No More Pretending

With Oz out of danger from his time of the month, the Scoobies prepared to ensoul Spike. After Jenny recovered from the magical ordeal of casting such a powerful curse, they would then ensoul Drusilla. Not that Xander cared about her, but if the curse stopped her from killing innocents as well, that was worth it. Xander entered the library dressed in his black tactical gear with his camo scarf around his neck. He had finished locking and barricading all the doors leading to the library, even setting up a box of water balloons filled with holy water, just in case.

Though Xander didn’t like it, the library truly was the best location to perform the curse. As Willow and Giles explained, the ambient magic emanating from the Hellmouth right below them amplified the channeling of the magic within the witch or wizard. Though there were some dangers to controlling such potent magic, Jenny assured them she could manage. The coal-haired teen only wished the library was more defensible.

Xander joined Oz and Cordelia, leaning against the wall with Dreadnought in hand, and along with Buffy and Angel, they watched Willow, Giles, and Jenny prepare to cast the Ritual of Restoration curse. Willow arranged the items on the library’s center table, preparing four candles, animal bones, runic stones, burning incense, and the glowing Orb of Thesulah in a sacred circle. Giles coached Jenny on her verbiage, and when she was ready, she took the white stones from Willow.

Giles helped Jenny kneel in front of the sacred circle, squeezing her hand for encouragement. The dark-haired beauty initiated the incantation by casting the white stones over the circle, then recited in a deep voice, “Quod perditum est, invenietur…”

Xander didn’t understand the language, but the Sherlock mental pattern within could identify the language as Romani. Jenny performed the heavy curse with supreme focus. Xander was tense the entire time, always monitoring the doors with enhanced eyes and ears to anything aiming to disrupt the ritual. After five long minutes of grueling chanting, the candles flashed brilliantly, as did the Orb of Thesulah, then the items went dark. Jenny fell back into Giles’ arms, absolutely exhausted.

“Stay back,” Giles told the concerned Scoobies. “Give her space to breathe.”

Xander warned everyone, “We should stay in pairs tonight. We can’t be sure there won’t be some form of retaliation.” He specifically told Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, and Jenny, “You guys can stay at my house while we patrol-”

“You’re not going out there,” Buffy stepped forward to tell him.

He winced playfully before reminding her, “Ooh, sorry, but teenagers don’t get to tell adults what to do.”

Offended, she retorted, “We’re the same-”

“Emancipated adults, raise your hands,” he interjected, raising his hand. Looking around to note his was the only hand up, he smirked at Buffy, who scrunched her nose at him.

“We appreciate the offer, Xander,” Giles interrupted. “But we couldn’t inconvenience your parents that way.”

“You won’t,” Xander assured the watcher. “They don’t live there anymore.”

With growing concern, Willow quickly asked, “What do you mean they don’t live there?”

“Good ol’ mom and dad came into some money and left,” he bluntly spoke.

“Wait,” the skeptical Willow contended. “You’re… living alone?”

“Yeah,” he answered with a shrug. “But the house is paid off, so that’s one less bill I have to worry about.”

“Since when?” Willow pleaded, feeling concern for her childhood friend welling up from her chest.

“Uuuuhh… start of December,” he slowly answered.

“You’ve been living alone for two and a half months?!” she gasped. “And you never told us?”

Cordelia snorted before pointing out, “I find it so funny that I know more about your best friend than you do.”

“Not really the time, Cor,” Xander remarked.

“If I’m awake, it’s always the time,” the sassy cheerleader casually leveled at him. She exclaimed to the gathering with bubbly enthusiasm, “I even helped decorate.”

Offended, Willow asked, “You told Cordelia before us?”

“Can we please focus on group preservation right now?” Xander proposed with a raised voice. “I just want us to be safe tonight. When Ms. Calendar is completely rested, we’ll do the same for Drusilla.”

“I suppose some precaution would be prudent,” Giles voiced to the group as he held Jenny against himself.

Buffy came up to Xander and asserted, “You’re still not going out there.”

“We can cover more ground with three fighters-”

“You’re not-” She held her tongue before stating instead, “You need to stay with them in case-”

“Vampires, who know nothing about me, somehow find my house and invite themselves in?” he asked with a quirked brow of skepticism.

