Amy sat by herself in the Bronze curling her hands around the cup of coffee in front of her. She had only been human again for two weeks and every sensation was there to be savored. When Willow had finally got the spell right to change her back, she had made her promise to never turn anyone into a rat again. Willow had also seemed a little embarrassed, asking her if she could remember anything from being a rat.

She couldn't, but she could put two and two together just as well as the next ex-rat and had realized she had probably missed an eyefull while snuffling round after cheese. Oz and Willow were so close all the time. It was obvious what they had been up to.

While she was a rat, Willow had told Amy's dad in L.A., that she was staying with her until after graduation, forging Amy's handwriting and sending e-mails. They had decided to keep this up until Amy had fully recovered from all ratty things. That was why she was sitting alone at the Bronze, giving Willow a little 'quality time' with Oz. I mean vans could get quite cold, she supposed.

Amy yawned and stretched out her legs, it was boring at the Bronze tonight, nobody was there she knew and the urge to curl up into a little ball on the floor and sleep was getting overpowering. She stretched her legs again, fighting the feeling and . . . someone tripped over them. She jumped up as he fell by her chair.

"Xander! I'm sorry, are you alright?"

He smiled at her as she helped him up. "Fine. Just any excuse to collapse in a heap at your feet, you know that."

Amy giggled. Xander had always made her laugh, except during blackmail proceedings of course. Still, he wouldn't be doing that again, would he. "Will you come and talk to me?" She pleaded. "I'm giving Willow and Oz a bit of space while Willow's Mum and Dad are away, but I think the rest of the town's away as well. It's so boring in here."

"Sure, d'you want another coffee? I won't fall over and spill it, promise."

When he brought the coffees they talked, rather, she talked and he listened. She told him about her plans to use her clairvoyant powers to find things for people and how she was going to start a spiritual missing person's service. She had never thought of Xander as a good listener before, A talker, yes, but not a listener. Maybe that was what both Cordelia and Willow had seen in him. No . . . it was the big brown eyes, delicious mouth, gorgeous bod . . . Amy! Stop it! This guy two-timed his girlfriend with his best friend. Calling him a rat gave even her former colleagues a bad name.

He was staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

He grinned. "Sorry, was I staring. You looked miles away for a minute."

"I'm just tired." She got up. "I'd better go, even Willow and Oz can't still be at it."

Xander looked at her. "I'll walk you back if you want."

She smiled. "I was hoping you'd got your car."

"No, sorry. It died on me earlier. I think I need to get a newer model."

"That wouldn't be difficult." She laughed, thinking of the '57 chevy Willow had told her about. He looked at her puzzled for a second, then laughed too.

"If you're really tired there's a broom closet in the back."

"What?" Now she was puzzled. She had heard about Xander and broom closets.

"It's full of brooms. You want a ride home. You're a witch. Improvise!"

She laughed, slightly disappointed, and they walked out of the club. Cordelia was walking in as they left. She opened her mouth to say something but Xander ignored her, taking hold of Amy's arm and walking past her as if she wasn't there. Amy looked back, Cordelia was staring after them, furious. "I thought you and Miss Rich Bitch had made up?"

Xander looked back at his former girlfriend. "You know . . . I never even saw her." He looked at Amy. "I think I prefer being with you, anyway."

Right Amy, now's the time to pull your arm away and tell him what you think of him, two-timing rat, relationship wrecker. Go on, tell him!

"Oh!" She heard herself say. "Yes, this is nice."

They were in the shadows, under a fire escape. He smiled, bent down slightly and kissed her. After a moment she pulled away. Ew! He was an awful kisser, Cordelia and Willow must have been mad, wanting to spend time smooching with him. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"Nothing!" She lied. "I'd better go home."

"Oh come on, there's no rush." He bent to kiss her again, holding her tightly. She struggled to get away and slapped his face. Furious, he pulled her into an alley, pushing her hard against the wall, trying to kiss her again. In desperation she pulled her face to one side and started the rat chant. Sorry Willow, but if was either rat or rape she was going with rat. He realized what she was doing and punched her face. "Xander don't!" She screamed.

He glared at her, pushing her back against the wall. How had she got into this? She'd known Xander since grade school, he wasn't violent. This couldn't be happening... but it was. She waited until the weight on her legs shifted and kicked out hard. He bent over in pain, letting her go. She ran, but did not even reach the end of the alley. Xander's eyes flashed yellow and she couldn't run any more, she couldn't see any more and she couldn't think any more. Amy had turned to stone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Willow was watching anxiously out of the window, when Xander's car drew up outside her house. She ran to the door and opened it. "Xander! You're back." She grabbed hold of him and hugged him.

