AN: I really hate comp and system glitches. I'll catch up as fast as I'm able.

CH 8: Dorian Gray

More Than Metal

"Willow, sometimes I really worry about you."

"What?"

Xander dutifully followed his friend through the costume shop. Buffy was on a bend about neither of them going as 'classics' and summarily blocked Willow from the ghost sheets and made sure the last toy gun went to a little boy. Robbed of their normal facades they decided to try the catalogue.

Willow loved one idea in particular.

"Please, Xander? I'll help you out and get all the bits and it'll look great!"

He had his doubts, but Willow really wanted it.

With a put upon sigh he nodded.

Wills always got what she wanted from him.

"Xander, Willow! What are you two dressed as?"

Buffy's mother moved to the side to let them in, Willow in a fancy dress that showed a glowing light on her chest, Xander dressed in silver to look like a robor.

Xander looked over to Willow and quirked an eyebrow.

"A super inventor and the best AI ever invented."

"What she said."

Willow looked over the form of her friend sadly. Halloween was as much curse as gift. Her knowledge expanded tenfold, even if the reactor in her chest was chilly, and she now had the money sense to profit from what she knew.

She also knew a lot about consequences for actions. She wasn't a partier even after her possession's influence, but she was a lot more comfortable in her skin. Xander though…

She sighed, looking again at the inert form on the over-laden cot.

The metal body was real now, with all the programming, firewalls and so forth the original had designed.

She'd had to shut it down before it erased Xander's conscious as a virus.

"I'll fix it Xander. Maybe not all better, but I won't let you lose anything else because of me." Leaning close she pressed a light kiss to the silvery forehead before leaving for the night. She needed to be rested if she was ever going to puzzle this out.

Willow never knew that the metal frame's eyes lit up briefly, lines of code passing over the surfaces for a brief moment.

'Task: maintain remnant programming. Reason: remnant important to Creator. Losing remnant would make Creator cry…Wills shouldn't cry.'

The eyes went dark again as processors, wiring and programming started to work on its task.