Eris had come back to Graham like she promised to finish their 'deal', which was just her coming back to make out with him again so the could 'make the relationship official'. They were in his dorm room, with Graham sitting up and leaning on the bed head and Eris straddling his lap to kiss him.
It wasn't sexual, despite Eris' usual behaviour when it came to men. It was passionate of course, she would settle for nothing less, but it was intimate in the romantic way. Two people who want to be together in more than physical ways. "You are an amazing kisser, have you had practice?" Eris asked cheekily as she pulled away from him slightly.
He chuckled and rubbed his hands idly over her thighs, "I have, but no one compares to you."
"Nice save," she said with a small giggle and leant back down to kiss him again, "as much as I'd love to keep kissing you, I have an event to go to."
Graham kept her still, gripping her hips slightly so she couldn't get off him, "maybe you could skip it and stay here?"
She giggled and poked him on the nose, "you know I would, but one of my friends is working on the unveiling of a new cultural center so I'm going to support him. You could join if you want?"
"You mean actually meet your friends and not be hidden away for stolen kisses? Sure," he kissed her one more time and let her go so she could compose herself.
"You mean it? I don't want to force you," she grabbed the comb he had on his bedside table and used it to start untangling some of the knots Graham created with his hand in her hair.
"Yeah, wouldn't be much of a boyfriend if I didn't want to get to know the people you care about," Graham slid off the bed and adjusted his shirt that had ridden up so Eris' fingers could explore his chest. "I can't stay for the whole day, but I have time now."
Once all the knots were brushed out, she skipped over to the other side of the bed where he stood and leant up to kiss his jaw, "you are just the nicest boyfriend, luckily its not too far from here."
Once fully composed they both headed over to the dig site to meet up with Willow, Buffy, and a new person called Anya, which Buffy had explained before she was an ex-Vengeance Demon with an obsession with Xander. "Hey guys, I brought Graham along with me I hope that's ok?"
Buffy gave Eris a grin as she pulled her into a hug, "bringing your boyfriend out to meet your friends? No problem at all!" she pulled away from her cousin and looked to Graham, "good to see you again Graham."
"You too Buffy, and Willow," he waved to the red head standing under the tree who waved back. "We should follow her direction and get under the shade."
"Agreed, its too hot today," Eris grabbed his hand and followed Buffy under the shade just as the ceremony began.
"Of all the duties of a Dean, one of the most pleasant is to see a colleague realize a dream. Ladies, gentlemen, students, I present to you Professor Gerhardt of the Anthropology department," polite claps erupted around the site as a woman stepped up to the podium.
"When I first realized we were outgrowing our current cultural center, I was concerned. Then I realized it was like seeing one's child grow up and move on to better things. In this case, a spacious new facility to be built on this site."
As she continued her speech, the ex demon, Anya, stared at Xander intently, not taking her eyes off him for even a second, "look at him," she said with a deep sigh, "have you ever seen anything so masculine?"
"You mean Guerrero or his wife?" Buffy responded, trying to be friendly with Anya.
Willow giggled and motioned to Xander, "I think she means him," the man in question was standing off to the side with a shovel, a singlet that showed off his somewhat muscled arms and a hard hat.
Buffy, trying not to be mean, said, "oh, very manly. Not at all Village People."
"Yes, never seen a more manlier man," Eris chimed in though she looked to her boyfriend and gave him a wink.
"So much sexier than the outfit from his last job," Anya seemed unphased or otherwise oblivious to their teasing.
"Oh, I miss the free hot dogs on sticks," Willow had spoken with a slight whine to her voice, not being very serious but there was some truth to her words.
"I'm imagining having sex with him, right now."
"That's something I didn't want to hear," Graham said as he muttered to his girlfriend who nodded her head in agreement.
"And that's why it's appropriate that the ground-breaking for the UC Sunnydale Cultural Partnership Center is taking place so soon before Thanksgiving. Because that's what the melting pot is about," the 5 under the tree returned to listening to the Professor, or at least 4 did and one continued their Xander stare, "contributions from all cultures, making our culture stronger."
"What a load of horse hooey," Willow suddenly snapped as everyone began clapping once more.
Buffy, who was slightly startled by the outburst, spoke over the Professor, "we have a counterpoint?"
"Yeah. Thanksgiving isn't about blending of two cultures. It's about one culture wiping out another. And then they make animated specials about the part with the maize and the big, big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene where all the bison die, and the Squanto takes a musket ball in the stomach."
"Okay. Now, for some of that, you were channelling your mother?"
"Well, yeah, sort of."
"Do you do cultural studies Willow?" Graham asked, "or was that straight from the top of your head?"
"Straight from the noggin, though I get that from my mom who doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving or Columbus Day, she would tell me all about the destruction of the indigenous peoples. I know its sounds a little overwrought but really, she's…she's right."
"You expand my brain every time I speak to you Will," Eris said jokingly, though Willow still appreciated it all the same.
"I never really thought about it that way before," Buffy cocked her head to one side and shrugged, "with Mom at Aunt Julies' this year, I'm not getting a Thanksgiving. Guess maybe it's just as well."
Anya, finally paying attention to a conversation, turned around to look at them, "well I think it's just a shame. I love a ritual sacrifice."
Buffy quickly looked to Graham who seemed a little perturbed, "she doesn't really mean that."
"No I do, to commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice, with pie," the group relaxed when they realised she was talking about a turkey.
"…and thus, a symbolic beginning," the Professor took the shovel from the Dean and began to do the ceremonial dig.
"What's she doing?" Anya asked in irritation, "Xander said he was gonna dig. I want to see Xander dig."
