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The little girl sat on the grass next to the driveway. She pulled another doll from the cardboard box beside her as he walked up to ask her, “Is this Buffy’s house?”
“Yep.”
“Well, is she home?”
“Nope,” the girl said. “She’s at the mall. She’s always at the mall. And I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, so keep walking, mister.”
“I’m not a stranger. I’m Buffy’s friend Xander. And you must be Dawn.”
“Oh, Xander. I heard of you.” She handed him a doll. “You can be Teresa, cause you have brown hair like her.”
“Ah, okay.” Xander crouched beside Dawn. “I’m a little rusty. I haven’t played Barbies since I used to play with Willow. Long time ago.”
“Willow. She’s the one Buffy went to the mall with.” She combed Barbie’s hair with a little plastic brush. “Buffy likes you.”
“Yeah?” Xander grinned. “Really? What did she say? Something about my handsome manliness?”
“She said she likes to talk to you. You’re like talking to another girl.”
Xander dropped Teresa back into the box. “Oh.”
“You don’t look like a girl to me.” Dawn picked up another doll and held it out to Xander. “It’s okay. You can be Ken.”
******
The girl sat on a stool at the counter of the Expresso Pump. She was about to order another iced cappuccino when he sat on the stool next to her and asked, “How are you? Really?”
“I’m good.” She pulled a raisin out of the cinnamon roll she’d been eating. “I could do without my sister trying to kill me again, but I’m good. You?”
“Well, yeah, the best-friend attempted murder? Not something I enjoy. But it wasn’t her fault. Big mind-altery demon thingie, remember.”
“Yeah. She was pretty out of it. Oh, and maybe you want to keep your voice down. That guy next to you is looking at you funny.”
“Kill me in the video game,” Xander said louder. “Darn your sister. She’s just a mistress of the joy stick.”
“Oh, yeah. So much better.”
“I think I’ll just shut up and order a coffee.” The waitress handed him a cup and he took a sip. “Umm. Strong and full-bodied.”
“Like you, right? I’ve heard that joke like a million times.”
“So, what brings you here? I didn’t think you were into coffee.”
“I’m not a little kid, you know.” She took a sip from her glass. “Besides, these things are almost like milkshakes. But with extra caffeine. Energy is of the good.”
“That stuff will stunt your growth.”
“Right. You’re just worried that I’ll be taller than you. Which I almost am.”
“Are not.”
“Am too.”
“You have a whipped cream mustache.”
“Argh.” Dawn wiped her lip with a napkin. “So much for sophistication.”
“Don’t rush at that, Dawnie. Be a kid while you can.” He stirred his coffee with a teaspoon, staring into the depths of the cup without really seeing. “Don’t try to grow up too soon,” he sighed.
“Have you heard from her?” she asked.
“No. I guess I didn’t really expect to, what with eviscerating her in front of all her friends.”
“You could have picked a better time, you know.” She put her hand on his. “I know you still love her.”
“Yeah.”
“I also know that sometimes being married is the worst thing for two people, and that it’s better to figure that out before there’s kids to get hurt.”
“You’re smart for a kid.”
She punched him in the arm. “Stop calling me a kid. And buy me another cappuccino.”
*****
The teenager sat under a tree in the park, book propped on her lap. She was so engrossed in the story that she didn’t see him plop down on the grass beside her and ask, “Getting away from it all?”
“Buffy send you out to find me?”
“No, actually. She’s running a workout in the back yard. I doubt she noticed you were gone.”
“Yeah.” She turned the page. “I doubt it too. So, what’s up?”
“Nothing.” He lay down on the grass and looked up in the sky. “I just got tired of being walked in on in the bathroom.”
“Vi again? That girl can really scream.”
“No, Rona. That girl can really mock.” He pointed up at a cloud. “That looks like a duck. All the evil gathering in this town, all the destruction, and the cloud looks like a duck. What do you suppose that means?”
“I don’t know.” She plucked a blade of grass and put it between the pages, then set the book on the ground. “I guess if a bunch of wacky monks can make a key look like a girl, then a cloud can look like a duck.”
He propped himself on one elbow and looked at her. “Does that still bother you?”
“Not usually. Sometimes.” She lay down beside him and looked at the cloud. “The wind shifted your cloud. Now it looks like a snake. That’s eviller, right?”
“I guess.” He was still staring at her. “You know you’re real. Whatever that means, you’re a real girl and to us you always were. Buffy loves you. We all love you. Let it go.”
“Easy to say.” She gestured at another cloud. “Does that look like a kitten to you?”
“Really, Dawn.”
“I just wonder sometimes. What if Buffy had to choose all those girls who could save the world, or me.”
“She made her choice a long time ago. And she did choose you.” He turned his head back to the sky. “Could be a kitten. Or maybe an aardvark.”
“Do you even know what an aardvark is?”
“It’s the first animal in the dictionary. Therefore, the opposite of a zebra.”
“How do you do that?” Dawn smiled.
“Do what?”
“Always know what to say to make me feel better.”
“It’s a gift. Like rugged good looks.”
“Uh huh.”
*****
The young woman waited in front of the mansion for the taxi. She checked her purse again to see that she had all her documents when he said, “You’re leaving.”
“What was your first clue?” She stuffed her passport back into her bag.
“The suitcase. And that, if I’m not mistaken, was your passport.”
“Are you spying on me?” she asked.
“Just a coincidence. I was out for my evening constitutional, as Giles might say, and there you were.”
“Actually, that sounds more like Andrew.” She sighed. “I can’t stay. She doesn’t need me here. I don’t think she even wants me here, but she’ll never let me go. So I’m making my own choice.”
“I take it you didn’t say goodbye.”
“I left a note. Hopefully when she finally finds it, I’ll be long gone.”
“Harsh.”
“Necessary.”
Xander leaned against the pillar at the end of the laneway and crossed his arms. “Where will you go?”
“Back to the States. Time for me to go home.”
“You need money?”
“Giles wired me some. It’s a loan. He said he understood. Sometimes you just have to go.”
Xander nodded. “I think I get that. We’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you.” She embraced him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “We’re the last of the ordinary people.”
“You were never ordinary.”
“Neither were you.”
He kissed the top of her head, then held her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. They were full of tears. He kissed her cheek. “Bye, my Dawnie.”
She turned her head, and met his lips. She pulled away after a minute. “I always had a crush on you.”
The cab pulled up. He helped her put her bag into the trunk. He didn’t know what else to say.
Then she was gone.
*****
The woman juggled her shopping bags as she prepared to cross the busy intersection. Arms grabbed her and pulled her back, as she almost stepped out against the light. “Whoa,” he said. “You do not want to slow down traffic even more in this city. The cabbies are ticked off enough.”
“Xander!” She dropped the bags on the sidewalk and gave him a hug. “How did you find me?”
“I didn’t, as in I wasn’t looking. What are you doing here?”
“Trying to get back to work. I was picking up something for my husband. It’s our anniversary.”
“Ah.” Xander nodded, seeming distressed. “Something for your husband for your anniversary.”
“Uh huh.” Dawn scrutinized his face. “What’s wrong? How’s Buffy?”
“Buffy’s fine.”
“Good.” Dawn smiled. “I guess I’ll see for myself tonight. You did remember to pick her up at LaGuardia, right?”
“I did indeed. She’s resting at the apartment. You’d better get back to work.”
“And where are you off to in such a rush?” she asked.
“I have some shopping to do.”
She grinned. “Why am I not surprised?” She kissed him before picking up the bags. “See you at six.”
“Dawnie?”
“Yeah?”
He kissed her again. “Happy Anniversary."