Title: "Help Wanted"
By: Lexie
Summary: Xander needs a new secretary and Buffy just happens to be
available. Chaos ensues.
Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Buffy. If I did BX would have
happened long long ago and would probably be married by now and there
would have been at least two Xander's in every episode since there's
twins that I could use. Two Xander's is always a good in my book. But
anyways Fox, Mutant Enemy, UPN, and who ever else, owns everything
Buffy related. Not me no matter how much I wish for two Xander's.
Rating: PGish
Category: Humor/Romance

This fic is dedicated to Shawn and Brooke.

A/N: Line Break means changing of POVs and/or scene change.

"Help Wanted"

A few weeks after Buffy's first day.

Tonight would be a good night. No angry site
inspectors calling to know why things were so behind.
No typewriter's going haywire. No lost files to find.
No possessed coffee makers. No office worries at all.
All Xander wanted to do tonight was sit at home with
Buffy and pull their regular Friday-nighters. A couch,
a pile of junk food, a couple of cheesy movies, and
just him and Buffy. That to him was the perfect way to
end a hard week at work.

Buffy came into the living room with her hands filled
with bags of chips, chocolate chip cookies, rocky road
ice cream, and of course what every movie night needs
extra-buttery popcorn. She laid them all out onto the
coffee table in front of the couch and took a seat
beside Xander, who was rubbing his hands together with
excitement amid all the junk food goodness in front of
him.

"So Xand, what will we be watching for our movie
pleasures tonight?"

"Well sit back and prepare to Ohh' and Ahh' at my
well thought out choices."

Xander grabbed the plastic movie rental bag from under
the coffee table as Buffy sat back on the couch and
waited to see Xander's fine movie pickings. She was
always a little nervous during this time for never
knowing what zany movie he would pull out of that bag.

"First to bat is a movie that is sure to leave us in a
good mood and also has one of my hero's who I look up
to daily."

Off of Buffy's raised eye brow and slightly confused
look, Xander grinned and said, "Adam Sandler."

Buffy tossed her head back. "Oh great, don't you ever
get tired of trying to imitate him?"

Xander scoffed at her. "I do not imitate… I project his
witty personality."

Buffy giggled at his reasoning and with that Xander
pulled out the movie, "50 First Dates."

"Oooohhh," Buffy bounced up and down in excitement. "I
have been wanting to see that! Willow says it's really
cute! I've heard good things."

"Yeah, see was that so bad?" Xander asked. "You get
your cuteness and I get Adam Sandler funnies. I was
thinking of both of us on that one!"

"Xander, I must say that one you did pretty
good. I take back your title as King of awful cheesy
movies."

"The second movie of the night is always a fun
favorite." With that he whipped it out and held it up
like a trophy. "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!"

"And the crown is graciously handed back," Buffy
deadpanned.

"What? Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a classic!"

"Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? You
just put Killer Tomatoes' and classic' in the same
sentence!"

"Pfft, you just can't comprehend the classical wonder
that is the tomatoes."

As he reached for the bag for the last movie he heard
her mumble something about it being "classically
stupid," but he didn't care. He knew the next movie
would make her melt.

"The next movie will make you bow to my supreme movie
picking skills."

"What? The Killer Tomatoes Eat France'?"

"No, that one was checked out. But they did have…" With
that he whipped out the last movie.

Buffy gasped and sat up straighter. "Beaches!" She
screeched. She immediately grabbed the movie and held
it close to her chest as if it was the last precious
thing in the world.

Xander smiled at her child like expression, as she
looked the movie cover over.

"This is the best movie of all time!" she said
excitedly. "Its my absolute favorite!"

"I know," Xander simply said. "So, do you wanna do the
bowing thing now or later?"

"Um later," she said. After a moment of pause to
reflect on the movie she said, "To bad Dawn thinks we
aren't cool enough to hang out with us anymore. She
would really love this."

