Solutions

 AUTHOR: Taramisu
 WRITTEN: 3/08/02
 E-MAIL: taramisu1@yahoo.com
 SUMMARY: Xander picks a bad way to deal with his problems
 RATING: PG-13

The gentle stench of sex and body odor wafted from the well-worn mattress beneath her.  Her leg bounced up and down, quietly bumping the bed up against the wall.  She lifted her arm to her face, straining to read the time.  03:37.  He could be out for hours, she thought.  And when he comes back, at the break of dawn, he’ll probably stink of beer, smoke and tears.  Her eyes became suddenly heavy, and she struggled to stay upright, not daring to lie down on the bed of sin.  Could he have chosen a more despicable place to stay?  Why couldn’t he have just stayed at Buffy’s…like everyone else did…and have to put up with the doting and the lectures and the…  Okay, so a seedy hotel it was.  She could accept that.

Seemingly involuntarily, her left arm lifted again.  03:38.  She rolled her eyes and sighed.  “Oh, Xander.”

04:12.  The sound of keys in the lock.  She looked up in anticipation.  The door opened and into the room stumbled a very drunk, and very sad man.  He tripped on the old stinky chair and fell onto the carpet, face first.

“Xander?”

No answer.

The woman crossed the room and carefully set the man before her up, brushing the rain soaked hair away from his face.  As one would expect, his eyes were red and puffy, with tearstains down his cheeks.  His tie was hanging from the back of his collar and the tuxedo jacket was dirty and ripped.  Beer stains were dripped down his white shirt.  Just what had he been up to?

“Come on Xander.  Wake up.”  Her swift hand slapped him none-too gently across his flushed cheeks.  He stirred, opening his eyes just a bit.  Then a very slurred and tired voice creaked, “Willlloow?”  His tears began anew as he clumsily reached for his friend and drew her into an embrace.

She held him for what seemed like hours, both of them crying silently.  Him for what he had lost, her for her dear friend who she could not stand to see in so much pain.  Not a word was exchanged during this time.  They just held each other, Xander soaking in her love, knowing that he was not alone after all.

Eventually, she broke it off and helped him up and out of his clothes.  “What?  What-r-yoo-dooing?”

“I brought you something comfortable to sleep in.  Here, let me – oof – help you.”  He did not offer much help, but she managed to get him out of the tight formal wear and into a tee shirt and Snoopy boxer shorts.  Once that deed was done, she struggled to place her friend in bed, making sure not to hit his head on the headboard.  No sense making his mental status any fuzzier, she thought.

He slept deep.  He slept for many hours.  She did not budge from her vigil at his bedside.

*******************************

Willow awoke with a definite strain in her neck.  She had slept in the chair all night…er…day.  Her watch confessed to her: 14:09.  Xander was sitting at the foot of the bed, holding his head and moaning.  “Oh, dear God.  Can someone just decapitate me now and get this misery over with already?”

Willow just watched him until he finally looked up at her with one eye open.  “Thanks, Will.  You’re the best, you know that?”

She did not respond.  Her face remained stone cold.

A sigh emanated from the hung-over man upon her nonreaction.  “Do I get the lecture now or later?  I’m assuming now since you stayed here all night.”  He hung his head back down, cradling it in his hands. “Listen, I know I was childish and stupid and wrong to do that to her.  Do I really have to hear you say it?”

She sighed.  “Now, you know me better than that.”

Silence.

“Then, what is it you have to say, Will?  And, do you happen to have an aspirin or two…or thirty?”

She got on the bed behind him and began to massage his head.  “Mmmm.  Magic fingers…well, not magic, just really good, because, you and magic, not so…”

She put her finger over his mouth.  “Shhh.  Just listen.”

His mouth snapped shut.  “Yes, mam.”

“Why did you do this to yourself?”

He thought for a few seconds, trying to ascertain to what she was referring.  “I…I couldn’t go through with it.  I…”

“No.”  She interrupted.  “This.  Getting yourself drunk and in a bar fight?  You look like garbage.  You smell like death warmed over.  You feel like shit.  Why would you go out and do that?”  She paused to hold back the tears.  “I love you, Xander.  I’m here for you.  I’ll stay up all night with you and eat Ho-Ho’s, watch bad infomercial TV, listen to you rant, let you cry on me…anything.  Why would you go off alone and do this to your body…get drunk like this?”

He had no answer.

“You know, I understand what was going on in your head.  You freaked.  You got a taste of a possible future and it was terrible.  It gave you flashbacks of your own parents and how they hated each other.  Well, this is not the way to beat the cycle, Xander.  To go out and drink, just like dear old Dad?”  Her massaging stopped and she leaned down to look him in the eye.  “Don’t let your fear of your father turn you into him.  You are better than that.”

They sat in silence again for many moments.  His breathing became more rapid as he started to cry once again.  She just held him from behind and kissed his shoulder.  Eventually, his voice creaked, “you’re right.”

“I know.”

“It’s just…I can’t deal with this.  I wanted to dull the pain.  To…be something, someone else for a little while.”

“Oh, yeah.  ‘Cuz you’re so pain free right now.”

He spared her just the glimmer of a smile.

“Come on!”  She slapped him on the back, and he groaned in pain.  “Let’s go home.”

“I don’t have a home, remember?  I jilted the love of my life, and now she has my apartment.  Oh, God.  She’s probably burning all my things or throwing them out on the lawn.”  He put his face back down in his hands.  “Oh, God.”

“Well, at least you have your Snoopy boxers.  You’ll stay with Buffy, Dawn and me.”  He looked up at her beautiful, warm smile.  It was time for him to stop this.  Right now.  The cycle of abuse of alcohol and loved ones would end here, with him.  But one last thing bothered him.

“How did I get into these?”

“Hey, look!  It’s check out time.  Better hurry.”  Willow sprinted out the door.

End