"Hey, Wills." He said gently, stroking her hair. "Yeah, I'm back." He pulled away and grinned at her. "You can put me down now."

Willow smiled back at him. "You've gone all hairy." She said touching his face with it's week's worth of unshaven beard.

"About a week ago it became a choice between a new razor and gas. I thought I needed the gas more. Don't you like it?"

"No . . . It's not you."

He sighed. "OK. Off it comes then." Willow was still glancing anxiously out of the window. "Are you waiting for somebody?"

Willow looked worried. "It's Amy. I managed to turn her back about two weeks ago, but she's still a bit ratty. She went out last night because Oz came over, you know . . . " Xander raised his eyebrows and grinned at her, Willow blushed. "Well, she went out, but she never came home. I'm worried she might have just curled up somewhere and gone to sleep, then forgotten where she was."

"Or she might have had a better offer." Willow looked skeptical, but Xander grinned. "Why not, she's pretty, or used to be. I don't know what ratting her did to that." He looked at his friend. "Tell you what. I'll borrow your dad's shaver, get rid of this fuzz and then we'll go and look for her. O.K.?"

Willow smiled. "O.K.."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They looked for her everywhere before they finally got to the Bronze. "I don't know where she could be." Willow said, collapsing on one of the couches. "We've looked in all the likely places."

"We'll just have to start on some unlikely ones." Xander settled back in a chair. "Could she have gone home, back to her dad's?" Willow shook her head, thinking. He continued. "I still think she probably went off with someone. If I remember right, Wednesdays aren't the Bronze's busiest nights. Maybe someone saw her."

Willow got up. "I'll ask. I'll get us some mochas while I'm there. You still like mochas after your six weeks on the road."

"Will! Any of my dreams that didn't involve naked females had the Bronze's mochas starring in them. In fact one of them had . . . "

She held up her hands. "Ugh! Xand! I don't wanna know. I'll go ask." He watched his friend walk over to the bar. He felt so sleepy. It was typical of Sunnydale, he returned after six weeks away, and instead of a long lazy chat with his best friend. He was chasing all over town looking for a witch. Life was so unfair.

He saw Willow pay for the coffees and chat to the bartender, who called someone else over. Willow picked up the coffees and started to walk back to him. The other bartender called something out to her. She turned back, before hurrying over to him.

"Xan! When did you get back?"

"You were the first person I came to see. I haven't even been home. Why?"

"So there's no way you could have been here at about eleven last night."

"At eleven last night I was just crossing the state line and looking out for a nice peaceful rest stop to sleep in."

"Yeah! I thought so. It must have been another dark-haired guy. The bartender knew Amy and saw her last night. Looks like you were right, Amy left with a guy who looks a bit like you. Well he's certain it was you but . . . I had to ask. After all, you did say she was pretty and probably went off with somebody."

"Don't sweat it Wills. She'll be fine, she knows about vampires. She can look after herself. She's a witch! Anybody trying anything with Amy that she doesn't like, is going to end up four inches tall and furry. Why don't I drive you home, she'll be there waiting for you, wondering where you've gone. Then I'll go home, catch up on my beauty sleep and tomorrow we can have a really good talk."

Willow smiled and they left, walking toward his car. As they passed an alley, something glinted in the streetlights. "What's that?" She said, pulling him back.

"What?" Xander asked.

Willow took a torch out of her bag and shone it down the alley. They could see the white statue plainly against the dark brick. They walked closer. "Oh my God!" Willow cried. "It's Amy!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Between the four of them, Buffy, Giles, Oz and Xander had managed to haul Amy's statue into Oz's van and deposit it carefully in Buffy's Mom's garage. They just stood and looked at it. Xander broke the silence. "Sooo! Is anybody seriously thinking we're dealing with a homicidal sculptor."

Buffy grinned. "Oh! Voice of Sanity! You've been away from the Hellmouth far too long if you come up with rubbish like that. It's gotta be a demon of some kind."

Giles examined it closely. "A Medusa or-or some such."

"Medusa? What's that?" Buffy asked.

"You know." Xander answered. "Snaky hair, bad breath, turns people into stone with one glance of her eyes." They looked at him. "Hey! I wasn't research boy for nothing."

