All stories are rated PG - 13

Willow had to admit that although she hadn't reacted like most students, the news that her best friends were dating had surprised her just as much. Initially, she hadn't been very happy when such information reached her. It wasn't as if she had been longing for him because she didn't and hadn't for awhile, it was just that when he and Cordy broke up the idea that *they* might have been possible lingered in her mind. Although, Oz made all the lingering go away to the extent that she no longer thought, let alone want, such ideas, they all came back, momentarily, when Buffy told her about them.

She had wanted to talk to her about something else, but as it occurred, Buffy's news came first, and it made her feel that what she had to say would not help matters much at all…

… "Willow," the slayer said as she tapped her best friend's shoulder to gain her attention, "Hey."

"Oh…Buffy…I was just looking for you," the redhead replied with a grin as she turned around to see the familiar face, "I have to tell you something."

"Um…so do I," she said and then chewing on her lower lip, she looked around the campus and continued, "Why don't we sit down?"

They walked towards a nearby bench and sat in silence for awhile, before Willow finally said, "Why don't you go ahead? You look like it's pretty good news."

"I'd like to think it is," she said with a smile as she fiddled with a pen in her hand, "I'm not sure how to tell you this, Will, um… but…uh…Xander and I are going out."

Willow blinked in surprised and found herself rendered speechless, "Uh…um…God, Buffy…uh…um… that's…wonderful."

"Really?" she said with raised eyebrows, "Cause well, y'know…I was kind of worried that since you used to…"

"That was a long time ago, Buffy," she replied with a weak smile, "And you two are my best friends, and if you guys are happy, then I'm happy for you. Besides, he's a great guy…when he's not…"

She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, "No need to explain…I know all too well the mind and mannerisms of Alexander 'Xander' Harris."

"I just hope you do," Willow joked and this time she really smiled, as she got over her shock, and was beginning to see that perhaps, they're dating wasn't that bad of an idea, after all. Still, she couldn't help but recall the last time Buffy had met with such feelings, "But what about Angel?"

"What about him?" she replied with a sad, half-hearted shrug, "I mean, of course I loved him, but…I don't know…it just doesn't seem real to me anymore…now that he's gone. Maybe things happen for a reason, Will, maybe all of these things were meant to be…like I was destined to be the slayer."

"So, does that mean that you think you and Xander are foretold?" her friend couldn't help but point out.

Buffy smiled slightly, "Well, I don't know about that…did destiny bring us together? Sure, things happened that brought us closer, but whether it was through the hands of fate…that's kind of hard to say. All I know is what I'm feeling for Xander right now…it's different from all the crushes, relationships, and flings I've had in the past. This is not some weak-in-the-knees, I'm-falling-apart concept were talking about here. It's more than that…it's like every time he holds me, kisses me…even when he just talks to me I get this wonderful feeling that never really goes away. I even get that way when I'm just thinking about him. I mean, at first I had to say to myself that I was crazy and this was Xander…my friend, but later, it just made me think about him more, and the more I thought…the more I felt, and the felt…the more I…"

As her obviously fallen friend trailed off, Willow said, "I know what you mean Buffy, you don't have to bother explaining it to me…it's all right. I better go…I have to get my lesson plans ready for tomorrow."

"Wait…what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Buffy asked when she stood up to leave, but she met upon another pause from her friend.

"Y'know, never mind…it's not important right now," she said while shaking her head with a nervous smile…

…Never had Willow felt more surprise than in those ten minutes of conversation. Her mind had been full of contemplation about Xander, Buffy, Xander and Buffy as a couple, and than the thought of almost telling her about- RING! RING!

She jerked when she heard the bell ringing loudly and stood up, "Class, make sure that you finish your spreadsheet by Friday and I'll need it on disk, as well as, a printed copy."

A few groans could be heard from her pupils, but she just gave them a smile and a look that made them laugh. As she saved her document and shut down her computer, she looked up to see that Xander had walked into the room.

"Hey," he said with a grin as he walked towards her, "Is the teach too busy to talk to an old friend?"

"Hi, Xander," Willow said as she turned off her monitor and sat down in her chair, "What's up?"

"Just the usual," he replied casually, but despite his breezy tone, a broad grin lay apparent on his face.

"Oh…I don't know about that," she retorted eyeing him carefully as she stood up from her chair and walked towards him, "I've been hearing some pretty interesting things about your usual. So…how's all of this seeming for you?"

