Fic: RR&R Book III (5a/?) NC17 see header for pairings

Title: Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation Book III

Author: The Bear!

Spoilers: None really, this is in the Triadverse AU and follows Reflections, which followed RR&R Book II

Pairing: Willow/Buffy/Tara Joyce/Giles Dawn/Xander Faith/Non-BtVS Characters

Summary: It’s the beginning of summer and things are heating up, in more ways than one!

Warnings: NC17 (People will be having hot, sweaty, sticky, kinky, yummy sex in this story! (Chapter 5 is good and smutty) If that offends you, feel free to PISS OFF)

Disclaimer: If I owned ‘em, they’d have to show it on the Xstasy Network.

Author’s Note: By the way, if you don’t care much for D/X, you might want to skip this chapter. I warned you! If you skip this warning and send me flame mail, I shall ruthlessly taunt you! Truly! I mean it! Absolutely no ruth as far as the eye can see!

========== BtVS ==========

Chapter 5

“I’m so excited! And I just can’t fight it...” Xander sang under his breath as he pulled a few shirts out of his closet and laid them down on his bed. “I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!”

Suddenly he caught sight of himself dancing in the mirror on his closet door and stopped stock still. “Ok, when I start channeling the pointer sisters, it’s time to seriously examine my life...” he mumbled, blushing with embarrassment.

He picked the two better looking shirts of the three he’d selected and began folding them to go into the suitcase that lay open next to him. ‘Man oh man this is going to be so awesome!’ he thought excitedly. ‘Dawn Summers, I am going to make this the best birthday you’ve ever had!’

He finished packing his suitcase and looked at the clock beside the bed. “Hmm, 8:05... You’re running late Willow!” He went out to the main room, stopping to grab a celery stick out of the fridge.

He started pacing back and forth in the living room as he reviewed things. ‘Ok; bag is packed, got wallet, tickets in wallet, keys, Dawn’s present...’ He munched down the celery stick and went to get another from the fridge. “I think I’ve got everything...” he mused.

Looking at the clock on the microwave he muttered, “Ten after... come on Will, where are you?”

As though the fates had heard his plea, there was a knock at the door and he nearly tripped over himself as he spun around to rush over. Opening the door, he couldn’t keep the enormous smile off of his face as he said, “Willow, who is my bestest buddy in the whole world! Come in!”

She frowned at him as she entered the apartment. “Um, hi,” she said hesitantly. “What’s wrong with you?” she immediately asked.

“Nothing!” he said, still grinning madly. “Want some celery?” he offered, munching on his own.

“Xander, did you eat some of your neighbor’s brownies again!?” Willow demanded, hands on her hips. “I told you his ‘secret’ ingredient isn’t love...”

Xander laughed at that, remembering the time Anya had accepted the ‘gift’ that the old hippie down the hall had offered, not telling Xander where she’d gotten the brownies until after he’d eaten several. “No, Will, no brownies for this boy!” he said.

“Then why are you smiling like that?” Willow asked, sounding bewildered. “And what’s with the celery obsession all of a sudden? Dawnie said you’ve been eating it constantly all week!”

He blushed, thinking, ‘So not answering that question!’

“I need a favor Will, well, two actually,” he said, ignoring the questions all together.

“What favors?” she asked guardedly, apparently still wary of his behavior.

‘God, I am just too giddy,’ he thought as he caught himself almost bouncing up and down with excitement. “I want to kidnap Dawn away from school and take her on a little trip...” he began explaining.

Immediately Willow’s eyes lit up, “Ooh! The birthday surprise!” she exclaimed, actually clapping her hands in excitement. “Where are you taking her? Someplace romantic?”

“Now, now Willow... I don’t want to ruin the surprise...” he chided.

“Xander!” she said with a pout. “You make me leave my warm bed- which happens to be chock full of sexy blondes, let me tell you- this early in the morning to come over here and help you, but you still won’t tell me where you’re taking her?” she crossed her arms and said, “Well, maybe I’m not feeling all that helpful then...”

