by Rob Sorenson

The sun had set in the Big Apple, leaving Central Park considerably quieter than the bustling gathering place it was in the daytime. The island of nature within a sea of concrete wasn't as dangerous at night as it had once been, but it still cleared out considerably when darkness fell. It was pure good fortune that caused the rematerialization of Buffy, Faith, Willow and Spike around a deserted park bench. The blinding light had dissipated, and there were no apparent witnesses to the mystical event.

Buffy put her hand against the bench, slightly out of breath. <That was just wicked. 10 seconds ago I was in my living room, and now...> She came to the sudden realization that she was still in the nude, and immediately dropped to the ground, knees hugged to her chest. She took a quick glance around, immensely relieved that the park appeared deserted.

Spike and Willow had both already hit the ground in a similar position to the Buffy, while her sister Slayer simply took a seat on the park bench. Buffy's voice came out hoarsely: "clothes, Willow?" No response came. "CLOTHES, WILLOW!!!"

She took a frantic look at her best friend who appeared to be dozing. Another scream was about to leave Buffy's lips when Willow opened her eyes. "The more you distract me, the longer this will take." She again closed her eyes, and clothing appeared on Spike, Faith and Willow's bodies.

Buffy, however, remained nude. She looked wildly toward the others, approaching panic mode. "So Buffy, this might be a good time for you to tell me why you never returned that hairbrush you borrowed a couple of years ago. Do you still have it?" Willow was looking at Buffy with an evil grin; Faith and Spike were having a hard time keeping a straight face.

Buffy spoke quietly and slowly to the Wiccan. "Wills, if I don't have clothing on me in the next 5 seconds, I'm going to put that hairbrush somewhere you will not like."

"Ah. Well, since you put it that way--" The blonde Slayer was immediately relieved to have something on and got to her feet with glares for everyone. "You do realize Slayer payback is a major bitch, right?" Her friends were wise enough to keep to themselves after that.

"Willow?" Buffy's voice still contained a hint of danger as she looked down at herself. "Why am I wearing a pink sweater with a big white bunny on the front?"

Her friend shrugged. "Sorry...I had to access clothing that was nearest to my essence...in other words, stuff from my place. I don't have any of your clothes, so.."

"That would explain why I'm wearing a sodding bowling shirt. Is this Oz's or Xander's?" Buffy couldn't help but smile at her man's ensemble. Misery loves company.

Faith was staring at Willow. "Red, you sure as Hell better say Oz. I don't want to hear that you keep my boyfriend's clothing laying around."

"No worries, Faith. It once belonged to Oz. He and Spike are close to the same size, so that worked out. As far as your leather pants and tank top goes"-she indicated Faith's clothing-"I happen to own one pair of those, and I figured you'd be comfortable with your old look."

Faith grinned. "I didn't know you had it in you, Willow."

"Faith, I think there's a lot we don't know about each other." They exchanged serious glances...and let that suffice for the moment.

Buffy's eyes were wide. "Just so I'm clear on this, my best friend gives Faith the leather pants, and I get the miniskirt with red stockings and a bunny sweater? You are SO begging me to hurt you. Mark my words, you will pay dearly for th--" Buffy abruptly broke off her diatribe and clutched for he park bench, awkwardly sinking into it.

Instantly William was at seated next to her, taking hold of her hand. "Are you all right, luv?" She nodded, eyes glazed over with growing emotion. Willow and Faith were squatted down next to her, leaving her surrounded.

"Buffy, what's wrong?" She slowly shook her head.

"He's here. I can feel him. He's here..." Faith gripped Buffy's other hand, and Willow placed hers on Buffy's knee. The vampire leaned over and found his lover's eyes.

"We'll find him." He looked to Willow. "Can we do a locator spell?"

She nodded. "Of course. There are a couple of problems I hadn't thought of, though. Teleportation of people and clothes has me drained. That's going to take some time without Dawn here to help. More importantly, I don't have the ingredients. We need to find a magic shop." Spike closed his eyes, casting his mind back.

"Well, I know where one was. Over on the Upper West Side, off 57th Street. We're only a few minutes away if we take a cab."

"OK, let's move then." Faith rose to her feet and was about to ask Spike which direction to walk when a new voice spoke behind them.

