Headers in part one

Buffy finally called back at three in the afternoon. Willow had used pretty 
much every excuse to keep them in the house by that time, and was relieved. 

"What took so long, Buffy?" Willow asked impatiently. "I think Xander thinks 
I've gone insane here."

"Sorry, Wills, but I've been calling people," her friend explained. "Anyway, 
Spike, Katherine, Giles and I have this sudden desire to baby-sit Melanie 
today. Right now, in fact. Leaving the two of you alone. Do I need to give 
you directions for that, too?" Buffy teased.

"Ha ha, very funny," Willow said dryly. Xander walked into the room and she 
sat up straighter. "That's so sweet of you, Buffy," she gushed, trying 
unsuccessfully to keep her voice normal. Xander raised his eyebrows.

Buffy laughed. "Okay, Xander's in the room now. Gotcha."

"Yeah, you're right, we are tired today," Willow continued. "I bet Mel would 
love to spend some time with you guys so we can rest. When can you pick her 
up?"

"Doing good, Will," Buffy encouraged. "Giles and I will be there in ten 
minutes. You will be great. Don't worry. Okay?"

"Okay, Buff, we'll see you then. Bye." She hung up the phone and smiled at 
Xander. "That was Buffy. She had this sudden desire to baby-sit, give us a 
break, and so she'll be over in ten minutes."

"Wait. Deadboy, Jr is going to be taking care of my daughter? I don't think 
so," Xander shook his head. 

"Xander, it'll be fine. Giles and Katherine will be there, and Buffy. No bad 
things will happen," she reassured him.

"I guess," Xander sighed. He really didn't trust Spike, but he knew that 
Giles and Katherine would take care of things. Besides, he also really wanted 
time with Willow, to talk about what had happened earlier that morning. 

Willow smiled, inwardly cheering. "I'm glad. We haven't had any us-time since 
you got here. There's still a lot to talk about, isn't there?"

"Yes, I think there is," he said seriously, meeting her eyes. 

She flushed, and tried not to follow her first reaction and flee the room. 
She finally dragged her eyes up to his and touched his hand lightly. "Good. 
Let's get Mel's stuff together then, shall we?"

He squeezed her hand in return and responded, "We shall."

Half an hour later, Melanie had been driven off by Giles and Buffy, leaving 
Willow and Xander alone in the house. 

They were collapsed next to each other on the living room couch, both silent. 
"I can't believe how quiet it is with Mel gone," Xander said suddenly.

"I know. Even when she's sleeping, you're always aware that she's there. This 
is almost unnerving," Willow said reflectively. 

"I don't think I even know what to do with myself," he commented lazily. "I 
mean, yeah, you take her out places sometimes, but you're the only one. And 
here you are. With me. And no Melanie. For an extended period of time. What 
do you want to do?"

They traded looks. They nodded in unison and dived for the phone. Willow 
grabbed the receiver while Xander dialed. "Katherine? Hi, did Giles and Buffy 
get back yet?" She listened. "They did? Good. How's Mel doing? Wonderful. No, 
no, we trust you," she said, trying to sound as if she meant it. "Of course. 
Yes, we'll refrain from contacting you for more than twenty minutes," Willow 
grinned, parroting Katherine's words. "Promise. Thanks a lot for helping." 
She laughed. "I plan to. Okay, bye now." She hung up the phone and looked at 
Xander. "She's good."

"Good to know," he nodded. "What did Katherine say to you, that you plan to 
do?" he asked with curiosity.

"Nothing," she responded innocently. Well, nothing that she would ever tell 
Xander, anyway. 

"So, now what?" Xander asked. "We've been barred from calling for twenty 
minutes. What do non-parent, barely out of their teens people do these days?"

"Two months, and I can barely remember," Willow laughed. Neither commented on 
the fact that Willow was calling herself a parent. "We could. . .go for a 
walk?" she suggested.

"A walk," he repeated. "Sounds nice and unstressful. Let's go."

They headed out the front door, wandering aimlessly through the streets of 
Sunnydale as they talked and just walked in comfortable silence. About twenty 
minutes into their outing, it started to rain lightly. 

"Oh, damn," Willow groaned. "We're not even near the house anymore. We're 
doomed to get wet."

"It's not raining that hard, Will," Xander pointed out. "Look, it's barely 
drizzling." He reached for her hand and swung it. "It's nice. Haven't you 
ever taken a walk in the rain?"

"No, because rain is wet. And I don't usually like wet, remember?" she 
reminded him.

