Sorry for the long wait, folks. Live does seem to get in the way sometimes. Stupid life.

"So where'd you go?" Xander asked once he joined Buffy in the garden.

"Around. You know, places."

"Ah, the ever elusive 'places,'" Xander said, sitting next to her on the bench. "You know, you scared people, just taking off like that."

"Why?" Buffy asked. "It's not like anyone here has any great love for me. I mean... you weren't willing to give up your job for me, but Faith, who, you know, tried to kill you..."

"That's entirely different, Buffy."

"How is that different?"

Xander sighed. "Look, Faith has earned a second chance. You believe that?"

Buffy nodded.

"So do I. I believe that enough to give up my job for it, if necessary."

"So why won't –"

"Because it's about doing what's right. Keeping my job is the right thing to do, but keeping Faith out of prison is more important. Satisfying what appears to be your... I don't know..."

"Irrational urges?"

"Something like that. It's just not the same thing, Buff."

Buffy sighed. "I still don't see why anybody cared when I was gone."

"Buff... people will always care when you're gone. Always. We love you, all of us... but, you piss us off, sometimes. I mean, but who hasn't done that?"

Buffy smiled softly at that.

"So what did you find out on your spirit quest?" Xander asked.

Buffy chuckled. "Well," she said. "I found out that the streets of L.A. are a bit skuzzier now than they were the last time I stayed here. I found out that I don't know my way around, and I found out that you really can sit in Denny's all night, just drinking coffee."

Xander laughed. "That one, I knew."

Buffy shuddered. "I also saw some things. I saw two kids, they couldn't have been more than fifteen, asking for money, and they had tracks all the way up their arms. I saw a couple of guys beating up this other guy for what looked like no reason at all. I saw a guy holding up a liquor store."

"Okay," Xander said, frowning.

"I realized," she said, "that people, everyday people, need help, and not just from the forces of darkness, but also from everyday things. Robbery, murder... all of it. I don't want you to be the one to do that, Xander." He sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"No," she said, holding up a hand to stop him. "Let me finish. I don't want you to be the one to do that. You could get hurt, or killed, or something, and I couldn't stand that." She took a deep breath. "But, I also know that that won't stop you from doing what you do. I mean, death would, but my not wanting you to won't. And the truth is, when I think about it, I can't think of anybody better for the job."

Xander raised an eyebrow at that.

"I mean it," she said. "You are a good man, Xander Harris, and as much as it kills me to see you out there risking yourself everyday... I know that if I were ever in a bank when it got robbed, you're the first person I'd want making sure I was safe."

Xander smiled genuinely at his friend, and she scooted over on the bench and wrapped him in a big hug.

"I love you, Xander. You know that, right?"

Xander stroked her hair. "I know, Buff. I love you, too."

Buffy pulled back from the hug, her eyes wet.

"Just one thing," she said.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Try not to kill anybody. I mean, really, try."

Xander smiled at her. "In four years, I haven't killed anybody. It's really not that hard."

"Yeah," she said. "But you're in SWAT now. Don't they, like, specialize in killing people? And, congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you," Xander said. "And, while I wouldn't say we specialize in killing people, we do what's necessary, and are trained for it. I always try not to kill people, but my first priority will always be to the innocents."

Buffy nodded. "You understand, this is still going to be hard. I don't want you to do this. I mean, I really don't want you to do this."

"I understand," he said. "But at least you leave in a couple weeks, and then can stop bugging me about it."

"Xander!" she yelled, smacking his arm.

"Ow!" he said. "Slayer strength, Buff, watch it!"

"Well don't be so happy about me leaving, you jerk!"

Xander grinned. "I'm just happy that when you're gone, I can finally take a shot at Dawn," he said.

"You touch my sister and you die," Buffy said, leveling a warning finger at him.

"He can touch me if he wants to!" yelled a voice from a couple stories up.

"Dawn!" they yelled in unison, turning their heads skyward.

"I'm just saying..." she yelled back, before ducking her head inside.

"When did she get so vocal?" Xander asked.

Buffy shook her head.

Xander stood there grinning.

"No," Buffy said.

Xander just grinned wider.

"I said no."

Xander's grin got even wider somehow.

"That's it," Buffy said.

Xander took off into the hotel, Buffy right on his heels. Seeing possible salvation, Xander hid behind Faith.

"What the hell are you doing, X?" she asked.

"Hiding from Buffy?" he asked, deftly keeping the formerly rogue slayer between him and Buffy.

"You know you're bigger than me?" she asked.

"Uh... yup," he said, dodging Buffy's lunge again.

Faith rolled her eyes, shook her head and stood there.

Xander suddenly found himself lifted off the ground by his collar, then turned in the air to see Angel holding him up. Angel was smiling.

"You wouldn't," Xander said.

Angel's eyes flicked over to Buffy. "I really think I would," he said. With that, Angel held Xander out, and Buffy tackled him like a dummy, dropping him to the ground and tickling him. Willow stood next to Gunn.

"They attracted to each other?" Gunn asked.

"No," Willow said, fairly sure of herself. "Just a couple of old friends getting to know each other again."

"That why Angel's not all mopey right now?" Gunn asked.

"Probably, yeah," Willow said

"Good, I hate that," Gunn said. "He always forgets to pay me when he mopes."

