Halloween had been one of his favorite holidays when he was a kid. Junior and Senior High had brought kiddie escort duty to Halloween and that just made it even more fun. This was their first Halloween since Buffy had crashed into their lives and Xander first learned that monsters were real, though. He wasn't sure he was looking forward to it this year. Right up until Giles said vampires avoided Halloween. Neat, now he could enjoy it again.

The hot girl in the sexy cat suit was explaining that the guy with way too much hair gel in his hair was a vampire with a soul. Since when were vampires real? Then his face changed and Private Alexander Harris began to wonder if someone hadn't spiked his drink. Nothing was making sense tonight. Then they had to chase after the dim witted brunette girl in the old fashioned dress who kept screeching like a harpy, because she saw hair gel guys vampire face. Damn, if that's how women used to act, then he was damn glad for the sexual revolution. The hot girl in the cat suit had a brain and a body. The ghostly little red head made him feel protective, like she was family or something. Then they ran into a guy with weirdly white hair and someone yelled that him he could shoot, so he did. It came as a big surprise when his head exploded into dust, followed by his body. 'I want to wake up now', Private Harris thought, 'this is really a bad trip.'

And then Alexander was Xander again.

"What the Hell was that?!"

"I don't know. Let's head to the library. Maybe Giles knows, wait wasn't Willow just here?"

"A ghost Willow, yeah. I've gotta find the kids I was escorting. They could be hurt."

"I'll go with you." Cordelia said.

Eventually, after finding all of their kids and helping a bunch of others who'd lost their escorts, everyone ended up back at the library.

"So Giles, what happened to Halloween is a quiet night?" Buffy asked.

"A chaos mage I used to know decided to play his idea of a prank on people. Anyone who bought a costume from his shop transformed."

"This was his idea of a joke?! Giles, people were hurt tonight. Kids were hurt. Who knows if anyone died. This was not a joke! Where the Hell is this idiot?" Xander demanded to know, how dare he harm someone Xander was responsible for!

"While I was destroying the focus of his spell, he escaped. Hopefully, he won't return."

"Yeah, if he does, he and I are going to have a conversation about it not being funny to hurt kids. About the only good thing about tonight, aside from the way Cordy looks in that outfit, is I dusted Spike. He attacked Buffy while she was transformed. Someone yelled that I could shoot him, which I did, and his head exploded into dust, followed by the rest of him. I guess enough bullets will destroy vampires. Good to know." Xander said.

"You had a gun, Xander?" Giles asked.

"I had a toy gun that transformed, it turned back into a toy at the same time I stopped being Private Alexander Harris."

"Well, if there's nothing else, we should call it a night." Giles said.

"Walk me home, Xander?" Cordy asked. "I don't feel comfortable being out alone after dark anymore."

"Don't blame you. Sure, no problem."

"You really think I look good in this outfit?"

"Cordy every straight male, bisexual female and lesbian between the ages of puberty and dirty old people age, thinks you look good in that outfit."

Xander wanted to feel sorry for Buffy's old friend, he really did. He got a bum rap. Brain cancer was eating his brain. He was scared to die. It was understandable. Being willing to trade over fifty clueless kids and Buffy to vampires in order to escape his death sentence kinda negated that. Buffy was trying to reason with him, but he didn't want hear it. This was his way out and he was taking it. They managed to fight their way passed the vampires and left him to his fate. There really wasn't anything else they could do. They might all have died if they'd tried to force him out with them. Buffy made sure he was dusted.

"Giles, Buffy nearly got sacrificed again tonight and had to dust a vampire that once was a friend. She could probably use a listening ear."

"I have no idea what to say to her, Xander."

"You don't have to say anything, Giles. Just listen. She needs to know you give a damn about her as more then the Slayer. And you need to remember, she's more then the Slayer."

"Very well. I will listen to her."

"Do that, I'll see you tomorrow."

The idiot responsible for Halloween came back and nearly got Ms. Calender killed. Finding out that Giles had a past he was trying to keep hidden surprised people. Finding out it involved demon raising and getting high? That went well beyond surprising. Straight into pissed off in Xander's case. After they'd saved Ms. Calender and Ethan, the idiot from Halloween had once again escaped, Xander decided a conversation with Giles was in order.

"You know, from first hand experience, I might add, what possession does to a person. Add to that, you've clearly not forgotten about it. And yet you couldn't muster any sympathy for innocent victims of possession. You did nothing to help them. Were you afraid we'd find out you have a past? Or did you truly not care?"

"I care, Xander, but I never wanted anyone to know about my past. I was ashamed."

"You were more that, Giles. Eyghon scared you. Scared you so much, you ran and hid in your dusty old books. You built a tower around yourself so nothing scary gets in. Somewhere along the way, you forgot about the people we're supposed to be protecting. You can't see them anymore. It's time to come out, Giles. You're so afraid of living, of caring, that you've allowed a disaster to loom. You, yourself said, Angel's curse could weaken or break altogether with the lessening of his suffering. Your complacency in allowing Buffy to live out her fantasy is endangering all of us. Sooner or later, it's going to break and Angelus will be back. Will you still be hiding then? Leave the rest of us to deal with a mess you allowed to happen? You're the adult, the one with training, not to mention, experience, to know what it is she's risking. It's time to stop hiding Giles. Or the world may burn for your fear. Can you live with that? Think about that."