"Don't be so closed-minded," he chided her. "It's fun. See?" He dropped her 
hand and spun around on the sidewalk. She watched him with a smile on her 
face. "Come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. They froze when 
her chest came in contact with his, and their eyes locked. She reached up 
with her hand and tangled her fingers in his hair. As if being pulled by a 
magnetic force, their faces leaned closer and closer and their lips had 
almost touched when Willow suddenly squealed. The skies had opened, and a 
cold, hard rain poured down on them. They broke apart hurriedly as lighting 
crashed and thunder boomed not far away.

"Not so much fun anymore," Willow shouted over the thunder.

Xander looked around and saw a gazebo in a park across the street. He grabbed 
her hand. "Over there! Let's go!"

They raced towards the shelter, still holding hands. The small white 
structure was reached quickly, and they sat down on the bench as they tried 
to catch their breath. "Bonus points if you can tell me what I'm thinking 
right now," Xander grinned after a few moments.

Willow laughed. "I am sixteen, going on seventeen, innocent as a rose. 
Bachelor dandies, drinkers of brandies, what do I know of those?" she sang. 
The musical had come immediately to her mind, as well.

"Oooh, so close," he teased her. "Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever 
could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something 
good. For here you are, standing there, loving me, whether or not you 
should," he sang to her softly.

She gave him a slow smile, unable to stop the happy tears from forming. "I 
guess I don't need to tell you that I love you, after all," she whispered. 
"You already know."

"I'd still like to hear it," he said, sounding hesitant. "It's a nice thing 
to hear."

"I love you, Xander Harris. I always have. I'm completely head over heels for 
you and your daughter," she said quietly. He could barely hear her over the 
pouring rain, but he knew what she was saying.

Involuntary tears came to his eyes now. He had waited so long to hear those 
words from her lips, and here they were. "I love you, too, Willow. I love you 
so much." Her long wet hair was tangled in front of her face and he brushed 
it back behind her ear before tracing a path from her ear to her chin and 
lifting her face towards his.

Oblivious to the pounding rain blown into their shelter by the wind, they 
leaned closer until their lips met in a gentle kiss. Almost immediately, 
Xander began deepening it, nudging Willow's lips apart with his tongue. Her 
mouth opened willingly, allowing their tongues to meet and dance. She gave a 
low moan as he pulled his mouth from hers and found other kissable places 
while moving down her throat towards her chest. Her fingers tangled in his 
hair as he started to unbutton her green blouse to allow himself easier 
access to her breasts. On the second button, she realized exactly where they 
were and what they were doing.

"Xand?" she breathed. He didn't stop. "Xander," she said a little more 
forcefully. She gave a little tug on his hair and he reluctantly broke 
contact, panting even heavier than she was. "The rain is stopping. Let's go 
home. This isn't the place."

"Right. Stopping," Xander said, his mind still numb. 

She smiled sweetly at him. "Only temporarily. I fully intend to pick this up 
later, when we're not in a public place."

"You're right," he agreed. "We'll move up to exhibitionism."

She laughed and offered him her hand. "Let's go. Sooner we leave, sooner we 
get home."

He stood and swung her into his arms, ignoring her squeak of surprise. "As 
you wish, my lady." She wrapped her arms around his neck and cuddled close as 
he walked down the gazebo stairs.

When they arrived at their apartment fifteen minutes later, Willow was 
walking. They had their arms around each other, and Willow's hand had slipped 
into Xander's back jeans pocket. Willow liked being carried up to a point, 
and that point had been reached the second time that Xander nearly dropped 
her onto the sidewalk. Giggling, she had finally begged him to put her down, 
and he had consented with some relief. They reached the doorway of their 
house and let themselves in. 

They looked at each other hesitantly, neither exactly sure where they should 
start. "Um, I'll call Buffy and check on Melanie. Meet you upstairs?" she 
asked uncertainly.

He gave a quick nod. "Okay. Upstairs. Good idea," he prattled on. 

She shot him an amused smile and went for the phone as he headed up the 
stairs. *Way to impress her, Xand,* he thought to himself wryly. *Bring on 
the babble. Babble boy, that's what they should call me.* He went into the 
bedroom they shared and looked around. "Okay, we want it spur-of-the moment 
romantic-ish, but not too cheesy. And here I am talking to myself again," he 
groaned, moving to turn down the lavender coverlet in what he hoped was an 
inviting way.

When Willow entered the bedroom a few minutes later, Xander was sitting on 
the edge of the bed nervously. He had taken his shirt off and was twisting it 
in his hands, uncertain of what to do next. He wanted this to be as perfect 
as possible.  

"Buffy called while we were out," Willow told him, still standing just inside 
the threshold of the bedroom. "She said that Mel was sleeping and not to 
bother her. She'll stay with Giles and Katherine tonight and we can pick her 
up tomorrow morning sometime."

