Later, Giles showed Xander and Dawn the houses they'd be living in. They seemed nice enough (although Dawn was so excited that she even had one of her own to notice if there was any flaws).

However, there was a problem with them. They had no food. Which meant they'd have to buy some.

Dawn wanted to go to Luke's, because Xander had told her how good the burgers were, but Xander thought they should get food from Doose's and eat in to adjust to their new houses.

He also wanted to see if he could give Taylor a heart attack when he showed up and announced that he was staying in town.

Eventually, Giles came down on Xander's side, because he wasn't the sort of person to eat in a diner. So they went to Doose's.

However, Stars Hollow being a small town, they had to go past Luke's anyway. Luke came outside, crossing his arms and barring the doorway. "You can't come in."

Xander shrugged. "Okay. I wasn't going to."

This didn't seem to sit well with Luke. "Where do you get off, anyway, swanning around here after what you did to Rory?"

"What?" Xander said, baffled. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. What kind of a man lets a girl think that he's dead for months?"

Understanding dawned. "Ah."

However, while Xander now totally understood why Luke was angry at him (he even remembered Rory telling him that Luke would be), Dawn didn't appreciate it.

"How dare you!" she yelled. "His home town, the place he lived his entire life, collapsed into a crater. His ex-fiancé died there. Some of his friends died there. How dare you yell at him for taking some to adjust and grieve!"

Luke stared at Dawn in shock. So did Xander and Giles. Dawn flushed a little and looked down at her feet.

"Hey, Luke, leave him alone." Xander and Luke looked to see Dean crossing the road. "Unless you want to have another wrestling match in the middle of the street?"

Luke's mouth opened and shut a couple of times, before he jabbed a finger at Xander and said "I'll be keeping an eye on you, kid." He went back inside.

"Sorry about that." Dean said. "This town isn't exactly disposed to like you, after what happened between you and Rory."

"It wasn't exactly my fault." Xander pointed out, scratching his chest.

"So I heard." Dean nodded at Dawn. "I think everyone did. She was probably heard all over town."

Dawn flushed a deeper shade of pink. "I'm Dawn."

"Dean."

"No, Dawn. Dean's a boy's name."

"It's also my name." Dean said, smiling faintly. "Which is why I said it."

"How's your marriage working out with... Lindsay, isn't it?" Xander asked.

"Pretty well. Money's kind of tight, but other than that things are pretty good."

"Good, good. But what was it that you said about wrestling with Luke? Have you done it before?"

Dean smiled ruefully and lowered his head slightly. "It was back when I was dating Rory. I told her that I loved her, she didn't say it back, and we broke up for a while. Luke didn't get the whole story and did to me basically what he just did to you, only we started wrestling."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "Suddenly, I have a great desire to punch you on the nose."

"Don't worry, I'm a happily married man. You've got no competition from me." Dean laughed. Then he turned serious. "So, are you and Rory a thing, then?"

Xander shrugged uncertainly. "Honestly? I don't know what we are. As you've probably gathered things didn't end well between us, and I'm not sure where we stand now."

"I wouldn't worry. If you look over there, you'll see Mrs Patty industriously pretending that she isn't eavesdropping. Dawn's story will be all over town in about five minutes. That will get the town to stop hating you, at least a little. Especially since it was you that carved the smiley face on Taylor's lawn, which a lot of people were glad to see."

Xander cocked his head. "Why are you talking to me, anyway? If I'm as much of a social pariah in this town as you're saying."

Dean shrugged. "You're the reason I'm married. I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Thank you."

"That said, if you do hurt Rory again, the entire town will probably lynch you. She's well liked here. I'd even join in."

"Trust me. I have absolutely no intention of hurting Rory again." Xander said sincerely.

"Good."

"What was that?" Jess enquired, gesturing out the window with an empty plate.

"Doesn't matter." Luke said shortly.

"Oh, I think it does. If Luke the Saint loses his temper enough to go outside and yell at someone, I'm pretty sure it's a big deal. Anyway, in this town, I'll find out eventually."

"That's the guy who seemed to pick up where you left off. Breezing in and sweeping Rory off her feet and then leaving and breaking her heart. He left Rory thinking he was dead for months, ever since Sunnydale collapsed. That's where he's from."

"Really?" Jess said, thinking about Dawn, the girl who had told him that her town had fallen into a giant sink hole. It seemed like there was more than one person from Sunnydale in town. "Isn't that interesting?" he said in a soft, thoughtful voice. "Luke? I'm going out. I'll be back in a minute."

"Hey! You're meant to be helping out."

"I'm sure Liz will lend a hand." Jess said. Luke's response was lost to him because he had already gone through the door.

He followed the three people as they went into Doose's. They didn't see him.

Jess stared at a cabbage with more interest than any cabbage has ever been looked at in the history of the world, as he waited for an opportunity to talk to Dawn alone.

This came sooner than Jess might've expected, because Xander got into a heated discussion with Taylor about something to do with a lawn, and Giles joined in. Dawn, meanwhile, was looking at the coffee.

