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Xander watched the dust that had been Spike settle on the ground. He shrugged and picked up his bag, cancelling the protection spell with a word. As Xander walked back to his car, he enjoyed the feeling of the sunshine on his skin. Stifling a yawn, he drove to Buffy's house.

As quietly as he could, Xander opened the front door and crept in to the living room.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Xander asked himself quietly, as he discovered the sleeping vampire on the couch. He walked into the kitchen, and smiled as he saw Miss Kitty curled up on the counter.

"Hey Miss Kit," Xander said, stroking the cat gently. He quietly removed her collar, and crept back into the living room.

A few moments later Xander walked upstairs; he found the spare room empty, as he had hoped. He undid his boots and collapsed on the bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

---

Buffy slowly opened one eye, and then winced at the bright sunlight filling her room.

"Dawn?" she asked sleepily, hoping that whatever it was, it would go away quickly.

"Yep, right first time." Dawn said, grinning. "It's time for lunch."

"Huh?" Buffy asked, her mind still not functioning due to lack of sleep. She had not slept well; she had stared at the ceiling for a long time, worrying about Xander's motives for killing Spike.

"Food, Buffy, for the starving. Me!" Dawn said again, trying to pull her sister out of bed. "It's one in the afternoon, we slept through breakfast. Come on, it's time to eat. Growing teenager here."

Buffy watched Dawn's face for a second, wondering when she had last seen her sister like this. She realized with regret, that it had been before her Mom had died. She opened her other eye and sat up. Impulsively, she hugged Dawn tightly, and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, Dawn," Buffy stated, looking her in the eyes.

Dawn just smiled widely, "I love you, too. Now get that Slayer ass outta bed."

Buffy allowed herself to be dragged from her warm retreat. She paused and slid on a pair of shorts over her panties, and followed her sister towards the stairs.

"We should wake Willow and Tara."

Dawn nodded and followed her sister. They opened the door to the Witches' room and paused. Buffy hugged Dawn to her as they both smiled. Willow was curled up against Tara, who was hugging Willow close. For a brief second, Buffy could see the sweet innocent Willow she had first met all those years ago. Shifting her gaze, Buffy was pleased with the look of contentment and bliss on Tara's face. Buffy released Dawn and moved next to the bed.

"Willow, Tara," Buffy said quietly, trying to wake the witches as gently as possible.

"Go 'way, Buff," Willow mumbled, sleepily. "End of world can wait. Sleepy now."

"Willow," Buffy repeated, "it's the afternoon, time for food."

At the mention of food, Willow's eyes flew open, as she moved from almost asleep to awake in an instant. She turned to Tara and kissed her on the lips.

"Come on sleepy, time for food." Tara groaned against Willow protestingly. She tried to snuggle back down into the comforter. She froze as she felt Willow's hands edging towards her stomach.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," Tara laughed, scrambling away from Willow's hands.

They trooped downstairs together. Tara and Willow had each pulled on a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and were barefoot.

Dawn stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to her sister.

"Hey, I wonder if we're making enough noise to raise the dead."

As if on cue, Angel sat up on the couch and turned to look at them.

Willow, Buffy and Tara groaned at Dawn. "Did you have to say that?" Buffy asked.

Dawn nodded, "yep, been taking lessons from Xander."

Angel stood, as he did, they could hear a small tinkling sound.

Willow looked around, dropping to her knees. "Here Miss Kitty" she cooed gently, looking for their cat. Miss Kitty, hearing her mistress call, jumped down from the counter in the kitchen and sauntered slowly towards her. The cat sat down in front of Willow and yawned at her, before rolling on to her side, imperiously demanding her stomach be rubbed.

Willow smiled, and enthusiastically set to work. She noticed that Miss Kitty's collar was not in its normal place, the cat's neck. She looked at Tara and was about to comment on it, when she remembered she had just heard it. She smiled to herself as she realized where the collar was. Turning so her back was to Angel, she looked her girlfriend in the eyes, pointed to Miss Kitty's neck, and then flicked her eyes towards the vampire.

Tara looked confused for a second, and then smiled widely.

