Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. I do not.

Title: The Prices We Pay: Chapter 4

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Feedback: While it will get done (eventually) anyway, let me know if you like it, hmm?

Rating: Yeah, you guessed it: R

Notes: I know the last chapter was short, but I thought it would be good to finish there. I'm glad you're all enjoying it, and aren't tearing holes in the sorry excuse for a plotline… as I think I said before, as fast as one hole gets patched, another pops up. But anyway, I'm in shock! One measly 700-word chapter got me another 5 reviews!! Thanks people!

*

Xander woke up slowly, consciousness slipping sedately into his head. The first thing he noticed was that he was not in his room. The next thing he noticed was that he was not in the gutter, where he should have been given the fact that his father threw him out.

The silk sheets of the bed whispered as he drew them back and sat up. Looking down, he quickly drew the sheets up again.

He was in a strange house, in a large four-poster bed, with silk sheets, in the nude. Fortunately, no one was in the room.

"Good morning, Xander…" sounded a decidedly feminine voice from in the bathroom attached.

Xander looked around in shock, and re-evaluated his surroundings. OK, he was in an unknown house, in a four-poster bed, probably big enough for four people, let along two, and Xander knew full well that he didn't move around much at night, so the rumpled sheets was not his doing.

He was in an unknown house, in an unknown bed, with silk sheets, and a woman had spent the night with him.

"Darla?" he called out, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

Her head poked round the door. "Yeah?"

Xander breathed a sigh of relief. That was, at least, until he realised the reason she wasn't coming out completely was that she was probably nude as well. Her shoulder certainly looked as if nothing was on under it. It was one of those weird things that you could just tell.

The Zeppo, and a drop-dead-gorgeous blonde had spent the night in the same bed. In the same state of dress as well, or it could be undress if you wanted to be pedantic.

God, that would feed his nightly fantasies for months.

Suddenly the sound of water flowing shut off, and Darla walked out of the bathroom with nothing more on than a skimpy towel. Xander didn't really want to look, out of decencies sake, but his teenage hormones took control.

Darla stood in the doorway, with a curious little half smile on her lips. Oh god, her lips. But that was definitely not what teen hormones focussed on.

Xander's eyes travelled lower. The towel she had on seemed barely big enough, wrapped tight enough to show every curve she possessed, and stopping barely below an area Xander would have dearly loved to see, but would have hated himself if he had.

Xander's eyes continued lower, following her seemingly never ending legs. Flawless, without blemish or any imperfection, they matched the rest of the blonde vision who had not only rescued him from a vampire, but also from his abusive parents.

Looking up at her face again, Xander saw the threads of freshly washed and still wet blonde hair. He couldn't stop himself from uttering an audible, "Wow…"

Darla just smiled all the wider at the unconscious sound of appreciation. Dead four hundred years and they still go for you… go me!

As Xander tried to get out of the bed, then realised, seconds to late that he was still naked, it was Darla's turn to be pleasantly surprised. I can't half pick them. First Angelus, and now Xander… yummy!

Xander quickly gather up the silk sheet as he realised his blunder, but Darla brushed it off. "Don't worry about it, you haven't got anything I haven't seen before…"

Xander's eyes widened at this bit of news, but he nodded and headed to the bathroom himself, with the sheet still around him, trying desperately to recover what little dignity he had left.

As the door shut behind him, Darla smiled widely. "Oh, boy. This is going to be fun…" she whispered to herself.

*

Xander stood dumbstruck in the bathroom, with the silk sheet pooling around his feet. Shivering as the only thing between him and an extremely cold bathroom slipped to the floor, Xander realised that he had better have a shower and visit the gang at school, never mind going to school itself. His grades were low enough at that moment in time to make it questionable whether he was going to graduate at all, let alone get grades high enough to let him do anything other than wait in McDonalds for the rest of his natural.

Having come to a decision in the few months since he knew Buffy was the Slayer, Xander had chosen to help his friends survive, at the expense of his future. His brain did not need much convincing that his life expectancy was now numbered in months rather than decades since every time Buffy got in trouble, he did the foolish but gallant job of jumping in the way, against all odds to rescue her.

Most of the time, it worked, but also most of the time; he ended up badly hurt.

Darla's voice coming through the door broke him out of his reverie. "Xander? Are you actually doing anything in there?" Darla paused for a second. "Or do you want help?" her voice was mischievous now.

"Uh…" Xander tried hard to engage some sort of rational thought in his head. "No, no… I'll be fine… don't need any help… no sir!" The mental train derailment by Darla made him realise that he was going to be late if he didn't hurry.

Forgoing the shower, Xander washed and winced as he touched the large bruise on his stomach. "I'm gonna feel that for a few days…" he murmured. Picking up the sheet from the floor, Xander opened the door and walked out, to be confronted by a nearly naked rear end…

*

As soon as Darla's sensitive hearing picked up the fact that the water had stopped from the taps, she quickly pulled on a pair of panties and turned around. Letting the boy catch me completely naked may be slightly too obvious… As the door opened, she started to pull on the matching bra.

*

Xander's mind went into overload as he walked out of the bathroom to see a decidedly female form clad in nothing more than bra and panties. "Uh…"

Darla finished closing the bra and turned around, unashamed of her body. Well, she had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. "What?" she asked.

Xander shook his head. "Uh… nothing… I guess. Are you gonna stay in here while I get changed?" he sounded as if the answer he longed for would also be the answer he least wanted.

"Well," smiled Darla, "you've seen me, so its only fair that I get to see you…" she flicked her eyes down. "Although I can already see plenty. And I like what I see."

Xander's face flushed the deepest shade of crimson Darla had ever seen, and the sheer amount of blood obviously present in his face sent the demon in Darla into a paroxysm of pleasure.

"I… uh… I'd better… get dressed…" Xander stammered his way through the excuse and rushed to pick up his clothes without losing his sheet, and increasing his embarrassment. Darla merely stood and watched as he rushed around, fighting a sheet that wanted to fall, his own evident arousal, and the clock all at once.

*

Five minutes later, Xander caromed out of the mansion and down the street heading for school. Darla stood and watched him go, a large smile on her beautiful vampiric features.

She stood, talking quietly to herself. "If it's this easy, I should have him in a matter of weeks, if not before." Turned and heading back to her bedroom, avoiding the patches of sunlight on the floor, Darla continued, "and did you see him? I'm going to have so much fun with that boy!"

*