Growing frustrated by his disagreeableness, Buffy begged to know, “Why are you making this more difficult than it needs to be?”

“If you want me to put the axe down, we can make that deal,” he reminded her, making Angel look curiously between them.

Buffy glared at his smiling face with nothing more than growing frustration. When she had no response, Xander told her, “I’ll search from Olive down, after I set everyone up in my place.”

He then turned to the group and led everyone to his home while Buffy and Angel searched for Spike. Xander rode his bike while Giles with Jenny, Cordelia, and Oz, with Willow, followed in their vehicles. Xander’s home opened up into the hallway, which connected the stairway leading to the second floor, the living room on the right, the kitchen in the back, and the entrance to the basement. Walking into his renovated home was a fresh experience for Willow. As the redhead was the only one who had witnessed the messy way his parents lived, she was thoroughly amazed by the clean two-story home.

Xander had done a lot of cosmetic improvements when he had spare time, or when Cordelia insisted on doing something other than their physical activities. Recalling Old Man Xander’s carpentry skills was effortless, and he remodeled simple things like throwing out the accumulation of old, unnecessary, and broken apparel and furniture, replacing the dirty carpet and stained wallpaper, sanitizing the home of beer and cigarette smells, building a workstation in the garage, and setting up a small gym in the basement.

Thanks to Cordelia’s stylish eye, the house now felt more like Xander. Though the color palette was wood, steel, and off-white, there was eye-popping color as well. The living room had navy blue accents, along with the main color palette that leaned more into the wood. The kitchen had warm olive green accents with the off-white of the main color palette. His bedroom still had his collection of comics & action figures, but was neatly organized throughout the clean space. Cordelia gave everyone the tour and pointed out the parts she insisted he change, throw away, or buy. She had him buy many new appliances and furniture to fit the bachelor’s color scheme of the house.

When Giles and Willow turned to Xander and eyed him curiously as Cordelia rambled about looking into a career as an interior decorator, the raven-haired teen answered, “What? You guys kicked me out for months and it was slim pickings out there. The choices were Cordelia or Larry, and Larry said no.”

After everyone was settled in, Xander got on his bike and rode around the seedier parts of Sunnydale, keeping his enhanced eyes peeled for anything strange. He walked through one of the twelve cemeteries in town, and aside from dusting one vampire, nothing seemed out of place. He didn’t see skinny hide nor blond hair of Spike and wondered if Buffy and Angel had better luck. Xander returned an hour before dawn to Giles sitting on the brown leather couch, asleep with a crossbow on his lap.

Xander moved out of the way before carefully voicing, “Giles?”

The Englishman stirred awake and accidentally pulled the trigger, sending a bolt into the wall near Xander’s head. The teenager looked at the bolt embedded in his off-white wall before turning to Giles, who quickly apologized and offered to repair the damage. Xander waved him off, assuring the watcher he could fix it.

Buffy returned after dawn and reported to Giles and Xander, “We couldn’t find him.”

As it seemed everything was fine, Giles escorted Jenny home, leaving Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia to hang out. Xander needed sleep first, but after a few hours, he came back downstairs and had rare, yet familiar, fun. Like the oldest of the old days, the five friends hung out, watched movies, gossiped about school, laughed, and ate their fill. When Xander explained and demonstrated some of the finer points of Odin’s ring, Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia demanded acne-preventing rings. While Willow read in the comfortable living room, Oz and Cordelia took turns riding his motorcycle, leaving Xander and Buffy in his training room.

At first, Xander only wanted to show her how much he could bench press with the ring. The teenager benched twice his own body weight three times, then the smaller girl did just as much for fun. Buffy added more, then benched four hundred pounds, three times. Xander felt like he couldn’t slack off, and upped the weight he benched to four-fifty, three times. Buffy upped her bench press to five hundred. The metal creaking bar was bending around six hundred pounds, and mercifully, Xander didn’t have more weights to add.

Buffy smiled as she called, “Guess it’s a tie.” However, Xander was dripping sweat from the tip of his nose and panting, while Buffy was only taking deeper breaths with a light sheen of sweat on her forehead. Though it seemed like she could bench more, Xander simply nodded, unable to speak yet.

