"I said no."

"Oh come on, it's not even gonna hurt."

"You've been on this off and on for months now, I said no I mean no how many times--"

"I'm certain this would work!"

"Which part of no do you not understand?"

"Please?"

"No!"

"I promise you nothing bad's gonna happen."

"Yeah she's like Gandalf the White now."

"Oh stop it Kennedy I'll blush!"

"No really I was there! She was excellent! All-"

"Yeah yeah we've heard it a million times." Xander stood up and crossed the cobblestone like floor to where the girls were standing, "She glowed white and that's when some couple hundred girls worldwide got all tingly. A lesbo wet dream. It's been almost a year and you're still going on about it!"

Kennedy rolled her eyes and looked at Willow, who was blushing but fighting a smile, which caused Kennedy to beam.

Dawn had up until this moment been trying to read, sitting at the big oaken table, actually doing the research like Giles asked them to do, but she was the only one. She looked over her book at them and chimed in her own retort. "Unlike the yellow crayon speech which you STILL harp on about to this very day!"

"HEY!" Xander pointed at Dawn defensively and gave her a good stare with his good eye, "I saved the world alright!? With my mouth. Willow's slicin' and dicin' me with her mysticks--"

"And again with the sorry," interjected Willow.

"Hey no sweat," Xander glanced at her with a shrug, and then back to Dawnie with the pointing, "the only thing standing between complete and utter destruction is me. I saved the world!"

"That was like two or three YEARS ago!" Dawnie huffed and returned to her reading.

Kennedy put her hands on Will's shoulders, noticing her girlfriend getting all crawl-in-a-shell-and-hide-ish. She looked at Xander ruefully, "What do you want? A medal?"

"No I'm just sayin'.. This is different."

Willow had looked down at the stone floor. Without moving her head, she moved her eyes up to meet his, "Xander. I love you."

"I know that Will."

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt ya."

Xander crossed his arms, not taking his eyes from hers.

"Now," Willow specified. "Whenever I have my senses about me I would never, ever, hurt you. You know that. Those other ..RARE and exceptiony times when I don't have my senses about me excluded. Ninety-nine point nine percent--"

"I trust ya one hundred percent, Willow. It's why I stood there and took it when you WERE kinda senseless."

"Didn't think I'd do it."

"If ya did destroy it all I wanted to be first in line. You owe me that."

"No. I owe you THIS."

"You owe me nuthin' really."

"And I hurt. I still hurt from that-- how I hurt you that day and.. Would you please just let me do this?"

"No."

"I owe you. You know I owe you this."

"You don't owe me anything."

"I want to. As a gift."

"Hey. Ain't I been doing fine?"

"Damn near killed me with the shopping cart last week." Dawn interjected passive aggressively, not looking away from her book.

"And again with the sorry," Xander said to Dawnie and then looked back at Willow, who looked back at him knowingly.

Kennedy added, "You'd be able to drive again if she did this--"

"Yeah the tentacle comin' outta my head could steer for me!"

"There'd be no tentacles I promise!"

"How can you promise that?" Xander habitually tapped at his eye patch-

"Don't fiddle with it--" Willow put her hand up to stop Xander's hand and he batted her away.

They stood there. The three of them. Staring at each other.

"And don't forget how all your one eyed jack jokes are getting pretty old!" Dawnie said from behind her book. The others looked over at her in unison, not amused. "...Well they are!" She defended, then returned to her reading uncomfortably.

"Okay Will. Look. I love you too. And I'd be happy if'n ya showed that love by like, buying me a card or maybe a nice sweater-"

"It does get cold here in England." Kennedy said, trying to be helpful.

"That it does."

"You know I'm in college still and struggling with the tuition as it is. Buying friends presents isn't in my budgeting."

"Oh and using us as guinea pigs with your spellcasting is."

"I know precisely what I'm doing."

"You could get me Ramen noodles and I'd be happy."

Willow looked pouty. Xander turned and walked away.

"And now with the guilt tripping. We've entered de ja vu land."

"Xander don't you trust me."

"I love ya, Willow."

"Yeah but do ya trust me?"

Dawn stood up and interrupted purposefully to derail where this conversation was going, because it was making her stomach rumble listening to two people she loves so much being unhappy with each other, "Willow you remember what Giles keeps telling you--"

"I know.."

"--about how magic is for necessity only that you can't go around fixing stuff that happened naturally--"

Willow turned on Dawnie and looked at her coldly. Her voice a tad more serious and mean than perhaps she intended, "How dare you lecture me on how I use magic I've learned my lessons."

Dawnie touched her left arm, "Yeah I learned your lessons too. It still hurts sometimes especially here in England where it's always cold and damp and no I won't let you FIX me neither."

Willow's voice sounded small in the large stone room, "I'm sorry Dawnie." She looked down again.

Xander turned around. "I don't trust magic. Any magic. Especially in reference to my body parts, or a lacking in that department. Ya wanna put a crystal ball in my brain."

"It wouldn't be crystal it wouldn't be anything. It'd just be an eye. It'd look just like a normal eye."

"Yah but it wouldn't would it? I'd have a little magic bomb just sittin' in my eye socket. And odds are I'd wake up one day and find it crawling around my night stand wondering why I wasn't up yet. Or maybe lasers'd shoot out of it when I wasn't lookin'. Or maybe I could see through walls and everybody'd be walkin' skeletons to me."

"Xander.."

"Maybe I'd look at people and could see their future. Or their past. Or maybe I could take my magic eye out of my head and look around corners with it."

"That would be handy," Kennedy intoned, trying to be supportive.

"You don't trust me?" Willow looked up at him.

"I don't trust where what you do comes from. That's not you. I trust you I don't trust.." he waved his hands around at nothing, "that, wherever whatever that is."

"Magic's not out to get you Xander."

"Coulda fooled me. Remember the time there wuz two of me?"

"No but Willow told me about it that musta been.." Willow and Xander looked questionably at Kennedy, who looked down at the floor, "shutting up."

"Remember when Dracula made me eat bugs?"

"That was just a mind trick. Not even magic really."

"Eyeballs are right next to the brain."

"I wouldn't even suggest it if I thought there was a risk."

"There's always a risk when it comes to magic. Sometimes we just ain't heard what the risk is yet. There's always a catch."

"Please just think about it?"

"I did. I do. Since the first day you suggested it months ago. I wish you'd never suggested it cuz some days I can't stop thinking about it but the answer's still no." Xander started to storm out of the castle.

"XANDER!" Dawnie called after him, "is ANYONE gonna help me research this ghost? We gotta find something for Giles before he and Buffy get back."

"Oh alright."

They each grabbed a book and perched somewhere in the room. The room was quiet for a couple minutes.

"What if I--?"

"NO!"

"Ooh!"