A much nicer take on this episode/issue. :)

hmm I was never much of a xander/buffy fan. She seemed more into Willow than anyone, but it was the wistful "i missed out on xander" thing that became canon. Some things I just don't get. Then again I was sure Hermione would end up with Harry, but that didn't happen. In canon the characters who end up together or who have feelings for another character never end up being characters who actually seem like a couple.

Loved it. Buffy belive that xander will always be there for her and she does not have to do anything for him. Nice to see xander move on. I love this story.

Ps. Is this in the comic. Have not read them in a while.

I have been waiting for someone to take the final scene of BtVS S8 #28 and expand on it as an arc. I have always maintained what the Monks had said re: The Key, that the creation of 'Dawn's personailty and history' was the end product of drawing off aspects of Buffy's own personality inorder to make her emergence more real and accepting. That means, to me atleast, that there must have been some portion of Buffy that had romantic intentions towards Xander, but she had supressed them as not to complicate her close friendship with Willow, Cordelia and Xander as well as Angel. She always kept Xander at a distance not only from physical danger but also emotional attachment. Now that Buffy has finally tied into her own feelings for Xander, how will she feel as he and Dawn slowly take that march towards the alter and matrimony? Any chance of a chapter 2 and so on?

W

It would take something like that for Buffy to finally get it, wouldn't it? (That said, even given several years to grow up, I can't see Dawn as "quietly trailing" anyone, especially not right after getting engaged.)