TITLE: Fast Forward to a Few Years Later

AUTHOR: RealMitzvah (realmitzvah@aol.com)

SUMMARY: Just because you've walked away doesn't mean it's really over.

SPOILER WARNING: Through "Chosen," the series finale of "Buffy," and minor spoilers for beginning of "Angel" season five.

RATING: NC-17 overall. (Slash, language, sex.)

DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to Joss. Even London. Seriously, he probably has that much money. I don't have any money so it's pointless for anyone to get mad.

PAIRINGS: Primary pairing is Giles/Xander. There is a little Xander/OMC, some Willow/OFC, a touch of Xander/Spike and some mentioned Gunn/Wes, Xander/Wes and Giles/Ethan. (Whatever. I so warned you that this was NC-17)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is set in 2016 and takes into account the "Buffy" canon and as much of "Angel" as was available to me when I finished it. A few things I added aren't strictly canon but don't contradict it either. Though it's set in the future, it deals greatly with the past.
AN2: I haven't written much sex lately so if anyone sends me feedback that insults the smut, I'll probably start writing puritan fic. It won't be pretty. ("Then Cotton Mather realized he could see almost half of an inch of Anne's ankle. He began to tremble.")
AN3: Warning for abuse of Irish accent worse than even David Boreanaz could manage.
AN4: The title is taken from Alanis Morissette's "Hands Clean" which I have more than a passing infatuation with, and too often look to for titles.
AN5: Super big thanks to (in alphabetical order): Andrew, Gloss, Meg and Sofy for beta work and general support as applicable. Thanks, guys! Any mistakes are *truly* mine.

***************************************

We'll fast forward to a few years later
and no one knows except the both of us
and I have honored your request for silence
and you've washed your hands clean of this.
--- from Alanis Morisette's "Hands Clean," off of"Under Rug Swept"

***************************************

"Hey, baby," Xander said into the phone. Katie looked up from the couch, even though she had heard the phone ring. She always looked up instinctively when he said "baby." He mouthed "Willow" to her and she nodded. Of course it was Willow. Who else would he call baby - who else besides Katie herself?

"I'm always up for something wild! ... We're not that old Wills, seriously. ... Yeah, Katie's right here," Xander said. Katie looked up again, wondering why Willow would want to know if she was there.

"Yeah, we're great. Katie's teaching fifth-grade now. I was offered a promotion of sorts but it would have been the same pay and I wouldn't be on site anymore so I turned it down. What about you? How's university life treating you? ... Mmhmm." Xander said.

Katie turned up the television, trying not to look annoyed. A few minutes later she turned it down slightly since Xander was listening intently to Willow rather than blabbering on in a voice that drowned out her show.

"I'd have to check it out with Katie, of course, but it sounds like a great idea to me. Do you have a specific location in mind? ... You're right. We'll worry about that if everything falls into place. Give me a minute, okay?" Xander said. Covering the phone's receiver, he turned to Katie.

"Hey, babe, Wills - Willow - has a great idea. Lydia has the summer term off and Willow's been on sabbatical all year. They were talking about a vacation and got to thinking that Lydia and I haven't met and you and Willow haven't met and it's been so long since I've seen Wills and ... it would be nice," Xander finished lamely. Katie understood immediately.

"Oh. Well. Yeah. I guess that's true. Yeah ... that would be ... okay," Katie said, frowning.

"Uh," Xander said back into the phone, "She's frowning but she agreed."

"I'm not frowning," Katie said, throwing a pillow at her boyfriend.

"Okay, now she's grinning but she's throwing shit. How am I supposed to survive a few days with nothing but women?" Xander asked into the phone, looking at Katie.

"We've just been up and down the coast pretty much. Oh, and to Canada and Mexico," Xander said. "So pick something impressive and see if we agree with you. ... Great. ... Sounds good. ... I would just need at least two weeks' notice to put in for vacation time. .... Yeah. ... Okay, call back soon. ... I love you too. Bye, baby." Katie winced again. How long had it taken him to say "I love you" to her? Even now, he looked self-conscious doing it.

"This is so exciting," Xander said. "God, I haven't seen Wills in ... at least two years. Three years? God. And last time we met midway in Chicago but Lydia had to be at the university so I never got to meet her. I'm a sad excuse for a best friend. ... You don't mind doing this, do you?" Actually, Katie did kind of mind but she and Xander had been in a rut for a while. Katie had begun to suspect that his affection for Willow was part of the problem. Maybe this would make or break the relationship. Katie could just get married or find someone else already.

"No, it's exciting, honey," Katie said. "And since I'm not teaching summer school this year, it's really pretty convenient."

A few minutes later the telephone rang. Xander grabbed it.

"Hey, dollface," he said. Katie felt a wrinkle form in the middle of her forehead. Willow was going to have to pay for Botox.

"Oh." Xander said. He looked torn. "I hadn't even thought of, yeah, of course, that's logical, I should have, have you talked to him?" Now this was interesting. Katie didn't think she'd seen him look this flustered since the tenant renting the apartment over their garage had told him that he was beautiful - the very male tenant.

"How did he seem? ... Excited like to see us or ... Yeah, of course, he hasn't seen us in years ... I don't know if Katie will want to go there but ... Yeah, just a sec," Xander said. This was the first time he hadn't eagerly volunteered her for something.

"Uh, Willow's thinking London. Well, England anyway. We have a friend who lives there, has plenty of room. It would be like a reunion thing," Xander said. Katie just nodded. Whatever.

"Looks like that's okay but ... I mean, we'd have to get passports, long flight ... Yeah, I know, it's just going to be weird," Xander said. He listened and "uh-huh"ed for a while.

"Does Lydia," Xander said, shooting Katie a sideways glance, "know?" Know? Know what?

"I mean if it's going to be the three of us, no way we're just going to ignore the past, you know? Yeah. ... I don't know why I haven't talked about it yet. I should have known Lydia would be cool about it," Xander said. Katie didn't like this at all. Xander clearly hadn't told her something that Willow had told Lydia. The implication was that she wouldn't handle it like Lydia had. She came up with many terrible possibilities: Xander and Willow couldn't keep their hands off each other, they were wanted by the police and would have to travel incognito, vacations always revolved around matches of competitive midget-throwing ...

"Yeah. Go ahead and get tickets. I'm not sure if Katie has a passport so I'll check that. That could hold us up. We're good to go as soon as I tell my boss the dates. I'll, I'll try to talk to Katie tonight," Xander sighed. What the hell was this, Katie thought? "On the plus side, I can always bring Spike in on this. ... Yeah, he rents the apartment over our garage. When I say rents, I mean, occasionally throws an errant $20 our way." Spike? Katie knew damn well that the man living over their garage was named Will.

"I love you. Say hi to Lydia. ... Will do. ... Bye." Xander hung up the phone and turned to see Katie looking at him expectantly.

"Uh. Hi. Willow says hi," he said sheepishly. Katie put a hand on her hip.

"So. Maybe we should sit down," Xander said. Katie put her other hand on her other hip. "Or maybe I should talk."

Katie waited. Xander took a deep breath, turned off the television and sat down facing Katie.

"Willow wants us to stay with a man named Rupert Giles. He was ... the librarian at Sunnydale High School when we went there. I know I'm starting in the wrong place but this is the easiest way for me to do this," Xander said. He looked so pained, so unsure, that Katie sat down across from him and held his hands. He lifted his head just enough that he had to look up through his lashes to look at her. It made her heart flutter to see that half-smile, those chocolate brown eyes - even if one of them was fake-- beneath such dramatic lashes. Will was right, he was beautiful.

"Hey," Katie said, suddenly remembering and dropping his hands. "What the hell is the deal with you calling Will 'Spike'?"

"All in good time, babe. I have to start somewhere with this story. You'll either believe me or not. I might not tell it right but that's what it comes down to," Xander said. Katie became nervous.

"The librarian," she prompted.

"Right. But he wasn't just the librarian. God, I am starting in the wrong place. Okay, you know that when you started at UC Sunnydale, there had been a lot of drama before you got there, right?" he said.

"Yeah, of course. You can't ignore the fact that they had to rebuild the college outside of what used to be Sunnydale. I mean, freak earthquakes that swallow entire towns definitely count as drama," she said.

"Right. The earthquake," Xander said. "Well, things were weird before that. Lots of crime. Only Sunnydale's problem wasn't crime. It was supernatural. We've never really talked about this because I didn't want you to think I was crazy. Do you believe in the supernatural? You know, ghosties, demons, vampires, other things that go bump in the night?"

"I guess that there are things in the world that I can't explain," Katie said slowly. Where was this going? "So I guess I know there's something going on that I don't know about. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that Dracula is real."

She laughed. Xander didn't. She frowned.

"Okay, I'm telling you that hell is real. That vampires and demons walk the earth. A lot of times they do bad things. That was the problem in Sunnydale. See, Sunnydale is --- well, was -- seated right on a hellmouth, which made it a demon-magnet. Since we couldn't rebuild in the canyon, Sunnydale is moved slightly east of where it used to be. So it's not even on what used to be the hellmouth anymore," Xander explained. "But at the time, that meant we got more than our fair share of beasties. But, because we got all of the nasties, we also got something to balance out the fight. We got a Slayer. The Slayer is nature's answer to evil. She's ... she's one girl in all the world to find the creepy crawlies where they gather and stop the spread of their evil and blah, blah, blah." Xander looked at Katie. She was beginning to pull away.

"You don't know what you're saying," she said.

"Just hear me out. If you think I'm crazy, fine. Just listen to me if you love me," Xander said. Katie nodded. "Okay, when I was a sophomore, a new girl started at school. Buffy. We also got a new librarian, Rupert Giles. Willow and I got a crash course in vampires and demons because Buffy was the Slayer. She fought all of the evils that came to Sunnydale, saved the world more times than I can count. Giles was sent from England to guide her, keep track of what was happening on the hellmouth. He's what's called a Watcher because he watches the Slayer. Anyway, we fought the good fight. We won battles, lost friends and became the most important things in one another's lives. Wills and I had been inseparable since birth but ... fighting for your lives, losing loved ones brings you a hell of a lot closer. Hell, she was my best man." Xander laughed at the memory of her pre-wedding pep talk.

"You were married?!?" Katie demanded. Oops, leave it to Katie to focus on the wedding, not the vampires.

"No, I didn't go through with it," Xander said. "I was too young. I'll get to that too, I swear."

"Anyway, Slayers usually don't last long. It's too dangerous, you know? Most Slayers don't reach the age of 18. Buffy was different. Giles knew how to back her up. And she had us ... I think she was one of the first Slayers to have vampires helping her too," he said. "When it came down to the final fight, we thought we were all going to die. But we pulled out of it and destroyed all of Sunnydale in the process. And, because of something we did to win that battle, we made more Slayers, a lot more Slayers. So we didn't have to fight alone anymore. At first, we fussed around with the new slayers, checked out the other hellmouths but soon it became clear that things could tick along without us. It seems sad but it was great. We could just be people again. But apparently it wasn't meant to be for Buffy. She ... she was actually ... god, it was so stupid,"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a minute before speaking again.

"She lived through so much and then she died because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She walked into a convenience store that this guy was holding up. If she'd had any warning at all, she would have disarmed him before he knew what hit him. But she just walked into it and he was really young and scared. He shot her as she walked in. Thank god Dawnie wasn't with her," he said. "We didn't bring her back. We finally let her stay in heaven because she deserved it even if it sucked to have her die like that. It practically killed Willow and I, not having Buffy anymore. We'd already lost Giles and Tara and ..."

"I thought Giles was who we were going to say with?" Katie interrupted.

"Yeah. I didn't mean that he died. He just left us, went back to England when we were about 22," Xander said. "It wasn't ... he wasn't doing it to be mean. It was purely selfless but it was still really hard for us. He came back for awhile but it wasn't ... we knew it was for the final fight. After we closed the Hellmouth, Willow moved to the east coast, joined the academic community and met Lydia. Giles stayed in England. I drifted aimlessly for a few years before finding out they were rebuilding Sunnydale and getting back into construction. We were so unstable for a while that we didn't know that to do with Buffy's little sister. She wanted Willow and I to live together so she could go to college near us but ... we weren't mature enough to be the family she needed. So we sent her down to Los Angeles to stay with Buffy's ex-boyfriend ... well, ex-boyfriends. Anyway, the guy we sent her to live with has a strong network of friends and is pretty stable ... in terms of staying in the same place. "

"That's Dawn," Xander added.

"Oh," Katie said. "The 'Love, Dawn and Angel' Christmas cards?" Xander nodded.

"Yeah, she ended up staying with Angel. She acts more like his mother than his kid and I swear Angel loves it," Xander laughed. "Guess that wasn't such a bad idea Willow and I had. Uh, Angel is Buffy's ex-boyfriend."

"Um, Xander," Katie said. Xander looked at her, waiting.

"Vampires? Demons?" she asked in a soft voice. "Next thing you know, you're going to tell me to look out for witches and leprechauns."

"No such thing as leprechauns, love," Spike said walking in from the kitchen.

"Jesus, you're supposed to knock," Xander said jumping from his chair.

"Out of Wheetabix. Came to borrow a cup. You were having such a serious conversation about the Little Bit and Peaches that I didn't want to interrupt," Spike said.

"Peaches?" Katie asked.

"That's what he calls Angel," Xander explained. "That doesn't explain why you're joining the conversation now."

"I believe the little lady was expressing her disbelief in vamps," Spike said, grinning. "Seemed like a good time to get involved."

"You believe in them too?" Katie sighed. "I'm surrounded."

"Can I play, Xan?" Spike asked. Looking at Spike, who Katie knew as Will, Xander had to admit that there were great physical changes. The man had grown out his hair a little and stopped bleaching it, taken to clothing that was a little less "creature of the night" and put on just enough weight to fill out his cheeks. Mores the pity, thought Xander.

It was clear, however, that his mischievous side wasn't completely gone, soul be damned. Even as Will Luddy instead of Spike or William the Bloody, he had an evil streak.

Spike carefully walked over to the wall and took a larger mirror from it. He carried it over to Katie. Sitting next to her, he lifted up the mirror to show the two of them. Xander moved around to see Katie's face.

"What the hell?" she asked. She grabbed the mirror and began tilting it this way and that but still could not catch Spike's reflection.

"Us evils don't have a reflection, pet," Spike said with a grin.

"Will, this is impossible," Katie said, setting down the mirror. "What is this supposed to prove?"

"Vampires don't have reflections," Xander explained.

"Will is not a vampire," Katie stated.

"C'mon, now. Never see me in the daytime. Haven't gotten a single wrinkle or gray hair in the time you've known me. How often have you seen me eat? Pale as a baby's bottom. Not breathing. No pulse. Plus, no reflection. C'mon now, teacher, time for some learnin'," the vampire said.

"Will is not a vampire," Katie said again, sounding slightly less firm. "If he's a vampire then nothing I know is right and what you're saying is the truth." This last part was directed at Xander.

"You know, love," Spike said, this time at the man. "There's one way to really prove my case..."

"Yeah, me dusting you, Spike," Xander said quickly.

"Dusting? Spike?" Katie asked, hopelessly confused.

"When we stake a vampire - stick a wooden stake in his heart to kill him - we call it dusting because the vamps turn into a pile of dust instead of leaving a corpse," Xander explained patiently though he'd dusted only five or so vampires in the last decade. "And Will used to go by Spike. That's what we knew him as in high school. That's what Willow still calls him."

"You've been talking to Red? How is my favorite little witch?" Spike asked, looking pleased.

"Willow's good. Now ..." Xander started.

"Witch?" Katie asked, looking as though she was in over her head.

"Willow is a very powerful wicca," Xander said. "She only uses white magic though." Spike snorted.

"Warren might disagree with that," he said.

Xander shot him a sharp glance and said, "But Warren is too dead to disagree right now and you will be too if you bring that up ever again." Katie looked more fearful than the vampire did.

"I'm just sayin', Xan, that if you really want to prove things, you should let me do what a vamp does best," Spike said. The two men looked at each other, wondering who would break first.

"He is not a vampire," Katie said, much more firmly, from the couch. "There are no witches, warlocks, demons or vampires."

Xander looked to the ceiling. "Shit."

"Really?" Spike said gleefully.

"Yeah, but a pint, tops. I'll stake you if you don't stop, got it?" Xander said.

"Two," Spike haggled.

"One pint," Xander said firmly, "Or you have to settle for staring at this neck. I'll make sure that I don't wear anything that covers my neck for the next year. You'll have to stare at it and think about the chance you missed."

Spike looked at the neck in question and whimpered, knowing that this was going to be his only chance in long time. "Stupid soul. Right, then. You win, whelp."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Katie asked.

"You think I'm nuts. We can't have a relationship if you think I'm nuts. So I'm going to prove to you that Spike - Will - is a vampire. Vampires suck blood. He's going to bite me and just take enough to show you," Xander explained. Katie looked dubious but scared.

"Oh, and his face changes," Xander said. "Don't be scared, okay?" Katie nodded slowly.

