Willow remained stationed in front of the computer, silently willing it to put e-mail in her box with all the answers.

Now clad in the overalls, Xander appeared much more comfortable. He shifted in his seat again. He'd been doing that now for a while. He had gone from balancing a pencil on his upper lip to using it to sketch a caricature of Giles. "You know, Will," he commented, "We may have to spend the night like this."

Willow turned her attention from the inactive computer screen to Xander. She looked at her own face and sighed. "I know. What're we gonna do?"

Xander shrugged in response. "I guess I'll go to your house, you'll go to mine, and we'll just sleep in each other's beds."

Willow rested her head in her hands. "It's never that easy. I'm going to have to shower again tomorrow. I barely survived it today." A slow blush started in her cheeks and spread outwards. "And I hate shaving. I have no idea how you do it everyday."

"Let's not talk about showers, okay? I'm not going to have to shave your legs am I?" he asked fearfully.

"Xander!"

"What? It's a very valid question. I mean, I could just let all your….um…foliage run wild until you get back, but that seems kinda rude. And we don't know when we're gonna switch back."

Willow covered her face with her hands. "This is not happening. We are not having this conversation." She closed her eyes tightly and pinched her arm, trying to wake up from this nightmare. She opened her eyes to a petite hacker with red hair staring back. She sighed again. "Buffy and I gave each other oatmeal wax treatments last weekend, so you should be okay for a while yet."

Xander made a face. "Oatmeal? How's that work?" He looked up from his picture excitedly. "Do you know what your Mom was going to make for dinner tonight?"

Willow glared at him. "No. How is it that you got such a good deal out of this? There's no shaving, no take out food, you look fantastic after that makeover, and your grades are going up!"

"And I get breasts," he added. She threw her pen at him. He considered her words in silence for a minute. "Just shows you how much it sucks to be me. Maybe we should just stay like this…"

"NO!"

Buffy walked in just then. "Is there a problem, guys?"

"Xander has completely depressed me, but other than that things are just peachy," Willow grumbled, checking her mail once again. She waited with baited breath for …nothing. No mail. In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Buffy unpacking a bag of munchies. Cola, pretzels and Ho-Hos soon littered the table. < Chocolate. > Unbidden, her stomach growled. Loudly.

Xander put the picture he was working on aside. "Feed me!" he demanded. "I'm a growing boy!" He threw a packet of Ho-Hos at her. She caught it with one hand, and eagerly began opening it.

"Are you always this hungry, Xander?"

He opened a can of cola and passed it to her. "Hunger is one of the things I do best," he quipped proudly.

Buffy opened a bag of pretzels and offered them all around before beginning to munch on one. She opened a can of cola and handed one to Xander. "Okay I have to tell you guys what just happened with Jonathan out in front of the school."

"What?" Willow asked curiously.

"Near as I can figure, he seemed to be spying on the girls' locker room through that small window up above the lockers, you know, on the west side?"

Both Willow and Xander nodded. The girls looked at Xander with contempt for a moment. "What? I'm not allowed to know the layout of my own school?"

"Anyway," Buffy continued, "In order to get up there, he had to climb that tree right beside the fountain -- you know the one?" They both nodded in response again. "So I'm walking back with the munchies, and I get to the doors, and then I hear like 'Whaaa!' and then 'SPLASH!!!'"

Willow giggled. "Serves him right." Xander shifted again, crossing his legs and looking more uncomfortable by the moment.

"Oh, you haven't heard the end yet. So then, I go and check on him, just to see if he's broken an arm or anything, and he's all wet, and the fountain's still spraying water at him," she stopped as Willow laughed and join in the laughter herself for a few seconds. Xander just stared at them, discomfort apparent on his face.

"You okay, Xander?" Buffy asked. "Tales of a fellow male's misfortune getting to you?"

He snapped his attention to her. "I'm just fine," he replied, offering a half-smile. "Anything more?"

"Uh huh. So then, I hear this shriek from the window, 'cause someone had boosted Amy up high enough so she can see what the noise was," Buffy paused for a second. "Or maybe she hovered… I dunno. Anyway, the next thing I know, Amy's coming at Jonathan with two towels in her hands, and she's only in her underwear and bra. She marches right up to Jonathan and goes right through the water, so now she's getting soaked, and her eyes are glowing orange and everything. So I look at Jonathan and I realize that he's just paralyzed with fear-"

"Or lust," Willow chimed.

"Or lust," Buffy amended. "So then Amy closes her eyes, and the next thing you know Jonathan's there in his underwear, tied up to the fountain right under the stream of water with the two towels. And then Amy vanishes. POOF! It was great. He's still there if you want to take a look. Oh, OH! I think I have a camera in my locker!" she finished, hopping off her perch on the table in excitement.

"What is it with that kid and water?" Willow mused.

"OKAY!" Xander shouted, getting up suddenly. "Can we not talk about water, please?"

A knowing look passed over Buffy's face. "Xander, do you have to pee?"

Xander crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Um. Maybe."