Angel stood and stretched. When he heard the tinkling sound again, he turned and looked at Willow, who was still stroking the stationary cat. Again, the sound of a small bell accompanied his move.

Buffy and Dawn were both staring at him, trying to work out what they were hearing. Dawn suddenly laughed loudly and pointed to Angel's shirt pocket. Angel looked down, as Buffy, Willow and Tara joined Dawn in laughing. Attached neatly to his pocket, was Miss Kitty's collar, the small bell on it swinging freely with his every movement.

Angel instantly realized the source of the bell. "Xander!"

Xander woke with when he heard Angel yell. Instantly understanding its source, he decided to get up and face the others. He dressed lightly, pulling on a pair of shorts, a shirt and some sneakers, before walking downstairs.

"What's up, Deadboy?" Xander asked with a smirk.

Angel responded with a growl. Xander jumped away from him playfully. "Careful or we'll have to get you a muzzle."

Buffy watched them with a slightly nostalgic smile, for a second, it seemed like old times.

"Well, now that I'm awake, I'm hungry. What do we have for lunch?" Xander asked the important question.

Willow and Tara glanced at each other, a guilty look passing between them. "Nothing?" Willow asked, "We didn't really have time to go shopping."

Xander shrugged, "Guess it's the lunch of the lazy everywhere. What do you all want? My treat."

After memorizing the requests for different fast foods, Xander turned his head towards Angel. "Dead Boy?"

Angel looked a little surprised, and then decided to take it at face value. "Could you stop at a butcher's?"

Xander just nodded, and turned to Dawn, "Coming ?"

Dawn smiled brightly, nodded, then scampered upstairs, to get changed.

Xander walked out to his car and started the engine; he turned the radio on as he waited for Dawn.

Xander drove his car smoothly with the radio blaring loudly. Dawn opened the window and settled back against the seat, not really sure how to start the conversation she wanted to have with him. He pulled to stop outside Buffy's old place of work, the Doublemeat Palace. They got out of the car, but before they could go in, Xander stopped Dawn. He lent his back against the hood of his car.

"Buffy told you what happened?" Xander half asked, half stated.

Dawn nodded, looking at Xander, noting that he appeared nervous.

Xander took a deep breath, before blurting out, "I had a talk with Spike last night and it didn't go well. I couldn't trust him not to do it again, so I killed him." Xander frowned, really wishing he had managed to say that without sounding like an insensitive murderer.

Dawn winced, a tear dropped down her cheek.

Xander felt his stomach turn over as he interpreted the tear as a mixture of shock and anger. He ran his left hand through his hair.

"Look, Dawn, I know you loved Spike and he loved you too. His last words were to tell you that he was sorry. After what he did to Buffy, I wasn't willing to take the chance that he might do the same to others. He may have had a chip in his brain, but it only stopped him from causing physical pain, from harming people directly. There are tons of ways that he could have gotten around that, if he really wanted to."

His meandering monologue was stopped as Dawn launched herself into his arms and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Xander," Dawn said, her mouth near his ear, "I know what Spike did; he raped my sister. I would never have felt safe with him again.

"I used to tell him everything; we'd talk for hours." she continued, "Now it makes me wonder what he was doing with that information. Was he looking for ways to affect me? Did he want to control me too?"

"I don't think so, Dawn." Xander said, holding her like a little girl, stroking her back, comfortingly. "Spike was a complex person. He managed to separate what he was doing with your sister completely from his relationship with you. Like I said, his last words were an apology to you. I think he had as many feelings for you as it was possible for him to have. Try and remember that about him."

Xander felt he could be generous about Spike's feelings as he hoped it would make Dawn feel better about what happened. He was concerned about the effect the vampires betrayal would have on the young girl he loved as his sister.

Dawn leaned back and smiled at him. "Xander, if you aren't in a serious relationship the day I turn eighteen, I'm coming after you."

Xander laughed, smiled, and said "If I'm not, I'll be expecting you Dawnie." He figured that he would cross that bridge if and when he came to it.

They got out of the car and got enough fast food to feed a small battalion, before stopping at a butcher’s on the way home.

After parking the car in front of Buffy's house, they walked in together, laughing.