"God, Willow, it feels like…like …oh, I don't know…like I'm walking on air," Xander said with a sigh, "As if I'm on top of the world and nothing can bring me down. I wake up, I think of her and go to sleep, and I think of her. I mean, I did that before, but all that time in between waking and sleeping and dreaming that's all I was doing…thinking…dreaming. But now when I wake up and smile because she's on my mind, that smile doesn't fade, Willow, because for some miraculous, wonderful, phenomenal reason…she loves me."

Her smiled widened at his happiness, "I'm sure she does…and I'm happy for you, Xander…both of you."

When she walked back to her desk and continued to clean up, he turned and said, "Aren't you going to lunch?"

"Yeah…in a few minutes," she replied as she placed a stack of papers into her backpack, "You go on ahead, and I'll meet you, Buffy, and Oz, there."

When he left, closing the door behind him, Willow sat down taking in the silence of the empty room. She sighed as she thought about her friends' descriptions on how they felt for each other…as if they were at a lost for words for it all. She understood. It was often like that between her and Oz and she hoped that nothing was going to ruin what her friends had.

Her eyes fell to her cloth handbag and she lifted it up from the desk drawer as she bit her lower lip. She opened it carefully and pulled out the object that was plaguing her constantly. She sat there, just staring at it, and wondered what were the hands of fate doing now to them. Were they going to further deplete their lives of love and replace it with sorrow and pain as they had done so in the past? She didn't know what path destiny was to take them, all she knew was no matter how much she didn't want to…now matter what problems it might lead to…she had to show Buffy this…this yellow disk.

"Don't you have to be somewhere?" he said softly in her ear as his arms encircled her waist, recalling that she had told him of her meeting Giles after school.

"What…you want me to leave?" she replied looking up at him.

"Well, I - " Xander began, but the loud clacking of cheap leather loafer soles on the hall linoleum ceased the conversation as their eyes fell upon the odious intruder.

Principal Snyder approached them with his gnome-like exterior and not to mention his overbearing small-man complex," I though I made it clear to you and your trouble-making group before…public displays of affection on school property is entirely inappropriate."

With much reluctance, Buffy removed her arms from his neck and his from her waist. They stood abash for a moment as they eyed the principal that still held presence over them.

"That's…better," he replied, giving them a look as he continued, "Let's hope I don't have to warn you two again, but knowing you two…"

"Look Principal Snyder - " she began as he started to walk away, but Xander pulled her arm in a move to stop her. Her eyes blazed wondering how he had such insolence hinder her thwarting.

"Buffy, as much as I'd love to see the Slayer vs. the Snyder, the words of 'suspension' and 'expulsion' come to mind," he replied looking into her eyes and then getting out of his serious mode, he continued, "Can ya possibly see these words coming to yours?"

She sighed, "I know, Xander, I know, but can I help it if our principal happens to be the complete moron that he happens to be? I'm serious though, anything I probably do to him would be an improvement."

"Wait a minute, first you expect me to understand you could get away with rearranging his face without getting yourself into more trouble than you already are and now you expect me to believe that the words 'Snyder' and 'improvement' can be used in one sentence?" he said. "How gullible do you think I am?"

She held in a laugh before she retorted, "You sure you want me to answer that?" Before, Xander could respond, she glanced at the large clock at the front of the corridor and banged her head against the nearby locker. "It's nearly 3:30, and I told Giles that I'd be there at three, and don't you dare tell me I told you so!" Kissing Xander promptly on the cheek, she said, "I'll see you later," and then ran as quick as her feet could carry to the library, making sure that she went the opposite direction of Snyder.

He leaned against the locker with a sigh, but this was not a sign of tiredness or fatigue. It was rather the sigh of contentment because at this pinnacle in time that was what he was…content. Such feelings of relaxation faded, when the quiet of the empty halls of Friday was broken by the echoing sounds of designer heels of Italian leather. He looked up and, there, approaching him, was none other than, Cordelia Chase, herself.

"Hi, Xander," she said sweetly with a smile, "Um…look, can we talk?"

"Sure," he replied with a nonchalant shrug, "Talk away."

She frowned slightly at the place of meeting, but sighed and continued, "We got off to a pretty bad break up and I just wanted you to know that Colin didn't mean anything to me…at all. I just wanted to make you jealous, I guess."

