Chapter 9. Ms. Claus.
I know it's not Christmas anymore, but I couldn't finish it on time. So have a little Christmas after Christmas. LOL.
"Wow, look at that Santa Claus," says Dawn. "He must be like ten feet tall."
"Hey, he should go out for a basketball team," says Xander.
Still on the phone, Willow begins to tell Buffy a couple of things. Buffy ignores them because she is trying to pay attention to what Xander is saying and the lights.
"Use a little magic, Buffy," says Willow. "It's not going to hurt."
"No," says Buffy a little too loud. Dawn and Xander look at her.
"No what?" asks Xander.
"I forgot to do something and I just remembered now," says Buffy with a smile.
"So, Buffy," says Dawn. "Have any boyfriends?" Xander glares at his sister for asking such a question. Buffy is confused why she would ask this question.
"No, I don't," replies Buffy.
"That was a very rude question, Dawn," says Xander. Dawn sits back into her seat. "I apologize for my sister's behavior. She can sometimes get a little overprotective of me."
"I thought it was supposed to be the other way around," says Buffy about the brother, sister tradition. "The big brother is overprotective of the little sister."
"Yeah, but my other sister, Cordelia is the one who gets to be overprotective of Dawn. We gave each other jobs when we were little."
"I kind of got gypped," says Dawn. "How am I supposed to protect my big brother if he never listens to me?" Xander rolls his eyes at Dawn.
"Because I know what I am doing," says Xander.
"And I don't?"
"Dawn, when you're older you'll understand, okay?" Xander turns to look at the road as he drives.
"So, Buffy, where do you live?" Xander rolls his eyes again as he continues to drive down a block.
"Um, up north," replies Buffy. "Way up north."
"Really? I met a guy at the mall and he said the same thing. Maybe you know him?"
"A guy?" Xander looks at Dawn and then at Buffy.
"Yeah, his name is Connor." Xander stops the car and gets out. He opens the back door and pulls Dawn out of the car and then closes the door.
"What are you doing?" asks Xander. "You're embarrassing me. Stop with the questions, okay?"
"I'm just curious," says Dawn. "I saw her crying and the guy I met at the mall, Connor was talking to her at the time. They looked pretty close."
"They're not. I know who you're talking about and he's just a friend."
"Then why is she so vague about where she lives?"
"It's not the appropriate question to ask on a first date, okay?"
"Look, it's not that I don't like her, it's that I'm concerned about…"
"Why she was with the guy you liked?"
"Okay, so what if I am?"
"This has nothing to do with me."
"It has something to do with her." Dawn points at Buffy in the car.
"They're friends. That's all. Deal with it."
Back in the car, Buffy tries to listen to their conversation, but is having one of her own with Willow, who is still on the phone.
"What do I do?" asks Buffy. "This is all a mess. I knew I shouldn't have said yes."
"Buffy, calm down," says Willow.
"I'm getting too involved. This is a bad sign." Buffy then opens her door and when she steps out, something is very strange. She walks up to Xander and Dawn, who are not moving or talking. "Uh oh."
"Buffy, what's wrong?"
"I think I froze time. Oh, my dad's going to kill me."
"Undo it."
"I don't know how I did it. How am I supposed to undo it?"
"Um, just relax and think about what you were thinking when it happened."
"Well, maybe it's when I said in my head I wish time would stop."
"That could be it."
"I wish time would begin." Time quickly resumes its course and Xander sees Buffy out of the car.
"Buffy," says Xander. Dawn turns around and wonders how she got out of the car, without her feeling the motion of the car since she is leaning against it. "I'm so sorry about this."
"It's fine," says Buffy. "I'm not feeling well right now." Xander quickly goes over to her side.
"Oh, what can I do?"
"Just take me back to the mall. I parked my car there."
"I'll take you home. I have no problem."
"You can't take me home. It's too far."
"I don't care."
"Please, just take me to the mall." Xander bows his head and then glares at his sister. He just enters the car and turns it on. Buffy gets in and so does Dawn. When they arrive at the mall, Buffy exits the car. Xander comes out and heads over to her.
"I'm so sorry about all this," says Xander. "I want to make it up to you."
"It's not your fault," says Buffy. "It's me."
"No, look the offer still stands if you want to come to my family's Christmas Eve party. I want you to come."
"I don't know if I can make it."
"Can I at least walk you to your car?" Buffy sees his hopeful eyes and could not bear to say no to him. She nods her head and leads the way to the parking lot. "What kind of car do you have?"
"Um." Buffy looks left and Xander looks left with her. She then with her right finger, points at an empty spot and magically a 2003 Honda Accord LX in red appears. She turns her head around. "There it is." Buffy walks over to the car and magically pulls out some keys from her purse.
"Nice." Xander opens the door for her and Buffy gets in. Buffy puts the key into the ignition of the car and rolls her window down. She pulls out the key as Xander closes the door for her. Xander then pulls out a card from his wallet and hands it to Buffy. "If you change your mind, that's my cell." Buffy looks at him and is sad to see him go. She rolls up her window as Xander walks out of the parking lot.
She looks straight at the wall in front of her and then at the rearview mirror. Buffy tries to hold her emotions in as Xander heads back to his car, but she couldn't. Buffy starts to cry uncontrollably on the wheel.
After Xander gets into his car, he notices that Buffy has not turned her car on. He stays and watches her for a while. Buffy looks through her rearview mirror and sees Xander's car in the same place. She decides to turn on the car and backs up. Then she stops time of a nano second, so that he would not try to follow her and uses her magic to get back to the North Pole. After the nano second occurs, Xander is confused that he's lost sight of her car. He drives around the lot, but does not see her car anywhere. Then he just drives home.
When Buffy pulls up to her house in the North Pole, her mother comes out and hugs her as she exits the car. Buffy cries some more on her mother's shoulder.
"Oh, sweetheart," says Joyce. "Mortals can be so cruel." Joyce leads her to the house.
Willow comes out of Buffy's house; she was there telling Joyce about what happened to Buffy and her date. Connor just happens to be on his way to the Claus' house and sees Buffy crying on her mother's shoulder. As Buffy pulls away, she sees Connor and hugs him tight.