The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 4 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 next morning, as Xander had suspected, not only saw Jana Kalderash show up, but the rest of the Scooby Gang as well. He knew from listening to emergency channels, watching the news and the general mayhem that school would be canceled (it was a Friday) and his friends couldn't suppress their curiosity. Looking up from his laptop computer he could see the lot of them pulling into the driveway, and behind them, Cordelia Chase almost nonchalant as she made her way over as well. He headed into the dining room, noting that the staff had set out a buffet off to the side from which his guests could serve themselves.

He had carefully secured the basement levels so that only his new codes would let one in, and felt relatively sure about the rest. As he heard the front door ring, he made sure his lists and such were safely locked in a drawer so that Scooby types wouldn't snoop into last night's affairs inadvertently.

The butler announced he had visitors and Ms. Calendar, to which Xander consented to the others joining them. Rupert, Jenny and Cordelia were the first in; Buffy, Willow and Oz seemed to be taking in the surroundings in something akin t amazement. Cordelia enthusiastically beamed as she noted the slightly less formal sports jacket and jacket Xander's butler had had laid for him that morning.

"Wow, real clothes twice in a row! You look good, Xander," she told him, eliciting a smile from him.

"Hey, Cor, good to see you too. Hey guys, figured you'd be by, grab a plate and eat up. I had them make some of everything. Giles, there are different teas over on the left."

The smell of food quickly derailed any immediate conversation, as Giles was delighted to be in a civilized dining room, and the others were primarily teenagers. Jana, as he now tended to call Jenny Calendar stepped over to where Cordelia stood next to Xander.

"I knew those clothes would be an improvement, Xander," Jana nodded at the selections she'd help make on the way back to Sunnydale, then gestured at her own dark corduroy jacket over her teacher clothes, "I think I guessed close enough. We hadn't discussed dress code."

"You look fine, Jana, I kinda guessed they'd cancel school with all of the noise last night?"

"Oh yeah, and apparently Principle Snyder was found handcuffed in his boxers to a flagpole in front of the police station last night covered in fake clown tattoos. The 'flog the frog' sign around his neck didn't help matters much."

"Really?" Xander smiled at his new advisor, "Good for 'somebody.' I've been watching the news. I've been reading these real estate repo books and am wondering if we could squeeze enough cash together and pick up the bombed out properties for the back taxes, land only."

"Wow," Cordelia responded, eyebrows high in sudden financial admiration, "One day and already you're ready to swoop in and make the profit? Wow."

The boy laughed, the normal Xander showing even after the ramifications of his night's activities might have done had already set it. He'd hoped to make a strong impression on Cordelia, and since Jana would be double-checking his ideas and plans before they went to his official agents, he probably would do just fine. Outside Sunnydale? He'd be eaten alive.

Giles stepped over with his cup of tea, speaking in a low voice as not to be overheard by the staff, "But it is rather unusual that so much damage was done last night. Was it all done by the people you met last night?"

"Giles, to the best of my knowledge only two people were moving around last night. And the time it would take for them to accomplish that unhindered could be days at least, and that's if absolutely nothing else happened while they did it."

"You're right, but I thought it best to be sure, especially since most of the government leaders seemed to have met with rather untoward ends, the Mayor included."

"Well, then," the Watcher continued as he watched the others sit down with impressive amounts of food at the table, "What of the Angelus matter. I pressed Miss Calendar for details, but none were forthcoming."

"Just like I said to Buffy. We'll see if it's possible; if not, dust."

"You confuse me, Xander."

"How so?" he replied as he moved over and offered a plate to Cordelia, then to Rupert, Jenny having already joined the others in order to give the two time to talk.

"I would think you would be eager to eliminate Angel considering your expressed feelings toward him. Then, you do allow for a reprieve in the matter."

"I don't think anything can be done within a week or two Giles, and after that the vamp will start to go really crazy from lack of feeding."

"You're not treating him as a prisoner? What if his soul is returned?"

"Then the creep will find out it's not safe to remain in Sunnydale?"

"What of Buffy's feelings in the matter?"

"She wants a normal life; the vampire that doesn't do squat will leave town so she can have one. It's really that simple, Giles."

Buffy's voice broke in as the two turned and sat down, her Slayer hearing having picked up at least the end of the conversation.

"Xander, Angel's never done anything to you, why do you hate him so much?"

"Instead of helping at the Harvest, he did nothing. He stalked you in a creepy manner for the rest of the school year. Never helped unless he was right there with you. That means even leaving aside that if he'd been there and helped that first night, Jesse would still be alive. And since we now know his only source of information was Willy, we know his effort was next to nothing especially since all he did was give you bits and pieces instead of anything helpful. People died because he did nothing and claimed to want redemption. I won't even start on this school year. He's done nothing for anyone without being guilted into it."

"I think—"

"Stop Buff, just drop the subject. I don't want to fight. I said that to Willow last night. I'm not really wanting to talk about it…Now is there any way we can talk about something else?"