Headhunters

zTiamaTz

=H=H=

I SPY, WITH MY LITTLE EYE

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I woke up to the oddest sensation. I was wrapped around something that wasn't a pillow. I opened my eyes, and saw brunette hair inches from my face. Oh shit. I didn't know what I would do if Cordy woke up.

This hadn't happened yesterday morning, I had woken to each of us on our own side of the bed. Now, I was just glad I was used to being up early.

I unclasped my hand from her stomach, and tried to slowly work my arm out from underneath her.

"Mmmm." She grabbed my hand and pulled it back to her.

I knew if she woke up, she was going to cut my balls off. I tried to gently wriggle free, but stopped when she squeezed my arm, hard.

"You're warm. If you try that again, I will hurt you."

I had my arms around a beautiful woman, who was I to complain?

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I looked in the mirror, staring at my face. The barrel of the gun had left a cut on my nose, a rectangular bruise to the right of it that ran from the bridge down to my top lip, and my lip had been busted as well.

If I had tried to go to Sunnydale High like this, they would have laughed me right out the door. Xander had offered a band-aid, and a smile. Other then that, he acted like it wasn't even there, something I really appreciated.

As I came down the stairs, I could hear Xander in the kitchen. I smiled, he had breakfast ready for me every morning when I woke up. It was nice to have someone do that for you because they wanted to, not because they got paid for it.

"Morning." He said, not lifting his head up from the can he was opening.

"Hey Xander, what's for breakfast?" I asked, as I placed a bag on the table.

"Hold on Cor. It's either dog food or..." He popped the lid of the second can with his knife. "...cream of mushroom."

I noticed he still hadn't looked at me. "Okay buster, what's going on?"

"I just wanted to say sorry about this morning." He muttered.

"Xander, you tried to pull back and I wouldn't let you. How exactly is that your fault?"

"It's just, I didn't want you to think-"

I held up my hand. "There are enough guns in this house to start a small war." I thought about that for a second. "Actually, that's what we're using them for, but that's not my point."

"Okay."

"My point is, if I thought you had taken advantage, I would have shot you."

"That makes me feel much better Cor."

I smiled. "Glad to hear it, after breakfast, I've got a surprise for you." I patted the bag a few times.

"I can't wait." He replied sullenly.

I wasn't worried, he was going to love his present.

=H=H=

"No, absolutely not."

"Xander, I got these to help keep you warm."

"I don't care, I'm not wearing them." He replied firmly.

I sighed, I couldn't believe he was being such a stubborn ass. While I had been getting clothes together at the store, I had grabbed a bunch of large pairs of black tights for him. I'd also grabbed a few girl's sizes to go over our arms. Of course, he'd rather freeze.

"They're black, it's not like I got you pink or something." I tried to reason.

"No."

I threw my hands up in the air, I had tried. "Don't complain to me when you freeze today you goof."

"I won't."

"Fine!" I yelled. This is what I got for trying to help.

"Good!" He walked out of the kitchen without another word, and into the dining room. Where our 'armory' was. He been spending a lot of time in there lately, it just had to be a guy thing.

He was finally able to run on his ankle again, and I was guessing he was eager to get out there today. We were running low on food, and he really wanted me to try out the sniper rifle.

He had been going on and on about his plan for it, since we ran into that Mohawk. He refused to tell me what it was though, I was guessing it was because I wouldn't let him leave yet.

I grabbed the bag from the table and headed back up to my room. I was a little hurt that he had dismissed my idea so quickly, it wasn't like I was going to sneak up and take pictures of him in them.

As I entered, I tossed the bag into the corner and tugged on my boots. We still had to bury Corporal Murphy too. I felt really bad about that, she must have been so close to our house when she'd died. It was heart-breaking to think we could have helped her, and I realized it was going to be another long day.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

We walked down the familiar street, both of us wary for any Locust that might be hiding out.

Cordelia was carrying her small machine gun, the sniper rifle was strapped to her back at an angle, between her back and the pack.

