The Male Slayer - A Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fanfiction

IV. Xander's Bodyguard (Chapter 2)

"Wake up and please move your legs." Xander said, jolting James awake. He looked around him in a daze as everything came back to him.

"What time is it?" James asked, standing up and stretching. 

"One thirty, I was a bit late getting here." Xander replied, sitting on the couch. James sat beside him and rubbed his eyes, yawning. 

"How was the housecleaning last night?" James asked him.

"Fine, I did it this morning, it's why I'm only here now." Xander said, perking up when he heard movement coming from the hallway. "Buffy?" 

"Hey, Xander." she greeted not very enthusiastically. Xander stood up and moved over to one of the chairs so that Buffy could have the couch. "Thanks."

Dawn and Willow walked in together, "And Janice told me that Tyler had a crush on me, which explains why he was so nervous the other day in Math class-" 

"Dawn, honey, can we talk about this later?" Willow interrupted her, noticing Buffy sitting there, almost wasting away.

"Oh, yeah sure, whatever." Dawn replied, clearly annoyed that she couldn't finish her story. She sat on a chair next to Xander, watching her sister. 

"Do you need a glass of water?" Willow asked Buffy.

"Please." she replied, weakly. 

"How are you, Buffy?" James asked, sat beside her on the sofa.

"Not great." Buffy said, lightly rubbing her eyes. 

"What exactly happened last night, Buff? You just seemed to collapse for no reason." Xander inquired.

"I've been having these flashes. Hallucinations, I guess." Buffy said. 

Willow walked back in with the glass of water, handing it to Buffy, "Since when?" 

"Uh...night before last." Buffy responded. James stood up and offered Willow his seat on the sofa. She nodded lightly and accepted it, watching Buffy. James walked around behind Xander and Dawn, pacing slowly as Buffy recounted her story. "I was, uh, checking houses on that list you gave me, and looking for Warren and his pals, and then, bam! Some kind of gross, waxy demon-thing poked me."

"And when you say poke...?" Xander asked, causing Buffy to roll her eyes.

"In the arm. It stung me or something, and then I was like-...no, it wasn't 'like'. I was in an institution. There was um...doctors and...nurses and, and other patients. They, they told me I was sick, I guess crazy. And that, um, Sunnydale and, and all of this, it...none of it...was real." Buffy explained. James watched her carefully, he could see in her eyes that she wasn't entirely convinced of something; what it was, he wasn't sure yet.

"Oh come on, that's ridiculous! What, you think this isn't real just because of all the vampires and demons and ex-vengeance demons and the sister that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying energy?" Xander shouted in annoyance, pausing and frowning at the end of his rant.

"The sister that was what?" James asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"I know how this must sound, but...it felt so real." Buffy said, facing Dawn, "Mom was there." 

"She was?" Dawn asked, a hint of sadness evident in her tone of voice. 

"Dad, too. They were together, like they used to be, before Sunnydale." Buffy replied, distantly.

Willow leapt up from the sofa, "Okay, all in favour of research?" she asked. Xander replied by raising his hand. "Motion passed. All right, Xander you hit the demon bars. Dig up any info on a new player in town. Dawnie, you can help me research. We'll hop online, check all the usual sites for anything matching Buffy's demon."