“Aww, come on Willow, please?” Xander said, giving her his sad-puppy eyes despite the desire to laugh at her threat.

“Hmpf!” was her reply.

“You really don’t want to ruin this for Dawnie, do you?” he said, breaking out the guilt card.

Her posture relaxed and her arms dropped, but she still looked unconvinced.

“I’ll show you her birthday present...” he wheedled.

A slow smirk grew on the redhead’s face. “Xander!” she exclaimed teasingly. “I’m a girl’s girl these days... besides, I’m already spoken for!”

“Not *that*!” Xander rolled his eyes, thinking, ‘God, and you think *I* have sex on the brain...’

She giggled.

“I bought her a car...” he went on.

“Ooh, what kind?” she asked, once again excited.

“You’ll help me?” he asked.

It was her turn to roll her eyes as she said, “Of course! You know I’d do anything... for Dawnie.” She said with a teasing grin. “So, what’cha need?”

“Well, the first thing’s easy... I just need for you to pack her a bag,” he explained.

“Ah, smart boy,” Willow said.

“Hey, I know better than to try and pack for a woman...” he explained. “You women always have secret girl-stuff that we men don’t understand, and I don’t want to leave out anything important...”

“Ok, that’s easy enough...” Willow said. “What’s the second thing?”

“Well, I don’t want to get her in trouble at school, so I thought I might use a little subterfuge...”

========== BtVS ==========

‘This is dumb,’ Dawn thought as she watched the teacher write another letter on the chalkboard and draw an arm on the hangman. ‘I mean, ok I guess I’m glad they don’t make us take all our finals on one day... but it’s just wrong to still have to go to class after all your finals are done... Hello! That’s why they’re called Final! ...especially on your birthday!’

She pouted- just a little bit- at the injustice of it all.

Her eyes wandered away from the chalkboard and landed on the form of her former best friend, Janice, who was sitting with her back turned deliberately toward Dawn.

The youngest Summers rolled her eyes, thinking, ‘Please, could you be more immature? I’m sorry but I’m not the same person you remember me being.’ She felt a small pang of regret, but more for Janice’s feelings than for the way Janice was treating her lately. ‘What were we going to talk about? What cheerleader’s dating which jock? or the latest boy-band singer that you’re ‘in love’ with this week... Oh yeah, and then we can discuss me shooting two men, or that I’m being hunted by some unknown assassin, or the fact that I wasn’t actually born sixteen years ago today, I’m really the Key to some hell-dimension that was stuffed into a human shell about ten months ago...’

Dawn put her elbows on her desktop and rested her chin on her hands, thinking, ‘Oh boy, only twenty more minutes, then five more exciting classes just like this one... Gee, I’m going to be in a great mood when I get home this afternoon.’

She sighed and closed her eyes. ‘Come on Summers, think happy thoughts... it’s your birthday... dinner with the whole gang tonight. Oh, and presents! Presents are good. I wonder what Xander got me?’ A warm shiver ran down her spine as she thought, ‘I wonder if he’ll give me what I really, really want? Mmm, Xander...’

“Ms. Summers!” the teacher’s voice snapped, followed by the laughter of her classmates.

‘Great!’ she thought, opening her eyes. ‘Busted again.’

“I’m sorry Ms. Summers, did I wake you?” the teacher asked derisively.

‘Please, we’re playing hangman! It’s not like I missed anything!’ she thought, wanting to say it aloud, but restraining herself. It was then that she noticed the school principal was standing next to her teacher. With a sigh and the knowledge that this teacher wouldn’t drop it unless she answered his question, Dawn said, “No sir, I was just concentrating on my hangman strategy.”

“Mr. Heimer...” the principle said impatiently.

“Of course...” the teacher nodded. “Ms. Summers, before you leave with Mr. Rooney, perhaps you’ll share with everyone your guess at the answer,” he said condescendingly. “Since you’ve given it such deep consideration...”

‘What a jackass!’ Dawn thought, fighting to keep from rolling her eyes as she picked up her book bag and stood up. She looked at the board, which showed

O _ o _ a t o _ o e t i _ a _ _ _

She chuckled when she realized what the word was.

