wyndewalker

"I hate to cut this short, Buck, but I've gotta go. I'm supposed to be meeting up with my friends in a few minutes."

"Hey, it's not a problem. I'm glad we got to talk. I've got a date tomorrow night but maybe we could talk again on Thursday? Or, hey, you have email, right? We can talk that way too. Mine's animalmagnetism at yahoo dot com. You okay, kid?"

"Fine!" Xander wheezed, wiping at the soda that had come out of his nose when he choked. He coughed a little. "I'm fine, Buck. Soda went down the wrong way."

Animal magnetism? Xander had to wonder at the coincindence of that.

"My, uh, email is whiteknight at hotmail dot com."

"White knight, huh? Rescuing fair ladies in distress?" Buck chuckled.

"Something like that," Xander muttered. "So, I'll talk to you Thursday? Same time?"

"Sounds good, kid." There was a moments pause. "Say, Xander? I know we just started talking and all and I'm not saying it should happen tomorrow, but maybe we could get together soon? I can't really take more than a day or two right now but maybe you could come out here? If you want, that is."

Xander hesitated for a moment. It was sudden but things felt *right* between them. Buck felt like a brother should to him. Like Jesse had.

"Yeah, I'd like that. We're in the middle of a project right now but we should be done in four weeks. We have a week off before the next project. I could tell my boss I'll be out of town that week?"

"Sounds like a plan! I'll talk to you Thursday. Night, Xan."

"Night, Buck." Xander clicked off the phone, placing it down on the counter. Spike quirked up an eyebrow when he looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing, pet. It's your decision."

"It's not like I'm rushing out to buy a plane ticket to fly right out there tomorrow. I have a month to back out if I need too."

"So you do. I just don't want you to be disappointed."

"Short of him turning out to be a serial killer, I don't think I can be disappointed. It's not like the rest of the family was winning any awards. It feels right, Spike. It was kinda like having Jesse back again. Only not so much with the comic book and sci-fi references but still... I think this is gonna work out."

"Good. Now get your kit on so we can go meet up with the rest of the white hats. Need my quota of violence, I do."

"I'm going. I'm going. I wouldn't want to keep you away from the pretty violence," Xander teased as he headed into the bedroom. He was back out a few minutes later and they headed over to the Magic Box to meet up with the others.

Xander bounced into the store with Spike following more calmly behind him. "We're here! You may all rejoice now. Ooo, cookies." Snatching one up, he paused with it halfway to his mouth as he looked over at Willow. "What'd you do?"

"Me?" Willow said affronted. "I didn't do anything. Tara and Dawn made the cookies, Mister suspicious mind."

"Sorry, Wills. Just...You know. You tend to bake when you're apologizing for something."

"He's got you there," Buffy agreed as she snitched another cookie for herself. "You were much with the brownies and the cookies after that will be done spell."

"Well, yeah, but just because there's cookies doesn't automatically mean I did something wrong." Willow pouted, then she bounced in her seat. "Oh, have you heard from your brother yet, Xander?"

"Actually I have," he replied sitting down at the table, rolling his eyes at the stack of books Giles put down next to him. "Gee, love you too, G-man."

"You're quite welcome, Xander. Here's a description of the demon we're looking for this evening. Your brother wrote back?"

"Called. This thing has six arms? I am so letting Buffy and Spike handle it. Hey, if we know what it looks like why are we looking it up? Why aren't we out there rooting on the Buffster as she slays it?"

"Because I need to know how to kill it," Buffy said drily. "I tired earlier when I ran into it and it just knocked me out of it's way and kept going. What'd he have to say? What's he like?"

"He seems pretty cool. Told me about his job and his teammates. They sound pretty cool too. He asked me to come visit. Hey, Spike, do you know how to kill Mr Six arms?"

"Back-up there a second, buster," Willow interupted. "He asked you to come visit? Like fly out to Colorado tomorrow visit? You don't even know him. He could be a mass murderer or...or he could keep frogs!"

Everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Frogs are scary."

"When I talk to him on Thursday I'll make sure I ask him if he keeps frogs as pets," Xander assured her, rolling his eyes. "And no, I'm not just flying out to Denver tomorrow. I do have work, you know. I told him I'd have some free time in a month and I'd see about coming out then. Like I told Spike, it gives me plenty of time to back out if he suddenly starts to turn weird. I don't think he's going to though. He seems like a really nice guy and he was interested in getting to know me. I had a lot of fun talking to him tonight."

"If your heart is telling you this is the right thing then it probably is," Tara said quietly. Willow smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Thanks, Tara," Xander smiled.

"And, hey, if he's a demon I can come slay him for you."

"Thanks, Buff."

"Any time. So does anyone know how to kill this thing 'cause I told Mom I'd try to be home by one."