Wild Horses
Part 05
By Jeconais
They sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting what had just happened.
"Damn, Xander, I don't know what to say."
Xander moved his head so he could see her expression. Thinking that she disapproved, he mentally collected the defenses he thought he would need.
"That was amazing," she continued happily. "I can't believe you shot Spike like that."
"I was aiming for his stomach," the brunette replied honestly.
"Xander, I just want to say, thanks for everything you are doing."
"I told you before, Dawn. Your safety is the most important thing to me. You couldn't be safe with Spike in that house."
Dawn decided to accept this for now, and just bide her time till she had an opportunity to show her gratitude properly.
"Where did you get those pictures from?" she asked, changing the subject.
Xander shrugged. "I had Andrew drop them round earlier."
A surprised expression appeared on the green eyed girl's face. "Andrew? What happened to him? I haven't seen him since Giles and the S.I.T's went to New York."
"He's back in College, being sponsored by PJH Construction. He helps us out with some of the more proactive anti-vampire defenses our buildings have, and in return, he gets his fees paid, a small apartment to live in, rent free, and a small stipend to keep him busy. He's actually getting straight A's, now that he's not under Warren's thumb all the time. When he graduates, he's going to work for us full time, as head of our Supernatural Defense department. He's got too much experience to waste, and if handled properly, will make a great ally.
"The picture of Buffy and Spike was from Warren's personal collection. After Willow fried that murdering scumbag, we went through all of his stuff together. I think it was cathartic for Andrew.
"Anyway, it seems that Warren had a large collection of these pictures, taken by a network of hidden cameras he had set up around the town.
"I destroyed most of the images, but I thought it was a good idea to keep a few, just in case."
"What happened to all of the cameras?" Dawn asked, carefully negotiating the SUV through a stop sign.
"We rewired them, added a thermal camera overlaid onto a normal camera, and hooked up a motion detector. Whenever they detect movement without a body temperature, they set off an alarm at the PJH control centre, where it is assessed, and if necessary, a security team is sent to neutralize the threat."
Dawn checked the mirrors on her car, then swerved violent, pulling into a McDonalds car park, swinging the car into a parking slot and pulling to a stop, hard. She undid her seatbelt and turned to face Xander, the shock on her face making her eyes seem incredibly large.
"You're telling me that you have a private firm dealing with Vampires? Based on a city wide network of Vampire sensors?"
Xander nodded. "You think that Buffy suddenly started having an easier life just because the first went 'Poof'?"
"Does Giles know?"
"Of course. How do you think he knows the best place to patrol? He gets a SitRep before each patrol, and our number is on his cell phone speed-dial."
"Giles doesn't have a cell phone."
"Of course he does, he just doesn't like using it."
Dawn slid her right leg underneath her, settling in and making herself comfortable, sensing that this conversation might take a while. "Isn't that like the Initiative?"
Xander grinned. "Nah, I've never been to a farm in my life, and I have a personality.
"Sunnydale is a strange place, Dawn. We've had the highest death rate in the country for years, but it's always been covered up, first by the Mayor, then by incompetence as people simply stopped believing the stories.
"I've got to admit that it was a bit of a shock to find out that most of the police are not like the unlamented Detective Stein.
"I was at a corporate function around six months ago, when I was approached by a police sergeant called Steve Morris. He'd been friends with Pete Johnson for some time - Pete's one of my bosses. Anyway, Pete had told him, over several beers, about Vampires, and had expected Steve to laugh. Turns out that half of the Sunnydale police force have been trying to fight vampires for around a year, but received no support at all.
"We talked for a few hours, and it gave me an idea. I pitched it to Pete and the others, and they gave me the backing to re-jig the security team we had.
"I got Steve involved first, laid out the all the cards on the table, and he joined instantly. We then raided the police force. We selectively offered new jobs to the people who had experienced the dark and felt like they wanted to help.
"With Steve involved, we had 100% acceptance rate. We now have a waiting list of people wanting to join. People can only get on the list with the recommendation of two existing members; it helps create a feeling of teamwork and inter-reliability.
