The Morning Immediately Following Episode 25, SHS Library, 11 AM
"And then Lady Heather are I are actually sipping our tea when this really short chubby guy in nothing but a hot pink hood and bright orange leather speedo-thing walks by; Xander, who has borrowed one of Gil's Hawaiian shirts with matching shorts with flip-flops on, turns to Grissom and says, 'And they have a problem with our wardrobe?'" Jenny says, as the Scooby gang laughs, even Giles, "And we both lost the tea we were drinking right then, barely missing the two of them, and Gil Grissom just turns to Xander. 'It is a dictum that no one has ever broken the façade of Lady Heather so spectacularly. If you ever consider law enforcement as a career let me know, good interrogators are hard to find, especially ones that also scare the uniformed officers.'"
"Any way, that's about all, we then caught a ride to the airport," Xander added, perhaps a little too quickly.
"Oh, no," Jenny interrupted, "There were sheriff's cars from four counties and two states to give us a ride to the airport. They really didn't want Xander driving home last night at any speed." The young man blushed further as the laughter resumed.
Doyle drove the streets of Sunnydale in the one-day rental that took up pretty much all of his money. The Powers had dropped him off yesterday afternoon in front of a pawn shop. The owner had been a nice Jewish man named Hiram, but as far as Dole could tell, the place had nothing to do with his being in Sunnydale. He'd been told he'd only be getting one more vision as the chaos he was being sent in to help resolve would make it nearly impossible to maintain a link. It had been a whopper…but had only shown him a dark-haired youth and a young brunette girl in a lot of different clothes. Doyle had guessed a costume shop, or second-hand store, but he'd not seen either of them. The weirdness of last night still had him a bit shaken, and the idea of someone turning children into monsters still angered him. Well, sleeping in the car and driving the streets wasn't doing him much good; tomorrow he'd try the other costume store and maybe the High School since there seemed to have been some kind of a big-kid escort thing going on for the little ones last night.
The last Reset had left Xander a little edgier than he cared to admit; maybe to the extent that he might just be thinking of Jenny a little too much. 'You're still a teenager physically and legally…'
"Well, maybe I'll get someone else to go along this time," he said aloud as he reenacted his previous day of money transfers and car purchase, this time dropping the GT500E and suggesting an extra ten grand if they got to town by four-thirty instead of five o'clock. The phone didn't ring this time, so Xander simply fed Phil, grabbed Giles' keys and headed for Ethan's again.
As Xander pulled up in front of the place, he noticed a man sitting on a bench a little further down the walk from the store that he couldn't remember being their any other time. 'Another one of us repeaters?' he thought as he went into the store, 'I'll have to keep an eye out for him.'
He came up to Xander on the way out, looking uncomfortable as if trying to decide on something. He was a bit surprised when the man finally spoke.
"So, I know this'll sound strange," the man said in an Irish accent, "But do you seem to do this Halloween costume thing often, sometimes with a young brunette girl?"
"One could say that, since for most people Halloween is only once a year."
"But that's assuming it's not Halloween every day?"
"And you would be telling me this why?"
"Because I've been sent here to help make sure that at some point tomorrow isn't also Halloween." Xander looked at the man, trying to decide if he the odd vibe he picked up was an evil one.
"Are you human?"
"One could say that."
"But would it be true?"
"On my mother's side."
"And the other?"
"Brachen."
"Pacifist?"
"Unless something really pushed their buttons, like some bastard turning children into monsters."
"I like what I'm hearing so far."
"But?"
"I really don't know you. You could be evil."
"But I could be…not evil."
"True. You have a car?"
"No, when I said I've been sent, I mean I suddenly found myself standing in front of Hiram's Pawn Shop wondering what to do next."
"How did you find me?"
"I get visions."
"Visions?"
"Bunch o' flashes of pictures and impressions of them, with the biggest mother-in-law of all migraines to go with 'em."
"Sounds painful and handy."
"Well, they promised if this time loop thing gets fixed I get to be a hundred percent human and no visions. And the last one was of you and a girl a bit younger than yourself in a lot of different clothes, so yesterday I tried a few places, and today, I was trying this store and there you were."
