XXXI.

November 12.

"Honey, we need to talk."

These are not words any man wants to hear. He especially does not want to hear them from next to him as he lies in bed at night, trying to rest up for a hard workday ahead. Xander had thrown himself into his new mission of helping the homeless and the disadvantaged, and he'd been working 20-hour days setting up a trust to help fund Habitat for Humanity projects in his area. He's taken some advice from Giles and his staff on the legal structures, but all the actual resources were coming from him.

"Do we need to talk now?" He knew the answer was yes, or she would have waited, but the lazy, sleepy part of his brain was demanding one last weaseling-out attempt.

"Do you want me to move out?" Her voice was very low and soft in the dark, and he jerked around to be sure he'd heard her right.

"Do I… Dawn, is there something wrong? Are you unhappy?"

"I just wondered. I've been staying here, and we never really talked about it. And I know you love me and you take good care of me, but there's always this line." She stopped, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm not sure what you mean, honey. Of course I want you to stay, this is your home."

"Is it? I know you're subletting, and the lease is coming up. You left the bills out and when I was sorting those files for you to take to FedEx I noticed it. I just thought, maybe you weren't happy living here with me."

"Well," said Xander, reaching out to hold her closer, "it's not perfect living this way right now, but it won't last forever. We can make do."

"But we don't!" Her pain shocked him. "We don't make do, we don't make love, we don't make anything. Is it Kasey? I was scared I might be pregnant before, and now you don't want to touch me." She turned and tried to sit up.

"Hey, get back here you." He made a long arm and snagged her round the waist, and lay his cheek against her shoulder blade. "You got to talk. Don't I get a turn?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just don't understand."

"Well, you could ask me, you adorable lunk-head." He kissed her back and his stubbly chin tickled her. "I'm sorry I've been so busy, getting things set up for the trust. And I do love you, I do want you."

She looked back at him. "Really?"

"At first I was glad to take things slow. This week I've been so busy with something else, I've been scared to start something I might not be completely focused on. You deserve all my attention."

"So I've been distracting huh?"

"Very. Very very. Do you want to know what I've been working on aside from the trust or do you want me to surprise you?"

"Mmm, I trust you. Surprise me."

"I will."

XXXII.

November 23.

Xander peeked at Dawn, who was trying her best to fight through his lasagna recipe in the small kitchen. She had grown up a lot over the last few years, but cooking was still a pretty recent addition to her domestic goddess arsenal, and she had thrown herself into it as she did most learning.

There just wasn't enough room in the apartment for her to really experiment with cooking. You need space to make mistakes when cooking, and he figured they needed to do something about that.

They also needed to do something about their sleeping arrangements. As much as the 'taking it slow 'cause I love you' talk had helped, it was getting harder for both of them to not take the relationship to a new level, and Xander had something he really wanted to accomplish first.

He called Carlos, ducking back into the bedroom for a semblance of privacy.

"Hola, Pirate," came the warm voice of the short but powerful man. They had worked on a number of projects over the previous year and become pretty good friends. Carlos was the building inspector for Habitat and had given up a lucrative career as a union stonemason in LA to take the job.

"Hey, Coco. Is everything set for this weekend?"

"Yeah, man. I need you to finish the moldings and chair rail at the Dixons' tomorrow so we can get your project finished and everything cleaned up though, okay?"

"Fair enough. Thanks a lot, man."

"Hey, Xander, you act like I shouldn't know where we got the money to guarantee this new project. So, you know, I'm not saying, but I'm just saying, you know?"

"No worries, Coco. See you tomorrow after the Dixons' place is done."

He came back to the front room to see Dawn eying a lasagna-like object in a slightly smoking pan.

"It's a little burnt, but the salad and the bread look okay," she said apologetically.

He went to her and paid the toll, a kiss on her neck as he passed, and looked at the table, checked out the lasagna pan. It didn't look serious.

"You made Cajun! Blackened lasagna is my favorite. Let's eat!"

"Some days I love you more than most, Xander."

XXXIII.