While Xander was leaning over, catching his breath, Buffy fiddled with her fingernails before hesitating to ask, “Just… be your Valentine, right? And that’s it? Nothing after that?”

Wiping his face with his shirt showed his six-pack, which surprised Buffy. Her greenish-blue eyes were glued on his surprising abdominal physique until he dropped his shirt again. Xander heeded recuperation from his ring so that he could answer, “Yeah. Just… Valentine’s and that’s it. Unless you change your mind… then we’ll have to talk.”

Attempting to convey how important this was to her, Buffy leaned down to look him in the eyes as she asked, “And if I don’t change my mind?”

It was obvious how serious she was about that possibility, and it made Xander smile. Through his Casanova mental pattern, Xander could tell Buffy was being considerate of his feelings by managing his expectations. She had no idea how the previous Buffy hurt him, thus couldn’t know that he was only doing this for mild amusement; To pass his never-ending time with something he’d never done before. Nothing more.

Waving her concerns away, Xander assured her, “Obviously, that’s fine, Buffy. Listen, you’re the one who wants me to stop going out at night. I just told you my price. That’s it.”

Buffy looked deeply into Xander’s confident brown eyes, and he never wavered. Then she said, “…Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay… I’ll be your Valentine,” Buffy clarified. With a stern finger, the concerned blonde stipulated, “But then you have to stop slaying! Got it?”

Xander restrained the broad grin he felt creeping up, but not the small smile that was left. ‘Ahh, something new,’ he thought mischievously as he nodded in agreement. It was a deal he would honor. All he had to do was spar with her, or join her on her patrols, then he could show her she had nothing to worry about.

The following night, Jenny was well enough to attempt Drusilla’s ensouling. The sun had just set, and the school was devoid of students and faculty. The Scoobies were preparing while waiting for Buffy and Angel to arrive. Xander was locking hallway doors to the many ways into the library when he heard a name he wasn’t expecting to echo through the hallway.

“Janna!”

Xander turned around and considered if he had heard incorrectly. Then he heard it again.

“Janna!”

Grabbing Dreadnought from its lean against the wall, Xander ran down the hallways until he spotted up ahead an elderly man entering the library. The man looked like a creepy mortician in a dusted black suit, tie, and hat. His long face, with a perpetually gaunt expression, had a large nose with a tiny mustache cresting his upper lip. The old man had graying curly hair and dark bags under his small black eyes. At the sight within the library, the man trembled with anger.

Xander rushed in as the old man headed straight toward Jenny. Giles stepped in front of the man, however, he ignored the watcher, with eyes only for Janna. Ms. Calendar slowly put her hand on Giles’ shoulder, confusing the Englishman, and stepped around him to face the old mortician-looking man.

“Uncle,” Jenny slowly said with reverence in her voice. “I’m sorry I haven’t written in some time.”

In a thick Yugoslavian accent, the man sarcastically mocked, “Jenny Calendar. You look well. Comfortable.”

Jenny became increasingly uncomfortable, and Xander knew she was moments away from everyone she cared about learning her true identity; likely hating her for it.

“Yes,” Jenny spoke. “I’m fine.”

“I cannot imagine what is so important that you would ignore your people,” the old gypsy-looking man said as he eyed everyone in the room.

“Jenny?” Giles voiced, clearly lost as to what was happening.

“Uncle, may we speak outside?” Jenny asked, extending her hand toward the exit.

“The elder woman has been reading signs,” her uncle spoke. Upon spotting the glowing Orb of Thesulah, he whipped around on Jenny. “It would appear she was correct. You dare attempt magics forbidden to us.”

“Uncle, please,” Jenny tried, nearly to the point of being scared. “If we may speak outside.”

“For what reason?” he snidely asked. “So you can continue pretending to be Jenny Calendar, teacher of technologies.”

“Jenny?” Giles tried again. “Who is this man? Why is he here?”

Loudly, her uncle asked, “Shall I tell them what you are too afraid to say, Janna?”

“Please, uncle Enyos, don’t,” Jenny repeated, taking his hands and bowing her forehead. “At least allow me to tell them.”

