Wild Horses
Part 07
By Jeconais
Xander's hand flew to his now full eye socket; the pain was almost unbearable. As he had held up the Orb, it had twitched in his hand, and then, seemingly of its own volition, jumped towards his face and slipped into the empty eye socket.
The Orb scanned the no-longer-empty socket. The optical nerve was damaged, so it decided to repair that first. Tiny razors shot out of the back of the orb, and started to shave the damaged nerve, removing the dead tissue. It wasn't aware of the pain it was causing. It didn't know that the repair it was doing was sending intense messages of agony directly to its host's brain.
With the scraping done, a small stem emerged from the back of the Orb and attached itself to the nerve. Deciding to find out what sort of person its host was, it activated a very small part of its receptors and started to filter visible light.
To ensure it could not be removed without its permission, the Orb shot three hooks into Xander's eye socket. It could feel the blood start to trickle past it, onto its host’s cheek, so it quickly heated the hooks up, cauterizing the wound.
That done, the Orb settled into a monitoring mode. If the host followed the path of the Knight, it would slowly open its receptors, enabling the host brain to adjust to the extra sensory input.
If the recipient didn't, it would open all of its receptors at once, overloading the brain and killing the host instantly.
The effect on the room was instantaneous. The guard was the first to move. Seeing his boss in pain, he took two quick steps forward and dropped into a crouch. His left leg shot out as he spun counterclockwise, sweeping the Brachen’s legs from under him, and dropping him to the floor, on his back. Before Simon even realized that he was on the floor, he was faced by a snarling guard and a very large, imposing, black gun was being shoved into his face.
It was at that point that the half-demon decided that he was perfectly content with being on the floor, and was quite willing to stay there as long as was necessary.
The guard, once the immediate threat was contained, triggered a level one alarm on his pocket communicator. The level one alarm called all local guards to his location, to help out. There were five available levels of alarm ratings, with Level Five indicating the Armageddon Device should be prepared.
Dawn shoved her laptop to the side and rushed to Xander; the website hadn't said anything about this. Reaching him, she pulled him down hard, into her arms and cradled him. She ran her hands soothingly over his back as he whimpered in pain, twisting and turning as he tried to escape the waves of agony pulsing through him. He somehow recognized her, and held on for dear life.
A minute later, the door to Xander's apartment exploded open, followed by three off duty security guards, one of whom had clearly been involved in something far more pleasurable, when the alarm went off, and who was clearly not amused by it.
They instantly took in the situation; one human-appearing guy was lying on the floor with a gun pointed at him by a colleague, and their boss was being carefully, but possessively, cradled by one of the girls from the pictures in his office. Two of them pointed their guns at Simon and waited, analyzing the situation, while the third immediately began calling for an emergency medical team.
With one hand held against his eye, a thin trail of blood visible down his cheek, Xander looked up.
"Mike," he addressed the half dressed, scowling guard. "Cancel that call for the med-team. Then get your ass back downstairs to Vanessa and continue whatever you were doing. Then, when you've finished, apologize to her for me."
"But-," Mike looked torn.
"That was not a request," Xander said firmly. "You can come up later and I'll explain everything. Go! Now!"
Mike nodded and vanished out the door. The other three guards looked amused, but unsurprised. Xander always looked after his people first.
Xander took a deep breath, and then addressed the guards. "Thanks guys. You can let him up, he didn't do anything wrong." There was no hint of censure in his voice; he certainly did not want to sound ungrateful for them trying to protect him. If anything more serious had happened to him, or if Simon had struggled, there would have been a large mess staining his carpet.
Reluctantly, the three guards stood back, but did not re-holster their guns.
Simon got to his feet slowly.
"What happened?" he eventually asked. He'd read all the reports on the XTech Security force, he'd even read reports about how loyal they were to the Carpenter, but it had never actually clicked inside him exactly how true that those reports were. He understood now. Completely and unambiguously.
