At the moment I may be able to manage a chapter per week, but that is subject to change depending on how busy real life gets. Otherwise normal warnings apply and comments, as always, are welcome. Happy readings.

Chapter Two

Anya would have made the best evil sorceress. Or maybe the worst fairy godmother. She had insisted that it would be part of his educational experience if he changed up his appearance and in the end he'd have to get new clothes anyways since his no longer fit. While originally Anya had dragged in through stores which would have been more comfortable to Faith eventually she calmed down and let him by jeans and tank tops. Nothing too outrageous.

Well, almost nothing too outrageous. There had been a long debate during their lunch break over heels and makeup. It had the potential to be a full fight but Anya had improved her arguing over the course of their relationship.

She had cheated, taking his hand and sighing so sweetly he couldn't get mad. "This is a chance to see how women are treated. To see the world of women as humans keep calling it. Your society says it's womanly to wear makeup and dresses and heels so why not try it?"

Damn her logic.

So yes, he allowed her to pick out some heels for him. Okay, two pairs of heels. A modest black pair and a bright pink pair. Very outrageous. Add to that the jewelry, a few dresses, and assorted polishes and creams and Xander's latest paycheck was gone.

"Don't be all pouty. What's the point of being a woman if you can't play the part?" Anya asked as she helped carry the bags up to Xander's apartment. "We can go shopping and decorate your apartment and get some stuff for cooking and…"

Xander cut her off with a laugh. "If I didn't know better I'd think you'd rather I had been your girlfriend than boyfriend."

Her thoughtful expression did nothing to reassure him. "Puh-lease. I know you like cooking. You like food too much not to like making it. And besides, it's not a matter of being a new person. It's about being open with the hobbies you weren't open about before."

"When did you get so smart?" Xander was only half teasing. It was kind of creepy how well she knew him.

"Wouldn't you like to know." With the bags dropped off Anya planted a kiss on Xander's cheek. "I'm sure you'll have a very enlightening experience."

And with that she was gone, vanished in thin air.

And of course she'd left all the unpacking to Xander.

And so he unpacked with the TV on for noise. Normally he'd be at a meeting by now, surrounded by the voices of his girls. Maybe that was the hyena talking, always thinking of them as a pack. Sure, that possession had been brief but it had certainly left an imprint. And that imprint was wondering just why he wasn't with his pack.

"They can survive without me." Xander told the empty apartment. Of course they could. Buffy the slayer, destroyer of demons and vampires. She'd be fine even if she had been thrown into a pit of lions. Willow had her witch thing and developing relationship with Tara thing, which he would not be a part of because his spectacular breakup with Anya left him with no room to give advice when it came to romance. Plus they had Spike, big bad on a big leash. The vampire would probably protect Willow and Tara, they made him enough cookies anymore that he would probably protect them without being asked to.

Yeah, his pack could survive without doughnut boy Xander Harris. Unless they had a snack attack.

"Damn, just made myself depressed." He said to no one. Yeah, he'd probably end up talking to himself a lot during this little experience. Not that the gang ever listened to him when he spoke. But just being there with his girls, and Giles, and sometimes even Spike, was enough to keep him going. A family to replace the one he'd never really had.

Damn, he was really going to miss them.

But that thought was squashed away for later. He had bags, and bags, and more bags to unpack. Jeans and a few longer skirts and a pair of black shorts which Anya had forced him to buy. Far too short for decent company, those would have to be for cleaning around the house. And then shirts, tank tops in all kinds of colors, and business shirts which had also been Anya's idea. The girl had a weird idea about what would make Xander look good. Heels and flats and running shoes and some socks because his feet had gotten just a little smaller. Kind of like his hands. And somewhere between his team scoring and his team being defeated brutally Xander finished his unpacking and declared the day a success.

It wasn't until an hour later, with his new clothes in his closet and his first attempt at painting his nails underway (at Anya's suggestion) that Xander realized how surreal his life was. Less than twenty four hours and he had already accepted that his manly bits would be gone for a while. Shouldn't he be freaking out? Shouldn't he had thrown Anya against a wall until she saw the error of her ways and fix him? But so many years in Sunnydale with so many strange things having happened to him and being a woman didn't seem like a big deal.

Plus, when he got bored he could touch his own breasts which never seemed to get dull.