"How do you want to do this?" Xander asked Spike.

"Well, to be honest, I always imagine approaching you from behind," Spike said. Xander closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I don't want to know about any fantasies you have that involve me," he said.

"C'mon love. What kind of ponce do you think I am? I was going to tell you about the biting fantasies, not the sex ones," Spike said.

"I fail to see how your decision not to share makes you less of a bastard," Xander said.

"I'm a bastard, am I? Ta," Spike smiled. Katie coughed from the couch.

"Right, let's do this," Spike said. He carefully turned a standing Xander to face his girlfriend. Then Spike walked up behind him, and carefully leaned in. He could feel Xander's heat, smell his scent. It was lovely and it was so easy for Spike to morph into his game face. As Katie gasped, Spike grabbed Xander's shoulders and buried his fangs into the man's neck. Xander's muscles tightened for a moment but he forced himself to relax and his blood flowed easily into Spike's mouth. After a few moments the vampire reluctantly pulled out. He carefully lapped at the wound, slowing the bleeding until there were just two drops showing what had happened.

Spike stepped back, pink flushing his cheeks. Xander opened his eyes and looked at Katie. The woman's mouth was hanging open. The vampire, still in game face, spoke first.

"Bloody hell, whelp, look what you do to me," Spike said, gesturing to an obvious bulge in his pants.

"That's disgusting, Spike," Xander said. It was easy to go back to calling him the old nickname.

"You didn't always think so," Spike threw back. Xander made a face and made the two-fingered gesture that the vampire had introduced him to.

"Oh my god," Katie finally said. "You're a vampire. There are vampires, Xander." Xander slowly nodded before joining her on the couch. As he slipped an arm around her, he said, "Get your Wheetabix and go home, fangface."

"Don't need it anymore; I'm feeling pretty good," Spike said, his face morphing back to normal. He strolled out, whistling a terrible rendition of "Blister in the Sun."

"There are vampires, Xander," Katie whispered. Xander hugged her for a long time.

"So everything you told me is true?" she finally said. Xander nodded.

"Oh." They sat some more until Xander declared it time to go to bed. Katie didn't have school, it being summer, but Xander had to be at the site early.

Still in a daze, Katie prepared for bed and climbed in. Just as Xander turned out the light, she grabbed his arm.

"Wait, what about the marriage thing?" she asked. Leave it to, Katie. Xander sighed.

"Babe, I'm really tired so I'm going to give you the super short version. My prom date and I started having sex on a regular basis. In a fit of 'ohmigod, the world is ending again,' I proposed and she accepted. I realized it was a mistake but realized it too late and left her at the altar," Xander explained.

"Oh," Katie said.

"So she became a vengeance demon again but we managed to rebuild our friendship. She became human again and she died when Sunnydale was destroyed," he said, rolling over to go to sleep. The light came on.

"Vengeance demon?"

Xander sighed. It was going to be a very long night.

***************************************

"I've never even left North America," Katie crowed, peering out the window to see the Atlantic Ocean beneath the plane.

"I warn you, it's a long flight and you'll be seriously jet-lagged," Xander said next to her.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I told you I wandered after Buffy died," Xander said. "It was international wandering."

"Did you find any of the pictures before we left?" Katie asked, tearing herself away from the window. Xander had dug out the few pictures he'd managed to scrounge up from his high school years. Though his family had split before the big battle went down, they certainly hadn't taken any memorabilia from his apartment. He'd gotten a few photos they'd taken with them, copies of some the former Scoobies in L.A. still had and some that Giles has somehow ended up with. He had forgotten about them on the flight to New York but now, on the final leg of their journey, Katie was interested in learning about the people she'd be staying with.

Xander pulled a loose stack of pictures out of his carryon. One by one, he gave them to her and explained who was who.

"That's Giles, who we're going to stay with. That's his girlfriend, Jenny. She was our computer teacher. Willow took over her class when she died," Xander explained.

"She died?" Katie said.

"Yeah. Angel, Buffy's boyfriend killed her. It was pretty terrible. Needless to say, we don't remind Giles of this. He's still ... he worries about his lovers, that they might be taken from him again," Xander said. Katie nodded.

"This one is the core Scoobies. That's what we called ourselves, the Scoobies. That's me, obviously. Willow, Giles and Buffy."

"God, you were so young. Geeze, Buffy is gorgeous. And tiny. How did she ever ... " Katie looked around her before whispering, "fight vampires?"

"Slayer has preternatural powers. She could probably kill me with a good kick," he explained.

"Willow looks ... interesting," Katie said.

"She's beautiful. And smart," Xander said, looking at the photo. He was simply stating the facts as he saw them, not trying to prove anything.

"But Giles looks so ... stuffy. And his girlfriend is, was, so beautiful. How did that happen?" Katie asked.

"Giles isn't ugly or anything. He's, well he was, in fantastic shape for his age. He's got a wicked streak. He's strong and fierce and loyal," Xander said firmly. Katie decided not to touch on this point again.

"Next picture," she said.

"That's Dawn, Buffy's little sister with Spike, Will," he said.

"My god. He looks so different," she said, grabbing the picture.

"He didn't stop bleaching his hair until about five years ago. Stopped wearing the leather duster," Xander explained. "Kind of shame. He was kind of an eye-catcher with the cheekbones and the chilly blue eyes. They stood out with the blonde hair and dark clothes."

"She's pretty," Katie added. "Looks like she's in love with him."

"Dawn? Yeah, she's a good kid. Always had a bit of a crush on Spike and me. Anya, that's my ex-fiancee, hated it but I didn't care. Spike was super protective of her so he didn't mind either," Xander said. "Spike dated Buffy too - if you want to call it dating. I prefer to call it S&M theater but that's me. But then he got his soul in an attempt to become her soulmate. Didn't work but worked out for the best."

Katie reached over and flipped to the next photo.

"Oh," she said. Xander remembered when this photo had been taken. Buffy and Anya had stopped by the site to bring him his lunch while Willow minded the magic shop. Anya had claimed that she couldn't not kiss him what with him being shirtless, sweaty and in possession of a sledge hammer. Just his luck that Buffy had caught the smooch on camera. He tried to flip to the next photo but Katie stopped him.

"She looks pretty," she finally said. She was saying a lot of that. "Can't really see her face."

"It's one of the only photos I have of her. Somehow it ended up in Giles' things," Xander said.

"Jesus, Xan. Look at your stomach in this photo," she said, giving a low whistle. When Buffy took the picture, Anya had been holding her body a small distance from his so she didn't get her clothes all sweaty. He was still holding the sledge hammer so the his muscles were still tensed. A six-pack was visible just below firm pecs. The arms bulged.

"Yeah, I was in good shape," he said wistfully.

"You still are," she said, smacking his stomach. "You're just in your 30s, not your 20s. Deal with it."

"Thank you Miss I'm-still-29." Katie flipped to the next photo.

"He's hot!" she called out a little too loud.

"That would be Angel, or Deadboy, as I like to call him," Xander said. "Buffy's boyfriend."

"Wait. Angel is a vampire?" Katie said, getting a nod from Xander. "He's the one Spike called Peaches? The one that killed Jenny? The one who you sent Dawn to live with?"

"Uh, it sounds worse than it is. He's not evil anymore," Xander said. "He got a soul. It's a really long story. He's an okay guy now, I swear." Katie looked dubious.

"Willow's girlfriend?" Katie asked looking at the next picture. Tara smiled sweetly from the photo, while Willow buried her face in the girl's shoulders. The redhead's arms were wrapped around the brunette's waist. They both looked blissfully happy.

"Yeah. From college. Tara. She was killed. Wills went a little, uh, homicidal. Took a lot to get her back to us," Xander said.

"We all go a little crazy after we lose someone we love."

"Most of us don't, you know, skin anyone alive or anything. ... I am of course joking and, um, so ... Wills eventually moved on with this really cool slayer Kennedy but Tara was great. So sweet."

"So much death," Katie frowned. She picked up the next photo and laughed. She set it down next to the photo of Tara and Willow. This time, it was Willow in front, looking happy about the arms wrapped around her, the face buried in her neck. Oz's dark eyes looked up from the witch's alabaster neck.

"Oh, yeah. I never realized they were in the same pose. Weird. That's Oz, Willow's boyfriend," Xander said.

"She had a boyfriend? I thought she was gay?"

"That was before she realized she was gay. Oz eventually left because he was afraid of hurting her. He came back but she was already with Tara."

"This is so confusing," Katie said. "Why would he hurt her?"

"Werewolf," Xander said. Katie sighed. Xander turned to the next photo and quickly flipped past. His girlfriend grabbed his wrist and the photo.

"Wow. She's beautiful. She's also all over you," Katie commented. In the photo, Cordelia had wrapped much of her thin frame around Xander, resting her head on the boy's chest as they sat on Giles' couch.

"Cordy. Ex-girlfriend," Xander said, wisely saying little.

"Cordy?"

"Cordelia," he said.

"And you two broke up because of Anya?" she asked, trying to get a further sense
of the timeline.

"Noooo," Xander started. "There was a fluke, you see, with me and Wills, and Cordelia and Oz saw and they dumped us." Suddenly, he remembered why he was going to keep him mouth shut.

"You and Willow?" Katie asked coldly.

"Pre-lesbian heterosexual explorations," Xander said.

"And your excuse?"

"She'd had a crush on me so long it just seemed right," he tried. "We thought we were going to die. Well, the second time." Katie raised an eyebrow. Xander studied Katie's face as he flipped to the next photo. In the future, he was really going to have to edit his picture selections instead of haphazardly grabbing what was there.

"Okay," Katie said, ready for the next one. She had no comment on the photo of Xander and Giles laughing hard at Buffy who looked minorly miffed. Buffy had both hands on her hips and was clearly stomping her foot. Xander, perched on Giles' counter, had his head thrown back in laughter. Giles was leaning forward, one hand holding his stomach which hurt from laughing, the other on Xander's thigh.

They quickly flipped through the last few pictures, a melee of couplings: Buffy with Giles, Buffy with Willow, Willow with Xander, Joyce frowning at Buffy, Buffy lightheartedly punching Xander.

The last photo made Xander laugh. Wesley Wyndam-Price was standing in his stuffy suit, attempting to talk to Giles. Giles, clad in a tight T-shirt and sweatpants, was intently throwing knives at Buffy. The Slayer was dodging each blade and the camera had caught her flipping in midair. Giles had that wrinkle between his eyebrows, indicating his concentration on the training as well as his annoyance with the young Watcher.

"That's Wes, another Watcher. He lives in LA because he works with Angel. And Dawn now," Xander explained.

"You were right about Giles being in pretty good shape for a man his age. And boy can Buffy move. Wesley looks like he has a stick up his ass though," Katie commented with a wrinkled nose.

Xander laughed. "Funny you should say that, because he loosened up a little when he moved to L.A. Then he loosened up a lot when his dad died. Ended up moving in with a rather large black man that he worked with, Gunn. Wes, I can see, but I never saw Gunn as bisexual."

"Gay, you mean," Katie said.

"No, Bi. Gunn dated women before Wesley," Xander held firm.

"I don't really believe in that," Katie said. "You either are gay or you're not."

"I disagree. I think there are people that can see the beauty in men and women," Xander said, staying calm.

"I wouldn't want to date a bisexual guy. He'd be running after guys when he was supposed to be with me," she said. Xander blew air between his teeth.

"That's stupid," he said. "I liked blondes and brunettes, as you know. Just because I'm with you doesn't mean I need to cheat behind your back with a blonde to get my fill. I'm in love with you so right now I only like one specific brunette. Same thing for bisexual people. It doesn't matter that they're attracted to both sexes because they're only attracted to the person they're with at the time."

"Relax, Xander. I doesn't matter anyway," Katie said. "I don't even know this Gunn guy and Willow's just gay, not bisexual, right?"

"Yeah, but it's the principle of the thing," Xander continued. Katie sighed. She flipped back to the picture of Xander on the construction site. She carefully blocked out Anya so she could just see her boyfriend's body. Perfect.

***************************************

"Willow and Lydia should have beat us here by about an hour," Xander explained. "They took a direct flight from Boston." Katie leaned against her suitcase as they waited in customs.

"I'm excited but I'm exhausted," Katie said.

"Jet lag," Xander said. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll go straight to Giles'. He's got a huge home just outside of London. You can pass out in your very own room."

"I don't want my own room," she said, giving him a kiss.

After they got their passports stamped, she gave him another kiss.

"Get a room, geeze," they heard in a distinctly American accent. Xander broke away from the kiss and turned to see Willow at his elbow. He scooped her up in a bone-crushing hug that lifted her from the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and took a deep breath of his familiar scent.

"Xander!" she said, breaking away. "Your neck!"

"Just Spike," he assured her, fingering the two tiny dots the vampire's fangs had left. "We were proving the existence of beasties for Katie. ... Katie!" Xander turned to his girlfriend.

"Katie, this is Willow Rosenberg. Willow, Katie Robinson." Xander said. The two women politely shook hands.

"And you must be Lydia," Xander said to a woman who was walking toward Willow. She smiled a slow, shy grin. It was so reminiscent of Tara that Xander raised his hand to his mouth.

"Shh," Wills said, knowing why he looked surprised.

"Lydia Wittenburg, Xander Harris and Katie Robinson," Willow said. Katie and Lydia shook hands but Xander hugged Lydia. He had spoken to her often over the phone and her mannerisms were so like Tara that he already felt close to the girl.

"I gotta' say, Wills, 36 is treating you okay," Xander said. "I've got more wrinkles than you do." The four worked on gathering up their luggage.

"I do a glamour or two but most of it is good, old-fashioned sunscreen," Willow said. "Oh! Can I say glamour?" She looked toward Katie who looked confused.

"Yeah. I explained everything Wills," Xander assured the woman. He turned to Katie, "By glamour, she means a spell. In this case, like covering a wrinkle or getting rid of some gray hair." Katie nodded. She could handle this. She was sick of carrying her suitcase and hoped Xander might take it but instead he linked his free hand in Willow's. The redhead looked ready to burst with happiness. Lydia and Xander looked pretty thrilled too. Katie took up a position in the rear.

As the four walked away from the luggage carousel at Heathrow airport, Willow explained, "Giles found us. He knew you would be getting done soon so he went to get the car. It's going to be a tight fit but at least he wasn't able to find another Citroen." They were barely outside when Giles pulled up.

"Okay, I'm going to have to get used to the wrong side of the road," Katie said.

"You won't get used to it," Xander grinned. "You'll look to the wrong side every time you cross the street."

Giles jumped out of the car and popped the trunk open. Lydia and Willow started to load the luggage, cramming it all into the trunk, as Giles greeted Xander and Katie.

"You must be Katie Robinson. Rupert Giles. A pleasure to meet you," Giles said, taking her hand. Katie looked pleased. Giles turned to Xander and, after moment, offered his hand. Xander stared at the hand before acting.

"Don't be daft, word man," Xander said, grabbing Giles into a hug. The older man smiled and held on tight. They broke away at the same time and Willow slammed the trunk.

"God, you got all of that into the boot, Wills?" Xander asked.

"Boot? You trying to be the British guy, now?" Willow returned. Xander colored.

"Hurry now. Into the car, children. Other people need this spot," Giles said, clapping his hands. As if by mutual decision, the girls piled into back and Xander took the front seat.

As Giles pulled away from the curb, Willow said, "We're not kids anymore, Giles. We're in our 30s. And you must be ... god, in your 60s now, right?" Giles glared at her in the rearview mirror.

"62," Xander answered, looking out the window.

"How did you figure that out so fast?" Willow demanded. Giles looked at Xander who merely shrugged.

"God, I'm so excited," Willow continued. "It's almost like old times."

"Yes, quite. And if any of you gets mad enough at your significant other, we can kill them and resurrect them like in the old days, " Giles commented.

"That's what we did with Buffy. And, come to think of it, what some other people in Sunnydale did with their friends," Xander supplied for Katie. She nodded.

"Ah, filled her in on your whole sordid past, have you?" Giles asked with a half smile. The smile, Katie thought, was plastered on a face that looked concerned.

"Not everything. A guy has to have some mystique," Xander said. His comment was designed to be taken as humor but Katie saw the concern on Giles' face vanish. Something was going on.

"Now, Lydia, what are you teaching?" Giles asked. Lydia hesitantly filled them in on a course she had designed involving the history of women in religion.

***************************************

When the car pulled up to Giles' home, Willow gave a low whistle.

"Paying school librarians well, are they?" she asked.

"Never ask an Englishman about his income," Giles and Xander said at the same time. They both laughed and Willow grinned. Katie got out of the car.

As they unloaded the luggage, Xander gave a concerned look to Katie.

"I'm just tired," she said in answer to his unasked question.

"Oh," Giles commented. "Xander, we'll worry about the luggage. Why don't you take Katie upstairs. She can at least lie down, then get cleaned up or change when we bring the luggage up."

"Sure, where to G-man?" Xander asked. The ex-librarian smiled at the use of this nickname.

"I thought the blue room, facing the garden?" Giles said looking for confirmation.