“They are of no consequence,” uncle Enyo chided. “All that matters is your mission. To observe Angelus’ continued suffering.”

“Angelus?” Giles repeated.

“Angel?” Willow asked, stepping forward. “What about him?”

Daringly, Xander answered, “Her people were the ones who cursed Angel.” Though he wondered if it was a betrayal somehow, Jenny didn’t seem to think so, as she sagged her shoulders, simply saddened to have her deception outed. He looked at her and she couldn’t look anywhere but her uncle and the floor.

“Angelus destroyed the most beloved daughter of our tribe. Truly the best of us,” Enyos said to Xander. Turning to Jenny, he told her, “He killed every man, woman, and child who touched the purity of her life. For that, we must never forget. Vengeance demands that his pain be eternal!”

“I know, uncle,” Jenny sadly voiced.

“Then speak your name,” Enyos ordered.

Jenny couldn’t look at Giles, and turned to her uncle before softly answering, “J-Janna… of the Kalderash people.”

“Good,” the old man spoke. Enyos grabbed the Orb of Thesulah and threw it against the wall, smashing it into a thousand pieces. He professed to all in the room, “Those magics are not for you! They belong to our people, and with our people, they will remain!” the mean old man turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, “Janna, come.”

Jenny turned to the others, specifically Giles, and heartfelt expressed, “I’m so sorry.”

“Jen…” Giles tried, but Jenny left before the tears fell.

The room fell silent for a time as each of them absorbed the news; especially Giles and Willow, who were the closest to Jenny. Xander felt fortunate for two reasons. The first, Buffy and Angel hadn’t arrived yet. He didn’t imagine either of them would’ve taken the unexpected development well. Second, and more importantly, Spike was already ensouled. Even if Drusilla wasn’t cursed with a soul, all that mattered was that Spike was. There was less of a chance the Scoobies would try to kill him if he had his soul.

Cordelia was the first to break the silence, asking, “So, of all the names to pick, how’d she think Jenny Calendar was a winner?”

“That’s your takeaway?” Xander flatly asked Cordelia while shaking his head.

“She… lied to us,” Willow slowly said with genuine pain in her voice. “How could she lie… to us?”

“Who lied?” Buffy asked as she entered the room with Angel beside her.

As a group, they explained what happened to the slayer and vampire. Afterward, a sullen Angel left, and Buffy went after him. Giles went home, followed by Willow and Oz. Cordelia eyed Xander a moment; just long enough to wonder if she might ask him to join her. Instead, the cheerleader left as well. With nothing left to do, Xander rode his bike to Jenny’s apartment to keep watch. The last thing he wanted was for the beautiful computer teacher to die that night. Xander couldn’t deny the anxiety of not knowing what would happen next, however, he was always relieved when the sun rose without incident.

In school, Xander learned from his friends that Jenny was out, and thought, ‘Man, when it comes to Angel, this gang is all about a one-strike policy.’ In the privacy of the library, he then tried to reason with Buffy, Willow, and Giles, however, they claimed they couldn’t ignore her lies and manipulation.

“What manipulations?” Xander asked.

“Her tribe, or whatever, sent her here to monitor Angel and make sure he continues to suffer,” Buffy argued. “She’s lied to all of us all this time; since the very beginning.”

Siding with Buffy, Willow angrily voiced, “Can’t you see? She probably translated the curse and used you to break Buffy and Angel up for that very reason.”

Turning to Willow in surprised realization, Buffy gasped, “I hadn’t even considered that, but, yeah. That makes total sense!”

Looking at Buffy, Willow angrily added, “You and Xander never would’ve started fighting if not for her.”

“Oh, let’s not underestimate how much I really wanted to stop being a joke,” Xander wholeheartedly expressed.

However, Willow continued saying, “This all started with the research she gave you.”

“I was the one who asked for that research,” Xander tried to remind them.

“Or did she want you to think that?” Buffy asked. “She could’ve dropped hints to make you think that.”

“Enough,” Giles loudly said, clearly upset by the topic of Janna of the Kalderash people. “To class, all of you.” For the upset watcher, everyone dropped it and went to class.

