NOTES: This takes place between Buffy's second and third season. I'm not exactly sure where I place it in the X-men universe.

I couldn't think of a better title so if anyone has any suggestions I'm willing to listen.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy or the X-men just borrowing them Joss and Marvel

Buffy & the X-men

She was up eighty dollars having run away from Sunnydale believing that her friends would be better off without her. She had made many mistakes that had hurt them. Wanting to get as far away from Sunnydale as possible she took what little money she had, a bag of her clothes, and bought a bus ticket to New York. Night had fallen when she had gotten off the bus she only had twenty dollars. She had gone into this tavern hoping to get a bite to eat cheap. The smell of alcohol hit her nose instantly. She looked around the place and spotted a small group standing around a table cheering. Wanting to see what the fuss was, she made her way to the group. Two men sat at a table about to arm wrestle. She stood next to a short, bulky, man whose muscles were clearly showing through the shirt he wore. He was drinking a beer and smoking what look to be a Cuban cigar. She watched as people made bets on who would win. When the bets were all placed the two men clasped hands. The arbitrator placed his hands on top of theirs and counted.

"On the count of three. One! Two! Three!"

The man on the right quickly disposed of his opponent. A loud cheer went out to the winner as everyone began to collect their money. The man on the right took the fifteen dollars of his opponent with a smug grin. A bigger man than the last sat down to face the winner. He put fifteen on the table and the winner of the last round matched his. Once the betting took place the match began. It turned out to be a really good match. The bigger man was strong and looked like he was going to win but the smaller man forced his hand back the other way to victory. The bigger man left the table clearly upset at being beaten. The chair was vacant and no one moved to sit it in.

"Who's next?" He said rubbing his hands together anxiously. No one took his invite. After several seconds a voice spoke.

"I got twenty here that says I can beat you." Buffy said putting her money on the table and taking a seat.

The man sized up his new opponent clearly thinking this was going to be the easiest money he ever made.

"It's your money sweetheart."

The two waited to see if any bets were going to be place. Buffy could see that they all clearly thought that she was going to lose.

"Any bets?" The arbitrator asked. No one spoke at first.

"A hundred dollar on the girl."

Buffy looked up to see who had bet on her. She was shocked to see that it was the man she was standing next to. Almost immediately five men took his bet putting down twenty dollars each. Nobody else wanted in on it.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three."

The man pushed trying to take her down in one thrust. Buffy held her ground. Then she let him take her hand about half way down before she slowly forced it back up and down to win. A groan came from the five who bet against her and from the man who sat across from her.

"Yay me!"

She said picking up her winnings and looked toward the man who bet for her. He was standing behind her a grin on his face.

"Wanna try again? Double or nothing?" She asked looking across the table to the other man. She could tell that he was considering it. "If I don't win in ten seconds the money is yours."

"You're on sweetheart."

Bets were made again. This time more people bet on her including her moral support behind the chair that this time bet two hundred dollars. They appointed a timekeeper.

"On three. One. Two. Three!"

When the official said three, Buffy wasted no time and slammed the man's hand down so hard that he let out a yelp at the pain.

"Time?" She called out picking up her money.

"Two seconds." The timekeeper called out.

She looked over at the man who was rubbing his sore hand. She looked directly into his eyes.

"I don't like when men call me sweetheart. Gentlemen it's been fun." With that she left tucking the money in a secure place.

Buffy walked out of the tavern. She had no more gotten ten feet when she saw them. Her path in front was blocked by three men. The path behind too and off to the side was the man she arm-wrestled.

"Talk about a sore loser. I've only been gone ten seconds miss me already."

"You hustled me and I want my money back."

"How did I hustle you? Chance. Isn't that what betting is about? You took one. You lost. I suggest you gentlemen let me be on my way. I've had a really crappy week and would love to take it out on all of you."

"I'd listen to her and leave or you'll have to deal with me too."

They all looked at one another each asking the other what to do. They had seen this man fight before and knew he was nothing to mess with. Without saying a word the men turned and left.

"Thank you. I really didn't feel like fighting them."

"So what were you doing in a place like that?"

"First place I found from the bus station. I went in looking for some decent food and saw away to make some quick money. Can I ask you something Mr.?"

"Name's Logan, and ask away. I won't guarantee you'll get an answer."

"Back in the tavern why did you bet on me?"

"One look at you told me there was something special about you. You're different from others Darlin`. Where are you headed?"

"Westchester. I'm hoping to be able to spend a few days with my cousin."

"How were you planning on getting there?"

"I have enough to take the bus now, but if I hadn't found away I guess I would have walked."

"I'm headed toward Westchester. You want a lift?"

"You don't mind? I mean I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"I wouldn't have offered if I did. Where exactly are you going to?"

"The address is in my bag in the locker at the bus station. Give me five minutes. Before we go though, I'm starving think we can grab a bite somewhere?"

He chuckled slightly. "Let's eat. Dinner's on me. Come on."

Logan had taken Buffy to eat at a steak house. He ordered a 16oz porterhouse steak with French fries. She ordered a burger and fries. Still having room he encouraged her to have dessert. She ordered a heavenly delicious chocolate cake. Once dinner was over he took her in his jeep to the bus station. She retrieved her bag from the locker taking the address out of the front pocket.