“What’s funny, Ms Summers?” Mr. Heimer asked.

“It’s just ironic,” Dawn answered, shaking her head. “That something, which means a word that sounds like the thing it describes, should sound so completely unrecognizable.

The look of shock on Heimer’s bearded face gave Dawn a warm fuzzy and she smiled brightly.

“Let’s go Dawn,” Mr. Rooney said, gesturing towards the door.

‘Mmm, I’m going to remember that look for a long, long time...’ Dawn thought gleefully. Her gaze swept across the class as she turned to leave. ‘I bet they still don’t get it!’ she thought cynically.

She left the room with her head held high.

She stood just down the hall and waited for the principal to close the door behind him before asking what was going on. Just as she was going to speak, she overheard him mumble under his breath, “God, what a jackass!”

Dawn’s jaw dropped and her eyes bugged out. ‘Huh what?’ she thought, stunned. ‘Did he just say...’

Her jaw sagged even further open as Mr. Rooney met her eyes and said, “That guy needs to get the giant bug up his ass surgically removed...”

“Uh...” she said, stupefied.

“Come on, lets get out of here,” he said, turning and walking down the hall.

After a second, Dawn scrambled to catch up to the retreating form. “Um, Mr. Rooney? What’s going on?” she asked tentatively.

“Do you need to go to your locker before you leave?” he asked, ignoring her question.

“Um, I’m leaving?” Dawn said, still in shock. ‘What the heck is going on here?’

Mr. Rooney stopped and turned to face her directly. “Would you rather stay here all day?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Uh, no?” Dawn said hesitantly, half expecting something bad to happen any minute now.

She started to freak out as the principal leaned forward and spoke in a quiet voice, “Oh, by the way? Willow said to tell you Happy Birthday, and that you owe her details...”

Dawn’s eyes once again bugged out. ‘Willow?’ she thought briefly before realization set in. she focused her inner sight on the man before her and the glamour wavered and disappeared to her sight. “Xander!” she hissed, angry and delighted all at once.

She smacked him on the shoulder, and then immediately grabbed his head and latched on to his mouth, kissing him soundly.

“Careful Dawnie, you’ll really start some rumors if anyone sees us!” he said with a laugh when she broke the kiss.

“You big jerk!” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to bust you out!” he said, grinning madly. “No girl of mine is gonna spend her birthday locked up in the dungeon of despair!”

Mindful of his comment about rumors, Dawn shot a glance up and down the hall before again kissing him soundly. “You’re, like, the best boyfriend in the history of boyfriends! This is an awesome birthday present!”

“This is only the beginning!” Xander said with a smile that seemed full of promise. “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

“Mmm, oh yeah?” Dawn purred. “You got something... big... to show me?” she said in a deep, sexy voice. ‘Oh boy!’ she thought lustily as his eyes dilated and he slowly licked his lips.

Xander leaned forward again and whispered, “Now, if I told you, it’d ruin the surprise.”

Chills ran across her skin at the sensation of his warm breath on her ear. ‘Oh you cruel, evil man!’ she thought, feeling her body respond with desire. “Take me out of this place Xander,” she said huskily. ‘Before I tackle you to the floor and start taking your clothes off!’ she added silently.

“So, do you need to go to your locker?” Xander said, his voice back to normal.

“Nope, cleaned out yesterday,” she said in a voice that was still slightly husky.

“Good!” Xander said with a smile that made Dawn melt. “Then let’s blow this popsicle-stand!”

‘Mmm, there’s a mental image I can agree with!’ she thought.

========== BtVS ==========

As soon as they exited the school and hit the sidewalk, Xander took off the pendant that Willow had ensorcelled for him, changing from Principle Rooney back to himself.

“Much better,” Dawn commented. “You realize I may have nightmares thinking of you turning into my high school principal, don’t you?” she teased.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll just have to find a way to give you better memories,” he said, teasing right back.

“I can think of a couple ways...” she said, shooting him a sexy look.

