Chapter Text
Day, Juneth, 1997
Before they'd left the Summers house, Xander had agreed to mow the lawn over the summer in Buffy's place. Thus, his current activity, as he slid the lawnmower back into its spot under the porch and twisted his shoulders. The front door opened.
“All done? Oh, that looks great, Xander, thank you. C'mon in and have some ice cream.” He happily took her up on her offer, and she must have noticed the way he sniffed the air as he walked inside. She smiled. “I'm making stew for dinner - you want some?”
“Sure, Miz Summers!” I might not be that smart, but I'm not dumb enough to turn down free food!
“Good, the recipe's usually enough for a few days.” Mrs. Summers' lip twisted in amusement. “Actually, it's enough for me and Buffy for a few days, so you might want to call one of your friends,” she said wryly. “Boy, that girl can eat.”
Xander watched her for a second, confused.
“Why don't you call Willow?”
“Are you serious?” he blurted, then shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth and tried to pretend he hadn't.
“Sure!” Her smile faded. “Xander... I know your home life isn't the best. You don't have to say anything,” she added, holding up a hand before he could do just that. “But when I said you kids were welcome here, I meant it.”
He stared at her for a moment.
He... really wasn't sure what he was feeling.
He looked over at the phone on the wall, and then back to Mrs. Summers, who nodded. He slowly stood up and walked over to it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Will. Um. Want some stew?”
###
After greeting the newly-arrived Willow, Mrs. Summers disappeared for a moment, then came back into the room with an album and a mischievous smile.
“Buffy pulled these out a couple of weeks ago. Do you kids wanna see some pictures from when she was little?”
They barely had to exchange a glance before they looked at her and nodded simultaneously.
Tiny Buffy was, they quickly determined, adorable.
Although, in a lot of the pictures, there was another blonde a few years older than her, and it wasn't until about two pages further that Xander realized she'd stopped showing up in the pictures. He flicked back to the last one she was in, her and Buffy at the beach, and Willow frowned at the picture and must have caught the same clue he did.
“Who's this?”
Mrs. Summers looked sad.
“My niece, Celia. She was a few years older than you kids. She passed away in... gosh, eight years ago? She'd be graduating by now...”
Xander and Willow traded a somewhat awkward look and paged forward.
Whoa, Buffy did figure-skating?
###
After the second mowing of the summer, Xander poured a glass of homemade lemonade and took a couple refreshing gulps, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of one arm. He was discovering a downside of letting his hair grow, though it was better after he pulled it back.
“Oh, Amy mentioned she wanted to watch 101 Dalmatians, she said it's out on tape,” Willow said.
“I'm down, but where? I mean, her place still gives me the creeps, and my place is,” Xander made a face, and Willow nodded. “And Dad broke the VCR the other week. Your place?”
Willow shook her head.
“No, Mom and Dad are messing with their sleep schedule week so they can get used to Berlin time.”
“Oh, just come over here,” Mrs. Summers said, walking in. “Try these.”
She set most of a sheet of mini-cupcakes on the table. Xander immediately snapped one up.
“Ohbr eer?” he repeated through the cupcake. The other week was one thing, and this afternoon, but that was just because he'd mowed her lawn, wasn't it?
“Sure! You kids hung around enough in the school year, you don't have to stay away just because Buffy's not home. I don't mind if you use the TV, as long as I'm not watching Antiques Roadshow.”
###
“So, what is a gurp, exactly?” Mrs. Summers asked, peering over their shoulders at the dining room table.
“It's an acronym, for the name of the game system,” Jonathan explained. “It's pretty good at a whole bunch of different genres, and there are lots of supplements, so it's the one we use most often.”
“We're doing space opera this time! Like Star Wars!” Andrew chirped. Jon glanced at him.
“You still can't have a lightsaber.”
“Aww.” Andj pouted.
“Can I have a lightsaber?” Willow asked. Jon peered at her and stroked his chin.
“Sure.”
Andrew squawked in protest, at which Jonathan cackled.
Xander caught a smile on Mrs. Summers' face as she walked out of the room.
Buffy's mom really was pretty cool.