The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 3 Author: Tohonomike Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays.

The night had lasted far too long, and Xander smiled broadly as he entered the library with Jenny Calendar. The duo each carried the best of the best in laptops within their carry-bags, and Xander contemplated getting back to 'normal time.'

Jenny smiled, catching his general enthusiasm, as she noted a devious twinkle in his eye.

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, we have Willow here, starting to look confused because ten seconds have passed since Angelus grabbed her in the hall, but she's sitting here starting to make a ruckus. Buffy's looking confused and maybe a little annoyed. And Giles as usual is looking disconcerted. Oz and Cordelia look either Oz-like or bored, it's a close call."

Xander moved Willow between Buffy and Oz, then pulled out Giles' chair.

"Xander, what are you thinking?"

"Willow's lungs outta really spook those two, and both are out of Buffy reflex-range, and if you want to sit on Giles' lap and place a big kiss on him that out to really confuse him."

"And you?"

"Most of my pranking of Sunnydale has already taken place, just waiting for tomorrow's gossip mill to make it all even better. I think I'll just hold Cordelia's hand openly and when Willow shrieks, say something as though in response."

"Hmm, alright, but let's not use up all of your minutes left. You really should ration yourself…after all if you go to college, extra time on exams could help."

"That's an excellent point. And I was just thinking of terms of doing the Robin Hood thing…"

"Dressing in tights and doing it in an English forest with manly men around you?"

Xander started laughing, to the point of nearly choking as he leaned heavily on the table, a moment later, breathing in oxygen.

"That was well-timed, Jana. Thank you."

"You're welcome, but why?"

"It keeps me from getting too far ahead of myself. So, ready?"

"Sure…"

She sat on the librarian's lap, and watched as Xander, in a suit no less, as well as the trench coat readied himself. A thought occurred to her…

"Xander? You do realize we're dressed almost alike and definitely out of our norm?"

"Yeah, but I figured we could explain that as being my uncle's fault…after all, we did just come from his place, subjectively speaking."

"True. Okay, whenever you're ready…"

He smiled, and in his pocket 'restarted' time again. As he'd guessed, Willow's loud shriek that effectively came from two sides of the library really confused things, and a startled Buffy shifted quickly in different directions before realizing nothing was there, though Xander realized that having carried the vampire by her twice would have set off her Slayer senses in a freaky way.

Cordelia pulled back from the sound of the loud scream, but reflexively tightened her grip on his hand on the table. Rupert was in heaven for an instant, but the sound of Willow quickly diverted him. Jenny smiled and wondered what the next few minutes would hold.

"Good Lord, Willow! What's wrong!" the startled Englishman nearly shouted.

Xander smiled, "Must have been Cordelia's announcement that her and I are openly dating."

"What!" the three teenaged girls in the room exclaimed in confusion. Then Willow waved her hands.

"No! I was just in the hall and Angel tried to kill me!"

"What?" the others asked, still not sure why things were so out of place from the moment before, Giles following up, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Xander and Miss Calendar ran to save me…and hey, where'd you two get the nice clothes?"

Cordelia and Buffy looked at the teacher and student, the coloration of attire in darker olive tones, and realized that something was off.

"Armani?" Cordelia asked, "Xander Harris, how can you afford Armani?"

"Well, as of earlier today, I'm actually Alexander Kirby Winter, and have come into some money and property. Jana is my PA, or DA, I suppose, though I'm legally emancipated. The suit is a result of all that."

Before the others could remark, they felt the tremors of the various buildings and gas mains going up throughout Sunnydale. Jana and Alexander looked to each other, then back at the group.

"What was that?" Willow asked, "It didn't feel like an earthquake."

"No, it didn't," Xander agreed, "So anyway, Jana and I have a few things to catch up on with you guys first. I—"

"Who's Jana?" Willow asked, looking around, "Oh, and what's the PA-DA thing you were mentioning a minute ago?"

"Personal Assistant, Designated Adult," Xander smiled, "And a funny story about it—"

"Um, not to ruin the story, Xander," Buffy said, "But the Judge is assembled and that's kinda more important."

"Not really, Buff," Xander remarked, "And the Judge shouldn't be a problem; a distant in-law of my uncle's took care of it, and vice versa. C-4 I believe. As to Angelus, Willow, that was earlier, and the vampire without a soul is being researched by that same contact to see if it can be replaced. If not, dust."

"What!" Buffy asked in amazement, "What do you mean someone has Angel?"

