Room 121, Evening
It's a very, very nifty phone. It takes pictures. It gets the internets. It sends text messages. It... doesn't actually have a calling plan, and Xander's not looking too hard at where it's stealing its signal from, just like he's not looking too hard at how it makes, or possibly summons, Twinkies at the press of one of its many buttons, some of which he hasn't even figured out the function of yet. It might brew mochaccinos for all he knows.
So of course one of the few things he hasn't done with it in the weekend that's passed since he got it is the one thing it was designed to do: make a phone call.
He's staring at it now. Kind of working on that.
"You know," Bridge says. "It works a lot better if you dial a number first."
"Yee-ah, I'm workin' on it." Xander stares at the buttons, trying to pretend he's still trying to figure out how the ones with the numbers work, but he's pretty sure that particular ruse has been blown. "Just if I talk to her, she'll actually tell me when I have to come home, y'know?"
He's punching in the numbers for Giles' apartment, though, where he's guessing she'll be at this hour, since when the high school closed down, that's where the books went.
"Yeah, I know," Bridge says, sprawling out on the bed and propping his chin up in his hands.
"I don't want to find out it's like.. the day after tomorrow." But if it is, he kind of has to know, and it'll be worse if he doesn't have time to do...some of everything he wants to do before he leaves.
Xander finishes punching in the number and hits the button that tells the phone - and again with the not asking - in which dimension and when it's supposed to be calling that line.
And it rings. And he resists hanging up.
There's a clatter, then "...I've got it!" then "Hello? Giles' apartment, this is Willow speaking, can I take a message? He's out buying soup. Which you probably didn't need to know. Hi. Can we erase that and go back to where I sound professional?"
And hearing her voice is like way back in the mists of this spring when every e-mail was a game of hide-and-seek with the truth, but it's also like last fall, when that very first one had come through from her and he'd finally known where she was again, and it was Willow.
"Hey, Will."
"...XANDER?"
"I kinda liked that eardrum," he says in a conversational tone. He assumes, since he can't really hear himself over the ringing.
"But... phone!" As if that says all she needs to explain, and because it's them, it does. Though she adds, "Wait, you're my Xander, right? Because there's this whole thing with dimensions, so if you came through from another one and you're looking for me... well you should probably come over here so we can figure out how to get you home, I guess, but--"
"Willow, breathe. It's me. On a phone that's been, and stop me if this gets too technical, thingamajiggered. Bridge and Jeremiah say hi. "
"Hi, Willow!" Bridge shouts, starting to wave before he remembers that she can't actually *see* him.
"HI, BRIDGE!" she shouts back. In Xander's ear. Then in a sheepish voice, "Oops. Sorry."
"That's okay. It was already broken." Xander turns away from the phone for a second and says, not that it's necessary, "Willow says hi." Then he turns back. "So..."
"So you're really my Xander!" Her voice is cheerful and reasonably unpiercing. For, like, a second. Then, "IN WHICH CASE OHEMGEEWHATTHEYOUKNOWWHAT, ANGEL GOT SOMEBODY PREGNANT????"
"...Okay one, OW, two, no, three, I'm guessing Buffy's not there either, and four, OW."
"Well, if you'd open your e-mail instead of avoiding me you'd only have gotten capslock of doom instead of me actually yelling, so it's your own fault, mister. And you said he got somebody pregnant, not me."
"No, I found out there was a prophecy that says he could. Nobody's pregnant." If Xander sounded a little...weirdly wistful at that, nobody's more surprised than him.
"Oh." Willow doesn't sound wistful; just like the wind's been let out of her sails because she doesn't know what to yell at him about now. "Well next time, clarify!"
Xander rolls his eyes. "Okay! Next time I find out about a prophesy where Angel can have a kid, I'll definitely make sure to let you know there's no actual kid, and it's not named after me." He sighs, because he has to get around to it eventually. "Meanwhile back in the land of things that actually are happening..."
And... she's Willow, and no matter how many times comprehension of what the other's saying in plain English passes both of them like ships with really bad RADAR in the night, what isn't said, she can hear loud and clear.
"You're supposed to get home next Monday," she says softly.
And Xander feels something tighten in his chest even as he breathes a sigh of relief that it's not sooner. The fact that it's an it's at all, that there's a date he can write down on a calendar...
"Next Monday," he repeats, trying to make it real in his head.
Bridge, who's been listening to Xander's side of the conversation, suddenly finds the bedspread incredibly fascinating.
"That's the last day we can confirm dorm move-in's," Willow tells him. "Freshmen have to show up in person for that, so they don't fill the spot with somebody else. But--" she says as Xander takes a breath to speak.
"But?" Xander repeats out loud, not letting himself wish for too much.
"What?" Bridge looks up, his expression hopeful.
