author: Lucinda
content may be similar to the series, with violence involving humans 
and 
nonhumans, moderate sexuality, and alcohol, though it probably won't be 
as serious.
pairing: Willow/Doyle, mentions of past tense Willow/Tara
sixth in 'Lucky Charm'
disclaimer: I own nobody from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the 
Series.
distribution: WLS, NHA, Bite Me please?, Wic, anyone else just ask.
notes: AU. Hero never happened. Cordelia hooked up with Wesley, and 
Doyle's crush on her faded.


Doyle tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the song 
playing on the radio. He was visiting Willow this weekend, something 
which made him feel all hopeful and fluttery. She was charming, and 
while they weren't there yet, he could see himself falling in love with 
her.

Willow wasn't very much like Harriet, but sometimes he wasn't certain 
if 
the man he was today was very much like the man that had fallen for 
Harry. He'd changed, and not all of it in ways that he was quite proud 
of. He was trying to be a better man for Willow while desperately 
hoping 
that she didn't decide that someone else was the better man or woman 
that she was looking for. If things went well, Willow would be moving 
to 
LA next month, and they could spend a great deal more time together.

He parked in the small lot near a group of stores, and started towards 
them, stretching his legs. Glancing at the sign that proclaimed the 
store was called 'the Magic Box', he shook his head and stepped inside.

Incense, scented oils and herbs combined to make a powerful scent 
inside, and he sneezed twice, ducking his head in the hopes that nobody 
would see anything unusual. After all, not only was there a Slayer in 
the area, most people would panic at a green face with blue spikes.

"You must be Doyle," a man's voice, from among the rows and shelves of 
merchandise.

Looking up, he saw a young man, about Willow's age, with dark hair. The 
man was just looking at him, with this odd expression of curiosity and 
suspicion. He looked a bit familiar, and Doyle thought about the few 
pictures from Sunnydale that he'd seen from Cordelia and a few sketches 
that Angel had made. "Are you Xander?"

"Yeah. Which I'm going to take as you're Doyle, the guy Willow's 
talking 
about. She's pretty sure that you're a good guy," Xander's frown hinted 
that he wasn't certain that he agreed.

"Have I done something to be making you doubt me? I only just got into 
town," Doyle protested.

"She's been my best friend since kindergarten, so I have seniority and 
I 
get to deliver the talk," Xander had a little grin that somehow was 
entirely lacking in amusement. "Buffy wanted to, but I convinced her 
this was my job."

"What talk would that be?" He glanced around the shop, moving away from 
the door with the full certainty that Xander would follow.

"Willow can make up her own mind who she chooses to date, and that's 
none of my business. But know this, Doyle who works with Angel in LA," 
Xander leaned closer, staring into Doyle's eyes. "If you hurt Willow, I 
will make the rest of your life very short, very painful, and nobody 
will find your body. Ever."

Doyle could feel the sincerity rolling from Xander. Despite the fact 
that the young man was entirely human, allegedly normal, and two hours 
away from where he generally lived, Doyle held no doubts about Xander’s 
ability to carry out his threat. Sometimes, pure determination could 
make up for quite a lot. “I’ll be keeping that in mind, but I’ve no 
intentions of hurting her.”

“Good. Willow is very important to us, and we do our best to take care 
of our own,” Xander explained, the words half warning.

“Xander, are you… Did you just give Doyle some variation of the shovel 
talk?” Willow sounded less than happy.

“Your friend was just having a few words with me,” Doyle smiled at her, 
delighted to see her for far more than the hope that her presence would 
change the topic. He stepped to her, wrapping his arms around her with 
a 
smile. “It’s good to see you again.”

Willow sighed and snuggled into his arms, murmuring, “I missed you.”

Pulling back a little, she waved a finger at Xander. “Shovel talk 
delivered, the threats are over. That also goes for Anya and Buffy. 
Giles gets one because he’s Dad, but you don’t get another one until 
the 
next visit.”

“Okay, but An’s going to be a little disappointed. He’s a new audience, 
and he’s already in the know, so… I think she was looking forward a 
little.” Xander shrugged trying to look as if he hadn’t just threatened 
painful death.

“I said she couldn’t threaten him, not that she couldn’t talk,” Willow 
giggled before looking up at him. “Anya can be a bit much, but most of 
the time she means well, and she’s had a lot to adjust to.”

“Wait, is this the same Anya who brought a strange vampire into 
Sunnydale? Cordelia didn’t say too much, but something about that one 
really got to her. If this is the same woman, how did she end up 
working 
here?” Doyle blinked in confusion, remembering Cordelia going on about 
a 
vengeance demon, a wish, an ugly necklace with a gaudy pendant, and a 
scary vampire in leather. In his experience, leather wasn’t exactly 
uncommon for vampires, so he didn’t understand the confusion.

“Yeah, but she’s settled down a lot now that she doesn’t have her 
powers 
anymore. She’s been dating Xander.” Willow shrugged, and tugged him 
towards the back. “I would have thought that she’d forgotten all about 
the vampire though, there’s been so much time since that happened.”

“Hey, nobody’s going to forget VampWillow,” Xander retorted. “The only 
thing she had in common with you was the hair.”

Willow blushed, mumbling something about shoes and cages. Doyle was 
rather curios what sort of connection there could have been, or maybe 
he’d just heard her wrong. “I take it you’d rather not talk about her 
just now?”

“I can think of a lot of things that I’d rather talk about instead of 
her,” Willow glared at Xander, and then sighed. “Come on back, I might 
as well start the introductions. Don’t take the impending threats 
personally, we’re just a bit overprotective at times.”

“Considering what sort of things you do here, what you fight and what 
the stakes are, I can understand a bit of over-protectiveness.” Doyle 
commented, following her to the back room.

Gesturing towards a woman cheerfully ringing up someone’s purchases, 
Willow commented, “That’s Anya. She’s dating Xander, and normally runs 
the register here.”

“She seems a bit more ordinary than I would have expected, considering 
what Cordelia said about her.” Doyle glanced at the cheerful woman, 
wincing as the order came to well over two hundred dollars, closer to 
three. She certainly didn’t look like a thousand year old vengeance 
demons.

“She’s human now, it makes her look a bit more blendy,” Willow offered, 
and then frowned. “She’s still getting used to human limits, and human 
discussion topics. You can expect at least four gory reminincings about 
her old job and two discussions of her sex life before the weekend’s 
over, and probably two or three ideas about how the shop could make 
more 
money.”

“Ahh,” Doyle didn’t really have any idea what to say in response to 
that. “I guess this trip will be a bit more interesting than I’d 
expected.”

Willow leaned forward, kissing him. “I hope the trip isn’t all bad.”

“I wouldn’t say that at all,” he breathed. Kissing her, Doyle smiled, 
“Parts of it are quite enjoyable.”

“Good.” Willow smiled, and leaned into him. “I just hope Sunnydale 
doesn’t scare you away from me like it did with Tara.”

“That’s part of why I’m luring you away, isn’t it?” Doyle murmured.

“Yeah,” Willow admitted. “Sunnydale doesn’t just kill people, it kills 
hopes and dreams and relationships.”

“I’m her for you,” Doyle whispered. “I promise.”

End Lucky Charm 6: the Luck of Home.