I carried the chainsaw rifle in one hand, with a shovel slung over my shoulder. The shotgun was on my back. I figured we were as ready as we could be.

As we passed the two heads of the Butcher guys, I wasn't surprised to see that their bodies were gone. If the Locust were hungry enough to drag off almost every corpse in town, it would have been stupid to pass up on those two.

"Why didn't they take the heads?" Cordy asked, breaking the silence.

"Who knows Cor, maybe it just wasn't worth their time."

Shortly after, we stopped in front of the house we had left Miranda in. "Why don't you go check, and make sure they didn't take her body, I'll start digging."

She made her way to the back of the house. I checked the front door, and saw that it was still intact, but I just wanted to be sure. No point in digging a grave without a body.

The front door opened, and Cordelia stuck her head out. "Everything is just as we left it Xander."

That was a huge relief to me, I couldn't stand the thought of those things eating her, even if she was dead.

"Do you want me to leave the door locked for now?"

"No Cor, why don't you stay on the second floor with your rifle, keep an eye out for any more patrols."

"Okay Xander. Let me know if you need a break, I'll do some digging."

"Thanks." I turned back to the snow-covered front lawn, I was really sick of having to dig graves.

=H=H=

After two hours of work, we had buried Miranda, and made a cross like we had for the other Gears. I would have liked to place her next to the others, but it was too dangerous to make that kind of move now.

We moved down another street, going toward an area we'd been to before. There was no sight of the Locust yet, it was nothing but a cat and mouse game now. I had debated which we were for a couple of days now, I still couldn't decide.

"So what's this test you came up with to see if my rifle works or not?"

I smirked. "You'll love it, we're going to have some live targets."

"Really?" She asked, perking up immediately.

"Yeah, remember that three story we cleared out? The one we found that lamp in, the one you really liked?"

"That was a really nice lamp." She said with a sigh.

I held back a laugh, I didn't care what a lamp looked like as long as it worked. "You know I would have got it for you if we had electricity."

"I know Xander, that's what's so annoying."

"Anyways, it's a perfect place to shoot from."

She gave me a look. "Yeah, that's great Xander. Then all we have to do is wait for some Locust to come strolling along."

"Not if we give them something to come looking for, I'm going to start a fire down the street directly across from the building. When they come to investigate, you get your shot."

"What if I miss, or they come after us?"

"There's a back entrance that leads to a courtyard, we can use it to go in a half-dozen different directions."

She looked a little nervous, but nodded. Shifting the chainsaw gun to my other hand, I took her left hand.

"Don't worry Cor, if that rifle works like we hope, I know you'll do a good job with it."

She gave a small smile. "Thanks dweeb."

We walked hand-in-hand, making small talk the rest of the way. I really had high hopes for what would happen today.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

Three hours. Three long hours since Xander had started the fire in a rusted old barrel, and nothing. He had thrown as many burnable things he could find onto it, and he'd only had to throw more stuff on to it twice so far.

He wanted to make sure they couldn't easily track us to what building we were in if things went bad. It had definitely been funny watching him try to move around with those boards tied to his feet though.

I sat on the floor, my back to the wall, as he looked through the scope. Looking over at Xander, I saw him shivering. I smiled to myself, I bet he was second-guessing his decision to not use my present now. While far from toasty, I was definitely doing better then him.

We'd been taking turns watching the fire for any sign of the Locust. Currently, I was painting my nails purple. I wasn't crazy about the color, but it was what I had available.

"You know dweeb, maybe they are too stupid to understand what smoke means." I stated, bored.

He gave an exasperated sigh. "Cor, if they understand how to work a gun, I'm sure they can figure out fire."

"I know that, I just want to shoot something."

"Since when did you-" He tensed up. "Here we go Cor."

I perked up immediately, leaving three nails still undone. "What do you see?"

He handed me the rifle. "Why don't you take a look for yourself." He then picked up the nice pair of binoculars we'd found, while scrounging.