"You have to get here on Monday, but you're already going back in time. A few more days... the timeframe should stretch that much." Willow makes a noise with her nose that Xander can almost see being accompanied by a flippy little wave of her fingers. "I'll have to tweak it a little - you'd think the Watcher's Council portal spell would be a little more advanced considering it was what they were using to ship us out in the first place - but... I can get you to leaving on Friday. Early Friday morning?"
"Friday morning," he says aloud, both for Bridge's benefit and his own.
It's not enough, but the only thing that would be enough would be for Willow to tell him she'd found a spell to move Fandom Island to that empty lot behind the Pic & Save on the north side of the Sunnydale mall. It's four days more than he had thirty seconds ago, though, and that's enough to make his ribcage not feel quite so small.
Into the phone, he says, "I love you, you do know that, right?"
He knows what her smile sounds like, and no, that makes no sense. In the background there's the sound of a door opening. "You'd better, Xander Harris, or--"
A squeal, and not from Willow. "Ohmigod, is that Xander? Can I say hi? Please?" It's a girl's voice, and it sounds familiar, but it's not Buffy.
"Uhhhhh...sure." Willow's voice lowers and she mutters, "...sorry..." into the phone, before it's grabbed away.
"Xander?" Very familiar, and completely wrong.
Xander doesn't say anything, because he's too busy staring at the phone.
"Xander?" in the same voice.
A few seconds of silence, then Willow comes back on the line. "Xander? Are you still there?"
"That was..."
"....Yeeee-es?"
"Why was that..?"
"Because her mom's out of town for a couple of days and Buffy's off patrolling?"
{blinkblinkblink}
"Xander?"
"Yeah, gimme a second, I'm experiencing some, uh." He stares at the phone again. "Technical difficulties."
"You sound fine from this end. Are you gonna say hi to her?" Very, very low, Willow mutters, "Xander, come on, you should see her face."
There's the sound of the phone being passed again. "Xander?"
"...hi, Dawn."
...
Five minutes later, he's hanging up and turning around to look at Bridge, and the WTF hasn't faded from his face in the slightest.
It's only increased by the expression he finds on Bridge's face.
"Um. Maybe you should talk to Dawn. The one here, I mean." It's possible he looks vaguely guilty.
"...Why?"
"I, um. Kind of promised I wouldn't say..." Bridge says quietly. "It's not my thing to tell, really."
Xander gives Bridge a look that he can't even quite describe himself, because he gets keeping people's secrets, but this is... weird, and.. "Okay. I guess. I'll... be back."
And he heads out the door toward the third floor.
Bridge bites his lip. "And I'll be, um, here."
[pre-played with bridge_carson; no interaction as Xander's taking off and Bridge-mun is afk. That Xander called home is okay for broadcast; unexpected guest on the other end of the line, no.]
So of course one of the few things he hasn't done with it in the weekend that's passed since he got it is the one thing it was designed to do: make a phone call.
He's staring at it now. Kind of working on that.
"You know," Bridge says. "It works a lot better if you dial a number first."
"Yee-ah, I'm workin' on it." Xander stares at the buttons, trying to pretend he's still trying to figure out how the ones with the numbers work, but he's pretty sure that particular ruse has been blown. "Just if I talk to her, she'll actually tell me when I have to come home, y'know?"
He's punching in the numbers for Giles' apartment, though, where he's guessing she'll be at this hour, since when the high school closed down, that's where the books went.
"Yeah, I know," Bridge says, sprawling out on the bed and propping his chin up in his hands.
"I don't want to find out it's like.. the day after tomorrow." But if it is, he kind of has to know, and it'll be worse if he doesn't have time to do...some of everything he wants to do before he leaves.
Xander finishes punching in the number and hits the button that tells the phone - and again with the not asking - in which dimension and when it's supposed to be calling that line.
And it rings. And he resists hanging up.
There's a clatter, then "...I've got it!" then "Hello? Giles' apartment, this is Willow speaking, can I take a message? He's out buying soup. Which you probably didn't need to know. Hi. Can we erase that and go back to where I sound professional?"
And hearing her voice is like way back in the mists of this spring when every e-mail was a game of hide-and-seek with the truth, but it's also like last fall, when that very first one had come through from her and he'd finally known where she was again, and it was Willow.
"Hey, Will."
"...XANDER?"
"I kinda liked that eardrum," he says in a conversational tone. He assumes, since he can't really hear himself over the ringing.
"But... phone!" As if that says all she needs to explain, and because it's them, it does. Though she adds, "Wait, you're my Xander, right? Because there's this whole thing with dimensions, so if you came through from another one and you're looking for me... well you should probably come over here so we can figure out how to get you home, I guess, but--"
"Willow, breathe. It's me. On a phone that's been, and stop me if this gets too technical, thingamajiggered. Bridge and Jeremiah say hi. "
"Hi, Willow!" Bridge shouts, starting to wave before he remembers that she can't actually *see* him.
"HI, BRIDGE!" she shouts back. In Xander's ear. Then in a sheepish voice, "Oops. Sorry."