"Lucky for you, I'm guessing."
"Well when you're told that the universe is going to be destroyed as the alternative to finding a solution to whatever time loop thing is goin' on 'ere, the choices are limited. And not bein' part demon anymore kinda gives a carrot instead of a stick." Xander looked at him and then turned and went back into the store, Doyle at his back. Ethan looked tired.
"We need another trench coat, sword, and revolver for an Immortal costume," Xander said, dropping forty dollars on the counter. They left again five minutes later, Doyle somewhat confused.
"What's your name Vision Guy?" Xander asked as he indicated the man should get in the Citroen.
"Doyle."
"As in Popeye?"
"As in Alan. So, what's with the costume?"
"You wear the costume and are possessed by the costume."
"You get to be yourself again?"
"When a statue in back of that costume shop is broken."
"Why don't we just break it now/"
"He has many of them hidden, and I've tried just killing him, but the Resets repeat anyway."
"So why the costumes, then?"
"I have the ability to keep the skills and such, so if I ever break free…"
"You'll be ahead of the game, gotcha."
"And when things get a little depressing, it's like a vacation when you get back."
"So why do I have to play dress up?"
"Show of faith, and to protect my friend while I whisk away another friend for a drive out of town in a Dodge Challenger."
"Lady friend?"
"Yes, but nothing's going to happen that I can't explain after it's all over."
"Oh?"
"It'd be like a date drug, she doesn't remember but I do?"
"Gotcha, fine, what'll I do do?"
"Harris!" Snyder screamed out at him, "You're almost late. Here are your kids. Who's this!" Willow and Buffy watched as Xander whispered something into the troll's ear, then shook hands slowly. "I understand, Mr. Harris, schoolwork comes first. And I'll have Mr. Giles take the children out. And thank you for having your uncle fill in for Ms. Rosenberg." Xander handed the extra coat and sword to the frustrating man, who left for the Library right away, Doyle right behind him.
"What did you say to him Xander?" Willow, Buffy nodding in confusion.
"I offered him three hundred dollars and told him I wanted to be excused for school reasons or I'd leak his 'extra funding sources' to the press."
"What extra sources?" Buffy asked.
"I'll tell you later, Buff, but right now I have to go see some folks about a car," Xander replied, then quickly removed Willow's sheet, "Willow, I'm not worthy of you, but we're going on a road trip and maybe even talk, okay? So, you're with me and I'll explain things once we're on the road. Oh, Buff, if something weird happens, Giles is going to be with you so please keep an eye on him alright? And distribute this pile of candy to your kids as starter candy. Oh, have Giles open this envelope a little before six."
Kowalski looked confused as he noticed the Bakersfield sign up ahead, and was especially confused to find a beautiful red-head resting comfortably on his shoulder.
'I'm supposed to be getting to San Francisco in fifteen hours,' Kowalski thought, 'But according to my watch I still have three hours to go and am somehow south of where I should be.' He looked at the smiling girl who simply looked at the road up ahead as if nothing was wrong. 'I'll just enjoy this while I can until she says something first.' He accelerated the car to ninety-five, just enough to make sure they'd get there
Turning on the radio left him confused. He finally found an 'oldies' station on FM radio, which was full of stations! And they played tunes he'd never heard by folks he knew only had a single or two out. After about an hour he turned to the girl, and started to say something when she stretched and asked, "How much longer until we get to San Francisco?"
"Maybe an hour and a half, why?"
"Mm, getting kind of hungry I guess, maybe grab something soon?" she said, stretching again. Kowalski tried not to look too interested in her youthful body, but she caught a glimpse and smiled as he distractedly accelerated the car another ten miles an hour, "Like what you see?"
"No doubt about that, baby, but I'm hoping to get us to the Bay Area before you give me a heart attack."
"We could have a delay…"
"It'll be bigger and better when the drives over."
"I thought the driving was the best part," she purred. The car was now creeping up to one hundred twenty-five miles an hour.
"I thought you wanted something to eat?"
"But you don't have to slow down for me to have a bite," she smiled, unbuckling the seat. The car was now at one hundred forty miles an hour.
