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01 - Comfort
"Okay, just because your car died, doesn't mean your road trip is over--I'm visiting friends of mine cross-country, want to come with?"
02 - Kiss
Their first kiss was during a barbecue somewhere in Maryland--to the tune of wolf whistles and snickering from Shader's friends.
03 - Soft
Shader's brother had such a soft, friendly voice it took Xander a second to realize he was being given the "if you hurt her, I'll kill you" speech.
04 - Pain
Of course, then he had to try to protect him from the Wrath of Shader because he'd made the mistake of giving the speech while she was still in earshot.
05 - Potatoes
"I see how it is, you really brought me along to peel your potatoes," Xander said as he sat down at the kitchen table to help.
06 - Rain
It was raining when they were passing through Phoenix, Shader had a lot say about Arizona drivers, and none of it was good.
07 - Chocolate
Xander learned a little too late that chocolate covered espresso beans and Shader were a bad, bad combination.
08 - Happiness
"It's not that I don't take things seriously, Xan, it's more like I try to be happy despite the serious."
09 - Telephone
The call home went about as well as Xander thought it would, but Xander didn't mind staying at the motel with Shader.
10 - Ears
"Yes, I know she has cat-ears, they're kind of hard to miss; she also has a tail."
11 - Name
"Her name's Shader, and she's wondering if everyone will be speaking in third person all night."
12 - Sensual
"I was just thinking that smart is definitely sexy," Xander said, then ducked the Star Wars plushie Shader aimed at his head.
13 - Death
Xander looked between Anya and Shader--currently giving each other deathglares from across the room--and gave serious consideration to becoming a monk.
14 - Sex
"Hey, no comparing me to exes...okay, no comparing me to NOT-exes then..."
15 - Touch
"You're just the right size for leaning against, Xan."
16 - Weakness
One of the things Xander liked the most about Shader was that she never let him feel sorry for himself for very long.
17 - Tears
When Xander told Shader how big the "fear demon" actually was, she laughed until her eyes watered.
18 - Speed
Xander bit his tongue hard to keep from saying that Shader had the reflexes of a cat, because she also had the temper of a demon who is sick of cat-related jokes.
19 - Wind
"It's never just the wind," Xander and Shader said simultaneously--it would have been fun, except for the part where it wasn't.
20 - Freedom
Thankgiving featured syphillis, an angry ghost, and a huge argument between Shader and Spike about civil rights.
21 - Life
"Ah, small town life, so quiet and peaceful," Shader said, and grabbed the first aid kit as Xander and his friends stumbled in.
22 - Jealousy
When it came to jealousy, Xander and Shader were on the same page in that they both agreed that it pretty much led to stupidity.
23 - Hands
Shader laughed and handed Xander a wrench saying, "it took you this long to figure out that you think with your hands?"
24 - Taste
"Brownies are one of the few things I can actually bake," Shader said with a grin.
25 - Devotion
"No, dummy, this isn't the 'lets be friends' speech, it's the 'I know your friends are important to you,' speech, big difference," Shader said, and gently thumped Xander on the head.
26 - Forever
"Walter Mitty over there has gotten on my last nerve *forever,*" Shader said, glaring at Jonathan, who was now more or less hiding behind Buffy.
27 - Blood
"Well, despite the threats, I don't think she'll drink your blood for the cat-girl thing, Jonathan; you might want to watch out if she decides to tell her brother what happened though," Xander said cheerfully.
28 - Sickness
"Whoever decided to build an underground lab on a dimensional faultline was sick in the head," Shader said in an almost conversational tone.
29 - Melody
"It's called 'Israfel,' a friend of mine used to sing it," Shader explained when Xander asked.
30 - Star
"Jonathan brings new and strange meaning to the term 'star power,'" Xander said.
31 - Home
They both agreed that no home was complete without a collection of b-grade horror films.
32 - Confusion
Sometimes the things Shader talked about were so out there only Giles or maybe Willow got what she was saying.
33 - Fear
You always knew the moment Xander was frightened out of his mind; it was usually also the moment his mouth ran off while the rest of him stayed put.
34 - Lightning
When Shader wanted to, she could move *really* fast.
35 - Bonds
"The Scoobies" really made Shader miss the other Sinners sometimes--they were family, even when they argued with each other.
36 - Market
Xander learned the hard way that grocery shopping was not Shader's forte when she came back with a stack of magazines, a couple cases of soda, and two miniature rose plants--but no groceries.
37 - Technology
"I swear you're worse than Chrono when it comes to computers," Shader said to Xander as she rebooted the computer.
38 - Gift
Shader giggled at the gobsmacked look on Xander's face when he opened his birthday present.
39 - Smile
Xander had a smile with enough wattage to light up a small city.
40 - Innocence
Shader was an incredibly bad liar--she couldn't even tell white ones--despite that, she had one heck of a poker face.
41 - Completion
"It's a ballista," Shader said proudly, as she stepped away from her creation, which looked like a crossbow on steroids.
42 - Clouds
In a dream: Shader held out a cup and said, "there's clouds in my coffee."
43 - Sky
In a dream: "You have the whole sky in there," Xander said when he looked into the cup and saw the Earth, floating in space.
44 - Heaven
In a dream: "There are more things in heaven and earth than philosophy," Shader replied.
45 - Hell
In a dream: "All of this symbolism is hell on the nerves," Xander said to Shader, and walked down the dune to where Buffy was playing in the sand.
46 - Sun
He woke up from the weirdest dream ever with the sun in his eyes--which was eclipsed by Shader's worried face.
47 - Moon
"Patrols by moonlight--now there's something I never would have thought of as romantic," Shader said with a grin.
48 - Waves
Xander realized a bit too late that he probably shouldn't have teased Shader about cats not liking water, when he was that close to the pool.
49 - Hair
Shader looked from the old picture to Xander's new hair cut, "let it grow out again please."
50 - Supernova
On certain nights of the year, the Ring lit up like a supernova just before dawn--to Xander, it seemed like a good omen, since they were just coming back from patrol.