by Danii
Summary: Xander figures out what to do.
Disclaimer: I own no one here, never have, never will.
I get no profit from any of this, just the fix for my feedback addiction
and the occasional odd stare. Everyone
belongs to Joss (especially me...) and company.
Distribution: If you want it, feel free. Just
tell me where it is if you don't mind.
Rating:
PG
Dedication: To Bruce, for all his feedback and help on
BoH. To Dale, for being awesome. To
Nate, for being a perv.
It had taken a good long while, four years in fact, but Xander had finally figured it out.
Subtle just wasn't working.
He'd been going the way of the subtle approach since being turned down by the blonde Slayer for the high school dance, but while there had been minor successes using that method, at the rate he was going, their first date would be at his 79th birthday party or something.
There were other reasons he'd tried subtle. Xander had thought that maybe Buffy was just a passing crush, or that his instant passion for her had been caused by a head injury when he'd fallen off his skateboard. However, as he thought about all the girls he'd tried in the last 4 years (Incan mummy, Cordelia, Willow, Cordelia, Anya, Faith, and Cordelia), he had to admit that his heart had never truly belonged to any of them. No, that had been kept in a box, carefully protected, that only the Slayer had the key to. But that wasn't to say he didn't care for them. Yes, he'd loved them, but he'd never been IN love with them.
He'd thought he was in love with Anya. He'd thought that she was the one, the perfect replacement for Buffy that would never make him think of her again in that 'love-you-so-much-I-want-to-live-forever-just-to-be-with-you' sort of way. But that was just it. She would have been a replacement...not what he really wanted.
So, while he had been highly upset when he found Anya bonking the undead brains out of a certain bleached blonde vampire, it hadn't been as painful as it would have been. Not that he hadn't threatened to stake the aforementioned vampire on the spot, prompting the British once-Big Bad to high tail it out of the room and back to his crypt.
But, in short, Xander figured out that no matter what, his true love was Buffy Summers, and that trying to deny this fact was getting him nowhere, as was attempting subtlety.
He knew from experience that if he wanted to win her, he was going to have to play his strengths. Woo her in a way that was all him without scaring her. Or losing her.
But what did he have going for him exactly?
Yeah, he had a good, high-paying job, but that wasn't exactly what he wanted her to love about him. Besides, Xander knew that that sort of thing was not what the Slayer went for anyway, so that avenue was out. He could bring up his nice apartment, but again, it was another material thing which wouldn't help much.
Xander's mind went back and looked at Buffy's previous boyfriends and tried to figure out just how he could use his knowledge about them to help him.
"Well," he muttered, "First there's Angel..."
Ah yes, the bloodsucker who had first stolen the fair Buffy's heart. Just what was so wonderful about him?
"Vampire...no good. Broodiness...not if you paid me. Two hundred and forty-something years of experience...not for a while and/or never. Good dress sense..."
Good dress sense. That was an idea. Maybe that was what he needed...some new clothes. Sure, he was aware that Buffy wasn't so shallow as to love someone for their leather pants, but he knew that she was also very much a normal human female who enjoyed seeing the 'merchandise' in good packaging, just as he enjoyed watching her in her rather...nice outfits.
However, there was the problem of him having no dress sense to speak of. Despite the fact that he was not colorblind in any way, Xander had never had even a tiny ounce of what one would call clothing coordination skills. He just wore what was comfortable, and what he thought looked cool. So what if he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a stripped t-shirt underneath? It was comfy...
He was so bad that Anya, during their time together, had started picking out clothing for him in the mornings. But now he didn't have Anya to help him, so he was back to square one of that idea.
"But..." Xander pondered in a way that reminded him of his ex girlfriend, "Maybe clothing is the problem, and not the solution..."
And then a fiendish (okay, not very fiendish...just very very clever) plot unfolded in the young man's mind.
He picked up the phone and dialed.
*****
A second later, Xander heard the click of a phone being picked up, followed by the cheery voice he'd known since pre-school.
"Hello, you've reached Willow Rosenburg!" his best friend forever greeted brightly.
"Hi, Wills..."
"Hi, Xander. What's up?"
Xander grinned, and even though she couldn't see it, he knew that she'd be able to hear it.
"I have a plan."
"Oooooooohhh..." the young witch squealed like a three year old, "Plan for what?"