"Of course, we pay very good salaries, with great insurance benefits. These people are helping keep the night safe, so they deserve to be looked after. We pass the costs onto our customers, the ones who are willing to pay for safety.
"We've just started to hire armourers, shown them vampires, demons and the like and how to destroy them, given them a large budget and sent them off to brainstorm. The blessed bullets were their first idea, but they're working on all sorts of other things too.
"We have a chapel in the Head Office, Father O’Reilly is on full time call for blessings, exorcisms and any thing else that might be needed. He's also our liaison with the Catholic Church.
"For far too long Sunnydale has been an open town for Vampires. Well, as far as I am concerned, it's damn well time that changed. I'm fed up with the 'Missing' column in the local paper being bigger than the news section. This is my hometown, and I want it safe for everyone living here.
"If that means setting up a private security force and running it, then damn it, that's what I'll do. In two years time, I intend to hold a New Years festival, the first one since 1831. I want to hold it outside City Hall, and I want it so that the only trouble anyone might have is caused by the occasional person who's had too much to drink."
Dawn gaped at him, trying to take in everything he had just told her.
With a grin, he reached over and gently lifted her chin, closing her mouth.
Absently, she shook herself. "Damn, Xander. Why the hell didn't you tell us?"
The smile vanished from his face. "I tried, several times, but was told that a window needed fixing, and to please get on with that, instead."
Dawn launched herself forwards, engulfing him in a hug.
"I can't change what's happened in the past, Xan. All I can do is promise you that you do have friends that care about you, and won't take advantage of you."
She could feel the tension slowly ease from his body, as his hands flattened against her back and gently started to stroke her hair. The young woman had to struggle to restrain the sudden urge to start purring.
Dawn had to stop herself from swearing as Xander's pocket started to ring. He released her gently, and pulled his cell phone out.
"Harris."
"Xander, it's Molly. Have you eaten yet tonight?"
"Nope. Haven't gotten around to it, yet."
"Excellent! I expect you at my door in twenty minutes. And make sure you bring Dawn." Not waiting for Xander to say anything, she hung up.
He stared at his phone for a second, and then smiled. "We're been invited to go and eat dinner with some friends of mine. Did you meet Kyle the other night?" he looked slightly confused, wondering how Molly knew about Dawn.
Dawn nodded. "Yeah, he helped me get you upstairs. I mentioned 'Gang members on PCP' and he laughed."
Xander grinned, "That's fast becoming an in house joke, and we still use it to refer to vampires. Anyway, we need to get moving, Kyle's wife wants us there in twenty minutes."
Taking a deep breath to try and quell the butterflies that had suddenly taken up residence in his stomach, Dawn re-fastened her seat back, and followed Xander's directions to the Michaels' home, concentrating on not hyperventilating as she drove..
Looking over at the girl, he reached out and touched her hand. "Relax, Dawn. You know that Kyle is a nice person, and Molly's the same. They are good people; you've got nothing to worry about."
She smiled slightly, taking a deep breath. Her mind had been running through the worst possible scenarios, everything from accidentally insulting their hosts to breaking something. She desperately wanted to make a good impression; this was the first time that Xander had offered her an entrance into his world and she wanted to take it properly.
Dawn knew that Xander had never taken Anya to any of his work events, because of her curiously sporadic grasp of social etiquette, and none of his other friends even knew that he did this sort of thing.
Her nerves returned with a vengeance as they paused outside the gates of a huge mansion.
"It's ok, Dawn" Xander said reassuringly, after a brief conversation through an intercom. "You look great, Molly's going to love you."
Dawn pulled the car to a stop, and got out of the car, trailing Xander a little as he walked to the door. The imposing entrance swung opened as they moved towards it.
"Xander, Dawn, It's good to see you again."
"Hey, Kyle," Xander greeted him with a firm handshake. "I hear you finally found a way of getting me into bed."
Kyle rolled his eyes at Xander, and moved to greet the girl half hiding behind him. "Come in, come in. Molly's desperate to meet you."