"Works for me," Xander said, grabbing Katie's carry-on and taking her inside.

"You have names for rooms," Lydia giggled. Giles thought about shooting her a look, just to be stuffy, but he was worried he'd shut the shy girl down. He'd learned a few lessons with Tara.

Xander reappeared a few minutes later to carry his and Katie's suitcases.

"Sorry about that," Xander said. "She's ... trying to adjust to a lot."

"Xander!" Giles exclaimed, grabbing the man's shoulders. He peered through his glasses at the bite mark on Xander's neck.

"It's fine, I swear. Spike just took a pint to prove that vampires exist. Katie was a tough sell," Xander explained, not trying to pull away from Giles' examination. The ex-watcher finally nodded and let go, and Xander rubbed his neck.

"So Spike is still in California?" Giles asked as the took the luggage in.

"I've been a bit bad," Willow confessed. "I've been talking to Xander and Giles but I haven't been passing much information between. I figured if you guys wanted to talk to each other, you would."

"S'okay, Wills. I do the same thing. I almost never tell you about the folks in L.A.," Xander said.

"Well, we shall have to catch up this evening. I call a round of naps for all the jet-lagged visitors, then dinner," Giles said. He led Willow and Lydia to their room. Willow came back out to give Xander and Giles a hug each.

"It is good to see you, Xander," Giles said, when they stood alone in the hallway.

"You didn't call either," Xander said, in response to an unasked question. He examined the older man and then went into the blue room to nap with Katie.

***************************************

Katie woke up before Xander did. She nudged him quietly and let him think he woke up of his own accord.

"Real subtle, Kate," Xander snorted, his eyes still shut. She leaned in and kissed him. Xander paused and said, "Well, you woke part of me up." It was Katie's turn to snort.

"That'd be good. Us having at it in your friend's house. Probably the first action this house has ever seen," she said. Xander propped himself up on an elbow.

"Nah. Giles draws 'em in just fine. Don't let the librarian-demeanor and tweed clothing fool you," he said.

"He wasn't wearing tweed," she said.

"Okay, not literally. He used to always though. We called him 'tweed-man.'" he said, grinning.

"Well, this is the week for your memories," she told him before getting up. Xander caught another few minutes' rest before taking his turn in the bathroom. When they were both presentable, they moved into the hall.

"Just a second," Xander said, quietly opening the door to Lydia and Willow's room. The two were wrapped around one another, just as Willow and Tara used to be. Xander took a moment to enjoy the scene before wetly licking one of his fingers and sticking it in Willow's ear.

Willow screamed, only taking a second to add, "Xander Harris! I'll tell your mother!" Willow opened her eyes and cleaned the spit from her ear as Lydia blinked the sleep from her eyes.

"Mom passed away years ago and you know it, Wills," Xander said.

"I know. Sorry. I was reacting instead of thinking. You act like a 5-year-old, I act like one too," Willow said, moving into the bathroom adjoining her room.

"Hi," Lydia said shyly, pulling the covers up around her.

"Not to worry, no wet willies for you," Xander said, leaving with Katie.

"Immature much?"

"Willow brings it out in me. Reminds me of kindergarten," Xander told his girlfriend. They waited for a few minutes in the hallway until Lydia and Willow, with freshly scrubbed faces, joined them.

The four came down the stairs and followed a lovely smell to the kitchen.

"I'm hoping the nap has completely baffled your sense of time so that we can reconfigure you to UK time," Giles said, closing the oven door.

"Watcha' cookin?" Willow asked.

"Roast beef. I trust no one is in a vegetarian phase?" Gile asked.

As the others shook their head, Willow said indignantly, "It wasn't a phase. It was a very important ethical decision .... for a month." Classic Willow. Giles and Xander laughed. Looking annoyed, Willow waved her hand and suddenly, no sound was coming from Xander's mouth though he felt like he was laughing. He looked up, surprised.

This time, Giles looked annoyed and raised his hand.

"... the hell did you just do?" The tail end of what Xander was saying came out after Giles waved his hand.

"Really, Willow," Giles said with disapproval.

"It's not abusing magics when you get Xander to shut up," Willow said primly.

"That was magic?" Katie asked, grabbing Xander's hand.

"Yes, it's quite all right," Giles assured her.

"It's neat when you get used to it," Lydia added.

"One should not use it for trivial matters but one may find one's self using it more and more in old age as laziness sets in," Giles said, reaching out his hand. A potholder whisked from one counter straight to Giles' hand. He used it to lift the top of one of the pots.

"I would have used a spell to protect my hand and foregone the potholder," Willow said confidently. Giles shrugged.

"Most of this food can look after itself for now. Who would like a drink? Wine, beer, water, soda..."

The girls all voted for wine. Giles went down to the cellar, then came up and began to pour drinks. The young people sat at the table and he returned with three glasses of wine and two mugs of Guinness.

"I can't wait to have this on tap in the proper environment," Xander said, taking a sip of the beer.

"You can hit the pubs tomorrow, Xander," Giles said. "Now, as for your holiday plans - London is absolutely full of things to do. I'd be happy to chauffeur you about or you're welcome to take the car yourselves. I have a few appointments at the museum but very little need for the car other than that."

"We're going to be in London, Giles," Willow berated. "We have to take the Tube."

"The Tube is based on a very simple system but it takes a little while for outsiders to get the hang of it," Giles explained. "If you wish to take the Underground, I'd prefer that you ride with Xander or myself the first couple of times. When you have the system, you're on your own."

"Xander? That's the blind leading the blind," Willow snorted. "And that was not a poke-your-eye-out joke either." Xander looked at Giles.

"Right. The more the merrier, however, and, uh, while violent crimes are minimal in London I'd prefer not to have you stranded by yourselves at some station that has closed for the day," Giles corrected. Katie looked at Xander.

"So, we have some catching up to do," Xander quickly said. "We can try to keep it brief for Lydia and Katie but I have some questions."

"Continue," Giles said, looking relieved.

"Do either of you talk to the L.A. folks at all?" Willow and Giles shook their heads.

"Oooh. You're going to love this. Fred is mad-but-crazy head-over-heels in love with the host from Caritas," Xander started.

"Caritas closed," Giles said.

"Yeah, but I still think of the guy as the host from Caritas. Lorne, I think his name is," Xander said. "Anyway, Dawn moved back in after college. She dotes on Angel. He's in heaven. ... Figuratively."

"Has anyone managed to remove the stick from Wesley's ass?" Giles said in a pedantic tone. Katie laughed.

"I saw a picture of him and said it looked like something was up there," she explained. Giles smiled and Katie looked less put out than she had before.

"That's the truly good gossip," Xander said. "Wesley's dad finally died..."

"Yes, I attended the funeral. I started to buy into the myth that the British collective has had personality-ectomy," Giles said.

"So Wesley decided to finally be himself. Didn't have to live up to anyone's expectations anymore. So you know what he did?" Xander said, savoring the moment.

"Became a Vegas dancer?" Willow asked. "What? That's not that outlandish. You have a better guess, Giles?"

"Pardon my crassness, but I would guess that he buggered Angel until he lost his soul," Giles said. This time, Xander and Willow stared at him.

"What?" Giles asked. "Death makes for strange bedfellows."

Xander coughed.

"Actually, you're on the right track. But Deadboy? No way," Xander said.

"Spit it out," Katie finally said.

"Gunn," Xander said triumphantly.

"Huh?" Lydia asked as Giles and Willow gasped.

"Wow, I had him figured for a pretty straight arrow," Willow finally said.

"Until your first year of college, I had you figured for straight arrow, Wills, so I guess we know about trying to judge sexuality," Giles said. Willow grinned at Lydia.

"I think you can tell with most people," Katie said. Everyone at the table looked at her. Please, not with this crowd, Xander thought.

"I'm just saying, you can usually tell one of them," Katie said. Xander winced. Willow patted his hand to let him know that it was okay.

"One of them as in one of us?" Lydia asked benevolently.

"Well, yeah," Katie said. "If I had met you guys without knowing who you were, I would have been able to tell that you were .... you know." For a moment she seemed to realize that she was on shaky ground.

"Lesbians?" Lydia offered.

"Gay?" Willow supplied.

"Young women who need not be categorized?" Giles tried.

"Maybe we don't need to be having this conversation," Xander said. He couldn't believe that this had never come up before. She hadn't commented on Willow's sexuality ever so he assumed she was comfortable with the situation.

"It's okay, Xander. They know I'm not insulting their choices," Katie said. Xander winced at the word.

"It's not a choice, babe. They didn't wake up one morning and say, 'Oh, I think we'll be lesbians today,'" Xander said. Willow giggled at the image but Giles still looked concerned.

"Okay, sorry about my word choice. I'm just saying that most of the time you can tell. Like you and Giles are straight and that's apparent to me. Will is gay and that's obvious as well," she tried.

"Spike," Xander supplied for the rest of the table, not sure why he was helping them to understand his girlfriend.

"Spike is not gay. Spike is bisexual. It's standard in vampires," Giles corrected.

"Yeah, I don't really believe in that," Katie explained, as though they were engaged in a pleasant exchange of philosophies. "You either are or you aren't, you know? From the comments Spike makes to Xander sometimes, I'd have to say he's gay. If he's been with women, it's probably just for show or to convince himself that he's manly or something."

Xander slowly banged his head against the table during this statement but Katie was so sure of her convictions that she continued.

"I'm not even sure where to begin with that," Willow said. "There are so many things wrong with that."

"Look, don't get me wrong," Katie said, "I'm okay with you two. You're gay. There it is. And I'm okay with Giles and Xander. They're straight. End of story. It's these people that try to hide it or have it both ways.

"Giles, what was the deal with you and Ethan?" Willow asked lightly. Her question was posed 10 percent out of curiosity and 90 percent because she thought the answer would contradict Katie's statement.

Realizing the use of the question, Giles was frank. "Ethan Rayne was a former friend of mine who used to cause us some problems in Sunnydale," he explained to Katie. "To answer your question, and since we're all adults here, I shagged him six ways from Sunday for a good portion of my years in university." Katie gasped. Xander stopped banging his head and chugged his beer.

"Oh. You're gay. I didn't. ... I guess I was wrong about being able to tell," she finished.

"No, Katie. I'm not gay. I'm bisexual. I assure you that the relationships I have with women are real but so are those I have with men. I do neither for show, nor am I trying to have it both ways," Giles said firmly.

Willow grinned at Giles. "It's official. Only half of the core Scoobies were straight." Leaning on the refrigerator door, Xander began to down a second beer.

"Yes, quite," Giles said.

"I think I've offended you all," Katie said.

"You think?" Xander asked. Katie looked as though she'd been slapped. It was the first time that Xander had indicated obvious disapproval of Katie's opinion during this conversation.

"Well, I'm sorry, Xander Harris. I'll shut up so I don't I embarrass you more in front of your friends," she said looking like she was fighting back tears.

Xander walked over to her.

"I'm sorry, babe. I shouldn't snap. Let's all just put that conversation behind us, okay? New topic," Xander said.

The conversation continued on, a little stilted but manageable. Once dinner was served, it became easier. Giles explained his work, done now on a consultant basis, at The British Museum. They discussed events they should attend, places they should visit on their vacation. Katie kept quiet for most of this.

When the meal was through, Lydia and Willow volunteered to clear the table. Giles asked if anyone cared for tea.

"When in England, ..." Willow said and everyone agreed. Giles started to stand up but Xander stopped him.

"I've got it, Giles. You made us a great dinner. Take a load off."

"Thank you, Xander," Giles said, sitting again. "I think the Afternoon Earl Grey would be lovely." Xander nodded and put the water on to boil. Katie joined the table-clearing. Xander put out the teacups, cream and sugar. He measured out the tea carefully while Willow watched. The water boiled and he poured some into the china teapot. Dumping the water out after swishing it around the pot, Xander refilled the pot and put the tea in it.

"Why'd you dump out the water?" Lydia asked.

"Warming the pot," Xander explained. "It's bad for the china just to heat it all up at one. By filling and dumping it, it warms up a little before being filled with boiling water."

"Hmm. The things you learn from having a British librarian," Lydia said.

Willow frowned. "I never learned that." Xander focused on the tea and didn't look at Willow. Xander brought the teapot out and Giles poured everyone a cup.

"Ta," Xander said, taking a sip. Willow raised an eyebrow.

"Sugar please," Katie said.

"It's already pretty sweet, Katie," Xander said.

"I've had Earl Grey before. I like it with sugar," she explained.

"Try it first, babe. It's got ... what's the stuff that makes it less bitter, Giles?" Xander asked.

"Bergamot and cornflower," Giles supplied.

"Yeah. So it's good without sugar," he finished.

"I want sugar," Katie said for the sake of not budging. Xander sighed and handed it down the table. Willow and Lydia tried it without sugar and were pleased.

"Perfect pot, Xander," Giles said. "Can't get a decent cuppa without brewing a whole pot, and I haven't had enough company for a whole pot in years."

"We should have come sooner, Giles," Willow said.

"I wasn't looking for guilt or pity, Willow," Giles told her. She nodded.

Finishing her sugary tea, Katie said, "I'm going to go to bed. I'm still very tired."

"First smart thing she's said all day," Willow said before slapping her hand over her own mouth. "Oh, god, I didn't mean how that sounded."

"I'm sure," Katie snapped before stalking upstairs. Xander put his hand to his mouth as well but it was to stop a giggle from escaping. When they heard the bedroom door slam, Xander let out a laugh.

"Yeah, I don't really believe in that," Giles said, mimicking Katie. Xander lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Oh, excuse me Mr. 'I shagged him six ways from Sunday'?" Xander said.

"Would you have preferred 'I proved that buggery wasn't just for boarding school'?" Giles asked. Xander made to punch him again but the older man grabbed his fist and forced it down to the table. Their fingers remained intertwined as Xander answered.

"Not much better. I really do apologize, guys. I had ... I guess she and I have never really talked about some stuff, at least not before this trip. I had no idea that she was that ..." he said.

"Close-minded?" Lydia supplied.

"Stupid?" Willow offered.

"Yeah," Xander said softly.

"Xander, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Giles said. "I shouldn't have provoked her. It was just so infuriating."

"No, it's not your fault. I'm just a little disconcerted. We've been living together for almost three years. I'm a little scared that I can live with someone that long and not know that they differ from me so greatly on such an important topic. What else haven't we discussed, you know?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be looking at wedding rings," Willow said. Lydia poked her.

"What? I'm just saying. I actually liked Anya better," Willow said.

"I suspect I better start backing Katie up better or we'll be getting a visit from one of Anyanka's former co-workers," Xander said, trying to lighten the mood. Lydia took that as her cue.

"Well, we should probably get to bed. Exploring London tomorrow and all," the woman said. Willow nodded and stood to join her. She looked perplexed for a moment, looking at the kitchen table. Giles and Xander looked down to see that their hands were still together from Giles stopping Xander's playful punch. They both pulled away and wished the girls a good night.

"I'm going to go step into the bedroom of my discontent," Xander said.

"Good night, Xander," Giles told him. Xander nodded, touched his hand again and walked out of the kitchen.

Giles looked at his hand.

***************************************

Everyone was already awake when Xander finally got his butt out of bed. They were enjoying breakfast, though Katie looked strained, when he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, ladies," Xander called out, landing a kiss on the necks of Katie and Willow and one on top of Lydia's head. "And gent," he added as Giles walked in.

Xander sat down at an unoccupied spot just as Giles put a plate of waffles before him.

"Waffles? Be still my beating heart!" Xander said before digging in. Giles smiled and sipped his tea.

"Today. Big Ben and the Tower of London. At least," Willow said. Lydia nodded earnestly. Katie shrugged.

"I thought I'd drop you near Big Ben and I'll head to the museum. You can take the Tube to the Tower and anywhere else you have time for. We can all meet for dinner," Giles said.

"Tell me it's pub grub!" Xander said. Giles nodded while Xander cheered.

Willow stared at him, unenthused, before saying, "It's hard to believe you're a day over 16."

Xander shot her a look and explained. "Pub food is good food. Well, pub food is accompanied by Guinness on tap which is good food."

"The Cheshire Arms?" Giles asked. Xander nodded enthusiastically. "Excellent. I'll just meet you guys there around 7:30."

Lydia and Willow ran upstairs and Giles excused himself as well.

"Hey, babe," Xander said. Katie just looked at him. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Look, I know you're mad at me," Xander said. "But let's try to have a nice vacation. We can fight when we get home." This wasn't what Katie had expected at all.

"Or you can apologize now," she said. Xander looked at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry I upset you," he said. "I'm not sorry that I disagree with your opinions. You said things I don't agree with. You offended my friends. That's not a good reason for me to be rude to you though."

"Your friends offended me!" Katie said. "We're the only straight people here. I don't know any of them. Then you turn on me too!"

"The sexuality thing doesn't matter. Let's just drop that for the remainder of the trip, okay? And I'm sorry you feel like an outsider. I just ... I wanted you to meet the people that were essentially my family. I didn't expect you to feel like you didn't fit in."

