Part Two: "Anger"
New additions are denoted by purple text
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own any of these characters. So, sad; I know cause to have even an ounce of Joss's wisdom and godliness... anyhow; Madison does belong to me. She's mine!!! *bru ha ha!* So, other than the characters by *we bow to you oh great one* Joss Whedon *we bow to you oh great one*, Mutant Enemy and such; all this is my own creation. Please don't steal or sue: don't be illegal people!
Timeframe: Sometime between Gingerbread & the Zeppo. If you see the convo between Buffy and Giles as slightly hostile, then it's after Helpless. Interpret it any way you like... hec, could even be somewhere between Amends and The Zeppo; but it does take place before the Zeppo. That definitely makes a difference. But, I guess the whole Valentines thing contradicts that... sorry. I wrote this way before season three, so it's a little off. Just enjoy the moment.
*****
Xander strutted down the
hall the next day on his way to the library.
"The Bronze, seven o' clock?" he informed her, hoping that she hadn't changed her mind. She was slightly taken aback, but smiled once more and accepted. "OK. See you there." He smiled and started to address her, but still had no clue what to call her. He asked, "What should I call you?" She peered at him and asked, "My name?" He hesitated again and had to inquire. "Which is..." She began to look at him strangely. "Madison. Like it was yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that..." He was worried that she didn't want him anymore, but he stumbled through the rest of the conversation. "Umm... All right. Are we?…"
"Tonight, the Bronze, seven o'clock." She rattled off.
"Really!" he exclaimed. She smirked slightly. "Really. See you there; bye." Still in shock he answered, "Bye." She walked off, passing Cordelia on her way. Xander snapped out of it and remembered that he needed to talk to her. He shouted as she passed by, "Cordelia!" Cordelia turned and stepped as far away from him as she could. "Down boy!" He licked his lips, incredibly nervous, in light of their problems lately. "Can I talk to you?" She looked around. "Not now. I have practice. Will you be at the Bronze?" He couldn't believe he was saying it but, "Yeah. But, I have a date." Cordy was slightly shocked, but she held her emotions in. "Oh... well, you can talk to me anyway, your girlfriend won't mind, will she?"
"She's not my girlfriend," he told her. She looked at him skeptically and responded slyly with, "Could have fooled me! She had her hand so far up your leg, I thought you two were going to get down on the floor right then and start something." He gazed at her and inquired, "Are you jealous?"
"I don't get jealous," she shot back.
"Sure," he said sarcastically. She glared at him, "Don't contradict me. I'm leaving!"
"Fine!" he
exclaimed. She stalked off he rolled his eyes and he began to
head home to get ready for his date. But, before he could get
there; he ran into Faith.
"Xander! Hey."
Xander didn’t really
know Faith, but he made casual conversation. "Hey Faith, how
are you?"
"I’m 5 for 5. You?"
"I’ve got a date." He grinned gooifily. She raised
an eyebrow. "Xander, you animal! A date… at the Bronze?"
"Yeah. Tonight at seven." She grinned, "A man of
grand tradition: The Bronze, and within safety distance of Buffy.
Well then, I must show and meet her." He looked surprised,
"Why?"
"Well, if there’s going to be a new member of the Brady
Bunch, I’d like to give them the once over. Besides, not
just any girl can date my Xand-man."
That really surprised him. "Um.. your Xand-man?" She once again raised an eyebrow, "You really helped me out Xand; set me straight about Angel. Never doubted me. That really counts for something. I’m not feeling the best bud vibe from Buffy and Willow just isn’t my type. You’re cool with me Xander. Remind me, sometime I’ll tell you the rest of that story." He was clueless, "Story?"
She flashed him a sly
smile, "Yeah; don’t you remember? Me, bus, buck naked,
preacher, handcuffs?" He perked up, "Oh yeah. Wasn’t
the story over there?" She looked at him seductively, "I
only told the PG-13 version." He looked at her with that
funny "is it me or is Buffy wearing spandex" look.
"Oh… wow. Well, I gotta jet."
"Cool. I’ll catch you later babe." She strutted
towards the library, most likely for a training session with G-man.
Xander cocked his head slightly and threw out an off put "See
ya" and jetted in the oposite direction.
*****
Later, at the Bronze,
Madison shyly inhabited a table and waited for Xander. He finally
showed up and left Buffy at the door. He bounced over to her,
smiled, and said , "Hi Madison!" She looked up,
slightly startled and asked him politely to call her Allison. He
narrowed his eyebrows, comtemplating the situation and calmly
asked her why. She shyed away from him and attempted to explain.
"Umm, my middle name is Allison."