I looked through the scope, and saw five figures searching the area around the fire. One was recognizable, it was one of those guys with the goggles. He was currently holding my favorite gun. Three were shirtless, nothing really special about them, they were all carrying machine guns like mine.

The last was weird though. He was a foot taller then the others, but had this red and brown armor. He wore a helmet with a slit across it to see and there was a four-point symbol above it. What really made him stand out though, was the strange gun in his hand, and the tank on his back. I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to do.

"What's that tank for?" I asked, pulling back from the scope.

Xander was studying them through the binoculars. He turned to me with a big grin on his face. "Just shoot it, you'll see."

As I aimed, he grabbed anything loose off of the floor, in case we needed to make a quick escape. "Are you ready Xander?"

"Ready when you are Cor." He gave me a small pat on the shoulder for support.

It was weird to see things so close, I turned the knob, and it made a sound like a camera taking a picture. I had to make these two circles the scope used to magnify everything line up. It was a little tough to get used to at first, but I managed to put the diamond shaped center on Tank's tank.

I took a deep breath, and felt the cut on my nose itch, I ignored it. I placed my finger on the trigger and I knew it all came down to this. If I couldn't hit that big tank, this gun was nothing more then a club.

"Just take your time Cor. As dumb as these guys are to run around without shirts, even they like the heat."

I waited until Tank's back was to me, so I had the biggest target possible. I counted to three as I centered on it, and pulled the trigger. I jerked my face back from the explosion that engulfed the entire area of where Tank had been.

"Holy shit." Xander said in awe. "I wasn't expecting it to be that big."

I turned toward him, a giggle escaping my lips. "That was awesome."

He snorted, likely at my over-enthusiasm. He peered through the binoculars once again, probably to take in all the carnage we had caused.

"You missed one Cordy."

"Where?" I growled, annoyed I hadn't gotten them all with one shot.

"Take a look, he's crawling toward us right now."

Once again, I put my eye to the scope, it took a few seconds but I found him. I could see one of the shirtless Locust, on his hands, make that hand and knees. His leathery gray skin was blackened and red along his left side and face.

I worked the bolt as Xander had shown me, before putting the diamond on the crown of his skull. "You want his head?"

"Naw Cor, special occasion. He's all yours."

"Thanks." I pulled the trigger. Less then a second later, his head exploded.

I stood up, and placed the rifle against the wall. I took my time stretching my sore muscles, happy to be able to move around again.

"Great shooting. That rifle is amazing too, it's so completely different from the ones at home. All I can say is, I'm glad I wasn't right this time."

I rolled my eyes as he went on. What was it with guys and guns?

"You're ignoring me aren't you?"

"I'm sure the gun likes you too Xander." I said mockingly, as I gave him a couple of pats on the head.

He shook his head free from my hand. "C'mon Cor, let's get outta here."

We went down the three flights of stairs, and out the back door. We strolled through the walled courtyard, avoiding stone planters, and made our way to the street.

As we cleared the entryway, I saw movement to my left. Turning, my heart dropped. There were six of them this time, including a really big one with a huge gun. I grabbed Xander's arm to get his attention, but the Locust beat me to it.

"Uh-tak!" One of them called out and bullets started flying.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I was feeling pretty good as we walked through the courtyard. After Cordelia's excellent showing with the sniper rifle, I figured things would be just a little bit easier for us.

With her confidence up, she was that much better off surviving. On top of that, it made me feel somewhat better, while I knew she could take care of herself, worry for her ate at me every time we left the house.

I felt Cordy suddenly grip my arm tightly, and then I heard it.

"Uh-tak!"

Before I could react, they opened fire, and I was falling hard. At first I thought I'd been shot, but then I realized she had yanked me back into the courtyard.

We scrambled behind one of the low walls that were scattered throughout the area. It looked like there used to be plants or something in them. I wasn't a big nature person, but I was definitely appreciating them now.

