Part 9

Buffy spun toward Xander, careful to keep one eye on 
Faith at the 
same time. "What is she doing here?" Not waiting for 
an answer from 
Xander or Graham, she turned back toward Faith, 
snatching up a knife 
from the counter as she turned. "What are you doing 
here?" She 
growled the words out between clenched teeth. It was 
taking 
everything she had in her not to throw herself at the 
rogue slayer.

"B, wait, I..." Faith stammered, backing away. Eyes 
wide and hands up 
to ward off any attacks, Faith looked around for some 
way out without 
having to go past Buffy, but she was trapped in her 
corner.

Xander tried to pull out of the hold Graham had on 
him, to place 
himself between the two slayers, but Graham wasn't 
letting go, 
instead he tightened his grip, pulling Xander closer 
to his chest. 
Casting a frustrated glare at his lover, Xander turned 
toward 
Buffy. "Buffy, wait. Just put the knife down and 
listen. At least 
give her a chance to explain. Please?" He bit the 
inside of his cheek 
when Buffy shot him a questioning glance, not sure if 
he could 
explain his own actions. But before he even tried, he 
needed to get 
Graham to loosen up a little. He might actually need 
his arm some 
time in the next few years.

Xander took a moment to look at Graham. While the 
protectiveness made 
him feel warm and mushy inside, there were times when 
it was just too 
much. He reached his free hand up to Graham's neck, 
rubbing his thumb 
across the soft skin beneath his ear. "Graham, honey, 
you can let go. 
No one here is going to hurt anyone else." Then he 
cast a glare 
toward both slayers. "Right?"

Faith took her eyes off Buffy long enough to answer. 
"I'm cool. No 
hurting anyone. Got it." Then she looked back at Buffy 
and raised one 
thin eyebrow. "You cool?"

Buffy pulled back from her defensive stance, letting 
the tension melt 
out of her muscles. Hesitating only a second, she lay 
the knife down, 
then leaned back against the wall. She never took her 
suspicious gaze 
off Faith as she answered Xander. "I'll be fine as 
long as she 
doesn't try anything."

Xander rolled his eyes and stepped toward Buffy, 
stopping in mid step 
when he felt Graham pressing against him, matching him 
step for 
step. "Graham, you can back off a little, I'll be 
fine. Really."

Graham looked at Xander as if he were nuts. "I'm not 
letting you go 
into the middle of this alone. Not after what happened 
last time you 
and Faith were in a room together."

Xander released a sigh, he really hated being treated 
like he was 
fragile and Graham knew it. "Graham, I love you, but 
you have to back 
off a little, let me breathe."

Graham pulled him to the side again and leaned in 
close. "Xander, I'm 
not going to stand aside and give her the chance to 
hurt you again. I 
know you don't like it when I try to protect you, but 
this time 
you're just going to have to deal with it."

Xander, finally having had enough of the macho crap, 
threw his arms 
into the air, releasing an irritated 'aargh'. "No, 
actually I love it 
when you get protective. Most of the time. But right 
now, between you 
going caveman and Buffy acting like she's facing off 
against an 
apocalypse demon, Faith is probably the one person in 
this room that 
won't wind up hurting me." Xander regretted the words 
the moment he 
said them, and doubly so when he saw Graham's 
reaction.

Graham's stone faced mask dropped back into place and 
he lowered his 
eyes to the floor. When he raised them again, they 
were filled with a 
deep pain. "I'd throw myself into raging infernos to 
keep you from 
harm, but if you think it's me you need to be 
protected from, then I 
guess there's really no reason for me to be here, is 
there?" Not 
waiting for an answer, Graham turned and left the 
kitchen.

Xander stared after him, not believing that he'd 
actually left, not 
knowing if he'd ever come back. When he heard the 
front door slam, he 
sank to the floor, tears forming in his eyes. He 
heard, but didn't 
acknowledge, both Buffy and Faith's surprised shouts. 
He never broke 
eye contact with the door until he heard the back door 
open. 

Turning, Xander saw Angel and Dawn enter through the 
back, the first 
wary, the second hostile. Xander saw the concern on 
the vampire's 
face and answered it in an anguished voice. "He left 
me. Angel, what 
am I going to do?"

