Stephanie awoke with a shudder, and looked up into a pair of inquisitive green eyes.

"Hey," Willow said.

"Oh, hi," Stephanie replied. "Sorry, I... fell asleep."

"That's okay," Willow said. "What were you doing out here, anyway?"

"Oh, uh, Faith asked me to uh... make sure nobody disturbed you guys," she said. Stephanie stood up and stretched out her muscles a bit. "What time is it?"

"Almost dinner time," Willow said. "You can go now, we're pretty much all done in here."

"Okay," she said. "Um. Do you mind my asking what... was going on in there?"

Willow smiled at the girl. "Just some old friends getting reacquainted."

Stephanie smiled back at her, nodded, and walked off.

Willow stepped back into the room where Dawn and Xander were sitting on the foot of the bed doggedly attempting to kill as many aliens as possible. Halo was the game of the hour.

"Ha!" Dawn half-whispered. "Your warthog is mine!"

"I got gunner!" Xander said, mashing some buttons down on his own controller. Willow smiled at the odd faces Xander made while playing. Looking down on the loveseat, she saw Buffy passed out and curled in an adorable little ball, covered by Xander's jacket. Giles was sleeping on Xander's bed. Seeing no other viable seating options, Willow walked over to the foot of the bed and sat on the floor, leaning herself up against Xander's legs.

Xander barely noticed the extra pressure on his legs, though he was aware of Willow's proximity. He idly played with her hair during a lull in the on- screen action.

"Hey, guys," Faith said, poking her head in the door.

Xander and Dawn waved distractedly at the dark-haired slayer.

"Hey, Faith," Willow said. "What's up?"

"Just to inform, dinner's ready in ten. Andrew cooked somethin' wicked, smells like heaven," she said.

"Okay," Willow said. "We'll be down soon."

Faith nodded once and retreated from the room.

"Hey guys?" Willow said.

"Yeah?" Xander asked.

"I think we should wake everyone up. It's almost dinner time."

"AH!" Xander yelled as his character died. "You just shot Church you team- killing fucktard!" This sent Dawn into a fit of giggling.

Giles and Buffy woke from their slumbers as Dawn chuckled malevolently.

"What was it you said, Will?" Xander asked as he attempted to respawn.

"Never mind," she said. "It's taken care of. And really, fucktard?"

"She killed me!" Xander said, shouldering the young girl playfully. "And on purpose."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dawn said, looking every bit the precious innocent. Xander's character died again.

"That's it," he said, dropping his controller on the ground. "I give up. Did I hear something about food?"

Willow laughed at his predictability. "Yes," she said. "Faith said dinner's almost ready."

"Dinner?" Giles asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Is it so late already?"

"You were asleep for almost an hour, G-man," Xander said as Dawn respawned his character for him and killed it yet again. "What are you doing?" he asked the girl.

"I need the ammo," she explained.

Xander grinned evilly, causing Dawn to frown. He tapped Willow on the shoulder, and the redhead leaned forward and turned off the power on the console.

"Oh, no fair," Dawn said, shoving Xander away from her.

"Hey, I didn't turn it off," he said.

"Yeah, but you did that not talking with thing with Willow, and she did it, so I blame you."

"Yeah, but it's just as well," Buffy said. "It's food time."

"Correct!" Xander said. He stood suddenly, then leaned down and hooked his arms under Willow's shoulders and lifted her into the air with surprising ease. Willow gasped at her sudden airborne state, then smiled when Xander dropped one of his arms to her knees.

"Come, my lady," he said, cradling her in his arms. "It is time to slay yonder feast."

Xander carried her out the door and down the stairs, before setting her down at in the hallway. He looked back up the stairs and saw Dawn herding a still-tired Slayer/Watcher combo out his door.

"Come on, Wills," he said. "Let's go get us the good seats."

"Hey," she said, stopping him for a moment. "The other day... what was wrong?"

Xander smiled genuinely at her. "Doesn't matter anymore," he said.

They went to dinner.

* * * * *

"Hey, guy."

Xander looked over his shoulder to see a petite blonde approaching. "Hey, Buff," he said, turning back around.

"Whatcha doin?"

"Lookin' at stars," he said, tipping his bottle up to the sky.

"Mind some company?"

"Not at all," he said, smiling as the petite young woman stood next to him at the railing. "What's up?"

Buffy sighed. "Do you miss Anya?"

"Yeah," he said looking down at his friend. "Of course I do. Why?"

"Well," she said. "I worry about you, you know? You're... in a bad mood a lot, lately. And there's all these girls who have a serious lust on for you, and yet you remain celibate..."

"A serious lust on..." he said, chuckling. "Okay. Well, contrary to popular belief, I may have grown up enough to not just have sex with anybody offering."

"No, I know... but, Xander, some of these girls aren't that much younger than you... how come you haven't even, you know, dated one of them. You've never even gone out on one date."

Xander smiled at his friend's concern. "Checking up on me, Summers?" he asked.

"Well, my sister has apparently become the font of all things Xander, so I thought I'd take a drink from her spout..." Buffy frowned. "That sounds really bad."

"Yes, it does," Xander said.

