In a hospital bed down the hall from Giles lay a young, newly-shaven, man with a large dressing round his head. Xander was just waking up from the effects of the anaesthetic. His eyes didn't want to focus. All he saw was a misty cloud of colour. After a few blinks his eyes began to work and the blurry images before him sharpened to reveal Willow standing by the window and Dawn sitting on a chair by the left side of his bed. That's his left on the opposite side of the room to the window and in front of the door, which currently was closed. Willow had her back to Xander and so didn't notice his newly acquired consciousness but Dawn, who had been counting the number of crumbs under the bed, looked up and involuntary emitted a squeal of job. She leapt forward and engulfed the surprised Xander in a hug causing him to emit his own sound akin to a man being hit in the crown jewels by a particularly well-struck cricket ball, or baseball for our American cousins. "Okay Dawnie." He said.
Dawn didn't move. "Okay Dawn." He said again this time slightly pushing her again in an attempt to get enough room to breathe.
She got the message. "Oh, sorry." And reluctantly dragged herself off him.
Meanwhile Willow had moved away from the window and stood by Xander's bed with tears in her eyes. They shared a look in which neither spoke but much was said. Then she threw herself at him and clutched him in an embrace tight enough to kill a small vole. He emitted his sound again. After a few seconds of embrace Xander gently said, "Okay, Willow."
She relinquished her grip and half-apologising went back to standing by his bed.
Xander was confronted with the image of two teary-eyed girls compassionately looking down upon him. Actually Dawn had something slightly more than compassion in her eyes and that kind of freaked him out. He couldn't make eye contact with her and didn't quite know why. "So, am I going to be okay?" He said trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
"Yeah." Said Willow. "The doctors said you are going to be fine. 23 stitches and a concussion, that's all."
"23 stitches? Cool." Xander said feeling the back of his head.
The two girls smiled. There was silence. Not an uncomfortable silence more one out of relief. Xander got suspicious, "Did something happen during the operation?"
Both girls suddenly found something more important to look at than him. Willow chose a mysterious brown patch on the ceiling and Dawn discovered three holes drilled into the wall about a foot off the floor. "Did something happen during the operation?" Xander repeated with more urgency.
Willow looked at Dawn and Dawn looked at Willow then they both looked at Xander. "Well." Said Willow. "There was a problem."
"Yeah, a problem." Added Dawn.
"A problem?" Said Xander, his eyes widening. "What kind of problem?"
"Well." Said Willow again. "Um…you see…here's the thing…"
"You died." Blurted out Dawn.
"I died!?!" Xander kind of shrieked
"Yeah." Whispered Willow in as gentle a voice as she could manage at the time.
"I died!?!" Said Xander in even more of shrieked.
"But only for a few seconds." Said Dawn.
"I died!?!"
"They brought you back right away." Continued Dawn.
"I was dead?"
"They said it wouldn't effect you. You know, permanently."
Willow sat down on the bed and softly stroked Xander's arm. "Xander…?"
"Let me get this straight. I died?"
"Just a little." Said Willow.
At this point the door opened and Buffy stepped in. She saw that Xander was awake and produced a sound very similar to Dawn's squeal. She raced across the room and flung herself at him, holding him in a clinch of Slayer proportion. Xander didn't make a sound. After a few moments he whispered very quietly into her ear, "I died."
She whispered back, "I know."
Then she released him from her grip and stood next to Dawn. There was silence.
"At least you can't use that 'I died' excuse to avoid cleaning the dishes." He said looking straight at Buffy.
She smiled. "I died twice."
Xander put a hand up to his face and noticed his lack of facial hair. "Hey, who shaved my beard?"
"Err…that was a collective decision." Said Willow.