Chapter 8

AN: This one and maybe one more – that's the plan so far.

Aura slumped down into the chair next to the book-covered library table and sighed, exhausted from the funeral and the emotional drain of it – she was going to miss her grandmother, the crazy old woman that she had been, but more than anything she was going to miss the odd pearl of wisdom she would get form her. Still, at the age of 98, she had lived a very full life, a life that had her not bearing children until she was nearly 45 and her father irritatingly not giving her grandchildren 'to educate' (meaning 'to spoil' for nearly 30 years after the fact, and Aura knew that she was in a better place now.

Her mental musings were interrupted when Xander, Willow and Buffy walked into the room, the two girls idly chatting while Xander looked… nervous; this was odd as Xander, while capable of being able to fake looking the part, actually LOOKED nervous this time. Aura narrowed her eyes as her nose was tickled with an unfamiliar scent, "Hey, guys."

Willow and Buffy idly chimed back 'hello', but Xander merely gulped, "Hi, Aura."

Xander got within four feet of her when Aura's mind snapped to what it was that was different about him – his scent was different, his heartbeat, which he had at one time faked, was now thundering, and she could see the blood flushing to his face. This made her growl and eject her claws with a snarl, "Who are you and what have you done with Xander?"

Xander blinked at her twice before sighing and reaching into his pocket, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and handing it to a very smug-looking Buffy, "I AM Xander, Aura… and I think you need to put the pig-stickers away until this story gets told."

It was Aura's turn to blink as her blades slid back in, "What do you mean 'you're Xander'? Xander smells like… well, nothing – you smell like you've run a marathon, eaten enough pizza to sink a fleet of Slayers," this comment got an annoyed huff out of Buffy and a comment of 'I don't eat that much', "and (sniff-sniff) smell like Willow, Buffy and Jenny have all tried to hug you in half, repeatedly."

Xander grinned and held out his hand, which Buffy slapped the twenty back into with another annoyed huff, "Easy money."

Aura tapped her foot as she smelled Jenny move around in the room, obviously invisible, "I'm waiting, bub."

Xander sighed, "Well, Aura, there have been a few changes while you have been gone… I'm human again. Yay?"

Aura arched an eyebrow as Jenny became visible again with a snort, "Subtle you are not, Xander." He gave the teacher an impish grin that Aura felt tugging at her own lips as Jenny turned, "Let us start at the beginning… literally."

For the next hour, Aura was told a tale that, were it not for the fact that she WAS weirder, she would have thought was complete BS – first, Angel lost his soul, then Xander dusted him, then Xander disappears, gets 'judged', meets up with a George Burns look-alike who MIGHT have been God, gets sent back AS A HUMAN, but now is showing signs of not being quite as normal as they thought…

Finally, Willow looked at her and asked, "Aura? Are you alright?"

In response, Aura simply passed out.

Xander looked down at Aura, then at Jenny, "Well, I think she took that rather well…"

In response, Xander got smacked by all three ladies.

(Later)

It took Aura an hour to wake up and to get her bearings on just what she had been told, then another two hours to think about it while the others went about testing Xander to see just what it was that he had now, but once she came to the decision that all was Kosher, she made her advance on Xander.

Xander, for his part, was oblivious to this as he rattled off another, rather obscure fact from one of Giles' books that answered a question from Willow when he was spun around to face Aura. Before he could say anything, she straddled him and, with a more than a little feral smile, kissed him… HARD.

At one minute, Jenny started taking time seriously – at ninety seconds, Buffy arched an eyebrow as the pair continued to kiss, obviously enjoying it. Finally, at two minutes, Willow coughed slightly, "Um, Aura? I think he needs to breathe…" Willow flinched back as the pair pulled apart and, after taking a few deep breaths, turned to her and growled for a moment before they went back to sucking face.

Finally, though, after four minutes, the pair pulled apart voluntarily and were both smiling even as they got their breath back, but Aura did not move – she LIKED this Xander… and when they were finally left alone, she was going to have to try him out.

Xander, for his part, was doing his best to not ignore the presence of the others and to have his way with Aura – for too long he had missed this feeling, and now that he had found a willing partner, by God, he was going to take advantage of it…

"My, my, would you look at the time," Jenny said suddenly, looking at her imaginary watch. "Girls, Rupert, we're leaving." With a glare that told all three to not argue, she looked at Xander and Aura, "You two, cool off until later before I turn the hose on both of you." She was on the receiving end of two glares, but she glared back, "Somehow, I don't think Rupert or I want to explain the amount of broken furniture that would occur if you two were to follow your baser instincts HERE. In THE LIBRARY."

Aura stopped glaring a Jenny for a second before she nodded and got off of Xander, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, "Come on, Xander. We have… business… to attend to."

Xander, who was trying to hide his obvious arousal, was jerked along for the ride as Aura dragged his newly-human ass out of the Library at a quick clip. If he was lucky, she'd kill him quickly…

Jenny smirked as she noticed that both girls looked rather flushed and embarrassed while Giles looked a little outraged, "Oh, don't worry. She won't kill him." She grabbed her purse and began to rummage through it, muttering, "Let's see how quickly you really heal, Xander…"

AN: As much as I'd like to give all the gory details, and given that I'm putting this up on fanfiction . net, I will not write what's about to happen and, instead, tell you all to use your rather active imaginations… Reviews, please.