November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

"I thought we were taking the day off?" Dawn was driving, following Xander's directions to a part of town she had not visited before. "I was going to drive over to Ogdenville and check out the community college there."

"You can, later, if you want. You can register for spring term up to December 3rd, I checked."

"Okay, is this the street?"

"Yes." Xander pointed up ahead. "We're looking for a place on the right, about half way down."

"These are all new. I mean some of them aren't even done yet. Is this where you work?" She was getting suspicious, afraid he was going to back out of his promised day off to go into work.

"A lot, yeah. I'd guess I put some work into almost every house on this street."

"Wow. It's great. Like Sunnydale must have looked before the trees grew in and the cemeteries went express-lane." She pulled up in front of a two-story house, not the biggest on the block, but with a few more trees in the yard, soaker hoses still running to settle in the new landscaping.

Xander looked past her, then consulted a piece of paper he shielded from Dawn's view. "Yes, ma'am, this is the one. I'll just be a minute… unless you want to come with?" he added as he climbed out.

"Okay, wait for me." She turned off the car and followed him up the walk. "I give, you win," she said as they reached the porch. She whispered as they stepped to the door, "I admit I'm stumped. Why are we here?"

Xander made as if to knock on the door, then pushed it with his hand and watched it swing open. He tried not to grin as she looked in.

There was a short entry hallway, bright with light from overhead windows at the top of the stairwell. The stairs were hardwood, not carpeted, with a solid rail and simple posts, elegant.

There was a large bow across the base of the stairway, and from its ribbon hung a streamer that said "Welcome Home." Dawn turned to Xander. He was waiting a little anxiously for her reaction.

"You didn't. I mean, you didn't."

"Yes, I did. Go inside."

She walked in, dazed, as dreamily as Willy Wonka in the Candy Room. She looked at the front room on one side, which would be just right for a big dining room table. On the other side was a family room that ran back all the way to the back of the house, where she imagined the TV and comfy chairs would go, and the smell of popcorn on movie nights.

She followed around to the kitchen, which had one exterior wall all in exposed brick, with a nook for a breakfast table, and a bar for eating cereal on high stools, and a mudroom leading to the back so your boots don't track into the kitchen. Everywhere there were the little details you don't see in new houses: chair rails with detail carvings, crown moldings, coat hooks in antique brass on a rail in the mudroom, and a window seat in the family room looking out over the back yard.

The back yard was small, but had a tree shading the kitchen windows, and it sloped away just a bit which might help keep it from flooding during California's fifth season (spring, summer, fall, Christmas Day, and mud being the five seasons as defined by her mother). There was a wooden structure to one side that looked like it might be a grape arbor, with vines starting to climb it and planters of fresh herbs and flowers at each end, with a bench on one side and a swing on the other.

Dawn continued her exploration, while Xander watched with interest. He waited for her to say something. She made a few little gasps when she noticed things like the beaded paneling that textured the washroom wall, but she was getting quieter and quieter.

They returned to the stairway, and she looked at the bow. She raised her brows at him and he nodded, moving the ribbon away so she could climb the stairs. He followed her, taking the chance to admire the way her trim figure looked in her sundress. At the top of the stairs, she stopped and looked at him.

"I can't believe it. You bought a house."

"Not quite." He looked around, and ran his hand over the newel post at the top of the stair rail. "We'd started this one as a show model, and once I had the trust funded enough to cover costs, I optioned this one from the project manager. I've been working here before my other jobs a few hours a day all month. I didn't just buy it, I built it."

"It's beautiful. You've done an amazing job. I'm glad you kept it a secret though. If I'd known you were getting yourself a house I bet I would have been all over trying to make suggestions."

He frowned. "Is there that much wrong with it? I haven't even shown you the bedrooms or the guest room slash library slash nursery or, or you know, whatever…" He trailed off after realizing he had said the word nursery out loud. He'd always thought of the extra room tucked by the master bedroom as a nursery, but he supposed it could be a sewing room or whatever just as well.