When he had first moved into his apartment there had been a long scar tracing the inside of his closet door. It was like someone had taken a knife and cut down the door. It had been Willow who gave him the full length mirror when he complained about it. A full length mirror he almost never looked in.

But with his shower finished Xander found himself entranced by the reflection staring at him. Making sure his blinds were closed Xander took a deep breath and dropped his striped towel.

He wasn't unattractive. His hips were a little wide, probably better than they should have been after years of Twinkies. And his waist wasn't as small as Willow's or Anya's. But the slight pudge of his belly looked nice with his breasts which he had recently learned were DD. Holding on in his hand he realized how little that meant when a girl was proportionally sized. He was tall enough and wide enough that large breast meant nothing.

Well, besides bragging rights. Years with his girls had taught him that larger breasts were worth bragging about when hanging out with the right kind of girls.

His hands, smaller but still callous from his construction job, moved up to his face and he stepped closer to the mirror. Same brown eyes, same nose, same mouth. Okay, maybe his lips were a little fuller, or maybe this was the first time he ever noticed them. It wasn't like he spent a lot of time admiring himself before.

His hands continued their inspection, from forehead to cheek to ears. Anya had wanted him to pierce them but Xander drew the line at physical mutilation. Besides, he didn't want to have pointless holes when he was a man again. His face heated up at the potential joke and he chuckled at the blush reflecting back at him. Kind of cute.

Down his neck to strong shoulders. Very strong for a girl but they worked well with the rest of his body. Tone arms too. He liked that. Again he found himself staring at his hips and calves which both qualified as curvy. But curvy was nice. Curvy and cuddly and hot damn check out that ass.

Which he did. For about ten minutes.

Finally his own ass stopped amusing him and he dressed in a decent pair of jeans and a top that was either too short to be a dress or too long to be a shirt. A little mousse like Anya showed him for his hair and the not too flashy heels.

"Damn." Xander whistled at himself, understanding the appeal of dressing up. There was something fun about putting a little time into his appearance and being rewarded with the reflection in his mirror. A reflection that was pretty hot.

"Enough checking myself out. I have applications to turn in." And he was off, heels like an armor to protect him on his first day playing a woman.

Since turning fifteen Xander had only been unemployed for a total of three months. Sometimes it would just be delivering papers or stuffing envelopes, other times it would be full time work that could almost be considered a career, and at the worst of times there was always stripping. But Xander just wasn't the type of person to not have a job. And while he could probably convince Anya to help him keep his job at the construction site without people getting weird on him he decided against it. She had promised he would have his job back once his manly bits returned and in a way the whole thing could count as a vacation.

But Xander was not the type to not have a job.

At first he thought he'd have to take some kind of vaguely illegal, money under the table, don't ask questions kind of job. After all, his records all listed him as Alexander Harris and while he figured there would be jobs that wouldn't care too much about potential transgendered goings on he didn't have the time to find such a job. But yet again Anya was there for him with identification listing him as Alexia Hart, high school graduate and owner of many high recommendations.

After a week of applications and interviews "Alexia" was the proud bartender at one of Sunnydale's newer bars. It paid him more than he deserved, mostly because the owner was smart enough to know that not all his clients were human. And if Xander had to flip a randy demon over his shoulder in the middle of a shift his boss wasn't one to complain.

Xander, or Lexi as he went by at the bar, soon became a hit. His lack of experience was outweighed by the shining personality he adapted at work. Sometimes he became so bubbly and bright he forgot that Lexi was more of a creation of his than an actual person. But he found that he liked being Lexi. He liked being flirted with by his patrons, male, female and even non humans. Just knowing someone found him attractive and funny was enough to get him through his shifts. And the banter. He loved the banter.

But as one week became two and the messages on his machine added up Xander found himself missing his old life more and more. His girls would be fine without him, at least while fighting the big baddies of Sunnydale, but what about when they needed someone to babble to or someone to eat Willow's new recipes or when Giles needed someone to remind him that being stuffy and British did not always get things done or when Spike needed a good tongue lashing?

A week after his transformation he had walked by the Magic Box, smiling wistfully at his family. Something big and bad must have been on the loose based on Buffy's pacing. And as much as he wanted, oh how he wanted, to go in a offer his assistance, he knew he just couldn't.

And hadn't Anya told him the spell would only lift when someone recognized him? But secretly Xander wanted to wait just a little longer. Wait until the messages on his answer machine turned from playful reprimands to concern.

He deserved a little concern.

Didn't he?