"These bags are filled with the delicious goodness that is fast food, all things calorific-ally spectacular. Err. Not that one Will." Xander said, leaning forwards and grabbing one of the bags from her and tossing it at Angel.

Angel looked surprised as he caught it, since he hadn't really expected Xander to get him anything. He retreated to the kitchen, well aware that a vampire's feeding habits were not conducive to others enjoying their meal.

The conversation was light during lunch, with them all feeling as though this was a meal out of time, that maybe Giles would walk in at any second and pinch his nose, or maybe Cordelia would arrive and complain about something. None of them wanted it to end.

For Buffy, Willow, and Xander, this was a feeling they felt they had lost when they left High School. Circumstances and bad decisions had meant that little get-togethers like this had been very rare, unless there was yet another apocalypse on the horizon.

Xander and Willow teased each other mercilessly about the littlest incidents, each revealing embarrassing episodes from their pasts. Tara, was carefully cataloguing each one of Willow's, for future use. They were all laughing as Xander recounted a tale of how Willow had forced him to wear one of her dresses, as punishment for accidentally tearing one of her dolls dresses.

"So there I was, on my knees in Willow's bedroom, wearing a dress. Willow was lying on her back in front of me, laughing so hard she was almost screaming, wearing only her favorite Kermit the frog underwear when her Mom came in," Xander said. "For some reason, we weren't left alone in Willow's bedroom for quite some time after that."

Willow blushed an interesting shade of red as the others laughed again.

As Angel rejoined them, Xander asked "Wills, Tara, give me a hand getting rid of this mess?" He motioned towards the empty fast food wrappers lying on the table.

It was obvious to all that it was an excuse for Xander to talk to them. Willow and Tara followed Xander into the kitchen, leaving Angel, Dawn and Buffy alone.

Willow hopped up onto the kitchen counter, pulled Tara in front of her and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. She placed her chin on Tara's shoulder.

"So, what do you want, Xand?"

"Am I that transparent?" Xander asked, a mock scowl on his face.

"Yep," said Tara, "It's obvious what you want. Isn't it, Willow?"

"Errr-"

"He wants a three way with us, after we perform hot lesbian sex for him," Tara pronounced to complete silence from the others.

She turned her head and looked first at Willow's extremely red face, then Xander's fire hydrant red face. She waited for a second, curious to see if either of them would be able to respond. She had long suspected that it was a fantasy they had both entertained at one time or another, but she knew them well enough not to worry about it. She'd had more than her fair share of fantasies over the year and knew them to be essentially harmless. She laughed suddenly.

"Gotcha!"

Willow and Xander had identical looks of chagrin on their faces.

"Oh, it's the innocent ones," Xander stated, after a moments pause. "You always have to watch out for the innocent ones."

Xander moved forwards, as Willow tightened her legs around her lover and slid her arms up, holding Tara in an effective full nelson.

"Xander taught me this when we were younger, Tara. We used to use it on Jesse when he did something bad," Willow purred into Tara's ear.

"Revenge is sweet." Xander placed his hands gently on her sides, his fingers squirming under her tee shirt. "As you seem to have taken his place as part of our group, it's only fitting that we use this on you."

Tara was shocked. She had felt wonderful yesterday, when Xander had said that he loved her, and that he thought she was a wonderful partner for Willow. Acceptance had never been a big part of her life; she had always felt that she was fighting as hard as she could just to stand still. Willow had often talked to her about Jesse, and how important he had been to her and to Xander.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Xander started to tickle her. She screamed and squirmed violently, trying to escape.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she wheezed, laughing hard, "Stop! Stop it, please!" she begged for mercy, in between giggles

"What do you think, Willow? Think she's had enough?"

Willow looked at her hysterical girlfriend. "I guess so," she said reluctantly.

Xander stopped and backed away carefully, his hands instinctively moving in front of his groin. He watched for retaliatory attacks. Willow held Tara up, as her legs began to go. Finally regaining control, she wiped her eyes and laughed.

"What did you want to tell us, Xander?" Tara asked, deciding to change the subject as quickly as possible.

Xander winced. "Look, you know what happened to Buffy now?"

