Xander set the last box down and took a look around the two bedroom apartment Cordelia and Buffy would be sharing as they started college in a week. It was a mirror of itself, bedroom and bathroom on each side of the apartment with living room/kitchen great room in the middle. The living room had a balcony off of it and the kitchen had a stack washer-dryer unit in it. That had been interesting teaching Cordy how to use it.

"Lupe honestly never showed you how to use a washing machine or dryer?" He'd asked. She just shrugged and had him repeat the directions and complained that it better not ruin her delicates. Gods, he was going to miss her. A two hour drive away seemed forever, but she wasn't breaking up with him, she was just going to a different college and one that wasn't far away. He was absolutely certain he would be burning up the phone lines, especially when Sunnydale odd happened because her common sense practicality could really slap sense into him when he started angsting about things. Like Amy going Lone Ranger and sending the Mayor to a Hell he'd never heard of. Faith had not been happy when she'd learned Amy had used her power on the Professor and he'd had to hold her back.

"Like either one of you wouldn't have done the same thing if given a chance." Cordelia had informed them. "Who among us wouldn't try to protect the rest of us by taking out the bad guy if we have the chance to?"

"She didn't have to use Magic on Diana! That part wasn't necessary!" Faith had yelled. "I'm pissed she went off on her own because we should have been allowed to help! But I am seriously wanting to fuck her up for putting a spell on Diana! You could have done it without messing with her like that!"

"I'm sorry, Faith." Amy had apologized. "You're right, I could have done it without using Magic on her. I just wanted to make sure she was out of the way, I didn't want to risk her getting hurt." Which finally got Faith to calm down.

"Okay, I appreciate that. But seriously, Amy, what were you thinking?"

"I'd like to know that too." Xander had said, glaring at Amy. "You had no idea if he had active powers. You went in there alone, with no one to watch your back. That's an unacceptable risk, Amy. It's one of the biggest problems I had with the old Watchers Council, that whole 'The Slayer fights alone shit!' We could have lost you, Amy! We lost Willow, we nearly lost Buffy, losing people we love and people we're trying to protect is unavoidable, but it doesn't have to be because of stupidity either! And going by yourself was stupid. As powerful as you are, Amy, you're not the most powerful Hexenbiest or Magic user out there! The Mayor could have had active powers of his own or traps or demons he'd summoned. Don't make us bury you too, Amy."

Amy ducked her head and then nodded. "Hexenbiests tend to be solitary, you know. We're not really a community the way other Wesen are and normal humans, unless we trust them and you know how hard that is for us, aren't really friends. Employers, yes, friends, no. You guys mean so much to me that I just stopped thinking and just felt. I had to protect you."

"It isn't like we can't understand that either." Cordelia had pointed out. "Especially you, Xander. Did Amy screw up going off by herself? Yes. But she did it because she loves us, not because she didn't trust us to watch her back. If anything, it shows how much she trusts us that she'd risk herself to protect us, but also, she knew if she failed, we'd be there to fight the Mayor ourselves."

"And it isn't like we haven't all acted on our feelings instead of thinking things through." Jesse pointed out. "You were close to going after those Wesenrein half cocked when they took Cordelia during Day of the Nightmares. Let's just thank the gods it worked and that Amy is safe and move on."

In the end they'd all calmed down, but Xander had still overheard Jesse and Amy having their own conversation about it. "You kept that failsafe snake of your mother's because you worried I'd get hurt and need you to help me. You need to understand, Amy, I don't want to lose you any more than you want to lose me, but I don't go off by myself to fight. That's the part that has us all upset. Your decision to do it that way means we could have lost you, I could have lost you. Please don't ever do that to me again."

"I won't." Amy agreed. "And you have to promise to keep doing it the way you have been, being Xander's partner."

"I will." He'd agreed.

No, it hadn't been the best decision anyone made, but it was made with the best of intentions. Love and friendship. Cordelia leaned against him. "Thinking deep thoughts?" She asked.

"Just thinking about the last adventure, the Mayor. Ready to start the next one?" Xander asked, slipping his arm around her waist.

"The next what?" She asked.

"The next adventure."

"As long as I know you'll be there to catch me if I fall."

"Always." He promised. "Just like I know you'll catch me."

"Damn right I will." She nodded. "And to slap sense into you when you're being stupid."

"That's my girl." He kissed her. "Honest as a California summer day is long."

"You wouldn't have me any other way."

"No, I really wouldn't."