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"Thanks, guys," Buffy said as she headed up the front steps of Cordelia's house, or the-duplicate-Chase-house-in-Limbo. "Good patrol. Great patrol."

"Well, there's nothing out there that we saw," Oz pointed out. "Which, given that it would tend to suggest there isn't much out there, is a good thing, yeah."

Oz, Darrel Flatt, and the ghost of Kendra had been her companions on patrol this time. Which Buffy didn't have a particular problem with, except that it meant there wasn't very much conversation as they searched the deserted reaches of Limbo. Darrell was aloof, Kendra was always all Slaying business, (never mind that she couldn't punch, kick, or shoot a crossbow any more now that she was dead,) and Oz was... Oz. Uncommunicative, especially now that things had self-destructed between him and Willow.

The front door opened just as Buffy was approaching it. "Hi, guys," Xander said, with secretive expression on his face.

"Xander!!" Buffy exclaimed, her own face breaking out into a grin. "What are you doing over here?"

Buffy's pretty-much-boyfriend ignored her question. Instead he turned to the others. "Guys, can I see you out here for a moment? Privately??"

Buffy's happy grin turned into a disappointed pout. Rather obviously, she was being left out of something. "Okay." She waited for Xander to step clear of the front doorway, then entered the house herself, to give the others privacy.

"Could you wait for me in the living room?" Xander asked as she closed the door. Buffy sighed, rolled her eyes, and nodded.

The Chase living room always seemed strange when it was lit only by the ghostly colors of Limbo's sky. An ordinary sun, moon, and stars never appeared here, instead pale curtains of shimmering colors lit the firmament, occasionally supplemented by glowing shapes in strange distorted geometric designs and pentagrams. And while it was possible to turn the inside lights on, the amount of fuel that they had scavenged for power generators was not exactly plentiful, and normally the gang just didn't.

So Buffy collapsed down onto the couch, tired from all of the quick walking that she had done, all about this dark copy of Sunnydale, and though she pondered trying to read a coffee table book by the light streaming in through the windows, she didn't. It was a few seconds before she realized two unusual things about her surroundings. One, the wide sliding double doors that seperated the living room from the dining room were closed. Two, there seemed to be a trace of golden light shining back there.

Just about then, the front door opened again, and Buffy instinctively got up and headed back into the hall. Xander was entering alone - Buffy couldn't see any of the others behind him. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"

"Um... off to the Rosenberg place," Xander said somewhat nervously.

"Huh?" Buffy was confused. "But Darrell and Kendra don't stay at the Rosenberg place. They stay here, at Cordelia's."

"Not right now, they don't," Xander said enigmatically. Crossing over into the living room and from there to the dining room doors, he slid one of them into its receptacle in the wall. giving Buffy a better look at the golden radiance. About thirty candles were lined up on the sideboard, counter, buffy, and dining table, and Buffy figured that there had to be more that she couldn't see from where she was standing. Some other things were sitting on the table, just dark shapes against the candlelight from here, but Buffy could already tell that the aroma was appealing.

"I thought it was time we had a nice dinner in," Xander said, kind of lamely, with his characteristically uncertain shrug.

Buffy's reaction, though, once she got over her shock enough to respond, was anything but uncertain. An almost childishly gleeful look on her face, she dashed into the living room, taking in the romantic candlelight, the soft music that was somehow just beginning from a portable stereo set on a bottom shelf, the appetizing food waiting for them on the table. "Oh, god, Xander!!" she shouted, turning back towards him. "It's incredible! Thank you!! Did you just... up and decide to do this??"

"Actually, it was more like I 'down and decided,'" Xander commented. "Staying here as you guys crisscrossed limbo, thought about how I've been feeling depressed lately and I know you have been too - who couldn't when you live in this forsaken place... So I decided that a romantic evening might lift our spirits."

"Ohhh." Delighting in the sweetness of the moment, Buffy pulled Xander's mouth ever so slightly down to hers and kissed him quite thoroughly and soundly. By the time the kiss was done, though, she had had another thought. "I should go and change into something nicer..."

"No," Xander decided instantly.

"No?" Buffy repeated blankly. "Are ya sure??" She gestured down at her patrolling clothes - a heavy black wool sweater, thick and roomy dark blue jeans. "Not exactly the stuff romantic dreams are made of."