"Yup, our little Dawnie has moved on to bigger and
better things than us old fogies at home," Xander
stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, moved on to raging teenage hormones and trying to
be socialably superior." Buffy put the movie case down
on the coffee table and sat back on the couch with her
thoughts on her little sister. Her eyes were downcast
towards the floor.

Xander could sense the slight change in Buffy's mood.
She worried about Dawn a lot more these days. She
never said much, but he could tell she would stay up
worrying over her every time her little sister went
out. Buffy being the Slayer knew the dangers this
sleepy little town held with in its borders. Xander
worried too. Growing up in Sunnydale put a whole new
meaning on 'Nightmare on Elm Street.' He guessed
worrying over Dawn just came natural to them. They
never really discussed it, but they both knew each
other's concerns. Wanting Buffy's mood to not switch
into that funk mode for the night, Xander did what he
does best.

"Ahhh, yes. Good old teenage hormones and social
ranking." Xander said cheerily as he opened up a bag
of cookies and popped one in his mouth. "Apparently, I
do not rank high on the social chart of life. The
other day at the grocery store I was almost pushed
into the chips aisle when Brad Murphy,
Mr.-Sunnydale-2005 walked by," Xander said in a snooty
tone. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I was disowned and was
just some crazy who kept putting things in her buggy."

Xander glanced sideways at Buffy to gauge her reaction,
but she still looked lost in her thoughts. He hoped he
could ease her worry in some way.

"She's going to be okay out there."

Buffy's eyes came up to meet Xanders. "Oh yeah?"

"Yup. You wanna know why?"

She raised her eyebrow for the second time that night
and tilted her head to the side and waited for his
reply. He sat back on the couch with her and leaned
his shoulder into her and turned his head towards her.

"Because she learned from the best," he whispered.

Buffy couldn't control the small smile that his
comment caused, nor could she control the warm fuzzy
feelings she was having on the inside. Sometimes this
man said the most beautiful things to her. She never
saw them coming, but she would always remember the
feelings that they left her with.

"Besides she's in the prime of her life. Let her have
some fun now. Think back to being 17 and all the
feelings you were having…." Xander paused a moment and
pursed his lips as if he were really contemplating
that. Thinking back to her turbulent past, she shifted
back and looked at Xander as if he had gone crazy for
bringing up her past 17-year-old self. "... On second
thought, maybe we should go out there and drag her back
here and super glue her door shut?"

"Ommff!" he grunted when a couch pillow smacked him in
the chest. "Hey! Pillow fights aren't scheduled until
later on tonight!" He laughed. "Okay, so how should
our movie schedule go?"

"Hmm, well what if we start with your idol Adam
Sandler; move right into the movie that beats all
other movies, Beaches; and hopefully by that time we
will both be render into unconscious-ness so that I
don't have to suffer through the killer tomatoes,
again?"

Xander nodded. "Sounds like a plan!"

"Xand?" Buffy asked innocently while Xander got up to
put in the first movie in.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you going to cry during Beaches again?"

Xander immediately turned around with wide eyes.
"I… uh… I never… that wasn't…" Xander was stumbling
over his own words and Buffy was enjoying every second
of it. "… I told you there was salt in my eyes from
the popcorn."

"Whatever, Mr.-Sunnydale-1997!" Buffy giggled back.

Oh yeah, this was going to be a good night indeed.

Buffy grabbed another tissue from the tissue box on
the coffee table. Why did this movie have to be so
sad? Beaches was a great movie, but it always left her
crying. She guessed it had that effect on a lot of
people, but she couldn't help but think about how close
the movie hit home for her in a lot of ways. Loosing
her mother was the hardest thing this Slayer has ever
had to live through. But she was thankful for best friends who helped
her through that time, who stood by her through every
battle, who never gave up on her, who helped her raise
her little sister after her mother passed away, who
were there for her day in and day out never thinking
about leaving her, and who knew her favorite movie and
the reasons why the movie was so special to her.