In the days leading to Valentine’s day, Xander made a habit of patrolling Jenny’s apartment complex throughout the night. Since the Scoobies ostracized her from the group, he wanted to make certain she wasn’t killed, like in previous loops. It was upon driving into Jenny’s complex that Xander saw her car pulling out. He hoped it was nothing more than a grocery run, however, instead of the market, he followed her to a motel.

To stay out of sight, Xander parked around the corner of the building’s main office she entered. Dressed in stealth black, he stood in the shadows for several minutes, casually watching anyone going in and out of the building. When he heard what seemed like a muffled scream, Xander stepped around the brick corner, into the streetlight, and scanned the property. The parking lot had a few cars, including Jenny’s, but all else was silent.

When nothing happened, the battle-ready teen settled down some. He was half-turned when Jenny burst through the motel’s double doors, chased closely by five rugged men. She ran directly to her car while the five men hollered and laughed as they stayed effortlessly close to her. Xander stepped back, extending his hand into the shadow of the alley so Dreadnought didn’t destroy the brick wall reaching his grasp. With his powerful weapon in hand, he sprinted toward the distraught woman twenty yards away.

Upon closer inspection of the five men, the snarling evil faces, extended fangs, and yellow eyes revealed them to be vampires. Jenny was searching her purse, likely for her keys, when a thin vampire with long arms grabbed her shiny black hair from behind. The largest vampire then wrapped his large arms around her struggling torso and easily lifted her off her kicking feet. She screamed and begged for them to let her go.

“Please! No! Put me down!” she yelled as she tried kicking her captor.

Despite being outnumbered, Xander knew he couldn’t let the lethal group ahead of him take her. Once within range, Xander threw and buried Hellguard into the back of the nearest vampire, like a hot knife through butter. The sharp point of his supernatural weapon penetrated the heart of the blood-sucking demon, and it screamed harshly, sticking its chest out from the dagger in his back and calling the attention of the others. Xander kicked the screeching vampire, and like a bowling ball hitting pins, the undead corpse rammed into the others, knocking them back or off their feet.

“Run!” Xander yelled, focusing on the remaining four vampires.

Jenny tried to run from the large one she fell with, however, it held onto her forearm with a firm hand. Three vampires were up and nearly on him by the time Xander brought the blade of his battleaxe down on the hand holding her. He cut the appendage off, allowing two to grab his arms, as a third was ready to punch him in the face. The large vampire screamed at the bloody loss of its hand as Xander slipped the punch with precise neck movements, then kicked that particular demon back. The kick pushed back the two holding his arms, and he used the momentum to stumble enough for one vampire to be in the direct line between him and Dreadnought. Xander called his weapon to his hand, and the magically sharp blade cut through the demon.

The vampire screamed, letting Xander go to call Hellguard. The other vampire holding him landed a hard punch against his cheek, shaking his vision, however, Xander spun with the punch and plunged his Viking dagger into his opponent’s ribcage. Though four vampires were down and seriously injured, they weren’t dust, and the last one was staring him down, bearing fangs and hissing evilly. With more room to maneuver, Xander enhanced his strength with his ring as he called Dreadnought and Hellguard into his hands.

“Jenny, go!” Xander yelled.

However, he didn’t have a moment to look at her before rushing the healthiest vampire. Rather than fight the stronger being head-on, Xander lobbed Dreadnought. Predictably, the vampire caught the battleaxe, but due to the sanctified gold, it was impossible for the soulless to hold it. The unworthy demon bent in half as its hands dropped to the floor. Xander chopped the confused vampire’s head off, before rushing to the frazzled Jenny.

The vampires seemed determined to catch them and gave chase. With his weapons, Xander kept the vampires at bay as Jenny struggled to find the right key to unlock her car. Xander would toss Dreadnought and Hellguard, forcing them to dodge the weapons twice or risk being cut as they left and returned to his hands. He decapitated a second vampire like that, and the remaining two decided to run away. Xander dusted the unconscious vampire with a wooden knife through the heart before turning to the unnerved woman. Jenny was crying and shaking, however; the teen knew they couldn’t stay.

Xander knelt in front of the frantic woman and softly said, “Jenny, we have to go.” Her eyes were unfocused, as if she couldn’t see him, and he took her hand, making her look at him. He said, “Jenny… we can’t stay here.”