"If I tell you, I'll have to kill you..." Xander replied playfully in his best 'evil villain' voice, which was rather good since he'd helped defeat several evil villains in his life.
"Xander!"
"Just kidding," the young man told her with a small chuckle, "It's a plan for Op. BX."
"Operation Buffy-Xander?" Willow questioned, half teasing and half genuine question, "Thought you'd given up on that one."
"Nah," Xander informed her, "Just went into stealth for a while...scouting, you could say."
There was a pause as the red-head on the other side took in all the information she'd been given.
"Can we stop with the military stuff, please?" Willow asked with just a hint of pleading in her voice, "Just come on out and tell me what you're gonna do to get Buffy to notice you in the boyfriend-y kind of way!"
"Well," Xander said with much relish, "I have a plan."
"Got that part."
"But I can't tell you about it."
The reaction he'd expected immediately came.
"Whhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?" she asked, her voice one big whine, "I'm your bestest friend! You gotta tell me! We've been working on this since like forever, which is a long time I'll have you know."
"I know, Wills, I know..." Xander assured her, "But I can't tell you the whole thing."
"Then what can you tell me?" Willow questioned with mock-annoyance.
"Not much..." he admitted, "I mean, I know you've been helping me with this for a while-"
"Like forever."
"Like forever," he repeated, "But if I tell you, you might spill. And if you spill, it won't work."
"Xander!" the young witch answered, sounding upset, "Why would you think I would-"
"Willow?"
"Yeah, I probably would spill..." she admitted, knowing that she couldn't possible deny that tone in his voice, "So what do you need me to do, O master planner?"
"I need you to make Buffy extremely bored. EXTREMELY bored. Remind her of a test, talk about the mating habits of fungi...doesn't matter. Just make her really bored."
"Okay..."
"I know you can do this Wills."
"Thanks, Xander..." she replied sarcastically.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah."
"But just make her really bored, and make sure the phone is on the hook and everything..."
"You got it.
"And maybe you could convince her to wear a dress?"
*****
Xander didn't put down the phone after he finished his call with Willow. Instead, he dialed the number to the Magic Box, then stuck the phone in-between his cheek and his shoulder as he started his own preparations for the plan. The phone at the store was picked up within a minute or so, and from the other side of the phone line, Xander heard the voice of his ex.
"Hello, you've reached the Magic Box. We accept all credit cards, cash, check, money orders, etc. We sell the finest in magical merchandise for the discer-"
"May I speak to Mr. Rupert Giles, please?" Xander asked, affecting a decent British accent. True, he didn't have any bad feelings toward Anya, but he didn't feel like dealing with her. Since their break up, the ex-demon had tried to 'communicate' with him several times about their 'lack of an emotional relationship' and other such nonsense. Oh yeah, that was HIS fault.
'Anya' he remembered saying, 'Sometimes I feel like-'
'Wanna have sex?'
Not to mention:
'An, I have a feeling that-'
'I want an orgasm. Can we have and orgasm?'
And the always popular:
'Anya, honey, I really think that we should-'
'Have sex. I agree. It's been too many hours since we had sex.'
Yes, Anya had been a lot of fun, but not much for the whole 'relationship' thing. But at least, he thought, their relationship had taught her that sex wasn't everything. It'd taught her about being more human, and while he knew that in certain ways they had used each other during the course of their dating, Xander knew that they'd both come out of it as better people. Or at least more knowledgeable people.
"Sure, Mr. British-man." Anya told him politely in a plastic tone, "He'll be there in a minute."
And as promised, Giles was on the phone within a minute or so.
"Hello?" he greeted, wondering just who on earth would be calling him from England.
"Hi, Giles."
"Xander?"
"Yeah. I just did that so that Anya wouldn't try to start in on our 'post-relationship miscommunication'" Xander explained tiredly, "And I know you didn't want to hear that..."
"Yes, well, it's all the better that you did as you did," Giles agreed, "Otherwise, I'd probably have at least half a dozen offended customer, and the men in the shop might have run away in fear."
"I know."
"Indeed."
There was silence on the line as the two parties got a vision of Anya discussing their relationship, then shook their heads in unison (even if they didn't see it) and continued.
"What exactly is the reason for your call today, Xander?" the Watcher asked, his voice clearly curious.
