn into his mouth. He was in an abnormally jovial mood. "I believe I had nightmares about what I saw that night."
"I had dreams, too," Xander said, grinning. "I wouldn't classify them as nightmares though."
Buffy swatted at his thigh. "When did Angel ever threaten you, anyway?"
"What, other than when he offered me to Spike as a snack, or when he left me for dead in the street, or when he tried to kill me outside of your house but Drusilla stopped him?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "And besides, that last one was when he was Angelus."
"Ah," Xander said. "Which totally excuses it."
"Don't avoid the question," Giles said, interested. "When did Angel threaten you?"
"Well, if we're separating, I'm not sure *Angel* ever really did. I threatened him once, but that's beside the point."
"Whoa, wait, what?" Willow interrupted. "When was this?"
"When Buffy died the first time," Xander said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He grabbed the popcorn from Giles and took a handful, which he took turns feeding to himself and the room's resident slayer. "I went down to Angel's apartment, he accused me of being in love with her, of which I accused him right back, then stood with a cross aimed at him till he took us down to the Master's lair. I told you guys this."
A chorus of disagreements greeted him. "You never told us any of that," Buffy said. "Doofus."
"Sorry, I thought I had. I mean it was kind of a busy day," Xander said.
"So, if Angel didn't threaten you," Giles said, eating some more popcorn, "then Angelus did?"
Xander nodded again, to the confusion of most.
"Just when was this?" Willow asked, sternly. "And why am I all of a sudden thinking you've held a lot back from us?"
"I know when it was," Dawn said, smiling.
"You do?" Xander asked, confused.
"Uh huh. I was there."
"Wait, no way were you there," Xander said. "If you were there, where were you when you were where you weren't?"
"At the hospital," she said.
"You understood that?" Giles asked. The three young women around him all nodded. "I guess I really am showing my age."
"Awww!" the girls intoned. They all rushed to hug the elder man and lavish him with praises and reassurances.
Xander rolled his eyes. "Dirty old man," he said, smiling.
"You wish you had my skills," said Giles.
Silence reigned in the room for a moment, before everybody burst out laughing. Willow and Dawn resumed their positions on the bed, and Buffy hers by Xander.
"So what happened at the hospital?" Willow asked.
"Oh," Xander said. "I uh... well, there was – "
"Buffy had the flu, and Angelus showed up – with flowers, to either kill or turn her," Dawn said as though the question had been posed to her. Everyone else let her speak, as they knew she was more likely to give all the details than was Xander. "And so Xander's sitting there and he sees Angelus walk in, so he stands up, right? And then they talk back and forth, and Angelus says he's going to kill everyone, and Xander says basically go ahead and try, dickcheese..."
"I never said dickcheese," said Xander, as Buffy and Willow were chuckling.
"But the bit I remember was when Xander looks at Angel like he'd kill him right then and there, and Angel says... oh, what was it?"
"'You still love her,'" Xander said.
"Yeah," said Dawn, frowning. "There was more to it, though. Before and after." They all looked to Xander.
He coughed and smiled. "I think the full thing was uh... "He paused in order to drop his voice some, and add venom. 'Buffy's White Knight. You still love her. It must just eat you up that I got there first.'"
"Yeah, that's it," Dawn said, reconciling Xander's account with her memory.
"Wait, this was junior year?" Buffy asked.
"Uh huh," Xander said, nodding.
"When she had the flu," Willow said, thinking back to that time, "weren't you dating Cordelia?"
"Uh... yeah," Xander said.
Buffy was looking up at Xander, with a type of gaze he'd only seen from her once or twice before. "What did he say back?" Buffy asked.
Dawn smiled radiantly, her false-memory having returned to perfection. "He said, 'You're gonna die, and I'm gonna be there.'"
Buffy looked at Xander for another moment, then exchanged a glance with Willow as Giles watched the interaction with interest. Dawn watched as Xander glanced at the woman he was in love with, then away to the door.
"So," Dawn said, breaking the silence. "Any other adventures we don't know about?"
Xander shrugged. "I threatened to kill your sister once," he said. That made all three not involved in that particular incident sit up and take notice.
"You did what?" Giles asked.
"It's true," Buffy said, nodding solemnly. "It was actually the fall after I died – again, the first time. When those vampires kidnapped all you guys to resurrect the Master?"
"I recall being kidnapped and knocked unconscious," Giles said, Willow nodding along. "I fail to recall any death threats."
"It was very sweet," Buffy said. "Not, you know, at the time, but looking back, it was."
"Well, tell!" Willow said. "What happened?"
Buffy looked up at Xander, who shrugged.
"Okay, well it was like this," she said. "I had fallen for their ruse, and you guys got kidnapped by the other vamps. All except Xander, cuz he wasn't near the Master when he died. Right?"
"Um, yes, that's correct," said Giles.
"Well, I go back to the library as Xander's waking up, and I'm all distraught and asking him things, and I said 'Where would they have taken them?' And Xander looks at me for a second and says, in, I swear, one of the scariest moments of my life, he says 'If they hurt Willow, I'll kill you.' But they didn't, and we're all still alive, and nobody had to do any killing of Buffy."
Willow and Dawn were both looking at Xander with big puppy dog eyes, and Giles was cleaning his glasses.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," he said. Simultaneously, the girls got off the bed and gave him big hugs. Which he enjoyed.
"Xander," Willow said, "I think that is one of the sweetest things anybody's ever done for me."
"What is it," Xander said, looking directly at Giles, "that girls find so appealing about threatening to kill someone?"
"Xander, I am more than twice your age. I have had dealings with women all my life, women of all ages, shapes, sizes, religions, and ethnicities. I have dealt with women in positions of power, and women who were subordinate to me, and I have found only one constant between them."
Xander waited with rapt attention, ready to hear the information that would forever demystify women for him.
"Don't try to understand them. You will only be rewarded with a headache," Giles said.
Xander's face fell, and he leaned back on the loveseat, his arm surrounding Buffy's just-close-enough form, landing his hand comfortably on her hip.
"All right, so what about you, Giles?" Dawn asked. "Any secrets we don't know about?"
"That would be why they are called secrets, wouldn't it?" Giles asked. "But who's to say that we've heard all of Xander's?"
"Oh come on," Xander said, looking around nervously. "How many could I possibly have?"
Most everyone seemed content with that, but Willow gave him an odd look, before turning back to the conversation, which currently seemed to be interrogating Giles.
Xander looked around the room, each person with small bag of photographs near them. He couldn't remember a time since Sunnydale when the people he loved the most had looked so happy. And that made him happy.
"Hey," Buffy said, looking up at him.
"Yeah?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"You okay? You got all quiet all of a sudden."
Xander smiled down at her. "Yeah," he said, looking around the room again. "I'm good."
Buffy leaned up and kissed her friend on the cheek, then settled back into his side.
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End Chapter 3