"Cordy!" I screamed, trying to be heard over the gunfire. "We need to get to the side entrance." I pointed behind us to the right. "The one facing the park!"

We started to crawl through the snow to the next one, trying to put some distance between us. But keeping so low to the ground, hindered our movement.

"How the heck are we going to do that with them shooting at us?" She yelled from in front of me.

We finally got to another low wall, and stopped behind it.

"I'm going to start shooting, and make them take cover. When they do, you run like hell!"

"What about you?"

"Boom!" A loud voice announced.

I heard a whistling noise, I knew what that meant. I threw myself on top of Cordy, covering as much of her as I could. An explosion happened behind us, looking toward it, about fifteen feet away, there was now a crater in the ground.

"Shit!" Cordelia exclaimed as she got a look at it for herself.

"Cor, I'm going to start shooting. You count to five, and you go!"

I raised the rifle over the side of the wall and started shooting blindly. They had to be practically on top of us by now.

"Cordy go!"

She started running and I decided to peek over the top of the wall. The smaller Locust were taking cover from my fire, but there was a big one, he reminded me of the Butcher. He was just standing there, holding a gun I didn't recognize.

I turned to aim directly at him when he did it again.

"Boom!"

I took cover behind the wall again, and hoped Cordelia was doing the same. An explosion went off somewhere behind me. Apparently, it was an all or nothing weapon.

A few seconds later, I heard what I hoped was her assault rifle firing.

"Let's go dork! You have a bigger clip then I do!"

That was all I needed to hear, I headed toward the area I'd heard her voice from, planning to vault the wall. As I placed my hand on the side, the Boomer did it again.

"Boom!"

I shoved off, and was clearing it when I felt a heat pass by my right ear. Knowing what it was, I jerked to my left, and landed off balance after slipping in the snow. I had to roll off the side to finally get behind the wall.

"Nice to see you could finally make it." Cordelia said sarcastically, as she reloaded.

=H=H=

Slowly, we had made our way to the entrance. All we had to do now was get across the street to the park, and we'd be home free. We'd managed to kill two of the Locust along the way, a Mohawk and another one of those shirtless guys that I thought Rodriguez had called a 'Drone'.

Unfortunately, the Boomer was still alive, and he was being a huge pain in the ass. While we were able to keep the other Locust busy with our fire, he ignored it. Probably too stupid to know we were trying to kill him, judging by his one word vocabulary.

"For Queen!" A voice growled as we cleared the entrance.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I exclaimed in anger, as one of the Locust with the ball and chain came down the street toward us from the right, swinging his mace over his head.

Gunfire poured out of the entrance way, cutting us off from our quick exit.

"Boom!"

The wall opposite us was blown to pieces from the impact of the explosion, this was enough of a distraction for the thing to swing down his weapon. While it didn't hit either of us, the impact knocked us off of our feet.

It threw me against the wall of the courtyard and left Cordy in the middle of the street without any cover. As I picked myself up off the ground, I saw her sitting there in a daze.

"Cordy get into park!"

She got up, and ran toward the wall. She threw her assault rifle over it as she ran. When she reached it, she jumped and pulled herself up, and over it.

"Crush!" The huge Locust rumbled, as he brought his weapon down at me.

I rolled clear, but once again, ended up on my ass from the shock wave.

:Xander, you've got to get out of there!: Cordelia screamed over the comm.

I got back on my feet, the thing coming at me again. :I'm working on it Cor!:

I watched as the Crusher's head jerked back. The sound of a sniper rifle firing, let me know Cordelia had me covered. He paused, letting the mace drop limply to the ground, as he pulled the rectangular shield closer to him and ducked behind it. It suddenly expanded, extending out a half foot in each direction.

Stupidly, it turned to face her, moving toward her position, and ignoring me.

I turned the knob to start the chainsaw and started to jog up to him.

:Xander get down!:

"Boom!"

I dropped to the ground, getting a face full of snow, and the motor cut out. A round passed over my head, and hit the wall surrounding the park.