Katie started to melt a little. "It's just tough. I'll try, I promise." Xander waited a beat and then kissed her forehead. A flash of light and they pulled apart. Willow had just taken a picture.

"That is so cute," she said. "Xander Harris in love." Xander threw a piece of waffle at her.

"That's mature, Xander," Giles said, walking past. He had put on a tie and suspenders and was carrying his sportjacket. When Giles' back was turned, Xander carefully crept up behind him. He was about to slip to fingers between the man's shirt and suspenders when Giles spoke up.

"You're not so big you won't fit over my knee," Giles said calmly. Xander took a step back meekly as the girls laughed.

"How did you know?" Katie finally manager.

"Xander can't resist snapping braces," Giles explained. "And he was too quiet."

"Braces are suspenders," Xander explained.

"Will - I guess I should just start saying Spike to avoid confusion - has threatened to bend Xander over his knee at least a dozen times," Katie laughed.

"I'm not certain his intentions are quite as honorable as mine," Giles said, trying to look hurt.

"Bored now," Willow said. "Go get your stuff." She shooed Katie and Xander out.

They quickly got Katie's purse and Xander's wallet and met the other three out front. The piled back into the car in the same arrangement before Xander rethought it.

"I should be in the middle so that the rest of you can rubberneck," he said. He switched spots with Lydia and smiled, putting an arm around Katie and one around Willow. "Life is good." Giles nodded to him in the mirror, something only Katie caught, and they headed into London proper. The girls took advantage of the windows, oohing and ahhing over the things they'd ignored the day before.

"7:30, The Cheshire Arms," Giles reminded them as he let them out on a bridge with an excellent view of Big Ben. The four nodded and took off.

***************************************

Giles was already waiting at a table outside the pub when the four arrived.

"7:30?" he said with a smile.

"If by that, you meant 8ish, then yes," Willow said.

"No arguing. Sitting. Eating," Lydia told them. Giles picked up his mug and they walked into the pub. Plenty of dishes of food were visible in glass cases and a menu was scrawled on a chalkboard. Xander started the line making a quick choice of fish and chips.

"Now then if that doesn't sound like ..." came a woman's voice from the other side of the bar. She bustled over, a woman in her mid-50s, and continued in her Irish brogue.

"I'll be ... it's yourself then is it!" she crowed, throwing her arms around Xander. Katie waited for him to pull away but he hugged the woman back.

"Peg o' my heart," he said, not attempting her accent. She finally let go and then looked at Giles accusingly.

"You didn't tell us you were bringing me boy here," she said, pointing her finger into his chest. Then she grinned broadly at Xander and said, "'Here by your lonesome, are you Rupert?' I says. 'No, I'm meeting some friends,' he says. Here yourself is. And he after lying to us. It's a good beating he ought to have." Giles just smiled at her.

"Well, Peg, I'm here and Giles is my friend so I wouldn't say he was lying," Xander tried. Peggy shrugged. Xander took up the introductions.

"Peggy Sullivan, this is my best friend, Willow; her girlfriend, Lydia; and my girlfriend, Katie." After each name, Peggy shook the girl's hand. When Xander got to Katie she straightened but still shook her hand. Katie was confused. She would expect the woman to pull back at finding out Willow was dating a girl. Why would Katie's existence be surprising? Oh god, Katie thought, he better not have dated this woman.

"A friend of Xander's and all that," Peggy said. "Is it hungry you're after being? Here I am talking til doomsday and you only just walked in."

"The girls have never had pub grub, Peg," Giles explained. Peggy made a big show of looking shaken before pushing them up to order at the counter. Peggy stepped back with Giles and spoke to him earnestly for a moment. Katie watched, wondering if it was about her. She noticed Xander was watching too. Moments later, Peggy looked at both of them and Katie was sure it was about her.

"What's that about?" Katie hissed to her boyfriend.

"Haven't the faintest what they're talking about," Xander said. He might have been telling the truth. She couldn't be sure either way. Xander picked up his plate and ordered fish and chips for Giles as well. The older man was still talking to Peggy. Finally he broke away, just as the girls picked up their plates and beers. Xander handed a plate to Giles who settled the bill against the protests of the rest of the party.

As they picked their way up the small staircase to a room with more tables, Giles whispered, "It's fine. She's just confused." Xander nodded. Katie acted like she hadn't heard.

They settled in, Giles and Xander in the booth seat, the girls on chairs around the table.

"So who was she, Xan? How did she know you?" Willow asked. Giles focused on putting vinegar on his chips.

"Uh. That's Peg. She kind of wants to be my mom," Xander said.

"Kind of?" Giles snorted. He said, in a perfect imitation of Peg, "And if me own son Sean were more like yourself instead of being a good for nothing hooligan like his da ..."

Xander colored. "Okay. She wants to be my mom. Which is okay with me. I hate to speak ill of the dead - the real dead, not the undead - but my mom sucked. Seems appropriate to have someone else give it a shot."

"That doesn't tell us how you know her," Lydia observed. The girls waited while Giles looked amused. Xander wasn't sure what to say so he went with a version of the truth.

"Um. After Buffy, you know, I didn't want to just call and be like, 'Yeah, the whole purpose of our lives for the last decade or so? Dead.' So I came out here instead to tell him," Xander said. "I called him from the airport and we came here and drank until we were completely pissed."

"Peg took pity on two drunken gentleman and let us sleep it off on her floor," Giles finished. "Since then, she's had quite the soft spot for Xander."

"I didn't know you'd been here!" Willow said, poking Xander.

"That explains why you knew where the blue room was," Lydia reasoned.

"And why you actually know how to use the Tube," Katie added.

"How did that go?" Giles asked with concern. Willow launched into the day's tales with gusto.

Giles noticed Peggy gesturing from the doorway first.

"Xander, I think Peg wants to mother hen you," he said, pointing. Xander finished his Guinness, got up and squeezed past Giles, who stopped him. The older man brushed a thumb across Xander's upper lip. Xander looked confused, then saw the beer foam on the man's thumb.

"Ta," he said, wiping his mouth in case there was more. Katie saw that Peggy was grinning. The two walked down the stairs and out of sight.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me Xander had been here," Willow said.

"None of us are really eager to talk about anything associated with her death, Willow, really," Giles explained. Katie excused herself to use the bathroom ("toilet, lavatory or loo," Giles corrected her) and crept down the stairs. Peggy and Xander were talking at the bar and Xander didn't look happy.

"Looks like she'd be a banshee, that one," Peggy told him firmly.

"Peg, I live with her. I've been with her for three years. I don't think you can tell me anything about her after meeting her exactly once."

"Our advice is no good anymore, is it then?" Peggy said.

"Don't get mad, please. You know I value you. It's just ... all of this stuff, my friends, London, it's new for Katie. I'm trying to make this as easy as possible," Xander said.

"Didn't hear you say you were in love with herself," Peggy said quietly. Katie had to lean in to hear. "Never heard you be anything but free with the words of love." Xander sighed.

"Just ... I'm learning a lot being here again ... being here with her. I don't know how this will play out but I'm trying to keep it nice and you whispering with Giles isn't helping," Xander said, once more on the attack.

"Rupert doesn't even tell me you're back. Doesn't tell me you've got this, this Katie now. What am I supposed to do? Just accept it all without question?" Peggy demanded.

"That would be nice," Xander said. "Unconditional love would be nice."

Peggy looked said. "I've seen with me own eyes where unconditional love gets you. Leaves you in a big house all alone." Xander looked angry but didn't reply. He stormed outside just as Katie ducked into the loo.

She sat on lid of the toilet for a moment, thinking about what she'd heard. Peggy didn't like her; that was clear. But why would Xander have lied and said her interest was maternal if she was after him instead? She wasn't sure if she'd been gone from the table for five minutes or 15 so she hurried back. As she sat down, Xander came back from the table looking unemotional. Giles looked at him questioningly.

"It's fine," Xander said.

"So tell us about Spike," Willow said. Katie started to laugh, despite what she'd heard downstairs. She could be a fun girlfriend, not a banshee.

"He's living a pretty normal unlife," Xander said. "He tried to skate by without paying rent, he raids our cabinets, he hits on me about once a week. Pretty normal Spike --- even with a soul. He visits Angel and Dawn, a lot of course since he spent so much time in L.A. Swears its for the free food but he's all glowy when he gets back."

"Glowy like 'ooooh, I miss Dawnie' or glowy like 'Angel nearly lost his soul that time'?" Willow asked.

"Oh, never thought about that. I assumed it was seeing his sire and Dawn again but ... you never know," Xander said. "You practically wouldn't recognize him if it wasn't for his evil streak though."

"I saw pictures of him from when you guys were in high school. I can't believe how different he looks," Katie said.

"College," Xander corrected, before telling the others. "Finally realized that goth and peroxide blondes were out. And he must be chowing down on as much Wheetabix as blood because he's got a little paunch."

"Unlike you?" Willow said, poking his belly. Xander looked down.

"I earned this beer belly," he said.

"I'm teasing. You look good. Really. Just not like you did in high school. God, remember when you were on the swim team?" Willow said. Xander blushed.

"I heard I missed quite a show. Cordelia was talking about it for a good month," Giles said. Xander colored even darker.

"What are we missing?" Lydia asked.

"Xan had to go undercover with the swim team in high school. When I say undercover, I mean under the cover of just three square inches of body-hugging Speedos," Giles explained. Xander covered his face.

"It was a truly beautiful thing. I mean, we had no idea that he was like this Renaissance sculpture. I couldn't believe that was the kid I had been taking baths with 10 years before," Willow said.

"Okay, but I don't look like that now so let's drop it," Xander tried.

"You're no slouch in the good-shape department," Katie protested.

"Talking about Xander's nearly nude body in high school? Bad. Talking about Xander's body now? Terrible," Xander said, uncovering his face.

"Okay, no nude Xander stories," Giles said primly. Xander kicked him under the table.

"How about clothed Xander stories?" Willow said perkily. "I'm thinking Xander in formal wear."

"I'm thinking Willow in pain," Xander returned.

"The man looks good in a tux," Willow said, offering a 'is it my fault?' shrug. Xander opted to take control of the conversation.

"Lest she tell you a different version of the story, we were trying on homecoming clothes and may have accidentally ended up having the smoochies," he told Lydia.

"On the plane, you said you guys kissed when you thought you were going to die," Katie disagreed.

"That was the second time. The first time was a formal wear fluke," Willow said.

"Second time?" Giles coughed. Willow's eyes widened.

"You knew? You knew we were kissing when we were supposed to be researching?" she asked. Xander had to laugh.

"You look like he's going to make you serve detention. He's caught all of us in enough compromising positions. And we've caught him in some too. I'm sure it's okay a decade and a half later," Xander said.

"Him in compromising positions?" Katie asked. Giles colored this time.

"No need to get into this," he said just as Lydia insisted, "Do tell." Xander grinned.

"Mostly Buffy walked in on stuff. I don't think she ever saw Olivia fully clothed," Xander said. Giles shot him a look.

"And then there was Giles and Buffy's mom," Willow added. Giles groaned.

"I believe you have no more bedroom misdeeds to pin on me," Giles said.

"Bedroom? If I recall, you and Joyce got it on on a police car. That's hardly a bedroom. And you fessed up about your Oxford days with Ethan last night," Xander said.

"Try not to look too pleased," Giles said. "My rebel days are well over, I assure you."

"Yeah," Willow said, suddenly looking mock-concerned. "Why don't you have a girlfriend shacking up in your country mansion?" Giles looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"This is pay-back for sharing the Speedo story, book man," Xander said with glee.

"My relationships tend ... to end poorly," Giles said. "It seems pointless to engage in another when I know what will come of it."

"All relationships figuratively end in death or divorce," Katie said.

"Well, mine tend to end in literal death," Giles said. Willow took his hand.

"Tell me there's been someone since Olivia," she said. She saw something in his eyes and prodded him.

"It's ... it didn't end in death though it felt that way," Giles said, looking at the table. Xander looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Is this the right place for this discussion?" he asked. Willow shushed him and Lydia and Katie kicked him. Xander shut up.

"How long?" Willow asked.

"We were together more than three years and they were lovely. But things fall apart. Soon unconditional love turns into love conditional on remembering to hang up the towels or buying enough tea or saying the right thing at the exact right time," Giles said, looking at Willow.

"I'm going to the lav," Xander said, disappearing down the stairs.

"Boys are so stupid about emotional things," Katie said.

"No, he's right. I'm being quite the sad sack," Giles said.

"How long ago did it end?" Willow asked.

"About seven years," Giles said.

"God, I feel terrible," Willow said. "That was during my 'Avoiding all things related to Buffy including you and Xander' period." Giles shook his head to stop her from blaming herself for anything.

"And no one since?" Lydia asked. Giles shook his head.

"Boy, she must have really done a number on you," Katie said with sympathy. Giles nodded wryly. After a beat, Willow suggested they head downstairs since they'd long since polished off their food.

***************************************

Willow crept into bed on Xander's side and snuggled up to him.

"Xan, it's British Museum day. But you have to wake up," she said. Contrary to this, she tucked her head under his chin and snuggled closer. Katie came out from the bathroom but continued about her tasks.

Just because she's a lesbian, she gets to grope my boyfriend, she thought.

"No, just because I'm his best friend I get to grope your boyfriend," Willow said without a hint of malice.

"How?" Katie asked.

"You said that out loud. I assume you were going for interior monologue?" Willow asked. Katie looked dumbfounded.

"No big words in the morning, Wills," Xander protested, yawning. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. She left her head on his chest. Katie couldn't remember ever waking up like that with him. Lydia knocked and came in, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm going to be such a nerd today," she said.

"Today?" Xander asked as Willow swatted his chest.

"Is Giles coming with us?" Katie asked.

"I hope so," Willow said. "I feel kind of bad for him after hearing he got his heart broken." Xander climbed out, dumping Willow on the bed.

"It's all perception, Wills. Sometimes people think they're the victims when they have no right to be," he said, ducking into the bathroom for his toothbrush.

"Like you did when Spike nailed Anya," Willow said, annoyed. "Or like I did when Oz left for my own good." Xander shot her a dirty look and continued brushing. Willow climbed out of bed and shook out any wrinkles she thought her clothes may have acquired. Katie sat down on the bed quietly and Lydia tried to engage her in conversation about the museum. Katie talked but watched Willow and Xander in the bathroom as well.

Xander was brushing his teeth in his boxer shorts, not looking the least bit embarrassed to be in his underwear in front of the woman. Willow was standing behind him, looking at his reflection while she talked. Every now and then, Xander spoke around his toothbrush to respond.

Willow wrapped her arms around Xander's waist from behind and then ducked her head under his arm. He lifted his arm up, not sure what she was up to and Katie gasped as Willow pulled the waistband of the boxers away from the man's stomach and peered down the front before letting them snap closed.

"Oh, that's mature, Professor Rosenberg," Giles said. He had walked in just in time to witness it as well. Lydia wasn't sure what had happened but Katie looked pissed. Willow just giggled.

"Nothing she hasn't seen in the bathtub before," Xander reasoned, shrugging.

"Didn't look like that then but, yeah," Willow said stepping back.

"You get embarrassed when Giles talks about you in a Speedo but Willow can look in your underwear and it's no biggie?" Katie demanded. Xander sighed and ignored her.

"If we're all quite finished checking out Xander's package, we should let him get ready so we can get to the museum," Giles said. Xander shot him a look.

"I don't know if I'm done," Willow with a pseudo-earnest look that reminded Xander of his best friend at 14. "Something that size probably requires further exploration." Giles eyes widened and Xander swatted her on the butt.

"Get out and let me get ready," Xander said, face red. He closed the door, leaving Willow standing next to Giles.

"What?" she said. "It's big. I'm sorry but it is. I know I haven't had guy sex in a while but I'm sure Katie must ..."

"Think this conversation completely inappropriate, as do I," Giles said, cutting her off. Willow didn't look too chastised and Lydia wore a half-smile.

"You're encouraging her," Giles said, pointing. He purposely used a mild tone, not wanting to worry her. Occasionally, his harsh words had hurt Tara. Lydia laughed so Giles knew he'd done right. She walked out into the hall with him and Katie followed.

Willow caught up and said, "Seriously, does it hurt?" Katie sighed.

***************************************

The girls oohed and ahhed at the museum's main room. The white marble and construction of the library was too much for them. They stared with abandon. Because Giles was joining the group as a visitor, not working, he was wearing corduroy pants and a sweater. Despite the clothes, one of the people at the information desk greeted him quickly.

"Working today, Mr. Giles?" she asked.

"No, no. I'm just tagging along with some friends of mine," he said. The woman smiled easily and went back to work.

"So what do you do here?" Katie asked.

"I used to be a curator. Now I do random research as needed - some paid, some not. I've been working with some translations from tablets lately. They were found near Sumer - that's the Middle East now - but they don't follow the same rules that Babylonian and Sumerian do," Giles explained. "Several researcher are working independently on translations of the same tablets. If all of our translations match, we likely have cracked the language and can put together a dictionary, or similar book, for future translators." The girls stared at him.