Dawn took a step forward, and instinctively, reached up and dropped a kiss on his cheek.
Kyle melted; there was simply no other word for it. He and Xander had been friends for around a year, and the carpenter had never seen him like this. With a fatherly smile, he put his hand lightly on Dawn's back and steered her into the house, almost ignoring his other guest.
Xander followed as they walked through the formal reception rooms to the living room the two actually lived in.
He was amused as Kyle kept up a running commentary on everything as they walked through, almost excitedly pointing out different features of his house to the teenager who had enchanted him almost from the moment they had met.
Miranda Beauchamps-Michaels, Molly to her friends, watched unseen from the side as Xander's girlfriend charmed her husband. She smiled, liking the girl already. Kyle had come home Saturday raving about her, even to the extent that he had made the mistake of repeating his comment that she was better looking than her nieces.
Candor forced her to admit that he had been right. The young girl, dressed in elegant casual clothes, had an elfin like face that emphasized her huge eyes, and gorgeous straight hair that Molly would literally have killed for in her youth.
She took a step forward, announcing her presence. She smiled at Xander, returning his open greeting, and saw the flash of nervousness in Dawn's eyes. She was an imposing figure, in her late fifties, dressed in a very expensive suit, designed to convey the impression of old money. She was the product of a merger between two of the richest families on the West coast, and had married more money in Kyle. Most of her image was an act, set out for the shallow people who expected such actions from her.
She paled and frowned as she caught a full look at Xander's huge bandage over his head. She took several steps into the room and engulfed the young man in a tight hug.
"You look horrible."
"Thanks, Molly," Xander said with a grin. "I knew I could count of you to beat me over the head with the unvarnished truth."
"What happened?"
"Small vampire incident. It's bad for my future career as a model, but great for my backup plan of being a pirate."
Molly frowned, finally releasing him. "If you ever need anything, Xander, I better be your first port of call, or you'll regret it."
Xander smiled warmly at her. "Molly, trust me, I'm fine. I really don't need anything."
"Your problem is that you're too self effacing, Alexander Harris."
Xander winced at the usage of his first name, realizing that he had somehow managed to annoy Molly slightly. His self preservation instincts immediately kicked and he decided that the only way to save himself was to sacrifice someone else.
"Molly. This is Dawn Summers," he introduced the slim, elegant brunette who was quietly watching them both, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close. With his gaze on Molly's face, he missed the brief, outraged look Dawn threw at him as she realized what he was doing.
Molly moved forwards, a quiet look telling Xander that she recognized his diversion, as she eagerly hugged Dawn. "Come on, child, I've been dying to meet you. Let's go and chat while these two talk about boring business." Before Dawn could protest, Molly had dragged her out and into the kitchen.
"Sit," the older woman commanded, pointing to a large stool on the other side of a worktop. Obediently, Dawn sat and watched in amazement as Molly continued to cook. There was something that just seemed wrong with the picture, as the expensively dressed lady continued to stir a few of the pans.
"I just love to cook," Molly confided to the teenager, smiling warmly at her. "All of this is just an act, our families demand it. We'd rather live in a small apartment somewhere.
"Now, tell me about you and Xander."
Dawn felt herself pinned by the blue eyes of her host, and found herself unable to lie. "I'm not really his girlfriend," she said, looking down.
"But you want to be?"
Dawn nodded slowly, blushing again. "Dawn, I know about Vampires, and I know about the Slayer being your sister. Why don't you tell me just exactly what happened to you and Xander?" Her voice was soft and caring, offering support and trust.
Dawn looked up, seeing something she hadn't seen since her mother had died, a mother figure who as concerned about her and wanted to listen to whatever she wanted to tell her. Trusting her, she launched into her story.
The younger girl told the older woman everything, except for the Key business. That was something that she was not willing to tell anyone, no matter how much Xander trusted them.
Molly was an excellent listener, occasionally requesting more details and reacting at the right places.
At the end, Molly walked around the table and embraced her, letting the distraught teen cry.
