~*~*~
Willow stared down at the scattered newspaper lying on her kitchen table, wondering at the classified ads laid open without shame, red circles marking some of them.
"Single white female seeks energetic male." She read aloud. "Crazy, sexy Latina looking for love in LA." She shook her head, taking a sip of her coffee. The cordless phone lay on the table as well, and it looked as though whoever had been flipping through the ads had been busy. 'Must be Xander,' She smirked to herself, placing the newspaper in one neat pile on the counter before beginning to make breakfast for the humans and non-humans of the household. Sure, it was well past noon - but that was still pretty early for those living in the building. Her lips turned up in a small smile as she thought of her three lovers, still lying in their bed.
"Heya Wills," Xander smiled, walking into the kitchen with a small desk calendar in hand. "Oh, sorry about leaving the paper everywhere."
"S'ok," the red head grinned. "What’s up with the personal ads?"
The young man had the good grace to blush for a moment. "Just trying to find someone special to spend Valentine's Day with... only one more week to go, you know." Sadness crept across his face, lightning quick. This wouldn't be the first time he had no date for Valentine's Day -- but it was the first time he had actively tried *to* have a date. It was a lot harder than it looked, finding that certain someone in a city that just overflowed with people. Everyone special seemed to already have someone. Living in a household with four other obliviously happy people didn't help, either.
Willow bit her tongue, turning back to her cooking before she said something she knew she would regret. There was no doubt in her mind that the spell herself, Cordelia and Xander had done only a month prior had worked perfectly. The fact that Xander seemed intent on forgetting who the spell had led him to was incredibly frustrating, though! He did his best to avoid Faith on a daily basis - going as far as to actually leave his food to get cold if she walked into a room he was eating in. It was a difficult situation, she knew. Her childhood friend still did not trust the dark haired Slayer.
'And he doesn't trust himself around her, either,' Willow smirked, scrambling the eggs in the heated frying pan in front of her. She watched as they turned from liquid to something completely edible in a matter of a few seconds before scraping them onto a plate for Xander. He smiled and took the plate, wandering off to watch television. Turning back to the stove, the red haired young woman began to prepare food for herself and her single human lover, her thoughts again roaming to Xander and Faith. 'Not that I blame him. Not after what she did when we were in high school.' Her face darkened as she remembered how Faith had slept with Xander and then just...left. The scowl was brief, clearing off her features almost immediately.
It had shocked the entire household when Faith showed up on their doorstep that night. It was obvious that not even Angel had expected her latest parole hearing to come to any good end – but it had. The friendship between the brunette Slayer and her dark-haired mate was undeniable, though, and it worked to set almost everyone’s mind at ease.
Everyone except Xander. He had tried to hide how much the incident with Faith in high school had hurt him, but she knew.
She always knew.
Just like she knew now how much he was hurting, having no one to spend lonely nights with. Living with her and her family was no doubt better than him living in Sunnyhell, but it still was difficult. If only he could admit what she and Delia already knew - he and Faith were, well...fated.
‘Maybe Valentine’s Day will bring them closer together,’ she mused. Placing the two plates, two glasses of orange juice and two mugs of blood on the tray she left for the bedroom, leaving the problem of Xander and Faith for another day.
~*~*~
Faith looked up as Xander entered the room. It seemed, for the briefest of moments, that he would stay in the room with her. ‘But – no,’ She sighed to herself, watching his retreating form. She finished with the sandwich she had been making, cleaning off the counter. Food in hand she made her way to the bedroom the others had been so kind to give her. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without friends like Red, Delia and the boys.’ She kicked her door shut, turning on the small radio that sat by her bedside.
Pulling her feet onto the dark blue bedspread, the dark haired Slayer nibbled on the edge of her sandwich, her mind on the one person in the household who wouldn’t even look her in the eyes.
Xander.
Not that she blamed him. No – she could never blame him. It was just…well, difficult to live in a house with someone that would rather she not be there. She had dealt with that enough as a child, living with a mother who had never wanted her in the first place and was more likely to slap her than hug her. ‘ He probably wishes I had never woken up from my coma.’ Her thoughts turned dark, pitying. The saltiness of the turkey in the sandwich was bitter in her mouth, practically unpalatable. The worst thing about the entire situation was that she didn’t want things to go on like this. She wanted him to look at her – smile at her. Maybe even engage in conversation with her?
“Like that will ever happen…” She mumbled, placing the remainder of her sandwich on her nightstand. She leaned back against the bed’s soft pillows, staring up at the light-blue ceiling. She had never expected seeing him to cause so many emotions in her. Certainly she hadn’t expected to care for him after so long. The one secret she had kept for so many years – even from her confidant, from Angel – was that she had always liked Xander. Sleeping with him had been a means to an end – a way of relieving the stress she was feeling at the time. It had been a way to get at the Scoobies, throw them off balance.