"I don't dance," she stated. He reached for her hands and said, "Come on! It's easy! Anyone can dance!" She jerked away from him and said sharply, "I don't dance! Please leave me alone." He was shocked at her reaction and request, but chose to leave anyway. Just as he turned away, Cordelia approached them. "Hi! I'm Cordelia! And you are?" Allison averted Cordelia's icy stare and said sheepishly, "Umm… Allison." Cordelia extended her arm and said, "Pleased to meet you, I would have said something at the game, but you looked busy." Allison looked puzzled. Cordy continued. "Last night? I was cheerleading?"
"I don't remember," Allison said. Cordelia smirked, "Well, I guess you were busy." Xander flashed her a look. She ignored him and continued. "So, you're dating Xander?" Allison suddenly became alert and exclaimed, "No! I don't date." Cordelia gave Xander a look and forged on, "Well then, you won't mind if I steel him away for a moment!" She took him by the arm and led him to the dance floor. Buffy noticed that it was time to take date patrol and headed over. "Hi! How have you been?" Allison changed in demeanor slightly and eased out of her shell. "Great, everyone's been really nice." The Welcome Wagon known as Buffy continued. "I understand. Being new can be tough, but as long as you've got a guy like Xander around, you'll be fine." Allison shifted her attitude once more and erupted with the statement, "But, we're not dating! I don't date! Guys… they say they love you, but they don't really care. One minute you're their whole world and the next they want to kill you."
"I understand what you mean," Buffy thought about Angel and their encounter earlier. She wished things were different… Willow came up and joined them and began a conversation with Allison.
Meanwhile… Paranoid Android wafted through the Bronze as Cordelia and Xander danced. They really didn't really touch, but kind of swayed. Cordelia cocked her hip to one side, glanced at Allison; who was being approached by Buffy, and made her own personal commentary of her replacement. "She's less horny today." Xander shot her a disaproving look, but the freight train rolled on. "So, you wanted to talk to me?" He licked his lips. "Yea. Things have been really uncomfortable between us."
"What do you expect? When you cheat on me, you can't exactly expect me to smile and go on like nothing happened. You should be uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable!" He looked at her in a concerned manner. "We shouldn't be fighting." She said smugly, "We're not fighting." He got closer to her and touched her arm. "Don't weave your way around this by pretending you're a bitch. You know as well as I do that you're not the ice princess to portray yourself to be."
Back at the table Willow and Buffy talked about a movie they had seen while Allison sipped her drink. As Xander and Cordy got into their heated conversation, she slowly changed in demeanor.
"Xander," she answered, "Don't tell me what I am or am not. You gave up the right to care the second you rolled in the hay with Willow!" He searched her eyes for some form of compassion. "Cordelia; just because we're not together anymore doesn't mean I don't still care!"
Allison perked up and watched Cordelia inch closer to Xander. She whipped around towards Buffy and Willow and demanded, "What is he doing?"
"Dancing?" Willow answered. Allison flashed her an evil look and sprung up from the table.
At the same instance, Cordelia let her protective shield down and practically whispered, "Don't you understand? I still l…" All of a sudden, Allison grabbed Cordelia's arm and yanked her away from Xander. Full bitch mode: "Stay away from him, bitch!" Cordelia looked at her disaprovingly and muttered, "Psycho much?"
"Excuse me?" Allison asked and Xander took a step to intervene. "Madison…."
"Shut up Xander!" she snapped and went towards Cordelia, "I mean, what were you thinking? Getting your slutty cheerleader paws all over my boyfriend?"
"Who do you think you're talking to? Because it couldn't be me! No one speaks to me like this!" Cordelia started getting really upset. Allison didn't care how angry she got. "Well, maybe it's about time someone should!" By this time, Buffy and Willow were over there listening and just as Allison took a step a little too close to Cordelia, Buffy interceded.
Cordelia looked extremely relieved, but she kept her composure and continued her counter-bitch mode,"I'm leaving!" Cordelia informed them and stalked off. Allison attempted to follow her, but Buffy caught her and held her firmly.
About a half hour later, all was well at the Bronze. Allison was getting a latte and Xander, Willow, and Buffy chatted at the table.
"She's acting like nothing happened," Buffy said. Although Xander was marginally wigged, she was his date and he needed to defend her. Besides, the last thing he needed was another dating disaster. ie: Ican Mummy/Natalie French Xander thought of a way to compensate. "She's… cooling off." Buffy didn't buy it. As far as she was concerned, Allison had crossed the line. It was beyond bitch. And, something about the whole situation bothered Buffy more than she would have liked. She tried to express her concerns to Xander, "Sure. She dropped the bitch routine pretty fast… if you ask me."
"I didn't." Xander was becoming slightly irritated. Buffy never had anything but negative things to say about all of his dates. Always some snide comment from her. He almost couldn't stand it. What bothered him the most was that although she never liked anyone he was with, she never even gave a second thought to being with him. She was completely clueless to what he really wanted.
