It was the morning after graduation and Buffy was still lying in bed. Her mother walks in and watches her daughter toss and turn. She knew what Buffy was dreaming about, or rather who she was dreaming about. Last night her sweet daughter Buffy known to the world as the Chosen One, saved the world, again. Now she was in her bed, sleeping, dreaming about the departure of her vampire lover, Angel, who had broken up with her just a couple of weeks ago, on Prom Night no less. Joyce often wished Buffy was just a normal girl, but what is normal anyway? Some girls deal drugs and have babies at 17, and her little girl fought creatures of the night. She knows Buffy could never quit her duties as Slayer, but sometime she just wishes Buffy could have more of a normal life; a boyfriend who could walk in the daylight and a job where she flipped burgers instead of demons. But that's all Joyce Summers could do. Wish.
* * *
Buffy woke up that morning after graduation with serious muscle cramps. She had the feeling that she had to do something, or be somewhere, but she was too tired and sore to try to remember what. She walked into the kitchen, still holding her stuffed pig, which she sleeps with. Her mother takes one look at her, and all she can do is smile. Buffy gave her mom a kiss and asked if she had made any breakfast yet.
"No, sweetie, but there's coffee on the pot if you want some. I have to go in to the museum to pick up some paper work. Do you want me to bring you something?" Joyce asked her daughter.
"Just a sandwich or something. Nothing big. I think I might go back to sleep later." Buffy replied. She smiled and headed upstairs as her mother took one last sip of her coffee, grabbed her keys and jolted out the door with the quickness.
Buffy opened the door to her room and plopped on her bed. She was in a pretty good mood considering the circumstances. The second slayer was still in a coma; her boyfriend dumped her and left town; and graduation was amongst other things. She already missed Angel and wondered where he would be at that very moment, and then suddenly she remembered the dream she had earlier. It was a strange dream. Angel hadn't left town, and he and Buffy lived happily ever after. "A very strange dream indeed," Buffy mumbled under her breath. But that wasn't it, there was something else. Something she wasn't remembering. The guy in her dream was not Angel, but someone recognizable beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Xander woke up half-heartedly and showered. His father wanted him to wake up early and look for a summer job.
"You're not going to spend your summer slacking off. You're going to get a job and make yourself useful, for once in your life." Mr. Harris had said. Xander remembered his father's booming voice, "...make yourself useful for once in your life."
"I'm useful," he muttered, "I'm full of all sorts of different uses." He dressed and went out into the kitchen. Sure enough his father was still snoring, and his poor mother was slaving in the kitchen.
"Good morning, honey." Mrs. Harris said.
"Good day to ya, my good mum." he replied in an Irish accent. "What's for breakfast?"
"Scrabbled eggs and toast." she informed her son.
He ate quickly, knowing if he took any longer he be late for his appointment. At least that's what he told his mother. Truth was Xander couldn't stand being in that house any more that his father couldn't stand him living there. His heart ached at the thought of his father. He loved his daddy, that he was sure of, but if only he would cut him some slack. "It's not like I don't try to be useful." Xander thought. He shrugged it off and walked out of the house.
Willow woke up to the sweet smell of Oz on her pillow. She had remembered the day before for what it was: evil and chaotic, but also passionate and romantic. She remembered the night before that, when she and Oz, well, had first been together. She began to drift off to her quaint little land of daydreams, that is, until the phone rang and snapped her out of it.
"Oh hi, Buffy." Willow said into the receiver.
"What's wrong, Will?" Buffy asked.
"Hmmm? Oh no. Nothing, I was just...I just was...I just woke up." she answered. "So why the early phone call?" Willow asked before realizing it must've been like two or three in the afternoon, "I mean, what happened?"
Buffy laughed. "I know, I just woke up too. It still feels early. So I needed to ask your advice on something...." she started. "A dream, hey?" Willow replied sounding way interested.
Xander decided he wanted to apply for a job at the college. He might as well get aquatinted with the place if he was headed there this fall. He knew there had to be some kind of job opening somewhere. He headed for the front desk and asked the forty-something woman in bifocals if she knew of anything he could do. She gave him a piece of paper and pointed down a hallway, not once looking up from her book, a trashy romance novel. He glanced at the paper a started down to room 204. He walked into the guidance counselor's office.
"How can I help you, son?" he asked.
"I was...well, I was, uh, hoping to find a summer job." Xander replied, suddenly feeling a pang of nervousness.
"Have a seat. I'm Mr. Ramos. I am the counselor here at Sunnydale U." he reached out to shake Xander's hand. "Are you enrolling here or have you already registered?" the young-looking Mr. Ramos asked.
"Actually I registered last month. Harris. Alexander Harris." Xander replied, feeling a little more at ease.