Xander took a deep breath, and, still cradled in Dawn's arms, removed his hand. The Orb of Isis was fully visible in what had been an empty eye socket. "I can see," he said simply.
"It didn't say anything about pain, Xan," Dawn said softly, her voice just reaching the guards. "The website said that the Orb had the power to repair damaged eyes. I'm sorry. If I had known…"
"Dawn," Xander interrupted firmly, "don't apologize. The pain was intense, but it's gone now." He reached up, as fast as he could and tapped her nose. "And I've got my eyesight back. My depth perception’s returned." He sounded extremely happy.
"And you have a golden eye," Dawn pointed out, smiling a little. Xander in a good mood was always infectious.
"Cool," Xander exclaimed happily.
The three guards looked at each other and smiled - it looked like they had some killer gossip for later. They were trained observers and could see the difference in how the couple held each other. Dawn was holding Xander in a very possessive manner, protecting him. Xander was holding her in a grateful manner, as if he was receiving support from it. However, they were incredibly close to each other, Xander lying almost completely on top of the smaller girl, and his smile at her was incredibly warm and tender.
It looked like Dawn was making a play for their boss, and the guards’ response was automatic and reflexive. It meant that by tomorrow, the brunette girl would be the most investigated person in Sunnydale. Unofficially, of course, but they were all protective of Xander; he'd given them their first real hope of finally getting revenge on the night.
He'd organized them, paid them well, given them great benefits and cool new weapons. Any girl he dated better not try anything - they weren’t going to let anything to happen to him.
"Rob, Joe, you two can go as well. Enjoy the rest of your night off. That's an order. If you want to go out tonight, charge it to the company as a thank you for your prompt action."
They grinned at each other, deciding in that instant to really hit the nightclubs. They were young, good looking, single and had just been offered a free night out. With an identical salute, the two rushed off to get changed.
Xander laughed softly, almost unaware that he was still being held by Dawn, although he did realize that he was totally relaxed. "I bet they turn up to work tomorrow worse for wear."
The last guard smiled, nodding.
"Simon," Xander said, "thank you."
Simon smiled, "I'm glad the Orb accepted you. I was a bit concerned that it wouldn't."
Xander nodded. "How soon can you get the eight members that need protection together so I can meet them?"
"Tomorrow night."
"Do you know where our headquarters are?"
"Yes."
"Meet me there at six tomorrow night."
It was interesting for Dawn to see Xander act so decisively. He didn't look to anyone to validate his actions; he just took the responsibility for his own decisions and trusted himself enough to give them.
She had seen Buffy try and act like this, when fighting the First Evil. Her sister would bark orders and lead them into disastrous actions, expecting people to follow, simply because she was the Slayer. It hadn't lasted long, before Xander had took her to one side and gently pointed out that leading people to their death was not a good way to keep a happy force behind you. Buffy had flipped out, yelling and shouting at Xander, that he was betraying her and undermining her authority.
It had been the first time that she had seen Xander lose his temper at the blonde Slayer. They had engaged in a shouting match for five minutes, before Xander had stormed off.
Flashback
Xander was stuck. Buffy was leading them to certain defeat. No one would stand up to her, as she was the strongest, physically, and people were afraid to tell her the truth that she was losing it mentally. And to make matters worse, XTech was nowhere near ready to deal with a being like the First.
'Well, Xand, it's time to work in the shadows again," he told himself, getting in his car and driving to the Magic Box.
"Hey, Anya," he greeted his ex-fiancé with a smile as he entered her shop.
"Xander," Anya said happily. "Are you here to fulfill your capitalistic obligations and exchange money for goods and/or services?"
"'Fraid not, Ahn. Need advice."
Anya pouted a little. She had a very direct mind. Xander had abandoned her at the altar, she had slept with Spike. It seemed a reasonably fair trade in her view, even if it did mean that she would never have sex with Xander again. The two were very different, with Spike being a lot more experienced while Xander made up for his lesser experience with a lot more passion. Both had provided many satisfactory orgasms.
