"Cordelia, I need you to get an invitation for you and Buffy to a frat party." Charles told his daughter. "And Xander, I need you to crash the party and keep an eye on them. One of the Mayor's biggest demon backers, is worshipped by several human families in the area. The demon, Machida, requires three virgins to be sacrificed to him each year. He uses magic to keep the families rich."
"This is one of those demons you want to aim Buffy at?" Cordelia asked.
"Yes, if we had a way of getting in there ourselves, we would. Well actually, since they're a paternal order, Tony could join and pretend to worship and offer Xander as a member of the group, but that would involve them having to prove their commitment by sacrificing a girl themselves."
"Yeah, I don't want to do that. So how would Cordy do this?" Xander asked.
"She gets Richard Anderson interested in her, he and his best friend, Tom Warner, are inseparable and Tom likes small blonds. Cordelia gets Richard to invite her and Buffy. Xander, you'll have to call in Giles to help you, once the girls get taken. We'll be nearby for back up. No way is my daughter being sacrificed. If Buffy, can't get it done, we will. But since Machida lives in the sewers, the sacrifice is the only time he's within reach."
"I'll do it." Cordelia agreed. "I knew going in, there'd be risks, but taking out these demons and the Mayor is the best way for us to have a future."
"I will too." Xander said. "I'll alert Giles as soon as they're taken and lead him in."
It took about a week for Cordelia to snag Richard Anderson's interest and arrange for him to pick her up for a date at the school. She made sure she was standing near Buffy when Richard, with Tom in tow, arrived to pick her up. As expected, Tom was interested in Buffy. Cordelia convinced her to accept and since Buffy was mad at both Angel and Giles, it wasn't hard. Xander crashed the party and except for being mistaken for a pledge and made to dress like a woman, the plan went perfectly. Xander led Giles and Angel, who'd tagged along, down to the basement where they got Cordelia and another girl out while Buffy killed Machida. Not long after returning to Chase Manor to discuss the death of Machida and how much its death might have gone toward weakening the Mayor, Johnathan noticed something.
"Um, has anyone seen Xander and Cordelia since we got back?"
Realizing they hadn't, Charles started to say something, when James said something himself.
"They've both had to deal with the downside of being a virgin in this town, they may have decided to do something about that."
Charles was struck speechless, he honestly hadn't considered this as a possible consequence of asking the two of them to help deal with Machida. "Oh, gods." He groaned. "She's just a baby!"
"She's a month and a half shy of her seventeenth birthday, Xander is two and half months shy of his. It's pretty much the average age." His wife said.
"I'll kill him." Charles muttered.
"At least you know he loves her." Madelyn said. "And she loves him. Those two have been inseparable for years. I think the only ones who don't know that are Willow and Buffy. Willow, because she still harbors the belief that Xander will fall in love with her and Buffy, because she just hasn't noticed."
Charles banged his head on the table. "Please let me not know any of this!" He begged the universe. The universe blew a raspberry at him. Xander got the evil eye from Charles for awhile, before Madelyn managed to get him to calm down and get his mind back on fighting the Mayor. Fortunately another crisis was just around the corner and helped to take his mind off of Xander defiling his baby girl.
"Who the Hell thought it was a great idea to turn people into their costumes on Halloween?! It's supposed to be a quiet night, supernatural wise!" He ranted, as the group moved thru the town finding victims and getting them to the hospital. "Children are hurt, people may have died. If I find out who is responsible, I will personally turn them into a chew toy and let Cordelia's dog play with them for a while!"
Finding out from Xander, who had gone as a soldier and retained the knowledge of a soldier, that this was a black mage's idea of a prank, was bad enough. Finding out it was done by someone Rupert Giles used to know and he'd escaped after Giles succeeded in stopping the spell, only increased his anger at the situation.
"How could anyone even think this was remotely funny?" He asked.
"People with no moral compass think things like hurting people are amusing hijinks." Joshua said. "We've know that since we were teenagers ourselves. If he ever comes back to town, we'll be able to deal with him then. For now, we let it go. But only for now."