"O.K., Alex, I think I might have something for you." he answered after checking his files on computer.
"I prefer Xander, sir." he corrected him. "O.K. Xander. Than you call me Emilio." He said to him giving him a little smile. "Ah, here we go. Here is something you can do. You can be head keeper of the library. You don't really need to know much about books, just basically help out anyone who's looking for something. Know your way around the library and know how to work with files on a computer."
"I don't know, a librarian?" Xander asked.
"We also have Jr. Security Officer and Janitor of the 4th and 5th floors." Mr. Ramos offered.
"What are the hours and how much does it pay? The librarian job, I mean." Xander asked, suddenly seeming interested in the position.
"Well you'll be working Monday through Friday from nine to six, and Saturday from seven to one. It doesn't pay much. Just a grossed two hundred every fifteen days." Mr. Ramos answered. "I'll take it." Xander said, reaching out to shake Mr. Ramos' hand again before leaving.
"Good to have you on board, Xander. You have nice day now, ya hear?" Mr. Ramos called after him as he left the office.
"You too, Emilio. And thank you." Xander said just before leaving the office.
"Xander?" Willow said confused. She had gone over to Buffy's house after showering, though she still looked a mess, getting back into some sweatpants and a tee shirt.
"Yes, Xander. I told you it was a strange dream." Buffy answered, now annoyed, considering the fact that this was the fifth time she's repeated herself.
"But Xander?" Willow repeated, apparently still in shock. "I mean, everyone knows he's been in love with you since the second he laid eyes on you, but I never thought you returned the feelings!"
"I didn't think so either. I mean, I don't. I mean, it was just a silly dream. Forget it." Buffy said, blushing heavily.
"I will not! All dreams mean something, especially since your prophecy girl and all." Willow said, this time sounding almost giddy.
"Is that a hint of happiness I hear in your voice?" Buffy asked.
"No...maybe. Okay, yes. Xander is my best friend in the whole world besides you and even though I used to have that thing for him that doesn't mean I don't want you two to be happy, even if that means, well, making each other happy." she said in a much lighter tone, "Plus, it will be kind of cool, my two best friends dating. I mean, well, we could double!"
"Thanks Will, but I never said I was going to date him." Buffy said, giving the idea no chance at all.
"You're not?" Willow said sadly, giving her this puppy-dog face.
"God, Will! You're on emotional overdrive today! One minute you're ecstatic for me now you're all sad and disappointed." Buffy said sarcastically.
"But the dream...." Will started.
"Screw the dream. That's all it was. A dream. It's not real." Buffy said, hastily.
"Well that's just peachy keen, jellybean, but I have one thing to add before I officially change the subject." Will said, this time in a stronger voice. "Dreams are created by the sub-conscious, which means that it has stimuli. When you are awake, anything that may be bothering you, or that is left unresolved, your sub-conscious brings those issues out and resolves them in your dreams. All I'm saying is that you could be secretly crushing on Xander and not know it. In your conscious world, you've thought about it at one time or another, but just shrugged it off. Your sub-conscious doesn't lie... Done now."
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked.
"I think so...no wait! Nevermind. Yeah, I'm done.", Willow teased.
"So how about that change of subject?", Buffy pleaded.
"So how's Faith doing?" Willow asked, officially changing the subject.
"I'll have to say she's not doing great, but she's better," Dr. Moorehouse told Xander. "So there's a better chance she'll come out of the coma?" he asked. He went over to the hospital to visit Faith. He did not have much in common with the rouge slayer but he did make love to her. He felt like he at least owed her a visit.
"Yes, but only a slim one. I'll be back in ten to check her brain activity.", the doctor said.
Xander took a seat next to Faith's bed and held her hand. He didn't know what to say, it's not like she could hear him, but he felt awkward just sitting there quietly. He remembered their one night of passion, and though he only thinks of her as a friend now, he will admit, it was nice. He looked at her and sadness overcame him. "Why did she have to do this to herself?" he thought. "She could've had it all, but she wanted more." He began to think of Faith and her past. No one really knows where she came from, if she has family, and who they are. They probably abandoned her as a child. He glanced at her monitor screen that updated her brain activity. 26%. He looked at her once again, as he got up and ready to leave, and he felt a tear run down his cheek.
"So she's that bad, huh?" Willow asked Xander. They had all met at Buffy's house later that day, of course Willow and Buffy were already there when Giles and Xander arrived.
"Her brain activity was at 26%. 26%! Do you know what that is?" Xander said very angrily.
"You seem to be taking this Faith thing rather hard, Xander." Giles said, wiping off his glasses.
"What did the doctor actually say?" Buffy asked.