Dawn sobbed into her shoulder, letting all her grief over her sister's actions out.
Once Dawn had cried herself out, Molly leant back and smiled a sad half smile.
"Kyle told you that I was planning on trying to set Xander up with one of my nieces?" she asked, stroking the girl's back slowly.
Dawn nodded, looking up, a little confused.
"You've ruined that plan now, and I couldn't be happier. The niece I had in mind is a spoilt brat, it's the main reason I hadn't introduced them yet. And why my sister ever gave her the name 'Porsche' I'll never understand."
Dawn visibly paled at the name, and Molly immediately guessed at the cause
"What happened, Dawn? I presume Porsche goes to the same school as you."
"Erm," Dawn prevaricated, trying desperately to think of something to say, as she wished that Xander would come and save her.
"Dawn," Molly's voice was gentle, but firm. "I know what sort of girl my niece is. Please don't lie to me."
Dawn nodded, and reluctantly told her about Porsche, the insult, her reply and her own insult. As she delivered her final line, she stopped, looking down, not wanting to see her reaction.
Molly looked at the young girl, then threw her head back and roared with laughter. "Oh, Dawn. I would have paid to see that in person."
The girl in question blushed profusely.
"Dawn, you're going to be perfect for Xander. You may not be his girlfriend now, but with my help, you soon will be. What he needs is a girl who isn't a Queen Bitch, a Slut or an ex-Vengeance Demon."
Dawn giggled at the description of her paramour's ex-girlfriends.
Molly sighed softly. "Kyle and I have pretty much adopted Xander. He's an amazing young man, smart, brave, good looking, with a great sense of humor, and a streak of honor a mile wide.
"After he saved Kyle's life, we wanted to reward him. As you can tell, we're not short of cash, but he wouldn't accept anything. He said he was 'just happy to help'." Molly frowned a little. "I was not going to accept that. No one does something so big for me and gets nothing in return. We made friends with him, and got him to talk to us. It wasn't easy, but one night, I ordered him to talk and he caved in.
"If I ever meet your sister, I'm going to have some very firm words with her."
Dawn actually smiled; the image of this lady tearing a strip out of her mystical Slayer of a sister was very amusing. And quite appealing, too.
"Xander had, and still does, a confidence problem. We've been working on building up his confidence, pointing out everything he does well. There are a lot of things that he is incredibly good at, and it makes me want to scream that all this talent has been wasted for so many years."
Dawn nodded slowly. "It's been kinda difficult to realize that I only knew a part of Xander for all these years. I feel guilty that I didn't try and find out more about him."
"You're finding out now, though, aren't you?"
Dawn nodded, "Yeah. We've all had this image of Xander in our minds all these years, and no one ever bothered to realize that he isn't 16 any more."
Molly smiled, and moved back to the simmering pans. "So, tell me a bit more about you, honey."
"Ok, tell me what happened. And don't hide it this time. Dawn won't be able to lie to Molly and we will compare notes later."
"What's this? Divide and Conquer?"
"If it worked for Caesar, it will work for a couple of interfering old people."
Xander laughed. "You're not…Wait! Yes you are, on both counts."
"Thank you," Kyle said dryly. "Now get to the details. Drink?"
"Just a coke, please."
Kyle poured Xander a drink, then got himself a small whiskey, sitting in a comfy chair opposite the brown eyed young man, who settled himself on the couch.
"It started on Saturday. I'd spent the morning at the school going over some final details with Robin Wood, the Principal. Then I went to Buffy's house and tried to talk to Willow, but she was still sulking over the advice I gave her over Kennedy.
"I went over to Dawn, who was just staring into space. It was kinda disturbing - she had this look on her face that I sometimes see in the mirror. A feeling of betrayal, as if someone who cares about you just turned around and smacked you in the face.
"Then Buffy entered, with Spike." Xander spat the peroxide Vampire's name like it was an expletive. "She called everyone together and announced that Spike had asked her to marry him, and that she'd accepted."
Xander swayed back instinctively as a thin sheen of whiskey exploded out of Kyle's mouth. "She did what!?"
