As Rory leant across to rest her head on his shoulder, about a dozen things rushed through Xander's head. He wondered if she was fainting and he should catch her. He wondered if she was going to head-butt him. He wondered if she was possessed, or being influenced by magic, or if she had her body swapped with someone.

Then, when her head actually landed on his shoulder, Xander realised that he didn't actually care that much. If he was being used, at least he was being used in a nice way. He wasn't going to be sacrificed, or anything like that.

So he sat there, revelling in the weight of Rory on him, in her warmth, the way she smelt, how it felt to have his arm wrapped around her waist.

He didn't want to ruin that. He didn't want to do anything to disturb the peace. But, unfortunately, Xander had a tendency to firmly plant his foot in his mouth.

So, before Xander even knew what he was doing, he sighed and said "What are we doing?"

Rory stirred in a distracting way. "Just sitting here."

"How-how can you be here, like this? After what you said?"

"I just can."

"I fully realise that you have the capability to be here. I'm not questioning that. But... you said that you didn't want to date, to do this kind of thing."

"This-this isn't dating." Rory said, knowing that she was just trying to justify her actions and hating herself for it.

"So, I'm just a body to be used." Xander said with just a hint of bitterness. "Fair enough. That's not really new."

Rory sat up a little, turned to face Xander, realised that their faces were incredibly close together, contemplated moving closer and decided to move slightly further away instead. "I'm not using you."

"No? So you cuddle up to everyone you meet, do you? You ask people to stick around, refuse to date them, and then icuddle/i?"

"No, of course not-"

"Because, if you're just doing it to me, it would generally be better if we, you know, were dating. Except, of course, you turned me down. Unless you've changed your mind about that?"

Rory looked at him, and she wanted to kiss him, but the problem was, she'd wanted to kiss Jess too. She couldn't forget the way that they'd both hurt her, but when she was actually around them... she didn't care.

But she couldn't say yes. Xander saw it on her face.

"No, I didn't think you had." Xander said, softly. "Goodbye, Rory. Let me know when you actually decide something." He stood up.

She didn't want him to go. She didn't want to see him leave, not again, not another time. Rory stood up, too. "Wait!"

Xander knew he should keep on going. He knew that he shouldn't have sat down in the first place, that he should just leave Rory be, because everything to do with her didn't work out for him.

But it was Rory.

He turned around. She stood there, eyes luminous with unshed tears. "Don't go."

"I'm not the one leaving this time, Rory. I'm still standing exactly where I've always stood." Xander gestured to the space between them. "All you have to do is make the step across to where I'm standing."

Rory took a step forward. Her hand reached up as though to touch Xander, but she brought it back down again.

"Ah." Xander said softly.

Rory smiled. "I think that about covers it, yes."

"I - ah."

"Hmm. That's got to be the most tongue tying step I've ever taken."

"So you-"

"Yes."

"-and I-"

"Yes."

"-you want-"

"Yes."

Xander raised an eyebrow. "Is your answer to all my questions yes?"

"No. Just that one that you seemed to be having difficulty saying."

"Well, that's something, at least."

"Yes."

He looked at her. She looked at him. Neither of them were entirely sure what the next move was, let alone who should make it.

Then Xander gave up. There were words that would encompass what he was feeling, but now wasn't the time. Not yet.

But he wasn't just going to let the moment go. He wasn't sure if Rory actually meant what she was saying, or if she'd change her mind again, but he wasn't going to let this go. Not again.

One hand went to back of her head, twining in her hair, the other went around her waist, pulling her towards him. He leant down, and his lips brushed hers, so lightly that she wasn't even entirely certain he'd even touched them. Xander's eyes were smouldering, burning into hers, and she couldn't quite seem to catch her breath, and then he kissed her, properly, hard.

It was explosion of sensation, of his hands on her, his lips, his warmth, and his smell. She could hear everything, feel everything, and her skin felt like it was on fire where he touched her. Her scalp tingled. She moaned, and she could feel him smile against her lips.

Then it was over, so suddenly that it took Rory a while to realise that he was gone. There was a splash.

It took Rory a second to get her bearings, but when she did she saw Jess standing in front of her, and Dawn.

Xander, however, was in the lake and spitting water. Jess laughed.

Xander growled, and leapt forward, hand grabbing Jess' ankle. He pulled. Jess, caught unprepared, yelped and tried to keep his balance. To no avail. Xander pulled him in.

There was a second splash, and Dawn and Rory squeaked as the water got on them. They retreated a little while, to get out of range of what was quickly becoming a full blown water fight.

After a few seconds, Dawn turned to Rory and said "I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying this way more than I should."

Rory burst out laughing.

Jess wouldn't give up. Xander was several inches taller than he was, and heavier, and a more practice fighter than Jess. But Jess wouldn't give up.