"God, you've got a big brain," Willow finally said. "I can't believe no one in Sunnydale realized how stupid it was that you'd want to be the librarian there." Giles just laughed.

"Lydia, Willow, you lead the way about what you want to see," Xander said. "Academics aren't my thing so I'm not picking where we go." The two women looked at each other, grabbed hands and took off in the direction of the Egyptian exhibit.

"God," Giles said quietly.

"Yeah," Xander said.

"What?" Katie asked.

"They're so much like Willow and Tara were," Giles explained.

"It's kind of scary," Xander added. He shook it off and followed the girls. Giles, who had seen all of the exhibits in extensive detail, trailed behind the group with Xander, who just wasn't that interested. Katie caught the bug of excitement and stayed with Lydia and Willow which made Xander happy.

"I can't believe I'm actually seeing something so important in person," Lydia whispered.

"I know," Willow gaped too.

"It's a rock," Xander contradicted.

"The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important rocks in the world, Xander," Giles said.

"Especially to Mr. Giles," another voice piped up. The group turned away from the Rosetta stone to see a short man in his 40s.

"Rupert, who are these delightful young women?" the man asked, pulling on the lapels of his suit self-importantly. Xander and Giles both looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Martin, this is Katie, Willow and Lydia. Girls, this is Martin Thrall. He's a curator for the currency exhibit," Giles said. Willow knew him well enough to see that he could not wait for the man to leave.

"Saving three beautiful women just for the two of you, that seems a bit unfair," Martin said. Lydia and Willow began to narrow their eyes too. Katie beamed.

"Well, I think we need to be moving on," Xander said.

"What's the hurry, Xander?" Martin asked. "Surely I could talk to these beauties for a few minutes? Are you young things American like Xan?"

"Yes. It's our first time here," Katie said while Lydia and Willow remained stonefaced. "Quite an exciting city."

"I'm sure you're not seeing all of the truly exciting things tagging along with Rupert," Martin said slickly. "I'd be happy to show you around some evening."

"Or not," Xander cut in.

"I'm sorry, it would appear you brother has dibs. That will do, I suppose, as he's a bit of a wild man himself," Martin sniffed.

"Oh, he's not my brother," Katie said. "He's my boyfriend." After a beat, Martin smiled broadly.

"Your boyfriend? Really?" He began to laugh. Katie froze. Why was everyone so sure that she wasn't dating Xander? She was sure she was actually better looking than him; it couldn't be that everyone thought she couldn't score a guy like that.

Giles leaned forward and whispered something to Martin. The man froze mid-laugh.

"Humph," Martin said. "I have work to do." He walked off briskly.

"I see a Ripper gleam in those eyes," Willow said. "What did you tell him?"

Giles hesitated before admitting, "I told him that, what with most of the currency on display being small coins, that I bet I could fit his entire exhibit in his arse." Lydia and Xander grinned.

"How come it's okay for you to talk about shoving artifacts in someone's ass but I can't talk about the size of Xander's penis?" Willow asked, trailing Giles. Xander sighed and walked away. Willow gave up and followed.

***************************************
Over breakfast the next day, Katie informed Xander that the girls intended to shop as though there were no other cities on earth. Xander groaned.

"I can't do it, I can't," he said. "And, hey! In addition to being more fond of girly action, aren't you lesbians supposed to abhor shopping?"

"Those are the angry lesbians, Xander. The ones who don't shave," Lydia explained. Her mock earnestness reminded him of Tara again. "We shave, wear lipstick and shop." Xander laughed.

"I'm kind of excited about this foreign-clothing thing," Katie admitted.

"I can fund said expedition, I just don't know if I can troop from store to store like ..."

"A good little trouper?" Willow offered. "Maybe you could stay. Bond with Giles? It'd be good for you. Male bondage."

"I do hope that was a mis-statement," Giles said, walking in at the exact wrong time.

"I meant bonding time. You know," Willow amended.

"That would leave us to navigate the stupid Tube ourselves," Katie said in momentary panic. "With heavy packages. You have to come, Xander. How are we going to carry all of our stuff around?"

"You could take the car," Giles offered. "I realize that driving on the left side of the road is strange but I suspect you could manage with a little concentration. If you park as close to a shopping area as possible, you can simply return with you purchases each time. If you don't want to worry about reparking, take a cab or tube to the next shopping street and come back when you need to unload."

"Ooh, he's good," Lydia said. "This is a man who has had to deal with female shoppers before."

"What are you guys going to do all day?" Katie asked.

"I bet we could get some kick-ass tickets to a show," Xander said. Willow's head whipped around to look at Xander.

"I'm sorry if I just had Linda Blair-head but did you just say show? Mr. I don't read anything but the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue?" Willow asked.

"I don't believe Xander needs to defend himself. London offers excellent theater. And last-minute tickets are usually available," Giles said.

"And you can buy chocolate ice cream during the break," Xander said with excitement.

"Wait, how are you guys going to get into town if we take the car? Do we need to drop you somewhere?" Katie asked. Xander looked momentarily stymied. Giles thought for a moment.

"That would be extraordinarily inconvenient for you," he said. "I think ... well, there may be one solution." He stood up from the table and went out the backdoor. The young people opted to follow though he hadn't indicated either way.

He trod back to a shed that wasn't far from the garage and carefully unlocked the door. It took a moment for them to see in but Giles was already pulling a sheet off of a motorcycle. Xander's eyes lit up and he fell to his knees, feigning worship.

"Sweet Jesus," he said.

"That's a Harley-Davidson Electraglide," Lydia said, whistling low.

"She's the most beautiful bike ever," Xander said, running the back of his hand against the cherry-red paint. He left behind the slightest smudge, the only visible imperfection on the bike. He quickly wiped it off with the edge of his shirt.

Willow was looking over the motorcycle and peered into an open box next to it.

"You own a Harley?" Lydia said to Giles.

"Actually, it looks like Xander owns a Harley," Willow said, holding up the title to the vehicle. She had liberated it from a box of motorcycle-related items.

"You have a motorcycle?" Katie demanded. "That's so not safe." Xander ignored her and stood up, still touching the bike.

"You have a motorcycle in England?" Willow said, modifying Katie's statement. Xander ignored her too. Giles just grinned at Xander's expression.

"Anyone else worried about him having sex with this bike?" Willow asked. Katie and Lydia raised their hands.

"I've had sex on this bike but not with this bike," Xander said, running a hand along the leather seat. "But if I could figure out a way ..." Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Sex with who? On a bike?" Katie demanded.

"Does she run?" Xander said, turning to Giles.

"I assume," he said. "I drained the petrol so it wouldn't go bad and I've been good about the oil but ... I don't even have a motorcycle license let alone the desire to learn to ride one properly. I knew someone should probably take her out occasionally but I suspected you would kill me if someone else rode her. She's been sitting for quite a while."

"But she's perfect. I bet she'll start right away," Xander said, still infatuated.

"Does she have a name?" Lydia asked.

"Red," Xander breathed. Willow had to giggle. Her nickname was also the bike's name. "If she runs okay, which she will, Giles and I can get around so you guys can have the car."

"You can drive that thing?" Katie asked. "Legally?" Xander nodded.

"Should be in the box," Giles said. Willow dug through and found the right document. Xander cheered.

"Red's ready for her ride," Xander said. " Do you have gas here?" Giles nodded and went to the garage for the canister. Xander stroked the bike again.

"Isn't she beautiful?" he asked.

"You have a Harley?" Lydia said again. Willow gave her a look. Xander filled up the gas tank when Giles returned and checked a few gauges and parts. He wheeled the bike out of the shed and grinned when the light shone off of it. The girls and Giles trailed behind as he walked the bike to the driveway.

It started like a charm and purred as Xander smiled. He took off down the driveway like a shot and took off.

"He's going to kill himself. He's not going to remember to drive on the wrong side and he isn't wearing a helmet and he's going to die," Katie said.

"He'll be fine. I'll get out the helmets," Giles said. "He doesn't have a bike in the States so he'll certainly remember to drive on the left side. It's the only way he's ridden her."

"Xander has a license to operate a motorcycle in England," Willow said, shaking her head at the notion. On that note, Xander tore back up the driveway.

"God damn, this is better than sex," Xander said, pulling up. There was simultaneous eyebrow raising. Katie coughed.

"Uh, not better than sex with you, of course," Xander tried.

"Better than sex on the bike?" Willow asked.

"Hey, I was suffering from bike-induced euphoria when I said that. You don't get to throw that out now," Xander protested. "Now, who wants a spin." The girls all stepped back as though they'd been offered a sniff of the Ebola virus.

"Giles? C'mon G-man, you know you want it," Xander grinned. Giles laughed before agreeing. He climbed on behind Xander and set a hand on each of the young man's hips.

"Okay, Giles, we're going to be going a lot faster than that. I promise I won't give you cooties," Xander said. Giles sighed and leaned forward a little. He slid his hands closer to Xander's stomach. Xander sighed, grabbed the man's arms and wrapped them firmly around his torso, forcing Giles to press his chest to Xander's back.

Just as Giles set his chin on Xander's shoulder, Xander took off. Giles realized the wisdom of the death grip.

"They're going to die," Lydia said. Willow punched her in the shoulder.

"I'm surprised at Xander," Katie said, staring off into space.

"Because he's obsessed over a motorcycle?" Willow asked.

"No. I mean, he just found out that Giles had sex with a man but he's still letting him wrap his arms around him," Katie said distantly. Willow gently smacked her head against Lydia's shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure Xander won't catch it," Lydia offered. It wasn't worth trying to educate the girl; she was hopeless.

"I can't believe Xander has a bike here, you know?" Willow said.

"Do you have any idea what that bike must have cost? In the States, that would set him back, oh ... " Lydia thought for a moment before tossing out a number. A large number. Willow whistled.

"What?" Katie demanded. "No way he threw away that much money on a motorcycle. And then just let it sit here for God knows how long." She shut up when the bike's engine became audible again.

When Giles and Xander pulled back in, Giles was grinning. He climbed off quickly and sighed.

"She's sweet," Giles said. "I'd forgotten. Makes you feel young."

"Actually, shopping makes you feel young. Show us the keys, CHIPS," Willow said.

***************************************

The girls ran into the house with their bags, squealing as the rain soaked them through. They were glad they'd opted to take the car. After changing clothes and delighting in their purchases, the girls figured out the necessaries to start a fire in the most comfortable of the downstairs rooms. They pulled the chairs close and drank hot tea.

"This is what England should be like," Lydia sighed. "Tea, fires, rain."

"Missing boyfriends," Katie added.

"They probably got caught up in the rain," Willow reasoned. "Or they went to a late show." About 20 minutes later, the girls moved to the window because they could hear something in the yard. Soon, they recognized Xander's voice and Giles' laughter. The two men soon ran from the shed to the house, hurrying in from the rain. They were dripping wet and laughing like children.

"Hey everyone. We're soaked," Xander said unnecessarily.

"Good evening,. If you'll excuse us for a moment," Giles began.

"No you don't," Willow said firmly. "You'll not drip water all over this beautiful house ... even if it is *your* beautiful house. We'll get you towels." Giles and Xander froze on the rug.

"I've heard her like this before," Giles said. "Best to listen."

Xander nodded. "She discovered that tone in pre-school. It was scary then too." Willow shot them a look while Katie and Lydia fetched towels. Giles pulled off his wet sweater, leaving a soaked T-shirt underneath. Willow wrung out the sweater in the sink.

Looking like chastised children, Giles and Xander dried their hair and did their best on their clothes. Finally, Xander sighed, and kicked off his shoes. He peeled his wet shirt off and then shimmied out of his drenched pants, leaving just his boxers. He rubbed all over with the towel and declared himself dry enough to go upstairs for clothes. He passed Willow's inspection too.

"Your turn," Willow said.

"I'm not undressing at my own back door in front of Willow Rosenberg to avoid getting water on my own carpet," Giles protested.

"I won't look," Willow lied. "I haven't had a crush on you in a good 20 years if that helps."

"No, Willow, that doesn't help. That makes me feel old, actually, which makes it all the less likely that this body will be exposed to public scrutiny," Giles argued. Xander returned with dry clothing on and handed a new sweater, pants and boxers to Giles.

"Don't give me that look. You strip at the drop of a hat because you just don't care. I care," Giles said.

"I care. It's just that the majority of people in this house have seen me naked at one point. Am I going to get into a tizzy about changing in front of them? Nope," Xander said. Katie, who had long lost interest, went back to the fire. Lydia joined her. Finally Willow gave up and sat with her girlfriend. Xander sat down at the table and smiled.

"God, today was fun," he said. Giles stripped his shirt off and dried his top half. He pulled the dry sweater on.

"Oh, the gym class change. Nice," Xander said.

"The what?"

"The gym class change," Xander said. "Where you change one piece at a time, making sure the least amount of flesh is exposed as possible. Completely avoiding the full monty." Giles shot him a look.

"Apparently Willow feels your monty is more than full," he threw back. Xander laughed.

"Wills is an interesting girl," he said. "I missed her so much."

"I know. I can't believe how wonderful is to have her back," Giles said, stripping. "To have you both back. I was afraid it would be strained, that at the very best, we'd be haunted by Buffy, continually reminded of her absence but ... this is enjoyable." He finished pulling on the new corduroys and sighed.

"Your monty ain't bad for 62," Xander commented. Giles threw a wet T-shirt at him and joined the girls by the fire.

"So what show did you guys see?" Willow asked. Giles looked at the ceiling. Xander looked at the floor.

"Xander Harris ..." Willow started. Xander broke.

"We didn't get around to that. We, uh, pretty much rode all day. Stopped for lunch and bathroom breaks. God, I love that bike," he said. "I can't believe you kept the bike. I can't believe you didn't tell me until day three."

Giles laughed. "Not mine to get rid of, Xander."

"Well, you know what I mean. I would have transferred the title over so you could sell it. You should have called. No reason to have it sit not doing anyone any good," Xander said. "There's nothing else that needs to be taken out of my name is there?" Willow nudged Lydia and started quietly talking about a store they'd visited in Covent Gardens. Katie feigned interest.

"You should probably close out your bank account while you're here. I'm sure it's all merrily collecting interest but no reason to not have it continue in the States," Giles said.

"Oh," Xander said. "If you still have the same account number there, I'll just have them transfer it over."

"No, absolutely not. Take the money home," Giles said firmly.

"That's not my money," Xander said. "I won't take it. My money is the money I worked for." Giles sighed.

"I'm not going to fight you on this but I don't want that money. We'll discuss options before you leave, okay?" Xander nodded.

"God that was fun today. My face is windburned but it was fun," Xander said. Giles laughed.

***************************************

Xander woke up from a pretty good sex dream to discover Katie's hand on his throbbing erection.

"Whoa, Katie," he said sliding up to lean against the headboard. Katie attempted a salacious grin, something that didn't look quite right on her schoolteacher face.

"You sounded like you were already thinking about me," she said, leaning in to his neck. He couldn't swear that it was her he had dreamed about but why ruin that for her? She stroked through his boxer shorts and he twisted away, not sure why he had. Katie looked offended.

"What?"

"I'm not sure," he said honestly. "It just feels weird. You know, in this house."

"We've been living together for three years. I hardly think anyone here thinks we're chaste," Katie said, running a hand over his biceps.

"Kate ..." he started, blowing air between his teeth. He was saved from further argument as a red bomb flew from the door to the bed. How Willow had jumped that far before they'd even registered the door opening, Xander would never know. Katie slid out of bed, just as Willow curled up against Xander and grinned.

"Good morning," she said with a grin. Xander had to smile, but not before he pulled the blankets up to his chest.

"Cuddleslut." Willow feigned shock at this name but hugged Xander nonetheless.

"Missed you, Wills," Xander added in a whisper. Katie sighed and went into the bathroom.

"Jesus, Xan, this isn't morning wood, it's morning timber," Willow told him, not moving back at all.

"If you don't like it, you don't need to jump in my bed every morning," he told her primly. "Furthermore, what's with the sudden obsession with my penis?"

Willow shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose these are all the jokes I was too shy to make when we were teenagers. I'm getting it all out of my system now." She offered a big smile.

"Eh, works for me," Xander said. "I'm not shy enough to be offended when it's the two of us."

"Speaking of shy, how about Giles refusing to even take his shirt off in front of us," Willow said. "He's always been in such good shape that I didn't expect him to flatly refuse. I kept thinking he must have scales or something."

"Will, you shouldn't have pushed him like that," Xander reprimanded. "He's still in good shape but ... he's probably a little self-conscious about his scars."

"Oooh, is he all scarface, only like scarbody?" Willow asked with sick fascination. Katie walked in just to hear the end of this.

"Who?" Katie asked.

Xander sighed. "Giles. I wouldn't even say this except I don't want us --- by which I mean Willow --- putting him in a situation like that again. His chest and stomach are scarred and I imagine he wasn't eager to share that with people he just barely met," he said.