Xander grinned. "That was pretty much my reaction, as well. I made her repeat it. Then I expressed my disbelief that she would marry a Vampire.
"She pretty much blew me off, as always, and called me useless."
Kyle frowned, getting ready to boost Xander's morale. He sure as hell wasn't going to let this young man sink back into the pit he had been a year ago. He'd never had children, and his nieces were spoilt brats, so he'd never missed them. This situation was different now; he loved Xander like a son, and knew that Molly did as well. He just wished that Xander wasn't so stubborn at times. What was the point of being incredibly rich, if you couldn't spoil your son? It had meant they had to sneakily arrange little things, like selling him the penthouse apartment at a massively subsidized price, like making sure that any flight he took was first class, like paying for the SIT's and Giles to go New York for several weeks,
"I wasn't going to take that, not this time," Xander continued, unaware of his friend's internal monologue. "So I argued back, and she accused me of being jealous and still being in love with her."
"Are you?" Kyle prompted gently. He was pretty sure of the answer, especially after meeting the long haired girl downstairs.
"No, I haven't been for some time. It used to be the case that I felt something for her, but that was killed when I found out what sort of person she really is. I don't even find her that attractive any more. Partly because I know she sleeps with vampires, which has that whole 'Ewwwww' thing attached to it. And partly, because she's so thin. I can't tell you the number of times I've been tempted to tie her down and force-feed her a couple of burgers."
Kyle laughed at the imagery, motioning Xander to continue.
"So, no, I'm not in love with her anymore. I'm not sixteen anymore. I've done the 'Secret' romance, the 'quick fuck' romance and the 'sexual Olympics' romance. Combine that with pining over the Slayer for a few years, kissing Willow a while back, and being attracted to any female who wanted to kill me, and I've pretty much had a disastrous string of relationships. Going to Buffy now would be a step backwards for me."
Kyle smiled with an expression Xander didn't recognize; he'd never received fatherly pride from his own biological parent.
"After that, I accused Spike of being useless, which I believe the facts will back me up on. She retaliated by calling me a 'fucking liability.'
"I reminded her that I had saved her life many times. She accused me of holding the whole "Sisters of JHE and the Zombies" over her head for many years. That Spike said, I was doing it for a sense of superiority."
"Why hadn't you told them?"
"It didn't seem important. The panic was over, they were all congratulating themselves on a job well done, why bring them down?"
Kyle shook his head slowly. "Continue."
"Well, I kinda called her a necrophiliac, which didn't go down too well."
Kyle laughed loudly. "A little harsh, perhaps, but it has the virtue of being true."
Xander nodded. "I actually told her that once was a mistake, but twice was a lifestyle choice.
"She tried to hit me, then, but I'd guessed that she would have that response, so I got out of the way. I asked what had happened to her, that she hasn't been herself for so long, that I'm not even sure if she was ever like how I remember her."
"Have you considered that she's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, Xander?" Kyle asked gently, having been waiting for a chance to bring this up.
"Yes, I've been trying to get her to see a shrink for ages. She won't, doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her. Before they were destroyed, the Watchers Council had psychologists on their books, who were normally used to help Watchers, but Giles got permission for them to work on Buffy. We sat her down and explained everything. She exploded, accused us of not trusting her, of trying to have her committed and ran out, to Spike. Who, I am sure, reinforced those beliefs."
"Why haven't you killed Spike?" The question was said calmly, without a hint of censure.
"I think that Spike is just a symptom, not the major issue. If I got rid of him, I'm pretty sure that Buffy would find someone else to take his role. It's a case of better the devil you know. He's reasonably easy to predict. I hadn't anticipated him turning Buffy against Dawn, but everything else went pretty much as I thought it would.
"I still need to ask Dawn what happened before I got there. I don't want to drag up bad memories, so I'm going to give her a few more days.
"Anyway, back to the argument, I asked Buffy how she could date someone who tried to Rape her. I forgot Dawn didn't know about the incident, and she joined in, asking how the hell Buffy could choose to leave her with an attempted rapist. Things got a little heated, and Buffy accused Dawn of wanting to be raped by Spike."
