Title: He’s Xander
Author: Xanfan
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Summary: One-shot - Buffy is questioned about why her team has one person more than the New
Watcher’s Council Protocol.
Spoilers: All of Buffy, post Chosen
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective
owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way
associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is
intended.
________________________________________________________________________
Buffy and Faith had just ended a training session with a bunch of the new slayers, with the help of Rona
and Vi. They were an energetic young bunch that made her feel old; luckily, she could still kick their
asses, so that made her feel a little better.
“Uhm, excuse me, Buffy, could we ask you a question?”
Buffy turned towards the nervous voice to find a group of the slayers.
“Sure, what can I do for you?” Buffy asked.
One young girl was nudged forward to the front of the group by the others. Faith, Rona and Vi
wandered over in curiosity.
“Uh, we were wondering, uh, the patrol team protocol? It calls for three slayers or other mystically
empowered creatures, a magic user and a Watcher, right? How come your team has an extra person
and ours don’t?” The girl asked. The others were nodding their heads, backing up her question.
Faith, Rona, and Vi started to snicker, and Buffy turned to glare at them. It didn’t shut them up.
“Well, Maria, Xander, he’s well, he always, and he never….” Buffy stuttered to a stop, she didn’t really
know how to answer the question. Xander had always patrolled with her, and he wouldn’t stop even
when she told him to.
Faith stepped forward to answer the question when Buffy failed to.
“Cause there ain’t no one else like Boytoy out there and ain’t never gonna be. Where you gonna find a
guy who can force a Master Vampire to take him to go save a girl with nothin’ more than a cross? Where
do you find a guy with no special powers or training willing to fight evil just cause it’s the right thing to
do? Do guys willing to steal a rocket launcher from an army base so you can blow up the bad guy just
grow on trees? Where do you find a guy who’ll step between a crazy vampire and a sick slayer, with no
weapons or nothin’, just words, and make him back down? Who’ll lie to you, risk your friendship, just to
make sure that you won’t let down your guard and die?
“Where do you find a guy who’ll save a slayer from a group of demons by runnin’ them over with his car,
then save the hellmouth from bein’ blown wide open by fighting a group of zombies and getting ‘em to
disarm their own bomb? Who’ll try and save you from yourself, even after you’ve used him and thrown
him away? Who’ll organize their graduating class into an army to fight a giant snake demon? Who’ll call
you his hero and mean it? Who’ll stand by you even when you push him away and make him feel like
nothing?
“Who’ll be your heart when you need him? Who’ll let you be the ‘strong one’ and be your backup,
instead of wanting to be the star? Who’ll take care of your little sister and love her like his own? Who
can save the world with just his love? Who’ll forgive you everything, even after you tried to kill him? Who’
ll still fight by your side after he’s sacrificed parts of himself? Who’ll do it all not because he’s in love with
you, but because you’re his friend and he believes in you?”
Faith stopped and looked around at the group of girls who were staring at her in awe. “The truth is, you
don’t. You don’t find guys like that around every corner. They aren’t mystically called. You can’t teach
that kinda thing like you can magic or Watcher-ing. You girls don’t get a Xander on your team cause he’
s one of a kind. Broke the mold and all that shit.”
With that she turned and walked from the room.
All the slayers in the room turned to look at Buffy, who had stayed silent through this Faith’s speech.
“He’s Xander. What else can I say?” Buffy said before following Faith from the room.
Back to One Shots Index
Back to Fiction Index
Reviews? Email Me!