"Hey, Buff, I've got that alternative for you." Xander caught up to his friend after class and handed her something that was about four inches long and an inch thick.

"What is it?" She asked, examining it.

"An artifact infused with Magic. It can do a few different things." He answered. "It can act like a taser and shock something with Magic, it can expand into a staff and it can be a whip or a flail. Which is kinda like a whip, except it has an extra piece on the end of the whip part. In its base form like this, you just need to jam it against something and it'll discharge magical energy, the way a taser would. To use one of the other forms, just think which form you want and it'll change to be that form."

The artifact expanded into a staff. "So cool!" Buffy breathed. "Best present ever!"

"It's yours." Xander told her. "I've made it so only you can use it, it would really suck if a demon got it away from you and turned it on you. But that means you have responsibility for it too. Take care of it and it'll take care of you."

"Is it alive?" Buffy studied it as it drew back into its base form.

"No, but Magic answers to the unspoken as well as the spoken, which means it connects to you so it can respond to you. Which means it will also prioritize you over someone else. Your safety as well as your commands. That's why you have to take care of it, so it can take care of you."

"I'll be careful with it, thanks Xan." She tucked it into her pocket. "You and Cordelia seem to be doing well." She changed the subject. "First Ampata and now Cordelia, you're moving on too, right?" She hazarded, knowing her rejection had hurt him. Knowing her being interested in a vampire had hurt him. And knowing using him to make Angel jealous had hurt him. She'd been doing a lot of thinking too since Willow had accused her of using Xander. "Like I'm trying to move on from Angel and Willow's trying to move on from her crush on you."

"Yeah, I might have found what I've been looking for." Xander smiled slightly. "And she was here the whole time. I can be dense sometimes." He admitted.

"So can I." Buffy said softly. "I didn't apologize for using you, back at the beginning of the school year. Giles said, he thinks you understood what I was going though, I realized I should have apologized for my behavior."

"If you expect me to apologize for threatening you if your behavior got Willow killed, I won't be doing it. I get that you were in a bad place, Buffy, but you endangered other people and that's not excusable. Four people that matter to both of us could have died because of you. No matter how bad a place you're in, you can't just let your problems hurt other people."

"I get that, I do. But I couldn't see any other people because of the hole I was in."

"Than call for help and we'll drop a lifeline to you. Or accept the help that was being offered. You forgot that you're not alone, Buffy. Both when you ran off to face the Master and when you were trying to deal with having died. And if you forget again, I'll dope slap you upside the back of your head."

"Knock some sense into me, huh?"

"If I have to." Xander promised solemnly. "Don't shut us out, okay? You're. Not. Alone. Say it with me."

"I'm not alone." She smiled through her pensive tears, she wasn't alone, her friends were looking out for her. "Would you really have killed me?"

"No, hated you for the rest of my life, yes. Never spoken to you again, yes. Killed you, no. But I'd just lost Jesse, I couldn't lose Willow or Cordelia, for that matter. I've known her since kindergarten. For a few years when we were kids, we were friends. And now, she's becoming more." He smiled and for a moment Buffy felt a pang, Xander was a friend and she wasn't attracted to him, but to have someone smile like that for her - she was certain none of her boyfriends had ever smiled like that for her. She quietly said goodbye and headed home since her Mom expected her to be there for the meal Ted was making.

Not long after she got home and was working on her homework, Willow called to tell her what she'd found at Ted's office. After Willow filled her in, Buffy thanked her and hung up. Ted was telling people he and Joyce were engaged and he'd taken a picture of their family and cut her and Dawn out of it. Why?

"Are you guys thinking of getting married?" Buffy asked that night at supper, after Ted actually prayed over the neal.

"I wouldn't mind." Dawn said as she enthusiastically dug into the supper Ted had made. "Especially if you keep making meals like this, it's great!"

"Thank you." Ted smiled at her and then turned his attention to Buffy. "Well, we haven't discussed that at this time, but if we do, you two will be the first people we tell." He assured her and Joyce smiled and nodded, before digging into the meal herself. "Your friend Willow is settling in well at the office." He changed the subject. "What made her decide to apply where I work?"

"Not a lot of computer stores in Sunnydale and Willow is very into computers." Buffy answered, picking at the food on her plate and knowing he'd connected her question to Willow getting a job there. "Last week we had a job fair at school and Willow got recruited by a big company, but it would mean leaving Sunnydale before she graduates. My aptitude test showed I should look at law enforcement." A statement that had the other three people at the table goggling at her.