Jess timed it perfectly. He went round the corner at the same time that Dawn did, and they crashed into each other. Jess grabbed her wrist to make sure that she didn't topple over.

"Sorry, sorry." Jess said brusquely. "Oh. It's Dawn, isn't it?"

"Yup, that's me. And you're the boy with the inexplicable preference for the Brontë sisters."

"Come on, the raw emotion in Wuthering Heights is so much more powerful than anything Austen ever wrote."

"Oh, yeah, because a destructive relationship is such a lovely thing to read about." Dawn shot back. "And you can let go of my wrist now, by the way."

Jess hurriedly did so and took a step back. "Sorry. Anyway, I thought you were leaving town. What are you still doing around?"

Dawn shrugged. "Moving in, actually."

"Well, let me be the first to formally introduce you to the Hollow."

"Thank you."

"So, are you moving in with your more or less father?"

"No. I've got my own house!"

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Really? Rich kid, are you?"

Dawn flushed a little. "No, but Giles is on the board of a big company and he bought the house."

"Sugar daddy?"

"Ew! Ew ew ew ew! No! He's basically my father, the closest thing I have."

"And the other guy, is he your brother? Because you don't look related."

"What, Xander? God no. He's just a friend. Anyway, what's with the interrogation, Dostoyevsky?"

"As much as I appreciate the reference, no, I'm just nosy. It isn't every day that interesting people move in here, and I thought I'd get the inside scoop before Patty brings out the thumbscrews."

"Well, you can stick your nose somewhere else, if you don't mind. There's no story here."

"Oh, I think there is. An interesting one, too. Anyway, if you swing by Luke's at some point I'll happily convince you that the Brontës are better than Austen."

Dawn snorted. "Never. Darcy's better than Heathcliff any day."

"Seriously? Darcy's a flat, two dimensional character driven solely pride and propriety. Heathcliff has depth."

Dawn opened her mouth to argue, but Jess cut her off. "But now's not the time for that discussion. See you at Luke's."

Jess turned and left. He knew, without having to turn around, that Dawn was watching him go.

Later, after Xander, Dawn and Giles finished their dinner and retired to their respective rooms, Xander decided to call Rory. He suspected that she would still be awake cramming for her finals, and she probably needed someone to remind her to go to sleep. Besides, with the amount that Xander slept these days, he could happily spend half the night convincing Rory to go to bed. Although, admittedly, that would defeat the point.

Rory picked up immediately. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lion Girl."

"Hi."

"So, still studying?"

"Uh huh. I'm struggling not to throw The Prince across the room in disgust."

"Isn't that treason?"

"It's a book, Xander."

"Yeah, Machiavelli, I know. I'm not entirely uneducated, you know."

"Listen, Xan, I've got studying to do, so if you had something to say...?"

"Rory, do you know what time it is?"

"I'm guessing that time to get a watch isn't the answer you're looking for?"

"Nope. Rory, you should get some sleep. It's well past the time that all the other lions have gone to bed. Machiavelli will still be there in the morning."

"So will my final. Anyway, lions are nocturnal. Or crepuscular. Not sure."

"Have I mentioned how cool it is that you can drop words like... creepypustular into a sentence like that?"

"Crepuscular. It means they come out at twilight. Anyway, I doubt that you called to discuss the sleeping habits of large felines with me."

"I didn't. Ostensibly, I called to make sure that you actually went to bed so that you weren't stunned when the sun comes up and so you don't fall asleep in the middle of your final. Really, though, I wanted to ask when your last final is."

"Saturday."

"That's tomorrow."

"Is it?" Rory said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought I was studying for a final in three years."

"Sorry. Anyway, I wanted to ask if I could ask you out on a date when you're free."

"Nice use of ostensibly, by the way."

"Thank you. I told you that I wasn't entirely uneducated, you know."

"Yes, you did."

Xander waited for several moments, expecting Rory to say something else. When it became clear that she wasn't going to, Xander said "You don't want to go on a date with me, do you?"

"I didn't say that."

"No, you didn't. You very conspicuously didn't say it. You went to such great lengths not to say it that you might just as well have shouted it at me."

"I'm sorry, Xander. I - I'm just not ready for that. I know, on an intellectual level, why you didn't tell me you were alive. I understand that, I do. But that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt. I - not yet, Xander. Give me time."

"Rory, I'm sorry-"

"So am I, Xander. But that doesn't change anything. I'm not ready yet."

"I-I'll wait for you, Rory."

"Thank you." Rory said, and hung up.

She carefully put down the phone, and then threw her copy of The Prince across the room. While she partly did this out of her dislike for the cynical views in it that was by no means her greatest motivation. Mostly, she did it out of anguish and emotional turmoil and about a dozen conflicting feelings that left Rory not knowing whether she had done the right thing or not.

Rory left the book on the floor, not caring that this was the only time that she had ever treated a book in a less-than-reverential manner. She got undressed and into her bed. She brought Xander's lion in as well.

Meanwhile, Xander found himself wishing that he had a radio so that he could listen to some country music. He'd have to go out and buy one in the morning.