"I was just wondering," Xander said slowly, "For purely social reasons, you understand..."
"Yes..."
"If there are any scheduled attacks, apocalypses, rites, spells, holidays, etc. for which the Slayer would have to break, say, a date, in order to stop."
There was silence.
"Any...evils..."
"Yeah."
"For which the Slayer would have to...break, say...a date."
"Uh-huh."
There was another pause.
"Let me check my book."
Xander heard the clatter of the phone as it hit the counter, then listened to the faint sound of flipping pages as the Watcher/Store owner researched. A few minutes later, the phone was picked up, and Xander's hopes were confirmed.
"No, Xander. There are no SCHEDULED attacks, evils, or anything else for tonight for which a Slayer would have to break her date."
"Cool." Xander replied simply, "Thanks, G-man."
"However..." Giles continued, ignoring the thank you for all intents and purposes, "There will be an unscheduled sacrifice to Hecate should said DATE act like a total Arse, considering that the Slayer has just lost her boyfriend and is rather emotionally unstable."
Xander 'gulped'.
"Otherwise, though," the Watcher finished, his cheerful tone renewed, "All is fine. Have a nice night, Xander. Don't do anything I wouldn't do..."
Xander just waited on the line for what he knew was coming.
"Or rather, don't do anything I wouldn't do while in my right mind and NOT on some mind-altering substance."
"All right, Giles." Xander replied, "See ya."
"Good bye, Xander."
"Bye."
And then he hung up the phone and began his work for the night.
*****
The phone rang, and Buffy Summers, Slayer of all things evil and icky, immediately scooped up the receiver like a starving man would grab a hamburger. And Buffy was starving. She was starving for something that was more interesting then watching paint dry.
Normally, she loved spending time with her best friend Willow. NORMALLY, the two of them could spend all night talking about nothing at all and never get bored. But tonight, it seemed almost like the red-head was TRYING to bore the life out of her.
"Hello?" the Slayer said, sounding desperate. Xander, who was on the other side of the phone, smiled. God, was he happy that Willow was helping him. It was like taking candy from a baby, not that he'd ever done that in real life. Yeah, he liked his Snickers as much as the next guy, but...
"Hey, Buffster!" Xander greeted cheerfully, "What's up?"
"The mating habits of fungai." Buffy replied tiredly, quickly shooting a glare at her best friend, who immediately looked up to her with an overly-innocent smile. "How about you?"
"Eh, not much..." the young man replied casually, "I was just gonna watch a couple of videos and chill all by my lonesome."
"Oh..."
"Yeah," Xander said, "Unless you'd like to come on over and enjoy the battles of Godzilla as well?"
"Yes!" the Slayer answered, quick as the aforementioned starving man with the aforementioned hamburger once more. "But do you want-"
"I can't go, Buffy..." Willow told her before she even finished the question, "I have homework."
"Awe...too bad..." Buffy said, trying her hardest to sound disappointed. She really did love Willow, but tonight had just been too much.
"Don't worry about it." the witch replied with a grin that had just a little TOO much mischief in it, "You and Xander have a nice time together. I mean, you guys have kind of drifted apart recently. Maybe you could, you know, renew stuff. Friendship stuff."
"Yeah..." Buffy agreed before she turned to the phone, "And I'll be over in about a half an hour, Xander. See ya then..."
"Bye, Buff..."
"Bye."
Buffy sighed tiredly as she put down the phone. A whole night with Xander. Poor, Anya-less, single Xander. Really cute, saved-my-life Xander. Xander who was not some angsty vampire who went evil, nor some vampire-addicted commando.
"Yeah, Wills..." she said for no reason inparticular, "I think we'll have a nice time tonight."
"Probably..." the redhead agreed, "So, what are you going to wear?"
Buffy turned to her friend with a surprised expression on her face. "Willow!"
"What?" Willow asked far too innocently, "I know that I like to be comfortable when I go hang out, so I was just wondering what you were going to wear?"
"Humph..." the Slayer said as she got up and walked to the closet, "You're almost making this sound like a date."
"No, I'm not." Willow peeped out too quickly.
"Yes, you are!"
The red haired witch opened her mouth, as if to refute the Slayer's accusation, but then promptly shut said mouth and sealed it with a smile.