"That's okay. It was already broken." Xander turns away from the phone for a second and says, not that it's necessary, "Willow says hi." Then he turns back. "So..."
"So you're really my Xander!" Her voice is cheerful and reasonably unpiercing. For, like, a second. Then, "IN WHICH CASE OHEMGEEWHATTHEYOUKNOWWHAT, ANGEL GOT SOMEBODY PREGNANT????"
"...Okay one, OW, two, no, three, I'm guessing Buffy's not there either, and four, OW."
"Well, if you'd open your e-mail instead of avoiding me you'd only have gotten capslock of doom instead of me actually yelling, so it's your own fault, mister. And you said he got somebody pregnant, not me."
"No, I found out there was a prophecy that says he could. Nobody's pregnant." If Xander sounded a little...weirdly wistful at that, nobody's more surprised than him.
"Oh." Willow doesn't sound wistful; just like the wind's been let out of her sails because she doesn't know what to yell at him about now. "Well next time, clarify!"
Xander rolls his eyes. "Okay! Next time I find out about a prophesy where Angel can have a kid, I'll definitely make sure to let you know there's no actual kid, and it's not named after me." He sighs, because he has to get around to it eventually. "Meanwhile back in the land of things that actually are happening..."
And... she's Willow, and no matter how many times comprehension of what the other's saying in plain English passes both of them like ships with really bad RADAR in the night, what isn't said, she can hear loud and clear.
"You're supposed to get home next Monday," she says softly.
And Xander feels something tighten in his chest even as he breathes a sigh of relief that it's not sooner. The fact that it's an it's at all, that there's a date he can write down on a calendar...
"Next Monday," he repeats, trying to make it real in his head.
Bridge, who's been listening to Xander's side of the conversation, suddenly finds the bedspread incredibly fascinating.
"That's the last day we can confirm dorm move-in's," Willow tells him. "Freshmen have to show up in person for that, so they don't fill the spot with somebody else. But--" she says as Xander takes a breath to speak.
"But?" Xander repeats out loud, not letting himself wish for too much.
"What?" Bridge looks up, his expression hopeful.
"You have to get here on Monday, but you're already going back in time. A few more days... the timeframe should stretch that much." Willow makes a noise with her nose that Xander can almost see being accompanied by a flippy little wave of her fingers. "I'll have to tweak it a little - you'd think the Watcher's Council portal spell would be a little more advanced considering it was what they were using to ship us out in the first place - but... I can get you to leaving on Friday. Early Friday morning?"
"Friday morning," he says aloud, both for Bridge's benefit and his own.
It's not enough, but the only thing that would be enough would be for Willow to tell him she'd found a spell to move Fandom Island to that empty lot behind the Pic & Save on the north side of the Sunnydale mall. It's four days more than he had thirty seconds ago, though, and that's enough to make his ribcage not feel quite so small.
Into the phone, he says, "I love you, you do know that, right?"
He knows what her smile sounds like, and no, that makes no sense. In the background there's the sound of a door opening. "You'd better, Xander Harris, or--"
A squeal, and not from Willow. "Ohmigod, is that Xander? Can I say hi? Please?" It's a girl's voice, and it sounds familiar, but it's not Buffy.
"Uhhhhh...sure." Willow's voice lowers and she mutters, "...sorry..." into the phone, before it's grabbed away.
"Xander?" Very familiar, and completely wrong.
Xander doesn't say anything, because he's too busy staring at the phone.
"Xander?" in the same voice.
A few seconds of silence, then Willow comes back on the line. "Xander? Are you still there?"
"That was..."
"....Yeeee-es?"
"Why was that..?"
"Because her mom's out of town for a couple of days and Buffy's off patrolling?"
{blinkblinkblink}
"Xander?"
"Yeah, gimme a second, I'm experiencing some, uh." He stares at the phone again. "Technical difficulties."
"You sound fine from this end. Are you gonna say hi to her?" Very, very low, Willow mutters, "Xander, come on, you should see her face."
There's the sound of the phone being passed again. "Xander?"
"...hi, Dawn."
...
Five minutes later, he's hanging up and turning around to look at Bridge, and the WTF hasn't faded from his face in the slightest.
It's only increased by the expression he finds on Bridge's face.
"Um. Maybe you should talk to Dawn. The one here, I mean." It's possible he looks vaguely guilty.
"...Why?"
"I, um. Kind of promised I wouldn't say..." Bridge says quietly. "It's not my thing to tell, really."
Xander gives Bridge a look that he can't even quite describe himself, because he gets keeping people's secrets, but this is... weird, and.. "Okay. I guess. I'll... be back."
And he heads out the door toward the third floor.
Bridge bites his lip. "And I'll be, um, here."
[pre-played with bridge_carson; no interaction as Xander's taking off and Bridge-mun is afk. That Xander called home is okay for broadcast; unexpected guest on the other end of the line, no.]