The next morning Xander called Giles at his home. "Giles, you wanted me to tell you if I accidentally used my power. I accidentally set Cordy's bedspread on fire. It was a small fire and I put it out fast, but she's punishing me by making me be her and Faith's pack mule, without the usual reward for making me go shopping. I personally think the punishment is excessive. Could you tell her to just make me buy her a new bedspread?"
"Actually, Xander, I agree with Cordelia. Such a punishment will help you with control. You don't want to accidentally set a house on fire again do you?"
"No, fine. Cordy, Giles says you're right."
"Well, of course I am, Doofus, I could have told you that. Come on, we need to get going." Giles could hear through the phone.
"Talk to you later Giles."
Giles hung up the phone, trying not to laugh. 'Should have seen that coming,' he thought. Then he remembered Xander liked blowing things up and now had the ability to make fires and suddenly he was afraid. 'Oh, boy, what have I gotten myself into.'
Cordelia and Xander took her car to pick up Faith, who was still at the Sunnydale Motor Lodge until they could get her new apartment area set up. Xander was pouting, not so much about being their pack mule, as not getting his usual reward. Cordelia was ignoring him. She had a few more tricks that would test his control and in the end, she was sure they would all be grateful for her stern teaching methods.
Faith was waiting when they pulled up. Xander climbed into the backseat, while Faith sat in the passenger side seat. "What's up with X? I thought it was just us, shopping."
"Xander's being punished, he set my bedspread on fire this morning, so he has to be our pack mule with no reward."
"What's the reward?"
"We stop at Victoria Secret and I model something for him whenever he's my pack mule."
"Some reward."
"Yes, it is, and Giles thinks it's a fair punishment. That it'll help me learn control over my power. He's probably right, he usually is."
"Talk about setting the sheets on fire."
"Oh we did too, that was before the bedspread happened." She just knew Xander's ears would be red.
"So, where are those details?" Faith asked as they pulled up to a discount furniture store, Cordelia being mindful of Giles' budget.
"Well yesterday morning he woke me up with an experiment with his tongue that was very successful." Cordelia answered as they entered the store with Xander trailing after them, working hard on his control.
When Willow woke up, she called Buffy to see if she wanted to hang out, she so didn't want to be alone with her own thoughts any more. Buffy invited her over to work on homework together and Willow eagerly agreed. They spent a couple of hours at Buffy's dining room table working on assignments and enjoying some snacks and hot chocolate Joyce brought out, carefully not talking about yesterday.
Joyce hoped Buffy would confide in her about whatever her mom instincts were telling her was on Buffy's mind.
After awhile, Willow said, "Mrs. Summers?"
"Yes, dear."
"Buffy and I recently found out something about Xander that has us kind of upset. I always knew his father was a drunk, his mom too. And I always knew Xander had bruises and sometimes even broken bones when we were kids. But I thought his injuries were because he was sick or falling down a lot. He never said he was sick or that he fell down, I just thought that. I told Buffy he was prone to accidents when we were kids. We both tried to keep him out of things because of it and I guess, underestimated what he could do because of it. He's mad at us. Both Cordelia and Oz said they knew, not that he told them. Oz said was it obvious. So why didn't we know?"
Joyce was troubled by this revelation, Xander was a good boy who tried hard and had been a good friend to Buffy since they moved to Sunnydale. This explained a few things, she thought. His protectiveness, his need for affection. She hadn't known why, but had known there was something.
"I didn't know about his parents myself, but his behavior suggested something wasn't quite right. I suspect, the reason you didn't see is because you wanted to believe everything was all right. That parents wouldn't do something like that to their kids. You wanted a simple explanation. As for his being upset with you. Well, that's understandable too, you made decisions for someone else, when you didn't have the right. Regardless of whether you wanted to help him or not, your methods were wrong. I doubt he'll be angry for long, though. Your mean too much to him for that. It's clear he considers you his sister. Just give him some time."
"Ok, I wish I could talk like this with my mom. She'd just use it as an excuse to write another paper. I never get any actual help or advice when I ask something. Just a bunch of questions, like a questionnaire type thing. It's frustrating."
Another troubling announcement for Joyce to brood over. It explained so much.
She resolved to always try to have her door open for them. She might never have an answer, but she did have hot chocolate and a willing ear.
Giles spent the day going through his books, researching Xander's blessing, exploring as many of the suggested avenues he and the witches had thought of yesterday as he could. He had a suspicion as to what the blessing meant, but he wasn't sure. Good thing he enjoyed research.
Agatha Harkness had her Coven doing the same thing. A god giving a blessing was unusual, especially in this day and age and required investigation. She had every available witch searching through their collected books on information. She was certain they'd find an answer for Rupert and his charge. It was just a matter of time.
Amanda and Sherry spent their day meditating and replenishing their energy reserves. The diagnostics done yesterday had been draining and they would need all their energy to help the young woman in Rupert's care. Healing, especially a soul, could be dangerous and required a great deal of careful control and strength. One wrong move and they could make things worse.
Xander's control almost slipped a few times but in the end he proudly realized that despite Cordelia and Faith's efforts, that he had not set his pants on fire. Though it was a close thing at times. He was relieved, though, when they dropped him off at home and he could take a cold shower.
