"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Willow rolled her eyes at Buffy's question.
"I haven't changed my mind since you last asked me..." Willow checked her watch "two minutes and fifteen seconds ago. I'll be fine. It's not like I've never gone on patrol before." Willow's words had something of a hard edge to them. She was getting beyond annoyed with Buffy constantly asking if Willow was OK or was she sure she wanted to do something.
Particularly if it had anything to do with slaying, magic, or Tara.
"Sorry." Buffy mumbled.
Xander came jogging up to them, ax in hand.
"Right, everyone remember where we parked the car."
"Where did you park the car?" Willow asked.
"Same place we always do when we hit this part of town."
"Which is?"
Buffy answered this one.
"Papa Joe's Authentic Italian Pizzeria."
"This must be one of those things that happened while I was in England, huh?"
"I guess it is." Xander had been noticing that Willow was a little envious of the closer friendship that had developed between Buffy and Xander while she was gone.
Maybe envy was too strong a word. Feeling left out might be a better term.
"Mind you, it's false advertising if you ask me." Buffy added.
"Why's that?"
"It's run by a family of shape shifting Kern demons from Cambodia."
"Doesn't matter to me," Xander declared "it still has the best pizza in town and we get a special two-for-one deal on account of Buffy being the Slayer."
"Oh. Well, let's get with the patrolling. I've got an early lecture on tomorrow. " Willow reminded them.
Xander looked Willow for a moment.
"Willow, are you sure..."
"YES DAMN IT! I'M SURE I WANT TO GO SLAYING!! YOU TWO QUIT ASKING ME THAT!!!"
Xander and Buffy were rattled slightly by Willow's outburst.
"Uh, Wills. I was just gonna ask you if you were sure you didn't want that little crossbow that's sitting in the trunk of the car. I mean a gallon jug of holy water and a cross doesn't strike me as enough firepower for vamp hunting."
Willow's anger collapsed into sorrow at her outburst.
"I'm sorry Xander, I'm just..."
"It's OK. I figure having everyone questioning your every move would wear thin on anyone after a while."
"Still, I shouldn't have yelled at you."
"Don't worry about it. Forgiven and forgotten."
"You want to borrow one of my stakes?" Buffy asked her.
"I'm good. Got everything I need. Thanks. Can we go patrolling now?"
The trio stalked off into the night.
----
Odium suscitat rixas, et universa delicta operit caritas.
(Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.)
----
"Vampire Biker Gang... I'm not kidding, Giles. There were about twenty or so of them in Richmond Field cemetery... It got pretty ugly for a moment until Willow pulled our butts out of the fire... It was the coolest. Willow gets her cross, a quick chant, then jams it into her big jug of holy water, and poof! Instant holy water fog. You should have seen those vamps high tail it out of there all smoking and screaming... It's good to have her back... Come around after work tomorrow... OK, see you then Giles. Bye."
Buffy hung up the phone.
"Fine. You've packed away the weapons and you've checked in with Giles. Now stop making excuses and let Xander look at that gash on your back." Dawn ordered.
Buffy reluctantly sat down in the kitchen of the Summers house to let Xander examine the large gash that a vampire had opened up on her back during the wild fight. If it was too bad then Xander would insist that Buffy go to the hospital for treatment. Hospital was the last place Buffy Summers wanted to go.
"Damn. I thought it looked nasty in the car on the way back. It's gonna need stitches if you want it to heal quick without a scar." He told her.
"No hospital." insisted Buffy. Xander let out a sigh.
"Fine, if you're not gonna go then I'll have to stitch it."
"Whatever. Just no hospital."
Xander turned to Dawn and Willow.
"Dawn, grab the med kit from the basement. Will, I need a bowl of hot water and grab a replacement shirt for Buffy."
The two returned with the requested items and Xander started assembling what he needed.
"If it's OK by you guys, I'd sooner go to bed right now. Not keen on seeing someone doing embroidery on my sisters back."
"I might hit the hay too." Willow said and her and Dawn left Buffy and Xander in the kitchen.
"You sure you want me to do the stitching?" He asked her one last time.
"No hospitals."
"Suit yourself. Loose the shirt and we'll start."
With her back to Xander, Buffy took off her slashed and blood stained shirt and bra and dumped them on the floor. She grabbed a chair and sat with her back to Xander. Xander dunked a cloth in the hot water and started cleaning around the wound. His touch gave Buffy goose bumps.
"Are my hands cold?" he asked her.
"No. They're fine." she insisted. Xander went back to work.
As he worked, Buffy could only wonder at the clashing feelings she was experiencing. The stinging of her wound, the soothing touch of Xander's hands, the tingling sensation she was getting being half naked in front of him.
For his part Xander concentrated on cleaning the wound, not letting himself dwell on the fact that Buffy was half naked in front of him, probably still wound up from the big fight, and possibly wouldn't mind a little Xander action.
Instead he concentrated on fixing up his friend. Fixing his friends was the only thing that mattered now.
Slowly, methodically, he stitched the edges of the wound together then applied a large water-proof bandage over the top.
His work done, he turned his back to Buffy while she changed into her fresh shirt.
"I'll take a look at it before work in the morning. It might take a day or two before the stitches are ready to come out."
