Fic: A Watcher's Perspective (0/?)

[ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

A Watcher's Perspective, Prologue.
Comments/Theories on Atlantis/Etc. to: ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

--

Buffy leaned forward clad only on a raincoat. "Come on, it's a 
party!" She flashed Xander a sultry smile. "Aren't you gonna open 
your present?" Buffy fumbled at a button on her coat.
Xander backed slowly away, teenage hormones threatening to reach 
critical mass. "It's not that I don't want to." If only you knew, 
Xander thought. "Sometimes the remote impossible possibility that you 
might like me was all that sustained me. But not now..." Xander broke 
off as he tripped and fell backwards onto the stairs. "Not like this. 
This isn't real to you!" Xander's wiggage increased as Buffy 
straddled him. "You're only here because of a spell!" he wailed.
Buffy paused, a confused look in her eyes. 
"I mean," Xander continued, "if I thought you had one clue what it 
would mean to me..." Agony. Torture. "But you don't. So I can't."

*

Xander groaned as he tried to sit up. He looked around, forlornly, 
and noticed Willow staring at him. "So what are our options?" he 
asked, and winced as pain shot through his body.
Willow bit her lip. "Well, I figure either... I refuse to do the 
spell and he kills us, or I do the spell and he kills us."
"Give me a third option?" Xander pleaded.
"He's so drunk he forgets about us, and we starve to death." Willow 
shrugged. "That's sort of the best one," she added.
Xander decided that it was up to him to be Tough Guy. "Will, we're 
not gonna die." Painfully he struggled to get up, and Willow tried 
her best to help. "If he's so drunk, he'll get sloppy, and then I'll 
make my move!" Despite his words, Xander hadn't the strength, and he 
fell back to the floor pulling Willow down with him. "As long as my 
move doesn't involve standing up or using my limbs, we'll be okay!" 
he quipped. He saw Willow's face next to his, so tantalising near, 
evocative, kissable...
"We're not supposed to," Willow said. Xander realised she was 
thinking the same thing he was, as willing as him to break through 
the barriers that their friendship had imposed.
"Exemption for impending death situation," Xander murmured, and with 
that, they kissed. Xander reached out with his arm, and lay back. 
Willow followed, slipping her arms around his shoulder to hold him 
closer, and despite them being stuck in a basement with death 
imminent, nothing could spoil the perfection of the moment...
"Oh, God!" Cordelia gasped. Oz stood behind her, equally stunned.

*

Xander abseiled down to join Buffy and Willow on the roof of the 
lift. His face registered surprise as the girl he so wanted to date, 
and the girl he should have wanted to date but hadn't realised until 
too late, gave him a hug.
"Xander!" Buffy cried, happily.
"Oh, wonderful Xander!" Willow chipped in, completing the sandwich. 
Xander began to wig.
Buffy smiled softly. "You know we love you, right?"
"We totally do." Willow agreed. Xander totally wigged.
"Oh God, we're gonna die, aren't we?" he asked.
Willow blinked. "No. We just missed you!"
Xander's face lit into a massive grin. "Giles," he said, looking up 
into the darkness. "Hurry up! You definitely wanna get down here for 
this!"

*

Tara looked at him curiously. "We just think you're really 
interesting."
"Oh, I-I'm going places," Xander replied.
Willow giggled. "I'm way ahead of you." Teasingly, she caressed 
Tara's leg. Tara nuzzled up, and Willow whispered in her ear. Then 
they both giggled, as if they saw something amusing in Xander. Again, 
Willow's hand strayed to Tara's leg.
Xander licked his lips. "Is that right?" he asked.
"Watch this!" Willow's hand pressed against Tara's waist, and Tara 
embraced Willow. Xander stared, entranced, as they kissed.
Tara broke the kiss first and turned to Xander. "Do you wanna come 
in the back with us?" Willow's eyes, heavy with mascara, gleamed with 
enigmatic suggestion.
Xander's mouth dropped open.
"Oh, go on," Anya interjected.
Xander turned to stare at her. "I don't have to," he said.

*

Xander turned away, sadly, as Buffy and Willow shared a loving 
kiss. After Tara's tragic death and Buffy's grief over the loss of 
her mother, and with Riley now out of the picture and consigned to 
the third level of Hell (Iowa), the two girls had come together out 
of mutual grief. He saw Giles' questioning eyes watching him. Always 
the Watcher.
Giles raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I hate this bit," Xander said. "You know, the bit where the hero 
saves the girl, and she rides off happily into the sunset. And he's 
left kissing his horse."
Giles let it go over his head. "Yes, tragic." he muttered.
Xander shrugged. "Depends on how you feel about the horse." He 
looked thoughtful for a moment. "Anya's waiting for me. I'll leave 
you guys to pack up."
"Yes, thank you." Giles nodded. A sudden thought struck him "Oh, 
Xander?"
"Yeah?"
Giles looked a little nervous. "I was wondering, well, its been 
bugging me a little... What exactly do you see in a thousand-year-old 
revenge demon?"
>From anyone else, Xander might have gotten upset by the question, 
but Giles lived in a different world to him. One with tweed in it, 
and scones and stuff. Xander appreciated that tact worked differently 
in Giles' home country. Probably.
"Well," he offered, "she doesn't want to eat my head, carve out my 
heart, drink my blood, sacrifice me to the Dark Lord or comment on my 
fashion sense." He gave Giles a what-else-could-a-man-want 
smile. "Although, I may be wrong about the sacrifice part." he 
amended.
Giles nodded, open-mouthed, as Xander gave him a weak grin and 
walked away.

*

Angel glanced over at Xander, whose face seemed more serious than 
normal. "Penny for your thoughts?" he queried.
"Oh," Xander frowned. "I was just thinking about Buffy and Willow. 
You know, fighting evil and slaying demons together. Then I have to 
go slay an inner demon of my own." His grin weakened and faded away 
altogether.
"You're still in love with Buffy?" Angel asked.
"Oh yeah." Xander thought about the loves of his life. "Aren't you?"

*

End Prologue.