Giles smiled at him. "I don't remember the bad breath, but the rest is right. We need to find out who Amy left with, all we know now is that he looked a little like Xander. He's either a standing stone in some other alley, or . . . "

"He's our Medusa, got it." Oz finished. "We'll find him."

Xander yawned. "Look, guys. I know this is important, but I've been sleeping, very badly, in my car for the last week. I desperately need to go home, crawl into bed and get some serious zees. I'm gonna have to join you tomorrow." He was almost collapsing.

Oz grinned, but looked at him concerned. "Leave your car, I'll take you. You'd be asleep at the wheel if you tried to drive."

Xander thanked him and they all left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Xander let himself in, the house was quiet, too quiet. He stumbled up the stairs to bed and collapsed. In seconds he was snoring, unaware that, down below in the kitchen, two statues stood, open mouthed and silently screaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark had just thrown the best pass of his football career. Pity it was only Touch Football and only messing around with his friends in the park, still. He turned round to where his girlfriend Jen was sitting with her friend, Tina. He expected to see her clapping and cheering him as usual . . . She wasn't, instead they were both busy chatting to a guy sat at their feet.

He did a double take. Something was wrong here. His girlfriend did not miss the best passes he'd ever thrown to talk to . . . Xander Harris?! It just didn't happen. He grabbed the ball and stalked over.

"Hey babe, what cha doing talking to that loser. I'm playing the game of my life out there. Watch!"

Jen smiled at him. "I was watching honey, but the game's going on so long. I thought we'd go for coffee."

'Xander' stood up. "Why don't you carry on playing with your little friends. I'll buy Jen and Tina coffees and we'll come back later." He smiled at the girls, then turned to Mark, sneering. Mark stared at him, amazed, without moving. 'Xander' took the ball out of Mark's hands and kicked it high and hard right down the field. "Good doggie, go fetch." Jen giggled, then tried to cover it up with a cough.

Mark grabbed him by the shoulders. "Harris, I'm giving you 'til the count of ten to get your ass out of my sight."

'Xander' smiled. "O.K.! You can try that. Just a hint though . . . the one after four is five." Tina giggled this time. Mark was furious, he threw one of his best punches at 'Xander''s head. 'Xander' ducked and hurled himself at Mark so that his head caught Mark on his solar plexis. Mark felt all the air whoosh out of his body and lay on the ground gasping. 'Xander' just looked at him, then turned back to the girls. "Let's go."

Jen glared at him and ran over to Mark. Tina followed her, but turned back to 'Xander'. "I used to think you were really nice, different from them." She pointed to Mark's friends. "You're not, you're just the same." She stomped off to join Jen.

'Xander' smirked to himself. "Why would I wanna be nice? When bad's much more fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy snorted. "This is stupid, there's no such thing as an opposite! ...Xander, what did you do with Amy?"

Xander turned to her. "Is this the new 'Voice of Sanity'. You forget, me . . . and my family . . . have lived on the Hellmouth for a long time. Nothing surprises me, not even getting up in the morning and finding my parents turned to stone in the kitchen."

Willow, looked at Xander for a moment then turned to Cordelia. "Cordy, What did he look like when you saw him? Describe him."

Cordelia looked at Willow, puzzled. "He looked like Xander, he was Xander, there's no way I could make a mistake like that." Willow frowned at her. "Well . . . he was better dressed, I thought that was something he'd picked up while he was traveling. Apart from that, he was . . . just like he is now."

Willow grinned. "How about his face, anything different than what you see. Moustache? Beard? Sideburns?"

"No, just the same Xander. I'd have noticed . . . "

Xander had caught on now. "What Will means is that I couldn't have been the suave clean-shaven Xander at the Bronze on Wednesday because . . . "

"When he arrived at my house yesterday morning, he had at least a week's worth of beard. You can't grow that in a night. It wasn't Xander." Willow hugged him again. "I knew it wasn't you."

Oz put in, thoughtfully. "Let's just up the paranoia a notch and ask the question. We know the Xander with us yesterday was the real one but, how do we know that you're the same Xander? How do we know you're telling us the truth."

The whole room sighed. They were back to square one. "I know!" Xander said. "Call Mom, she'll tell you the story."

Cordelia butted in. "I thought you said your parents were statues."

"Ah, yes!" Xander said. "That was before Aunt Theresa rang. It seems there's more to this twin/opposite business than I thought. I'm right-handed, he's left-handed. My taste in clothes is fairly . . . "

"Awfull?" Buffy suggested.

"Dreadfull?" Cordelia added.