“Just a couple?” he said with a flirty smile.

“Well, just for starters,” she flirted right back.

He stopped and tugged her hand so that she turned back to face him. Behind her back, he signaled for the limousine parked down the street to come pick them up. Then he turned his attention onto his girlfriend, looking her up and down. “Have I told you how much I like your new outfits lately?” he said, feeling both heat and adoration for her.

She was wearing a thin, clingy pink sweater and snug sea-foam green Capri pants. Her toenails were painted pink and stuck out of her strappy sandals.

“Aww, this old thing?” she said mock-dismissively.

“Mmmhmm,” he hummed, causing her eyes to dilate and her mouth to open slightly as she wet her lips. ‘Oh, I am so going to drive you crazy today!’ he thought. ‘It’d be almost a crime to tease you like I’m going to... if I wasn’t actually going to make good on it!’

“Um...” she started, clearly distracted. “Uh, so what’s the plan now that the brave hero has rescued the damsel from the castle?”

He couldn’t help but smirk a bit as her focus on him prevented her from noticing the limousine that glided to a stop next to them. “How about the brave hero and the sexy damsel take a little ride?” he asked, gesturing at the long black car next to them.

Dawn turned to the car and took a half-step back in shock. “Whoa! Where did that come from?”

Xander chuckled and stepped to the car so he could open the door. “Come on sexy damsel, your chariot awaits...”

Dawn narrowed her eyes at him, but a small smile broadened across her mouth. “I think you’re mixing metaphors...” she said sardonically, but moved to enter the car nonetheless.

‘Oh man, oh man, that is one beautiful behind!’ Xander thought salaciously as she bent over to climb into the car. ‘And tonight I get to see it uncovered for the first time!’ He winced at the constrained feeling that resulted as his excitement swelled.

Shaking his head, he climbed into the limo, thinking, ‘This is going to be torture for me as much, if not more than for her!’

‘Hmm, little vixen!’ he thought seeing the smile on Dawn’s face. ‘You know exactly how you affect me, don’t you?’

“Are you ready, sir?” a soft feminine voice came across the intercom speakers as the privacy shield was already in place.

He smirked at Dawn’s raised eyebrow as he depressed the talk button. “Yes, thank you Rachael,” he answered.

“Rachael?” Dawn asked cattily.

“Hey, I didn’t choose the driver, she came with the car...” he defended half-heartedly. “There’s only one woman in this car that I’m interested in, and it’s not the driver,” he added in a low, intense voice.

“Oh yeah?” she asked, unsuccessfully fighting the smile that was trying to grow on her face.

“Oh yeah!” he growled, leaning and twisting to plant a deep kiss on his girlfriends sweet lips.

It must not have taken long to forgive the presence of a female driver; by the time he came up for air, she had moved onto him, straddling his lap. He rubbed his hands up and down her back and whispered, “God, I love you Dawn!”

“Mmph!” she mewled, pouting at him before initiating another deep, hard kiss. “Love you too, Xan. So, so much!” she cried softly, then kissed him again.

He had no concept of time as they made out. Finally as his discomfort grew almost to the point of pain, he broke off, panting. ‘Later, later!’ he told himself. ‘You’re not going to make love to her for the first time in the back of a car, not even a limo!’

“Do you have any idea how happy you make me?” he asked when his breath returned.

She wriggled her hips a bit, grinding deliciously against the bulge in his pants and lustily said, “Oh yeah, I think I have some idea!”

He chuckled hoarsely and said, “No, not that...”

She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

“Well, yes that too,” he added. “But I just meant in general. I never was good with the talking about emotions thing... but with you it’s like I just can’t help it! I don’t really know how else to describe it; being around you makes me really happy.”

‘Mmm, love that pout!’ Xander thought gleefully. ‘You have the sexiest pouty lips, like ever!’

“Did I mention how you’re the best boyfriend in the history of boyfriends?” Dawn said softly.

“You did,” he answered with a smile. “Somehow, though, I haven’t gotten tired of hearing it...”

