Title: Sort of Up and Down

Author: Jeanny

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Through Intervention.

Feedback: Please. jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Distribution: I don't mind, just credit me and let me know where it's going.

Summary: Buffy needs help, and Xander is there as always (B/X Friendship Story)

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, especially the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them for the pure pleasure of having my own fun and games.

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"Thanks for helping with this, Xan," Buffy said as she opened another box with the helpful label 'L.A. Misc.' "Giles said he'd help, but that was before Anya..."

"...dropped the thingamajig that made the shop look like the inside of a Pepto-Bismol bottle, I know. Willow said it's going to take the four of them all day today cast the counter spell. So it's Xander and his rummaging skills to the rescue of the Summers girls' garage sale!"

"Speaking of Summers girls, emphasis on the ssss, where is Dawn? Dawn! What are you doing?"

"Nothing," came the muffled cry from somewhere, followed by a crash. "I didn't do it!" Buffy shook her head.

"You know what? I don't want to know," she muttered, digging through old record albums.

"Umm, Buffy...do you want to keep this?" Xander asked.

"What is it?" she asked, not looking up.

"Not sure...it might be a bedroom slipper...or possibly half a club sandwich." Buffy smiled.

"I say toss the slipper sandwich."

"Check...hey! Hey!!" Xander's enthusiastic cry got her attention, and she turned to him. He held out his prize.

"Yo-yo," Buffy said flatly. Xander nodded enthusiastically and immediately began to play with it, performing tricks.

"It's all in the wrist." Buffy grinned in spite of herself.

"Check you out, Xander! Where did you learn that?" To her surprise, Xander stopped suddenly, an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks.

"This...well...promise not to tell anyone I told you?"

"Okay," Buffy agreed, intrigued.

"Cordy."

"Cordelia Chase taught you yo-yo tricks?"

"She was amazing...she could do things..." Buffy started to giggle.

"And all this time we thought you two were just making out in that broom closet." The two laughed together for a minute, the giggles eventually dying out. Even then Buffy's shoulders continued to shake, but no longer with mirth. Xander dropped the toy back in the box and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"Hey," he whispered.

"God, Xander, I miss Mom so much. She would have loved watching you do that." She pulled away from him, tears shining on her dusty face. Xander wiped them away with his palm, giving her an encouraging smile. Wordlessly they got back to work. Buffy broke the silence after a few long moments.

"So, has Anya taught you any fun tricks?"

"Man, Buffy, you so do not want to go there!"

"You're right. Forget I asked. Please!" Buffy lifted a box of items that had been marked for sale and began walking towards the front of the garage.

"I forget, did you ask me something?" She dropped to box on top of a table, then turned, her expression very serious.

"Oh, and Xan. The yo-yo? Keep it. I really think Mom would want you to have it."

"You're sure? You and Dawn don't...wait a minute, the yo-yo was Joyce's?"

"Uh-huh," Buffy replied absently. "She was great. You know, my mom could have taught you some tricks too." Xander doubled over, hit with a sudden violent coughing fit. Alarmed, Buffy ran to him and patted his back gently until the spasms began to subside. Dawn appeared with a glass of water, earning a sisterly glare that was equal parts annoyance and gratitude. Xander slipped the water carefully, his face purple. Neither girl noticed he was studiously avoiding their gaze.

"Sorry," he rasped eventually. "Guess I got a lungful of dust." Buffy looked empathetic.

"I know how that is! Happens on patrol all the time, except without the coughing up a lung part." Xander managed a smile then, giving both girls a quick one-armed hug.

"All better now, thanks to the two Nurse Summerses. What do you say we get back to the task at hand, or in my case at lung?" Dawn gave him a worried look.

"Are you sure you don't need to sit down and rest or something?" Xander had to suppress the urge to ruffle her hair, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it. Instead he gave her a smile and a wink, stifling a laugh at her rapidly coloring cheeks.

"Totally sure, Dawnster. I'm tough as nails construction worker guy, remember? No little lungful of dust is gonna keep me down!" Buffy eyed him skeptically, raising one eyebrow at the description, then smiled.

"Okay, tough guy, let's finish this up, then I'm taking you to lunch. My treat."

"Cool! Where are we going?" Dawn asked excitedly. Before waiting for an answer, she ran from the garage, calling over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go change!"

"Buffy, you certainly know the way to a man's heart...and apparently, Dawn is a man."

"Thanks," Buffy answered ironically, then bent to retrieve one of the last boxes to be sorted. She and Xander both reached into it together and pulled out the homemade scrapbook, adorned with ribbons and drawings of teddy bears. They stared, momentarily taken aback.

"This is..." Xander started, then trailed off.

"Dawn's baby book." Buffy said, staring at the book that was so familiar, and yet now so strange. She put it back in the box and looked at Xander, her eyes wide and questioning. Xander knew the questions; he just had no idea what the answers were. Instead he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze, then covered the box and returned it to the pile to be kept. Grabbing the yo-yo out of the box he had dropped it into earlier, sudden inspiration struck. Walking toward the garage entrance, he turned back to Buffy with a secret smile.

"You know, something just occurred to me. You said your mom was really good with this," he said, holding the yo-yo out to her. Buffy nodded, a bit puzzled.

"She was a whiz. Tried to teach me and Dawn, but neither one of us was ever as good. Why?"

"It's just that...well, wouldn't that make her your 'Yo-Yo Ma'?"

Even though he had a head start, Xander knew he'd never make it back to the house before she tackled him. She was, after all, the Slayer, and a pun that bad needed to be punished. Buffy knew what would be the appropriate punishment: use of a little known Slayer talent, the ability to tickle her prey into submission. Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head disapprovingly at them from the porch as their shrieks of laughter filled the quiet neighborhood. But she had to smile. The veil of sadness might not be completely lifted from the Summers house, but a crack of light had found its way through. Sometimes that was enough.

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