Tara and Willow nodded in unison.

"Well, last night I killed Spike," Xander stated bluntly.

"We know," Willow said. "You used my spell. I put a tag on it so it would notify me when you used it. Tara and I watched everything," she lied convincingly. "I've got to say it was imaginative, I would have never thought of crucifying a vampire."

Xander just shrugged. "I've just got to tell Buffy now. I told Dawn this morning."

"What about Angel?" Willow asked.

"Him? He doesn't count," Xander replied with a grin.

Xander left the kitchen, going back to the living room while Tara repaired her tear damaged face.

Angel had been brooding quietly on the couch. He had taken a number of emotional body shots over the last forty-eight hours. First, finding out that Spike was going to die, then realizing that Spike's death was justified, after learning that the bleached vampire had not only taken advantage of an emotionally distraught Buffy to rape her repeatedly, but that he had also hooked her on heroin. The latest shock was learning that Xander, of all people, had executed Spike with a ruthlessness that he had not thought the young carpenter capable of.

Last night had been the first time Angel had been willing to hunt Spike down. He had been willing to kill Spike himself in the past, but had never wanted his Childe dead enough to put any effort into it. He wasn't sure how he felt about Xander usurping his privileges.

Buffy and Dawn had been ignoring him, giving him brooding space, while they talked about Dawn's school and Buffy's plans.

Xander walked in to the living room on the way to his car, he wanted to get his bag out and show the others his new certificate.

"Buffy, Dawn, Deadboy." he greeted the occupants with a smile, heading towards the door,

Angel, seeing an opportunity, reached out to grab Xander's shoulder. "What do you know about-"

What Angel had been about to ask Xander about was abandoned, as the vampire released Xander's shoulder with a yell of pain as fast as he grabbed it. He danced away, waving his hand wildly. Tara and Willow appeared in the doorway, drawn by the shout of pain. They were shocked to see Angel's hand smoking.

They all turned and looked at Xander as one. He was standing where Angel had released him, a slight smirk on his face. "Tut, tut, tut. This isn't High School, Angel. We've all grown up since then. It might have slipped your notice, but I am not fifteen anymore."

It was Dawn who asked the question on everyone's mind. "How?"

Xander pulled down his collar. Stitched neatly into the fabric were 5 silver crosses.

"The ultimate in anti-vampire love bite protection." Xander said with a smile, "It comes in all shapes and sizes, and if you buy today, we'll throw a free bible, and in this special, once-in-a-lifetime offer, we'll guarantee your money back if it fails to work against the undead. Simply show up at our studio, in broad daylight, with proof that it failed, for your full refund."

Angel was looking at Xander curiously, and noticing his stare, Xander continued, "Sorry Angel, I don't swing that way."

For the first time since he had been turned, Angel came close to blushing. The others were all laughing. It had been a very long time since Xander had acted the clown to such an extent, and they all realized how much they had missed it.

"There's something different about you, but I can't place it."

Xander smiled at the vampire. "Score one for the breathing impaired. Be right back." Xander vanished out the front door.

Angel turned his head back, to see four women staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You're enjoying this," Buffy said slowly, "you haven't frowned in 5 minutes."

Angel shrugged. "My sense of humor isn't completely dead. Besides, Xander has changed a little, his humor isn't as grating as it used to be."

Xander returned and handed Dawn the same certificate he had shown Spike the night before. As she read it, her eyes widened. She read it again, and then collapsed on the floor in hysterical laughter.

Buffy pulled the certificate out of her hand, and read it as well. Her reaction was remarkably similar to Dawn's.

Angel reached for it next, since he was nearest, but Willow interceded.

"Affluo," she commanded. The paper flew out of Buffy's hand and arrived in hers a second later. Willow laughed outloud, showing it to Tara. Tara looked amused, but didn't break into laughter, she had already laughed harder today than she had in years, and didn't want to do it again. She handed it to Angel.

Angel read it slowly, and then read it again.

"The Church of Elvis?" he asked with disbelief.

Xander nodded.

"You took a correspondence course and joined the Church of Elvis as a priest?" Angel asked again, making sure he had the facts right.

