MCA#0, Sunday evening

[needsaparrot]

After a week full of encounters, some of them less awkward than others and at least one a lot less expected than others, Xander was alone.

More specifically, he was sitting alone at the small table in his kitchen, with a beer and a box.

The tv out in the den was playing something old enough to have a laugh track and familiar enough that he wasn't really listening to it. He'd just left it on for the noise.

You'd think he'd be out there watching, since it wasn't like he was doing anything else productive, like going through the box. He was just sitting there in the kitchen, slowly sipping his beer and flipping through the first thing he'd found packed at the top of the box: a photo album.
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[OOC: for a certain returning wayfarer, yis]

Comments

[needsaparrot]

"I didn't worry as much as when you went to Hell?" Xander offers, closing the door. I missed you too, he leaves unsaid, despite its truth.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"No concussion this time," Bridge says, as if this is something to be proud of. Which it is.

[needsaparrot]

Xander smiles again. "No mud runs?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Not even a mud run *simulation*," Bridge says, pleased with that particular fact. "Just lots of being chased through abandoned warehouse districts."

[needsaparrot]

"As you do," Xander says, not at all sarcastically, because hi, Sunnydale expatriate. He pauses a moment before moving towards the kitchen and beckoning Bridge to follow.

"I'm, ah. Having a beer. You want one?" It still makes him a bit twitchy to offer, like he's that guy who stands outside the liquor store and waits for the high schoolers whose fake ID's aren't good enough to pay him to go in and get them booze, but he recognises that's a little less than sane, under the circumstances.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Bridge shrugs, following Xander in to the kitchen. He can't help but glance curiously over at the open photo album as he sits down.

[needsaparrot]

Xander heads to the fridge to grab another bottle of beer. It's not that he doesn't believe you could synthesize it; he's just not sure he trusts what he'd get if he tried to ask the machine for it.

"So we rented the last apartment today. You'll never guess to who."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Uh," Bridge thinks for a minute, because he has a tendency to take things literally sometimes and actually does make a guess. "Mr. Giles?"

[needsaparrot]

Xander looks over his shoulder, refrigerator door open. ".........Did you just cheat?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Uh... maybe?" Bridge looks sheepish and a little flaily. "I didn't actually *mean* to!"

[needsaparrot]

Xander looks back in the refrigerator and thinks to himself that possibly he's going to have to keep a tighter lid on what he...well, thinks to himself, if Bridge is that good at reading him, even after all this time, even wearing his gloves.

Aloud, he just says, "Well, you cheated right. Or guessed right. Apparently it's old home week today." Hey, it's Fandom. You can cram a week into a day.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"So maybe I'll actually get to meet this version, then, if he's living here. Well. Not here in your apartment here. Here in your building here." Bridge babbles.

[needsaparrot]

"Hope so. Hope he sticks around for a while." Xander glances down, not moving for a moment. "I think he might have come from when things were pretty rough bck home. While Buffy was gone. Didn't get a chance to talk to him about that, since Willow was there and that hasn't happened for her yet."

He finally grabs another bottle of beer and closes the refrigerator, then reaches for the bottle opener on the counter.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Right," Bridge nods, because future event related issues are something he's familiar with. "Can I...?" he nods towards the photo album.

[needsaparrot]

Xander looks back over his shoulder, and after a second, nods slowly. "If you want." He turns around again, adding, "It's mostly pictures from Sunnydale. The year or so before it went kaboom. Kinda on my mind today."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Guess it would be, with Giles showing up," Bridge says, sliding the album over so he can take a better look.

[needsaparrot]

Among other things. Xander sets the bottle on the table in front of Bridge, and moves his chair over so he can see what Bridge is looking at.

"That's Joyce," he says, pointing to the picture on the right, of a smiling woman with wavy hair, sitting on the back steps of a house. "Buffy and Dawn's mom."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I remember," Bridge says, glad to finally be able to put a face to the name. "She meant a lot to you. All of you guys."

[needsaparrot]

"Yeah, she did." Xander slides his finger across the page. "And there's Buffy and Dawn doing.... something with mac and cheese. I'm not sure that pot was ever the same again."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge snickers slightly. "I've seen Dawn's cooking. I'm not surprised."

[needsaparrot]

"I can't remember whether that was the time it burnt or the time she tried to get creative with the spicerack." Xander turns the page and pauses before flipping it all the way open, once he sees the next picture.

It's one of him sprawled on the couch, one leg up on the arm, grinning at Faith, who's propped her legs across his lap and is laughing at the camera. At Larry behind the camera, really.

"That's Faith," he says simply when he lets it fall open. NOt that Bridge wouldn't know what she looks like from the one who went here, but...yeah. He glances at Bridge, not sure of what he'll see.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"You guys look... happy," Bridge says, not sure of what to *say*. Or what to feel, really. There was the flicker of jealousy that she got to be with him while he couldn't, but also he couldn't help but be *glad* that she'd been there for him, like the version of her in his dream had promised. And then there was the fact that she'd *died* saving Xander. Well, the world, but Bridge is kind of biased and feels that Xander is the most important *part* of that world.

[needsaparrot]

"There?" Xander studies the picture and gives a small smile. "Yeah. That was after Buffy was back but before we moved. Back in the old apartment." Still glancing at Bridge, because he's still not sure how much Bridge has read of the things he said over the years. Not even sure he remembers all of it.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"She told me not to worry, that she'd catch you, in my dream," Bridge says quietly. "I'm... glad she was there. For you."

[needsaparrot]

"She was, yeah." Xander laughs. "Not that it wasn't weird. I mean, first person I ever--" Right, still stymied by that lack of a word. "--had something with after they tried to kill me..."