"Baby, give me a few minutes and I'll pull the car off if you want."
"Give me a few minutes and it won't be the car that gets off." Her hand brushed his left inner knee as the car increased in speed to one-sixty.
"Maybe I should slow down just a bit so we don't crash and burn."
"Not as much fun without the danger," she said as she nibbled his earlobe and her hand reached mid-thigh and the car remained steady at one-sixty as the magic faded.
Willow's teeth left his ear, her hand quickly left his thigh, and a blushing red-head scooted slowly away as she tried to figure out what had come over her. And that Xander hadn't really put up much resistance. 'Xander didn't fight me off?' she realized and looked over at her smiling and blushing friend.
"XanderwhereareweandIdontknowwhatcameovermeImsoembarrassed."
"Don't be Wills," Xander smiled, still blushing deeply, "It'll be a moment that I'll treasure forever."
"Why can't we forget about it?" she half-whispered.
"Why would we want to do that Willow," he said softly, smiling as the car decelerated to one-thirty, "I didn't expect us to, you know, but wow, ya know?" She blushed deeper and looked around, and then at the dash.
"Xander! You're going way too fast!" she choked.
"A minute ago you seemed to think I was going too slow," he smirked, his earlier blushing starting to fade.
"Xander!"
"Oh come on, Will," he said, "you've been dancing around the topic for a while, and I've been thinking a lot about it myself." She stared at him with her mouth wide open in surprise. He wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her close.
"Hey, I've been over Buffy for a while, now, Wills, and being in the body of a hormonally charged teenaged male is killing me. I'm surround by gals who are way better than plain-looking, and because of that I can't settle down right now; I'm afraid of blowing a relationship in a moment of weakness." She laid her head on his shoulder as the car reached one-ten.
"But if you're not interested in Buffy, then who?"
"Well, I didn't say anything made sense, you know me. One gal is too old, but 'wow' and the other one is too young but has grown up way fast in a very short period of time. Then there's you," he said as the car reached ninety-five.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"Who are the others? Not Cordelia!"
"Hee, hee, no, but she does have more to her than we give her credit for, and it would be interesting, I admit…"
"Xander…"
"Promise not to go crazy on me?"
"Um, okay..."
"Jenny Calendar and Dawn Summers," he said as the car leveled off at eighty. He waited a minute as she remained silently pondering his words, "You there, Willow?"
"I can understand Ms. Calendar, she's quite attractive, but Dawn's a little young, Xan."
"Did you see her at Buffy's house this afternoon?"
"No, but…"
"Well, when we get back, take a look and talk to her. I'm not saying I'm feeling anything yet, but she's the one I'm worried about a year or three down the road."
"Really? Why?"
"Let me tell you about something that happen seven months ago Xander-Time…"
SHS Library, 8 PM
The group, including Doyle, were gathered around the table discussing the evening, and how lucky it was that Xander had left them notes about Ethan Rayne and his sick joke when the phone rang. Cordelia of all people grabbed it.
"Hello! Willow! Where are you!"
"The St. Francis Hotel? In San Francisco?"
"You're sharing a room with Xander!"
"Oh. What are you doing now?" she said, waving off Buffy.
"Oh, order the veal, it's wonderful. And have Xander try any of the duck dishes, they're to die for…"
"Uh-huh? Really? Uh-huh, Uh-huh, Okay, bye," She walked over to the table and sat down as the others looked at her, "What? Is something wrong with my hair?"
'N-no, we were rather hoping you could tell us what Xander and Willow are doing?" Giles asked.
"OH, they're staying the night at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and will fly back via Las Vegas tomorrow and get here about eight."
"Why are they in San Francisco?" Giles asked.
"Xander made reservations and they drove there," she replied.
"In only three and a half hours?" Doyle asked.
"She said something about a Barry Newman movie, a Dodge Challenger, a guy named Kowalski," Cordelia said, filing her nails, "after tonight, why look so surprised?"
"It's just that I never thought Xander would have taste enough to stay at the St. Francis, or watch movies that aren't science fiction," Angel replied, "Anything else?"
"Only that they'd explain things when they get back."