"Just what I said, Buffy, the soul is gone, so Angel is gone. What is left is a vampire named Angelus. Now like I said, we'll see about the soul thing, but it doesn't look very promising."

"W-what do you mean, Xander?" the Watcher asked, "and how do you know all of this?"

"If you remember from reading the Watcher's references on Angelus, the ones Buffy never bothered with I'm guessing, you'll find that Darla, Spike and Dru went crazy on the gypsies that cursed their buddy Angelus after he'd raped and driven crazy and murdered a potential slayer. So they killed off the people with the mojo to curse, and the Nazis wiped out lots of the rest during Word War II. So the chances for bringing the creepy-stalker back are slim."

"And your knowing the people who have him?"

"I have my contacts, and that's one that isn't going to be forthcoming soon."

Buffy looked unhappy, but the hurtful encounter with Angelus in her apartment still left her unbalanced, rather than in angry-Slayer mode, "Why won't you tell us, Xander?"

"Because the vampire is sealed up where you can't see it anyway, Buff. And if the spell isn't found soon, the vamp is dust. The soul you were obsessed with is gone, and you know how that happened. So let's just let the experts check and see."

"That's a bit cold, isn't it Alexander?" Giles asked, "How do we know for sure that the soul is gone?"

"Other than his trying to murder Willow earlier? Other than a police report about a dead hooker eaten in the alley outside his apartment last night? Other than the gypsies finally explaining this afternoon that Angel experienced a moment of happiness last night, and the soul is gone? We don't know. As to 'cold' Giles, should Buffy really see only a nasty vampire where Angel used to be? When I had to stake Jesse last year, I'd remembered how hard it was even after you'd told us it was just an animal wearing his face. Buffy doesn't need to puke her guts out seeing it."

Willow grew quiet at that, as did Giles. Even Buffy subsided, looking morose. It then occurred to Giles that something was off.

"Xander, why would the gypsies talk to you?"

"Uncle Kirby's in-laws included the Kalderash. Until they gave me Jana as a gift until my eighteenth birthday, I hadn't realized it, either."

"Xander…" Jenny Calendar sighed with exasperated, "They SO did not give me to you; I'm just your advisor and helper."

Willow finally caught on, "Miss Calendar is Jana? She's a gypsy?"

"Yes I am Willow," she admitted, "But I didn't know anything about Angelus' moment of happiness clause until this afternoon at Xander's uncle's home."

Buffy considered this, "But you knew about the curse? Were you spying on us?"

"No, but I was sent to watch Angel and make sure he was still cursed. It wouldn't do anyone any good to have Angelus back."

"So you were spying on us…"

'For crying out loud, Buffy, she was here to watch the vampire, not us."

"But she knew our secrets, she should have told us hers."

"Why? She only learned about you being the Slayer because things kept getting out of hand and that whole Moloch deal. And you don't wear a balaclava and dark clothes when slaying, so it's not like Giles or the Council are really serious about secrecy. So don't look for a scapegoat. Just because Angel paid the price for breaking the laws of man and God…maybe getting a reprieve if research turns up something, is no reason to take it out on someone else."

Willow tried to speak up for her friend, "Hey, Buffy's been through a lot—"

"And so she shouldn't try to blame others. That's all I'm saying. And Willow, this is one argument that you will lose. So drop it."

"Anyway," he continued, squeezing Cordelia's still-prominently-held hand, "just go home and try to forget about the whole Judge and Angelus thing for a couple of days. We'll talk on Monday. Jana, if you could come over to my place around nine tomorrow, we'll get started on the inventory and all the new accounts, see if we can make sense of all of it. I'll have the staff make breakfast for you."

Cordelia suddenly realized something, "Wait? The Winter Mansion? That's across the way from MY house."

"Yeah, if you're brave enough, it'll really piss your folks off to know that my place out-appraises theirs by a thousand bucks as of yesterday." The young man smirked, "And Cordelia, I'm giving you until Monday to think about us…we've been only hanging out so far, and only MY friends know. So you still have a chance to back out of this, 'cause I'm not going to hang out with the Cordettes or the Jocks. I now have to learn about real estate, estate foreclosures, tax lien sales and other property-transfer stuff now, but I'm not going to become one of the snots I've hated my whole life. Here, lets get you home. Oz? Can you see that Buffy and Willow make it home? There shouldn't be any real vampire problems tonight, but you never know."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"Welcome."

"Cool."

Nod.

Nod.