And everything was fine. For about two days, until the next time Xander got called away while Buffy was around. They had a quick shouting match before he stormed out.

The next couple of weeks passed fairly uneventfully. Xander and the SWAT team continued to bust up bank robberies, hostage crises and general bad goings on. The 'unexplained death' rate in downtown LA dropped drastically during this time, and for a while, people felt safer.

Giles and Wood managed to find a couple of buildings in Cleveland that could be converted for their uses, and purchased them with the Watcher's Council funds that Wolfram & Hart had liberated. Wesley suggested that the group might benefit from moving into the offices of said law firm, but Angel was still uncomfortable with it, and postponed.

Buffy continued to snap at people, albeit less frequently, and Dawn spent two more nights at Xander's apartment. He always returned her the next morning, but let her and Buffy sort it out for themselves. He felt he'd done and said what he could. And then, too soon for some, it was time for people to leave.

"So it's goodbye again," Xander said at the airport, when the Scoobies and remaining potentials were on their way to Cleveland.

It being daytime, Angel had said his goodbye's at the hotel, assuring Buffy that he had, in fact, arranged for the Axe/Scythe to be shipped to Cleveland. The potentials had already boarded, and standing at the gate were Giles, Willow, Buffy and Wood, ready to depart, Faith, Dawn and Xander seeing them off.

Willow sniffled a little. "You're going to keep in touch, right?" she asked, looking at all three of them.

"Of course, Willow," he said. "You couldn't stop me from it."

"Me either," Dawn said, hugging the redheaded Wicca.

"You'll be in touch?" Wood asked of Faith.

"I'll get around to it," she said with a smirk.

Xander stepped up and shook Wood's hand. "I don't know you very well," he said. "But take care of my girls."

Wood nodded solemnly. "And you take care of mine." Xander smiled.

Giles and Dawn hugged, as did Xander and Willow. Dawn hugged her sister, and, to everyone's surprise, so did Faith. Xander and Giles shook hands, and exchanged a manly pat-on-the-back hug.

Xander and Buffy regarded each other.

"Well," Xander said. "I guess you're going then."

"Yeah," she said. "I am."

They stood there, and the others walked away, talking amongst themselves.

Xander sighed. "Why is it weird, now?" he asked. "We've always been able to talk before, why not now?"

"No common ground," she said. "I don't like what you do, you're not willing to give it up. It's an impasse."

"But we've disagreed before. This feels more..." he wouldn't say the word.

She would. "Final."

Xander dropped his head and nodded.

"I don't want it to be," she said, her eyes tearing up a little. "Whether you were with me or not, I always relied on your strength, Xander. There were times, I was so scared, and I would remember what you said to me, that night in the Bronze, right before you left. You kept me going through some rough times."

"With one little speech?" he asked.

Buffy chuckled. "There was nothing little about it, Xan," she said. "When I was sad, depressed, lonely... I would think about what you said... and none of it seemed quite so bad. You were... you were my heart, the strength I drew on for the longest time. I don't want to have to keep doing this if I think that... that you wouldn't want me to draw on that."

"Buff... Buffy. I don't really know what to say. You were my hero. But something's changed. You've changed, and I... I don't know, really, who you are anymore. My Buffy wouldn't be so blatantly hypocritical. My Buffy would care about her sister, but wouldn't keep her from living. My Buffy wouldn't... act, like you've been acting. She wouldn't..." his voice trailed off.

Buffy was now crying openly. "I don't want to lose you, Xander."

Seeing a Summers woman crying had been Xander's biggest weakness for years, and it was beyond his power not to hold her.

"You're not losing me, Buffy," he said, soothingly, as he wrapped her small form in his arms.

"Then why does it feel like it?"

Xander shook his head. "Because something is changing. We're not kids, we haven't been for a long time. Take some time, Buffy. Get away from the slaying. I know, you can't immediately, you have... responsibilities. But talk to Giles. When things are set up, when things are going good, take some time off. Go somewhere. Get to know yourself again, because this you... the one who treats her friends and family like soldiers... she's not the real you, Buff."

"I... don't like the way people react to me."

"They react to how you treat them. You don't respect people, so they don't respect you."

She looked up into his eyes, hers still wet.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "But it's true."

Buffy sighed and rested her head against his chest, then nodded.

"I'm going to try," she said. "I'm going to try to find the old me again."

Xander kissed the top of her head. "I think you'll like her," he said. "I sure do."

A tentative cough brought them out of their closeness.

"It's time," Giles said softly.

Buffy nodded, and gave one last hug to Dawn as Xander gave one to Willow, and Faith to Wood. Giles got a final handshake from Xander, then the group boarded the plane, and left.

"Are you and my sister okay?" Dawn asked, when they started walking back to Xander's parked truck.

Xander thought for a moment, stifling the automatic reassurance he wanted to give the younger Summers.

"No," he said gently. "But, I don't think that's going to be a permanent thing."

They walked in silence.

"Are you and me okay?" Dawn asked.

Xander smiled down at the girl. "Always."

They stepped out of the airport, shielding their eyes from the suddenly bright light. They stopped and looked around. Faith turned to them and smirked.

"Shotgun!" she yelled, before taking off for Xander's truck.

Dawn and Xander rolled their eyes and strolled through the parking lot.

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End Chapter 7