"Looks like we got ourselves some tourists." A large man stepped out of the shadows with a menacing look. "Welcome to New York, you dumbasses. I want wallets and jewelry thrown at my feet, and I want it quick. Do what I say and nobody gets hurt." Willow was looking behind her, looking for a possible means to avoid confrontation when 8 more guys came out of the shadows, all brandishing switchblades.

They were surrounded, and all four Scoobies were standing now, back to back in opposite directions. Spike decided to try for diplomacy. "Ok, just relax. We don't even have any money."

"Actually, we do, Spike. When I teleported the clothing I put a couple thousand dollars in your wallet." Spike threw Willow a withering look. Faith was shaking her head.

"B, these guys have cheap-ass knives. Check out that goof in the back."

The blonde Slayer peered at him. "Oh yeah, I see what you mean. Guys, if you're going to have any future in this, you really should have proper respect for the tools of your trade. I sharpen my stakes twice a week, for example."

"Yeah? I'm not the bitch wearing the bunny sweater, at least." Buffy raised an eyebrow and tossed a glance Faith's way. "Dull-blade boy just said the magic word."

"Bunny?"

"Har har. Let's get this over with."

Roughly 60 seconds later all nine guys were in a heap, with special attention paid to the unfortunate mugger who'd made the mistake of calling a Slayer a bad name. "Ok. That was refreshing. Now, we magic shop bound?" Faith was smiling brightly. Buffy nodded.

"Wills, how long until you're batteries are recharged?"

Her friend shrugged. "It's not an exact science, but I'd say give or take ninety minutes."

"Ok, then, we'll split up. Faith, you should probably stay with Willow just in case she runs into any problems since she's unplugged for the moment."

"Sure, B, whatever. What are you too gonna do in the meantime?" Buffy looked back to Will. "Did you give us all money?"

The redhead nodded. "I gave all the cash to Spike, since he has a wallet. The rest of us have credit cards except for....Faith." She looked slightly embarrassed. "I gave Faith Xander's debit card. I would've just given her one of her own, but.." Faith understood.

"It's cool. No last name to put on it, right? I know Xand's pin number." The brunette Slayer looked to the ground, trying not to appear bothered..

Buffy had a confused look. "Wills, we don't have purses. Where are the credit cards?"

"In your bra." Buffy pinched the bunny on her sweater, pulling it out and looking down.

"Cool."

"You need any help getting that, then?"

Buffy smirked at her man. "Down, boy."

"Hey, I just saw you naked in Central Park. What am I, a bleeding monk?" She slapped him on the arm.

"Come on, Red, I think they need some time. Where you headed, B?"

"Our first stop is Macy's, so I can get out of the Rosenberg high school costume. After that I'm going to find us some cellphones." Faith nodded. "The cells are a good idea. Say, while you're at Macy's could you get me a bigger bra? Willow's is a little...you know...."

"Too small in all the right places?" Buffy finished with a grin.

"Yeah, so's mine. No problem." Willow squinted at the Slayers.

"You can both kiss my ass." Spike chuckled as they headed in seperate directions out of the park.

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45 minutes later Buffy and William were making their way to the cashier with two new outfits, one pair of comfortable flats and 2 new pairs of underwear. If there was one activity that Buffy took almost as seriously as Slayage, it would be the art of trying on clothes. Spike, on the other hand, knew his sizes. He just bought everything in black, with the standard issue leather duster of course. The remaining 42 minutes had been spent begging his Slayer to hurry up.

They'd made their way out and were walking up Sixth Avenue to the nearest Verizon office when Spike took a deep breath and spoke. "Buffy, why didn't you tell me about your link with Xander?" She slowed her walk a bit and tensed slightly.

"Spike, can we talk about this later?"

"You said that once before. This IS later."

"Fine. I didn't want you to be uncomfortable by the fact that Xander and I had a level of closeness that we didn't."

"Like you didn't already? You two have known each other for eight years. I admit it's a little disconcerting. You said you share emotions, right? Not thoughts?"

Buffy nodded. "Right. If we're asleep, or bored, we really don't feel much of anything. When our emotions are strong, they can be overwhelming....for me, at least. I never thought I would say this, but Xander is stronger than I am in this department. He told me he's been controlling his feelings so long that he's had practice. All his fighting is on the inside."

"Xander The Emotion Slayer?"

