Chapter 12.

"Wow, you sure clean up nicely." Aura complimented.

"And you look incredible, as always." Xander picked up her hand and gave it a quick peck.

Aura blushed at the combination of the compliment and the kiss. "Is that your car? It's very nice." she waved her hand at the luxury car Xander had driven to her house.

"Would that it were, but no. I had some unexpected issues dealing with the dealerships. So I convinced my boss to rent this for me and take it out of my pay." Xander offered her his elbow as he walked her to the car. He opened the door for her then walked around to his side.

"You must have an awesome boss." Aura said as Xander sat down and started the car.

"I do." Xander agreed.

Dinner was not at the most expensive restaurant in town, but it was still at a very nice one. And this one had a dance floor and a live band that was playing soothing music. No one was on the dance floor though. When they were mostly through with their dinner, Xander stood up. "May I have this dance?" he offered her his hand.

"No one else is dancing." Aura looked around, slightly panicked that others might be looking at them. "It's not even good dancing music."

"They'll change when we get on the dance floor." Xander promised.

Aura reluctantly placed her hand in his and was pulled to her feet. And, just as Xander said, once the band leader saw that they wanted to dance, the song magically changed to something more upbeat. Xander took one hand and put his other on her waist. She followed suit and put her other hand on his shoulder. Then she followed his lead.

After a minute she was starting to get the hang of the dance and was beginning to relax, just in time for Xander to add spins and twirls to the moves. Finally, he finished the song with a dip, their faces inches apart and both breathing heavily. Soft applause broke any spell that might have been. Xander pulled her to her feet again and bowed to the crowd, then waved to the band. "And lets hear it for our musicians tonight. Aren't they wonderful?"

As Xander led her from the dance floor, it was all she could do to walk steadily when he said he had dessert waiting for them back at his apartment.

As Xander rolled off Aura, he had the decency to feel at least slightly ashamed. He had used Methos' 5,000 years of memories to seduce a woman to his bed. Still, she had gone freely and enjoyed herself at least as much as he had if her cries of pleasure were anything to go by, or the way she was cuddling into him now. He rubbed a hand down the soft skin of her back despite his reservations.

"Don't fall asleep." he warned.

"But you're so warm." she said, sleepily.

"A know. But it's a school night." Xander reminded her. "And as stunning as your cocktail dress is, I doubt you want to wear it to school tomorrow. Plus I think your parents might worry if you slept over."

Aura shot up in bed, her breasts bouncing with the sudden movement. "Oh, crap." she said. She grabbed the sheets to cover them like she'd seen women do in so many movies; despite the fact that she had just been cuddled naked next to Xander a moment ago.

Xander chuckled and swung naked onto the floor where he found his own boxers and pulled them on. He gathered up the rest of his clothes. "I'll leave you to get dressed then." Once he was dressed, he started a pot of coffee. It had been a while for Methos before he'd invaded Xander's body and it had been Xander's first time in his own body. He wasn't even annoyed that she'd insisted on using a condom. It wasn't like he could give or get anything from her and it gave her security that allowed her to enjoy it more.

Wait no.

A thought just occurred to him. Immortals were infertile. Could never have children, even before they died their first death. But Xander wasn't an Immortal. He actually could have children. Or could he? There was one thought that nagged him at least once a day. He wasn't an Immortal. But could he be? He had no way of knowing for sure, short of shoving a knife through his heart. But now, he'd just thought of a way. He could check his semen and find out.

Aura joined him just after the coffee finished brewing and interrupted his thoughts.. "It's decaff, if you want some." he told her.

"God, yes." she poured herself a cup then sat across from Xander in his living room. She tried not to look horribly uncomfortable.

"So, the uncomfortable explanations after the passion wears off and you realize that you just had sex with Xander Harris." Xander started. Her reaction to his words told him all he needed to know. She was breaking up with him. Or as close as you could come when you weren't really together to begin with.

"It's not like that." Aura began.

"Aura." Xander cut her off. He tried to keep the humor out of his voice at the fact that she was breaking up with him while he'd been debating breaking up with her. "We come from very different worlds. To be honest, I was surprised that you agreed to date me at all." Actually, he'd figured that one of the Cordettes would go for his display of money and power. He just hadn't anticipated it to be the nicest one.

"And you can't ever tell anyone..." she trailed off.

Xander nodded. "You can rely on my discretion, madam." he said seriously. "Shall I take you home now?"

The next day, Giles approached Xander after lunch. "Xander. Do you have a moment?" Giles began. "Are you familiar with a group called the order of Taraka?"

Xander swallowed thickly and closed his eyes for a moment. "Giles, tell me you're in a bowling league and needed a catchy name for your team." Giles shook his head gravely. Xander sighed. "Then it's likely that they're a group of assassins. If they're anything like the group Methos knew, they're fairly old and particularly determined. Do I even want to know why you asked?"