But it had never been meant to hurt Xander.
At least that’s what she told herself – time and again when the memories of the entire thing made her blush with shame. It wasn’t the truth, but it was the only way she could live with herself. The truth was that she had done it during a dark time in her life – when pleasing a ‘daddy-figure’ meant everything to her. ‘I would have done anything for the Mayor. I was so stupid.’ She shut her eyes, tears coming to the corners of her eyes.
‘It’s too late, now. I can’t take it back – the only thing left is to try to make things right. Atone and all that crap.’ She snorted, rolling over to clutch one of the pillows to her body. ‘If only I could make things right with Xander…’
~*~*~
Willow snuggled deeper into the arms of her blond haired mate, tilting her head up to capture his lips for a small kiss. The movie Spike had chosen to watch was boring – one of those action things he liked so much. It was worth enduring it just to lay in his arms, though. She closed her eyes, enjoying his presence. Angel and Cordelia had gone off for some alone time – presumably to the ballet or one of those other places the dark haired vampire seemed to enjoy.
The drone of the television was cut off suddenly by the front door opening quickly then shutting none too quietly. She jumped slightly, held tight by Spike’s arms.
“It’s just Chubs.” He murmured, his eyes never leaving the scene in front of him. He kissed her forehead, rubbing her arm absently as yet another person died in the movie.
“Oh.” She relaxed into his embrace, only to stiffen up a moment later. Xander was home already? Hadn’t he just left for a date only a half hour ago? She pulled up slowly, disentangling herself from her lover’s arms. “I’m gonna go see how his date went.”
Spike nodded. It hadn’t escaped him either that the whelp was home early from his night on the town. That and the fact he had practically slammed the front door all equaled up to one thing – a date gone wrong. “You do that, pet.”
Moving quietly, the witch made her way across the spacious living room and to the door of her best friend’s room. “Xander?” She knocked softly. “Can I come in?”
“Sure…” His assent was quiet, sounding sad even through the wood of the door. She twisted the knob, opening the door quickly and slipping inside. The sound of the movie faded away as the door closed behind her again. One look at the scene before her confirmed her suspicions. Sprawled on the bed, Xander had one arm flung over his eyes. His shoes had been kicked against the wall, a grayish smudge mark showing on the paint.
“Things not go well?” She asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Xander snorted, moving his arm so that he could tilt his head and look her in the eyes. “That’s one way of putting it, I guess. She was old enough to be my grandmother, Wills.” He closed his eyes, laying his head back on the pillow. “Do you know how disappointing that was? I mean – we had talked on the phone before and everything – she didn’t sound like a granny… She sounded perfect, wonderful even…” He voice faded out.
“Well…” Willow began, understanding completely why he was home so early. That had undoubtedly been a difficult situation to be in. “You still have two more dates this week, right?” The pillow rustled slightly as he nodded his head. “Good! I’m sure one of those will turn out okay for you.” It was difficult to resist the urge to bring up the spell and Faith – but she managed.
“Yeah…I’m sure.” He sighed. “I’m tired, Wills – can we talk tomorrow?”
The red head stood, not feeling affronted in the slightest by his brush off. After so many years of friendship she knew when to just leave him alone and let things be. “Sure, Xan – we’ll talk later. You get some sleep.” She didn’t wait for his response before leaving.
Crawling back into her mate’s arms, Willow sighed. If the Goddess wished for Xander and Faith to be together it would happen, one way or another. ‘And it’s just like Xander to make things more difficult than they need to be.’ Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to be lulled by the sound of the television and Spike’s cool embrace, falling off into sleep within minutes.
~*~*~
“How’re things going on the dating scene?”
Xander looked up, a pink wave spreading across his face. “Wills told you, huh?”
Cordelia nodded, flipping on the television. The first program she came to was daytime television – a talk show discussing Valentine’s Day breakups. She paused with interest, listening to the sobbing female on stage.
“And then… I came home to find him sleeping with my aunt! Well, Jerry, I threw that ring right at him and left. The next day that idiot is at my door – wanting to make up with me!”
The brunette snorted. “I can’t believe how stupid some of this stuff is. As this type of thing actually ever happens.”