"More like controller, but it's close." She felt his skeptical gaze. "Don't look at me like that. I never really, truly understood how special he is until I got inside his heart. That's where his Slayer strength is. I know that sounds silly, but it's the reason Willow and I have managed to survive as long as we have. No matter how bad things got, Xander would put aside his own pain and act like a goof so we could forget ours. He said it helped ease his own troubles by easing ours, but....I don't know."

Buffy stopped and leaned against a building, emotions welling up again. "He's scared, William. I mean terrified...and not for himself." Spike touched her face.

"How do you know?"

She looked directly into his eyes. "He's never this scared for himself. The only time he gets like this is if he's scared for one of us."

"Us?"

"Yes, US, Spike. When he thinks you're in danger, he gets scared then, too. He has truly learned to care for you. Part of it is his own experiences, but the majority of it comes through me. He senses how strong my feelings are for you, and it's changed him." Spike leaned in and they shared a soft kiss.

"It works both ways, too. I always cared for Anya, despite our differences, but Xander adored her. I can never think of her in the same way any more. Her death hurt him so much....anyway, we've tried to get Willow to figure out what causes it, and she doesn't have a mystical reason. Telepathy is common enough among close family members, and Xander IS family to me. She came up with a theory that my Slayer powers recognize strength, in all it's forms, and somehow I tapped into his over time."

Spike had a contemplative look on his face. "Does this mean Slayers who last a long time become telepaths with those closest to them? Conceivably, you could tap into all of us eventually."

"God, I hope not." Noticing Spike's hurt _expression, she took him into her arms, her chin against his chest as she looked at him.. "Oh, baby, I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I've already had a telepathic experience with a large group, and it nearly drove me insane. Honestly, Xander is more than enough for me to deal with." They resumed walking down the street.

"So you don't like it then?"

"Actually I love it. I love Xander so much, and he makes me stronger. I'm a better Slayer and a better person because Xander is in my heart all the time. When we were fighting demons on that beach every night I fought like I never have before. No matter how bad things would look, no matter how outnumbered we were, I knew we'd win, because Xander has total trust in my abilities. Remember when you were fighting those two vamps and I was starting to lose to that Feyoral Demon?"

Spike winced at the memory. The two vamps had been martial artists when they were alive, and it had taken him longer to stake them than normal. He'd been terrified that Buffy couldn't take the Feyoral without his help, but there was no choice.

"I see you do remember. The guy was kicking my ass up and down that beach. I was getting in a few shots, but he was so damn strong and fast I was starting to get a little worried....and Slayers can't afford to get worried. You get scared while you fight, and you get dead. This asshole started toying with me. He'd throw me into the water, and holler for me to get up. After the first, oh I don't know, twenty times of that, I was starting to get scared. It's times like this when Xander comes through for me. Do you really want to hear all this?"

Spike was caught up in the story. He merely nodded.

"If there's one thing about Xander that has always driven me crazy it was his refusal to stay down when he wasn't unconscious. He'd get thrown into a wall...by all rights he should have a broken back. Somehow he'd always get up. By sheer force of will, Spike...he'd get up. He'd keep coming to try to help. This is the power he's transferred to me somehow. Now I already HAVE a lot of that for myself; I'm a Slayer, and a damn good one. Xander gives me that little extra that I tap into when I start to doubt myself. That night I was exhausted. The Feyoral was going to finish me, and no one was in a position to help. Then I had this feeling of supreme confidence come over me. I remember thinking that I had this jerk right where I wanted him, and I leaped out of that shallow water, did a somersault in midair over him and snapped his neck on the way down. He never saw it coming."

"I got up, and Xander was just getting there with a broadsword to help me. He gave me that silly crooked grin he gets and told me that he knew I had him. I just started laughing. I don't think I ever told him, but his courage saved me that night. That determination and confidence he has in me empowered me to kill that demon."

"Buffy, you've been down and come out of nowhere to beat demons before. How do you know it was Xander and not just you?" She looked at him and shrugged.

"I just know. I felt it, and I know. Whatever Travers is throwing at us, I know Xander's here, and alive." A look of steel appears on her face. "That's all I'm going to need to kick the living crap out of whatever is coming." Spike smiled at her, but he couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding that was preying on his mind. He couldn't quite figure out what was bugging him, so he put it aside and walked into the cellphone store, his arm around the woman that had changed his unlife forever.

- End Chapter Eleven -