Moonlight

The door clicked quietly shut behind the exhausted young man. Sawdust, sweat and heat permeated the air as he placed his tool belt on the hook. He slumped down in a chair to take off his mud caked boots. Passing through the kitchen, he grabbed a beer on his way to the shower. Striping down, he stepped into the steam. Xander sighed, laying his head against the warming tile, and sipped his beer.


He had just had a full day’s work and was getting ready to head out to patrol with Buffy and the gang. But after his summer away, things just hadn’t been the same. There seemed to be a distance between them that had not been there before.

*Sure, when they had gone off to college it had been bad, but this was different.* Xander thought, as he poured some gel into his hand.

One of the wives of the guys at the site had given him the gel, after he pulled his shoulder so bad right after he got back. It worked well, soothing the aches and pains.

Stepping back under the spray, he sighed. Another discovery he’d realized over the summer, was that not all demons were bad. Most of the time, the ones they had come across on patrol were baddies or just fledges straight out of the grave, too hungry and stupid to know better.

A lot of the guys at the site were demons of some sort, or half breeds who were just trying to take care of their families. Shutting off the water and drying, Xander looked at the clock.


"Great."


He was running late. Hurrying through his routine, Xander grabbed an apple on his way out the door. Jogging to his car, he thought again about his girls. They seemed so different from when he left.

Willow was all about her witchcraft and Buffy was even more about the slaying, if that was possible. Anya was leaving with Giles for England. Big shocker there, the money obsessed girl leaving with the independently wealthy older man, yeah such a shocker. Tara was about the same, still calm and steadying presence. Dawn though, Dawn was as changed as her sister and Wills. But where they gave him the wiggins, Dawnie made him swell with pride. She reminded him of her mother.

She now stood up to her sister and won at times, and wasn't afraid to stand for what she thought was right. The other big shocker was she had learned to fight. He wasn't sure where, but now she kicked butt. What really threw him even more than Dawn, was Spike. He was much more subdued and quiet. No snarking, no smoking, the only one he even talked to was Dawn and maybe Tara. If he hadn't been looking for it, he would have said Spike wasn't even breathing.

From the times he had lived with the vamp, Xander knew that the guy didn't have to breathe, but it took a lot to make him stop, the habit was so deeply ingrained. Spike had once told him that Darla hadn't liked the fact that he did it, so tried to torment it out of him. By the time Angelus had found them, he was almost ash, but still breathing. To see Spike so still was scary. And the guy never looked him in the eye anymore. It reminded Xander of himself, before moving out of his parent’s house. There were those nothing-to-see-here vibes, and he really didn’t want to face what that meant considering Spike was still chipped. Xander sighed as he pulled up to the Magic Box. This was not going to be fun.


The bell over the door danced to a deceptively merry tune, as Xander stepped inside.

" Hey, guys, " he called cheerfully, shaking his head as Willow just lifted a hand in his direction, never even looking away from the book she was studying. Making his way over to the counter, he could hear a steady rhythm coming from the training room.

Spike was sitting on the upper stairs, with Dawn on the lower steps, slowly and steadily sharpening a short sword. Giles and Tara were coming out of the back office talking over the shop books. Since he was leaving, he had gifted the magic shop to her.

Anya looked up from where she was stocking behind the counter.

"Good evening, Xander."


Hopping up on the counter, he turned to Giles.


"Hey G-man, how goes the packing and paper working? Got any big nasties for us to read up on tonight?"

Giles leveled a look at Xander. "How many..." he trailed off as Dawn, Tara, Anya and Xander chimed in to finish it off, "… times do I have to ask you not to call me that?"


They all grinned at each other and chorused, "At least once more, G-man."


They all laughed and Giles just grinned indulgently at them. "Yes, well," he said with a small chuckle.

"What’s so funny out here? God knows, I could use a laugh." Buffy sniped as she came out, taking the tape off of her hands. "Oh, Xander’s here, guess that explains that. Did you bring any good munchies? No? Jeez, you would think you might be at least a little useful," she said as she looked around the room.


"Jeez, Buff, bad night?" Xander asked with an arched brow.


Dawn looked up from her wet stone. "No, she’s just a bitch," she said calmly, without emotion at all. Xander was taken aback.


Buffy huffed out, "Whatever." and turned to Giles. "Anything we need to look up or can I go patrol?"


He shook his head. "No, go on."

Buffy grabbed her coat and Xander cocked his head as she paused in the door way and a strange smirk crossed her face, it gave him the chills.


"Spike, why don't you come with me and actually earn your keep tonight?"


Xander watched Spike closely and saw him flinch, just slightly, and pale a bit. But he shifted to get up and follow her, Buffy stood with a look of subtle triumph.

Dawn cut in. "Sorry Buffy, but I need help with my homework tonight and I need him to help me."

Dawn’s eyes had a hard glint to them that Xander had never seen before. What is going on around here? The triumphant look had crashed and there was a storm building in Buffy's eyes when Willow spoke up for the first time that evening.


"It’s ok, Buffy, I need to talk to him when they’re done anyway." At this, Spike’s face went bone white and his head dropped.

Buffy shared a look with the red witch and let out a hard laugh.


"Sure, sure." she said on her way out the door.

Leaving them puzzled and Dawn looking murderous, glaring daggers at the door till Spike leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and sat back down to lean against his leg.

*Yes, yes,* Xander thought, *something is going on here and I am going to find out what!*


A feeling of dread settled in his stomach, but resolve firming his spine. If anyone had been looking right then, they would have noticed the green reflective shine flashing across his eyes.