:You okay Cordy?: I still wasn't sure of her exact position in the park.

:I'm fine Xander, now kill that thing with the shield while he's still distracted.: She followed this up with another shot at Boomer.

I got to my feet, once again starting the saw. As I reached the Crusher, I jammed the chainsaw in his back. I pulled down, trying to do as much damage as possible.

An inhuman scream came from behind me as Cordy made another shot.

:The Boomer's down, there's nothing blocking the other Locust from shooting you! Move!:

:I want that gun Cor!: I said as I pulled the saw out of the things back, and quickly took cover against the wall next to the Boomer's body. I was just waiting for my chance.

:We should get out of here!:

I peeked around the corner, and fired at a Mohawk. :Just keep shooting!:

:I am so kicking your ass when this is over mister!:

I grinned, happy to hear she had confidence we were going to win this. Before, every encounter we were in, we feared for our lives. Now they were the ones that should be afraid.

My euphoria didn't last long though, I had to duck back as the remaining Locust all directed their fire at me. They couldn't find Cordy, so I was the easy target.

I could hear a scream from one of them and half a second later, I heard the shot. She was really picking them apart.

I started to edge around the wall again to fire, I paused when I heard a rattling sound. When I didn't hear it again, I went for it, only to have my rifle batted from my hands. The fingers on my left hand had gone instantly numb.

"Fuck!" I tripped over my own feet as I pulled away, landing on my back. I grabbed for the revolver, but in my haste I fumbled it.

A seven foot tall Locust came around the corner, he aimed his shotgun down at me. A shot rang out, hitting the wall next to his head. The Locust, startled, swung the shotgun toward the direction it had come from.

That gave me enough time to right the gun and I shot him in the side. He spun toward me and I got him two more times in the chest, before he fell forward, dead.

:Xander, are you okay?: Cordelia screamed into the comm.

:Yeah, how many we got left?: I asked as I picked up the fallen shotgun.

:I see one, and he's heading right for you.:

:Save your ammo.: I cocked the lever, and waited. The Locust came around the corner, and I fired into his chest. The impact blew him back into the snow with a thud.

:We clear Cor?:

:Yeah Xander, nothings standing.:

I watched as she came through the entrance of the park, not as exciting as jumping over the wall, but she seemed to manage.

I turned to look for the Boomer's gun, and saw it laying in the bloodied snow inside the courtyard.

"Let's get this stuff gathered up, and get out of here." I called to her over my shoulder.

Just as I walked back into the courtyard, I heard a motor start to my right.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

"Ow." I muttered to myself, as I left the park. I rubbed my right butt cheek, I didn't think I'd been shot, since there wasn't much blood, but it definitely hurt.

"Let's get this stuff gathered up, and get out of here." Xander said.

I could tell he was eager to get his hands on that Boomer gun. As I crossed the street I watched him enter the courtyard, and suddenly turn to his right, the shotgun held above his head with both hands.

I watched in horror as a Helmet brought his chainsaw gun down toward him, but it was blocked by Xander's upheld shotgun.

"Xander!" I screamed and started to run to help him, ignoring the pain in my butt. I didn't shoot, because I was afraid I'd hit him. I didn't know what I was going to do.

Unfortunately, Xander wasn't strong enough to match him, he was slowly being pushed to his knees.

I jumped through the hole the Boomer had made, and I was suddenly behind the Helmet. I was again afraid to shoot, but now it was because the bullets might go through the Locust and into Xander.

I dropped my machine gun and pulled out my knife. I ran up and jumped on his back, and pulled his head back with my left hand and stabbed him in the throat with my right. He struggled to fight me off, so I dug the knife in deeper.

Helmet threw himself backwards, as we landed in the snow, the knife jammed down into his neck, and gravity ripped my hand free of it. The breath was knocked out of me, and I lay there stunned. I suddenly noticed the chainsaw still running, and freaked out. I just knew the saw was going to cut into me.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't breathe with Helmet's weight on top of me. Warm liquid was covering my face and neck, and I tried to push him off, but I could barely move my arms, I was trapped!