She looked over to that best friend to gauge his
reaction to the movie. He was sharing the couch with
her, sitting just to her right. He currently had
his arm propped up on the armrest covering his mouth,
obviously trying to hold back tears. She knew Xander
was a manly man who could stand up to the darkest
creatures, but put him up against a movie that he knew
meant a lot to her and he didn't stand a chance. He
must have noticed her gaze upon him because he tried
to turn his head towards the ceiling.

"Damn popcorn salt!" he squeaked out.

Buffy couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up. She
leaned heavily into his chest and hugged him. He put
his arms around her and put his head on top of hers,
relaxing in their embrace. She knew all about the
inner strength this man possessed, but when he did simple things
like watching the ultimate chick flick just because it
was her favorite, that made him the best man she knew.
That made him the best friend who not only stood by
her side through every battle, but also the best
friend who held her when she needed it the most. It
made him her Xander.

So far they had been through two of the three movies
they had. The first one, "50 First Dates", had flown
by and Buffy seemed to really enjoy it. He enjoyed it
too. No one can beat the Adam Sandler funnies, but to
watch and listen to Buffy laugh at parts made it that
much more special to him.

The second movie, "Beaches," was a tough one to get
through to say the least. Not only was it a top
ranking girly movie, but also it was the one which
always made Buffy cry, and as much as his manlier side
refused to admit it, it always left him in tears too.
It always started when Buffy tears started falling and
he knew he was a goner for sure then. He always knew
when Buffy was thinking of her mother and knew how
much this movie brought back memories of her. He
missed Joyce too. He always liked her because she was
genuinly nice person. She was the one who raised Buffy
and Dawn into the women that they are today. He missed
coming over for her cooking. He missed her asking him
all about his job. He missed her caring. But mostly, he
missed her for Buffy. So that's why now when memories
of the past brought tears to Buffy's eyes and all she
needed was for someone to hold her, he would always be
the man to do that for her.

Now that strolling down teary memory lane was over, it
was time for his favorite cheesy movie, "Attack of the
Killer Tomatoes." Oh how Buffy hated that movie and
how he loved it just the same. His philosophy was
since finding out about all the scary things in the
world were real, why not admire the simplistic and
cheesy atmosphere of the movie to get away from all
the other real stuff?

Buffy was always a trooper during the movie. Sure she
whined and complained all throughout. Whining about
the special effects, acting, and storyline. And always
wondering how in the world a tomato could kill anyone?
She managed to throw in slaying jokes about the
killer tomatoes. But as many times as they have
watched the B grade movie, she always watched it from
beginning credits to ending credits with him. Tough
it out for him, she promised to herself.

Although looking at her tonight, she doesn't look like
she will make it through this time. It seems the only
thing she's fighting tonight is sleep. She's
currently sitting right next to him with heavy eyes.
He couldn't blame her, he was fighting his own battle
with drowsiness. It had been another long and hard
week at the office and he just didn't have it in him
anymore to stay up late. Another yawn slipped from him
and Buffy slouched down, leaning more towards him and
rested her head on his shoulder. He put his head back
on top of Buffy's and both relaxed while they watched
another Tomato eat someone.

"Dawn will be home soon," she yawned out.

"Mmm Hmm."

"One of us should probably stay up for her."

"Mmm Hmm." It was his turn to yawn out his answer "I'll
be right on that."

"Me too," she added quietly, as sleep was quickly
approaching her.

If he could just rest his eyes just for a few minutes
he would be good, then he could wait up for Dawn. The
last thing he remembers is listening to Buffy's evened
out breathing as she slept on his shoulder.

Dawn quietly closed the door behind her. She was only
fifty minutes late so she knew her sister and Xander were
bound to be waiting up for her. Xander out of worry,
and Buffy out of the need to yell at her for it. She
knew Buffy was worried too, but the yelling part nixed
out her care.

She heard the TV on in the living room and knew that
must be where they were waiting for her. She could
either go in there and face the firing squad now or
she could sneak upstairs and put off the yelling match
for a later time. After a long night of fighting with
her best friend Kit over a guy named Mark, she just
didn't feel like facing her sister's wrath tonight.

