Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (unsurprisingly), and I do not earn anything with this story (except hopefully a few reviews).

AN: This takes place after "Apologies", so you might want to read that story first. Some parts of Kennedy's speech might remind you of the story "A few home truths" by KColl2003 (which is brilliant imo); while I didn't intend to copy, I see a few parallels, but I hope you don't mind.

Other than that, enjoy, and feel free (encouraged even!) to leave some feedback!

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Xander Harris took a deep breath and let it out in a kind of a semi-sigh.

Ever since the destruction of Sunnydale, he had pretty much secluded himself, mourning, moping and thinking. He'd been surprised to find that Anya's death affected him less than he'd expected it would, and somehow he felt like he was in the wrong because of that, like he should feel more miserable. To add to that, the fact that he'd lost his left eye and all the consequences that came with that had finally completely sunk in. He had needed time to deal with all that, and he'd taken it, for once ignoring his friends and everyone else. A lot of new slayers had arrived in the meantime, and he felt pretty ashamed when he realized he didn't even know the names of most of them.

It had been his talk with Faith that had finally brought him out of his self-imposed seclusion. Xander had never seen Faith open up and drop all the mental walls she had erected to protect herself, but she had done so for him, to hopefully gain some sort of forgiveness from him. In doing so, she had left herself completely vulnerable, something he would've never thought he'd live to see, and it had made quite an impression. In that particular moment, Xander Harris had truly and fully returned to the world of the living, not only offering his forgiveness and friendship, but asking for hers as well.

That had been only yesterday.

This morning, Xander had for the first time attended general breakfast. No sooner had he entered the dining hall than he'd almost been tackled by Willow, who literally jumped at him when she saw him. His best friend in the world had almost drowned him in a flood of words, repeating over and over how happy she was to see him out of his room and that she'd be there if he needed to talk.

Once Willow had calmed down enough to be led to her seat by Kennedy, who merely smiled at Xander, saying, "good to have you back", Dawn had been the next in line. She'd fixed Xander with a hard look that betrayed her youth.

"So have you finally come to your senses?" she'd asked sternly.

He'd smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and squirming a little. "I guess so."

She'd nodded, biting her lower lip, and then flung herself into his arms, a few tears escaping. "I've missed you, you big idiot. Don't leave us alone like that ever again, got it?"

He'd returned the embrace, sniffing once. "I won't, promise."

After that, he'd finally been able to eat some breakfast, and now he was in front of the double door that led to the gym, where Buffy was training and teaching the new slayers. He took another deep breath, steeling himself, and opened the door. Lots of faces turned to him, but he ignored them. Looking at the senior slayer, who had just been in the middle of demonstrating something, he cleared his throat. "Buffy, can I talk to you for a moment?"

The blonde gulped and nodded. "Kennedy, would you take over?"

She didn't even wait for Kennedy's "sure", but immediately crossed the room and left behind Xander.

-

"What was that all about?" whispered Linda, one of the slayers, to her neighbour.

"Dunno," was the reply.

"Got anything to share with us?" Kennedy, who had noticed the quiet little conversation, asked.

Linda squared her shoulders. "Yeah. What was that all about? I mean, why did Ms. Summers leave like that?"

Kennedy tilted her head slightly to the left. "Because Xander wanted to talk to her?" She was honestly confused about the question.

Linda raised an eye-brow, shaking out her brown curls in an annoying little gesture. "So? He's just the carpenter, isn't he? I mean, what could he have to say that's so important?"

Kennedy's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So you're saying, because he's a normal guy, he's unimportant?"

"Well, yeah." Linda shrugged. "He never leaves his room anyway. The way I see it, he's just hanging around and being pretty useless. I mean, he's got no powers, right? So he's no good in a fight, and he's no watcher, either. Why's he even here?"

Kennedy could see that while several slayers looked anxiously at her, some seemed to agree to a certain degree with what Linda said. She forced a calm tone, even though she felt like slapping the brunette across the room.

"You should be very happy that neither Dawn, nor Willow, nor Buffy, nor Faith heard what you've just said. If they had, you wouldn't be standing here right now, and chances are, you'd never be able to stand on your own two feet again, ever." She let that sink in for a moment before she continued. "Do you know how long Xander has fought at Buffy's side?"

Kennedy's look, along with the steel in her voice, intimidated Linda enough to keep her answer wordless; she shook her head, shrinking slightly in her seat.

"For over seven years now. Over seven years! He was born in Sunnydale and spent his entire life there. Can you even begin to imagine what he must've felt when everything he ever knew went to hell?"

Again, the only reply was a headshake, but Kennedy didn't even notice anymore, her rage continuing to build.

"He lost everything! His family, the woman he loved, everything he possessed! Do you know what he's achieved in the last seven years, fighting the good fight? He's the reason Buffy's still alive! He saved her, thus creating the second slayer! He slayed more vampires than you've even seen, let alone fought against! He faced down some of the most dangerous demons known to mankind! He's helped defeat a freaking hell goddess! He even saved the whole damn world on his own once! He's got more battle experience than all of us put together! Do you know how he lost his eye?"

Her eyes focused on Linda once again, and the brunette once again shook her head no, now clearly shivering.

Kennedy swallowed hard. "He saved my life. We were getting our asses handed to us by that priest guy, and Xander went back into the fray to get me out of there. That's when Caleb grabbed him. I'd be dead if it hadn't been for him. And you know what's funny? He doesn't even consider that something special; it's just everyday stuff to him. You ask Xander about himself, and he'll tell you that he's just there to repair stuff and help out a little. That's part of what makes him the greatest guy I've ever met, so here's a little piece of advice: You either respect Xander, or you keep very quiet about the fact that you don't. We on the same page?"

The entire class was staring at Kennedy wide-eyed, clearly intimidated beyond words. Linda managed a very shaky nod.

"Good," Kennedy said in a chillingly chipper voice. "Let's continue with the training, then."

-

"You wanted to talk?" Buffy asked quietly, glancing at her long-time friend.

"Yeah." Xander sighed. "Buffy, I'm sorry I've been such a grouchy hermit lately, I just… it was a lot to deal with, you know?"

"I know!" Buffy hurried to assure him. "It's completely okay! It's okayer than okay!"

He looked her straight in the eye. "I know you beat yourself up over my eye." She visibly deflated, looking down. "Don't." Her head shot up again and her eyes widened in surprise. She opened her mouth, but he didn't let her speak. "I mean it. Don't. I already told Faith: I know the risks of what I do, and I accept them. It's my decision, and I choose to stand beside you."

Tears swam in Buffy's eyes. "But you were right! It was a trap, and I fell for it! If we hadn't gone there –"

"So you made a wrong decision! Big whoop! Newsflash, Buffster: We all happen to be wrong sometimes. One wrong decision doesn't change how I feel about you. You're still my best friend next to Wills, and you're still my hero."

Her tears were flowing now. "Xander…"

He shrugged, smiling. "The way I see it, I still owe you my life many times over, and I've adjusted to the whole Cyclops thing. I even got me a joke-book about –"

He was silenced when Buffy threw her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Buffy," he wheezed, "air!"

She loosened her embrace a little and looked up at him. "You know I love you, right?" she asked in an almost pleading voice.

He smiled. "Course I do. It's a natural thing with all the ladies," he added jokingly.

She snorted through her tears. "How could I forget."

He grinned, happy that he'd been able to get a laugh out of her, but when their eyes met again, he grew serious, and, softly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, said, "Love you too, Buff."

She smiled and rested her head against his shoulder, and it was only after quite some time that the two friends separated.