"This is probably a stupid question, but do you know how to defeat the First Evil?"
Anya nodded. "Of course. You can't be a vengeance demon for over a thousand years with out picking up a few things."
"And you didn't bother to tell anyone because?"
"No one asked, and Buffy wanted to stake me."
Xander laughed to himself softly, how typically ironic. All of this could have been ended some time ago if they'd just used the resources they had.
"How?"
"The First is the personification of evil. All you need is something that is as Holy as he is Evil."
"Like what?"
"A part of the Cross Christ was crucified on would do it."
Xander's eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline at this stage. "Can you get a piece?"
Anya smiled brightly, as she said, "It won't be cheap." She rubbed her hands together, then did the Capitalistic Dance of Anticipation of Great Wealth.
Xander laughed and said his goodbyes, walking out and drove back to Casa Del Summers.
The next night Buffy had gathered them together again.
"We failed last night because you were not good enough. If you don't improve tonight, you will die."
The SIT's looked at her, their faces expressionless. No one wanted to speak up and be accused of being a traitor, but no one was at all confident that Buffy had any idea of what needed to be done. As Buffy walked out, they all turned to look over at Xander, who threw them a wide smile and a confident wink.
They looked at him, a little confused, but smiled. He obviously knew something they didn't.
Buffy had then taken them to an abandoned warehouse. It was so obviously a trap that, for a brief second, Xander contemplated asking if Buffy was actually seeing the same thing he was.
Her battle plan was…simplistic, was the kindest description. Everyone charge in and try and stay alive. The second part only really seemed to apply to her.
They had entered the building, and were instantly surrounded by the First's Army of Bringers. Then, the First itself had appeared, to gloat and talk too much, as it always did.
Xander grabbed the stake he had carved out of the wood Anya had obtained for him, and threw it to Buffy. "Stab him with that!"
Showing uncommon sense for a change, she did. The last expression on the First's face was one of shock.
Caleb, his first lieutenant, who had effortlessly beaten Buffy to a pulp several times before this, had taken one look and jumped out of a window, vanishing into the night.
The Bringers had simply dissolved; their ability to remain on this plain had been lost with their leader.
The ease with which the First had finally been dealt with shocked Xander. So many people had died because they had followed bad tactics, bad leadership and not used the resources available to them to the fullest extent.
"See, this is what happens when you follow someone who knows what they are doing."
Buffy's announcement caused stunned looks to appear on the faces surrounding her. It was so obvious to them that Xander had done something to defeat him, that her taking credit for the victory was mind-boggling.
Buffy smiled happily, mistaking their shock for awe. She had suddenly frowned, and gasped, "Spike," before running out the door.
Yet again, the Bleached Wonder had been absent when there was real fighting to be done.
Xander turned to the SIT's and Giles. "You've all done really well these past few days." He didn't mention Buffy, not wanting to get into that now. "As a reward, I've arranged for you all to go on holiday to New York."
Cheers had met his announcement, and it was a very different group of teenage girls who had returned to the Summers’ residence. They had left the next day, before Buffy had returned. Giles had gone with them as their chaperone, secretly delighted to be getting out of Sunnydale for a while.
After seeing the SIT's and Giles off at the airport, Xander had returned to the Magic Box.
"It worked, Ahn. What do you want as a 'Thank You’ present?"
Anya grinned at him. "Celebration sex?" she asked hopefully.
He laughed. "Nope, sorry."
"Ok, then I want to go on a cruise, where there will be lots of millionaires for me to find, and lots of cute sailor boys for me to have sex with."
It had only taken a couple of phone calls to get her on a cruise around the Mediterranean. It was amazing what could happen when you waved large amounts of cash at people.
Simon nodded. "Thank you. Till tomorrow, then."
He turned and walked to the door, a smile appearing on his face. The two made a really cute couple, and more importantly, Bill didn't know about it. He would have a lot of fun teasing him about that.
The guard accompanied him down to the foyer.
"You're not just a security guard, are you?" the half-demon asked casually as they descended in the elevator.