"Wrong? Oh, Xander, no!" She hugged him and he hugged her back, confused. "It's just so perfect, and I would never have gotten it so perfect without seeing it first. You've made yourself an amazing house, and I'm so proud of you."

"Wait a minute," he protested, pulling back from her. "I'm sorry Dawn, did you think I made this for me?"

She looked at him, heart echoing hollowly in her chest. "Who is it for?" She wouldn't admit that she knew what was coming.

He took the paper he had been consulting in the car, which she had thought were directions, and turned it to show her. It was a deed, and right near the top it had her name on it.

"Dawn, I remembered what you said the first day you came here, about if you had a home this would be it. I never want you to feel like you don't have somewhere to come home to, so I made this, for you."

It was a long cry and a lot of kissing later that they finally looked at the rest of the house, the garage, and the yard. Xander made a "It worked, she likes it!" call to Robin and Faith who had helped with herb garden and landscaping respectively. It turns out slayer strength comes in very handy when laying a fieldstone path to a grape arbor. Who knew?

Dawn made a "You'll never guess where I'm calling from" call to Willow, and another to Buffy. They both promised to come out and see it, but not before Dawn had a chance to get everything settled in. She asked them to tell Giles she was going to have Xander put bookshelves along one whole side of the family room, and she expected some donations to seed the library from whatever he thought he could spare. Just nothing too evil.

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time they were done, and Xander told her they should be getting back to the apartment to start sorting out what they should move, what they should donate. They could probably move in a week if they got organized.

"A week? Alexander LaVelle Harris, if you think I am not going to spend the night in my, in OUR new house, then you are simply too crazy to be allowed. I'm going over to Pop's to get some things to put in that freezer, and you are going to run back and get everything we need for tomorrow out of the apartment."

"But, Dawn, what about-" Xander started.

"But nothing," she jumped on him, steering him towards the car. "I'll drive, you start writing down what I'll need. I'll ask Pop or Anne to run me over to that little market while you pack, and you can pick me up at Not Warner Brothers'." She was a woman on a mission, and he'd seen enough to know not to argue.

As he dropped her at the deli, she looked at the list she'd dictated to him. She realized what was missing and poked her head back in his window.

"There's a package, wrapped in paper, under that old denim shirt of yours I was wearing the other day. You know where I mean?"

"Yeah, by the laundry hamper on that middle shelf?"

"Bring it," she ordered him, kissing his cheek, then a long kiss on his lips. It was awkward through the car window but she made it worthwhile as best she could. "And no peeking!"

He drove off, munching a sandwich Pop had made for him. She decided that she'd eat some fruit while getting ready, nothing heavy. She was too excited to eat.

By the time they had said their goodbyes to Pop, Anne and even Mr. Carver, the tall and somewhat mysterious cook whom they had never before seen in the front of the deli, it was getting late. They arrived at the house well after 9:00 PM, and were both getting pretty tired by the time the last of the groceries and Dawn-mandated 'essentials' had been put away.

Xander made up a pallet of blankets in the spot in the master bedroom where their bed would someday reside. Soon, he hoped, as he had been doodling thoughts for a hardwood sleigh bed in the margins of his papers for a few weeks now, usually the sign of impending carpentry. He fluffed the pillows and changed into his flannel pajamas, grinning at Buffy's reaction to them some time back. He wondered if he should lay out the tops for Dawn or just let her steal them from him as usual.

Dawn was taking a rather long time to get ready for bed, and he figured she was soaking in the tub. He'd heard it run for a while, and when he'd asked if she wanted anything to drink before bed he'd been shooed away. He set his alarm, and put the alarm clock on his side of the pallet. With just one lamp so far, and that on the floor, there was too little light to read. He was too keyed up from the long day anyway. He wanted to unwind, and then get a good night's sleep.

"Xander, are you in bed?" came the call from the bathroom.

He was still thinking about that good night's sleep and was wondering if he could pretend to actually already be asleep. Probably not. "Uh, yeah, honey. Do you need something?"