A/N: This installment was written with my dear friend Patience, who is far too busy to try to publish fanfiction on the internet. ;)
Part 3
Andrew's eyes widened. "Xander, where are your pants?"
"Here," Xander said hurriedly. "They're right…here." He plucked them from underneath the pile of blankets at the end of the bed. "See I said it - and they are - here." He pulled the pants on, swaying slightly as he drew them over each leg. Kennedy caught his eye, and Xander looked away hurriedly. She looked far too amused. "Pizza!" He said loudly, by way of changing the subject.
"Yup," Dawn said, holding the box just out of his reach. "But you have to come down to the pool to get some. I want to see you in the sunlight today."
Willow took a long slurp on her Big Gulp before speaking. "C'mon Xand, we need a sexy pirate as a lifeguard down there. You wouldn't believe the trouble we're having poolside." She wiggled her shoulders suggestively.
"Oh, God." Xander groaned. "I'm surrounded."
"But in a good way," Buffy said. "C'mon we'll just watch." She slipped her arm through Xander's and led the way out of the too-crowded motel room.
Dawn was the last to leave. "Hey, where's Faith?" she asked as Andrew held the door open for her.
"Away." Xander's voice floated up to her from the bottom of the concrete stairway to the pool area.
"I don't think he wants to talk about it," Andrew said in a loud whisper.
The rusted chain-link fence around the pool in the central motel courtyard was strewn with towels and t-shirts - all brand new and garish with their cartoon characters and junk food slogans. A dozen teenage girls splashed and shrieked in, out, and around the water, still basking in the glow of their newly awakened power.
"Ah, Buffy," Andrew began, "I think we're about to have a sunscreen emergency. Some of these girls just don't have the pigment to stay out in the sun all day."
Buffy frowned. "Since when am I in charge of provisioning the troops? You're the one who did the shopping."
"And may I say that you did an excellent job selecting swimwear," Xander said.
"Oh, thanks!" Andrew said, genuinely flattered.
"Maybe being a slayer gives you special UV protection," Dawn said. "Could be…" She flopped down in a cracked plastic lounge chair and opened the box of pizza on her lap.
"Where's the pizza?" Kennedy bellowed.
"The rest is coming around," Dawn said. She waved to the boxes that were already circulating. "Be patient."
"But I'm so hungry," Kennedy pouted as she sat down at one of the faded yellow tables and laid her head on her arms. "Why didn't anyone mention how being a slayer makes you so hungry?" Willow gently rubbed her shoulders and craned her neck around, looking for the nearest box.
"And horny. Don't forget horny," a voice called out. Willow's eyes widened.
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned to the pool. "We didn't, Faith. No one forgot."
Faith grinned up from the inner tube where she sat with a slice of pizza in one hand and a beer in the other. "Just doin' my part. These kids are gonna need constant instruction about the finer points of the slayer lore."
Buffy smiled and shook her head. "I knew we could count on you." She turned her back to Faith and mouthed Where'd she get the beer? to Willow who shrugged.
"Dunno. The manager seems to have a stash of them. He comes out of the office every so often, shakes his head, and pops open another one." Willow smirked a bit. "I don't think he likes us much."
Buffy grabbed a box for herself and sat down by the edge of the pool. She kicked off her sandals and rolled up the legs of her pants before dipping first one foot and then the other into the pool.
"Mind if I join you?" Xander asked. "I think you've got the pineapple-onion-pepper combo that I've been craving."
"I should hope not!" Buffy said. "I mean," she corrected hastily, "that vegetable disaster, not the joining. Have a seat. Share my – " she peeked into the box, " – pepperoni-mushroom-olive extravaganza."
"Thanks." Xander followed Buffy's example and rolled his pants to his knees, baring two pale, but hairy shins.
They ate silently for a few minutes, squinting in the sunlight and wiping their greasy hands on their clothes. Willow drifted lazily over on a yellow floatie. "Okay, so I got a question. We're all sleeping two and three to a bed. I get it. But why did Xander end up between the two Slayers? The two experienced Slayers, I mean." Buffy gave her a questioning look and Willow backpedaled. "Not experienced like experienced, but I guess you could take it that way." Willow flashed a too-bright smile. "Okay, leaving now." And she paddled off.
"Hey, Willow," Xander called after her. "It's warmer. Slayers keep you warm, you should know. I bet you were pretty snug yourself."
"Okay, you can stop now. I get it." She smiled sweetly. "I don't get to tease you."
Buffy rubbed Xander's arm gently. It was unspoken between them why Xander had been so cold. And they had all felt it. He had passed among them that night as a gust from the winter they had left behind months ago.
But Buffy was warm. The hand she had laid on Xander's arm still burned, though it was unmarked by any sign of Spike's fingers. They should be red or tender or something. But they weren't.
"Did you wonder yet," Xander began, and Buffy jerked her hand off of his arm, startled out of her thoughts. "Why it was them? Why our demons didn't make it? I did notice that Anya and Spike had one thing in common." He gave her a little sidelong glance.
"Anya was human," Buffy said automatically.
"Ish. And you know what I mean."
Buffy was silent for a time. "Yeah, I've thought about it," she said and then stopped.
Xander waited. "And…?"
"And I don't know. If this was a book or a movie or something, it would be symbolic or something. That they had to die in service of humanity in order to reclaim what they had lost or something."
Xander thought about this. "That's deep. But here's a thought: maybe it doesn't mean anything. They weren't the only ones who died. Amanda, Claire, Juliet, and I don't even know all their names - they're gone too. We could go as far back to Annabelle and Chloe. They were human. It was a fact. We weren't all gonna make it. It just so happened that those that were 'more than human' were among the ones who didn't." He shrugged. "It didn't mean anything."
"I don't think so," Buffy said slowly. "He – he was the only one who could have done that."
"You can say his name, Buffy."
"Okay, then. Spike had to be the one who – I don't even really know what happened. I know he's gone. I can feel it, but I didn't see him end. I can't be sure that he isn't down there somewhere, trying to claw his way out of a billion tons of earth and town."
"Andrew saw it. He told me. But I should have gone back. I should have found her. What if she wasn't really dead? And I left her."
"You didn't leave her. She made her choice."
"I know."
"And it did mean something. We don't have to figure it out today, Xand." Buffy put her hand back on his arm.
They sat quietly for a few moments listening to the voices around them. Then, over the shrieking and splashing came another noise. It was the grinding of gears and roaring of their faithful steed: the Sunnydale School bus. Giles had returned from the hospital.