"Yeah, I am..." Willow agreed, "But is it so crazy?"
"What?" Buffy asked, now as innocent sounding as her friend had sounded.
"I said..." she said slowly, as if to a small child, "Is it so crazy?"
"It's Xander!"
"And what exactly is Xander, huh?" Willow pointed out, "A guy who knows what you are and doesn't care, who fights by your side, who's stuck by you for five years, who's always been there to help you out, and even to save your life. A guy who's loved you since first sight."
"Not anymore..." Buffy muttered.
"Not to mention the fact that he is a total hottie..." Willow went on, completely ignoring Buffy's silly comment. Xander not loving Buffy? Since when were pork products seen in the skies?
"Yeah..." Buffy agreed.
"So, get on a dress, head over, and seduce the hell out of him!" the witch commanded.
And Buffy, in the way that anyone who'd heard Willow command something, hopped to.
*****
He had everything set up.
With a wide smile on his handsome face, Xander Harris looked around his apartment with great satisfaction. Everything was perfect.
He had candles set up to make the atmosphere just right, an oil diffuser which was at that moment spreading a sweet, flowery, but not overpowering smell within his apartment, movies in the VCR which would hopefully help the often-tense Slayer relax, and a special dinner which he had cooked up all by himself which he knew would be just perfect. And then, sitting in it's little drawer in the kitchen, was the secret weapon.
All in all, everything was set to go...which was a good thing since the doorbell rang a moment later.
Immediately, he jumped up from his seat on the couch (which he'd carefully positioned so that one would have to move closer to his side to see the TV better) and walked to the door, the smile still on his face. What greeted him when he opened it dropped his jaw to the floor.
There, standing the doorway, was Buffy Summers. At least, he thought it was Buffy Summers. He wasn't exactly sure...she might have been some goddess come to visit him or something, because the Buffy Summers HE knew didn't dress up like this divine being was dressed just to hang out at his house.
SHE didn't wear a dress, not to mention a dress that barely reached mid-thigh. SHE didn't put on makeup. SHE didn't wear those strappy-looking shoes that Xander swore were made simply to confuse the male mind. But most importantly, SHE didn't have a sweetly (and slightly seductive) smile on her face when she went to see her Xander-shaped friend.
"Xander..." she said, a question in her voice mixed with obvious delight.
He stood in shock for a moment, then backed away from the doorway in mute awe.
"Buffy..." he finally got out (yes, words were definitely not his strong point in the romance department) "Come in..."
"Why thank-" she started. However, the Slayer, who'd been slinking in as she spoke, knocked into something with an expertly rolled hip as she was making her way in.
"Oh my God, Xander! Fire!"
Quickly, he dropped out of his near-catatonic shock state and ran to the kitchen. Once there, he grabbed a towel from the counter and brought it back, throwing it on top of the small fire. Then he began to stomp unceremoniously on top of the burning carpet covered in towel, which eventually stopped the flames. When he was finished, he delicately picked up the tattered towel and dropped it into the trash can. The two shared a glance.
"Sorry..." Buffy said quietly, her seductive smile gone down the embarrassment-drain.
"S'okay..." Xander replied with a still-shocked grin.
Then she took a look around the room.
"What was that thing anyway?" she asked curiously.
"Um...diffuser..." the young man answered nervously, "Something Willow gave me as a 'your-girlfriend-left-you' pity gift..."
Oh good job, Xander thought to himself, just remind her of your EXCELLENT romantic track record. Not that she's got any room to gloat...
"Oh..." she said quietly as she sat down on his couch. Then she switched topics, "So, what are we going to watch?"
"Um..." Xander repeated as he plopped down onto the couch on the opposite side, "How about...'Bridges of Madison County'?"
Which immediately set Buffy into a giggling fit. One which, for once, didn't make Xander smile. Instead, it made his confidence begin to look around nervously for the Big-Doofy Fairy, hoping that it would delay it's arrival till AFTER he'd used the secret weapon.
"Funny..." she said with a grin at him, "Now, serious...what are we going to watch?"
Well, there goes all my movie ideas...and twenty bucks worth of movies from Blockbuster...
