Spring Fever:


The Jackie Chan Movie Marathon

Disclaimer: The characters herein are the property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Mutant enemy, and probably a whole slew of people too numerous to mention here. I don't own 'em, don't sue.

Rating: R for language and adult themes...

Summary? We don't need no steenking summary!

Xander and Buffy walked home from the Bronze together. It had been a dead night there, even for a Wednesday, and even with a cool new band playing. Of course, almost everyone in Sunnydale was out of town for this week.It was Spring Break time again, and all of their friends were gone. Giles and Willow were off in England for the week -- Giles had wanted to show her the museum he used to work at, and he'd wanted to pick up a few more of his books from his mother's house. Willow had admittedly been a bit daunted at the idea of meeting Giles' mother, but, his reassurance that his mother knew about her and the 'slayerettes,' coupled with Willow's growing self-confidence would most likely squelch her nervousness. Willow had probably been more worried about being alone in a foreign country with the perpetually flustered librarian.

And Cordelia was in Spain with Oz, of all people. They had both gone on the Spanish/French trip, which was a tour through Paris, the French countryside, and Castillian Spain. She was thrilled to go back to France, and Oz was kinda psyched about the trip, too.

Angel had been very quiet, as well. No one had seen or heard from him since Buffy had been in the hospital, and general vampiric consensus was that the Slayer's ex-honey had left town, confirmed by Spike, who had dropped by the library, looking for him under the assumption that his sire's soul had been restored. "Tramping around with the Slayer again, mate?" It had taken him about half an hour to convince Buffy that he wasn't a total liar. He and Drusilla, Spike said, were going away to look for Angel.

With no one to direct their efforts, the vampires in Sunnydale had been relatively quiet for awhile, enabling everyone, including the Watcher, to leave for a week's vacation.

Buffy had stayed behind to guard the fort, and Xander stayed behind because he was broke. Of course, the fact that Buffy was there had influenced his decision a bit, and caused another row with Cordelia, after which she'd stormed out of his house. He hadn't heard from her since then. Not that he expected to.

"Xander?!" Buffy said. "Earth to Xander! Come in please." She reached up and ruffled his hair with her right hand, and played with a strand of her sun-kissed hair with her left. [She really is beautiful,] he thought for the millionth time.

He smiled at her, and said "Yeah? Wha?" She thought, briefly, that his smile was so handsome under the street lamps....she felt as though her heart would burst. [No matter how attracted I am to him...he'd never go for me...not after I turned him down like that...]

"Wanna come to my house instead of just going home? I mean...Mom's in London this week, and the house is so quiet..." she paused and looked up at him. "I just don't want to be alone tonight, I guess..." he voice trailed off, and he linked his arm into hers, and began to head off in the direction of her home.

"Got cheesy chips?" he asked. She nodded. "Deal. 'Sides, I think there's a Jackie Chan movie marathon on cable tonight. Feel up to watching someone with better moves than you?" he teased.

She smirked up at him as they reached her front door. "You've never seen my moves, Xander."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Two words: Sugar Water."

"Okay, so you have seen some of them....I'll show you the rest later." she said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Sure you will." he muttered as soon as he was sure she was out of earshot. "And maybe pigs will fly."

"So, Buff, what did you think of Rumble in the Bronx?" Xander asked as the movie ended.

"It was really cool! Especially the part at the end with the waterskiing. I can't believe he was doing that with a broken foot!" she exclaimed. "And I worry when I break a nail!"

He laughed at her self-deprecating comment, and got up and headed for the kitchen. "Got any popcorn?"

"Xander, is food all you think about?" she called to him from her seat on the sofa.

"Nope....only sometimes I think about food. Mostly, I think about sex." Buffy could hear rustling coming from the kitchen, so she decided to go in there and see what the heck he was doing. She snuck up behind him and poked him in the ribs.

"AIEE!" he jumped about fifteen feet into the air, and spun around, still holding an unopened package of microwave popcorn in his now white-knuckled hands. "Damn, Buff, you gotta stop that!"

She looked up at him, a wry smile forming on her lips. "You have to pay more attention, Mr. Food-and-Sex. I think even Giles would have heard me. I wasn't even trying to be sneaky."