"Sergeant Brad Hooper," he introduced himself proudly. "U.S. Army Rangers, 1st Battalion."
Simon blinked. "Why are you working security?"
Brad grinned, an expression that seemed a little strange on his stern face. "I'm not. I'm a team leader for XTech security. We all take turns working the desk in this building."
"Why?" Simon looked interested.
"Two reasons. To protect Xander - he's the boss. It's a sergeant's duty to advise and protect the field commander and make sure he survives a battle," he said seriously. "I like to know that Xander's safe at night. If he goes out, we normally have a couple of people trailing him."
"Does he know this?" Simon looked shocked.
"Nope. And we'd prefer it stayed that way. The boss has got an amazing ability to get himself into trouble. He's too important to be lost in some meaningless skirmish." They'd reached the door, and had paused to continue the conversation.
"And the other thing?"
"One day a bunch of tangos are going to try and take Xander out. They're going to attack this building, and I want to be behind the desk when they do."
"Why?" Simon asked, fascinated.
"Because this building has teeth, and I want to use them." The smile Brad wore as he said this, was unnerving, to say the least.
Realizing that he wasn't going to get any more useful information out of Brad, Simon bade him good night and walked into the dark, quickly vanishing.
"What happened upstairs?" the backup guard asked as Brad returned to his seat.
"Just another standard night in the life of Alexander Harris," Brad said with a smile.
There had been a slightly uncomfortable moment when Xander had finally realized just how closely he was being held by Dawn, and just how much he was enjoying it. They had released each other at the same time. Dawn had recognized how relaxed Xander had been while she held him, and continued her game plan of taking things very slowly.
She picked up her laptop and sat down next to him, her back against the side of the couch with her feet burying themselves under his thighs for warmth.
"There are a few notes here, about the Orb, wanna hear them?" she asked him, apparently once more engrossed in the web page devoted to the mystical object.
Xander nodded. "Definitely."
"Ok, to make the Orb look like a real eye, think 'Hide Eye'."
Xander frowned. "Think it? Not say something?"
Dawn shook her head, looking at him wide-eyed and exaggerating the movement slightly so that her hair would dance. She hid a triumphant smirk as she caught him watching it with a distracted look on his face. "The Orb is supposed to read your thoughts and obey them."
'Hide Eye' Xander thought to himself, repeating the phrase over and over.
Dawn shot up, placing the laptop on his lap, and vanished into her room. She returned a second later with a hand held mirror. She passed it to him and recovered her laptop, resuming her position.
Xander held it up, and repeated the mental command, directing it towards the Orb. He was fascinated as the golden Orb seemed to flicker, paling into whiteness. A brown spot appeared in the centre, quickly growing to be a pupil. Finally a black dot appeared in the center.
He looked up, then down, watching with a huge smile as the two eyes seemed to follow his thoughts perfectly.
"'Show Eye' reverses it."
Xander nodded and gave the command. A few seconds later, he was the possessor of one gold and one brown eye.
"Can I take it out?" he asked her.
Dawn looked down at her screen, tapping the arrow key as she scrolled quickly down the web page. "It doesn't say. There's not that much information here really. I saw the part where it said that it could restore your eyesight and stopped."
They had eaten together a short while later, a pasta dish Xander had quickly thrown together. He'd then spent a few minutes on the phone, before smiling at her. "I'm just going to pop down to Mike's. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Ok, Xand." Dawn curled up on the couch, idly flicking through web pages. She had not watched as much TV since moving in, and strangely enough, didn't miss it. It was a lot more fun to sit quietly with Xander and talk about the day, or surf the net while curled up on the couch next to him as he did paperwork.
Xander took the elevator down several levels. He jogged down the corridor, lightly rapping on numbered door.
Mike swung it open; he was now freshly showered, and looked to be in a lot better mood. Seeing Xander, he snapped to attention and saluted instinctively.
Xander looked at him, amused.