"That part's just ceremonial," Willow said helpfully, but to no avail.
"Well, it bites," she looked to the woman who scrapped a small part of the dirt, "she doesn't even look rippling."
Finally, and much to Anya's happiness, Xander finally began to dig, which made Anya imagine having sex with him again. Graham and Eris shared a look of amusement before Eris leaned in and whispered, "I'm imagining having sex with you right now."
Graham chuckled and with a slight husky tone to his voice said, "of course you are, now you've made me do the same."
"Naughty Naughty," Eris teased but was cut off when the floor under Xander caved and caused him to fall in, "Xander!" the 4 girls shouted simultaneously as they hopped over the tape to head over, Graham trailed behind to make sure the floor didn't cave under the girls as well.
"Stay back ladies, its dangerous!" One of the workers shouted when he saw them getting closer, most of the team had started running around to grab things to help Xander get out whilst first aid members were getting their gear ready to treat him.
"Xander! Are your rippling muscles okay!?" Anya shouted down the hole in a panicked voice.
"I'm okay!" they heard the shout back, "there's a whole room down here!"
"Everyone please step back, we need to start getting him out," the same man had come back over with a large ladder, hoping it was the right size to put inside so Xander could get out.
The 4 ladies and Graham stood back, worried for Xander. Though to their relief, he had come out with small scratches and mostly dirt on him. He got looked over quickly and deemed ok and ordered to go to the hospital to get a proper check in case he inhaled something unsafe. Anya joined him when the ambulance arrived and left Willow, Buffy, Eris and Graham behind.
"You think he'll be ok?" Willow asked the group who were just as worried as she was.
"I'm sure he'll be ok Willow, if he was hurt it would have shown up when he got out," Graham said in a soft and gentle tone, hoping it would soothe the ladies.
"We can check on him when he gets out," Buffy offered helpfully as she stroked Willow's arm in comfort.
"We should go back to the dorms to wait for him," Eris looked to Graham, "I know you don't have a lot of time, so if you need to go, I don't want to keep you."
"It's ok, I'll walk you 3 back to the dorms before leaving," the ladies appreciated it and headed back home.
"While they were pulling Xander out, I heard a couple of the anthro Professors talking about it. Man, where they excited," the 3 ladies had gone to Buffy and Willows room to wait for any news about Xander, Graham had left not too long ago, so it was now just them, "It's the old Sunnydale Mission, which everyone thought was lost."
"Huh?" Buffy said distractedly as she looked out the window, it was as if she could sense something below, something that called to her.
"Is there something out there?" Willow asked in concern which caused Buffy to finally snap out of her distraction.
"Hmm? Oh. No. I'm sorry. A lost mission." She moved away from the window to sit next to Eris who had been looking at all the makeup Buffy had. "I mean, a hairbrush I can understand- and by the way, I will find that and get that back to you- but how do you lose a mission?"
"Huge earthquake in 1812. Everyone just assumed the mission was levelled. Instead they built right over it. Its like what happened in the 30s with that church the master was in. Doesn't that make you wonder what else is there, like, right under our feet?"
"Mostly, I've just found sewers full of demons," Buffy did not want to find any more than that, it usually became worse the deeper into the ground she went.
"100% of the things you've all found underground turned out to be evil," Eris commented as she was looking at an eyeshadow pallet, "Master's church, demon sewers, the hellmouth, Sunnydale high evil basement."
"You have a point," Willow replied as she shut the door so the sounds of excited students quietened, "man, its crazy out there."
"Mmm. Post-midterm frenzy," Buffy said as she played with her toy cow.
"And the holiday. Everyone's going home. Looks like a lot of lucky moms are gonna be getting brimming baskets of dirty laundry."
Eris snorted at Willow's words, "its so weird how some students are incapable of doing their own laundry, its so easy to do."
"Its so not fair," Buffy slid over so she could lay her head on Eris' lap, "I mean, they all get a family holiday just because they can go home to their families."
"Hmm, it's a turvy-topsy world. At least you have Eris though, so you have one family member."
That seemed to give Buffy an idea, she jumped up from the bed with newfound determination, "you know what, I should have my own Thanksgiving. I can cook the meal, just like my mom does. Have all you guys over. It'll be great."
Willow frowned at that, "Buffy, earlier you agreed with me about Thanksgiving. It's a sham. It's all about death."
"It is a sham, but it's a sham with yams. It's a yam sham."
"You're not gonna jokey-rhyme your way out of this one."
"I know, but I want it," the slayer did a small stomp on the ground like a child would do when they didn't get their way, "it's like Professor Walsh was saying about sense memory. I smell roasting turkey, and I'm 8 years old. I liked having that to look forward to," her words started to soften up Willows stern opinion on the holiday, "Everything's different now."
"Well, I suppose there could be slight yams. I mean, we could definitely use a little comfort food."
Buffy perked up at her best friends words, "I bet Giles doesn't have any plans. And Xander always tries to avoid all of his family gatherings."
"Ooh! We could not invite Anya!"
"Harsh Will," Eris said whilst trying to hide her laughter at the witch's sudden outburst.
"I don't know, she and Xander seem pretty tight lately," Willow huffed at Buffy's words, "look, pilgrims aside, isn't that the whole point of Thanksgiving, everybody has a place to go?"
"Does she even have a place?" Eris asked which made the other two look to her, "I mean she showed up out of nowhere, where does she even live?"
"You know, I've never thought of that," Willow said in realization, "she just stays at Xander's most of the time."
"Maybe there is accommodations for demons that she lives at?" they looked at Buffy with raised brows, "yeah that's probably not it."