It was then that Buffy voiced the question that had 
been forming in 
her mind since she'd seen Angel enter the house. 
"Angel, um, care to 
explain how it is you're walking around in the 
daylight and you're 
not even slightly toasted?"

Angel sent an annoyed glance her way, then flicked his 
worried gaze 
over Dawn and Faith before settling on Xander. He 
knelt down next to 
the distraught human and helped him to his feet. 
"We'll get to that 
later, Buffy. Right now you and Dawn need to talk. 
Faith, you need to 
get back to LA. I'm going to see if I can't calm 
Xander down a little 
and maybe help him patch things up with Graham."

They all watched as he led Xander from the room. Dawn 
spoke up just 
before they turned out of sight. "Do you think he'll 
be okay?"

Angel either didn't hear the question or chose not to 
respond to it, 
so it was Faith that answered her. Walking up behind 
the young woman, 
Faith stroked a hand down her hair. "He'll be fine, 
Dawnie. It was 
just a misunderstanding. They happen all the time and 
never mean 
anything, if anyone should know that, you should." The 
words came out 
in a soft voice and ended on a tension breaking 
chuckle. 

Dawn laughed softly to herself softly. "Yeah, God 
knows we've had 
enough of those lately."

Buffy's expression was somewhere between disgust and 
murderous 
rage. "Oh my God. You and my sister? That's just 
sick." She stared at 
Faith, wishing she'd never relinquished the knife, but 
fairly certain 
she wouldn't need it to take her down. She was about 
to go after 
Faith when Dawn laughed. 

"Oh please. Not that it's any of you business, but 
Faith is hardly my 
type. She's just a friend." Dawn took great pleasure 
in the effect 
her last statement had on her sister. Angel may have 
coerced her into 
actually talking to Buffy, but it didn't mean she had 
to make it 
pleasurable.

"Friends? Since when do you hang out with psychotic 
killers?" Buffy 
didn't bother trying to keep the anger out of her 
voice, she'd 
decided after the encounter with Dawn in the cemetery 
that she wasn't 
going to lie back and take whatever her sister threw 
at her anymore. 
No matter how much she'd love to make peace with Dawn, 
she wasn't 
going to be anyone's punching bag.

Dawn scrunched up her eyes, thinking, and slipped her 
hands into her 
back pockets. "Let's see, I was 11 the first time you 
let us meet 
Angel, so I'd have to say about six years now." She 
turned to 
Faith, "Sound right to you?"

Faith raised both eyebrows and backed away. "OH no, I 
am not getting 
up in the middle of this. Bossman wants me in LA, so 
that's where I'm 
headed." Faith started toward the door, but turned 
back to Dawn with 
a smirk. "I'll be sure to tell Angel you called him a 
psychotic 
killer, though. That should be fun."

Dawn swatted at her on the way by, laughing.  "Oh 
yeah, what's he 
going to do?  Spank me?" She gave an exaggerated 
wiggle of her brows, 
coaxing another laugh from Faith. 

Buffy started forward, intent on keeping Faith from 
leaving, but she 
was stopped by a wall of wind coming from nowhere. 
"Faith, you're not 
going anywhere until you explain yourself." But it was 
too late, 
Faith was already gone. She turned back to face Dawn. 
"Great. Now 
that you've let her get away, we'll never get any 
answers."

Dawn opened the refrigerator, pulling out a soda. She 
turned back and 
rolled her eyes. "Relax, Angel and I can answer your 
questions." She 
flopped down at the table, popping the top off her 
soda.

Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Not only 
did it appear 
as Dawn and Faith had become friends, but apparently 
her sister was 
also dating Angel. Whoever said life never ceased to 
surprise sure 
knew what they were talking about. She looked over at 
Dawn and tried 
for a neutral, casual tone as she posed questions. 
"So, you and 
Angel, huh? How's that working? How's that possible?"

Dawn noticed the failed attempt at casual and smiled 
to herself. 
Buffy was nothing if not predictable. Dawn was sure 
that right now 
the two foremost thoughts on her sister's mind were: 
What about 
Angel's curse? and How can I stop Faith before she 
kills again? So 
she looked at Buffy and answered them both. "Angel and 
I are none of 
your business. All you need to know is that the curse 
is no longer a 
problem. There will be no Angelus sequels in the 
future. And just to 
put your mind at ease, Faith isn't the cold blooded 
killer you think 
she is."