"How about 'Army of Darkness'?" Xander ventured, pulling the often-viewed video from it's place on his coffee table. It had become, along with the many Bruce Lee movies and several Jim Carrey favorites, one of the Scooby gang's favorites due to it's high slap-stick value (and the girl's Bruce Campbell obsession), not to mention how Buffy and Willow loved to comment on the anachronisms that abounded in the film. Xander was hoping to profit from the 'romance' in the movie...all five minutes of it.
"Sure..." she replied with a grin, "I'm in the mood for a little silliness..."
"Cool..." Xander grunted, not exactly excited but thanking God that nothing worse had happened. Then he pushed in the tape, and the movie started.
"My name is Ash...and I am a slave..." announced Bruce Campbell from the screen.
"My name is Xander, and I am a hopeless romantic..." the young man muttered beneath his breath as he moved ever so slowly towards the center of the couch.
"Close as I can figure it the year is 1300 AD, and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this...I had a real life...once."
"I could have a real love life...if I wasn't an idiot..." Buffy murmured quietly as she edged closer to the middle of the couch.
"I had a wonderful girlfriend...Linda..."
"I had a wonderful girlfriend, Cordelia...who I dumped in order to kiss my best friend, who I was really imagining was Buffy, and then..."
The movie went on.
They moved closer.
Ash lost Sheila.
They moved closer.
Ash messed up the words.
They moved closer.
The deadites attacked.
They were right next to each other.
And then, at the same time, Buffy and Xander both tried to lean their heads on the other's shoulder, which resulted in a crash of craniums that could have been compared to the movie's shotgun blasts...
"Oh, God Dammit!"
"Ouch!"
And then the two looked down at where they were sitting, then looked at one another. Then the two of them glanced at the movie, where Bruce Campbell was at that moment spinning his evil clone's skull.
"Uh, no more movie?" Xander asked, rubbing his head.
"Nah..." she replied.
"Then do you want to play a game?" he asked, his plan back on track. His plan on a FAST track.
"What kind of game?" the Slayer asked, all ears.
"Well, it goes like this..."
*****
There are many situations in life which one could call aggravating.
Getting called in for jury duty, finding dog piddle on your front yard, or perhaps even missing a bus that you desperately needed in order to get to school or work in time...all very good examples. However, one Xander Harris and one Buffy Summers had almost every single one of these predicaments beat.
They sat at his kitchen table, each grasping their cards in their hands. On Buffy's side of the table sat Xander's socks and his sweater, while all the young man has been able to obtain were the Slayer's shoes and pantyhose.
When both people are trying desperately to lose, it's very hard for someone to actually do so.
Now, one would think that two people who were obviously attracted to one another would have no problem divesting themselves of clothing. However, this couple, being the people that they were, were having troubles.
Buffy was pretty sure that Xander was in love with her. She knew it wasn't really lust, but rather something deeper that had driven the young man to do what he had over the years and become who he had. But she also knew that Xander was an All-American red-blooded young man who enjoyed seeing scantily clad women. And she was trying her hardest to become scantily clad.
Xander, on the other hand, was sure that he loved Buffy, but not even hopeful enough to guess that it might run the other way as well. He loved her deeply, and didn't want their relationship to be based on lust, but he also knew that Buffy was an All-American red-blooded young woman who enjoyed seeing scantily clad men. And he too was trying his hardest, in accordance with his plan, to become scantily clad.
Thus they sat at his kitchen table, neither scantily clad, but both becoming increasingly agitated.
"Whadda got, Buffster?" he asked slyly. He said it slyly because all he had was two 2's, and was pretty sure he was going to lose. In his mind, he gave a cheer for himself.
She laid the cards out on the table and, much to his horror, the other two 2's sat amongst a few other mismatched cards in her hand.
"Two 2's!" the Slayer proclaimed with satisfaction, which she immediately dampened as soon as she could. How would it look if she seemed eager? "What about you?"
"Two...2's..." replied Xander glumly. This wasn't go at all as he'd planned it. "Draw..."
Buffy sighed tiredly, then leaned back into her chair. This was unbelievable! Couldn't ONE OF THEM LOSE!?
"You know what, Xander?" Buffy asked, deciding as she was speaking just what she was about to propose, "How about this? Loser of the next round loses all of their clothing...All of it...down to the very last piece..."
Immediately, Xander's eyebrows almost reached his hairline. ALL of their clothing? As in ALL? As in totally naked Buffy before his eyes?! Or, he thought with a slight blush, a totally naked Xander...