"Scarred from what?" Katie asked.

"He got hurt pretty badly when someone was torturing him for information."

It finally dawned on Willow. "I didn't realize there were other physical marks, I mean besides his hand."

"Someone tortured him? Shit," Katie said.

"Yeah, it was really, really bad. I was totally freaking out while I was trying to untie him. I mean, Giles is Mr. Together. You expect him to always be the perfect, in-control patriarch. The really hit it home for me that we could get hurt; if he can get hurt like that, we can get hurt," Xander said.

Willow squeezed him. "That was such a terrible time, for all of us."

"I'm sorry, I'm stuck on this whole torture thing. Did they arrest whoever did it?" Katie asked.

"Um, not really easy-to-arrest people," Xander said.

"Not really people," Willow said.

"It was Angel. As in Dawn's Angel. As in Buffy's ex-boyfriend," Xander said. "Needless to say, Giles isn't big on corresponding with them in excess of the usual Christmas card."

"I don't get the whole Angel thing. How can he have been forgiven for all of this terrible stuff?" Katie asked.

Xander shrugged. "You learn to accept that people without souls are not the same as people with souls. Once you understand that, you can separate Angel from Angelus, his soul-less counterpart. It's like Spike. You just have to give up on blaming him for the things he did 100 years ago or 20 years ago because he feels pretty lousy about it."

"But torturing someone ..." Katie said.

"Spike was there. Didn't exactly stop it. Hell, his girlfriend was the one who finally got what they wanted from Giles," Willow said.

"I can't imagine Spike just letting something like that happen," Katie said. "I believe you but ..."

"Spike was once very big on the cruel death thing. Don't let the cute exterior fool you. If I had a dollar for every time he tried to kill one of us ..." Xander said. "Hell, if I had a dollar for every time Buffy died, I could get a Happy Meal. Course, that would make it an unhappy meal."

"She died more than once?" Katie asked sitting down on her side of the bed, next to Willow.

"First time, she drowned. Xander gave her CPR and revived her. Second time, she jumped into this interdimensional rift thing to save her sister's life. We brought her back from the dead with magic ... which we shouldn't have done," Willow admitted. "The third time was her real death. She was ready. We weren't."

"I can't believe that your childhood was like that. I can't believe that you can live that close to Spike and not care what he did to you years ago," Katie said. "How do you guys deal?" For once, Xander and Willow didn't have an answer.

"One learns to accept the hand that one has been dealt," Giles said from the doorway. "In my case, I accepted that I had my responsibilities as a watcher. Buffy accepted her duties as a slayer. Willow and Xander signed up voluntarily, as did the people who loved them over the years."

"Lots of people that loved you over the years?" Katie said, poking Xander with a smile. Giles smiled at this too.

"Let's see now. There was Willow, Cordelia, Anya, Faith ..." Giles started.

Xander groaned. "If you ever mention her again..."

"Someone's still upset about losing his virginity to the biggest whore on the planet," Willow said. Xander took it in the spirit it was meant.

"Scariest seven minutes of my life," he said. "What, Giles? She was a slayer. You would have been a seven-minute man too." Giles just laughed.

"Sex jokes with Giles? God, we really are adults now," Willow said.

Giles moved into the room and said, "Willow Rosenberg, one day you will get a phone call. It will be me telling you that you are the same age that I was when I moved to California. And you'll be horrified when you realize how young you still are and how old you thought I was then."

"We didn't think you were old," Willow tried lamely. Xander laughed and scooted more toward the center of the bed. He patted a spot on the edge for Giles who hesitated but took a seat.

"I must be imagining things then, Willow. Must be Alzheimer's creating false memories. I seem to remember you being scared to mention sex to me because, as I librarian, I might not know about it. And I remember Buffy telling me that I shouldn't have a personal life because I was old and it was gross."

"Buffy was perpetually wigging about you sleeping with Joyce," Xander said.

"And I didn't think you were old, I had a crush on you," Willow insisted. "Meaning less now that I'm a certified member of the girly team but still."

"It's irrelevant. I'm just trying to ruffle your feathers," Giles said. "It didn't bother me that much. Kept me younger anyway."

"You know what I still think is weird?" Willow asked. The other three waited for the answer. Willow waved to Lydia who crept in and climbed on the bed as well.

"I think it's weird that no one was suspicious of you, Giles," Willow said.

"What? Suspicious?"

"Yeah, think about it. Hugely overqualified guy moved thousands of miles for a shitty job in a crime-infested, middle-of-nowhere school. He spends inordinate amounts of time with three specific kids in the library and his apartment. Two of these kids have barely read a book before so it's not like they have a novel-discussion group. The only woman he ever really dates - forgive me for bringing it up - is murdered in his bedroom. And none of this raised any flags for anyone?" Willow said. "When you showed up at the hospital to check on Joyce, she was so pleased about concerned faculty that it didn't bother her that her beautiful 16-year-old daughter was spending upwards of 10 hours a day with a man in his 40s."

"When you put it that way, it sounds seedy," Giles admitted.

"When you put it that way it sounds like he was trying to nail Buffy," Lydia said.

"I assure you I had no such intention," Giles sniffed.

"What about Faith? She was checking you out," Willow said.

"No. I most certainly did not ... and she was not checking me out," Giles said. "That woman was a walking ad for the necessity of heavy-duty condoms. I wish Robin the best of luck but he's a far braver man than I."

"It is kind of weird that no one ever worried about you, Giles," Xander said. "I mean, the way Willow said it, it does seem shady. Why didn't anyone think it was weird that we were at your apartment so much?"

Giles sighed. "Because they didn't care. It kept the teenagers out of the adults' hair. They were too pleased to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"He's probably right," Willow admitted. "Our parents weren't exactly hyper involved in our lives. Thank god. It would have been hard to explain the blood and green gook on our clothes all of the time."

"But there's a fine line between not noticing that your kid is dating a werewolf and oh, let's say, trying to burn your daughter at the stake," Xander said.

"Whoa," Katie said. "No one got burned at the stake, right? ... Right?"

"I really don't think they would have gone through with it," Willow said, in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "I really think my mom or Buffy's mom would have figured out that it was a bad idea before we, you know, died." Lydia grabbed her hand.

"Point made," Giles said quietly.

"Yeah, Sunnydale not a hotbed of potential Parent magazine subscribers," Xander admitted. "Strangely, American Rifleman was always sold out at the gas station. Draw your own conclusions."

"I have to say that I'm happy I live in the new Sunnydale instead of the old one," Katie said. "I worry about the kids in my class getting bullied, not eaten."

Realizing the tone had become far too serious, Giles said, "Well, we're not in Sunnydale now, new or old. What do you want to do today?"

"Well," Lydia started, "We were talking last night about how we'd like to see more of the countryside. You know, travel a bit to some of the other towns. Is that doable?"

"Always," Giles said just as Xander staged a dramatic collapse.

"Too. ... Boring," he gasped as the women through pillows at him.

"No one said you have to go, mister," Willow told him. "This can be a girly trip ... uh, don't look nervous, Katie ... not that kind of girly."

"When everyone is ready we'll have breakfast and discuss where you'd like to go," Giles asked. "I think taking a nice train ride will actually be your best bet."

***************************************

Katie had to laugh when she walked into the kitchen. She was the last person to come down for breakfast. Lydia and Willow were eating blueberry-and-cream-laced oatmeal. Giles was standing at one side of the table with a bowl of blueberries while Xander leaned back in his chair, mouth open. Each time Giles tossed a berry, it followed a perfect arc to land right in Xander's mouth.

"Wow," Katie said. The distraction caused two things to hit the floor: the berry and Xander.

"I'm OK," Xander announced loudly as he stood up and brushed off imaginary dirt. Lydia and Willow were surprisingly unconcerned so Katie toned down her apology.

"Didn't mean to distract," she said. "Just impressed by the coordination, especially since your depth perception is shot."

"I'll tell you a secret," Xander said in a stage whisper. "It's all Giles. I just sit there and swallow ... which maybe doesn't sound great. Anyway, he has a good pitching arm. Results in the perfect toss. Yup, quite a tosser, our Giles."

"Cute. Pleased with yourself?" Giles asked, tossing a blueberry straight at Xander's face. Xander waited for it to deflect off of him and hit the table before seizing it up and popping it in his mouth.

"Extremely," he said with satisfaction.

"If we could focus on Willow for a moment," Willow said, pushing away the remains of her oatmeal. "I wanna' see me some countryside." Her country-hick voice was surprisingly good for a Jewish girl from suburban California.

Xander entertained himself by making faces in his oatmeal with blueberries, cream and syrup, then eating them and creating more. With Giles' help, the women planned the perfect trip, complete with an overnight stay in a little village.

"So it's settled then?" Giles asked. "And you'll be alright if I stay here?"

"Absolutely," Willow said. "We're grown up now, remember?"

"Quite. It's just that old habits die hard," Giles told her.

"One problem," Xander said. "If I do 'quaint,' I'll die."

"You will not," Katie said, just as Willow told him, "Well, suck it up because you're going to enjoy it."

"Giles!" Xander said, "You know how much I hate this stuff. Defend me."

"It's not my job," was the smugly satisfied response.

"Let me rephrase," Xander told the girls. "Willow, I will keep up a 48-hour whining streak that would make Andrew gasp with jealousy at my mastery of the art."

Willow's eyes bugged out. "You would not ... you would. I know you would. So what, we're supposed to go alone?"

"Gee, three grown women - one of whom is one of the most powerful witches on the planet - traveling through the countryside. How will they stay safe?" Xander lamented.

"It's not too late for me to put a hex on you," Willow said. Xander knew he'd won.

***************************************

"What are your plans today, aside from avoiding 'quaint' as though it were a cause of the bubonic plague?" Giles asked after they'd dropped the women at the train station.

"That's the beautiful thing," Xander said. "I'm self-sufficient here which means I don't need you to baby-sit me."

"I was just trying to help."

"No, don't be hurt. That's not what I meant! I just meant that you can have a break. You know, be you, not the innkeeper-slash-event planner. I'm low maintenance," Xander said quickly.

"I remember," Giles said sadly, turning back to the car.

Trying to get past the moment, Xander said, "Well, I ought to take care of my stuff here, you know? Bank accounts, bike, that sort of thing. I didn't realize I'd left so many loose ends."

"That's what happens when you leave in a hurry," Giles said in a tone so matter-of-fact that Xander couldn't decide if the comment was meant to cut or not.

"So I'll tie them up now."

"Some won't be tied, I suspect ...," Giles said. "If you're looking to be done with the bike quickly, you might want to talk to Samuel. He's still living at home. He brings it up far too often and his parents have finally agreed to let him get a license for one of the, and this is a quote, blasted things."

Getting into the car, Xander let the shock on his face show. "Samuel York is old enough for a motorcycle?"

"Time flies when you're gone," Giles said. "He's old enough for many things but not some of the things he thinks he's old enough for."

"Uh-oh," Xander said. "I bet his parents love that."

"Oh yes. He was doing some yard work for me and his father had the nerve to come over and suggest that I might not be a good influence."

"Bollocks to him. He's wrong and we both know it."

"Well Samuel more or less set him straight, I believe," Giles said. "I barely speak to the boy, let alone try to lead him astray."

"You wouldn't believe the urge to go mess with Mr. York's head."

"No," Giles said firmly. "If you go over there, it's to discuss the bike only. And it's Catherine and Henry. How can you not remember all of the Henry the Eighth jokes that went over your head?"

***************************************

This was worse than picking Cordelia up for a date, Xander thought perversely as someone at the Yorks' finally opened the door.

"Can I help you with something?" Henry York asked.

"Yeah, you probably don't remember me," Xander started. "Xander Harris? Rupert Giles' friend?"

"Oh. Yes. I thought you were living in the States again."

"Yeah, I am. I'm just visiting with some friends. I'll get to the point. I'm looking to get rid of my bike," Xander said, pausing to point to it in the drive way, "And Giles said Samuel might be interested."

"Oh ... Come in."

Yeah, Xander thought, picking up Cordy had definitely been less awkward.

Henry left Xander standing in the hall as he went to fetch Samuel. He was staring at photos of two long-dead ancestors when the teen bounded into the hall, alone.

"Hey! Xander!"

"Samuel, hi," Xander said.

"Sam, actually," Sam said, "But if you're getting rid of the Harley, you can call me anything and I'm still interested."

"Can I just say that I'm completely shocked that you're old enough for a bike?" Xander said, staring at the adult before him. "You were, what, 9 when I moved back home?"

"10 actually. And don't I look old enough to drive a Hog?" Sam asked with a laugh. He did a quick pirouette as though to show off his grown-up self.

"No wonder your dad hates us," Xander said, after the pirouette. "He probably thinks you caught gay from us."

Sam just grinned. "Can we go look at the bike? Like right now?"

Xander laughed, following Sam outside to watch him stroke the bike has he himself tended to do.

"Nothing wrong with it. I mean, obviously it's been sitting for a while and probably needs a once over, but it just purred to life when we started it," Xander told him. "I couldn't believe it."

"I can't believe you're selling this," Sam said. "Do you have a price in mind?"

"Not yet," Xander said. "I need to look around and see what's appropriate. I just assumed Giles had gotten rid of it. So I'm just going to sell it before I leave."

"Not to talk you out of it but why wouldn't you want to take this home with you?" Sam asked, hands already possessive on the bike.

"Basically my girlfriend would kill me," Xander admitted. "She's not too hot on me riding it here even."

"Girlfriend? Going to let her run your life?"

"You're 18. That doesn't make you an expert in human behavior," Xander said. "Besides, you really need to work on your father before you start throwing stones in my direction."

"He's a bit of a neanderthal," Sam said. "He didn't give you any trouble, did he? He's always hassling Mr. Giles and it's just not fair. Mr. Giles is a good person. He deserves better."

"That's what everyone's telling me."

***************************************

"There's nothing wrong with nice, plain and American," Xander said defiantly, as he slid the cookie sheet into the oven.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it," Giles told him. "And pizza, while well loved by the Yanks, still loosely qualifies as Italian."

"Not how I make it."

"I live in fear, doughboy."

"Hey!" Xander said, lifting up his shirt. "I'm not that doughy any more. No jokes."

Giles didn't let the laughter out, trapping it behind smiling lips. He just pointed. Xander ran his fingers through his hair and, sure enough, some of the pizza dough has somehow ended up there.

"Oh. Right. Dough. Yeah, I do seem to get that everywhere."

"I like to think of them as pleasant reminders of food we once ate. Granted, they were less pleasant when I would find them a week later behind the sofa," Giles admitted.

"Oh, god, do you remember when I hid Easter eggs?"

"I remember less when you hid them and more when I found the last one as we were putting up the Christmas tree," Giles said. "I don't think I've smelled anything so terrible that actually originated in this dimension."

"I don't know how I manage to leave stuff in such weird places," Xander said. "Nothing stays where it should."

"I always felt it was akin to radioactivity," Giles said. "You're flinging particles off all the time. Only, instead of particles, it's socks, eggs, pizza dough, woodworking magazines ...."

"So I'm radioactive?"

"Metaphorically speaking, yes."

"Radioactive this," Xander said lightly, tossing some of the leftover dough at Giles. Already prepared for the tactic, Giles carefully blocked the dough with a wave of his hand, leaving it hovering in the air.

Xander offered a fake frown. "No fair. One, magic is cheating. Two, when did you get so good?"

Giles plucked the dough out of the air with his hand before answering.

"I've been working a little here and there. Just small spells. Things Willow could do before high school graduation. I've always been adept at creating potions to carry out spells but, without assistance from the coven, I've never had the connection to the earth that is necessary to just carry out basic magic without mechanics. I wanted to change that."

"Show me what you got," Xander said, grinning.

Looking a bit bashful, Giles looked down for a moment but began to speak. Before he could say much, the telephone rang.

"Neat trick," Xander said. "But not much practical use."

Giles shot him a look, but started to reach for the phone.

"Let it go. You have answerphone," Xander told him.

"What if it's the girls?" Giles said. "What if it's Katie?"

Xander rolled his eyes and walked away to pick up the phone.

"Wrong number," he reported when he came back. "Now, I believe you have a magic show to put on." He sat down, and put his feet up on the kitchen table.

Giles carefully knocked his feet off of the table, using a flick of his wrist, never actually touching Xander.

"OK, I'm seeing abuse of magic here. If you're just using it to enforce table manners ..."

Giles very nearly touched his own face to feel the grin that hadn't been there for so long.

***************************************

Giles felt the presence in the room before he heard anything.

"Scootch," a voice whispered, a hand gently shoving his hip. Without thinking, Giles scooted to one side of the bed, as he'd been asked.

Then he thought.

"What in the bloody hell?"

"Shush," Xander said. Giles' room was black but it was clearly Xander climbing into his bed, pressing their bodies together. Giles found himself wondering if Xander was wearing anything; he couldn't tell through his own pajamas.

"Xander," he said, trying to sit up as if to pull away. There was a note of warning in his voice.