Angel paused, digesting. What he did next shocked everyone. He laughed, loudly and fell back on the couch.

"OK, Xander, I underestimated you."

Xander looked shocked, an expression mirrored on the faces of the others. He hadn't expected that. Realizing that he was at a cross-roads with his relationship with Angel, Xander decided to follow suit. "Accepted," he said lightly, and offered his hand. Years of animosity were forgotten as they shook hands for the first time.

"Well, as you're here," Xander started, changing his mind about telling the souled vampire about Spike, "let's go into the kitchen, I want to talk to you about something."

Angel followed Xander into the kitchen. Xander hopped up on to the kitchen counter, the same place Willow had sat earlier. He shut the blinds on the kitchen window, blocking out the sunlight, as Angel turned the lights on.

"I take it Buffy told you?" Xander asked, deliberately vague.

"About the drugs," Angel confirmed.

Xander nodded, "Look, you probably felt it this morning, so I'm guessing you already know. I killed Spike last night."

Angel looked uncomfortable. "I did know, and I felt the same way. But couldn't you have asked Willow to restore his soul or something?"

"Angel," Xander said, looking the vampire directly in the eye. Angel braced himself; recognizing that Xander was going to say something straight. "I didn't think that we should restore your soul, I thought that we should have just ended it there and then. The others disagreed, as they did with Spike. I admit, I might have been hasty back then, but faced with the same thing, I would make the same decisions now."

Angel nodded. There was silence between the two of them, before Xander smiled.

"Besides, you’re being punished now. You're taking care of Cordy, and if that isn't punishment enough, I don't know what is."

Angel smiled again; recent experience had shown him exactly what Xander meant.

"Can you send Buffy in?" Xander said, indicating that the discussion was over. Angel nodded and departed.

Xander opened the blinds as he waited; bright sunlight filled the room again.

"Hey Buff," he said seriously, as Buffy walked in and took the same position Angel had, opposite him.

"What's up, Xand?"

Xander was almost used to this confession by now. "I killed Spike last night."

Buffy nodded slowly. "Why?"

"Because of what he did."

"Didn't you think that I would be able to resist him again?"

"I didn't think about that," Xander lied. "Spike earned his death through his actions; I just made it happen."

Buffy nodded. The primary reaction she felt was relief, although she been upset and angry earlier, both at Xander and at Spike.

Xander suddenly changed the subject, his warm eyes suddenly emptied of all expression.

"What happened when you were invisible, Buffy?" Xander asked quietly.

Buffy paled dramatically. "What do you mean?" she asked, desperately stalling for time.

"When I was looking for you, and went into Spike's crypt," Xander elaborated as he fixed his gaze on Buffy, as he had with Angel. Buffy felt trapped under it, as if Xander was looking deep into her soul.

"What happened, Buffy?"

Buffy whispered, "I was fucking Spike." Her face flooded with I thought it was finally over. That you would find out about me, that you would leave me in disgust."

She tried to find the words to describe the complicated emotions she had been feeling. "After you left, I threw Spike off me. I left him, I was determined to get away from him, but I couldn't. I needed the drugs," she confessed shamefaced, her voice almost a whisper.

Buffy's talk was interrupted as she first saw Xander's feet come into view, then felt his arms reaching around her, hugging her tightly. She leaned into his shoulder and cried, as Xander held her, her tears falling freely as she reveled in his touch. She closed her eyes and just relaxed against him, as she felt his hands stroke up and down her back.

All she could think, as she was comforted, was, "Oh God, this feels good."

Xander held her tightly. As he inhaled, all he could smell was the sweet perfume of her hair. He admitted to himself that she felt wonderful in his arms. He also realized he didn't want to let her go.

But eventually he remembered his earlier decisions; not to let Buffy rule his life. So he released her gently, and took a step or two back.

Buffy watched him, for a second, immediately missing the feel of his arms around her. Xander looked away from her briefly, checking that he wasn't going to trip over anything. Because of that, he missed the look of determination that came over Buffy's face as she watched him. For a second, her eyes flashed as she made a decision, a decision that involved a path she wanted her life to take.

Buffy chose Xander.

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