"Morning, Giles!" Willow called out from the entrance of the library.
"Be with you in just a minute," came a reply from the direction of the library's office.
While waiting for the Watcher to come out, Willow scanned the library and noticed that it was in the same condition as it was after the Hellmouth closed. Except for the Master's skeleton. It wasn't on the "stake" that killed him and Willow couldn't see it anywhere else.
Panic began to spread inside Willow. "Giles! The skeleton! Where did it..."
Two strong hands suddenly grabbed Willow's shoulders as a familiar face appeared in front of her.
"Willow! Calm down. There's nothing to worry about."
"But the skeleton--"
"--is locked up in a vault in my office. I moved it before anyone else showed up this morning." By this point, Giles managed to lead the shaken girl to a chair and sat her down. Willow took a deep breath and started to relax again. She looked up and saw a cup of tea placed in front of her. Willow took the cup gratefully and drank it all in a gulp.
"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to get so worked up..." the hacker began, but was cut off by the sound of doors swinging shut.
"Hi guys! Isn't it a wonderful morning?" Buffy was in a great mood. Not only did she defeat the Master but she spent the whole night dancing with Angel.
"Hey! Where did Cordelia's car go? I thought we left it outside," another voice asked.
'Xander sounds like his usual self,' Willow thought as she stared at him. 'At least he hasn't mentioned Buffy yet.'
"Hey, Willow. Has our favorite hacker been on the computer all night again?" Xander teased.
"Uh, why do you ask?" Willow looked at him suspiciously. 'He can't possibly know what I was doing all night.'
"Well, you look like you didn't get much sleep," Buffy handed Willow her compact. The hacker opened it up and saw that she had some faint circles under her eyes.
"Actually, I did go online when I got home last night," she replied. 'At least that wasn't a lie.'
Xander turned back to Giles. "Now, about Cordy's car?"
"Samantha drove the car to Cordelia's house and we left it in the driveway after we cleaned it up. I'm surprised that there was barely a scratch on it after you guys drove it through the doors." Three pairs of eyebrows shot up at the mention of Ms. Calendar's first name.
"Since when did we start using teachers' first names?" Xander looked at Giles and winked at Willow. The hacker just giggled at him.
"Whoa, wait just one minute. Now, are you telling me that Rupert Giles, librarian and Watcher extraordinaire, actually has a life???" Buffy's jaw had dropped open at the mention of "Samantha" and her curiosity was definitely piqued at this bit of news.
"Very funny," Giles said dryly. "Now, if you don't mind, can we get back to the business at hand." 'Kids,' he thought. 'Thank God I don't have any and I hope I never will.'
"Which is...?" Xander prompted.
"This," Giles pointed around the library. "Anyway, Samantha and... " He stopped for a moment and saw that the three teenagers were giving each other knowing looks. The Watcher decided to ignore it and continue his sentence. "Samantha and I came back here after the dance and got rid of the skeleton and the car. I then proceeded to call the police and tell them that the school had been vandalized."
"Wait a minute," Buffy interrupted, "when did you call the cops?"
"Around 3 this morning. I told them that I left my briefcase here and when I came back here after the dance to retrieve it, this was how the place looked."
"And they believed you??" Xander asked, incredulous.
"Surprisingly, they did. They said that many buildings downtown had been vandalized and that it was probably the same group that wrecked the school. The lieutenant in charge mentioned something about the earthquake and looters."
"Okay. At least you dealt with the cops before anyone else decided to call them." Buffy took a deep breath. "Now... what about Snyder? Did you talk to him yet?"
"Thankfully, not yet. The police were here all night and they're talking to the dictator now." Giles was relieved about that.
"Hey guys!" The four of them turned around and saw a woman in her twenties walking towards them. "Don't look now, but I overheard Snyder say that he's coming in here in a few minutes." Ms. Calender then noticed that the three students were staring at her. "What? Is something wrong?"
Willow was the first to get her voice back. "Uh, no. Everything's fine. C'mon guys," she turned back to Buffy and Xander. "Let's get out of here before Snyder arrives."
"Oh, right." The two of them responded. Buffy smiled when she saw that he responded at exactly the same time. She got up and grabbed her bag. "You know, History actually seems heavenly compared to a meeting with our resident dictator." She headed in the direction of the library doors, her satin minidress shimmered in the light as she took another step.
Willow heard Giles sigh behind her and saw him shaking his head. The hacker grinned at that sight and shook her head also. When she turned back, she grabbed her backpack and started walking. "Let's go, Xander." No response. "Xander?"
The love of her life looked like a puppy dog with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he stared at the Slayer. 'He'd probably wagged his tail too, if he had one,' Willow thought to herself. She waved goodbye to Ms. Calender and Giles. Turning back to Xander, she said, "Let's go, Fido."
'I can't wait until he looks at me like that. Just a few more hours... a few more hours...' the auburn haired girl smiled to herself.
* * *
"Yuck!! Who makes this stuff anyway?" Xander poked at the green slime on his lunch tray. He made a face and shoved the tray away.
"Xander, why do you even bother getting lunch if you're not gonna eat it?" Buffy plopped her school bag down on the floor and sat in a chair across from him.
"Buffy's right, Xander. Why don't you bring your own lunch?" Willow sat down in the remaining chair at the table. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a paper bag. "See, you make it at home and then you bring it with you."
"Make my own lunch?" Xander replied, mock horror on his face. "You're kidding me right?"
"Of course I was," Willow deadpanned. She opened the bag and pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, a bag of potato chips and 2 bottles of juice--one orange, one apple.
"Hey! Why two bottles of juice? I never knew you drank that much juice. Ham and cheese... Willow, how did you know that's my favorite?" Xander reached for the sandwich but Willow's hand slapped it away.
"Oww! What was that for? Don't you know you're supposed to share with your friends?" He gave the two girls a sad puppy expression and then gave them a hurt look as they burst out laughing.
"Not everything," the hacker replied as she exchanged a knowing glance with the slayer. Smiles appeared once more on the girls' faces. "Anyway, you can have the juice and the potato chips, Xander. I brought them just for you since I knew you probably wouldn't eat lunch today." She gave him the orange juice and the bag of chips. Then she picked up the apple and offered it to Buffy.
"Thanks, Will. I ran out of my house in a hurry today and didn't eat breakfast." Buffy said as she took a bite out of the apple. 'Mmm, delicious. Almost as delicious as Angel,' she thought. As soon as the vampire's name came to mind, she started to think about the dance again.
Xander picked up the bag the chips and opened them. He raised his arm up and tilted his head back. He shook the bag and the potato chips came tumbling out. Those that didn't land in his mouth fell all over the table. Willow reproached him, "Xander, look at the mess you made."
"Sorry," he said, at least that's what Willow thought he said but couldn't tell with all the junk in his mouth. Willow grinned to herself as the tall boy then opened his juice and swallowed it in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Xander looked up and saw his best friend grinning. "What's so funny?"
"You," she said as she shook her head, her red braids swinging to and fro.
"Did you hear that, Buffy? She thinks I'm funny. Buffy?"
Xander looked at Buffy and saw that she was oblivious to her surroundings. He nudged Willow and pointed at Buffy. "Look, she's thinking about _him_ again," he snorted. "I told you...that we...should... " Xander never finished his sentence. He slid to the ground, unconscious.
"Xander!" Willow screamed.
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