"He said that she was better, but she's still in danger." he replied. "Of course I am!" he said, then turning to Giles, in reference to his comment. "I don't know why but I look at her and I see a wasted life. That hurts when I see someone like that because I know that that's how my father thinks I'll end up, and he's probably right. I don't want for her what's destined to happen to me, or worse."
Willow put her hand on Xander's shoulder. He was very upset, mostly because of his own problem at home.
"Well let me tell you. I'm gonna show him. I'm gonna show everyone that I can be someone. I got a job today." he said, calming down a bit.
"Did you? That's wonderful news! Good for you, Xander." Giles said.
"Where?" is all Buffy could force out of herself. She had never seen this side of Xander before, this anger, this sadness, this passion. It made him unbelievably attractive. "No. Stop it Buffy. This is Xander we're talking about here." she thought to herself.
"At the library, at Sunnydale U. I told the counselor I needed a job so he gave me the Jr. Giles position." Xander answered.
"I have to say I'm flattered Xander." Giles said, taking a seat in the kitchen. The library was a much better meeting place but after yesterday, it no longer existed.
"I never said that's the job I wanted. But compare it against Jr. Security Guard and Janitor, I'd definitely say Jr. Giles it is." Xander said, bursting Giles' bubble.
"Buffy, you've been kind of quiet. What's your take on this whole scenario?" Xander said, for the first time directing his attention to her.
"I, um, I think it's very nice that you got a job. I'm proud of you." she answered, again barely forcing the words out.
"On another note, though," she said directing her attention to her Watcher, "what are we going to do if Faith does wake up? She may not want to be good. She may still want to do evil."
"Good point." Giles said taking a sip of tea. "I think that once she sees that we're not against her, that we forgive her, she will be fine."
"Okay, so what if we're not?" Oz said, suddenly joining the group after having band practice. "Hi guys. Will." He gave his girlfriend a little peck on the lips, which made her blush in front of her friends.
"Hello, Oz. What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"You said she'd be cool once she's sees we're all like okay with it right? Well what if we're not? What if we don't forgive her? I mean she's a slayer and she betrayed us. How can we trust her?" Oz explained himself.
"Another good point." Willow said. "I mean she did want to kill me. Not to mention the rest of us."
"You guys, I know you're not really into hopping on the forgiveness train, but she's had a rough time. I think we should at least try to make amends. And this is coming from the one who's boyfriend she tried to kill. I mean, raise your hand if this is way decent of me." Buffy said, raising both hands.
"Ex." Xander corrected.
"Huh? What? Why aren't you raising your hand?" Buffy said.
Xander raised his hand and said, "You mean ex-boyfriend."
"Oh yeah. Let's do bring those painful memories up as much as possible." Buffy said, losing all pep. "Sorry, I just wanted to point that out." he said.
"Well, I say we go pay Faith a visit," Giles said looking at his watch, "..tomorrow. Visiting hours ended thirty minutes ago."
"Sure. It's not like she can betray us while she's in a coma, unless she dreaming about betraying us...what the heck? I'm in." said Oz.
"Me too." said Willow.
"Me three." Xander piped in.
Everyone looked at Buffy, who hoped no one noticed she was checking Xander out. Blushing, she said, "You guys know I'm in. Like I have sooo much to do tommorrow!"
As everyone left the house, Xander purposely sayed behind. He had noticed Buffy's weirdness towards him today and he wanted to know what was up. He took her into the kitchen after everyone left.
"Buff, I've been meaning to ask you, what was up with you today?" he started.
"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to play it off.
"I saw you staring at me. What did I have something in my teeth or something? Funny hospital smell? What?" Xander asked, trying to keep it light.
"I was just thinking." she said.
"About me? Why would you do something like that?" Xander asked, still being sarcastic.
"I had a dream about you Xander." she began.
"Please tell me that this had nothing to do with cheese because..." he said, as she cut him off, "I've never seen this side of you before, Xander." Buffy said as she found herself moving in closer to him.
"Wh-What side?" Xander asked, now intrigued.
"I mean I had no idea you felt so strongly about things. I mean, some of the things you said, well I can tell you that they're on my mind a lot. I never knew wehad such simialr thoughts." Buffy said, strangely feeling like she was going to burst into tears. "I just- I just was thinking maybe I could talk to you, how I used to talk to Angel. Now that he's gone."
By now, Buffy eyes were swollen with tears and she slowly began to sob. Xander took her in his arms feelling a wave of sympathy for his slayer. His slayer. He thought about this for a moment. He loved Buffy, always has and always will. His fling with Willow and even Cordelia, much cared about defenitely, but they weren't anything like his slayer. Will is his best friend for life and Cordelia, well he wasn't really sure what Cordelia was. But no, nothing like his slayer. He looked down at Buffy, and raised her chin. Their eyes met. "Xander?" Buffy began.
He cleared his throught softly, "Yes?"