Xander, for his part, was baffled. He didn't know who this guy was. He hadn't seen him before. He wasn't a vampire (he was out in the sun) and he probably wasn't a demon, either. He supposed that he might be some fundamentalist who was vehemently opposed to public displays of affection, or something like that. He also briefly toyed with the idea that he was a hit man hired by Taylor as revenge for his lawn. But neither of those ideas made much sense.

Eventually, Xander got bored blocking Jess' enraged assaults. He cannoned into the smaller man, knocking him off his feet, then swam for the shore whilst Jess spluttered.

"What's his problem?" Xander asked.

It took several seconds for either of the girl's to answer. They were staring. "Um, what? Sorry? Did you say something?" Rory said eventually, in a faraway voice.

Jess got out, gave Xander a black glare, and stormed off. Well, squelched off.

Xander waved his hands in front if the girls faces. They blinked, as though they were coming out of some sort of trance. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, we're fine." Rory said.

Dawn grinned mischievously. "We're just enjoying the show."

"What?" Xander said, frowning. Then he looked down, taking in his soaked state. His clothes didn't really leave much to the imagination. "Oh."

"Mmm." Rory murmured.

"I - I'm going over there now. Away from creepy staring girls." Xander said, flushing a little.

They watched him go.

"Well, that was fun." Rory said after a while.

"Oh, yeah. Why'd Jess do that, anyway?"

"How do you know Jess?"

"Oh, we've a couple of times. He persists on thinking the Brontës are better than Austen."

"He's wrong about that one. We used to argue about that a fair bit. Have you read Wharton?"

"No. Jess said I should read her, too. Is she any good?"

"Meh. I liked Age of Innocence. Not so much House of Mirth. You should try her out."

"I'll check it out. So, Jess?"

"Oh, we used to date."

"iReally?/i Well, you've got good taste, I'll say that much."

Rory smiled. "Thank you. I think."

"Well, I'd better go and see if Xander's alright. Having us ogle him might just make his head explode."

Dawn found Xander back at his house, sadly no longer wearing form fitting wet clothes. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. No thanks to you, little miss leer."

"Detested kite, thou liest!"

"What?"

Dawn sighed. "I've really got to stop with the Shakespeare jokes. Absolutely no one ever gets them."

"Anyway, what was with that guy?"

"Jess? He's-"

"Jess? That was iJess?/i Ahh. Suddenly I wish I'd been a little rougher with him."

"So you know who he is, then?"

"Yeah, Rory told me. I thought he'd skipped town."

"Well, apparently he's back."

"That little..." Xander trailed off incoherently, hands squeezing in front of him as though he was wringing Jess' neck.

"I wouldn't worry, if that great big kiss you gave Rory was anything to go by, I'd say you've got nothing to worry about from him."

"You saw that, huh?" Xander said a little sheepishly.

"Oh God yes. It's not exactly the kind of thing that you can miss. You know the news about that will be all over town by now. You'll have people lining up to watch you and him have a rematch. I could sell tickets."

"Not funny, Dawn."

"No, it's not funny. It might be many things, but funny it wasn't." Dawn said, nudging Xander.

"Drop it."

Dawn pouted.

Luke's went silent when Jess squelched in, leaving a trail of watery footprints behind him. Luke sighed, told Caesar to take over, and followed Jess upstairs.

"What happened?" Luke asked.

"There was a sudden freak rainstorm right above my head." Jess said sarcastically.

"Oh, c'mon Jess. I thought we'd gotten past this whole sulky, uncommunicative teenager thing."

"Guess not." Jess said, picking up some clothes, heading into the bathroom and slamming the door.

"Come on, Jess! Tell me what happened!"

"Why? Why do you care?"

"'cause you're my nephew." Luke said simply. "If you're being plagued by freak rainstorms, I want to know about it."

For a long time, Jess stayed silent. Luke didn't think that he was going to say anything. He was just about to give up and head downstairs when Jess said "I saw Rory kissing him. That Californian guy. I-I kind of lost it, pushed him in the lake."

Luke snorted, smiling despite himself. "Well, the old ones are the best."

"Yeah, well, he pulled me in after him. Things kind of went on from there."

"Oh, Jess. You can't be the jealous guy, not after everything you did."

"I know. I didn't want to, but he was there and..."

"I saw you this morning with her, Jess. She looked happy. If you - I don't know, if you can be more like you were then, I think that's your best chance. She looked happier than I've seen her in a long time."

"If you'd seen the way she was kissing that guy, you wouldn't think I have a chance."

Luke shrugged, then realised the futility of the gesture because Jess couldn't see it. "Well, you won't have one if you act like a sullen jealous jerk, that's for sure. But then, she was happy with Dean too, and we know how that ended up."

Jess was silent for several seconds. Then he came out, more or less dry. "Right then. We've got a diner to run."