"Fairly-? Oh. I suppose 3,000 years isn't a huge amount of time compared with 5,000." Giles realized. "Anyway. It appears that they have a contract for Buffy. She killed one of them last night. I- uh, gave her some words of caution this morning when she gave me his ring." Giles passed over a large ring with the Tarakan symbol on it. Xander glanced at it and passed it back. "And now I can no longer find her. She didn't eat lunch here and Willow checked the restrooms for me. I was wondering-"

"If I could search for her?" Xander finished.

"Indeed. I mentioned that hiding from them would be a good idea, but I forgot to mention that she should leave us her address and phone number so we could contact her." Giles half-joked despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I'll swing by her house then see if I can find some demons to torture for information." Xander said. "Cover for me with the troll?"

"You were in the library helping me sort the card catalog most of the afternoon. Only stepping out if he happened by." Giles agreed.

Before he got more than ten feet from the Library though, he was accosted by Cordelia Chase. "Xander Harris!" she hissed at him. "What did you do to Aura?"

"Do? I didn't do anything, Cordelia." Xander said condescendingly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have important business to see to."

"Like anything you're ever going to do is important, Harris." Cordy shot back. "What the hell happened on your 'date'." she made air quotes around the last word.

"I picked her up, we had dinner, danced, then went back to my place to talk. Where we mutually decided that even though we both had a nice time, we came from very different worlds and that for now, we weren't going to see each other any more. Now excuse me." he tried to move past Cordelia again but was again blocked.

"So, she dumped you after one date? Ha! You're such a loser, Harris. At least she came to her senses before you two did something. I may let her back in after all. With a suitable amount of grovelling, of course." Cordelia look gleeful.

"Great." Xander finally snuck past her as she was distracted by her thoughts.

"Hey! Don't think this lets you off the hook for trying to date one of my girls out from under me. You're on my list, buster!" she called after him.

Xander just waved without looking back. He knew ignoring her was only going to tick her off more, which is why he did it. On his way out, he passed the police booth and the woman there gave him a funny look after looking at the places where he had concealed weapons. (1 stake and 2 knives) He gave her an extra glance as well. Her uniform lacked a city name or any other identifying features. It just said Metropolitan Police. She was also wearing a ring that on brief inspection looked to be the same size, shape, and color as the Tarakan ring he had held a few minutes ago. He really hoped that she didn't notice the slight hitch in his step as he passed her or he was about to get a bullet in his back. It was unlikely that she'd break cover for someone who wasn't her target, but he still didn't relax until he was around the corner and out of her line of fire.

He briefly debated with himself about not telling Giles about the assassin and just dealing with her after school himself, but decided that that would be a stupid idea if Buffy happened to show up again. He found an empty classroom and used the phone to call the library's extension.

"Rupert Giles."

"Giles, Xander. There's one in the school."

"Good Lord, are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Well, I didn't ask to see her pretty ring, but pretty sure. Keep Buffy away from the career fair if she comes back."

"Which one is it?" Giles demanded.

"Giles, no. I know you want to protect Buffy from this. But as long as Buffy is elsewhere, then the best place for this assassin to be is in the school. I'll be back before school is over and together we'll protect Buffy from this." Xander stated.

"Xander, I can't let you-" Giles began.

"Of the two of us, only one has experience... okay, well, memories of dealing with these people. I'm helping and that's final. Don't worry, I've got a plan that requires both of us. And don't go looking for them. You'll just spook them and then they'll be ten times as dangerous." Xander reasoned.

Giles was quiet for a time. "Stay safe." he finally said before he hung up.

Breaking into Buffy's house was fairly easy as there was a window left open. He searched the house starting upstairs and finishing with the basement. Nothing. He let himself out by the same window. Nothing was there except a creepy feeling of being watched. He'd lay money on Buffy's house being under surveillance. Possibly by a sniper with a high powered rifle. He found a payphone and called Giles to make sure he hadn't gone after the assassin and to inform him of the feeling of being watched while at Buffy's so he could warn her off of going there if she contacted him.

Then he headed back to school.

"A police-woman!? Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Disguising yourself as one of the castle guards or a night watchman is a very old assassins' trick. Since people starting living in groups too large to know every person."

Giles shrugged at that. "I suppose. Do you have a plan?"

"Well, her uniform didn't have any markings on it, so it's pretty clear that she's not a real cop. But it's risky trying to fight someone in a police uniform. They're going to get the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. We could follow her home so she can change out of the uniform before we take her. But then she'll be in a place of strength and she could make us before we attack and cost us the element of surprise. Probably safer to take her here." Xander reasoned.

"We'll have to be fast." Giles said. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but a gun would be useful right about now."

Xander frowned. "Too noisy. We need this to be quick and quiet. The crossbow should do. Are you a good shot?" he waited for Giles to nod. "Good. Then I'll be the decoy. Draw her out."

It was then Giles' turn to frown. "No. I can't allow that. It's too dangerous."