"Wait a minute, Cordelia, are you telling me that you wanted to make me jealous when you and I were already together? Why?" Xander retorted with an expression of perplexity.

"That way, for once, you could look at me, you nimrod, without even the slightest thought of Buffy in the back of your mind," she said angrily, wondering why she even troubled herself to do these things.

Xander shook his head in disbelief and exhaled deeply, "Look, Cordy, did it ever occur to you that guys can get over you? Wait a minute…why do I bother asking? You can't even get over yourself."

"Oh…right, words of wisdom from the greatest of the self-centered," she responded, "God, I'm surprised I put up with you for that long. You could never once adjust to what I wanted; it was always that I got stuck with the pitfall. Can you possibly comprehend, in that little brain of yours, the state of shock I got after plunging from the popular to the…the…Scooby Doo Gang?"

"Hey, you chose to be with me, I didn't make you do anything," he replied, his voice dropping to a softer tone, "And I stayed, okay? No matter what was going on, how I felt about Buffy, I didn't want to hurt you, Cordelia. At that moment, I'm sure I pretty much gave up on the idea that anything could happen to her and I, anyway. Don't talk to me about pit falls and comprehension…don't talk to me about blindness and self-centeredness because from the way I see it, you're the one who's lost mind and reason. Don't you understand? We may have had problems, many of which were probably my fault, but you made them worse. Cordelia…I know about the spell."

"What?" she responded with a surprised expression, "How is that possible?"

"Amy told me all I needed to know…she didn't erase my memory," he replied, and then continued, "I should thank you, actually, because without you I think I would have given up on Buffy entirely by now. Maybe that means that the hands of fate may be finally working in our favor."

Cordelia grew decidedly silent and she turned to hear footsteps approaching them, and as the owner of that tread came into light, she smiled. She walked closer to him and whispered in his ear, "And maybe not," before she kissed him, all in the sight of his beloved Buffy.

"Buffy…wait! I didn't - " Xander said as he saw the familiar figure in blonde running away when he tried to push Cordelia away from him.

"Welcome to your pit fall, Xander," she said as she ended up pushing him and walked with loud steps away from the scene she had left to transpire.

He banged his head against the locker and then slammed his fist against the very same, "God…No!" Shaking his head, he ran and hoped for anything that everything they had was not falling to pieces with every passing second.

Buffy ran until she could run no more and finally found some solace in Willow's opened, empty classroom, formerly that of Miss Calendar's. The image of the scene was too vivid…too fresh in her memory that her brain hurt to think about it and her heart ached to know that it was true. She wanted to know why he had kissed Cordelia, and if it were vice-versa, why didn't he push her away? A million questions and a handful of possibilities were all she received for her sorrow and confusion, and as Willow walked into the room, her confusion was decidedly going to intensify.

"Buffy…what are you doing here?" she asked sitting beside her friend in one of the various classroom desks.

"Kind of weird seeing me in a classroom by act of choice, huh?" she joked despite the fact that her mood was far from the realm of humor.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked as she noted the sad expression in her friend's eyes.

She shook her head and replied, "It's nothing," but in the back of her mind she heard herself continue, < because Xander and I are nothing. >

"Um…there's something I think I should tell you," the redhead said as she stood up and walked to her desk.

"What's that?" she responded as she stood up and followed her friend.

The redhead hesitated, but then pulled out a yellow disk from her satchel, "I found this while cleaning up the class and there's something in this disk that you should know about?"

Sensing her friend's demur, Buffy realized that the content of the disk held something of great importance, "What's on this disk?"

"Miss Calendar translated some very intricate and ancient text and she put it on this disk," she began and then she took a deep breath, "She was looking to give Angel back his soul, and she succeeded. Buffy, this disk contains the spell that would mean his return." After many countless minutes and she did not reply, Willow continued, "You need time to think…I know…I'll just leave you alone for a - "

"No," Buffy said promptly as she stood up and walked towards that where she had sat down.

"But, what about - " Willow stammered in stupefaction as to how quick she could answer such a decisive question, "Xander…he's gonna be - "

"No, Willow, no," she responded as she took the yellow disk from her hand and eyed it as thoughts of Xander filled her mind and anger replaced the sadness in her heart, "I want you to do this spell, that way I can have Angel back…my Angel."