"You never did stop loving me did you."
"Not for a second" Xander said, suddenly wishing he could take it all back.
She was over run with feelings, but she couldn't, she wouldn't, sh wasn't going to let it get the best of her, and then he did. He leaned in to kiss her and she didn't stop him.
Buffy was still crying, but thanks to Xander, she had definitely calmed down a bit, only now, Xander was the one in tears.
Buffy sniffled, "Why are you crying?" she asked him.
He let out a little laugh, "It's actually kind of funny that I've been wanting to let it out all day, with the pressures of my dad and the whole thing with Faith, but ironically it was pure joy that brought me to tears, not sadness." he gave her his charming Xander smie and they kissed once more, this time more passionately.
"Buffy, I-, I-..." Xander tried to edge out.
"Shhh." Buffy said, "I know."
Xander was overwhlmed and shocked, but had definitely started to like feeling that way, especially as Buffy led him upstairs to her bedroom. He hadn't really been in there many times before, but still he knew it well enough. He pulled her towards him just outside the door. He brought her lips to his, and kissed her. Softly, at first, then more and more passionately. He easily swooped her up, and carried her inside. They ended up in each others arms that night, and it was something that neither of them were ashamed of. Buffy had seen this whole new side to Xander, very much liking it. Xander had always been in love with Buffy, but never really had been given the chance to prove how good he was for her. It was still early and she and Xander were lyingin her bed. Buffy's mom had left to take Willow and Cordelia home because Giles had to be somewhere and then she was going to drop her papers off at the office.
"Mom will be home soon. I think we should get dressed. It would be pretty awkward if she caught us like this." she said, letting out a bit of a giggle.
"Yeah, I guess it would be," Xander said, getting up to button up his shirt.
She motioned for him to sit on the bed next to her.
"So this dream? What was it about?" Xander said giving Buffy a devious look.
"Well, it was very strange. I had a flash of Angel in the alley at the Bronze, then I saw myself getting married, walking down the isle, and the back of the groom looked just like Angel, but when I got there and he turned around, he was you." she blushed, a bit embarressed finallly admiting the real reason why she had been acting so weird with him all night.
"Buffy, I wanted to ask you something." Xander started. Buffy looked up at him with those blue-green eyes he loved so much. "What about Angel? I mean, I know you didn't just stop loving him. What was tonight to you? Because I, well, you know I love you and tonight has been my dream of all dreams...to be with you, the one I love."
"Angel is out of the picture. No I didn't just stop caring about him, but truthfully, when I was with you, my love for him was kind of put on pause. I was with you tonight, and no one else, Xander." she answered him, unsure if it had come out the way she meant it to. "I want to move on from Angel. I want to be with you now, Xander, and I know you're confused because Angel only left yesterday, but today was a very strange day, for both of us. I want to give us a chance because I'm really diggin' this side of you."
Xander gave her a little smile. "Oh yeah? Tell me what part of this-side-of-me you're diggin' so much."
Buffy let out a thoughtful sigh, and brought her voice down almost to a whisper. "The part that makes you look soooooo sexy." she answered him, her lips close to his.
"How sexy?" Xander asked teasingly.
"Oh, really, really sexy." She kissed him.
"As much as I wish I could stay forever, we both know I can't live in your room. Wait, on second thought, what the heck!" Xander said, still holding the Chosen One in his arms.
"I don't think mom would like that too much, but I agree, you should get going. We'll get together tommorrow. Come over in the morning and we'll spend the day watching videos and eating chocalate chip cookie dough ice cream." she said, as they both walked downstairs.
He was already at the door. "Good night, Xander" Buffy said lightly pecking him for that last time.
"Good night beautiful." He walked out of the door and left for home.
* * *
Epilogue:
Xander walked on air as he headed home that night. He didn't care what awaited him. He began to daydream like a child. He thought of all the fun things they could do together, and God, of even one day marrying her. The woman he loved was finally his after three long years of pain. He arrived home and, to his surprise, his father skipped the interogation. He walked into his room and threw himself on his bed.
Buffy closed the door behind Xander and leaned against it for a while. She was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. One minute she was harmlessly checking him out and the next she was unbuttoning his shirt. She loved Angel, and she'll always care for him. He was, after all, her first everything, but she didn't regret being with Xander that night. Something about him felt like home to her.
Xander stared at the celing of his room as Buffy walked up to hers and lay in bed, both of them thinking about the events of that night. Xander thought how wondeful it would be to be with Buffy. She thought more along the lines of, "I'm finally gonna have a semi-normal life. Or at least a living boyfriend." She smiled as she thought of Xander. Funny, goofy, witty Xander. No. That Xander was her friend. This Xander was smart, sexy and romantic. At almost exactly the same time, they both said to themselves, "A strange day indeed."
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