[Well, Giles isn't attracted to you and constantly thinking about you,] he thought. [If he is, he sure manages to hide it well!] He shook his head to clear it of the mental picture that was forming -- Buffy and Giles, naked? Together? [If that happens, I will go out and kill myself.]

"Xander, are you going to make the popcorn, or just hug it? Supercop should be starting soon." He sure had a strange expression on his face, as if something he'd just thought of had given him the major wiggins. Buffy turned around and walked back into the living room. Xander put the popcorn in the micro, and, when it was done, followed her.

The movie was fun, and funny, and Buffy was paying close attention to the two stars' martial arts styles. She was pretty sure she could duplicate a couple of the female cop's moves, and she was pondering Giles' reaction to her performing a backflip kick, when she realized she was shivering. The windows were open, and the cool early spring evening and abruptly turned into a cold California night. It had to be about forty degrees outside! [Okay, cold for California.] she thought. [I'm sure people in New York would call this balmy.] She got up and moved over to the front windows, closing and latching them. She pulled the drapes shut, walked to the front door and closed and locked it, and moved into the kitchen. After making sure all the windows were closed, she settled back down on the couch next to Xander, and pulled a blanket over herself.

"So. You're cold." he said.

She smiled and nodded. "How'd you guess?"

"Because I am too." he said. "Mind if I share the blanket?"

"Not at all." She moved closer to him, and spread the blanket over them both. It was a bit awkward and uncomfortable at first, but then Buffy settled into the crook of Xander's arm and set the popcorn bowl on her lap. "Mmmm. You're comfy."

They looked at each other at the same time, their lips inches apart. "I'm glad you think so," he breathed. "So are you."

She smiled. "Xander, you're going to have to forgive me."

"Why?" he could feel her breath on his neck, and they way they were pressed together, Xander was sure he could feel her heart beat next to his.

Buffy wound her arms around his neck, and shifted position to put herself in his lap. She leaned forward, and gently brushed his lips with her own. It was a soft kiss, intended to be short, but Xander put his free hand behind her head, and held her there as tightly as he could, all the time acutely aware that she could break out whenever she wished.

But she didn't. Xander almost fainted...but that would have ended the kiss. The kiss he'd been wishing for, waiting for, and dreading. [What if I burp? Does she like this? Do I get to kiss her neck?] As if in answer to his thoughts, Buffy let slip a small sigh and opened her mouth to his more fully. Inwardly, Xander remembered a line from one of his favorite movies, The Goonies, [Tonsil hockey!]

To Buffy's growing surprise, Xander was a good kisser. His tongue parted her lips, and sought out hers, tangling with it, and then he began to nibble at her lips gently, furrowing them with his teeth. He relaxed his hold on her head when it became apparent that she wouldn't move away, instead twining his hands in her soft hair.

Buffy was overcome by conflicting emotions. She wanted to continue this with him, but she dimly recalled what he'd said to her while she was under the influence of that love spell on Valentine's Day. "If you had any idea how much it would mean to me.....but you don't. So I can't." The last thing she wanted was to hurt this person, but the thing she wanted most right now was, well......[I want him.] she thought, surprised. [Here I go with the raging hormones again. I wonder if this will ruin our friendship? At least Xander can't turn into a bloodsucking fiend like Angel did...]

Xander's mouth released hers, and began to burn a trail of kisses down her neck. Xander could feel himself getting lost in her, and the feeling was pleasant. But a little demon at the back of his mind said, [So, Cordelia does have reason to be jealous. Et tu, Xander?] Xander paused and looked up at her.

"Buffy." he said.

"Xander." This time, her mouth covered his in a blatantly carnal kiss. She pulled at the hem of his shirt , breaking the kiss long enough to pull it over his head. Moving lower, she kissed his neck, his shoulders, his chest....Buffy stopped over his left nipple, tentatively biting it, and then blowing on it. Xander groaned, and heaved her back up so they were eye to eye.

"Why?" was all he said to her.

"I want you." she answered. "Please."

"Planning on breaking my heart again, Buff? 'Cause that's about all that can come out of this." He looked her dead in the eye. "I have a girlfriend. You have a career."