Kyle had stopped drinking, just in case another revelation came out that would cause him to cough. This time, he didn't spray his drink, his jaw just dropped open.
"She did what?" he asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
Xander nodded, reacting to his expression, not his words. "I know. Buffy kept repeating that Spike had a soul, as if somehow that made everything better. I'm not sure where she gets this idea that a soul makes everything okay. She's killed hundreds of demons with souls, an assassin with a soul, in fact, the only thing that hasn't got a soul is a vampire, and she's slept with two of them.
"Willow then joined in on her side, pretty much repeating what Buffy had said. She was doing it for Kennedy. She wants that girl and isn't going to let anything get in her way. I tried to get her to see the shrink as well, and she did for a bit, after the whole 'vein-y Willow tries to end the world' thingy and I thought we were back to being friends then, that we were really connecting again like when we had been kids. But as soon as the First Evil started coming around, she fell back into predictable behavior, and the magic usage returned with a vengeance. At times she seemed that she had forgotten about Tara entirely and moved on.
"This was the final straw for me. I've had it up to here with being told I was useless. I finally realized that friends don't treat each other like that, and that while I still considered them friends, they still looked at me as a 16yr old, who could fix the problems that occurred when your house is regularly invaded by demons."
"Why haven't you put any security systems at their house?" Kyle interrupted, suddenly curious.
"I tried, several times, and was told, 'Only Slayers can detect Vampires, Xand, but could you look at the boiler, it's acting up.'
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Please continue."
"So, I got Dawn to come with me and tried to leave. Spike got in the way, so I punched him. Buffy jumped into protect him, kicked me, then Spike threw me across the room, where I landed on the corner of a table and lost this." Xander waved vaguely towards his head.
"I left, telling them that we were no longer friends, and then I got Dawn to drive me to the hospital. They had to remove the eye completely; the optic nerve was destroyed.
"Dawn took me back to the apartment, which, I presume, is where she met you?"
"Yes," Kyle said, with a small smile. "When I first saw you, I was going to take over and bring you back here, but the way you were leaning on her, and the way she was totally focused on looking after you, made me change my mind. She's a very special girl, Xander."
"I know," Xander replied. "We went shopping the other day, and I had one of the most enjoyable days I can remember."
"Have you talked to Robin about Dawn yet?"
"Yeah, today. He's going to help, and I made sure that Buffy, Willow and Spike aren't going to interfere either. I blackmailed them," he suddenly grinned, "and I also field-tested the new bullets on Spike. They definitely had some sort of effect. He was whining about how it burned."
"Excellent. You should see some of the things the guys have planned. I swear, give a geek a new idea and a challenge and they will surprise you every time."
"Like what?" Xander asked, with a hint of professional curiosity.
"I'm not going to spoil the surprise," he said with a grin. "You are going to love it."
Changing subjects, Kyle asked," Have you got a TV yet?"
"Yeah, Dawn picked everything for me."
"Alexander Harris!" Molly's voice joined the conversation from the doorway. "I thought that we agreed that Kyle and I were going to buy you that sort of thing as a house warming gift."
Xander blushed, and sat back in his chair, subconsciously trying to put more distance between them. "You guys have done so much for me already."
It had taken Molly and Kyle a long time to get to know Xander as well as they did, and they knew that he honestly believed that he was worthless. Well, he used to anyway. He couldn't accept that people might want to do things for him, just because they wanted to.
Dawn lightly placed a hand on Molly's shoulder. "May I?"
The hostess nodded slowly, not used to taking a back seat to anyone. She watched with great interest as the long haired girl approached Xander, who appeared a little scared of her.
She sat down on the couch next to him, her legs brushing his, and pulled him forwards so that his eye was level with hers.
"Do you know how important you are, to me?" she asked softly. She desperately wanted to tell him that she loved him, that she wanted to kiss him senseless, but she knew that this was not the right time. He would run so fast and so hard, she'd be living with Spike again before she could blink.