"I'm looking for 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem center. It's a school for the gifted. Do you know where it's at?"

"I know exactly where it's at. Come on we can be there in twenty minutes." Two minutes on the road and Logan had found that Buffy had fallen asleep. Her head resting on the door, and her breathing had slowed. He had known as soon as he had saw her that she was different. He knew that he couldn't turn his back on her. Though she hid it well he could tell that she was frightened, sad, apprehensive, and even angry. She was a kettle of pent up emotions waiting for a chance to be released. They were half way there when she started whimpering.

"Sorry Giles. Don't hate me! I tried. Don't hate me. PLEASE!"

She woke abruptly, jumping up but being held back by the seat belt. Tears slowly trailed down her face. Quickly she wiped them away.

"You alright?"

"Just a bad dream. How much further?"

"Not far now. About another five minutes." The five minute was ridden in silence until they came upon the school.

"Is that the place?" She asked her eyes growing wide.

"HHM-mm." He said putting in his code to open the gate.

"It's so big."

"Wait till you see the rest of it." He drove the car toward the garage. "Are you going to tell me who your cousin is?" She was still in shock over the place. "Darlin?"

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry a bit shocked. Scott. Scott Summers." She finally put together that they were in the garage of the building not parked out front. "Why didn't you tell me you lived here?"

"You never asked."

He said with a slight grin. Mentally he was asking Xavier to have Scott meet them in the kitchen. He was hoping that the Professor would pick up on his thoughts.

"Come on. Let's go into the kitchen and get a drink. Then we'll find Scott."

Charles Xavier had indeed picked up on Logan's thoughts. He had sent a message to Scott that Logan had something very important that he needed to see in the kitchen. Scott made his way to the kitchen wandering what was so important. As he approached the kitchen he could hear Logan talking to someone. He stepped into the kitchen.

"Logan the Prof-." He paused as he saw who was standing in front of him. "Buffy?"

"Scottie?" She looked up to see his face. He opened his arms inviting her into them. "Oh Scottie."

She ran across the room to his embrace. He closed his arms around her. She could no longer hold back the emotions that were inside her. She began sobbing hysterically.

He tightened his embrace on her. He whispered in her ear trying to soothe her.

"It's alright Buffy. Whatever it is it can't be that bad." Her cry softened a bit and she softly chanted in between sobs.

"It's all my fault. It's all my fault."

"Shh. No it's not."

Her cries began to strengthen again. Her cries were breaking both Scott's and Logan's heart. Scott slowly moved one of his arms underneath her legs. He gently picked her up. She clutched tighter to him crying even harder if that was possible.

"It's okay. We're just going to go up to my room where we won't be disturbed."

Logan ran interference for them making sure no one was around to see them. The coast clear, Scott carried Buffy upstairs to his room. Closing the door he sat on the bed with her on his lap.

"It's alright Kiwi. Tell me what's got you so upset." He used the nickname he'd given her when she was four.

"I can't. I don't want you to hate me." She replied in between sobs.

"I could never hate you Kiwi. No matter what you've done. I can't make it better if you don't tell me about it. Come on now. Take a deep breath. Another one. Feeling a bit better now?" She nodded. "Think you can tell me what's bothering you? Is this about being the slayer?"

"Hmm-mm. I'm not even sure where to start. There's so much and it's all my fault that it happened. I almost got my best friends killed, and I sent my boyfriend to Hell."

"You better start at the beginning if you want me to understand."

"The beginning right. Well I told you about my friends and my watcher. Well Giles started dating our schools computer teacher. Her name was Jenny Calendar, and they were cute together. Stay with me here the train is about to jump the track. You remember the last letter I sent to you? The one where I was telling you about meeting this really cool guy named Angel. I had already fallen for him when I found out he was a vampire. It's cool though because he still had his soul. It was due to a curse put on him by a gypsy family that he would remember and feel guilty about all those he had killed. Ms. Calendar was a gypsy sent to make sure that the curse was never broken because if it was Angel would return to his dark side." She explained to him about Spike and Drusilla and what happened on her birthday. "Angel changed because of our one time together. The night we destroyed the judge I couldn't bring myself to stake him. I had the chance but couldn't do it. If I had Miss Calendar wouldn't have died. Giles wouldn't have been tortured. Xander and Willow wouldn't have gotten hurt and Kendra would still be alive to get the chance to go out on a date with a man. Now because of me she'll never get the chance. There all better off without me there." Scott held her tighter than even he thought possible.

"It's not your fault Kiwi."

"Yes it is. Earlier I said I sent my boyfriend to Hell. I meant it to. I sent a fully restored with a soul Angel to Hell not Angelus. I had to close the Acathla and I looked down at him and his eyes were normal again and he didn't remember what he did." She began to cry again.

"Kiwi, what about Aunt Joyce? Does she know where you're at?"

"No. I left her a note. Not really sure what I wrote though. She found out about me being the slayer. We had a fight. She grounded me when I was needed. Told me if I walked out of the house not to come back. Why? Why did she make me choose?"

Her head was once again buried in his chest. Her tears wetting his shirt but he continued to hold her. Twenty minutes later the crying had turned into whimpers and Scott could tell that she had fallen asleep. Carefully he moved her to the bed. He grabbed the blanket from the bottom of the bed and covered her with it. He sat on the edge of the bed watching her sleep.