Buffy nodded once, then leveled her eyes with her 
sister. "I'll take 
your word on that for now until I have a chance to 
talk to Angel. But 
at least you can talk to me now without throwing me 
through a 
window." She lowered her eyes then, not wanting Dawn 
to see the hope 
in them.

Dawn's voice, when she spoke up, was a little shaky, 
but she didn't 
hold anything back to spare feelings. "Yeah, well 
Angel wanted us to 
talk, so I'm giving it a shot for him. Look, I didn't 
really mean to 
hurt you at the grave site. I just haven't gotten 
complete control 
over myself yet and apparently the Hellmouth gives me 
a little boost 
that I wasn't as prepared for as I thought."

Buffy nodded again, accepting the statement for the 
apology it was. 
With things going so smoothly, she decided to try and 
bring it all to 
an end. "Look Dawn, I...there's some stuff..."

Dawn put up a hand, bringing Buffy's speech to a halt. 
"Stop. Let's 
not go down that path, okay? What we've got going here 
is good, as 
good as it's going to get anyway. All that stuff 
earlier was blown 
way out of proportion. I realize that now." Dawn stood 
and paced 
across the kitchen, then leaned back against the 
island before 
continuing. "It was the first time I'd been to the 
gr...grave since 
the funeral and I was a little upset. I don't really 
blame you for 
her death, not anymore. But things can't ever go back 
to the way they 
were, we've both changed too much to just pretend the 
last few years 
didn't happen. The best I can offer you now is a 
distant friendship." 
She looked up, meeting Buffy's eyes and waited.

Buffy was speechless. What was being offered was mare 
than she'd 
dared hope for and she was more than willing to 
accept. With tears in 
her eyes, she tested the waters with a question. "Do 
distant friends 
warrant hugs?"

Dawn stepped forward and awkwardly took Buffy in her 
arms, still not 
willing to admit, even to herself, just how much she'd 
missed this.

Angel cleared his throat from the doorway. He and 
Xander entered the 
kitchen and sat down at the table. "So, no one's dead, 
I guess the 
talk went well?" He eyed both sisters, torn between 
the woman he 
loved now and the woman he'd loved first. He sat ready 
to intervene 
in any fight should it turn out that they were only 
just preparing to 
begin.

His fears were calmed when Dawn took a seat on his lap 
and laughed at 
the startled, nervous look he shot toward Buffy. But 
Buffy's only 
response was a tight frown before she turned her 
attention to Xander.

Reaching a hand across to him, Buffy rubbed and patted 
his arm 
comfortingly. "Hey, Xander. You feeling any better?"

Xander tried to give her one of his patented grins, 
but could only 
muster a small, lopsided smile. "Yeah. It stopped 
feeling like 
Armageddon a little while back, now it's down to a 
minor 
apocalypse. " He leaned down, laying his head on his 
crossed 
arms. "It'll be okay though, I called and left him a 
message begging 
him to let me beg him to let me explain."

Buffy gave him a sympathetic smile and whispered in 
his ear. "I'm 
sure everything will turn out okay. But in the 
meantime, want some 
juicy gossip?" At Xander's depressed sigh and nod, she 
beamed at him 
and reported her news. "Dawn and Angel are dating."

Xander turned his head and buried his face in his 
arms. "I already 
knew that." He heaved another depressed sigh and 
pushed himself to 
his feet. "When Willow gets back tell her that her 
special cocoa is 
needed desperately. I'm going to go curl up on her bed 
and pretend my 
life is normal." With that he turned and slowly made 
his way upstairs.

*****

Willow gave up after 10 minutes of knocking with no 
answer, thinking 
that if Graham were home, he'd have answered the door 
by now. As she 
made her way back down the stairs, she racked her 
brains trying to 
figure out where she could find Graham and get his key 
from him. She 
paused at a turn of the stairs and slapped herself on 
the forehead, 
remembering that Xander had told her he always kept a 
spare key 
behind the fire extinguisher. Turning she ran back up 
the stairs and 
got the key out. 

The first thing she noticed when she entered the 
apartment was how 
dark it was. Even with the lights turned out and the 
blinds closed, 
it shouldn't be this dark. The small hairs on the back 
of her neck 
stood up, that tingling sensation that tells you when 
you aren't 
alone racing down her back. "Graham? Are you in here? 
Why is it so 
dark in here?"

