chokes up I am stunned by the wealth of reviews 'The Xanman Knows…' received, thanks to all reviewers and here it is! The premise is my own, the characters are not…

This'll be a bit more serious than the last, hope you like it!

The Xanman Knows - The Adventure continues…

Sunnydale Library - 01/11/1997 - Afternoon

"There simply is no precedent for this. The spell Ethan used is designed to leave no after-effects. A 'Champion of Chaos' might have retained some vestigial memories, but to retain abilities! Powers even! Only one with Janus' favour could do so, but neither Xander, Dawn nor Mrs Summers are such…"

The pile of books around Rupert Giles is staggering, especially considering the dearth of time in which he has had to research at all! Having accompanied Buffy to the Hospital, he had felt honour bound to stay with her due to Mrs Summers current incapacity.

"Bollocks."

"Indeed G-Man, indeed."

"Bloody Hell! Xander!"

"Present. Giles, how do you stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Memories…" Xander looked lost. "Cranston did some terrible things in his life, before becoming the Shadow. After I left the hospital, I went home and, the nightmares were worse than anything I've had before. The carnage, the innocents slain, all by me!" Xander's voice twisted with self-loathing "I enjoyed it Giles. I relished it. When I woke up, I puked at what I'd dreamt, but during it, I liked it…"

"My dear boy." Giles reached out with one hand to clasp Xander's shoulder. "Sometimes the greatest people have the worst to atone for, but you are not one of them. You have done nothing to be ashamed of. These memories and feelings are not your own…"

"But I remember them as my own. Giles, with these new, things, I can do. It would be so easy to abuse them! At the hospital, I used them to get confidential information on Mrs Summers. It needed to be done, but where's the line? I nearly made the English teacher believe I'd handed in my homework. I was this close to becoming invisible and exploring the girls locker room, so close to using this because it's easier, rather than right. Giles, what do I do?"

"Just the fact that you're asking these questions is a source for hope. Furthermore, what am I Xander?"

"Giles."

"Not who, what?"

"A, uh, Librarian?"

"Once more…"

"Buffy's Watcher?"

"Finally." Giles shook his head. "Since arriving in Sunnydale, I've had the dubious pleasure of observing american teenagers first-hand. Most are crass, shallow people who will never know what it costs others to keep them safe. I've watched Buffy, yourself and Willow tackle threats at cost to yourselves. You had every reason to run away and pretend vampires never existed. You didn't. You stayed, made a joke out of everything. But then I noticed. When you're around, the girls are less tense. You keep them level. You also saved Buffy's life, for which I can never sufficiently thank you. I have no worries over who's memories you have in your head, Alexander Harris, because I've seen your heart."

Xander looked up from the floor, and saw the total sincerity in the Watchers eyes.

"Thanks Giles. I don't know about Dawn, but I have an idea why Mrs Summers and I were affected."

"Really? What?"

"You were muttering about 'Chaos chosen' when I entered, right?"

"Well, yes…"

"I think I may be one."

"What!"

"Well, you just said it. I saved Buffy's life. You're codex thing, it had never been wrong before. So something must have happened to make me able to break it. While I'd like to believe it was the indomitable human spirit, that doesn't seem to matter much to the forces of darkness."

"That's, a very insightful theory. It is possible I suppose… I'll check if there's any tests we can do."

"Ok. Also, Ethan kinda knew that I knew you. He took the costume out back. He might've done something to it then…"

"Oh dear lord. But what about Mrs Summers? She wasn't with you in the cave was she?" Giles grinned at the younger man.

"Well, I certainly didn't see her! Well, in the comics, Oracle was paralysed from pelvis to toe. This was caused by being shot twice by the Joker at close range."

"So?"

"They were never able to remove the bullets. Some unique placement meant the only way to do it would cause more damage, and because they would do no further harm…"

"They left them in."

"Yep, the wounds healed over, but she would never walk again using her own nerves. Now, the chaos spell made the surface real, right?"

"Indeed."

"To make the surface of Oracle appear, the bullets had to be in there, follow me?"

"So far…"

"Right. Now, what if, when you broke the spell, the core became real, but in this case, the bullets were inside her. As they were doing no harm, because the damage was already done, they were left behind, also leaving the damage made in the 'past'. Her surface returned to being Joyce Summers, but her insides retain some of Oracle. What do you think?"

"I am concerned you can come up with this, yet not pass math without help." Giles replied dryly. "What gave you the idea?"

Xander grinned.

"I read a lot of comics, I've spent some time pondering the difference between surface and reality, and how they overlap."

Giles took a breath. If that wasn't the perfect opening, what was?

"Does that have anything to do with why you hide your intelligence, and your home-life?"

Xander froze, then turned to face Giles.

"Huh?"

"Xander, I've watched all of you. I'm not saying you're a genius, but you're clearly smarter than the façade you present. After all, you're grades didn't drop at all when you found out about the night-life. Buffy's dropped two grades to begin with, though that has got better recently. Willow appears to score off the chart regardless, but you, you retained a steady grade while spending most of your time here researching demons, patrolling with Buffy on occasion. For whatever reason, you were holding back before you met Buffy."