Buffy looked down and removed her hands from his bare chest. "I told you you'd have to forgive me...I've gone too far. I'm sorry, Xander. I guess I just wanted......um, I dunno..." she trailed off, and looked at him again, sadly.

"Wanted what?" he asked. "Do you really want to hurt me? Is that what this is about?"

"I just wanted you, Xander. Just you. Is that bad?"

"Oh, God..." Xander pulled her close to him and kissed her hard on the mouth. "No...not bad...just surprising..." he said into her mouth.

"Mmmm...you're surprised?" she murmured, "Why?"

"You're beautiful, smart, funny, tough....and beautiful. And I'm Xander." he shrugged.

"Xander? Buffy. Nice to meet you." She reached for his right hand and shook it lightly. She peered into his eyes and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He nodded. "Yep. Stop the grinnin' and drop the linen."

Buffy looked at him askance, surprised at his flippancy.

"He joked."

The sun shone cheerily into Buffy's bedroom as her alarm clock went off. She groaned and rolled over to pick it up and throw it across the room when it abruptly stopped beeping. She sighed and snuggled back into the crook of Xander's arm.

[Xander?] she thought. [Why is he here?] Realization dawned on her. [Me. Xander. Naked.]

"Shit." She wondered if after last night, could they go back to everything being normal between them? She became acutely conscious of herself, of Xander's surprisingly well-muscled physique (among other things) pressing into her body. Aware of the familiar, warm liquid feeling spreading through her body. She rolled over and kissed him quickly on the mouth, then began to extricate herself from him gently, so she wouldn't wake him up.

Buffy slipped on an ugly green oxford shirt, mentally congratulating herself on snagging it from her Watcher's suitcase before he could commit a fashion faux pas over in England. She shook her head at herself and padded down the stairs to the kitchen.

Coffee. Bacon. French toast? Xander's eyes opened as he smelled food. He smiled to himself and got up out of bed, hastily moving around the room gathering up his clothing and putting it on. His shirt was still downstairs on the floor, he remembered.

Then the events of the previous evening hit him. [Me. Buffy. Naked.] He remembered their kisses on the couch, in the hallway, on the stairs, on the bed. Her hasty removal of the rest of his clothing, then her own. Her hands and mouth everywhere at once. The way her skin felt under his fingers, his lips. The way her back arched when he kissed her there...

[We've really gone and done it this time,] he thought, laughing darkly to himself as he went into the bathroom to wash up.

Breakfast was finished and cleaned up; the popcorn bowl, knocked over last night, washed up, the spilled popcorn vacuumed up; the living room straightened. The house was just as they'd found it after leaving the Bronze.

Neither Buffy nor Xander had said anything besides small talk through breakfast and cleaning up until Xander said,

"Are we just not going to talk about it, then?"

"About last night?"

"No, about the last Dawson's Creek rerun."

"Xander."

"Was it that bad?"

"No." she looked surprised that he would say something like that. "How could you think that?"

"I've never...um...never had...biblical contact before..." he said sheepishly.

Buffy's eyes widened. "I thought you and Cordy were...you know...like rabbits."

"No!" Xander snapped.

Buffy looked down at the floor, picking at the hem of Giles' ugliest shirt. "It, um...didn't show. I mean, you could have fooled me."

"Cordy." he sighed. "What am I going to tell her?"

"You're not."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"She'll dump you."

"At which point I will be dating you."

"No, you won't."

Hurt and anger showed on Xander's face. "Oh. Great. So why did you invite me over last night, then? Needed a quick roll in the hay? 'Go ahead, you can fuck Xander, he's been in love with you since you met him. He'll be easy.' Well? Is that what you thought?" His voice got louder and louder as he spoke, finally escalating to a scream He turned away from her and headed for the door.

"Xander, don't." Buffy said. "That's not what I meant. Are you going to let me finish?"

He was headed for the door. Buffy watched him walk away, up the stairs to her room for his shoes, his shoulders slumped.

"I don't want Angel to kill you, too." she whispered as she walked back in the kitchen and listened to him crawl out her bedroom window.

Finis...
for now...

Y'all come back now..
...ya'hear?