| *Relax,* he told himself as he walked to Sunnydale High School that morning. *Everything's gonna be okay. Giles' is Brainy Smurf. Well, Brainy Smurf with the brains. He'll know how to get me home again.* That morning had been a nightmare. Ugh. Living under his parents' scrutiny again. Not that they didn't scrutinize just fine while he was locked away in the basement, but . . . his mother had even tried to give him a kiss good-bye. *The sooner I get home, the better.* He paused outside the library doors for just a moment, preparing himself. He figured it was best to just play along until he could get Giles alone. Better not to alarm the girls. *Okay,* he thought as he stretched his arms and shook his head a bit, *I'm ready for this.* "Hey, guys," he said as he breezed into the library. Whoa. That was weird. A definite deja-vu experience. There was Willow, sitting all comfy in her yellow overalls, long red hair spilling over her shoulders. And there was Buffy, decked out like it was three years ago. Which, technically, it was. And Giles, clad in tweed. *Three years have really done a lot for us,* he decided. "Hi, Xander," came Buffy's and Willow's replies as they looked up from their research. "Ah, Xander. I'm glad that you are here," said Giles, coming out of the caged area where specialty books were kept. "I'm afraid that we've got something of a monstrosity on our hands in the form of an impending apocalypse. I'm going to need you all to put in quite a bit of research time." *Huh?* "Uh, yeah, that's great, Giles. Listen, I REALLY need to talk to you. Do you think we could go into your office or something?" Giles peered at Xander from over the rims of his glasses. "Did you not hear me, Xander? The world could very well come to an end if we do not find an answer to this, uh, problem." "Giles, believe me when I say that the world is not going to end." Giles looked at Xander as if he was speaking gibberish. "I don't understand how you can be so cavalier about this, Xander. I realize that we've been through possible apocalypses before, but each one brings a new –" "Is it the judge?" Xander broke in, thinking back three years before. "Because if it is, then all we have to do is break into an army base, steal a missile launcher, and blow him into little judge bits. Trust me on this one." Giles squinted at Xander through his spectacles. "The . . . who?" Xander gave an uneasy laugh. "Um, never mind. Listen, Giles, I'll be research boy if we can just go into your office for a few minutes." By this time, Buffy and Willow had abandoned their research, and were staring at Xander as if he had lost his mind. "Uh, Xander?" Buffy finally asked. "Did you bomb the science lab or something? ‘Cause if you did, you can just come out and say it. We won't get mad or anything." "Well, I might," Willow piped up. Oh, boy. This was getting him nowhere. He could see it now. He would be spending the rest of his life trying to convince Giles that the world really wasn't going to end, and Buffy and Willow that he wasn't really insane. "Okay," he said, "I can play it that way. Um, Giles, Buffy, Willow . . . I want you all to be the first to know that I've traveled back in time three years. I have no idea how it happened, but it did, and now I need your help getting home again." Buffy and Willow exchanged a glance. "Huh?" they said simultaneously. "Xander, did you eat too many twinkies again?" came Willow's solo reply. "You know the sugar goes to your head." Giles sighed. "Xander, if you insist on playing games, then I suggest you find somewhere else to be. I know you don't think this apocalypse is important, but I will assure you that it most certainly is." Okay. That was fine. He should have known they wouldn't have believed him at first, anyway. Not that this was the hellmouth or anything. Now what could he do to make them believe? *Time to think. Hmmm . . . I've got it!* "Okay, if I'm not from three years in the future, would I know that there's another slayer named Kendra hanging around?" Buffy shot Xander an odd look. "You mean the slayer that left five days ago?" Xander was getting impatient. Okay. So obviously they had already met Kendra. How about . . . "How ‘bout Drusilla? I know that she's strong again, and that Spike's in a wheelchair." Now it was Giles' turn to become impatient. "Xander, Drusilla and Spike were killed in a fire six days ago. Now, if you don't have anything important to contribute to the group, then I suggest that you leave. Otherwise, you may stay and help us conduct research." Xander inhaled. Okay. Obviously this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. It was okay, though. Sooner or later he was gonna know something that no one else knew, and then he could convince them that he really WAS from the future. And then he could go home. He sat down at the table and opened a book. Meanwhile, he would just have to pretend like he was the Xander of this time. The Xander that lived in his parents' house, and partied at the Bronze, and went to high school. *Ye gods, I'm gonna have to go to school again.* He buried his head in his hands. *Please, god, let the world end tonight.* |
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