Disastrous vacation challenge

Xander would like to say that it started with Anya, but that would be lying. No, it started before the demons, before the vampires and before buffy. It started with Jesse. Their love was sweet and innocent and so pure. Sweet kisses, holding hands under the table at lunch and whispered promises. Xander loved Jesse and Jesse loved Xander. It was perfect or it was until Jesse died. Jesse was turned into a vampire and tried to turn Xander. Xander wanted to be with Jesse, he had promised him forever and he was going to take it. A girl ran through the door and Jesse was dusted by a stray piece of wood. Jesse was gone. That was the first time Xander got his heart broken.

The second time Xander got his heart broken was his own fault. He had gone for Cordelia Chase, Queen C. They shared heated kissed in the school broom closets and their passion was only stoked by their arguments. Xander couldn't help, but think that she was too good for him too perfect. He subconsciously sabotaged his relationship by falling in love with somebody else at the same time. Willow. They were afraid and thought they were going to die. It made Xander realize how much he much he valued Willow, how much he loved her. They kissed and Cordelia saw. Cordelia broke up and hated him and Willow distanced himself so much that he lost her as well. Xander got his heart broken twice in one moment.

The fourth time Xander got his heart broken was for Anya, an ex-vengeance demon turned human. Despite her oddities Xander loved Anya and he knew that she loved him as well. He messed up again. A demon had approached him and showed him a future where he and Anya hated each other. In the vision he ended up hitting Anya in the face with a pan. He couldn't do that to Anya, he just couldn't. So…he left her at the altar. Anya hated him and Xander hated himself, it took them months to look past that. And when they decided to get together again…Anya died.

Xander decided after Anya that he could deal with it anymore. He didn't want his heartbroken anymore, he couldn't handle it. He didn't flirt, he didn't have one night stands and he didn't date. He loved too easily and he couldn't afford to get involved with anybody. He was afraid of sabotaging a relationship or having the one he loved die again.

Xander had his heart broken four times and he didn't want to try for a fifth. No more tears, no more waking up to eat buckets of chocolate and no more sad country music songs.

Xander Lavelle Harris swore that he would never fall in love again. He probably would have been successful too if he had never met Daniel Jackson.

Daniel was a rather odd man. He knew several languages, current, ancient and supposedly extinct. He had a love for archeology and ancient books that rivaled Giles. He could babble with the best of them and only Xander's babbling sprees with Willow had him prepared. He was kind, compassionate and sweet. He could be sarcastic and he did have a temper, but it wasn't easily provoked. Damaging his books would cause him to throw a hissy fit that Spike would be in awe of. Fortunately for him, Xander wasn't the one to spill coffee all over Daniel's very ancient book, but he did get to be privy to the tongue lashing that he gave to the stupid college student that did.

Actually Daniel called him more than stupid. He used some big words that Xander would have to look up in the dictionary later. Xander just thought Daniel's temper tantrum was cute and as soon as he thought that he headed out of the door. Thoughts like that led to flirting and dates and a sad, sad Xander. He was partially successful in getting away from Daniel…and then the world ended.

Okay, so maybe he was being kind of hasty here. The world wasn't ending it was just sort of fixing itself. The girls had called him and told him that there would be severe weather changes for a few days, but he didn't think it was going to be that bad. The northern states were frozen and the earth was ravaged by tornados and hurricanes. Hell, there were snow storms in the Florida Keys and Mexico wasn't letting anymore people from the United States cross their borders! Xander himself was in some city, in some library, in some room with a group of people that he didn't know. Well, except Daniel, but he didn't count. Xander had just seen him once and he didn't realize that Xander existed.

In this room with a group of people he didn't know and would probably die with Xander couldn't help, but resent his girls for a bit. They were the ones who forced him on this stupid vacation, they were the reason he wasn't in nice warm or maybe less freezing Africa right now. Now he was cold and alone and angry.

Or he was until Daniel Jackson sat right next to him and started talking. Apparently Daniel had been forced on vacation as well by his friends. He started talking about his friends and despite his general pissiness at the situation Xander could tell that he really loved them. It made Xander feel bad and remind himself how much he loved his friends.

When Daniel talked about a happy memory his eyes would light up. When he talked about a sad memory his eyes grew distant. The only time Daniel was angry was when the others started burning books for warmth. He started cursing in various languages, some ancient and some not, that Xander knew. He was very creative and he got a pleasant shock when Xander started adding in his own curses as well. He and Daniel helped separate the books and they talked about them.

They finished quickly and sat down again. This time Xander talking about his friends and some of his non-demon involved experiences. Things were going great, Xander had a friend. They might die soon, but he still had a new friend. The excitement of it did not overshadow the dread he felt when Daniel sat in his lap and kissed him.

"Look, I'm not usually this straight forward and I just wanted to do that at least once. I'm not trying to push you into anything, but I like you. A lot."

Xander had gaped and sputtered, but when Daniel nodded and took that as a sign of rejection he grabbed his hips stilling his movement. He took a calming breath.

"Okay. Okay…um…okay. Uh…"

"Well, if that's all you have to say." Daniel tried to move again.

"No!" the others turned to look at them and Xander blushed, but didn't let Daniel go. He looked at Daniel again. Could he really do this? Did this even mean anything? Hell, what was this?

He thought about Jesse, Willow, Cordelia and Anya. He thought about the lonely life he led and the nights of coming home to no one. He thought about all the many times that his heart had been broken over the years.

Could he really do that again?

Yes.

"Daniel, if…if we survive this would you like to go out on a date with me?"

Daniel's grin was answer enough, but the kiss was a nice touch too.