"Thanks." Buffy grabbed her torn clothes off the floor. "You can look now."
Xander turned around but avoided looking at her, unable to hide the look of sadness.
"What's wrong?"
Xander shuffled around uncomfortably for a moment and told her nothing was wrong.
"This not talking about stuff? Not good and I'm not gonna let it screw us up again. Saturday we're all gonna get together and there is gonna be some deep level talking. And don't even think about trying to skip it. We wanted to wait until Willow got back to do this and now she's back we're gonna do this." Buffy stood in front of Xander with her hands on her hips and a look of determination.
Xander sighed and nodded.
"Good. Now are you gonna tell me what's got you down or will we need to drag it out of you Saturday?"
For a moment Buffy thought he wasn't going to answer her.
"Ever wished you could go back in time and change all the stupid things you did?"
"Who doesn't?"
"Well, I've got a lot of things I'd want to change. Made me realise just how much of my life I spent being a complete idiot. Not the sort of thing that inspires happiness."
Buffy reached out and hugged him. After a while Xander raised his hands and, careful to avoid her wound, he hugged her back.
"Come on." Buffy said "we'll clean up here and go to bed? How's that sound?"
"Like a plan I can live with."
----
Cor gaudens exhilarat faciem, in maerore animi deicitur spiritus.
(A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.)
----
Two days later, Xander removed Buffy's stitches. With him was Dawn whom he was teaching as much as he could in order to give the Scoobies an additional medical resource.
At the urging of Joyce the Scoobies had all taken a course offered by the local paramedics back when Buffy has first started dating Riley. Riley himself had taught Xander a few things about battlefield medicine which in turn helped Xander remember more things from his Halloween possession. Add in all the first hand experience he had racked up over the last year or so and the result was Xander had become the de facto Scooby medic.
He watched approvingly as Dawn removed the last few stitches from her sisters back. Like in many things, Dawn was a fast and eager learner and showed a natural talent in nearly everything she put her mind to.
Except for reverse parking.
While Dawn cleaned up, Xander headed to the kitchen to start making a shopping list. Willow came in while he was rummaging through the cupboards.
"Hey Will, you got anything you want on the shopping list?"
"Hmmm... Two ounces of dried frog skin."
Xander looked at her and shuddered.
"Please tell me that's gonna be for a spell and not for dinner."
Willow laughed.
"What's the funny?" Buffy asked as she came in.
"Frog skin soup." Xander informed her. Buffy made a face similar to the one Xander had made earlier.
"If that's what Willow's cooking tonight I'm going to Giles' for dinner."
Willow was by far the best cook in the house so most nights she made dinner.
"We're having tacos tonight so I'll need some tomatoes. And don't worry about the frog skin, I'll pick it up after class tomorrow."
"How's classes going?" Buffy asked her friend. Now that Willow was back at university and Buffy worked the two didn't see as much of each other during the day.
"Kinda boring at the moment. I don't even have any assignments due this week. What about you? Anything exciting at work?"
"Not much. We don't start the new Sunnydale Library for a while so Jim's got me learning the new pay roll software."
"You think he wants to make you the new pay roll manager?" Xander asked his workmate.
"I think he wants me to be able to fill in for Doug when he takes a couple of weeks off at the end of the year."
Dawn wandered in and saw Xander with the shopping list.
"Can you put down printer ink on the shopping list?" she asked.
"What happened to the last printer cartridge we got not long ago?"
"It ran out." Dawn informed her sister who got a little annoyed at the news.
"We can't keep buying cartridges if you keep going through them like a crazy person. They're expensive you know."
"Buffy, it's like this. I don't get the printer cartridge, I can't print out my assignments. I don't print out my assignments, I flunk school. I flunk school, I get forced into a life of prostitution."
Xander's ears pricked up.
"Prostitution? You got a pimp picked out yet?"
"Not yet. You offering?" Dawn sexily smiled at Xander who smirked back.
"Maybe I am."
"What's your offer?"
"We cut it 60/40."
Willow gave a disgusted snort.
"60/40? You do all the hard work and he wants 60? I'll go 50/50." Willow counter offered. Incensed at being undercut, Xander was determined to beat Willow.
"40/60 and all the drugs you want."
"30/70 and I won't slap you around."
"25/75 and I'll spank you when you're naughty."
"Sold! I'm all yours pimp daddy Harris." Dawn declared to the mutterings of an unhappy Willow.
Buffy, who had been watching the back and forth between the three with a chilling glare, leaned over and whispered something into Xander's ear. Xander went pale, madly scribbled on the shopping list, raced over to Willow, grabbed her hand, and the two raced for the back door.
"Come on Will! We gotta get Dawnie her printer cartridges!"
Buffy turned back to Dawn to the slamming of the garage door and the sound of Xander's car burning rubber out of there. Before she could say anything, Dawn cut her off.
"That, my dear Buffy, is what we call flirting. You might want to try it with Xander occasionally." With that, Dawn turned on her heal and headed up stairs, leaving Buffy alone with her thoughts.
----
Et iratus est draco in mulierem et abiit facere proelium cum reliquis de semine eius, qui custodiunt mandata Dei et habent testimonium Iesu.
(And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.)
----