"Don't. Don't 'Xander' me," Xander said "I'm doing the right thing here." He snaked a hand up Giles' shirt. Even in the dark room, his aim was unerring. Giles wanted to close his eyes, give himself over to it, to Xander. He knew he couldn't.

"How is this right?" he asked, catching Xander's hand in his own.

Xander's voice with thick with resolve. "I'm fixing a mistake I made years ago."

"By cheating again?" Giles asked. "I can't condone this." He could hear Xander exhale, hurt.

In the silence, Giles' misery grew. He'd won a moral victory so why was it so much more difficult than taking the low road?

"I don't need you to condone this," Xander finally said. "I'll settle for you not telling me to stop."

This time the gasp belonged to Giles, an uncontrollable reaction as his T-shirt was lifted and Xander's warm tongue ran across his chest. He meant to say something, do something to stop Xander. At the very least, he had every intention of not arching his body up toward Xander's, of not moaning audibly as Xander's teeth grazed his nipples.

His intentions never made it into being. Instead of pushing Xander away, he pulled him closer. Instead of telling him to stop, he muttered, "Finally," before meeting his lips.

Xander managed to get a small laugh past the lips assaulting his own as Giles grabbed his upper arms to roll them as a unit. The result? Giles was back on top, straddling Xander's body.

Pulling back a moment to survey his new position - Xander had indeed come into his room naked and that never got old - Giles said, "Yes, I believe that puts everything to rights."

"Not everything," Xander said, slowly grinding his hips up into Giles.

The response and accompanying grin were enough send shivers down Xander's body. "It is well within my capabilities to take care of that."

"You are such an easy lay," Xander whispered as Giles' hands slid all over his body. Giles stopped just long enough to lay a playful slap against the side of Xander's ass in response.

"Hmmm ... actually, that's OK too," Xander told him.

"I may be an easy lay but you're a pervert," Giles said.

"And I'm a firm believer in not fighting who you are, you know?" Xander said as Giles worked lower and lower on his torso.

After laying a kiss low on Xander's stomach, Giles paused to say, "If you don't stop talking, I'll be inclined to keep my mouth free so that I can continue the conversation without being rude. I don't talk with my mouth full."

In mock horror, Xander laid a hand over his own mouth, silently promising not to talk again. The other he set on Giles' head, guiding him to his raging erection.

****************************************

For the second time in what seemed like a few hours, Giles sensed a presence in his bedroom. It wasn't Xander. Rather, he knew that Xander was already there by the amount of flesh pressed against his own. Lying on his back, Giles was sprawled out rather haphazardly on the bed with Xander's naked form draped over his. He'd pulled the blankets over them, out of necessity rather than modesty. There was a chill in the air. Had Giles his way, he'd crank up the heat, damn the blankets and spend an hour or so staring at Xander's body as though it were a particularly interesting program on the telly.

While he was assured of Xander's presence, he just had a niggling sense that someone else was in the room. It was enough to wake him, but not his partner. He slowly opened his eyes, hoping not to alert his imagined intruder. He froze.

Katie stood in the doorway, her body tense, her jaw slack. Her eyes weren't wide enough; that was the first thing Giles thought. He immediately understood that she'd been standing there for at least a few long minutes, had enough time to see, to understand what had happened.

She met his eyes and just shook her head sadly. Giles tried to pull to a sitting position but it was like trying to slide across a plastic couch on a hot California day; Xander's skin had been pressed against his own for so very long.

He managed to sit up and survey the damage around him. Xander's clothes formed a line from the door - he'd obviously shed his clothes after entering. Giles' pajamas had been flung to opposite sides of the room. Even without seeing Xander, Katie would have guessed what had happened.

She just stood there, looking more like an adult than she had during the entire trip.

"Katie, I ..." Giles started to say. She shook her head again.

"Xander," Giles whispered, gently shaking the man's shoulder. "It's morning and ... well, you really need to get up."

"Get up?" Xander mumbled with a snort, starting to roll over. "I think I did enough of that ... oh god." He pulled the blankets closer as though they could protect him from the look Katie was giving him. When he broke eye contact, to glance up at Giles, she dropped her face into her hands but didn't shake or make any noise.

Giles didn't know what to say. He felt like he should offer some excuse, make this right for Xander. Perhaps he could claim he'd seduced Xander, that it was his fault alone. He dismissed the notion as Xander ran a hand across Giles' stomach. It was a move Katie wouldn't notice if she'd looked up, something hidden by the blankets. It was enough to reassure him that Xander was somehow OK with this.

"Could be worse," Xander whispered, with a bit of a smile. Despite his horror at Xander's ability to laugh in this situation, Giles found himself starting to smile too. There was just something about waking up with a lap full of Xander, no matter what the extenuating circumstances, he reasoned.

"Katie." Willow's voice came from just a few feet behind the woman. "What's ... oh." Xander and Giles looked up just as Willow and Lydia stopped short behind Katie. Willow's eyes bugged out but Lydia just carefully slid an arm around Katie and pulled her away from the door.

"Wills, I ..." Xander started, sounding truly distressed for the first time that morning.

"Later," Lydia said firmly. She grabbed Willow's hand and led her away too. The whole thing, from Giles' awakening to Willow's retreat, had taken a maximum of two minutes. It seemed like a lifetime.

Giles laid back down on the bed and Xander snuggled in, more because it was a convenient resting place than anything.

"This is extremely bad," Giles finally said.

"Yeah," Xander agreed. "I think you nailed that one. She's ... I think I hurt her really badly just now."

"Yes, we did."

"Not we, Giles. Me. I did this. I need to go talk to her, explain," Xander said, getting out of the bed. He started at one end of the trail of clothing, sliding into his boxer shorts. Giles tried not to get distracted. The reverse strip was just as interesting, so he rolled onto one side and propped his head up.

"You may be able to salvage this if you think before you go in there," Giles said.

"Salvage what?"

The question surprised him.

"The relationship. You and Katie."

"Oh, Giles, no. I don't want to salvage it. It's not ... salvageable. During this trip, I started to think that she's not the person I thought she was. Then I realized I didn't really have an idea of who she was because I never really found out. Three years and we didn't really know each other. I could salvage this and try to get to know her, but what if she doesn't like me or I don't like her?"

"I don't know what to say to you," Giles said.

"Well, that's probably apropos since I don't know what to say to Katie," Xander said.

Giles rolled to his stomach to dig through his nightstand drawer. He flung a one-pound coin which Xander caught from habit though his depth perception was not what it had once been.

"For 'apropos'?" Xander asked with a grin.

"Yes. I think that's worth a pound," Giles told him.

"I only got 50 pence for 'serendipity,'" Xander reminded.

"That was years ago. Inflation, you see."

Xander rolled his eyes but pocketed the coin as he pulled his pants on.

"Thanks," he said, tucking his shirt in. "OK, I'm going to go do this. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Xander. You're doing the right thing, by going and talking to her now."

"No, this is just the clean-up for me not getting my ducks in a row before I did the right thing last night," Xander said, leaving the room.

Watching him go, Giles was keenly aware that the only thing he had left to hold onto was Xander's last few words.

***************************************

"Katie," Xander said to the door. "Can you let me in?"

"No," came the muffled response. Xander couldn't tell if she was crying or if she simply was facing away from the door.

"C'mon, we need to talk."

"No, I think we don't." Her voice was clearer now.

"You know we do."

"So, what?" she demanded, swinging the door open. "So you can tell me you're sorry and that it will never happen again and that you aren't responsible for ... for ... being with him!?!" Face curled up in anger, Katie looked like a force to be reckoned with. Xander stood his ground.

"No," Xander said, his voice still low. "I do want to tell you that I'm sorry but ..."

"Oh god," she said, the misery breaking past the anger. "I didn't think it would be like this, I really didn't."

Xander leaned forward to hug her. It seemed like the right thing to do when someone was crying. But she pulled away, wrapping her own arms around herself.

"Don't touch me."

"OK. That's, um, that's fair, I guess," he said. "Can I come in? Can we talk?"

"Yes, but I don't see the point," she said, stepping out of the doorway to let him pass.

He crossed the room and sat down in a chair, leaving the bed for her, before speaking.

"First off, I am truly sorry. I've hurt you and it was never my intention to do that. Sometimes, I just don't think about the repercussions my actions have. That's no excuse. I'm sorry that I hurt you," he said.

Katie sniffled but didn't outright accept the apology.

Xander took a deep breath. "And, I think it's safe to say that this is over. That *we're* over. Even if I begged you to forgive me and you were able to, I don't think things would ever be right again. And, to be honest, while I do want your forgiveness, I don't want to go back to what we had. That's not fair to you, me or Giles."

"Lord knows we must be fair to Giles," Katie said with a laugh that bordered on hysterical. "God, we came home early because I didn't feel well but now ... I might really be sick."

"I'm sorry. Really. ...If you're willing to stay for the rest of the trip, that's great. If not, I understand that too," Xander said. "And if you want to just slap me, I'd get that also."

"Maybe in a few hours," Katie offered. "Wait ... what about at home? What are we going to tell people? And do I need to go find an apartment?"

"OK, you're thinking ahead. That's good," he said. It did help him stay calm and collected. "I'd say you can tell people anything you want. I don't ... I don't think I'm going back."

"What? This wasn't just a ... a thing?"

"No. It wasn't just a thing."

"And the house?"

"I'm inclined to sell it if Giles will have me here," Xander said. "You can stay as long as you need, of course. Spike will need some time to find a place anyway."

"Have you ever ..."

"Have I ever what?"

"Cheated before? On me?" Katie finally asked.

"No, baby. I've never cheated on you," Xander said. "Cross my heart." It seemed to reassure her somehow.

"Why him? Why a man?"

"That's two questions. Um, why a guy? You did notice that I said I do believe some people are genuinely bisexual? There's a reason I'm sure that that's true."

"You've ... been with guys before?"

Xander nodded. Katie wrapped her arms more tightly around her torso.

Since she wasn't talking, he decided to finish her question. "As for why him ... As far as guys go, he's pretty amazing. More importantly, he was there with us, fighting with us. That goes a long way. You know how me and Wills are. I may not have known Giles for as long but close friendships can be formed when you're fighting in the same trench. Or cemetery, I guess, in our case."

"So it wasn't, like, anybody but me?"

"No. No, absolutely not. This in no way says anything about you. It wasn't 'find the first person that isn't Katie.' It's about me. It's about Giles. It's just unfortunate that I let this happen in a way that hurt you."

"He's so great, huh?"

"He isn't better than you; he's different than you. He and I understand each other in a way that you and I never have."

"I think maybe you should leave now. I'm not ... I'm not as angry now but I don't want to look at you either," Katie said, staring at the floor.

Xander nodded, a gesture she didn't see. "Gotcha'. Want me to call and get you a flight back home?"

"Definitely."

Before leaving the room, he asked, "You'll be OK?"

"Yeah. Sometime. Not now."

***************************************

Willow was waiting outside the door. She waited until Xander carefully closed it before looking at him evaluatively.

"Don't say anything mean right now. I feel like the biggest jerk on the planet without you telling me that I am one," Xander said, walking toward the stairs.

"Back up for a minute, bucko. You're coming with me," Willow told him, grabbing his arm and leading him to her room.

Lydia was already sitting on the edge of the bed. Willow deposited Xander near an upholstered chair and shut the door behind them.

Xander sat down but didn't say anything.

"Well?" Willow finally demanded.

"Be more specific," Xander said as Lydia admonished, "Willow, we talked about this."

"Relax, Lyd, I'm not going to attack him," Willow said carefully. "Xander ..."

"First," Lydia cut in, "Is Katie OK?"

"She wants to leave as soon as possible. She's not good, but she's going to be OK."

"Did you patch things up?" Willow asked.

"No," Xander said, surprised at the question.

"Did you try?" Lydia asked.

"No. Not at all."

"Oh." Willow put a lot of feeling into that one word, slouching down on the bed as she said it.

"Can you tell us?" she finally said. He didn't ask what she meant. Instead, he focused on her, seeing Lydia out of the peripheral vision he had left in his remaining eye. She was just on the edge of his vision, making it easy for him to believe it was Tara. It helped a lot.

"My fault, not his," Xander started. "He was already asleep when I went in there. This is on me, not him. I woke him up and basically had to argue him into it. The only part that I regret is that I didn't end things with Katie first. There's no excuse for that."

"So this isn't just ..."

"A variation of the formalwear fluke?" he filled in with a grin. "Nope. This is the real deal."

"You and Giles?" Willow's voice wasn't incredulous, just questioning.

"Yeah. Me and Giles. It started right after I came here to tell him about Buffy. What was it he said at the pub? Death makes for strange bedfellows? Well, we were drunk a lot, and we did some things. And we realized that it wasn't that we were drunk and didn't know what we were doing, it's that we were drunk enough not to stop ourselves from what we wanted to do."

"Alcohol. The great uninhibitor," Lydia supplied.

"I've always preferred to think of it as a social lubricator," Willow told her. "C'mon, Xander. More details."

"So we were together. Like, really together. That's why everyone here is giving Katie looks. They know that Giles and I were living together, *that* kind of living together, for more than three years."

"When Giles was talking about the last person he loved, the person who broke his heart ...?" Willow asked.

"Me," Xander said, raising his hand as though to volunteer. "And it sucks because it's true. I was trying to be defensive but I screwed up, big. I ended it in a way that ruined any chance of us being able to deal with each other again for years."

"What did you do?"

"I - and this is going to sound even more terrible in light of last night's events - I cheated on him," he said. He broke eye contact before he started and waited to hear Willow say something.

"Oh." It wasn't condemning him so he continued to explain.

"It was this totally random girl that I picked up at a club and I was very, very drunk and I brought her back here and it was in our bed and I knew he was coming home." It all spilled out.

Willow thought carefully before speaking. "You did a bad thing. I'm not going to tell you that you're a bad person or that I hate you, because neither one is true. But you hurt Giles and that's why you're hurting yourself over what you did. You're right that because of what you did last night, it should seem even more terrible. But, to be honest, what you did to Katie is a shadow of what you did to Giles. And, maybe, maybe in some fucked up way, what you did to Katie was one of the only ways of righting what you did to Giles."

"Logic for moronic cheaters 101?" Xander finally asked.

"Kind of. You're not off the hook but I do understand what happened last night."

"Well, there's no way of understanding what I did to Giles."

"Why did you do it?

"Don't know."

"What did you think would happen when he found you?" Willow asked.

"Not what did happen. He just looked devastated. It was awful. He looked like his foundations had just crumbled, and he walked right out. The girl, god, I don't even know her name, she didn't even notice that he'd come in."

"What did you expect him to do?"

"Get mad. Be angry. Start being Ripper and stop being this, this, domesticated thing that was a shadow of what Giles once was. I expected him to roar and attack me and put the fear of god into that stupid girl. I thought we'd fight for days, finally doing something with passion again. .... I get a lot of stupid ideas when I drink too much."

"Did he know?"

"Know what?"

"That that's what you wanted him to do? That that's what you needed from him?"

Xander shrugged. "I don't know. It's sort of irrelevant now. I screwed up big. I think there's finally been enough time that it doesn't hurt him so much anymore. I think we can get back to what we were."

"Is what you were going to be enough for you now?" Lydia asked. It was the first thing she'd said since Xander had started his tale.

Xander considered it. "Yes. I'm not sure why, but it is. I think ... I've had a lot of time to think about those years, and I'm realizing that, even beyond my actions, I was in the wrong. We had passion; I was just too stupid to see it and understand it. And he's been behaving himself so well these past few days even though he probably wants to poison Katie's oatmeal. That's helped too. I think before, I didn't realize that just because he's not scratching anyone, it doesn't mean he doesn't have claws."

"What happened, after, you know, he walked out?" Willow asked.

"I pushed the girl away and went to sleep in one of the blue bedroom," Xander said. "When I woke up, I took her home. When I got back, I packed up some stuff and called the airline. Before this trip, I hadn't laid eyes on him since he walked in on me and that girl."

"Wow. No wonder things were sometimes tense."

"Yup," he confirmed.

"So you're bi-guy now?" Willow asked.
"Basically."

"Is Giles the only ..."

"Giles is the only guy I've had a real, serious relationship with, yeah. I've, uh, dabbled occasionally. And that goes back pretty far."

"OK, I'm going to regret asking this but ... Spike?"

Xander had enough shame to at least blush. "Yeah. A few times."

"Like how far back are we talking? Like souled Spike?"

Xander looked at the ceiling.

"Um, OK, how about longing-for-Buffy Spike?"

No response.

"Oh god. Not tied-up-in-your-basement Spike? Oh, Xander!"

"Wills, it was a very confusing time for all of us," he finally said.

"Any other Scoobies of the male variety?"

"You don't hear me questioning your sexual past," Xander pointed out.

"You know which Scoobs I was with," Willow retorted.

"Um. Exactly one time, and after the whole end of Sunnydale thing, Wes."

"Wes? Really? Wow. OK, I can kind of see that. I actually, when I think about it, I can not only see it, I can play through the whole scenario."

