Chapter Three: Slayer. Buffy's back in town, but all is not happy in Slayerville. Something's bothering Buffy, and Xander agonizes over how to explain what happened between him and Angel.

"You know," Xander said reflectively as he licked his ice cream, "except for the whole, being a semi-vamp and having sex with Angel thing, this has been a pretty boring summer."

"That's a pretty big 'except,'" Willow pointed out. "How are you dealing with that, anyway?"

"I'm pretty much not," Xander admitted. "Every time I think about Angel, I get this weird feeling in my stomach that I don't want to think about too much, so I'm pretty much just avoiding the whole thought."

"I can get that," Willow said sympathetically. "Just- Buffy's supposed to be back sometime soon. What are you going to tell her?"

"Kinda tricky, isn't it?" he said. "What with the whole, having sex with her boyfriend, thing. Bound to put a damper on the friendship."

"And is that how you're feeling about Buffy?" Willow wanted to know. "Friends?"

He shrugged, looking sheepish. "I don't know. I want to be friends with her, definitely. And when I think about kissing her I get the same old thrill. Just... Mostly I haven't been thinking about kissing her; I've been shaking with terror at the thought of telling her that I had sex with her boyfriend."

"And so what about Angel?" Willow asked. "Are you thinking about kissing him?"

"Absolutely not," he said. "I'm repressing that, remember?"

"And so you haven't come to a conclusion about the gay thing?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I still get the whole, Buffy Kissage! thrill, but then I catch myself staring at the guy serving ice cream. It's kinda weird, truth be told."

"The guy serving ice cream was cute," Willow pointed out. "So... bi, maybe?"

"Maybe," he said with a shrug. "I'd like to repress for a while more, though, if you don't mind."

"Sure thing," she said, and with a smile he slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Knew I could count on you, Wills."

"Yeah," she said quietly. She looked like she was about to say something else, then suddenly said, "Hello! Vampire!"

Xander whirled and then somehow managed to duck the punch that the vampire threw. "Willow, get out of here!" he cried, and threw a punch of his own, smiling at the satisfying crunch under his knuckles even as he positioned his body so that he was between Willow and the vampire.

He got in another couple punches before the fledge got him in the jaw with a well-timed kick. Xander hit the ground, and even as he shook off the ringing in his ears and jumped to his feet again, he heard footsteps rapidly approaching, and blinked as he saw Buffy grab the vampire by the shoulders and throw him straight into a jagged branch protruding from a nearby tree.

She brushed the dust away from her clothes, then turned back to her friends with a smile on her face. "Hi guys," she said cheerfully. "Miss me?"

Xander was in a bad mood. Buffy was back- good, great even. Only, how the hell was he supposed to explain to her that he'd had sex with her boyfriend in a way that wouldn't get him punched?

Hey Buffy, great to see you. What did you do over summer break? Well, I almost got killed, was turned into a part-vampire, and had sex with Angel.

Yeah, that'd go over well.

Not.

So what was he supposed to do? Was there any way to do this and avoid major trouble and heartache?

He wasn't any closer to an answer when he met Willow at the Bronze that night. Buffy was supposed to show, and he was frantically playing over potential explanations when he spotted her through the crowd.

"Okay," he said under his breath. "Okay, you can do this. Honestly, you can. She won't kill you. She likes you. You're her friend. She wouldn't kill her friend, would she?"

Willow through him a sympathetic look, and then there was Buffy, looking stunning as ever and wearing a big grin. "Hey, you two."

"You're looking good, Buffy," Xander said through a tight throat. "Working on your tan, were you?"

"Yeah," she said carelessly, and tossed her head, deliberately not looking to her right. Xander glanced over and saw Angel standing there, looking frustrated but not despairing. Had he told her yet? If he had and that was why she was all pissy, then why was she still here? Still talking to him, instead of eviscerating him?