"Er... Individual?" Willow countered, glaring at them.

Xander grinned, "Probably all three, while he's stylish. It goes for everything except the actual physical appearance thing. What it does mean though, is that I can do this." He walked over to Amy's statue and put both hands on her shoulders. Two patches of color radiated out from his hands and got bigger and bigger, until at last, Amy stood there panting and shaking. She looked at Xander standing in front of her and, pulling back her arm, she punched him as hard as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took a long time before Amy was in any state to listen to explanations. She had been physically restrained from turning Xander into something much yuckier than a rat. (She had been thinking more along the lines of a snail or a toad) She still glared at him occasionally as he sat on Giles' couch holding an ice pack to his jaw.

Realizing that Xander would not be talking very much for the next hour or so. Giles rang Xander's Mother and got the whole story out of her.

"Xander and Tony are twins, but due to the influence of the Hellmouth, genetics or just plain bad luck, they're mirror image twins. In Mrs. Harris' words not mine, Xander is good at among other things, English and driving, but can lack confidence and has a real problem with math, while Tony is a math genius, has never passed a driving test, thinks the whole world adores him and is semi-illiterate. Things that they are mediocre at, they are both at the same level. Xander is right-handed, Tony is left-handed, but what is more important, and the reason they were split up in the first place. Tony can be very violent, he almost killed Xander when they were three, Xander, as we would all agree, is not." Giles looked at him and smiled.

"Tony was sent to his Aunt in Michigan, who had experience in dealing with mirror-image twins, as she was one herself, though her sister killed herself in her teens. It was about two years ago that the medusa power appeared. Around the same time that magic spells started doing odd things when Xander was around. As we saw, being his opposite, Xander can reverse the medusa effect, in fact any spell will act oddly around him. His aunt can do it as well, so it wasn't a problem, until she was taken ill and Tony ran away. She'd been following a trail of statues for the last two days until she figured out where he was going and rang, just as Xander found his parents."

Buffy shook he head, amazed and turned to Xander. "Is this true?" Xander nodded, Buffy grinned. "And I always thought you were the normal one of the group. So what do we do now? How do we find him?"

Cordelia gave her a cool look. "Why don't we send Xander out into the town and as soon as somebody tries to attack him we'll know they've met Tony." She turned to Xander. "You know, as bait!"

Xander mumbled through his swollen jaw. "How long have you wanted to get me back for that?"

Cordelia smiled, brightly. "Oh! All year."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracey giggled at one of Tony's jokes they walked out of the Bronze. She had really enjoyed tonight, who'd have thought that Xander Harris could be such fun to be with. He had been in the year above her at school and he always seemed to hang out with the weird crowd. Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg, a kickboxer and a computer nerd, ew! To say nothing of Cordelia Chase, a girl who used to be so cool and then went crazy overnight.

Still, he seemed so different, he looked great, no geeky clothes, he danced really well and he'd listened to everything she'd said, been so interested. So here she was, walking home with him, hoping he would ask her to go out with him again. Not what she had expected from tonight.

They were passing a dark alley when it happened. A guy jumped out at them, growling like he was a dog or on drugs or something. He grinned at them, showing a set of fangs. "Oh look!" He growled, licking his lips. "A two-course meal, my favorite." Tracey screamed, grabbing hold of Tony's arm as he backed away. The vampire followed them.

Tony looked at her and pushed her towards the vampire. "Here take her. She's gonna be enough for you. You don't need me as well." The vampire caught her and picked her up as Tony turned and ran.

The vampire snarled, "You're not getting off that lightly!" He caught Tony easily and threw him to the ground. "Now wait there 'til I finish the entrée." He bent down to bite the shivering Tracey's neck. Tony's eyes flashed yellow and both the vampire and his victim turned to stone.

He got up and brushed himself down. "Didn't like her that much anyway." He turned to the stone vampire. "You can have her." He walked slowly back down the alley to the Bronze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Look!" Xander said, irritated. "This is not a good idea."

"Yes it is." Buffy said with a smile. "Like Cordy said we need bait. He picked Amy up in the Bronze. He won't know you're back or that we know what's going on . . . and it looks like the only other similarity between you two is your taste in girls."

"What d'ya mean by that?"

"Arms, legs, head, short skirt and breasts. Fairly indiscriminate. So I go up to him and act like he's the love of my life. We can get him exactly where we want him, with the bonus that, if I need to, I can kick his butt from here to L.A. without taking a breath."