So she tiptoed towards the stairs as quietly as she
could. She was quite proud of her stealthy ways as she
approached the stairs. She was almost past the
living room and she had not heard her sister yell out
yet. She was almost home free. All she needed to do was
take a quick glance into the living room to make sure
her sister wasn't sitting there watching her sneak by.
That sounded something like a Slayer would do. Just
when she thought she had mastered the art of sneaking
in, her sister would catch her. She slowly turned
towards the room with butterflies in her stomach. She
prepared for the worst, but what she got was much more
shocking.

Was that Buffy snoring while lying on top of an
outstretched Xander on the couch? Did somebody slip
something into her drink at the Bronze so that now she
was delusional in seeing her sister pulling some
serious snuggles with her best friend? How did this
come to be? She glanced at the TV, which looked like a
movie was coming to the end.

"Ooo, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes," she noted while
smiling at the TV. She and Xander both loved that
movie. It was so cheesy it was funny; it was just an
added bonus to torture Buffy with it.

She glanced back at her sister and Xander who were
both still oblivious to what was happening. She took in their
relaxed states. Xander was fully lying on the couch
and Buffy was laying half way on top of him while her
head fitted just perfectly in the nook of his neck.
Xander had one arm splayed over her back, holding her
to his chest securely, while the other rested lightly
on her arms that were hugging his chest. Both had the
most peaceful look on their faces. In fact, she hadn't
heard Buffy snore like that since she was a young
child, when she would slip into her older sisters room
to sleep at night. Xander also seemed to be in a deep
sleep.

All in all, they looked really cute on the couch. Not
worrying at all over her being late. Dawn considered
playing the hurt card that they didn't care enough to
see if she made it in or not. But it suddenly hit Dawn
that this was going to work out perfect for her.

This was her perfect escape. She could sneak up to her
room and go to bed. Buffy and Xander couldn't say
anything to her in the morning because all Dawn had to
do was mention that she came in on time, but she just
didn't want to wake the snuggling love birds on the
couch. That was a sure way to send both Buffy and
Xander into a sputtering panic with the implications
of their little sleep fest held. Throwing all excusing
off of her and right onto them. An evil smile came
over Dawn's features as she turned to quietly bound up
the stairs.

The next morning.

The first thing Xander thought of when waking up was
the thought of how warm and comfortable he felt with
his Buffy blanket. As the familair sounds of early morning
to slowly come to him, he didn't think much on what the
meaning of that thought held. He simply rubbed Buffy's
back while slept, and was slowly floating away.

The first thing Buffy thought of when waking up was
how nice Xander smelled. He always smelled sweet and
manly at the same time. It was a uniquely Xander-scent. She
could hear the light thump of his heart and felt the
smooth grazing of his hand as it warmed her lower back. It
made Buffy want to snuggle deeper into this warm world
and to never leave it.

Buffy let out a long sigh as she stretched her hand
along his torso.

"Hhhmmm… Xannn…" Buffy's thoughts suddenly struck her,
and when she realized their meaning; her eyes snapped open
and her head popped up off his chest. "... der!"

Xander's eyes snapped open as well and he gave Buffy
the deer caught in the headlights look.

"Buffy!" he screeched out.

For a few moments neither knew what to do. To many
thoughts were flying through their heads to process
actual movements. They both stared at each other not
knowing what to say to make this moment less awkward.

"Morning," Buffy squeeked out.

"Morning," Xander repeated. not knowing what else to say or
do. Both just continued to stare at each other. apparently it was
to early in the morning for either's mind and body work at the same
time.

"Mooornningg!" Dawn shouted cheerfully to them in a singsong voice
as she skipped to the kitchen from the stairs.

Both Xander and Buffy jumped up off the couch at the
sound of Dawn's cheerful voice. Buffy going one-way
and Xander going the other way.

"I'm up!" Xander yelled out.

"Nothing!" Buffy yelled at the same time. She didn't
know why she yelled that, but it seemed appropriate at
the time.

Dawn just smiled as she continued on her way to the
kitchen.