Headers in part one

June 12, 2001

Xander woke up suddenly, body tensed as he realized he was in an unfamiliar 
bed. The day before rushed back to him, and he relaxed. He was at Willow and 
Buffy's apartment. He slid his eyes open and took a look around the room, 
stretching. From the looks of it, he was in Willow's bedroom, too. Which 
meant that he was in Willow's bed. Where she slept. He allowed himself a 
small smile. He could get used to that. Then the implications of the sun 
shining through the blinds registered in his mind. "Oh, shit," he swore, 
looking for a clock. "10:30!" he gasped, shocked. "I've been asleep for 
eighteen hours. Where are my clothes?" he asked, jumping out of the bed, clad 
only in his boxers. "Why I am I talking to myself?" He found his shirt and 
shorts folded over the small blue rocking chair next to the window and 
hurriedly got dressed, rushing down the stairs. He stopped short when he saw 
the scene in the living room.

Willow and Melanie were on the couch, watching Teletubbies on the television. 
"Yeah, I have to agree, Po is kinda sweet," she was telling the infant. "I 
think Dipsy is more your style, though." 

Xander had to smile. "Hi, guys."

Willow turned to look at him. "Morning, sleepyhead," she said cheerfully. 
"Mellie and I were just getting in some quality bonding time in. Well, more 
bonding time, actually. We became very well aquatinted at several times 
during the night," she grinned. 

He winced. "I'm so sorry, Willow. I had no idea I would sleep that long," he 
apologized, moving to sit next to them.

"Oh, please," Willow scoffed. "Anytime. We had fun. Buffy went to Spike's, so 
Mel and I had a sleepover in her room. I think we're getting along great." 

"As it should be, with my two favorite girls," he smiled. "C'mon over to 
Daddy, sweetheart." Willow passed the infant over, and he cuddled her. "Miss 
me? Or was Auntie Willow too much fun?" The baby gurgled and reached for his 
hair. "Sorry, babe, Auntie Willow has more than I do." He looked over and 
took a lock of Willow's hair in his hand. "More than I remember. You're 
growing it out again."

"Yeah, you know me. Never bothered to get it cut again." He dropped her hair, 
and she missed the feeling of his fingers playing with it. "Anyway, I talked 
to Giles last night."

"Yeah? What did G-man have to say?" he asked.

"Well, he agreed with me that you should stay here," she informed him. "He 
also offered use of his second bedroom for you and Melanie, indefinitely, as 
well as a job in his bookstore."

Xander was speechless. "Wow," he said finally. 

Willow mistook his silence as a way of trying to get out of the situation. 
"Of course if you don't want to, we can't stop you," she said quickly. "If 
you want to leave, or find someplace else, he'll understand completely."

"Oh, no, no," he corrected. "No. I'm just so amazed that he's doing that for 
me. Of course, if he really means it, I'll be more than happy to take him up 
on that offer."

Willow's smile reached from ear to ear. "Great! I'll tell him, then. Or, 
actually, why don't you? The three of us can take a field trip to his store. 
You can meet his assistant, and learn your way around."

"Great!" Another thought struck him and he frowned. "Wait. What about 
Melanie? I still need a baby-sitter for her."

"Well, I'll be there this summer, anyway. I do a lot of work there. Some is 
for the shop, some for Slayer stuff, and some for this company I work for, 
DynaVox Systems," she explained. "I create and edit programs for augmentative 
communication software and devices. It's not a huge time-grabbing thing, 
though, so I can watch her most of the time. And when I can't, you'll be 
there, Giles will be there, and so will Katherine. Melanie will have too many 
care givers," she laughed. "After this summer, I'll come in between and after 
classes, just like normal, and we'll help with Mel."

"Katherine is the assistant? 'Cause this is sounding almost too good to be 
true here," he admitted.

"Yep, and she knows pretty much everything about all of us. She's a 
historian, and helps a lot with Slayer stuff." She lightly touched his hand. 
"Xander, I meant it. We'll do everything we can to help you. Everything."

"I don't think I can ever tell you how much that means to me," he told her 
softly. "Thank you." 

"Anytime," she responded. She felt herself leaning towards him, and 
immediately pulled back, jumping up. "Okay, so let's go then!" she said, 
falsely bright. "I'll get Mellie dressed, and you can get her bag all packed."

Xander sighed as Willow took the baby from his arms, chattering away to her. 
Obviously, Willow didn't want to be close to him anymore, and he only had 
himself to blame.

~*~

"Hi!" Willow called out, as the threesome entered the glass door of Giles' 
bookstore. "We're here!"

Giles came out of the back room, wiping his glasses with his handkerchief. 
"Welcome back, Xander," he said warmly as he slipped them back on. "We've 
certainly missed you around here."

Xander smiled and hugged the older man. "Thanks, G-man," he said. "I'm glad 
to be home, too."

Giles peered at the infant in Willow's Snuggli. "And this is Melanie, I 
presume?"

"Yep," Xander said proudly. "Your new roommate."

Giles looked up from shaking the infant's small hand. "Ah, you've decided to 
take me up on my offer? I'm delighted. It can get rather quiet and lonely 
sometimes."

Xander laughed. "I can guarantee that it won't be quiet with us around."

A petite woman with dark, curly brown hair walked out of the same back room 
Giles had only minutes earlier, and joined the group.

"Hi, Katherine," Willow greeted her. "This is my best friend Xander, and his 
daughter Melanie."

Katherine turned to Xander with a smile and shook his hand. "Hello, Xander. 
I'm Katherine Lahn. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here," Xander rejoined, looking her over. At 5'1", she barely came up 
to Giles' shoulder, and he guessed she was about 32 or 33 years old. She was 
pretty, her brown eyes shining from behind her gold wire-rimmed glasses, and 
she seemed to be friendly enough. "Hi."

She gave him a brief smile before turning to Giles. "Rupert, I need some 
assistance in the back room. I have no idea how you mean to categorize some 
of these new purchases."

"Yes, yes, we must see to that, Kate," Giles said. "Willow, you will show 
Xander around now, yes? Then I can give you a key to the apartment and let he 
and Melanie settle in."

"No problem," Willow said. "C'mon, I'll give you the tour." She walked him 
through the small bookstore, pointing out the different shelves, and the 
demonology section hidden in the back. They wound up next to a bank of 
computers. "And this is where I do most of my work. We rent the computers for 
an hour at a time, and offer the internet. Mostly my contribution to the 
place," she grinned. "Giles is still computer-phobic, although Katherine has 
been helping me a bit. I got her hooked onto the net, and she's never gone 
back."

"So you guys are friends?" he asked, as Melanie started to wail.

"Oh, yeah, she's really great. You just have to get to know her a bit first," 
she said, trying unsuccessfully to placate the baby with a pacifier. "Um, is 
this a nap cry? I can tell that she has quite a few cries, I just can't tell 
which is which yet."

"Yeah, that's a nap cry," Xander grinned. "She's quite vocal when she's not 
getting what she wants. I'll go get the key and we can get her down." 

Willow bounced the infant in an effort to pacify her, to no avail. "You sure 
know how to keep your daddy hopping, don't you, sweetheart?" she grinned as 
Xander jogged out of the back room. 

"C'mon, let's go before Giles starts to regret his offer," Xander laughed, a 
little uneasily. "I wonder if he knows what life with a baby is really like."

"Well, he's about to get a crash course," Willow grinned as Melanie upped the 
decibels. "Poor guy."

~*~
End part three