Xander nodded. “Yeah – I know what you mean.” Inside he was saddened by the topic. Valentine’s Day break-ups. ‘At least these people had someone special in their lives.’ His morose mind went back to Cordelia’s initial question – how was the dating scene going? Images of the blind date from the night before flitted through the movie theater of his mind. The woman had been perfect – dark hair, equally dark eyes, tall but not too tall, and curves that could make a man cry. The only thing that hadn’t been perfect had been…well…him. “Aren’t you just so…cute.” Her comment had been condescending at best, alluding to the fact that she was easily five years his senior and quite obviously considered herself more cultured and sophisticated. The rest of the night hadn’t gone much better – the dinner and movie he had planned obviously well below her standards.
That had been date, and strikeout, number two. Tonight was his third and last date of the week. If this one didn’t work out he would just spend Valentine’s Day alone.
~*~*~
"And then I told her that I wasn’t going to pay for the figure. I mean – who would buy an already opened collector’s edition?”
Xander smiled, the expression plastered across his feature. Inside he was dying. ‘If I have to hear one more ‘escapade in collector-land’ story from this idiot I think I’m going to scream. She has to be the single most boring person living in this entire city – maybe even the world! Does she do anything other than collect things?’ Aloud he chuckled politely, looking around the outdoor café for any sign of their waiter. “Wow. Way to tell her, Stacy.”
Stacy nodded; clearly pleased with herself and the way the date was going. She pushed her glasses up a little farther on her nose, giving the man across from her the most seductive smile she could.
Which only served to turn Xander off even further, the idea of spending even another five minutes with her suddenly unbearable. “Waiter!” He called out, waving his arms frantically at the man who had been just about to pass their table. “Can I get the check please?” He sighed in relief as the waiter nodded and pulled the slip of paper out of his book. Before he could run off again Xander had laid down enough cash for the balance and a good-sized tip. “Thanks.”
“Have a pleasant evening.” The waiter chuckled, watching as the two left the restaurant. There was no doubt in his mind that he had just witnessed a blind date gone horribly wrong.
“So…your place or mine?”
“Huh?” Xander had to fight his instincts to run. Surely she couldn’t be asking what he thought she was asking. Not with the absolutely horrible way their date had gone. She didn’t honestly think they were going to…
“Well…” Stacy murmured, her eyes round and innocent. “I just assumed that since our date was going so well we’d be keeping it going for a while…” She batted her eyelashes, the gesture looking ridiculous behind her too-thick glasses.
The young man rolled his eyes, turning his head so that she couldn’t see his disbelief and revulsion. “Um…sorry, Stace, I’m not feeling too good. I was thinking I could take you home and then go home and get some sleep.”
“Oh.” She pouted. When it was obvious that wasn’t going to work she gave up, flopping into the seat of Xander’s car with a huff.
‘Strike three.’ Xander thought sadly. ‘I’m out.’
~*~*~
The entire apartment was quiet when Faith came home from patrolling. She laid her coat down over the back of the couch and kicked her shoes off. No doubt the happy couples of the home were out somewhere being…mushy. It was Valentine’s Day after all. She sighed and looked around, there wouldn’t be anything worth watching on television – every station worth anything would be showing romance movies, to be sure.
Her eyes glanced over the doorway in time to see Xander standing there – watching her. She gave him a small smile, knowing it would be rebuffed.
But it wasn’t.
“Hey Faith – have fun patrolling?” He asked, stepping further into the room. He didn’t make eye contact with her and had no small amount of trouble just starting the conversation. But it was a start. He had spent a lot of time thinking about her in the past few days since his last date. A lot of time thinking about how he had been acting and how hard she was trying to make amends for everything.
And he had thought of Willow’s spell.
Suppose this was the person he was meant to be with. What if there was no one else out there for him but her? It wasn’t as if any of his other romantic encounters had ended well at all. Could he really risk alienating Faith? Not try at all? Was an old grudge worth risking a lifetime of loneliness? ‘Not in my book.’ He thought stubbornly.
“It was dull.” She admitted. “The vamps must all be having their own Valentine’s Day – they certainly weren’t out wandering the streets.” She sat down slowly on the edge of the couch, her eyes never leaving the man in front of her. She didn’t know what could have caused his sudden change in temperament – but she wasn’t going to question it either. “How’s your night been?”
Xander shrugged. He held up the bag in his hand. “Rented some movies to watch. Nice, blood-filled, non-lovey-dovey movies.” He cleared his throat, debating his next move. “You wanna watch ‘em with me?”
Faith felt her breath catch. Finally – after all these months, he was asking her to spend time with him? Satan himself must be skiing and making snow angels for this to have occurred. “Sure.” She managed to breathe. Not once did she allow herself to think that this could ever be anything more than friendship – if that. But one thing was for sure – things certainly were looking up.
~*~The End~*~