She laughed and moved off of his lap, sitting next to him and snuggling against his chest as he lifted his arm over her shoulders. “Don’t suppose that bar has anything non-alcoholic in it, does it?” she asked.

‘Post make-out thirsties... One of the unmentioned hazards of the sport...’ he thought with a grin. “Of course; water or Pepsi-unleaded?” he asked.

“Pepsi, please.” She answered in a chirp.

‘Scarily Buffy-like there...’ Xander thought as he leaned over and opened up the mini-fridge.

“So, what’s the plan, Xan?” Dawn asked as he handed her the bottle. “Does this trip have a destination?”

“Bored already?” he teased as he grabbed his own drink and shut the fridge.

“I have absolutely no problem spending the day in the back of a limo with you, but I know my man, and something tells me he has even better plans...” she said with a warm smile.

“Hmm, you might be right...” he said with a smug grin.

Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him, saying, “But you aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

“It’s a surprise Dawnie!” he said in an almost whine. “Aww, come on, don’t be like that,” he responded to her pout. “You’ll know soon enough... I just want this to be special!”

“Okay,” she said still pouting a little.

“It’ll be worth it, I promise,” he vowed.

========== BtVS ==========

“We’re going to see the Queen Mary?” Dawn asked, confused as the limo turned into the parking lot at the historic ocean liner turned hotel/museum/tourist attraction. ‘I mean, it’s nice and all, I guess... but not really what I was hoping for...’ she thought as they approached the ship. ‘God Summers, ungrateful much?’ she immediately chastised herself. ‘I should just be happy we’re spending time together, wherever we end up going!’

Xander just shook his head, grinning smugly.

‘Ohh, you arrogant... man!’ she thought, as annoyed with his coyness as she was eager to see her surprise.

“We’re going on a helicopter?” she asked as they passed the enormous ship and continued on to the heliport.

“Yep,” Xander said with a nod.

‘Don’t smile...’ Dawn thought, trying not to give away her excitement. “I’ve never gone on a helicopter... actually I’ve never flown at all,” she said, her voice betraying her feelings slightly.

“Me neither,” he responded simply.

‘You’re enjoying my torment, aren’t you?’ she thought. ‘Just you wait till your birthday mister! Then we’ll see how you like it!’ she thought, not really mad, just aggravated.

The limo came to a halt in front of the heliport’s entrance. The driver opened the door and Xander exited quickly, reaching back to offer Dawn a hand out.

“Is it like a tour or something?” Dawn asked finally, giving in to her curiosity just a little.

He just stood there as the driver went around and opened up the trunk. “Not exactly...” he non-answered.

When the driver came back around from the trunk, Dawn noticed that she was pulling two medium sized rolling suitcases along with her. “Ready when you are, sir and ma’am.” She said, exuding a professional demeanor.

“We have bags?” Dawn asked, narrowing her eyes again. “Why do we have bags?”

“We’re taking a little trip,” Xander said calmly.

“You packed my bag?” Dawn demanded. ‘I can’t believe he would pack for me! What if he brought the wrong stuff?’ she thought, annoyance mounting.

“No, I had Willow pack for you... I’m not stupid, Dawn,” he quickly answered.

“Oh,” she said, briefly mollified. “Wait, Willow knows where we’re going?” she demanded, once again feeling aggravation build.

“No, of course not,” he explained as he took her hand and pulled her towards the heliport. The chauffer followed behind with the baggage. “I just told her the kind of things we might be doing and let her pick out the appropriate stuff...”

“Oh,” she said, deflating again. ‘Dammit, I need to stop looking for a reason to be pissed here,’ she told herself. ‘Remember, Summers- sweet boyfriend, rescued you from school and is taking you on a surprise trip for your birthday. Try not to be a bitch about it!’

“Relax, Dawnie. You’re gonna have fun, I promise!” he whispered in her ear as they approached the ticket counter.

‘Doesn’t mean you can’t plan to get some payback!’ she thought even as she put on a sweet smile for her man.