The band started the next song, and Buffy grabbed his arm. "Let's dance," she said, and he wasn't so slow that he didn't notice the command in her voice. He went, very reluctantly, and let her lead him to the center of the dance floor.

He was shocked down to his very toes when she plastered herself against him and started to move. This was new, this was different, this was... very bad.

"Buffy," he said, and then had to clear his throat when his voice broke. "Buffy, I need to tell you something."

"Do you?" she said, sounding like she didn't particularly care. "Xander, did I ever thank you for saving my life?"

"No, you didn't. Buffy-"

"Don't you wish I would?" she whispered into his ear, then whirled away and went stalking off into the crowd.

Okay, that... didn't go well.

"Wills, did you see which was she went?"

Willow pointed to the door. "What's up with her?"

"Don't know. I'm gonna find out, though."

"Buffy!" he called. "Buffy, wait up for a second, okay?"

She turned on her heel and stared at him. "What do you want, Xander? I'm not going to sleep with you. I'm done for the night, thanks."

"And I can't tell you how much of a relief that is," he said, and watched with distant pleasure as her face went blank with shock.

"What, got over your pathetic little crush?" she demanded, recovering quickly.

"I don't know. At the moment I'm thinking yes, since you're being something of a bitch, but more importantly, there's something I have to tell you."

"Can't it wait? Can't you tell me tomorrow?"

"No, it can't," he said firmly. "Because I think you'd rather be alone to hear this, and frankly, I'm expecting to get punched, so you'd probably rather be alone for that too."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was wary now, and sounded more like the Buffy he knew rather than the pod person who had taken over her body.

"Well, it's like this. While you were gone during the summer, I was attacked by a demon. I killed it, but it poisoned me, and the only known cure was an exchange of blood with a vampire. So, in a word or several, Angel saved my life."

"That's nice of Angel," she snapped, and there was a serious bite in her voice. "Why do I care?"

Issues much?

"I wasn't finished," he snapped back, then took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Losing his temper wouldn't do any good, and could do even more harm than this conversation was already going to do.

"His blood made me into something... more than human. Not a vampire, but I have a lot of their strengths."

"Good for you," she said, her voice dripping sarcasm. "Again, why do I care?"

"There's more to it," he said carefully. "Afterwards, I was... it was sort of like I was turned. And when a new vampire rises, he goes through a serious pain. The only way to get rid of it is either to make their first kill, or to be claimed by their Sire."

"Which would be Angel," she said, no longer sounding quite so venomous. "So, what, he bit you again?"

"Not exactly," he said, and then took a very deep breath, and let it out. "Claiming involves... well.... um..."

"Spit it out, Xander."

"Sex," he blurted out, and then closed his eyes when he saw the look on her face. Comprehension, followed by shock and then a nice chaser of hurt.

"You fucked Angel?"

"Other way around, really," he said, and then winced. Tactful, Harris. Real tactful.

"So Angel fucked you. What, to save your life?"

"Pretty much," he said. "The pain just gets worse and worse, till you eventually die. Or so I was made to understand, after three days of said pain."

"And, what? You told me, just to twist the knife and gloat?"

"No," he said, keeping the shreds of his nonexistent dignity wrapped around him like a cloak. "No, I told you because you're my friend, and I'm not going to keep something like that from you. You deserved to know the truth, and so I gave it to you."

"You're not my friend," she hissed. "No one who is my friend could have done this to me."

He took a step towards her, one hand outstretched, and dropped it when she backed a hasty step away, dashing tears away from her eyes. "I'm still your friend, Buffy," he said sadly. "No matter what you think, no matter what happened with Angel. I'm still your friend."

"No," she said. "No, you're really not. In fact, you're nothing to me."

He watched sadly as she turned on her heel and stormed off, but couldn't feel anything but a sort of dragging tiredness.

"Didn't go well, I take it."

He didn't turn around at Angel's voice. "No, that would be a bit of an understatement," he said quietly, watching the empty alleyway where she'd been standing. "If it's any consolation, I think she currently hates my guts rather than yours."

