Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.

A/N: To those who reviewed, thanks for doing so! I hope you'll review and like this chapter as well. To all others, please review (thanks for reading anyway)! By the way, this is set just after the end of the last chapter.

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At least no one asked them to talk. Although many people hadn't been that close to Willow, everybody knew Cordelia and consequently, who she hung out with. People lost friends very often, but two in two days was a first. Teachers, with sad, pitying looks, asked them no questions and Harmony even told the 'Harmettes' not to bother them for a while. All in all, it had been a pretty quiet day.

What was there to say anyway?

The four 'survivors' now walked towards the gates, still not talking. Surprisingly, it was Oz who broke the silence, as they passed through them.

'See you tomorrow, guys,' he said, turning right. All the others went to the left so they had to split up. Well, Cordelia used to turn right too…

'What? No, wait, I should walk you guys home,' said Buffy, concern passing through the numbness.

'It's OK, Buffy, sunset's not until 6:37.'

'Wow, precise-much?' she remarked, amused.

'Well, you do tend to know these things when you're expecting to turn into a flesh-eating, mutant, pseudo-wolf creature three times a month as soon as the Sun goes down.'

Buffy laughed. But she stopped abruptly.

'Still, I should walk you home.'

'Nah, you heard him, Buff, that's OK. You go home. I think even murder-boy wouldn't consider combustion a valid un-life choice.'

'You never kn-'

'Geez, Buff, really, would it make much of a difference?' Xander snapped at her.

Buffy stopped walking.

'What do you mean?' she said, her voice wavering.

'Well, it's not exactly like you're helping much, is it?' and without a backward glance, he walked away, wondering at his little outburst. Where the hell had that come from? Not that he wasn't right, but he'd kept it to himself all that time, and it came out now?

Buffy just slumped down where she was, in the middle of the sidewalk. Oz managed, in some way, to help her up and move her out of the way of the crowd. They sat side by side and Oz tried his best to comfort the Slayer. Buffy just leaned her head on his shoulder and let one tiny tear escape as he patted her head awkwardly.

Giles held a look of a fierceness no one but his Ripper-days' friends had ever seen. He caught up with Xander.

'What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?' he spat.

Xander turned around to face the Watcher.

'Expressing my perfectly justified and impartial opinion, I guess, but hey, you're not familiar with impartial when it comes to the Buffster, are you?'

'Impartial and justified? Don't you think she has enough to deal with without you coming along to place the blame on her shoulders?' Giles' words shook with repressed fury, but Xander wasn't intimidated.

'It's really not my fault if that's where it belongs.'

'Buffy did not kill anyone, Xander. Angelus did, and you know that perfectly well, so don't think you have the right to express any kind of judgement.'

'Oh please, don't give me that judgement crap. You have no idea how much I hate Angel, but that doesn't mean Buffy's innocent in this whole thing. Just because I'm not gonna go after him on some mad suicidal vengeance mission just to get myself killed, doesn't mean I'm not gonna say things as they are.'

Giles took one step closer to the young man in front of him.

'Don't talk about things you don't understand,' he said, through gritted teeth.

'Don't understand? You really should get into that old head of yours that you and Buffy aren't the only ones in pain here. I've lost my best friend and my girlfriend here so don't tell me I can't blame anyone. If it wasn't for Buffy, Angel would never even have started this whole killing spree thing.'

'If it wasn't for Buffy, you'd be dead, Xander. If this is your way of showing gratitude, I'm afraid there's something horribly wrong with it. What Buffy needs now is a group of supportive friends, not some angry teenager looking to let his anger out, so you'd better go there right now and apologise-'

'Apologise?' Xander yelled, shaking with emotion. 'Apologise for what? She's not the only one here who needs support you know, but what do I get? Two girls I loved six feet under, Angry Ripper guy and a sick dead-guy dating slut version of my best friend, who's acting like she's paralysed or something instead of going there and kicking Angel butt. I have a feeling she's the one who should apologise, you know, as it's her sex life that's giving us all this trouble-'

Giles grabbed Xander by the collar and slammed him against the wall. His mouth an inch from the teen's face, he said with deceptive calm:

'If you have nothing sensible to say, I suggest you shut the bloody hell up and get out of my sight before I make you. Is that clear?'

There was silence again. The two just looked at each other. Then, Giles slowly let go of Xander's shirt and watched fiercely as the teen straightened it and walked away. Then, he went back to where Buffy and Oz were sitting. The werewolf was looking worriedly at Xander's receding form and then at Giles. Buffy whispered:

'I told you he hates me.'

It turned out there was a lot to say.

TBC…

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A/N 2: I know, fighting is not good! Oh well… I'm not sure if I write Xander that well, so please review and help! Oh, and an invisible pot of gold to anyone who gets where the chapter title comes from.