“My… My uncle,” she gasped. “They k-killed him.”

“I’m sorry,” Xander softly replied.

Rather than let her drive in her state, Xander led her by the hand to his bike before racing away. He only stopped by a payphone to tip the police about the body in the motel. Once home, Xander led the distraught Jenny to his living room and sat her on his couch. She was pale, unresponsive, and Xander didn’t know how to deal with her grief, so he did the best his brain could come up with. He wrapped the sofa shawl Cordelia made him buy around her, made & placed a warm cup of chamomile tea in her cold hands, then phoned Giles to report the situation.

When Xander couldn’t reach the Watcher at his home, he called the Library. No one picked up, so he tried Buffy’s house and found him there. Willow was there as well and after telling him about Jenny’s ordeal, Giles informed him that Angelus was back, shocking Xander. He nearly dropped the phone. For a second, he wondered how, then recalled the only other way he’s ever seen Angel turn into Angelus.

‘Drusilla’s fucking hypnosis,’ Xander lamented before asking Giles, “How’s Buffy?”

“More in shock than anything,” he sorrowfully answered. “I’m afraid he was rather twisted in his reveal.”

With concern, he asked, “What does that mean?”

“We can discuss this tomorrow, Xander. I have to go-”

“I’ll be right there,” Xander interrupted.

“No,” Giles hotly replied before asserting, “You ought to stay where you are. Watch over Je-… Ms. Calendar. There’s nothing you can do here.”

However, Xander didn’t feel right about being left out. He should be with his friends. He felt strong enough to make a difference, and offered instead, “You come here, and I’ll stay with them.”

“No… no,” Giles ardently expressed. “I don’t believe that would be for the best. I’ll call you, should anything more happen.”

The elder Englishman hung up, frustrating the teenager who simply wanted to be relied upon. Though Xander wanted to go, he didn’t think leaving Jenny or forcing her to go with him would be a good idea in her inert state. Despite his annoyance, Xander called Cordelia and made certain she didn’t invite Angel into her home. The last thing he needed was to lose anyone he wasn’t supposed to and looping back. He turned to the sight of a silent and forlorn Jenny leaning against the doorway.

“Did he even ask about me?” she weakly asked.

It took Xander a second to realize she meant Giles, then tactfully answered, “Uh, it’s not like he doesn’t care or anything. It’s just that…”

“Angelus is back,” she finished, clearly having heard the conversation.

“Yeah.”

“And he’s after me,” she said sadly.

“And Buffy,” he added. “For obvious reasons.”

“And Giles stayed with her.”

“I mean… it’s sorta his job,” he lightly offered.

Jenny didn’t seem to care and walked back into the living room. When she laid down on the couch, Xander dragged her off the furniture and took her to his room. He gently took off her coat and shoes before laying her down on his bed. He laid down next to her, fully clothed, knowing she’d need the warm comfort of another body nearby; however, neither would get much sleep; Jenny for the trauma she just suffered, and Xander, for the uncertain future he was now facing.

Buffy wasn’t in school the following morning, and in the library, Willow explained what happened. They were sitting at the center table, researching Angel’s curse and any means the good vampire could lose his soul that didn’t involve a moment of happiness. Willow explained how Angel came to the Summers home and tried to convince Buffy to sleep with him, but when she refused, he tried to overpower her. The entire time, he seemed to taunt their supposed love, and that hurt Buffy more than any physical injury.

“Buffy fought him off with Slaymore,” Willow sadly finished. “But she’s pretty shaken, like, more than I’ve ever seen.” Xander’s hatred for Angelus and Spike was never far from his heart, so being upset wasn’t an act; unlike much of what he does in a loop. Willow asked him, “How’s Ms. Calendar?”

“In a word: quiet,” he answered. “As far as I can tell, she’s holding it all in.”

“Is she with the police?”

Xander nodded before adding, “She’s identifying the body, then they’re going to question her. I’m picking her up later.”

Willow woefully nodded before commenting, “It’s a good thing you were there, or who knows what could’ve happened.”

‘She would’ve died, again,’ Xander thought before asserting, “Looks like we’ll have to do that spell a couple more times.”