"All we're gonna end up with is a butt kicking statue . . . Hold on, what's this?" They came across the vampire statue.

Buffy grinned. "O.K. Xand, do your stuff. You wake him, I'll stake him." He glared at her. "Sorry!" She said, getting a stake out. "Couldn't resist it." Xander put his hands on Tracey's shoulders, the color started to spread down her body and across to the vampire holding her. As soon as Tracey was turned back, he pulled her away from the vampire. She shook herself free of him, glared at him and lashed out at his face with her hand. Xander was ready this time and managed to duck. Buffy grinned as she dusted the confused vampire. "Wow Xand! I'm dying to meet your brother, he must be a real charmer."

Tracey stalked away, Xander watched her leave amazed. "How does he do it? I mean, he looks like me, sounds like me. Yet Tracey Hughes wouldn't give me the time of day, never mind let me take her home."

Buffy patted him on the shoulder. "Amy said he listened, you know, didn't talk all the time. Maybe you should try it one day."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the Bronze, Tony found a strategic piece of wall to lean on. It was like standing in a candy store. Most girls liked Xander, they just didn't think of him as a boyfriend. Not like at home where they tended to avoid him, frightened of what he might do. Xander was a wimp, no class, no style. He probably got walked over by everyone he met, but they all trusted him. Might be something in that to remember for later.

Then he saw her, blonde, gorgeous and smiling at him. Oh yes! That monster had done him a favor, this girl was Tracey times one hundred. She walked up to him and kissed him gently on his mouth. "Xan! I didn't know you were back. You didn't call me, I'm so annoyed with you." She snuggled up to him. "You're gonna have to work very hard to make this up to me." O.K... Maybe Xander wasn't such a wimp after all.

"Sorry er . . . " He thought for a second, the feel of her body against him was very distracting. "I've only just got back. I thought you'd be here and I wanted to surprise you. How'm I doing."

She smiled. "I'm surprised . . . Did ya want to stay here or shall we go. After all . . . we've got a lot to catch up on." She slid her arm round his neck and whispered in his ear. "Perhaps we should go somewhere . . . quieter."

O.K. Definitely not a wimp. "Quieter would be good." Private would be better.

She smiled. "Come on . . . Where's your car? That's nice and quiet."

Damn! "Sorry, it died on me this afternoon."

"Never mind, we'll go to my house. Mom's away this week. I don't mind walking . . . much. You can make that up to me later as well."

Oh yes! Thank you, vampire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the third time he walked out of the Bronze with a girl. Third time lucky. Just to check he kissed her under the fire escape. She just laughed and pulled him along, she was a strong girl. He didn't see her wipe her mouth in disgust.

When she got to the street, she stopped suddenly. "Xand?"

"Er . . . " He jumped, he'd forgotten who he was supposed to be for a minute. "What?"

"If your car's gone for mending. What's it doing parked over there." She pointed to an old blue chevy. Oh god! He might have known his wimp of a brother would have chosen such an awfull car. He'd rather have walked. "Oh and Xand?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing standing next to it?" Tony turned to look at his mirror image leaning on the hood of the car and felt a thud on the back of his neck. He fell forward onto the sidewalk.

Just before he lost consciousness, he heard her say to him. "You may dress well and listen well, but he's worth a hundred of you... Oh, and that kiss . . . Ew!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy carried the blindfolded and unconscious figure into Giles' apartment and threw him down on the couch. Xander followed behind. "This is him?" Giles asked, leaning over to pull off the blindfold.

"Don't!" Buffy cried. "I didn't hit him that hard, he could come round any second."

"He can't do anything while his eyes are covered." Xander explained. "My Aunt told me." He turned to Buffy. "It's comforting to know that you had no hang-ups about knocking him out, even though he looks just like me."

Buffy grinned. "Don't worry about it Xand. I might have had some hang-ups, if he hadn't kissed me. It was... well . . . it sucked."

Xander sighed. "Oh that's great, even with the clothes and the chat, I still can't get the girl. Shoot me now!" Then it hit him, he turned and stared at her. "You let him kiss you?!"

Buffy ignored him, turning to Giles. "We've got him . . . now what do we do with him? Rent him out for children's parties."

Giles sighed. "We just have to keep him here until Xander's Aunt comes to collect him. She'll deal with him. She won't let him get away again without a chaperon."