She didn't wait for his reply. "Since we came to Sunnydale, you were the one who was there consistently for me. No matter how much I was hurt, how much I screwed up, how annoying I was, you were my rock. The one I could cling to, when everything was going wrong.
"When mom died, you were always there for me. You didn't even care about the arguments it caused in your relationship with Anya. Even the last few days, you've taken me in without hesitation, spent a fortune on new clothes for me, cleared things with the Principal and neutralized Spike's attempts to control me, too.
"Even in the fighting, whenever a vampire came close, you were always there to rescue me, jumping in the way of danger to make sure I was safe.
"You've always been generous, Xander. I remember you buying me little presents when I was just the bratty sister of one of your best friends. You were the one who never complained when I showed up. You even went against Buffy and Willow to try and include me in all your group activities." Dawn was going into the implanted memories now, but to her, they were as real as all the others.
"You remember what happened when I was thirteen? With my doll's house?"
The look on Xander's face was curious, a mixture of fear and reluctance, showing that he did indeed remember.
Dawn looked at Molly and Kyle, who had sat down opposite them, watching the beautiful girl waltz through Xander's mental barriers as if they weren't there.
"A Clorth'ra demon broke into the house, and while Buffy was fighting it, my doll house was smashed. It was the last thing that Dad bought me before he left.
"I was pretty inconsolable, annoying Mom and Buffy with almost constant whining about it. It was devastating for me. I felt like Dad was finally gone forever. Then I came home one day, and on my bed was a completely repaired doll's house. There was nothing to say who had done it, or anything. I went downstairs, smiling for the first time in a week, and asked Mom about it. She didn't know anything. So by a process of elimination, I went through all of our friends, and realized that the only person who had the ability to do something so well was Xander.
"Despite the fact that Xander was working as a Pizza guy and paying his parents rent for the privilege of living in a basement, he took the time and money to repair my broken doll house.
"I still have it. But now, it's stored safely in the attic, and it will go to my children. It no longer represents Dad's last gift to me. It represents the love an eighteen year old had for an awkward and irritating thirteen year old girl."
She paused, taking a breath. She had been incredibly careful not to mention anything about Xander being a surrogate father. She didn't think he'd be able to handle the male equivalent of Oedipus complex if it arose.
"Molly and Kyle love you." Dawn stated this incontrovertibly. It wasn't just their words, it was the way they looked at him. She had received a lot more open affection in her time than Xander, so she was able to recognize the look.
"Like you wanted to make a little girl feel better, they want to do the same for you. Making you happy makes them happy."
Dawn licked her lips, and hoped her final line wasn't going to do down the wrong way. "Don't you think it's selfish to not let other people give you things?"
"When did you grow up and become so wise?" Xander half whispered.
"When a handsome man decided that I was more important than anything else in his world, and swore to protect me."
Dawn smiled at him, breaking the moment deliberately. This 'taking her time' business was going to kill her.
"Now, are you going to let Molly and Kyle spoil you, or am I going to have to tell Molly your middle name?"
Xander looked shocked at her, then laughed loudly. He was joined a second later by the others. "That's blackmail, Dawnie," he spluttered.
"I know," she looked smugly at him.
"Ok, I give." Xander stood up and walked over to the couple. He embraced them both, and relaxed a little more as they both eagerly hugged him back.
"Dawn is incredibly special, Xander. Don't let her go," Molly whispered into his ear.
He drew back, looking strangely at her, not exactly sure what that last bit meant.
Molly just smiled innocently, hoping that her words would cause a seed of thought in his brain to grow. Xander didn't have a chance; he'd fall in love with Dawn eventually, and she was going to make sure of that. It was almost amusing, he didn't even know when he'd sealed his fate. It was probably something little, like giving her an ice cream on a sunny day. She was convinced that Dawn had decided a long time ago to marry Xander.
'A summer wedding, here,' she decided absently, happily planning way ahead.