========== BtVS ==========

‘My God she’s beautiful,’ Xander thought, watching Dawn’s face as they flew. ‘I can check out the scenery on the way back, but there will never be another ‘Dawn’s first Helicopter ride’ to see.’

She was clutching his hand, no doubt due to nervousness at first, but quickly supplanted by excitement as she ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed over the view. A wide, delighted smile graced her features as her eyes darted from one sight to the next.

‘So worth the cost of buying out the extra seats!’ he thought.

“Oh Xander! Look! Dolphins!” she cried, energetically pointing off to one side of the chopper.

A glance over her shoulder showed that there were indeed dolphins racing along just beneath the surface of the clear, blue water. A wake of white trailed out behind them intermittently as their dorsal fins broke through into the open air. Xander laughed out loud as Dawn bounced in her seat, “Do you see them? Do you see them Xander?” she asked excitedly, turning to him with wide eyes and an eager smile.

“I did,” he answered nodding.

“Oh, aren’t they beautiful?” she cried, looking back out the side of their helicopter.

“Gorgeous!” he sighed. ‘...and seeing the dolphins swimming ain’t too shabby either, I have to admit,’ he thought happily. ‘You know a girl’s special when she still looks sexy even with giant earmuffs on!’

“Whoa! Is that where we’re going?” Dawn suddenly asked as she noticed the rapidly approaching island before them.

“Catalina Island,” he said, directly answering her question for the first time. “The name of the town is Avalon.”

“Like in King Arthur? The Mists of Avalon?” she asked, her eyes still shining with what looked like pure happiness.

Xander chuckled. “Mmm, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Merlin running around anywhere...”

“Or Morgan Le Fay?” Dawn asked teasingly.

“Hmm, the only Sorceress I want to see for the next forty-eight hours is the Enchantress named Dawn!”

They missed the landing of the chopper due to unscheduled kissage.

========== BtVS ==========

“I give you... the Villa D’Este!” Xander said with a grand gesture as he opened the door to their suite.

Much as she wanted to regain some semblance of cool after treating each new sight with awe, all Dawn could say was “Wow! Oh, wow!” as she entered the suite. The sand-colored walls set off the pale carpet and the lavender and purple stripes in the fabrics on the bed and the drapes were subtle accents that made the room seem colorful while remaining warm and even serene.

Her eyes traveled the room as Xander brought in their bags and parked them by the dresser. There was an enormous, overstuffed sofa in a rich cream color. A couple of chairs were upholstered in a pale lavender color and looked like you could sink down into them and never return. The faded and distressed wood of the dresser and armoire looked like well preserved- but actually used- antiques rather than museum pieces.

“Look at the bathroom!” Xander said, sounding excited himself at last.

“Oh my...” she whispered, taking in the huge marble bathroom. The tub was so big it looked like it could fit three or four, let alone one or two. The shower was large enough to have a bench seat along the marble wall and was surrounded on the other three sides by clear, frameless glass panels.

“And this is the best part, come see!” Xander said happily, taking her hand and leading her across the living space. He pulled apart the curtains and said, “Look at that!”

Dawn gasped. Beyond the French doors there was a small private deck and beyond that was Avalon bay, glistening blue in the sunlight, dotted by crisp white sails from the multitude of small sailboats from the yacht club off to the left. To the right was a long pier with shops and people fishing. Beyond the yacht club on the left was a round, bright white building that rose up over a hundred feet off of a mini-cliff overlooking the entrance to the bay.

“What do you think?” Xander asked eagerly.

‘I think I have the best boyfriend imaginable!’ she thought, overjoyed.

“Dawnie?” Xander asked with a mixture of happiness and concern on his face. She only realized she was crying when he wiped the tears from her cheek.

“It’s absolutely beautiful Xander!” she whispered. “It’s... thank you!” she said through trembling lips.

“I love you so much Dawn!” Xander said in a low, ardent voice, punctuated with a deep, soft kiss.

She clung tightly to him, overwhelmed as she thought, ‘This trip has to be the sweetest, most romantic gift ever!’

