Spoilers: "The Gift"
Distribution: Just ask. I'll probably say yes.
Disclaimer: The usual stuff about Joss, Mutant Enemy, yada yada.
Feedback: This is another "on my lunch hour, breaks, and when I'm subbing for the operator" magnum opus. But I have appreciated the feedback I've gotten so far.
Notes: Okay, this is definitely a sequel to "Break Down," which I have decided is a sequel to "Unfinished Business." I've also decided that I am a self-promoting whore. 
Rating: PG-13 (at most). Mostly just the sort of "spicy talk" that the WB let 'em get away with.
****
Just after dark, Xander pulled up the house on Revello Drive. In the last few weeks, his view of the house had changed. It used to be a sanctuary of sorts for him, a place to go when things got too heavy at home, which usually happened after his parents' so-called Happy Hour, which usually was any day of the week with a 'y' in it. He could come over here, knowing that Buffy would be here to welcome him with a smile, that Dawn would rush downstairs at the sound of his voice, that Willow, if she wasn't tagging along with him in the first place, would be there or dropping by soon, and if all else failed Joyce would let him hang out with a cup of hot chocolate at his elbow and a sympathetic ear to listen to his gripes.
Joyce. He still remembered the dream instigated by the spirit of the First Slayer after they had defeated Adam. Joyce had been in that dream, enticing and seductive, showing him pretty much where Buffy had gotten her considerable charm, only overlaid with years of experience. Tales of older, divorced women had not been lost on the young man with perpetual libido, and more than once in the last few years he had wondered what would have happened if the circumstances had been right. In some ways, it was an even more powerful fantasy than his many imaginary trysts with Buffy.
Joyce's death had hit him hard, not merely because of the loss of one of his fantasy women, because he realized that she had become a friend to him, meant far more to him than any trivial romp in the sheets. For the older, wiser friend he lost, Xander Harris grieved.
For Buffy, however…
****
"Honey, I'm home," Xander called out in his sitcom-dad voice, simultaneously knocking on the front door and pushing it open, which was a little tricky with the paper bag in his hand. Tara and Willow came out of the living room into the foyer. "Hi, kids!" he said brightly. They were of course wearing the same clothes he saw them in this morning when he went to work, but he noticed a subtle change in their bearing. Tara looked a little drawn and had less of the "Take-Charge Tara" aspect that he had bumped into earlier. Willow, by contrast, seemed a little more relaxed and less irritable.
"Hi!" Tara said, smiling slightly and somewhat ruefully. Willow settled for a one-armed hug.
"Everything five-by-five?" Xander asked, then winced when he realized who he sounded like. "Not to worry…I haven't been possessed by Faith or anything."
Tara turned to Willow, a mock-serious look on her face. "How can we sure that's really Xander?"
"Hmmm…I dunno," Willow replied, rolling her eyes. "This could have intriguing possibilities, you know – a woman trapped in a man's body…" She and Tara tried, and failed miserably, to keep from giggling.
"You guys – picking on a poor heterosexual. Shame on you." The girls laughed at his woebegone expression. "So, where's Giles? Is he here, or am I the sole member of the Testosterone Brigade?"
"He went over to the, uh, y'know, parlor," Tara said, her manner indicating that she did not refer to the beauty parlor.
"Right," Xander said. "I'm surprised that you didn't jog over there yourself." The jibe, gentle as it was, definitely zinged across Tara's radar. Willow sheepishly grinned, made a sotto voce comment about something burning in the kitchen, and excused herself.
Tara looked at the foyer linoleum, took a deep breath, and plunged in. "I'm really s-sorry about, uh, this morning, when I was being…uh…um…"
"Short? Brisk? Do I hear a bid from the floor for 'rude'?"
"I was going to say 'a bitch,' but I think you covered the ground pretty well," she replied.
Now it was Xander's turn to raise a mocking eyebrow. "Ooh…the spicy talk I hear coming from you these days. You kiss Willow with that mouth?"
Tara grinned. "As often as I can." She sobered quickly. "Anyway, I'm just…sorry. I've been…trying to…" Xander cut her off with a pursing of his lips and wrapped his arms around her, absently noting to himself that Tara was very huggable. Lucky Willow. Down, boy, down!
"You give great Hug," Tara whispered near the base of his throat.
"Lots of practice," Xander said, while trying to get naughty thoughts out of his head. Wicked, evil, sinful man! He extricated himself from the embrace as quickly as appropriately feasible, and smiled down at her.
"How did everything go at work?" Tara asked. She had been concerned that the time he had missed would cause him trouble. The last thing anyone needed, especially Xander, would be for him to lose the one job that he seemed to be excelling in.
He grinned. "Not too bad. Terry, my foreman, did call me in and had a little talk about my AWOL days. But then, when he heard about my unfortunate involvement with what the Sunnydale PD termed the 'drug-cult' and the 'escaped lunatics,' he was most forgiving. He even offered me additional time-off to visit my poor fiancé in the hospital, who was injured during their 'rampant riot-orgy.'" Xander chuckled. "Nice to know that in Sunnydale, 'PD' stands for 'Pathetic Denial.'"
Tara rolled her eyes. "'Rampant riot-orgy.' Sounds like I missed out on all the fun while I was in La-La Land."
Xander had a sudden flash of a bright ball of otherdimensional energy, of bolts of eldritch lightning shooting out at random intervals, and of a young woman doing a suicidal swan-dive into the heart of madness. He shook it off and quipped, "That's what you get for missing staff meetings, Dr. McCoy."
He lifted the paper sack stilled clenched his left fist. "Gotta go feed the beast," he said, pointing in the general direction of the basement. "I take it he's in."
Tara frowned for a second, then got Xander's meaning. "Oh, right, right. Yeah, he's down there."
*******************
There is more to come. I just didn't have the time today to finish this. I will, I promise.
------------------
"I have always been here."-- Ambassador Kosh, Babylon 5
[This message has been edited by CaptMurdock (edited June 16, 2001).]