Willow recognized the uncomfortable silence and decided to throw in her own two cents. Even though she didn't want to start an arguement; she was entitled to her own opinion. Afterall, once upon a time; Xander declared his ever lasting love for her. True, she wanted to be with Oz; but a part of her still loved Xander; like you love your best friend and first love. She cared for him and believed he should know what she saw in Allison. She turned to Xander and said quietly and tenderly, "Xander...Allison... she... seems like two completely different people." She pulled away from him, fearing his possible anger or unhappiness with her statement. Instead, he made the best of the situation. He grinned and said in a hopeful way, " I think she has charisma!" Buffy was quick to contradict him "I don't. I think I should get Giles on it."
"Why would we do that? There's nothing wrong." Xander wasn't happy again. He was sick of having to research every person who he brought into the group. For once, couldn't they percieve that perhaps there was nothing wrong?...that their minds were stuck on demons and they went looking for people to have problems? Xander pouted and waited for a response from Buffy.
Willow sensed the tension between Xander and Buffy. It struck as odd and almost bothered her that Xander only lashed out at Buffy's opinions. She tried to tell her self that it was because Xander valued her own opinions and saw herself as someone who was trying to help, but she knew that wasn't it. It was because she wasn't Buffy. Xander reacted to Buffy in ways that he never reacted to anyone else. Willow decided to try to help. She meekly said, "Maybe it's that time of the month?" This time, Xander snapped at Willow. " Willow, you're not helping!" This sparked two things: Willow felt relieved and almost happy that he reacted to her that way and Buffy grew enraged. He had no right to snap at Willow. Buffy jumped to her defense. " Don't snap at her!"
Buffy was always being the resident protector. Xander didn't appreciate her interferring in his issues with Willow. He knew as well as Buffy that Willow was a big girl and could handle herself. Xander took his anger out on Buffy, "That's right, I'm mad at you. Why do you assume that every girl that has a vague interest in me has to have something wrong with her?" Xander demanded. He awaited her response while glaring at her in the most evil way. This all reminded him of previous arguements with Buffy. And, even though he knew he would regret this, he felt he owed it to himself and to Buffy to express his true feelings. He couldn't stand to sugar coat the truth. He cared for Buffy to much to lie to her.
Buffy realized that she was beyond the point of no return and felt it was best for Xander if he heard the truth from her; even though she realized it would hurt, "She doesn't have to have anything wrong with her, but all the rest have seemed to. I think I know what I'm talking about on this one. Xander, I'm not trying to hurt you or battle with you, but you should know the truth. I'm feeling a serious creepo vibe from Allison. She's given me the wiggins'."
Xander let himself go, "This has nothing to do with wiggins'. This has to do with you being jealous because I found someone and am no longer lusting after you." Xander was surprised he said that...out loud... to Buffy. But, he was surprised that it felt good to tell Buffy how he felt. Although, he kind of lied; he did still lust after her, but he wasn't going to let her know, besides; it would also hurt Willow.
Willow couldn't believe what Xander had said. She didn't think he would ever say that to Buffy. She wondered if he was telling the truth. She thought he always had lusted after Buffy and still did. Even when he was kissing her behind closed doors, she felt his lust for Buffy.
Buffy couldn't believe Xander's audasity. To declare that she was jealous? What on earth did she have to be jealous of? "Excuse me? Jealous?" Xander became possessed of a look of self satisfaction. "Oh, yeah! Ever since back in the day when Angel went psycho and you had to send him to hell, you've been throwing me little side glances and practically melting me with your seductive 'love' stares. It's sad. Frankly Buffy, I expected more from you. I never imagined you'd be so horny."
Xander couldn't believe he said that, Willow couldn't believe he said that, and Buffy wasn't going to take the fact that he said that. Instinct over came her and she slapped him. In a few minutes and in those few seconds; years of friendship were violated by a fury of emotions.
Xander was shocked. By the time a red hand print began to form on his cheek, he had thoroughly digested the situation. He had to get out of there. He gave Buffy an icy look of comtempt and inner-pain and left, dragging Allison along with him; who had been approaching when Buffy pysically retaliated. He left Buffy looking down at her hands in shock and guilt and Willow in complete awe. Buffy uttered in a small voice, "I didn't mean to." >
poor compensation that was for what just occured. Buffy realized her friend's unwillingness to respond and muttered something about going home.
After Buffy left, it finally occured to Willow that her friendship with Xander and Buffy had taken a new turn completely. She was worried. As she was pondering their future, Faith waltzed in. She approached Willow in full slut motif and said casually, "Hey Will. Where's Xand and his new woman?" Willow didn't like Faith anyway and she was already annoyed, so she lashed out, "Go to hell Faith." With that; Willow left. Faith was left standing there puzzled. But, she shrugged it off and grabbed the nearest person with testosterone, which happened to be Jonathan. She got all over him and he awkwardly stood there. And, so the only member of the Scooby Gang (or sub-member)who was left at the Bronze, enjoyed her self greatly that evening.