"Sounds good to me," he nodded. There was an awkward silence as neither 
moved. Finally their eyes met and they started laughing at the absurdity of 
their situation. Xander stood and took the few steps to reach Willow, 
pressing her smaller body against his in a tender hug. She smiled into his 
shoulder and began running her fingers up against the warm flesh of his back. 
She giggled as his hands made trails up her sides.  She pulled out of the hug 
to squirm as his fingers tickled her gently under the edge of her t-shirt.

"I'm feeling a little overdressed," Willow said, a little shyly.

"I can fix that."  Xander carefully took the bottom of the t-shirt and slid 
it off over her head.  He smiled with amazement at how beautiful she was, red 
hair swirling around her shoulders and her creamy skin that looked 
beautifully pale next to her forest green lace bra. 

 "I love you," she said softly, as he closed his eyes to savor the words.  

"I love you, too" he whispered into her ear as he bent his head down to kiss 
the exact spot on her neck where it met her shoulder.  Willow sighed with 
pleasure as he rained kisses down from her neck down her shoulder.  When 
Xander lifted his head, her eyes were closed and she had this cute sexy smile 
on her face that he couldn't resist kissing.  She moved her hands up to his 
neck and wrapped her arms around them, pressing herself closer to him.  

Together, they moved from the doorway where they had been standing over to 
the bed.  Xander untangled her from his neck enough to reach around in front 
of her and begin undoing her jeans.  Willow moved her hands to do the same 
thing to him, fumbling slightly with the zipper.  They both helped guide each 
other's jeans down, and he supported her as she stepped out of them.

"God, Will, you are so beautiful!"  He nudged her gently back onto the bed 
and followed, laying his weight tentatively onto hers to give her a kiss.  
"Am I squishing you?" he asked, trying to move around.

"Nope. Come back here," Willow smiled, pulling him closer.  She kissed him 
without any hesitation and bent one knee up as he sank himself over her body. 
 He decided to even out the clothing situation by removing the velvety 
covering from her breasts, but had trouble with the clasp until she moved her 
hands up to help.  She released the front attachment and he pushed it aside 
and replaced it with his hands. 

Xander gently touched her breasts as she closed her eyes and let the 
sensations overwhelm her.  She didn't realize she was making little breathy 
noises until he stopped and she was able to breathe for a moment before his 
fingertips hit her raised nipple.  Then the heavy breathing wasn't enough; 
little noises of excitement escaped her lips.  He moved his month down to 
cover one of them and she let out a moan of pleasure.  He swirled his tongue 
around her nipple before gently sucking her into his month.  As he removed 
his mouth, he carefully touched the tip of his tongue down to trace the 
darkened skin around her nipple and kissed the underside of her breast with a 
satisfied smile for making her moan. He repeated the action on her other, 
causing her to almost lose control.

After giving such exquisite attention to her breasts, he looked down on her, 
and couldn't help but let his body drop and cover her breasts with his broad 
chest.  He cradled her as they both tried to breathe.  Xander rolled them 
both onto their sides as he played with the lace on her underwear, and 
proceeded to slide them down her long smooth legs. As he dropped her panties 
on the floor, he removed his boxers and placed them beside the silky pieces 
on the floor, exposing his fully erect manhood.  He slid back on the bed and 
covered her with his body.  Willow tentatively moved her hands down his sides 
and moved her fingers to touch him.  He moaned and she curved her hand around 
it gently. Before she made him unable to think, he reached behind him, opened 
a drawer and pulled out a foil covered package.  He tore his mouth off of 
hers long enough to use his teeth to open it.  Willow took it from him and 
placed it on, rolling it down as he gritted his teeth at the pleasure of her 
hands on him so intimately.  He grabbed her hands and in one move pinned her 
with his body to the bed, with her hands entwined in his.  He stopped for a 
quick second to look deep into her eyes, and she smiled in assent to his 
unasked question.  

Xander's mind was a blur as he moved between her legs.  He carefully took his 
finger and touched the skin between her legs, parting her lips and moved him 
finger into her.  This was enough to make her squirm and she was dripping 
wet.  Using his hand to guide himself into her entry, he pushed into her 
carefully but firmly.  She closed her eyes and held onto his other hand that 
was still entwined in hers, moaning at the new feeling that was starting.  He 
breathed deeply as he pulled out and then sank back in a little further, 
thrusting several times until he saw her face twist up with pleasure.  He let 
himself go in and out, using one hand to gently squeeze her breast.  The 
feeling that Willow couldn't stop suddenly overwhelmed her body and she came, 
hard, crying out his name with a tightening inside that made him fall on top 
of her, his face contorted with passion, coming hard right after her.  

Xander and Willow lay there, still holding each other tight without any 
thoughts of regret until they fell asleep together. 

~*~
End part eight