Just Call Me Harvey

Anya was worrying herself into a tizzy waiting for Xander to show.

"He'll be here, don't worry," Buffy said trying to comfort the ex demoness.

"What if he had second thoughts?" she worried straightening her wedding dress.

"He'll be here," Willow said. "He wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Thank you," Anya said. "I know the big lug wouldn't run out on me, but then I remember Olaf and how badly that ended…"

"You turned him into a troll," Willow reminded her.

"He cheated on me!" Anya retorted. "A lot!"

"And when he showed up Xander stood up to him," Willow reminded her. "Even though technically he was still your husband so Xander had been sleeping with his wife."

"I banished him from this dimension," Anya argued. "If that doesn't count as a divorce, I don't know what does, besides even though we were engaged he still wouldn't choose me over you."

"He refused to choose either of us over the other," Willow corrected her. "Xander is all about love and loyalty so if you don't want to deal with that…"

"I know," Anya groaned. "That's why I love him. I just think he should love and be loyal to me first!"

"Which would require him to be less loyal and loving to the rest of us, meaning less Xander-y," Willow said, wondering if that was the best way to put it.

Anya sighed. "The things I love about him are also the things that frustrate me."

"Trust me," Willow sighed. "I know the feeling."

The door burst open and Dawn helped a limping Xander in who was clutching his arm across his ribs.

"Xander!" Anya and Willow exclaimed, rushing to his side.

"I don't know what attacked me," Xander said with a wince as the girls half stripped him and started bandaging him, "but it was white, fluffy and had a hell of a bite. Fortunately it apparently doesn't like the taste of Xanders, because after it bit me it left."

Anya paled as she stared at the wound on his arm.

"I know it looks like someone stabbed my arm with a pair of screwdrivers," Xander quickly reassured her, "but it's not that bad, it missed bones, tendons, and veins. I'll be fine."

"No you won't," Anya said sadly.

"What?!" Dawn and Willow exclaimed.

"It's the mark of The Beast. Come Sunday night you'll change," Anya said through her tears. "It's about the only thing that would make me leave."

Silence fell as everyone stared at her.

"I will always remember you," Anya swore. "But I won't stay on the same continent as…" Anya burst into tears and ran off.

Xander stared at his arm in horror.

"We'll find out what it is," Willow swore, hugging Xander.

"And we'll kill it," Buffy promised.

"What do we do now?" Dawn asked, all too aware that they had a church full of people and demons.

"I'll tell them," Buffy offered, seeing that Xander was still staring at his arm and neither Dawn nor Willow were exactly public speakers.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"Nothing?" Xander asked holding onto the bars of his cage.

"Nothing we can find," Willow said. "But all the signs point to something like lycanthropy, so you only need to worry about full moons."

"I hope you're right," Xander said as he began to unbutton his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Willow demanded covering her eyes.

"I'm probably going to change and destroy everything I'm wearing," Xander pointed out as he stripped. "So I can either get naked now or we can try and sneak back to my apartment with me naked tomorrow."

"That makes sense," Willow admitted peeking through her fingers as a joke. After it became obvious Xander didn't care she dropped her fingers and watched openly.

Folding up his clothes he handed them to Willow through the bars.

"It'll be ok," she promised.

"I hope so," he said nervously.

"Should I come back later?" Tara asked.

"It's not what it looks like!" Willow exclaimed.

"You're not comforting a friend who's worried about losing his humanity?" Tara asked, having been told in advance by Buffy what was going on.

"Oh," Willow said. "I thought abandoned mansion, naked Xander in cage, and me here looked different."

"Hi," Xander said making no effort to hide or cover up as he waved at Tara.

"Xander!" Willow said quickly stepping in front of him.

"You're blocking my view," Tara complained gently

"You want to see Xander naked?! I thought you didn't like men that way!"

"It's always been about the person not their gender," Tara replied. "And if a friend want's me to see them naked so they'll be sure someone remembers them as they were, just in case they change, I have no problem with that."

"Thanks," Xander said teary eyed.

"Xander," Willow began softly and hugged him through the bars. "You should have said something; I'd have brought a camera."

Tara smiled impishly. "Of course I might also point out that it's another two hours till moonrise."

"Really?" Xander and Willow chorused.

"Willow has her watch programmed to spring forward two hours on Saturday, otherwise she sleeps till noon on Sunday," Tara explained.

"Oh, yeah," Willow said absently. "I stated doing that so I didn't miss brunch."

"So I didn't have to get naked for another couple of hours?"

"Nope," Willow said picking his clothes off the ground and moving them to a table in the back of the cellar.

"I'll get a camera and a couple of rolls of film real quick," Tara promised before leaving.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"Is Xander going to be ok?" Dawn asked worriedly as Spike led her to the basement of the mansion where they had Xander caged in preparation for his first change.

"Having a vampire walking around here while he's caged up probably isn't the best thing to show him right now," Spike said wanting to avoid seeing any weepy scenes that might develop. "So how about I wait here?"

Typing by: The Last Primarch!

AN: 'What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?'