Suddenly, the saw stopped and Helmet started to move. Oh my God, what if he had killed Xander before I could stop him?

=H=H=

"Hold on Cor, I'll have you out from under there in a sec." Xander's voice came to me, and I had never been happier in my life.

Helmet's body was rolled off of me, but I was afraid to open my eyes because my face was covered in blood. I brought my hands up to rub my face, but a hand stopped me.

"Wait right there." His voice was gentle, as he gave my hand a short squeeze.

I heard something drop to the snow and a zipper moving, Xander was rummaging in his bag for something. Shortly after, I felt a cloth carefully wiping the blood away from my face.

Moments later, my eyes felt relatively clear, and I opened them to Xander's smiling face. I started to cry, I didn't want to, but I couldn't help it.

"You okay Cor?" He asked, offering me his hand. His other held a blood covered t-shirt, one of the spares we kept in case it got too cold.

He pulled me up into a sitting position and he wrapped his arms around me. "It's okay, I'm okay" His voice said soothingly.

I pressed my face against his chest and bawled. "I'm so... sorry." I barely managed to choke the words out to him.

"I'm fine, you saved me Cor." He whispered to me, his hands rubbed up and down my back.

We stayed there for several minutes, even in the middle of all the dead Locust, I felt safe. I pulled back, and looked him in the eyes. "I shouldn't have had to save you, I told you they were all dead and that bastard almost killed you."

He sighed. "Cordy, neither of us are perfect. Remember, me, the guy who rode around in your little red wagon? Things worked out, that's all that matters."

"Xander, you almost died today because of my mistake."

"Both of us are alive, right? There aren't any rules in war, If there were, we wouldn't be cutting off heads for display purposes only, would we?"

I giggled as I wiped the tears away. What he said had been so stupid, I couldn't help it.

He stood and looked down at me with a smile, offering his hands. I took them and was easily lifted to my feet.

"The only thing I truly fear is the wrath of Queen C!" He exclaimed to the city.

"Shut up dork." I admonished, trying not to laugh. "Or I'll have to save your ass again."

=H=H=

"Hey dweeb, look at this!" I called up to him.

We had decided to take turns keeping an eye out for anymore Locust. He was sitting on the corner of the courtyard wall, with my sniper rifle at the ready.

"What's up Cor?" He asked as he made his way along the wall, before jumping down next to me.

"Look at this guy." I said, pointing down to the Locust who had tried to take Xander's head off with the shotgun.

He knelt down and examined the four objects hanging from the back of a belt.

"Well, that explains the noise I heard." He said simply.

"Huh?"

He turned to me. "Just before that son of a bitch knocked the rifle from my hands, I heard a rattling sound. It was the grenades banging against each other when he moved."

"You're lucky you didn't accidentally shoot one."

Xander shook his head. "They don't work that way Cor, there's a specific thing that needs to be done before they'll explode. Otherwise, no one would carry them."

He carefully rolled Grenade onto his side and unhooked the belt. After pulling it away, he attached it around his waist.

"You better hope you're right geek." I told him, not sure how I felt about him so casually strapping explosives to himself.

We ended up lining the heads up on a park bench, clearly visible from the street. The Boomer, and Mace heads were right in the middle. Then, we went about clearing up all the weapons and ammo we could find.

Xander decided he wanted the mace and shield for projects he had thought of. He flipped a switch to extend the sides, and locked them in place. We put some extra guns we couldn't fit into the bags on top of it, and tied a rope around the handle. Then, we wrapped it up in a bed sheet from a nearby house, and it was ready to go.

As we walked down the street, I realized things had changed. We had been in a straight-up battle against six heavily armed Locust and won. I wasn't sure what I felt, but it was definitely an improvement.

"The snow finally came in handy for something, huh?" I said as I watched the shield glide down the street behind us without a sound.

