Title: Starting Point 1/1

"ALEXANDER HARRIS!"

His name rang through the gym and he winced as he turned to the offending voice. He was in the gym as there was a rota for training with the slayers and this morning just happened to be his girls and his allocated time.

It had definitely been awkward at first to have so many young women in one place, the Cleveland mansion the council had purchased was definitely big enough to house all the girls and even more if they showed up. The awkward part was the organisation of the whole place, rota's existed for pretty much everything. All the girls had been split up into groups under the tutelage of 1 single person. Xandersgroup was Beta and as such training was Tuesday mornings whilst they would patrol Wednesday and Friday nights at various cemeteries in the surrounding areas.

Whilst Clevelands hellmouth had proven to be pretty nasty on occasion it didn't seem to be as big on the old evil roaming everywhere that Sunnydale's had proven to be. So patrols were usually boring, with him just chatting to the girls via radio for a few hours, as they walked slowly around the graveyards.

"If you want X we can give you a head start, I mean she could probably take us all but it'll give you a few minutes at least"

He blinked once and turned to Aisha, the smiling african girl.

"Have you ever known me to run from a fight?" He asked with a grin and then he saw the glint in her eyes as she replied.

"What about the Lorax incident?" She grinned.

"Hey, that's totally uncool. Pretty sure I got a pinky swear on that one Aisha" He nodded towards the blonde girl headed in there direction "Anyways, I don't run from a Summers girl. Never have and never will. Though with your attitude I think you should do some laps"

"Pfft, I could do them in my sleep" She replied cockily.

"Well whatever number you think you can do in your sleep. Double it and add 20, that's how annoying you are" He winked at her "Now get running"

Aisha groaned and took off around the gym with a few giggles from her fellow slayers.

"Also Aisha" One girl piped up from his blind side "I don't think Buffy will want to kill her teddy bear"

"Okay, now that's just rude" Xander said turning his head to one of his slayers "Mo, I knew these girls were a bad influence on you. You were so shy and now I get this sass?"

The blonde girl at least had the decency to look ashamed "Sorry boss"

Mo, short for Monique, had only been at the school a few weeks and had been so reserved and shy when she had first appeared at apocalypse high. It had definitely been a massive change of pace from the usual cocky and sure-fire attitude that most slayers seemed to be born with. So Xander been the watcher/trainer that seemed to get on best with most of the girls at the school had been chosen as her group leader and he had attempted to get her to come out of her shell.

Seems like his attempts had not been in vain.

"No problem Mo, but you gotta do some laps" Xander said and winked at her "Otherwise all the other girls will think I play favorites. I mean I totally do but I can't have them thinking that"

A few of the girls giggled.

"How many?" Mo asked.

"Well when Aisha starts panting heavily that is when you can stop and then you're in charge of pushing her to exhaustion"

"Totally not fair" came a voice from the girl currently running laps as she passed.

"Your face isn't fair" he replied snarkily as Mo set off following the other girl around the gymnasium.

"As mature as always I see" interrupted a voice, he glanced at the blonde slayer and smiled.

"Buff buff buff, to what do I owe that holler?" He grinned then motioned for the girls to go. The crowd of girls dispersed and went back to whatever activities training entailed. Some went to the sparring mats, some were doing gymnastics and a few moved towards the weight benches.

Xander motioned to the bench at the side of him as he took a swig of water from his water bottle and sat down at the far side of the bench. Buffy glanced at him with a glare and sat down and turned to him.

"You know I should knock your other eye out" She bluntly stated angrily at him.

"Yea but then I'd be a blind carpenter and who would fix your bed the next time you have an accident involving your personal equipment"

He grinned at her as she blushed slightly.

"Anyway why so angry at me? As far as I know we left things off pretty great yesterday. We watched that terrible movie in the entertainment room and it went swimmingly"

That was an event that was now going to taunt him forever. They'd both fallen asleep and when the ending credits of the movie had started to flicker down the screen, him and Buffy had both awoken and she'd been strewn across him.

He was now going to be called the "Slayer Teddybear" for the rest of his life.

The eyes of everybody in the room that had been looking at them had made them wake up pretty quickly and they had told everybody to get lost. After all it was nobody's business but there own.

"Your not even going to try and stop me?" Buffy muttered and looked down at her hands that had been playing with the bottom of her shirt.

Xander placed his hand on top of hers and then used his other hand to raise her chin so she was looking at him.

"Stop you what? And if it involves fighting, actual fighting with you, then no.. I won't. I like my man parts"

Buffy smiled slightly at his attempt to diffuse the situation "You know i'm off to LA later today and you haven't even tried to stop me"

"Oh" Xander said and then ran his left hand through his hair "I mean out of the two of us, who has tried to stop you doing things in the past? Me. and i've gotta say, not my favorite Bander moments."

"Bander?" she asked with a questioning look.

"Oh that's our shipper name. There's also Xuffy but that sounds like some kinda alien incursion" He replied "Why would I try and stop you going to LA Buff?"

"Well" the girl mumbled then looked down at her hands again "There's been something happening right? Between us... I mean it's not just me is it? Also if it is just me I reserve the right to leave this conversation and go jump off the nearest bridge"

Xander had definitely noticed, she'd been wanting to spend more and more time with him and vice versa. They'd had a great time over the last few months just hanging out and they somehow somewhere got closer than they'd probably ever been. At the end of a particularly rough day he wanted nothing more than to just hang out with the blonde woman sitting beside him and she always seemed to make it better. Realising he'd probably been quiet for too long as she stared at him and fidgeted in her seat he swallowed hard and took another drink from his water bottle.

"No no.. I've definitely noticed and believe me Buff it's not just you, so please don't go jumping off any bridges." He said and gripped her right hand in his "I would really hate to have to make a deal with the devil to get you back this time. I'm pretty sure that's what it would take by now"

Buffy smiled at him and then narrowed her eyes "So then why are you just okay with..."

"Buff" He interrupted her "I mean there's nothing I'd like more than to see where this is going, I mean there's a 16 year old inside me telling me to lock you in my room and never let you go. However I've matured from that guy, he's an idiot. When you come back in a month, if you want to see if this can lead anywhere then great, I'll take you out and we can have a fantastic date. I'm not going to stand in your way though if you don't. I'm not that guy Buffy."

She looked at him for a second taking in what he'd just said and finally shook her head in wonder as she stood up "Okay, so I guess I was angry for nothing. Also when did you become this guy?"

Xander looked scared as he said "I seriously need some guy friends"

Buffy laughed as she followed him out of the gym, stopping only to hold the door open for her. She slapped him on the arm as she passed and heard him shout back into the gym.

"Okay Aisha, now you can do some pushups. Smart ass"

"Yes boss" Was the groaned reply.

He grinned as he caught up to her and slung his arm over her shoulder "You want some pizza before you have to go?"

"Pineapple?" She asked meekly.

"Anything for you Buff" He winked "You know that"

As he lead her to the dining room he grinned from ear to ear.

Maybe when she got back they could start something up and find the happily ever after she'd always craved and even today still believed in. Maybe she'd lose something in the month she was away and it would go nowhere.

Every story has to have a starting point.