"You might want to work on that lesbianism thing, Wills."

"Yeah, I'm on it. And speaking of on things, have you and Giles really talked yet?"

"Nope. That's next on my list of people to talk to after I have elicit sex."

"Elicit or explicit?"

"Both, I suppose. Basically, get Katie a ticket back to the States, warn Spike that she's coming home early and talk to Giles."

"Warn Spike?"

"I have a $50 that says he's taking up plenty of my couch space, ordering pay-per-view and leaving little blood rings on the coffee tables from his dirty mugs. Plus, he knows about Giles and me so I want to warn him not to let Katie knows that he knows."

"He knew and I didn't know?" Willow clutched her heart. "That hurts."

"It's easier to tell people who aren't going to threaten to throw you a coming-out party. He just called me a cradle robber since Giles is several decades younger than Spike."

"It makes a sick sort of sense," Willow admitted.

***************************************

"Hey," Xander said, sticking his head into the bedroom.

"Xander," Giles said. "Do come in. Is it safe for me to be out there yet?"

Sliding in to take a seat on the bed, Xander nodded. Giles turned from his seat at the writing table to take this in.

"Katie's holed up in her room. She's more upset than angry so I wouldn't hide all the butter knives or anything. Willow and Lydia are good. They might still be holed up in their room, but that has less to do with us and more to do with the fact that they had to be puritans while sharing a room with Katie last night."

"I have to admit that I never pegged Willow for ever being quite this ... exuberant."

"I never pegged me for nailing you either so I guess perceptions can be wrong," Xander tossed off.

"There is that. For what it's worth, I'm glad that Katie is OK. She ... she reacted better than I did."

"I don't know about that," Xander said carefully. "Standing in the doorway with a shocked look. Then walking out. Seems about the same to me."

"Perhaps it seemed that way but perceptions can be wrong."

Xander left the bed to walk to Giles, standing so closely to the seated man that he need only whisper. "Tell me how it was then."

"I was wild with rage. I don't know how I contained it. I managed long enough to leave the premises without ripping her throat out or strapping you down so that I could teach you just why you'd never have a better lover than I had been."

"You should have done that."

"Ripped her throat out?" Giles asked with a slight smile.

"Well, probably not, but the, um, strapping me down part," Xander admitted. "What? Don't give me that look. It's not like you can claim my tastes are dull." Giles reached an arm around his waist in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Suppose I had?"

"Had ....?"

"Had kicked her out of our bed. Had taught you why the thrill of cheating would never be better than the thrill of us? Would things have been different? Would you still have left?"

Xander shook his head before vocalizing it. "I don't think so. If I had, it would have proven just how stupid I really was."

"No, I think that trollop you picked up proved how stupid you really were."

"Well, yeah. Guess I thought she'd make you really jealous ... my back-up plan was Martin Thrall," Xander joked.

"Who would have been quite thrilled to do the job, I'm sure."

"OK, that was information I didn't need."

"You've never noticed?"

"I think you're imagining it."

"No, I'm really not."

"I'd really like to not throw up before I've eaten. Think we can save this until after breakfast?"

"That seems fair."

***************************************

Giles was hovering around the door when Xander came back in. He tried to look as though he were examining a print hung up in the hall, but it was a lame attempt.

"Giles. I'm fine," Xander said.

"Yes, I know. Of course you are."

"Really, I am."

"Yes. I agree.

"Don't try to tell me I'm not."

"I'm not," Giles said, vaguely confused.

"Don't try for tall, dark and texty when I'm pretending I'm angry," Xander told him. Giles decided to ignore whatever it was that had just happened.

"Young Samuel called. I told him I had a sneaking suspicion that the bike was no longer for sale."

"Right you are. Poor Sam but yay me."

"Everything went OK," Lydia asked as she walked down the stairs with Willow.

"Yup. I'm just happy we could get her a ticket right away. If she'd had to stay the night, I wouldn't have let her near any matches."

"Well, Lydia and I have decided to have a delightful time sans Katie. Giles, do you think you could take us into the city? We're going to try to get some last-minute theater tickets. You're both welcome to join us."

"No," Giles said slowly. "I think I'll stay in tonight."

"I'm with him," Xander said quickly. They both grinned like that cat that ate the canary.

"I say this not of my own accord, but on Buffy's behalf," Willow said solemnly. "Eww."

***************************************

Giles was propped up in bed, peering at a book through his glasses when he heard a light tap on the door. Finally, Giles thought.

Xander opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Willow and Lydia are back," Xander said. "They got a cab home."

"Oh," Giles said, setting his book and glasses on the nightstand. "Is that what you came to tell me?"

"Nope. Came in because I've been thinking about the whole radioactivity thing," Xander said. Because only the bedside lamp was lit, the room was fairly dark. Xander flipped a switch to turn on the overhead fixture, flooding the room with light. Then he carefully started to undo the buttons on his shirt, working them slowly, starting with the top button.

Giles sat up a little straighter. "Oh? The, um, radioactivity thing?" He tried to sound focused, really he did.

Xander kicked the door closed before dropping the shirt behind him.

"Yeah," he said, prying each shoe off with his feet. "The radioactivity thing. About stuff just flying off of me." He said it casually, but illustrated his point by pulling his socks off and dropping them next to his shirt.

"You have my full and undivided attention," Giles assured him.

"I want more than your attention."

The confidence in his voice was almost as big a turn-on as was his slow strip. He took a few steps forward before crossing his hands and hooking his thumbs in the bottom hem of his T-shirt.

"The radioactivity metaphor is probably a good one," he continued, speaking at a normal pace but easing his T-shirt up with a slowness that made Giles want to pounce. His spoke at a regular volume, not the whisper he'd used moments before, and he maintained eye contact though his chin was tipped slightly down. Bedroom eyes, Giles thought.

"And, while I don't cause cancer in lab rats, I would like to point out that two of the girls I was romantically involved with in high school did end up in long-term comas."

As his hands got up to his chest, Xander deliberately brushed against one of his nipples, pretending it had been an accent. He inhaled noticeably, causing him to pause between two of the words he was saying. He savored the effect it had on Giles, before pulling the T-shirt over his head. Giles was relieved to see it go and reassured that even Xander wasn't oblivious to the seduction he was committing.

"I summed it up by saying that around me, nothing stays where it should," Xander continued, licking his index finger. "Which seems pretty appropriate when you find a football in the refrigerator."

"It was in the oven," Giles corrected absently. His eyes were fixed on Xander's finger, which ran a slow path from his lips down, down, down, meeting the sparse line of hair and sliding to disappear into his waistband.

"Nothing stays where it should," Xander summarized. Three of his fingers stroked slow circles low on his stomach while his other hand lazily traveled across his chest, his throat, his lips. Giles clutched the edge of the bed's comforter, a low growl escaping his lips, as the front of Xander's pants slowly changed shape.

"And I started to realize that the whole radioactivity thing may be less about me being scatterbrained, and more about a problem with me." He took a few steps forward again to bring himself just out of arm's reach of the bed.

"There is nothing, I repeat, *nothing* wrong with you, except, possibly, for the fact that you're a cocktease," Giles said, the words coming from low in his throat.

"Why, thank you, Mr. Giles."

Xander brought his hands to his jeans and slowly, slowly unbuttoned them. He reached for the zipper and, before Giles could see if he was wearing anything underneath, he turned around. It was one of the few quick motions he'd made since entering the room.

Giles made a guttural sound, and Xander, with his back to him, let himself grin.

He was quiet long enough for Giles to hear his zipper come down, something that seemed to take forever. Decorum be damned, Giles slid a hand under the covers and began to stroke himself. He felt like he had a Roman column in his hand, which made for twice in a 24-hour period; not bad for a man in his 60s. Xander, he had to admit, had skills.

Looking coyly over his shoulder, Xander gave Giles a lascivious smile that made him stroke harder. "Don't go using that all up, OK?" Xander warned. He slipped his hands behind his back, catching his thumbs in the waistband, and gently pulled at his jeans. They slid tediously down, first affording Giles only the reassurance that Xander wasn't wearing anything beneath them. They caught for a moment on the fullest part of his ass, causing Giles to silently beg for Xander to give them another tug.

Instead, Xander spoke. "Now that I have your complete attention, let me tell you one thing. It's not that things don't stay where they should around me. It's that I don't stay where I should. And I decided it's time that I do that. But I'm going to need you to help me do that. Remind me that where I belong is with you."

"And what would be the best way to do that?" Giles managed, a slow smile crossing his lips.

Thumbs still at his waistband, Xander bent over and jerked his pants down.

"You could start by damning the romance and fucking me senseless," Xander suggested, peering back while still bent over. Giles gave him no time to even step out of his jeans. They stayed pooled around his ankles as Giles scrambled out of the bed and grabbed onto Xander's hips, grinding his cock against smooth ass.

"Sweet Jesus," Xander moaned, pushing back against his partner. Giles paused only to drop his own pants to the ground and move them a step closer to the bed. From this new position, Xander could just rest his hands on the edge of the bed for support.

Still shoving against him, Giles let his hands familiarize themselves with Xander's body again, tickling his thighs, pinching his nipples, pulling on his erection, stroking his balls. Xander's responses varied from low moans to high yips.

"You were serious, weren't you?" Giles rumbled before stretching to leave gentle bites on Xander's shoulders.

"Mmm, god. ... 'Bout which?"

"About damning the romance for now?" Giles said, hands wrapped around Xander's cock to keep their bodies pressed together.

Rocking on his heels to maintain the lovely friction, Xander mumbled, "Fuck yes, I was serious."

"Lovely. You've got 10 seconds to find something or I'm going in dry," Giles told him. Grinning, Xander turned just enough to dig through the nightstand drawer, praying that lube didn't have an expiration date and that Giles hadn't done any spring cleaning in the a few years. He lucked out, with two seconds to spare, handing the bottle to Giles.

On any other night, Giles would have warmed up the gel. On any other night, Giles would have prepared, especially when he considered how long it had been since they'd had actual sex. On any other night, Xander would have wanted those things.

This wasn't any other night.

The more the merrier at a time like this so Giles pulled away just long enough to squirt plenty of the cold liquid on himself and Xander. Even the chilling effect did nothing to soften his cock though Xander did gasp. The shiver hadn't quite left Xander's body when Giles positioned himself and penetrated Xander.

This time they both inhaled sharply, Xander blindly groping to regain his grip on something, having left the edge of the bed to dig through the drawer. He knocked the lamp off the nightstand, sending it crashing to the floor. They both ignored it and Xander settled for wrapping his hands around the edges of the nightstand. He leaned into it, his legs spread wide, as Giles shoved his way into Xander's body.

It hurt in the best way possible and Xander was not at all surprised that he was seeing stars. So he wouldn't be able to walk the next day; walking was overrated anyway. "More," he growled through clenched teeth.

Giles hadn't needed the guidance, but it was nice to hear anyway. He plunged forward, until he was buried as deep in Xander's ass as he could possibly be. Even then, he tried to get just a little deeper to take full advantage of the tight passage. He blinked his eyes to scatter the lights playing at the sides of his vision. Christ, the effect this man still had on him.

He didn't wait for Xander's approval before pulling out and pushing back in. As soon as his thrusts took a normal pace, Xander began pushing into them. His partner now fully active again, Giles let go of Xander's hips and circled his arms around his waist. He wrapped one hand around Xander's cock, moving the other to cup his balls. Xander picked up the pace now, forcing the nightstand against the wall by using it to spear himself on Giles' erection.

Just being inside Xander calmed Giles immensely and let him focus on Xander instead of his frantic need to take and claim.

Giles choreographed a final push with a tug and a squeeze, causing Xander to climax. Giles moved his hand to control the spray - no need to wash the walls later - catching some on his finger. He brought them up to Xander's still moaning lips and, in the afterglow of orgasm, Xander forgot that he thought that was actually kind of gross. He licked Giles' fingers, taking them deep into his mouth before pulling off of them and doing it all again.

He slowly began thrusting again, moving his now-clean hands to pinch, squeeze, pull, tease Xander's nipples. If Xander at 36 was anything like Xander at 29, he'd be up again in no time.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Very OK," Xander whispered. "I love the way you feel in me."

Giles returned to a more leisurely pace, moving slightly as it suited him. If it hadn't been for the night before, this tryst would have been over in minutes.

"Course, it's sort of embarrassing that you're lasting longer than I did," Xander said, coming out of the post-orgasmic haze.

Giles leaned to the side just enough to allow him to slap Xander's ass.

"Owww," Xander complained in a voice that took all of the bite out of his protest. "What was that for?"

"Do you want to know to avoid doing it again or to make certain that you do?"

Because Xander was still facing the nightstand, Giles heard the happiness in his voice, rather than seeing the grin on his face. "You know me too well."

He moved a bit again, landing a slap on the other cheek this time. The sting was still there.

"Matching set," Giles explained before Xander could ask.

Giles reached around again and snorted. Predictable. Xander was indeed hard again. Suddenly feeling very carnal again, Giles pushed Xander to return him to being fully bent over. He grabbed his hips and thrust hard time and time again. He knew it might have been too much, even considering how this whole thing had begun, but he had trouble caring about anything beyond what he and Xander were doing right now. As though he could read these thoughts, Xander adjusted his grip on the nightstand and vocalized something that wasn't quite a word but was nonetheless filled with need.

"Tell me," Giles grunted. "Tell me."

"Want this."

"What is this?" Giles prompted, increasing his pace. Xander was barely able to keep up now. He let most of his body go limp, allowing Giles to jerk him back and forth onto his cock.

"You. You fucking me," Xander gasped out.

"And that's what you want?"

"Yes! Jesus, yes," Xander moaned.

"Say it. Do it. Now." It was an order and Xander moaned again.

"Want you to fuck me. Want you to keep fucking me. Need ..."

Giles moaned, trying to stave off his orgasm, wanting to hear more.

Skin slapped maddeningly against skin as he asked, "What ... Jesus ... what do you need."

"Need to have you take me, to have you in me, to have you come in me, to have ..."
There might have been more but Giles pushed so deeply into Xander, his fingernails creating red crescents into his skin, that neither of them could speak. Buried in Xander's ass, Giles came with an animalistic roar. The sensation of Giles' orgasm, so long remembered, caused Xander to follow suit. Heavy breathing took over the room as Giles collapsed Xander's back. Both let the sensations roll over them, not trying to shake off the euphoria that came with such an explosive climax.

Xander came back to reality first, mostly because it was the second time he'd come that evening. He grinned and carefully turned his head to catch a glimpse of a thoroughly knackered Giles. His eyelids fluttered and, before long, his pupils returned to their normal size.

"Did I mention," Giles finally said, "That's it's good to see you again."

Xander laughed. "Not in so many words, but, yeah, I got that. The feeling's mutual."

"I got that too."

Giles slowly started to pull out of Xander.

"Hey, wait a minute," Xander protested. Giles paused. "Remember about things staying where they should be? Pull out when you have to, not just because we're done." Giles understood. They probably had another good five minutes or so before his erection disappeared completely.

Giles was a little cold now, grateful that he hadn't pulled of his T-shirt. He didn't mind though because, sex aside, there was no greater proof that Xander had enjoyed the session than this request. He wrapped his arms around Xander who didn't move much. Xander was certain that every single muscle in his entire body was going to scream out in indignation when he tried to move. He wouldn't regret it nonetheless.

A timid knock came from the door.

"Bloody hell," Giles said. "Unless the house is actually burning, we're not interested!"

"Got it," Willow said through the door. "We were worried because we heard the crash." Ah, the lamp. Giles looked at the ceramic fragments to the right of the nightstand.

"But nevermind," Lydia called out. "Just ignore us."

"I've always quite loved Lydia," Giles mused. Xander chuckled, then sighed as Giles slowly slid out of him. While Giles retrieved a towel from the attached bathroom, Xander slowly pulled himself to a standing position. Oh, yeah, that hurt. And it was going to hurt more in the morning.

He surveyed the damage to his body - stickiness on his ass, stomach and thighs and nail marks on his hips - and the room - broken lamp and semen sprayed on the nightstand and part of the wall. They'd done worse.

Giles returned with the towel, which he pulled out of Xander's reach. He then leaned in to track down the sticky bits, wipe Xander down with a wet corner of the cloth and then dry him off. Xander stepped out of his pants and climbed into the bed as Giles made a half-assed attempt at wiping off the nightstand.

"Bollocks to that. That can wait until morning," he said, literally throwing in the towel. Giles stripped his clothing off, unplugged the smashed lamp, turned off the light that hadn't been broken, and climbed into bed.

"G'night, Giles," Xander said, moving closer for warmth.

"Goodnight, my boy," Giles told him. After a moment of silence, he asked, "That was ... OK?"

Xander understood exactly what he meant. "I did tell you to damn the romance. You did exactly what I wanted. Now find a way to make cuddling seem manly so I can still respect myself in the morning, and stop worrying about offending me or scaring me off. From now on, I'm staying where I'm supposed to be."

"How exactly does one cuddle in a manly fashion?"

"Quietly. Good night."

************The End********************