Title: You am I
Author: Mike McD
Rating: G
Summary: A very quick Halloween fic. Imagine that certain clothes from the future end up in Ethan's shop. Next story in the follow on from 'Extra Flamey', 'Around the Curves', 'In the Land of the Blind', 'Jack Lives Here', and 'A Whisper of You.
Distribution: Anywhere, just let me know.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I own any other characters. This is a work of fiction written for fun and enjoyment.
/Xander the Elder thoughts/
/Buffy thoughts/
-----
/One down, one to go./
Standing from her vantage point, Buffy watched Faith walk with Xander and Willow through the park.
Willow and Xander, the memories of the suffering of their Halloween other selves still raw, had managed to persuade Buffy and Giles to come on their summer road trip.
A road trip to save Faith and Tara from the horrors of their lives.
Faith was number one on the list. They were too late to save Faith's Watcher but they managed to dust Kakistos.
That had been the easy bit. Convincing Faith of their crazy story had taken the better part of two days. But the tag team of Willow with her Faith memories and Xander with Tara's gentle compassion ended up breaking through the wall that Faith had erected to protect herself from the dark world she had found herself in.
/She's seen too much for, what do you call them/
/A Potential./
/Right. She's pretty messed up, isn't she/
/From what I was able to pick up over the years, Faith's life pretty much sucked the big one. But she's got friends now. Friends can make all the difference in the world./
Faith, flanked either side by Willow and Xander, was talking animatedly about god knows what as the trio headed to the hotdog stand.
/Funny how Xander didn't seem all that keen to meet Faith at the start./
/You gotta remember that the only knowledge of Faith that young Junior over there has is Tara's, and Faith and Tara didn't start off all that good./
Buffy smirked at the Elder Xander that was sharing her mind refer to his younger self as 'Junior'.
/Well, they seem to be getting along like a couple of houses on fire./
/If they keep it up at this rate, they'll be having a swinging threesome before mid-terms./
"Xander!" Buffy yelled out loud before remembering she was physically alone.
Although there was an old lady who was giving Buffy a look as she put as much space as possible between her and the blonde Slayer.
Buffy heard Xander the Elder laughing.
/Not funny./
/I know./ Buffy sensed that Xander became serious.
/You're worried, aren't you? About us merging./
In the beginning there was a clear difference between her mind and the elder Xander's mind. But little by little the line began to blur. They started sharing dreams, especially erotic dreams, which disturbed the hell out of both of them. Sometimes when talking to their friends Buffy and Xander would swap constantly without realising it until afterwards. Their memories began to blend in together such that neither of them was quite sure whose memories they were.
/Worried? Yes. A little frightened? Definitely. The whole idea of you no longer being completely you and me not being completely me? Wiggy./
/If we could find a way to stop it, would you want to/
/Would you/
They both knew the answer, which should have terrified the both of them.
But it didn't.
/Just as long as I don't get hair on my chest or start growing man bits./
/Hey! I'm stuck in the body of a woman/
/Like that's any great hardship./
/Two words, Buffy. Period. Pain./
/Two words, Xander. Lesbian. Fantasies./
/Hey! Some of those were in here long before I was./
Buffy majorly blushed.
/You're not going to tell Willow, are you/
/Not yet. I'll save that for the right time. Preferably when she's a little drunk and Junior isn't around to dick things up./
/You wouldn't dare/
A smirk was the only response.
With a mental grump, Buffy started towards Willow, Faith, and Xander.
/Buff, since we're going down the whole 'You am I' path, can I ask for a favour/
/What's the favour/
/Can we date Tara/