She would not have been shocked to find out that Kyle was thinking something similar. Although he quickly moved on to more immediate matters. He now had permission to spoil Xander rotten, he had over twenty two years of birthdays to make up for, and he was eagerly looking forward to it. The first thing, he decided, was to get Xander a new car. His SUV had been purchased to transport the SIT's around, and while it served that purpose, it was not really suitable for a successful businessman. Deciding that a subtle conversation change would help, he asked "Tell me Xander, what do you prefer, BMW's, Audi's or Mercedes?"
Molly playfully rolled her eyes. She'd have to have a little chat with her husband later, as he was obviously from the George Bush School of subtlety.
"Before you answer that, let's move into the kitchen, the food is ready."
Buffy and Willow sat, frozen, looking at the pictures on the table before them. With a great deal of reluctance, Buffy reached out and pulled the last piece of paper towards her.
She turned it over and went white, suddenly realizing what it symbolized. A single tear fell down her cheek; it was quickly followed by many others. It was never meant to be like this.
Seeing her cry, Willow reached out and pulled it from her hands. She looked down, passed the address details and read the terse statements. She, too, felt tears drip down her face.
Two sentences over the last few days started to circle around her mind. "Now, we're even." And "Only my friends call me Xander."
Unevenly, Spike rose from the floor. His knee wasn't healing properly, and he wasn't sure what he could do about it. He picked up the paper and looked at. It was a faxed copy of a letter from the bank, stating that Buffy's mortgage had been paid in full. With his back to the girls, he smiled happily. Not only had he succeeded in getting rid of one of the Slayer's staunchest allies, but the stupid git had actually paid off the house. That alone was worth all the pain he'd just gone through.
He'd have to work on getting rid of Willow, next. That fact that both Willow and Buffy still obviously cared in some way about Xander would make it easy for him to play them off on each other.
"Xander's upset at the moment. Why don't we give him a day or so to calm down, then we'll go to his apartment and persuade him that Dawn belongs here, with her sister?" Spike said, moving over to his fiancé and hugging her, letting her use his shoulder to cry on.
"I know it looks bad now, but there is a bright side. Xander is now going to be safe, he's going to have to stop fighting. He'll be able to have a normal life. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"
Buffy nodded slowly, letting her fiancé’s words of comfort wash over her. She pushed her face into his cold neck and inhaled, breathing him in.
Willow looked disgustedly at Spike, realizing how he was manipulating her friend, but then remembered that Xander was against her relationship with Kennedy and decided that maybe it was for the best, after all.
The sound of the phone ringing interrupted them. Spike hobbled over and picked up the phone.
"'Ello?"
"William, it's Giles. How is everything proceeding in my absence?"
"Everything's fine, Mate. How ya enjoyin' ya holiday?"
"Taking five teenage girls around New York? I'd rather be fighting a Bulogoshi demon."
Spike laughed at the reference to the exceptionally fragrant Demon.
"Anyway, can I speak to Xander?"
"'Fraid not, he's at the cinema with Dawn. I can get him to call you back if you want?"
"What? No, that won't be necessary; I'm in a damned public phone box." Giles's voice suddenly faded, and the vampire heard him shout, "Molly, Don't do that," before his voice returned. "Look, Spike, I've got to go, I'll check in later. Bye."
"Uh huh," Spike said to the dial tone. "Westfield Cemetery? Garloch Demon? Got it, we'll look into it tonight. Enjoy the rest of your stay."
"Sorry Darlin', but we're going to have to work. One of Giles contact in New York warned him that a Garloch demon is hanging around Westfield causing trouble."
"I thought Garloch demon's were non violent?" Willow interrupted.
'Oh, you will definitely have to go,' Spike thought to himself. "They are, normally, but this one's gone rogue.
"Can you try and find Xander's new address, while Buffy and I go sort out this problem?"
Willow nodded slowly, deciding that, once they knew where he was now living, she could go over and at least apologize and try to explain.
"Buffy," Spike said. "Come on, I'll even let you drive."
Happy to have her mind taken off her problems, the Slayer smiled and stood, grabbing his keys.