The soldier-turned-policeman-turned-XTech-member blushed, realizing that, technically, he wasn't in an army anymore. Still, between them, the members of XTech were working on persuading Xander that they were a security force, so were, technically, like an army, and therefore, saluting, technically, was allowed. They hadn't got far yet, but they still had hopes of persuading him.
Showing respect to senior officers was automatic to people like him, and despite his young age, Xander was definitely the senior officer.
"Sorry for the interruption earlier, Mike. To make up for it, you and Vanessa are going to 'Olive's' tomorrow." Olive’s was one of the best restaurants in town, serving the finest authentic Italian food. Normally, there was a four week minimum waiting list, but they employed XTech security, who had quickly, decisively, and most importantly, discreetly, dealt with a minor Vampire incident the week before. The incredibly grateful owners had then made sure that Xander knew he had a reservation when ever he wanted it.
Mike grinned. "Yes sir! Thank you, sir!"
Xander winced, "Well, anyway, apologize to your wife for me again. Brad set the alarm off because a present from that guy on the floor had some unexpected, unpleasant side effects. On the bright side, it did cure my sight problem."
Mike nodded. "And that doesn't seem strange to you?"
The dark haired carpenter shrugged. "It's the price of growing up on the Hellmouth. A magical device that fixes your vision is pretty much par for the course, these days."
The ex-soldier laughed softly. "Rather you than me. I'm having enough trouble with Vampires and Demons."
Xander looked at him seriously. "Don't worry about it. As soon as I arrange some proper back up, we will start hunting them. You'll quickly find that they can die like everything else - you might just need a bigger gun."
Mike nodded, and grinned. The kid was a natural leader. He looked after his troops, knew everyone by name, was unwilling to send anyone some place he hadn't been before, and was fantastic at making sure everyone had a high morale and was well motivated. When you factored in the pay, the health benefits and the company housing, working for XTech was the best job in the world for someone who wanted to do something productive and still get an adrenaline rush.
Xander grinned, and said goodbye, leaving a very happy Mike to reap the benefits of Xander's generosity.
"Newly-weds," he smirked to himself as he walked away.
Back in his apartment, he turned the lights down a little and sat down on the couch close to Dawn.
He smiled at her and leant back, looking at the ceiling, marveling at how normal things looked again.
It was extremely comfortable for both of them, as they sat and looked out the window at the Sunnydale nightscape. Xander used a remote to start some music playing softly in the background. Dawn's face had a slightly glow from the laptop on her legs.
In front of them, was an awe inspiring view of Sunnydale. They looked out at the night lights illuminating the sky. There was a quiet kind of peace that neither of them had really experienced before.
"You remember that I mentioned the security force?" Xander spoke to the ceiling more than to Dawn, his eyes hooded.
"Yes?" she said softly, not wanting to break the mood.
It was dark and intimate, slightly unreal. It was as though the rest of the world existed a million miles away, and that the two of them were sitting above it all, looking down on humanity with all its mistakes and foibles, but seeing only the peace and perfection.
"The company is called XTech, it's owned by PJH, and I run it."
Dawn smiled warmly at him; her expression of pride caused a slight flush of pleasure inside him.
"We're getting close to the stage where we can stop reacting, and start acting. We're limited to several small response fleets at the moment, but I really want us out there hunting Vampires and Demons. You can't win a war by waiting for the enemy; you have to take the fight to them. The problem is that we're very reliant on technology, and I'd like some backup available for us for when things go wrong. 'Cause they will, sooner or later. Mr Murphy’s always waiting on the sidelines."
"What sort of backup?"
"Slayer style back up. I was originally going to ask Buffy to help, but I don't think she'd take orders from me. And with Spike being the leech he is, I will not have him involved in any of my companies."
"What are you thinking of doing then?" Dawn had a slight sinking feeling in her stomach.
"I'd like to get Faith involved."
Dawn's eyebrows shot up, and it was only with a great deal of hard-fought restraint that she managed to ask her next question in a normal tone of voice. "So you think she will help?"