"Not really," Angel said.

"No, it isn't really, is it?"

"So, how'd it go?" Willow asked as she sat down next to him. Xander lifted his head from the table and stared at her out of bloodshot eyes.

"How well do you think it went?"

"That would be a 'not so great, Willow,' then," Willow said, and sighed. "Damn. I knew that she'd be upset, of course, but I hoped..."

"What? That she'd understand and forgive my little betrayal? Don't think so, Wills."

"What happened?" Giles said, as he sat down at the table as well. "You spoke to Buffy, I presume?"

"It went badly," Willow supplied.

"It was fucked," Xander said, more bluntly. "She's not going to forgive any time soon."

"Can you really blame her?"

"Me?" Xander shrugged. "Not at all. Willow was the only one who expected her to understand."

He caught the sound of an additional heartbeat near them, and looked up to see Buffy standing there. "Uh, hi, Buffy," Willow said. "How's it going?"

"I need to talk to Giles," Buffy said, and the anger in her look was reserved entirely for Xander. Well, at least she didn't hate Willow, as well.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," Xander said. "No need for the rest of you to shift yourselves."

"You'll be in class?" Willow asked, looking anxious.

"Willow, have I ever skipped class? No, don't answer that. I'm going."

He walked off and ignored the pain he felt when he felt the angry glare of a Slayer on his back the whole way out.

Willow caught up with him later in the day. "You should know that the Anointed One has gathered forces again, and they're trying to bring the Master back," she told him. "Buffy just left to deal with it. She seemed a little... tense."

"Can't imagine why," Xander said wryly. "Guess she's glad I'm not around, at least."

"I think it's more than just you," Willow said thoughtfully. "She was acting weird before you told her, remember? Mean. Cruel, even. Bitching out Cordy, and she was obviously hacked off at Angel even before you told her, and then there was the whole dance thing."

"You're right," Xander said, then shrugged. "Well, the whole thing with the Master must have her really wigged. Nothing we can do about it now. Just gotta hope that she works out her issues on the Anointed One and his minions."

Willow agreed, and followed him into the library. "Hey, speaking of Cordy, has anyone seen her?" Xander wanted to know. "She wasn't swanning around, mocking the less fortunate."

"She was kidnapped as bait to get Buffy around so that they can use her blood to raise the Master," Willow explained. Xander raised an eyebrow.

"She always did have the most fun," he said dryly, and then waved when he saw Giles. "Hey."

"This is not good news," Giles said, almost to himself, as he ran his finger down the page of the book he was reading. Both teens crowded around behind him, trying to see what it was, exactly, that he was reading.

"Giles, what is it?" Willow demanded when Giles said nothing.

"Well, it's just... it seems that I didn't quite translate this properly. The ritual to raise the Master requires the blood of the one or ones who were closest to the Master when he died- physically closest. That means..."

"Me, you, Cordy, and Mrs. Calendar," Willow finished. "What do you bet that they've already got Mrs. Calendar, too?"

"No bet," Xander said, and pointed to the vampires that were leering down at them from within the stacks. "And it looks like they're trying for a full quartet."

The day was saved and everyone was safe, except for all the vampires that had been dusted. Xander put his arm around Willow's shoulders, and watched as Buffy pounded the Master's bones into little itty pieces.

She dropped the hammer and turned to Angel, crying. Xander watched, feeling a pang when he put his arms around her, making meaningless shushing noises into her hair. Well, at least Angel wasn't going to pay for his mistakes.

"She'll get over it eventually," Willow said, guessing accurately at his thoughts. He lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug.

"Will she? I'm not sure I would, in her position. It's the ultimate betrayal of friendship. Would you get over it, if it were you?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I think I would. But I can't really know, can I?"

Xander leaned his chin on the railing and listened with half an ear to the sound of Buffy crying. "No," he said softly. "I don't think anyone can."