Green Eyes

Why did everything have to change? Just when they thought
things were getting back on track, it all had to fall apart as usual. It just
wasn’t fair.

The youngest of the two Summers
sisters sighed and flipped her long brunette hair back over her shoulder, out
of way.way. The silence was practically deafening in the Magic Box; definitely
a rare occurrence. Usually, there were a few customers to be dealt with;
research to be done; Buffy training out back with Giles – a real buzz, even if
they were too busy for ordinary chitchat. Today though, they were all
uncomfortable with each other for some reason or other and, not surprisingly,
upset by the unexpected turn the so-called happy occasion had taken. They had
expected Xander and Anya to
be happily honeymooning right about now, but instead the wedding had ended in
tears – called off indefinitely; the would-be bride and groom going their
separate ways, both obviously devastated. Dawn was never going to understand
why had possessed Xander to back out when it was
clear how much the ex-demon, Anya, meant to him …

The teenager sighed again, resting her chin in her hand
gloomily and shaking her head –and they called her immature! What ever happened
to talking things out …?

“So … what happens now?” she ventured to ask without looking
up, more than a little fearful of the answer. She had lost enough lately
without seeing the group split up too – her mother, her sister before she had
returned … She loved them all and she couldn’t wait for them to start seeing
her as a grown-up so she could more a part of things – if they split now, that
would never happen!

Seeing that no one else seemed prepared to answer the young
girl, Tara pulled her chair closer to Dawn’s and tried
to smile reassuringly. The blonde Wiccan had a soft
spot for the girl and saw how anxious she looked. She would have loved to tell
her everything would straighten itself out, but that just didnoundound
convincing when she knew full well things were really going to change over the
next few weeks.

“I don’t know, Dawnie.” she said
softly, her words honest if not particularly helpful and she thought it was
important that they didn’t tell outright lies, even if it was only with the
intention of shielding the young girl from getting hurt. She knew from personal
experience that way only led to more trouble. “I think everyone’s just going to
need some time right now … Process everything, you know? There’s too much going
on at the minute to rush things …”

“But, what happens to US?” asked Dawn, trying to get her
point across without actually voicing her fears. She took a second to consider
what she had said and hoped it hadn’t come across as selfish – it wasn’t that
she didn’t care about XanderAnya.

“We just have to get on with ... stuff …” said Willow,
trying to look unconcerned and not really succeeding. “Don’t worry, Dawn, worse
things have happened and we’ve stuck it out – things will get back to normal
soon and then we can just put it all behind us.”

“Why do you think he did it? Or didn’t, I suppose.” the teen
asked, unable to repress heruralural curiosity for long. “I mean, I can’t
figure it out – I thought everything was fine. Him and
Anya are perfect for each other, or at least they
were … Maybe something happened we don’t know about – maybe …”

Caught up in her conspiracy theories, Dawn never heard the
light jingle as the door of the shop opened and was only cut off by Willow’s
exclamation.

“Xander!”

The redhead jumped up from her seat and was about to hurry
to him when she stopped awkwardly, unsure of what to even say to him. None of
them understood why he had called off the wedding, considering the effect that
action had on him, and it was obvious they didn’t know the full story.

“Uh, hey.” she said unsurely, sett for for giving him a
little wave from where she was. Glancing around, hoping someone else would
think of something more useful to say, she saw that there wasn’t much chance of
that as Giles tried to speak and then settled for nodding in greeting. He set
about cleaning his glasses enthusiastically, a sure sign that the now
unofficial Watcher felt out of his depth. And no help was likely to come from
the others either - Tara was just smiling weakly and nervously twirling a
strand of hair around her fingers, while Dawn was looking guilty and obviously
hoping Xander hadn’t heard what she had been talking
about.

“Hey.” returned Xander after a
pause, with an attempt at his usual cheeriness. He was still in his suit, but
his tie was undone and the top buttons of his shirt were open. “Please, don’t
all speak at once – I’m feeling a little overwhelmed as it is.” he tried to
joke.

“Xand …”

“It’s okay, Will – don’t look at me
like that. I’m fine. You know me, no keeping the Xand-man
down. What’s the what round here? Any
baddies to dust, apocalypses to avert, or anything? Is that a nay? Gee,
I guess ya just can’t depend on demons these days -
not like I’m Mr. Dependable myself though, so I shouldn’t really say anything
…” Xander rambled on, ignoring the looks of concern
he was getting from everyone in the room. “And Lord knows I’ve given up trying
to understand demons – got a little personal experience in that area. Not class=SpellE>workin’ out too well.”

“Maybe you should take some time …” Giles began
sympathetically.

“I’m a busy man, Giles – places to go, people to see.”

“You can’t go!”
said Willow in alarm, “You need to
take it easy, get yourself together …”

“I can’t.” he said simply, the strain beginning to show on
his face as his façade threatened to break down. “I … I have to talk to class=SpellE>Anya … make her understand … I thought she might come here,
but it looks like I was wrong – pretty much power for the course these days …”

He turned and headed for the door again, mumbling to himself
about where else he could try to look and Willow made as if to follow him, but
she was stopped by Giles’s hand on her shoulder.

“Let him go.” he said softly, “We have to give him s
ri
right now.”

They all just watched silently, feeling more helpless than
ever, as Xander paused in the doorway to look left
and right before deciding which way to go and disappearing, his hands jammed in
his pockets and his shoulders slumped.

~*~