Possession

Denver, Colorado – February 1976

Xander Monroe exhaled quickly, watching the fog of his breath travel up and away. Staring straight up threw his balance off slightly and he tilted to one side, dragging Willow over with him. Buffy laughed as she reached over to straighten her friends.

"What's so interesting up there, Xan?" she asked.

"It's February and I can still see my breath." He breathed out again, this time watching the reflection of his breath in the store window next to him.

"Yeah, you could do that in England, too."

"But unlike all of you lovely ladies, I spent most of my time post-Sunnydale in Africa, South America, and Australia. No foggy breath in February for me."

"But you got it in June and July, didn't you?"

"June and July are meant to be spent in bathing suits and shorts. Imagine my shock when I got there in August, expecting pretty girls in little bikinis, and found them all bundled up! Not a bare leg in sight!"

"Poor Xander. But at least you could go skiing, and have hot cocoa by a fire, right?"

"Much too intimate a setting for someone with my dating history," Xander countered. Willow and Buffy both giggled. Willow hugged the arm linked through hers and smiled at Xander, and Buffy linked one of her own arms through Xander's free one.

A few paces behind them, just far enough back to be unable to hear what the trio were saying, Mr. Jhossep followed. His disgruntled face was barely visible through the scarf draped around his neck and face. The Slayer should be tending to her duties, not getting distracted by conversations about malls and boys! With her attitude, he thought she would be lucky to reach the age of eighteen. It also bothered him that, over a month later, he still couldn't figure Xander Monroe out.

"Miss Bradley," he called out to her. "Perhaps you would care to do a patrol of the area."

"I thought that's what we were doing," Buffy commented over her shoulder.

"Do you really believe any demon is going to show up with the three of you cackling like hyenas up there?" he questioned. He noticed the tensing of all three's shoulders, but put it out of his mind. Buffy untangled her arm from Xander's and turned to face the Watcher.

"Do you really believe any demon would pass up the chance at three unsuspecting teenagers, whose only concerns are schoolwork and their next dates? Please! This was a carefully orchestrated maneuver that has worked many times in the past. Thanks so much for blowing any chance we had of catching the baddie by surprise!"

Jhossep was about to argue with her logic when a bright light appeared from across the street, hitting Xander square in the chest. He fell backward with a soft 'oof', and Willow and Buffy immediately went into action. Buffy took off running across the street, and Willow began murmuring an incantation. She released the spell as Buffy kicked the demon. Before Jhossep could fully comprehend, the demon was a pile of lint, and both girls were hovering over the unconscious Xander.

Jhossep walked over to the teens and reached down to feel for his pulse. He startled back when Xander sat up, coughing. Jhossep was relieved until the coughing turned to choking. Willow pounded on the young man's back, and Buffy held his hand. Suddenly, Xander spit out a small, blue slug-like thing.

"Eww, it's a yeerk!" Xander exclaimed once he got his breath back. Jhossep grew more concerned at the babble. Thankfully, Xander noticed and decided to take pity on the watcher. "It's from a kiddie book series. The Animorphs. They're fighting these slug things called yeerks, who crawl into a person's brain through the ear canal and take over the host person's body."

"But why did you have a 'yeerk' inside you?" Willow asked, deciding to stick with Xander's name for the thing until they could ask Giles what the real name was; if he even knew it.

"The freak with the flashy light wanted to possess me. It needed a new body."

Buffy and Willow both nodded knowingly. Jhossep looked from one teen to another until he finally couldn't stand it anymore. "How do you know that?" he asked. "And how did you manage to fight it off?"

The trio had a silent conversation in front of him. One would give the others a hard look, and that would be met with either a nod or a shake of the head. Then another would have a different look, and the other two would make some gesture with their hands. Jhossep was thoroughly confused by the time they turned to look at him.

"Okay, we've decided that we can answer these two questions, but that's all you get until we trust you," Buffy announced regally. "Xander is a bit of a demon-magnet, possession-freak, so Willow performed a spell on him making it impossible for anything to possess him."

"When would you have the opportunity to learn that demons like to possess Xander? You've only been the Slayer for two years!"

"Ah, ah, ah! I already said I was only trusting you with those two answers. You haven't earned the rest."

"What rest? I only asked the one extra."

"You know, the rest. The ones you're always thinking about, but just haven't gotten up nerve enough to ask. Like how we can seem ancient one minute and childish the next, how Willow and Dawn are so good at magic so young without any formal training, how Xander is such an amazing fighter, and how Giles is part of our little 'clique' even though he's so much older than we are."

"How do you know about those questions? Or is that something you can't answer?" Jhossep asked sarcastically.

"I know because I can read it on your face every time something comes up that makes you think about those things. Don't stress yourself, though. If you're meant to be a Scooby, you'll get there."