"So how come with the not dating? I mean, I thought you had... kind of... gotten past the Anya thing," Buffy said.

"I have," Xander said. "But, I don't just want to go in to something because of a hot girl. If I did, you can bet Vi would be out here instead of you. I..." he sighed and shrugged. "It needs to be a right girl."

"A right girl," Buffy repeated. "Okay."

"So who are you out here snooping for?" he asked.

"How do you know I'm not out here for me?" she asked.

"If you are," he said, "it will be the shock of my life."

"Well, suppose I am out here for me," she said. "Say I wanted to be the girl in your life. What would you say?"

Xander was silent for a minute. Buffy was content to stand close to him, taking his warmth as she always had, and wait for his answer. Feeling her shiver a little in the cool Cleveland night air, he pulled her in a little closer, a gesture she loved him for.

"I think," he said finally, "that if you wanted to be the girl in my life, I would have little choice but to let you. And I think that the two of us would be happy together, living a good life. We'd have kids, and they'd grow up to be beautiful and smart, and probably good with hammers. It would be a good life."

"But it's not the one you want," she said, a sad note to her voice. Xander stayed silent in response. "So who, then, if not me?"

Xander smiled. "I've got a deal for you. You tell me who you're out here for, I'll tell you if that's who."

"Still don't think I was out here for me?" she asked.

Xander shook his head.

"How come?"

"A feeling," he said.

"What kind of a feeling?" she asked, pulling herself even closer to him and purposely rubbing her leg up his. "Was it a sexy feeling?"

Xander looked down at the girl, a wry smile on his face. "You're really trying to convince me."

"Is it working?"

Xander made a point of checking the front of his pants. "Well, you've got one vote."

Buffy laughed and smacked him on the arm, then buried her face in his shoulder. "Oh, you did not just do that."

"I actually think I did. I blame the beer," he said, laughing. Xander sighed.

"So, really, though, what kind of a feeling was it?"

"This afternoon, when you asked me how I was. I had looked around and saw everyone I loved most in that room. Everyone who had been my life for the last decade, and for the first time... I just, I got the feeling that everything was going to work out right. Not just good, or okay, but right. Like how it should have been."

"And that doesn't mean me?"

Xander turned to the girl, picked her up by her armpits and set her down on the railing.

"Buffy," he said very seriously. "I love you. I don't want you ever to doubt that. I meant what I said earlier. I think that if you and I were together, we would be very happy, and we'd have great kids."

"But it's not me," she said, hanging her head.

Xander placed his finger under her chin, and lifted her head up so their eyes met, and was surprised to find genuine tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Hey, I'm sorry. I really thought you weren't here for you. I..."

"Still meant everything you said," she mumbled, wiping tears from her eyes. "And, I wasn't out here for me. I just... what you said, it sounded nice, and I all of a sudden wanted that."

"Yeah," he said. "But not with me, you don't."

"Oh, how do you know?"

Xander smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "I know," he said simply.

Buffy laughed. "Yeah. I guess you would. And besides, have you seen the guns on the UPS guy?"

Xander looked at his friend, head cocked to one side. "The UPS guy?"

"Oh yeah," she said, drawing the words out with a dreamy look in her eyes. "He will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine."

"Somebody's been a bad influence on you, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't me."

Xander shook his head and wiped away one last tear with his thumb, and pressed his forehead to hers. "You are a beautiful young woman, Ms. Summers, and are going to make some guy very happy one day very soon."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said. "And hey, if neither of us gets our dream, I'm not opposed to some friends-with-benefits sex. You're still a hottie."

Buffy looked at him with false indignity.

"It's the beer, what can I say?"

"Yeah, and don't think I didn't notice that bottle says IBC."

"I uh..."

"What do you want me to do about the girl?" she asked, hopping off the railing.

"What girl?"

"The girl I came out here for, dummy."

"Oh," he said. "If you can't tell me, tell Dawn. She'll confirm or deny. And tell her I said it's shiny."

"Shiny?" Buffy asked.

"Trust me."

"Okay. And, how come you can't just tell me who it is?"

"Gotta make you work for something, Buff," he said. "And if it is the girl, and, by the way, I'm fairly sure it isn't, tell her that I like to be woken up by a naked woman."

"Wait," Buffy said. "You have a feeling things will work out right, but you don't think this is the one?"

"I said they'll work out right. I never said when."

Buffy smiled at him and nodded her head back at the house. "Wanna escort a girl back inside?"

"No, I need a few more minutes out here."

"Okay," she said. Buffy leaned up and kissed Xander gently on the lips, surprising him.

"Wha..."

Buffy smiled and winked. "For luck."

Xander smiled, watched the young woman who had been the focus of so many of his adolescent fantasies walk back inside, and looked back to the sky. He was surprised to see a meteor shoot across the sky.

Xander knew some people wished on falling stars, but he knew first hand how dangerous a wish could be. Best not to tempt fate, he thought. A second meteor shot across the sky, and he thought maybe someone was trying to send him a message, but the rogue rock had vanished by the time he decided what to do.

The third meteor made up his mind. He muttered a simple wish...

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End Chapter 4