“It’ll have to wait until we get more orbs,” Willow told him. “That mean uncle smashed up the last one we had.”

“I’ll get on that,” Xander offered, noting Cordelia entering the library. “You should look up spells to uninvite vampires.”

“Ohhh, that’s right!” Willow bemoaned. “Oh, no! Oh no! I invited him into my bedroom.”

“You did what?” Xander demanded.

“Wow, Willow, I didn’t know you had it in you,” Cordelia joked as she stopped in front of them.

“He wanted to talk about Buffy,” she sweetly whined. “And I didn’t want to be rude.”

The Scoobies discussed plans to protect themselves from Angelus, starting with the spell to uninvite him from their homes. Xander checked on Buffy after school, but she didn’t want to talk. He spent a few hours at the forge catching up on some work, then picked up Chinese take-out on the way home. He found Jenny in his room, on his bed, however, the silent woman wasn’t hungry and asked to be left alone. Sympathetic to her request, Xander left, then rode to Buffy’s to check on her and Willow.

The three friends were in her backyard and Willow was relaying what happened when Angel couldn’t enter. Buffy desperately begged Angel to tell her what happened, and humored by her pain, Angelus relished explaining how Drusilla finally rescued him from the hell of his conscience. Now, his only driving motivation moving forward was to torture Buffy and her friends for all the joyous agony he could squeeze out of them. The vampire declared war on the Scoobies, and subsequently raised the probability of Xander looping back.

A despondent Buffy was silent until Xander groaned, “Damn.” Then she ordered her raven-haired friend, “No more patrolling.”

Xander looked at her in confusion before asking, “How do you mean?”

“Angel- He’s too dangerous and too much for you to handle,” Buffy argued. “I don’t want you patrolling anymore.”

In all his decades of looping, Xander rarely fought against Angelus, however, he wasn’t worried. Truthfully, Xander rarely ever felt fearful at the possibility of losing a life-and-death fight. Making light of the threat, an unconcerned Xander replied, “We won’t know until we try.”

“No, Xander!” an agitated Buffy asserted. She stood up and looked desperately into his eyes as she proclaimed, “Whatever this thing with you is, it’s over! No more slaying, no more risking your life, no more pretending to be something you’re not!”

“Buffy…” Willow sadly sounded between them.

The slayer’s greenish-blue eyes were a mix of distraught, frustration, and anxiousness, and Xander couldn’t be sure why she was so adamant. It could be a fear of losing him, or doubt in his abilities. Either way, she was trying to take his choice away from him again, and he would no longer abide by that.

Xander slowly stood up to his full height before conscientiously telling her, “Don’t force your fears on me.” He then left without another word.

Other than dusting a pair of vampires, Xander went home to find a weeping Jenny in his bed. Identifying the lifeless body of her Uncle Enyos on a slab—on top of being ignored by Giles—she felt more alone than ever. Easily empathizing with her, Xander held her, rubbing her back as he repeatedly reassured her everything was going to be alright. They fell asleep that way, but at some point in the middle of the night, Xander slowly awoke to a warm, wet suction at his groin.

The half-naked teen looked down and saw nothing but black, however, when he used Odin’s ring to enhance his eyesight, he saw a head of ebony hair, bobbing up and down his erect penis. “Je- Jenny?” he grumbled, quickly becoming alert to the pleasurable situation; Jenny, completely naked, and sucking his cock.

She pulled away with a bit of slurping before explaining, “I haven’t thanked you yet, for saving my life.”

Feeling the pleasure cloud his mind, Xander sat up on his elbows as he replied, “You don’t have-”

“Shhh, just… let this happen,” she finished before descending on his twitching manhood again

She lowered herself on his erect meat tower, and Xander knew he would not hold out long. Not only has it been a while since Cordelia, but he wasn’t wearing a condom, and Jenny always felt amazing. After his quick and embarrassing first nut, he got his revenge. She clearly wanted it rough and hard, and didn’t even mind some toys he’d bought for his sessions with Cordelia. Xander handcuffed Jenny, blindfolded her, inserted a beaded vibrator in her ass, fucked her senseless, and made her sing his name with orgasm after orgasm for most of the night. Come morning, they decide it was a one-night affair they should not repeat.