The last thing she needed was the gorgeous, sexy, and *experienced* Faith honing in on her future territory. As soon as Faith saw what had become of Xander, and how successful he was now, she would definitely try and get back with him, Dawn thought, carefully keeping her face neutral. The skank already had a history with Xander, and the teenager could remember that, at times, she had made the enthusiastic Anya look like a shy, demure nun.
"Faith turned herself in to the police last year. She confessed to everything and after some plea bargaining, was sent to jail for a year. They had no evidence of her killing Alan Finch, so they just got her on a couple of minor assault charges. She's working with Angel at the moment, and I think she would be better here."
"What about your relationship with her?" Dawn asked, feeling that his next words could shatter her into a million tiny pieces.
Xander shifted slightly, bringing her feet onto his lap as he faced her. It was a totally unconscious gesture for him, but was certainly noted and appreciated by the long-haired green-eyed girl watching him.
It was times like this that he really appreciated the small changes Dawn had made in his life this past week. He'd never had someone he could just sit down and talk to. Not since Jessie died, anyway.
His life since then had been a massive roller coaster ride of highs and lows. His relationships had all ended badly, and he was determined not to make the same mistakes again. Anya had been a wonderful girl, but her unique outlook, that of a being who had spent thousands of years torturing men in revenge, meant that her views were often brutal. Combined with her attitude towards sex, meant that a typical conversation with her was normally along the lines of "Let's have sex," and
"Ok."
There was something special about just sitting with someone, at the end of the day, discussing problems in a rational manner, not internalizing them. It made them seem less of a challenge, perhaps proving the only adage that 'a problem shared was a problem halved.'
Dawn seemed to understand what he was going through. She never judged, she just listened and offered the best advice she could. It was more proof than ever before that she had grown up.
Reluctantly, he said, "I think I made one of the biggest mistakes in my life by sleeping with her. Don't get me wrong, she wanted it, and I wanted it, too, but looking back, I don't think it was what Faith needed."
"What do you mean?" Dawn prompted softly.
"By sleeping with her, I became just another statistic for her, another person who was friendly with her, then used her. I think I reinforced her self image that she was only good for two things: Fighting and Fucking.
"She was already running scared when she got here, and instead of helping her deal, we tried to turn her into another Buffy. I tried to help, but couldn't get through. Then by sleeping with her, I lost the chance to do anymore for her.
"From a personal perspective, I think that trying to start another relationship with her would be a massive step backwards for me. It's almost impossible to try and help someone turn their life around when you are having sex with them. It would be very hypocritical to talk about having stability when you're having wild monkey sex and hanging from the ceiling. I'm not what she needs in that way, and she's definitely not what I need in a partner.
"She needs me to be her brother, her friend and her security blanket. She needs me to get her to a psychologist and help her deal with her issues. She's changed a bit, but not all that much. I talked to Angel last week and he told me a lot about her. He thinks that I could probably reach her.
"I wrote to her while she was in prison, and she wrote back, and we managed to become friends, I think. Now it's time for me to prove that friendship and help her with whatever she wants to be."
Dawn was shocked at what she had just heard, and she quickly abandoned Faith as a subject, to try and deal with something a lot more bizarre.
"You called him Angel! You didn't call him 'Deadboy' and you phoned him last week? What's going on? Last time we checked, you couldn't stand him!"
Xander smiled slightly. "Yeah. It's Spike's fault really." He said, trailing off into silence.
"You want to explain that a little?"
"Spike got his soul back, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you remember what happened the first time we saw Angel get his soul back, after one of his trips to the dark side?"
"He broke down in tears, spent several weeks brooding and walked around like he had the weight of the world hanging on his shoulders."
Xander nodded. "Exactly. I've done a bit of research on this. When a vampire takes over, the original owner of the body is shunted out and left to fend for itself. The demon has full control. So, when Angel regained control over his body, he felt guilt for something that, technically, he hadn't done. He has spent all these years trying to earn redemption for something that wasn't his fault. He was as much a victim as the people who died.