"So what?" Xander still appeared nervous

"Well, I just wondered why. I can understand not doing your best in school so as to fight demons, but to not apply yourself when you could…"

"Willow."

"What?"

"Willow, she… I've been friends with Willow, well, forever. For all the time I've known her, she's been shy. She's also even more insecure than she looks. When it first became clear how smart she was, other people started to pretend to like her, to get her to help them with schoolwork. Once, when we was seven or eight, I forget which, she failed a test that she'd forgotten about. The people who'd pretended to be friends with her dropped her, thinking she wasn't as smart as they'd thought. She was devastated. That's where her obsession with school-work comes from. As it happened, I did quite well on that test. I was ecstatic. When I told Willow, all she said was 'Are you leaving me too?'. She looked so unhappy, after that I promised myself that I'd make her think I needed her help. I'll always be her friend, but deep down, she needs a reason for someone to like her. Poor grades are mine."

"What about Buffy?"

"Help with research I think. Willow is, I think, one of the few people who could tell someone 'you only want me for my brain!'. I worry about her sometimes, but there's nothing I can do, and with her parents away so often…"

"I see. I had wondered about seeing if Willow had much aptitude for magic, but what you've said concerns me. From you're description, she wouldn't ask herself the questions you came to me with, let alone someone else."

"Don't get me wrong Giles, she's still the girl who's stood beside you and Buffy against vamps and demons, it's just, she's been neglected by her parents and scorned by most of the students. Who wouldn't be a bit insecure? If pretending to need help is all I can do for her, then I'll do it."

"And what about yourself? If you neglect your own future for willows, then how will you cope? Protecting your friend is an excellent motive, but what about when she goes to college, gets a job and so on?"

"G-Man, Willow practically lives for academia. At college, there'll be more people who understand about being smart. As for a job, well, she'll get that on her own merits, so her very position will be validation to her. Also, Cranston definitely stuck around. My word choice is, odd."

"Indeed."

"I must make greater effort to retain my califoniaisms."

"No need to on my account."

"Ha Ha G-Man, very funny. Listen, what I said about Mrs S."

"Yes?"

"Well, if I'm right, an X-ray would show the bullets. Is there any way…?"

"I'll look into it Xander."

"Thanks. Tell Buffy to stay with Dawn tonight. I'll cover patrol."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"The vamps I can handle. Smaller demons too. Anything big and you're being woken up."

"I don't know whether to be grateful or irritated."

"Grateful, after all, I could have made Snyder strip in the teachers lounge." Xander grinned.

Giles shuddered. "If you so much as suggest that again, my revenge will be terrible to behold. The mere thought is sickening."

"As you say." With that, Xander 'Shadow' Harris left the library, deciding not to mention the glimpse of green and scarlet he had spied through the stacks…

Summers household / 01/11/1997 / Night

"You told me you didn't want to miss school, you pretended to be me over the phone to get off school. Why?" Buffy Summers voice was calm, collected, at normal volume and absolutely furious. "I would have agreed to let you stay with me and mom today, but you weren't there. So, you used mom's paralysis to play hooky!" Ok, maybe not so calm…

"No."

"What?"

"I was actually in school today, just not my own. For some reason, the possession is sticking with me and I wanted to research it. Given that the Sunnydale High Library has become the focal point of your social life, I deduced that it was the centre of the good guys fight against the supernatural…"

"What!" spluttered Buffy

"…and so perused the 'Occult' section. While there, I overheard a conversation between Xander and Mr Giles about why the after effects of the possession are still affecting Mom, myself and Xander."

"You and Xander! He's possessed again! Oh, I hope he doesn't try to 'make-me-his-mate' again…" Buffy muttered to herself "…I suppose we better get Giles to de-possess him, again." Her gaze rose. "And you. Who'd you go as again?"

"Robin IV. Keelia Drake, daughter of Timothy Drake, Robin III and Stephanie Drake, nee Brown, formerly Spoiler."

"Who?"

"Oh brother." Dawn rolled her eyes. "A possible future Robin. Unlikely now that Stephanie was killed in 'War Games', but still… OK?"

"Robin?"

Dawn banged her head on the wall.

"Batman and…?" She looked hopefully at her sister.

"But, Robin's a guy."

Dawn felt like crying.

"The first three Robin's were guys…"

"Three…?"

"… and I went as a possible future Robin created by a fan fiction writer. Get it?"

"No."

"I give up. Ask Xander after he gets back from patrol."

"WHAT! Xander's on Patrol! He'll get hurt!"

Buffy rushed from the house.

"3, 2, 1."

Buffy rushed back in, grabbed a bag of weapons hidden in the closet, and dashed out again.

"3, 2, 1."

Buffy rushed back in, again, and glared at her little sister.

"Stay here, don't go out, don't invite anyone in." She commanded. Then she was gone.

"Yeah, right." Dawn pulled off her outer clothes, revealing a costume in red, green, gold and black. "This girl's gonna fly…"