Chapter Text
"Xander"
She caught herself after calling his name; she almost ran up to him and hugged him. But Xander only paused slightly; this disheartened her – maybe he hated her – but for only a second.
She saw him walk towards the people from the library, one of them called a name that broke her heart.
"Alex" Xander answered to their call with a "yeah" before striding over to them. He pulled the girl from that morning – What was her name again? – into a hug quickly as the others joined in.
She sadly turned away and walked back to her friends. Knowing that she had to tell them what she saw. She could almost imagine their reactions; Oz would be surprised but happy, Willow would be overjoyed that he was back, Faith would just be confused and ask who he was and Cordy would hopefully show emotion for the first time in a while.
She saw them and found that Faith was sitting with them, she sighed; there was a basketball game today and with seeing Xander everything else had been pushed from her mind. Faith looked up as she heard Buffy approach; the small smile that she had on her face that quickly disappeared when she sensed Buffy's mood.
"What's wrong B?" Buffy grimaced, knowing she would have to repeat what she had seen. Everyone looked up at her expectantly; she sat down heavily on her seat. "Guys, you're never going to believe what I just saw" she whispered, not being able to raise her voice any higher.
Willow instantly looked worried but not more than Faith, who was fidgeting in her seat, Cordelia looked up with mild interest and Oz was mildly worried and interested. They all looked at her and she cracked under pressure and started to sob.
"It's. . . . It's Xander" she sobbed. Willow jumped to her side and pulled her into a hug, holding her close, "What are you talking about Buff?" she asked quietly. Cordelia was paying close attention to the conversation, even if it did not look it. Oz's eyes shifted from Buffy to Willow to Cordy, he had noticed the slight shift in her attention – from the horizon to the ground next to Buffy – he had been closer to Cordy after her attack. Only he noticed things like that.
Buffy looked up and met Willow's gaze "He's back" she breathed "he's back Willow" her gaze dropped to the floor again "Xander's back".
Cordelia's looked straight at Buffy, her face full of pain. Willow choked and hugged Buffy tighter. Oz just stared into space in shock. When he finally came back to it, he noticed that Faith was gone, he was a little surprised. He had expected her to ask who Xander was. Maybe she just left because she found the pain and tears of the group awkward.
Willow was the first one who was able to speak, "Where is he?" she asked quietly. Buffy looked at Cordy when she answered "You know that chick from this morning?" they all nodded "Megan" Cordelia stated. Everyone looked at her in shock; except Oz. Recovering from her shock Buffy continued "yeah her" mumbled "Well, I saw her and her friends before meeting you guys. And Xander was with them." They all looked around as if hoping to see Xander.
The bell rang signalling that everyone had to go and watch the game. They all trailed behind, sadly following everyone else and looking for Faith.
They sat on the side designated for Sunnydale and watched as the students from L.A. walked in in groups. Carefully watching for Xander and his friends, they spotted Faith walk in with two girls and one guy, she sat on the L.A. side and left them wondering if she knew them.
Almost all the seats were full when Buffy saw Xander, he was walking with two girls one had black hair and was really pale and the other was the red head who glared at Buffy for the whole first lesson. Everyone gasped and watched as he walked up the seats and sat right next to Faith before pulling her into a hug and whispering something into her ear.