Xander suddenly stopped. "Why are you limping Cor?"

"It's no big deal Xander, nothing we can't take care of when we get home." I really didn't want to make a big deal of it out here.

"You sure?" He asked, not convinced.

"Yes." I replied sharply.

He shrugged, and started walking again.

I gave a sigh of relief when he had dropped it, then moved to catch up with him.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

We brought everything into the house and left it in the living room. We were both just too tired to bother unpacking tonight. I set out to make dinner for us, while Cordelia had gone upstairs for something.

I was concerned about why she didn't want to share the reason for her limp. I thought maybe it might be girl problems, but what did I know? As I lit our make-shift hotplate, I heard Cordy call down to me.

"Xander, could you come up here please?"

"Be right up Cor!" I quickly blew out the flame and bent the can lids back down.

After blowing out all but one of the candles, I grabbed it and made my way upstairs to her door. It was open, but I decided to knock on the frame anyway.

"Come in."

I walked into the room, and saw her sitting next to her bed on the floor. From the flickering light of the candle next to her, I saw she was wearing her bathrobe, and had a weird look on her face.

"What's going on?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"I think I might have been shot."

I could feel a major headache coming on, but I didn't want to start yelling. "What happened?" I asked evenly.

"When we were jumping those planters in the courtyard, I felt something hit me. It wasn't really bothering me too much until I went over that park wall."

I crouched down in front of her. Obviously, it wasn't life threatening, but that didn't make it serious. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"It wasn't bleeding that bad. Plus, we couldn't have done a whole lot about it until we got home anyway."

I nodded. "I can understand that." The tension in her noticeably eased when she realized I wasn't angry about it. "Which leg is it?"

"It's not in my leg." Cordelia replied flatly.

"Okay..." I paused, waiting for her to continue. Instead, she just sat there. "Do you want me to guess?"

"It's in my butt, alright?" She blurted out.

I pulled away, wanting to keep my face out of the light. I will not laugh. I will not laugh. She was obviously uncomfortable about this, and I didn't want to be an ass.

Why did I have to think that word? A snicker escaped my lips.

"Is something funny?"

"No Cor." I started patting my stomach for effect. "Gas." I couldn't believe that was the best I could come up with.

"I'm sure." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"So," I said cautiously. "What can I do to help?"

"Are you done acting like a fool?"

"I thought that was one of my better qualities."

"Really?" She asked skeptically.

There was that word again, I decided to play it safe and just nod.

"According to whom?"

"Uh, me?"

"Apparently, you've been misinformed."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I decided to kept my mouth shut.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I smiled in triumph when I realized I had him. All through school, heck, even after we got here, we were both always throwing verbal punches at each other. Now, they were more like pokes, but still, a win was a win.

"All joking aside Xander, I need your help."

"What do you need Cordy?" He asked seriously.

"I tried to get it out myself, but I just couldn't see what I was doing."

"Got it. Why don't you..."

"Lay on the bed?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay." I undid the tie on my fluffy bathrobe, and slipped it off. I could see Xander's mouth agape at the sight of me in a tiny tee and panties. I didn't think it was that big a deal though, since he'd already seen me in a bikini.

I took my time laying down on the bed. I was on my stomach, with pillows propping me up. Considering how cold it was, I really wished I was under the covers too.

"Where exactly is it?" He asked as he pulled a small table next to the bed. He placed his candle on it shortly after.

"My right butt cheek."

He hesitantly pulled the bottom of my panties up to reveal the wound. I could feel his fingers shaking whenever he touched my skin.

I hissed sharply whenever he prodded the wound.

"Sorry Cor."

"How bad is it?" I held my breath, waiting for his prognosis.

"You're lucky, it's not big at all, I really doubt it's a bullet."

I sighed in relief, not being able to see it, had made it that much worse in my mind.

"Problem is, whatever is in there, I can't get to. I'm going to need the kit."

"Great." I said sarcastically.