After long moments, Xander pulled away slightly, saying, “Why don’t you unpack your stuff and put on something comfy for walking around and stuff... there’s a glass-bottom boat tour of the bay I’d like to take you on.”

“Glass bottom...?” Dawn asked with raised brows.

“Yeah, you know, so you can see the fish and coral and stuff?” he said.

“That’d be kinda cool,” she allowed.

“Cool!” he said eagerly. “I’m gonna go to the check in desk, I saw where you can buy tickets...”

“Ok,” she said with a warm smile. ‘How sweet is that? He’s letting me unpack and change without any awkwardness or stuff...’

“Ok, be back in a couple minutes!” he said, backing out the door and then turning and walking away.

When the door closed Dawn let out a little squeak of excitement. “This is so awesome! Oh my God I can’t believe it!” she cried happily. She grabbed her bag and tossed it onto the bed. Opening it up she immediately saw the sexy, elegant dress that she’d recently purchased.

“Hmm, well, Xander told her the kind of stuff we were gonna do, so there must be a fancy dinner in my future,” she mused. Laying it aside she saw another purchase she’d recently made and blushed furiously. “Oh my God! Willow!” she hissed. Shaking her head she thought, ‘I’m gonna guess you were just feeling hopeful for me, cause there’s no way Xan’d tell you to pack that!’

Suddenly her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped. She looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time and came to a startling realization.

“Wait a minute... there’s only one bed in this room...”

========== BtVS ==========

‘Perfect... this whole day has been absolutely perfect!’ Xander thought happily as he and Dawn swayed gently to the music.

They and a handful of other couples were out on the small dancefloor at the Ristorante Portofino- moving to the soft, bluesy jazz music playing.

‘The boat tour was great, the shopping was fun, just walking on the beach together was better than I could have imagined! God, I’ve always enjoyed Dawn’s company, especially since we’ve been together, but she was just so... alive and happy today!’ he thought adoringly. ‘Dinner was probably the best I’ve ever had in my life, and this... slow dancing is amazing. I think the best thing is that smile on her face...’ he thought, looking down into his girl’s eyes and seeing the adoration there and in her dazzling smile.

‘Although that dress is a *real* close second!’ he added lustily in his thoughts. ‘I nearly died when she came out of the bathroom in that!’

Dawn was wearing the quintessential ‘little black dress’ with two tiny straps holding up a top that showed a generous, though not indecent, amount of cleavage, and a slit up each side that went just above mid-thigh. It remained conservative enough to fit right in with the crowd in the upscale restaurant, yet was daring enough that there wasn’t a pair of male eyes in the room that weren’t drawn repeatedly in her direction.

“Did I mention that you look really, really good in that suit?” Dawn said, looking up at him with unabashed adoration.

“Did I mention that seeing you in that dress pretty much removed my ability to think?” he answered, only half-kidding.

Her response was an unabashedly delighted laugh.

‘Oh yeah, you knew exactly what you did to me, didn’t you my little tease!’ he thought indulgently.

“Do you know what Buffy said when I tried this on at Saks?” she asked, grinning.

He shook his head, his own mouth stretching into a grin to match hers.

“She said, ‘Xander’s definitely gonna go non-verbal when he sees you in that’.”

“She said that?” he asked disbelievingly.

Dawn laughed again, adding, “Yeah, but she had this look of horror on her face when she said it, like it was a bad thing.”

Xander chuckled, thinking, ‘Now that I can believe.’

As he stared happily down into her eyes, Dawn’s smile fell slightly, changing from humorous to something more sensual.

‘That’s plenty more than enough talk about Buffy thank you very much...’ he thought as fresh arousal coursed through him.

“Dawn,” he whispered, his voice raw with desire. “I want to take you back to our room...”

Her eyes widened and she licked her lips, breathing hard suddenly. “Oh Xander...” she breathed. “Yes, please!” she whispered back, nodding her head quickly.

‘We’re really going to do this!’ Xander thought with a sense of awe and excitement spinning in his head like a top.

========== BtVS ==========

TheBear!

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