He was frightened, but fear had never stopped him before. He was the guy that dove head first into demonic battles! He was the guy who had walked into the lair of a master vampire with nothing but a cross and some stakes! He was the guy who'd beaten a zombie street gang!
It'd be really pathetic if he couldn't find the courage to play high-stakes strip poker with the girl he loved...
"Okay..." Xander replied finally, "You're on..."
And, with another look at Buffy, Xander decided that he was going to WIN...
*****
Buffy looked at the cards in her hand with unparalleled joy. A royal flush sat within her fingers, making the Slayer smile like a cat who’s just emptied the birdcage.
I’m going to win, Buffy thought with a smirk which she hid with her cards, I’m going to win, and then I get to see Xander nekkid…bwahahaha…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table.
Xander looked at the cards in his hand with unparalleled joy. A royal flush sat within his fingers, making the young man smile like a cat who’s just emptied the birdcage.
I’m going to win, Xander thought with a smirk which he hid with his cards, I’m going to win, and then I finally get to see Buffy nekkid…BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
*****
Willow fell onto the floor laughing, her scrying crystal tumbling to the floor after her.
*****
Brown eyes met blue from across the table.
"So," Xander asked confidently, "Whatcha’ got?"
Buffy smiled back demurely. "Don’t you wish you were gonna find out…"
"Maybe I will," the young man commented as he took a casual glance at his cards, "Just maybe I will…"
"I seriously doubt it, partner…" the Slayer replied with a sly drawl as she put her cards down on the table with a flourish. "Royal flush…now let’s see those skills you picked up in Oxnard, sugar…"
Xander shook his head.
"Uh-huh-huh…" he replied, "Read em’ and weep…"
And Xander put his own cards down.
"Royal flush…" he told her quietly.
There was a pause.
"So-"
"We both-"
"Win" the two announced in unison.
There was a rather disappointed pause.
"Or," Xander pointed out brilliantly, "We could take it as we both LOSE…"
"We both…lose?" Buffy asked slowly as she thought this idea through. "Yeah, we both LOST…"
"So…"
"So…"
*****
"My god, are they both idiots?"
*****
"So…"
"So…"
*****
Buffy nodded to this suggestion, then ever so slowly began pull down the zipper on her dress. The zip noise rang in Xander’s ear like a buzzer; the young man knew that had this happened BEFORE he’d met Anya, he’d have fainted a few seconds earlier and/or would be drooling visibly on the floor.
Carefully, oh so carefully, Buffy peeled off the red dress she had been wearing, revealing a pair of silk panties and a rather frilly looking bra. Xander, however, didn’t get a good look at it because suddenly, his world was made out of red cotton.
"Ack!" the young man cried, scrambling to get the dress off of his face.
"Sorry, Xand…" Buffy said, not sounding sorry in the least. "I’ll wait until you get it off…"
"Okay," the young man agreed as he pulled the dress off of him. "But you know, for someone without professional training, you’re doing a VERY good job all by yourself. A little more sway of the hips and I would have been stuffing in dollars…"
Buffy laughed at this, then pointed to herself. "Where?"
Then Xander stepped over to her, his fingers ever so careful and polite, and pulled on her bra ever so lightly. He wanted her so badly, but he wasn’t going to overstep his bounds. He didn’t just LUST for her, he LOVED her.
"Here," he told her in a voice that was huskier then he’d expected.
"Really, Mr. Harris?" the Slayer asked in a whisper.
"Oh yes…"
And it was at this moment that Buffy decided that she could wait for the show, but not for him…
*****
"Okay, now I’m turning this off. As much as it warms my heart that Buffy has finally figured out what a babe Xander is, I really have no business looking in on that."
"Looking in on what, sweetheart?"
Willow threw a cloth on the crystal and turned around to face Tara, who she hadn’t heard come in.
"Nothing, Tara…"
The blonde witch raised an eyebrow, but let it be. Then she went to her bed and began to get changed for sleeping.
"Coming?" she asked with a sly smile as she patted the mattress.
Willow took one last look underneath the cloth, raised an eyebrow, wondered if the position was possible for non-Slayers, then put the cloth back down. Her eyes then turned to her own girlfriend, and a smile cross her lips.
Time to have her own fun…