"It's either that, or your Slayer has to face her. We need bait to get her alone so neither of us faces murder charges. Our other choice would be to dress someone up as Buffy and let the assassin chase them into an ambush."

"Hey, Xander! Here." Jonathan handed Xander a slip of paper. "Mr. Giles said to give you this note and that Buffy was waiting for you in the library."

Xander smiled at Jono in real thankfulness. He was standing only a few feet from the Police booth and he couldn't help but notice that the policewoman had perked up at the mention of Buffy's name. "Thanks, Jono." he said and started ambling towards the library, knowing that the woman would be close behind. He didn't dare even glance behind himself though.

Once he passed the library doors and was out of sight, Xander broke into a run for a couple seconds and disappeared into Giles' office before the assassin could get to the doors. When he heard the doors open again, he called out, "Hey, Buffy! Catch!" and bounced a red kickball slowly across the floor of the library. The theory was that the ball and Buffy's name would attract the assassin's attention which would allow Giles to get set up in the stacks with his crossbow while she was distracted. Xander listened for the TWANG! and THUMP! that marked Giles shot.

Hearing his cue, he sprang from hiding. The assassin had a crossbow bolt stuck deeply in the right side of her chest. Xander used Methos' memories to catalog the wound as a mortal wound to the lungs that had probably only just missed her heart. She would not survive. But she wasn't dead yet and she was already switching her gun to her left hand and drawing a bead on where Giles had fired from. She noticed Xander charging at her and she shifted towards the nearer threat. Xander threw his first weapon.

Now don't believe what TV and movies try to tell you about throwing knives. In order to be done correctly, you have to expertly measure the distance, know your knives perfectly, train for years upon years, and be freakishly lucky on top of that. Even then, you'll be lucky to just get a hit, much less a fatal hit. So unless you're a perennially bored psychopathic killer with a penchant for killing with style who also happens to be Immortal, you're just not going to kill anyone with throwing knives. Even as he threw his own weapon, part of his mind wondered how many centuries Kronos had practiced throwing that dagger before it sunk into his heart.

But Xander's weapon was not a knife. Xander's weapon was a rock. Yes, a rock. Thrown with all his might at an unarmored head, it could be just as fatal as a knife to the heart and even quicker to bring someone down. Unfortunately, baseball had never been Xander's sport of choice and even at the short distance, his aim was off, only hitting her in the shoulder. Still the flinch that caused bought him enough time to bring his other weapon to bear. And no, not his sword. Just a baseball bat. This particular bat had its tip sharpened to be useful against vampires and anything else that didn't like a sharp piece of wood shoved through its heart. But that wasn't what Xander needed right now. He used the sharpened bat, surprisingly, as a bat. Taking a solid whack at the assassin's wrist, knocking her gun from her hand and coincidentally breaking her wrist at the same time.

She was a pro. She hadn't called out when she'd been shot and she didn't cry out with her wrist hanging at an odd angle. By now, blood was starting to dribble from the corners of her mouth. Not the purple corn syrup they show on TV but the pink, frothy blood of a true lung-shot. But she wasn't done yet. She still had one good arm and apparently at least one backup weapon even though it had to hurt to reach from her injured side. Xander wasted no time and swung at her other arm with a satisfying CRACK!

"I believe that's enough, Xander." Giles said as he came out of the stacks with a reloaded crossbow.

"She was reaching for another weapon." Xander said without taking his eyes off her.

"Oh, well in that case, never mind." Giles replied. He ducked into his office and came back with a small case and a plastic sheet. Xander helped get the assassin onto the sheet then Giles turned to him. "Perhaps it's time you leave."

"Whatever you're about to do to this woman, I assure you, Methos has done worse. Many times."

Giles decided not to argue the point and instead turned back towards the woman.

"You don't have much time. So we'll have to get the torture done rather quickly, I'm afraid. Or... you can simply tell us who hired you to kill Buffy and I have," Giles produced a syringe and a vial, "a large shot of morphine to ease your passing. I'm sorry to have to tell you this," he pulled out the other ring Buffy had already taken, "but Buffy is not only the Slayer but she is also part of a larger demon-hunting organization. The Order of Taraka has simply bitten off more than it can chew this time. So, tell us the name or we will teach the Tarakans what it means to be hunted."

Xander realized that Giles could be fucking scary when he wanted.

The woman debated for only a few seconds before giving up a gurgle that sounded like 'Spike'. Apparently the order of Taraka didn't have a policy about ratting on your employer. After confirming that was indeed what she meant, Giles sent her painlessly onto the next life.

A/N: What's the first thing that most 17 year old guys would do with 5,000 years of knowledge? Use it to get laid, of course.

A/N2: Some people may ask, why didn't Norman attack like he did in canon? To which I reply, in canon, Cordelia (a female) was with him. Norman seemed to be able to differentiate between male and female at least even if he couldn't tell one individual from another.