Spinning when she heard a crash, Willow slapped a hand 
on the light 
switch, then had to blink her eyes at the brightness 
of the bared 
bulbs in the room. When her eyes had adjusted, she 
began to wish they 
hadn't. On the sofa, Graham was lying back, Spike 
draped half clothed 
over his lap. The two had obviously been drinking, a 
little too much 
to her thinking. And with Spike being shirtless, and 
Graham's clothes 
being so messed up and twisted, their other activities 
were also 
painfully obvious.

The crash seemed to have resulted from Graham's hand 
knocking a lamp 
off the end table, and Willow's anger only increased 
when she 
realized it was Xander's favorite lamp. The one he'd 
brought back 
from his summer trip. She quickly crossed the room, 
grabbing Spike's 
arm and tossing him off of Graham. She completely 
ignored his slurred 
protests as she reached out and fisted a handful of 
Graham's hair in 
her hand.

"Graham. Graham!" Willow all but screamed the words 
into his face. 
Pulling roughly on his hair, she tugged his head back 
and forth, 
trying to wake him. With each passing second, her 
anger 
grew. "Graham. How could you do this to Xander. You 
know how much he 
loves you, this is going to kill him."

Releasing the still unconscious man on the couch, she 
turned her 
anger on the vampire trying to walk toward her. "And 
you, you were 
supposed to be his friend. I guess Buffy was right 
about you all the 
time, you haven't changed. You've just been biding 
your time, waiting 
to strike where it would hurt us most."

Spike put a hand to his head, attempting to stop the 
world from 
spinning quite so fast. When her words finally 
registered in his 
brain, his eyes snapped open, darting from the man on 
the sofa and 
back to the very pissed off witch. "Willow, it's not 
what you think. 
We.."

"You know what, Spike? I don't care to hear your 
explanations. But 
you better have a damn good one to give Xander, 
because when I get 
him over here, you two had better be sober enough to 
sit down and 
talk to him. And you better not hurt him. Well, no 
more than he's 
gonna be hurt when he finds out you've been sleeping 
with his 
fiancé." Fury trailing a wake behind her, she stomped 
toward the 
door, stopping when she heard Graham's voice.

"Willow, wait. You can't tell him. We haven't done 
anything, all we 
did was talk and drink. Please let me explain." Graham 
sat up, tears 
flowing down his cheeks and clogging his throat.

Willow turned to face Graham, her mind already made 
up. She squared 
her shoulders and made herself not give in to the 
sight of his 
pain. "No. You can explain it to Xander." Turning 
again, she quickly 
ran from the apartment before they could stop her 
again.

Taking the steps at a run, Willow lost herself in 
thought. She knew 
what she was about to do would hurt Xander, but she 
could see no way 
around it. He needed to know. On the other hand, could 
she bring 
herself to be the one to cause that pain? Could she 
sit there, 
holding his hand, and rip his heart out? 

Before she knew it, she stood before the Summers 
house. She hesitated 
about going inside, but forced herself when she 
remembered the 
reasons for her haste. There was no one within sight 
when she entered 
the house, but she could hear the voices from the 
kitchen. She 
listened at the door until she realized that Xander's 
voice wasn't in 
the conversation, then started up the stairs to begin 
her search for 
him.

She checked the bathroom first, but when she didn't 
find anyone 
there, she went immediately to her room. For as long 
as she could 
remember, whenever Xander was sad, he'd crawl into her 
bedroom and 
curl up on her bed. She knocked lightly before poking 
her head in the 
door, and lying there, curled up in a fetal position, 
was Xander. 
He'd fallen asleep and looked so peaceful and happy. 
As soon as she 
saw him, she knew she couldn't tell him what she'd 
seen.

Stepping away from the bed, Willow quickly walked out 
of the room and 
down to Buffy's bedroom. Picking up the phone, she 
called Graham. It 
took three rings, and she was just about to give up, 
when a pained 
voice answered. "Hello."

Drawing in a deep breath, Willow spoke quickly. 
"Graham, this is 
Willow. I'm not telling him. I don't know what 
happened today between 
you two, but both of you need to sit down and talk. 
He's asleep right 
now, but when he wakes up, I'll send him home. Make 
sure Spike is 
gone. And Graham, whatever you do, don't lie to him."