"How long's she gonna be?" Willow asked, coming into the room. "'Cause now I know what you all must have felt when the other Willow was here. It's weird." She walked over to the couch. She prodded his arm. "He looks like Xander, feels like Xander but he isn't . . . " Before she could finish Tony pulled the blindfold off and jumped off the couch. He grabbed hold of Willow and dragged her towards the door, pulling a knife out of his pocket as he went.

Xander dived at him, knocking the knife out of his hand and pushing Willow away. He landed on top of Tony. Who lay there, glaring at him. "You didn't even remember me did you?" Tony sneered. "You had no idea who I was. All I ever heard was how nice and kind and generous you were. It took me a bit to realize it, but I got there. You're nothing but a wimp."

Xander smiled. "I may be a wimp, but I'm still the one on top here."

Tony glared, "Not for long." His eyes flashed yellow.

"I was hoping you were gonna do that." Xander said, quietly. Tony started to scream, he felt his power being pulled out of him, into Xander. Tony finally managed to turn his head away. Xander got up. Tony just lay there, exhausted. "He's not got enough power left to turn a mouse to stone." Xander turned to look at the others. "What?"

Willow looked at him seriously. "Did you know he wouldn't be able to change you."

Xander looked sheepish. "Not exactly knew, as in being at all certain, but I thought . . . "

Willow walked up to him and poked his chest. She started to shout. "No you didn't, you never think. I don't think you're capable. What if you'd been turned to stone. Who'd have changed anyone else back. I'd have been alright . . . "

While Willow was shouting, nobody had noticed Amy come into the room. She looked at Tony lying on the floor and back at Xander with his bruised face. She started to chant. There was a flash of light and everyone turned. They looked at her and then at the slimy grey slug that lay on the rug in Tony's place. She shrugged her shoulders. Buffy tried her best not to laugh. "Feel better now?" She asked The Witch.

"Much." Amy answered. She turned to Giles. "Got an empty jar, or something?"

Giles sighed. "I'll find something, but you can clean the mess off my carpet."

Oz joined them, looking at the slug. "Suppose that solves the problem of what we do with him until Xander's Aunt arrives."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I still can't believe your Aunt didn't want him turned back." Willow said, shaking her head. "She's brought him up since he was three." Willow, Oz, Xander and Amy were playing Monopoly in Willow's dining room, a few days later. Willow was winning as usual.

Xander grinned at her. "I think she wanted a holiday from chasing after him, apologizing for him and turning statues back into people." He became serious for a second. "He gave Tracey to that vampire. They could have run back to the Bronze and got away, but he decided he needed the extra time. Aunt Theresa knows he's slime, so she's quite happy to let him live in it for as long as Amy's spell holds . . . Your turn." He passed the dice to Amy.

She flinched when he touched her. He looked at her. "Look this isn't working. However much time I spend here, you aren't gonna stop doing that." He turned to Willow. "I'm getting the cold shoulder from Tina Kane, we used to get on really well. Tracey Hughes shudders when she looks at me and Amy jumps every time I go near her. It wasn't me, but I'm getting the fallout." He got up. "Good idea of yours Will, but I'd be better staying away for the next few weeks 'til Amy goes back to L.A.." He walked out of the room.

Willow looked at Amy, who shook her head. "I can't help it." Willow glared at her. "OK I'll go and talk to him."

Xander was in the hall getting his coat. "Look." Amy said. "I know it wasn't you. It was the shock that did it, someone I thought I'd known for years turning on me. You look, sorry looked the same, sounded the same and told the same stupid jokes. It was really nice, then . . . well . . . "

"Don't tell me, he kissed you and it sucked."

"It wasn't that really. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I didn't want him to carry on and he did."

Xander thought for a second and said. "How about this for a really bad idea. I kiss you, then you say 'No, get lost.' and I get lost. Would that help stop you from cringing away from me?"

Willow's voice came from the doorway. "It's not that stupid an idea. If Amy can handle it."

Amy thought for a second. "O.K." she said, reluctantly. "But remember, I've got this really good toad spell I'm dying to try out."

Xander grinned. "Consider me warned." He moved forward and put his hands on her waist. She stiffened for a second, then relaxed. He bent down and kissed her gently. To his surprise she slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It felt really good, shame it was just a test. O.K. better get on with this, before . . . He pulled away, and looked at her. "Go on."

"What?" She asked, puzzled.

"Tell me to get lost."

Amy smiled. "Oh, that . . . Tell you what . . . Why don't we just skip that, and you just kiss me again?"

He looked up, Willow was smirking in the doorway. She disappeared when he frowned at her. He looked back at Amy. "Er . . . O.K.."

The End

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