"When Spike got his soul back, there was no real noticeable difference. No big breakdown, no wailing and brooding about the thousands of lives he had taken, just a 'Oh well, never mind' attitude. I think that says a lot about the personalities involved, and it made me realize that maybe I was wrong about Angel.
"So, I went up to see him around 6 months ago. We sat down and talked, in his office, for most of the night. We admitted that a lot of our problems were that we were jealous of each other, especially over Buffy.
"I was jealous because he had her love, he was jealous because I could be there during the day, and I had her friendship. As we've both moved on, it meant that we no longer had that between us. I'm not saying that we are close friends, but we can be in the same room as each other without both of us wanting to stake the other.
"To be honest, I wish your sister was back with him. At least he wanted what was best for Buffy, and had the moral fortitude to realize that her future did not include him. Spike is a parasite. He wants his own desires, regardless of the cost to her.
"Anyway, he gave me a tour of the Hyperion, the hotel he's based in. It's actually quite a nice place, if you ignore the years of neglect. So we decided to do a deal. I'd bring the construction and project management skills, he'd bring the property. I checked it over with my bosses, and we now own half the hotel. I've got a couple of PJH crews over there at the moment, redoing the whole place. We hope to open it next year, and we should make a nice profit."
Dawn nodded slowly; it was a lot to take in. The idea of Xander and Angel working together in a purely business deal was almost shocking. Still, it showed once more that people changed.
Moving the subject back to the dark haired Slayer, she asked, "What are you planning for Faith?"
"That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I'm going to offer her a consultancy based job with XTech, where she'll be involved in training and operations. I'm also going to offer to let her move in here, to start with. I really don't think she should be living alone. What do you think about that?"
Dawn looked a little confused. "It's your apartment, Xan."
Xander smiled at her. "But you're living here, Dawn. It's your home now, too. You have just as much say in this as I do."
His statement was met with a smile that blew him away. He found himself staring at it for a lot longer than would be considered polite.
Her reply was a lot easier to make, now that she was sure that he wouldn't be considering a relationship with the Slayer. "Of course, she should move in."
Xander smiled proudly at her, and the conversation moved on to other things. It was a night that neither wanted to end.
In New York, a dark haired girl carefully reread the email on the screen in front of her.
To: Willow <willow@wiccanwitches.org>
From: Kennedy <richlesbogirl@hotmail.com>
Subject: Future
Willow,
Hey, how's it going?
Well, New York is a blast; we've been running Giles ragged. He pretends not to like it, but he's been having fun really.
Look, I don't know how to put this, so I'll just come out and say it, 'k?
I've had a lot of time to think while I've been here. I had a long talk with Giles, and he agreed that it is very unlikely that I will ever be a Slayer. With the First dead, there's no real reason why Buffy can't have a long life, and even if she does die, there is still Faith.
I'm afraid I don't know who I am anymore. All this fighting and everything kinda put me on a path I didn't want to go down.
When I came to Sunnydale, you were everything I could ever want. Intelligent, beautiful, powerful and openly gay. You even had friends who knew you were gay and accepted you, who loved you for who you were. It was an exotic combination, and I fell for you, hard.
We had a lot of fun together, and you were as loving at night, as you were during the day.
I'm sorry, Willow, but I'm just not ready for a full time relationship. You need someone willing to settle down with you, and I'm not that person. I need to find out who I am before I can do anything else. I thought I was gay, but being here, well, I started to look at Men, and saw a couple that interested me. It's not fair on you if I stay, and it's not fair on me.
I've called my Dad, and I'm going to go home. I'm going to go back to High School, and try and get on with the rest of my life.
I'm sorry for doing this through email, but I know if I see you again, I'll give in, and that’s something I just can’t afford to now.
I'm sorry.
Love,
Kennedy.
The mouse slowly moved across the screen, hovering over the send button. A hard click sent the email rushing through cyberspace, to a POP3 box on the other side of America.