"What are you going to do?" She asked, ignoring the 'like a sister' part for now. She needed time to think about that.
"The Sanctum Sanctorum is real and it's staying real." He answered. "And it's my responsibility to take care of it because it's tied to me. I can feel it." He smiled wistfully. "It can be my home, my Sanctuary and I can learn. Vampires are gone, but other threats aren't. The Hellmouth may have been drained but we have no way of knowing if it'll stay that way or recover. It needs to be guarded and we've already committed to that."
"I guess we have. And you're alright with Buffy dating human Angel?"
"He's not a demon anymore, he's human. It's her mother who's going to have a problem with them dating."
"Why would Mrs. Summers have a problem with it?" Willow asked, confused. "She doesn't know anything about vampires or Slayers."
"But she knows the law and Angel was 26 when the human he was died and a vampire took over the body. And he looks it too. And Buffy's not even 17 yet. I guarantee Mrs. Summers is going to have an issue with it. It still surprises me that Giles didn't, not even with the Vampire Slayer/vampire part, let alone the age difference."
Willow opened her mouth to refute Xander's statement and froze as she realized she couldn't. The law would have a big problem with Buffy and Angel and Mrs. Summers loved her daughter, so Willow could see her having a problem too, thinking Buffy was too young. "But Buffy's mature for her age, being the Slayer means she has responsibilities most kids don't."
"Doesn't change the law. And I have responsibilities now too, which will probably change me too." Xander said thoughtfully. "In fact I think it already has, because I didn't let you get away with your usual disparaging attitude towards my intelligence. I'm not a genius and I've never claimed to be, but I'm not mentally deficient either and you talk down to me, like you think I'm an ignorant child compared to you and I'm not. You miss really obvious clues, Willow, things that happen right in front of you and you ignore facts that don't fit your world view."
Willow frowned, wanting to refute that statement too, but inwardly squirmed as she realized it might just be true. "What do we do now?"
"Well, there's some practical things that need to happen." Xander paused as he realized they'd arrived back at the High School. "Angel's going to need ID and you and Ms. Calendar can probably help him with that."
"I don't need help, Xander!" Willow immediately protested. "I'm a hacker and Ms. Calendar isn't!"
"No, she's a technomage, which means she knows things about both computers and Magic and Magic can help smooth out some issues with creating a brand new identity for Angel. And she can help me learn Magic, my version of the Ancient One." Xander grinned. "Only young for real, instead of frozen in time and just looking young."
"Are you crushing on Ms. Calendar now?" Willow shook her head.
"From the moment I met her, along with every other straight boy, lesbian girl or bi person in school. You've got to admit, Ms. Calendar is hot! And not a scary bug demon pretending to be a hot teacher, she just is."
Willow followed Xander into the High School heading for the Library, wondering if he was ever going to grow up and notice quality before looks. Maybe having Dr. Strange's knowledge, power and arrogance or at least a measure of each added to the responsibility for the Sanctum Sanctorum would help him get there.
But it probably wouldn't change the fact that he considered her a sister, family and apparently had for years and she just hadn't noticed. All that time she'd been crushing on him and she hadn't noticed some very glaring facts and she was wondering how she'd managed to miss so much about a guy she thought she knew everything about.
What else had she missed? She wondered as they entered the Library to find a crying Buffy and morose Giles who stared at her like they were seeing a...ghost. Oh right, Giles must have thought she'd moved on and braced herself as a wild-eyed, distraught Buffy raced to her and grabbed her. "You're alive! You're not a ghost anymore!" And squeezed tight.
"Very human, alive and needing to breath to stay that way." Willow gasped at being tightly held, strong arms made breathing difficult.
"How?!" Giles tried to ask as he cautiously approached.
"Magic." Xander answered as he explained what he'd done. "All the time praying it worked. I don't think there'll be any side effects, your books don't list any side effects to Mohra blood, but it pays to be cautious. So, Buff, how's Aliveboy doing?"
"He went back to his apartment, he needed some time, he hasn't been human for 240 years."
"He's never been human, Buffy." Xander told her. "The human, Liam of Galway died and Angelus moved in. The gypsies cursed Angelus by yanking the soul from whatever human it had been in and turned it into a cage for Angelus. The soul created Angel so it could deal with that trauma, but Angel is not and never has been human. Just remembers being human because Angelus remembers Liam's life and Angel knows everything Angelus knows. Or knew, now that Angelus, along with all the vampires, has been destroyed."
The other three stared at Xander as that information was effortlessly rattled off.