Xander stood up and grabbed the candle from the table. "I'll be right back." He left to get the toolbox we kept the medical supplies in from the kitchen counter.

I lay there waiting for him to return. I was really hoping he could get the thing out and that it wouldn't hurt too badly. I wasn't really a squeamish person, not anymore, especially after cutting off Locust heads. Still, the thought of Xander poking at a wound in my butt with tweezers made me flinch.

I was broken from my musings as Xander re-entered the room. He set the candle and toolbox down on the table, and he opened it up and pulled several items out. I couldn't see them though, because of the poor lighting.

"What are you going to do?"

"Hopefully, pull it out with a pair of tweezers. Once that's done, I'll get some of this heal-gel stuff, whatever that is, on it. Next, a butterfly band-aid, and then finally a bandage to top it off."

"Where did you learn all that stuff?" I asked curiously.

Xander didn't look up as he spoke. "Personal experience, and working with Buffy." He laid the stuff he was going to use out on the table.

I decided to leave that comment alone. There were some things even I wouldn't touch. Instead, I kept it simple. "Will it hurt?"

"Yeah," He answered honestly. "But I promise I'll be as gentle as possible."

"I trust you Xander." I told him as I tried not to shiver.

"Thanks, now try to hold still, okay?"

=H=H=

Ten minutes and a couple of ouches later, Xander was putting a second piece of tape across the bandage on my butt.

"Well Cor, I was half-right." He stated, as he pulled my panties back down over it.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking back at him.

"You didn't get shot, but there was a bullet in you." He leaned toward me, and held out his hand. There was a small piece of metal, about the size of a pinky nail sitting there.

"How the heck did that happen?"

He shrugged. "Most likely, a bullet hit one of those planters and broke apart. A piece went flying, and your ass had a vacancy."

I glared at his choice of words, but let it go. "How long until it's healed?"

"A couple days, and you should be fine." He paused. "There might be a way to make it heal a lot quicker though."

"What's that?" I'd try just about anything to make this heal faster.

"I could kiss it and make it better." He dead-panned.

I bit off the sharp 'no' I had on my tongue. Xander had already saved my life several times before we even ended up in this God-forsaken city.

He had helped me make a home, kept me from going hungry, and dragged a huge pile of clothes home just because he knew I wanted them.

Then I thought back to this morning, what it had been like to be in his arms. I had felt warm and protected. Right then I made a decision, one that I knew would change things forever.

"If you think that'll help." I said innocently.

He stood up suddenly. "Cordy I.. I was joking. That won't really help."

That surprised me. He thought I believed him.

I couldn't help but think of all the scumbag boyfriends I'd had in the past. They'd all at some point or another, asked when I was going to 'put out' after seeing a whole lot less of me then Xander had.

Xander was a lot of things. A class clown, a fashion disaster, and a sci-fi geek. But on top of all that, he was a gentleman, that was something I was starting to really appreciate.

I turned on my side to face him. "Xander, I know you were joking." I held out my hand to him. "Come here."

He took my hand, and I pulled him closer. He crouched down until we were face to face. I stared at him intently as he stared back, confused. Xander didn't see my cut nose, bruised cheek or busted lip, all he saw was me.

This is it Cordelia, you go through with this, and there's no turning back. Can you live with all his short-comings? I thought of all the kinds of guys I had dated. The preppies, jocks, and rockers. None of them measured up to what Xander had already done.

My thinking done, I grabbed Xander by the back of the head and pulled him into a kiss. For a guy who, as far as I knew had never had a girlfriend, he was doing pretty good.

As we broke the kiss, he sat back on the floor, stunned.

"Cordy... I-" He babbled.

I gave him a smile. "Shut up dweeb, I want to cuddle."

I knew it was going to be cold, and that I should have put some layers on as I got under the blankets. But as Xander crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around me, I just didn't care.

=H=H=

A/N: Locust:

Boomer - Boomer

Grenade - Grenadier

Tank - Flame Grenadier

=H=H=

END