"I'm sure," Xander assured her softly. "I mean, look at me." Xander was wearing a white t-shirt and cutoffs. "The next time we do this, sure, make yourself as lovely as you want to. Tonight, I just want the company of the Slayer for dinner. Exactly as you are..." He leaned over and kissed her briefly on the tip of her nose. "...right now."

Buffy laughed out loud. "Okay, buddy. You want it? You got it." She headed over to the table and sat down in one of the chairs. They were right next to each other, she realized, which was good since the Chase dining room table was big and it wouldn't be very romantic if they were sitting across from each other. "What's for dinner?"

"All the Harris family specialties - my grandmother's that is," Xander laughed. His mother was a very devoted non-cooker. "Sloppy Lasagna Bolognese. Sweet buttered garlic bread. A little corn on the side, veggies to keep your Slayer strength up. And strawberry lemonade."

"Wow," Buffy admitted. "I didn't know you were such the chef!"

"I'm not," Xander admitted as he finished serving some food out and sat down. "I got some help, but that's not really the point, is it?"

"No, it's not," Buffy admitted with a beautiful smile. She tasted a small forkful of the lasagna and michievously leaned over to give Xander another kiss while her mouth was still full...

* * * *

"That was nice," Buffy said in a faraway voice, lifting up a spoonful of mostly melted ice cream and letting it run back into the bowl a little bit at a time.

"I always had the most fun with dessert," Xander joked, kissing Buffy's neck. They were lying next to each other on the couch in the living room, a little less dressed than they had been to start with and using a blanket and each other to make up the difference, warmth-wise.

"Me too," Buffy admitted. "God, it was so sweet of you to do this, Xander." Suddenly a yawn escaped from her mouth. "And I'm tired, it seems."

"I'm not surprised," Xander said. "It's been a tough day, or night, or... whatever." The lack of formal day and night in Limbo made it hard to express simple thoughts sometimes.

"Yeah." Buffy sat up, leaned back down to kiss Xander feelingly on the side of his face, and then stood up. Xander took a happy moment to admire the always-magnificent lines of her figure, not very well hidden by a pair of skimpy shorts and a lacy bra, which had been one and two layers beneath her Patrolling clothes. But when Buffy bent down to pick up her shirt, Xander couldn't help frowning, (no matter how much that pose did for her chest.)

"You're leaving?"

Buffy caught the implications in his tone immediately and rushed right back over to the bed. "Yeah, sweetie. I'm tired and I think I should really just get some sleep. 'Zat okay?" In a completely unfair maneuver, Buffy frenched Xander passionately on the lips and then slipped the shirt onto her arms and buttoned it up while Xander was too smooched to protest.

Not that he would really have protested anyways. "Yeah. I guess we've come to that part of the evening when I go home - or at least to the Rosenberg house." Xander pulled on his own t-shirt and stood up, wondering where he'd left his jacket and his longer pants. "Buffy?"

"Yeah?" she said, turning to him immediately with a cutely worried look on her face.

"Do you, um... is there likely to be..." Shaking the gibberish out of his head, Xander started again. "Do you think maybe, at some point in the forseeable future, um... we won't get to the part of the evening when I go home?"

"Huh?" Suddenly Buffy clicked to what Xander was meaning. "Oh! Oh, yeah, Xander - definitely," she assured him. "I... I want to too, you know. It's just... it's a little too soon for me."

"Too soon since Angel," Xander muttered, then immediately regretted it. Buffy's face fell.

"It's not about Angel," Buffy protested. "Well, yeah, it kinduv is about Angel. My first time... well, you know as well as I do that it led straight into the worst time of my life. I'm a little scared, yeah. More than that, though - I just don't think it's our time yet."

"I understand," Xander said immediately. It was just one of those things you had to say. "Well, goodnight." He crossed over, kissed Buffy sweetly. The kiss didn't end after just a few seconds, though. It kept on going, getting more and more intense, until all of a sudden Buffy's knees buckled with fatigue. Xander ended up catching her in his arms, him looking down at her, her looking up at him.

"Sometime soon, okay?" Buffy stood herself carefully up again and made her way upstairs.