Buffy tried to hide her smile and reached for his hand. "Come on." She urged, dragging him towards the doors. "It's easy. You'll get to sit and everything."

Willow covered her eyes with her hands. "This can't be happening," she repeated quietly.

Giles reentered the library with several books stacked against his chest awkwardly. He looked around for someone to help him but the only person he saw was Xander sitting at the computer. < Poor Willow, stuck in there. > "Er, Willow, could you help--?"

Willow had already jogged over to where Giles was standing and was removing some of the books even as he finished his sentence. She was just placing them on the circulation counter when the computer beeped. "Mail!" she exclaimed gleefully as she bounded back across the room.

"Where is everyone?" Giles asked idly, catching the last book she had carelessly placed too close to the edge before it tumbled to the floor.

"Cordy went home, Oz went to practice, and Buffy's showing Xander how to go to the bathroom."

To Giles' credit, that sentence only made him falter for a second in mid-stride as he made his way to where she sat at the computer. "I see. Have you got any news from this contraption?"

"Not yet, but I still have to open this mail. It's from someone named Serendipity."

Serendipity? Someone actually named their child that?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder slightly. "How…interesting."

"It's probably just an internet name. Lots of people don't use their real names on the internet. There's just too many wackos out there. Why?"

"Well, it means 'the ability to make happy or unexpected discoveries by accident'. It's almost like telling your child that they were unplanned."

Willow craned her neck to look at him. "I'm sure it's just a pseudonym." Willow opened the mail and sighed. Giles read over her shoulder and sighed as well.

"Well, I guess it's back to the books for now," Giles said.

"But it's a really good lead, Giles. She at least KNOWS someone who has reversed something like this before, and now we know for sure it's a spell. She's just got to get in contact with this lady."

"Yes, yes, I agree. It's a very promising lead." He moved back to the circulation counter and grabbed a few books. "Now we just have to see if we can find a reference in one of these and put some more pieces of this puzzle together."

The doors swung open, causing both occupants of the library to look up. Buffy sauntered in with an amused smile on her face. "Mission accomplished," she announced triumphantly. Xander followed her by a few paces, a deep red blush staining his cheeks. She presented a camera and laughed. "I got him, Will."

Giles looked mortified. "You…took…pictures?"

"Oh yeah. Jonathan's gonna have to pay a pretty penny to have these not submitted to the yearbook," Buffy giggled.

"Jonathan was in the bathroom?" Giles clarified.

"Oh no," she shook her head. "He's in the fountain."

Giles' brow wrinkled in confusion. "Buffy, before I die, do you think it would be too much trouble for us to have one conversation that makes sense?"

"Amy zapped Jonathan so he's tied up in the fountain. I took his picture - four times ," Buffy explained patiently, gesturing slowly with her hands the image of tying as she spoke.

"Buffy, I'm not certain what's going on, but I don't think blackmailing Jonathan is something you should be doing."

"But he was in his underwear, Giles!"

Giles sighed resignedly. "Never mind. I just don't want to know."

Buffy clapped the book in front of her shut with a bang. Three other pairs of eyes rose to meet her. "As much as I love you guys, if I have to read one more word, I'm gonna scream," she explained. "Besides, my Mom's gonna have dinner ready soon, and if I'm late again I'll be grounded." She stood and began gathering her books.

"But I have a feeling we're so close," Giles murmured, reaching for the book she had closed. "Are you certain you have to go?"

"Giles, what have I told you happens with 'grounded'?" Buffy asked.

"No patrol?" he asked weakly.

"No patrol," she confirmed, smiling at him indulgently. She sat back down. "Which is fine with me. I could finally do my nails, and sharpen a few extra stakes -"

Giles sighed in defeat. "Go."

She was out of her seat before he had finished the one word. "I'll check in with you guys at the Bronze in a couple of hours, okay?"

Willow nodded and waved at her absently. Xander was about to do the same when her words sank in. "NO, NO, NO!!" he began protesting, red hair swinging wildly as he shook his head. "I can't go to the Bronze tonight."

Willow regarded him quizzically. "Why not? You go there every night."

An amused look passed over Buffy's face before she answered for Xander. "Because Ross Anderson asked him to save him a dance if he showed."

Willow began to make squeaking noises.

"Will? You okay?" Buffy asked.

Willow's eyes continued to widen and the squeaking sounds lasted for a few more seconds. "You're kidding. Ross wanted to dance with ME?" She pointed at Xander in her body.

"No!" Xander broke in, "She is not kidding. I can't believe you think that we're not attractive enough to catch Ross' attention." He thrust his chin out defiantly. "Today, I was hot."

Willow blushed profusely. "I-uh---I…"

"Um hmm," Buffy nodded, slinging her arm around Willow's shoulders. "He's right. You can look sexy whenever you want to, but the key word there is when you 'want' to." She looked into her eyes. "Oz and the rest of us like you just the way you are - BUT if you want to be glam-Willow once in a while, that's okay too."

Willow smiled and nodded. Her face paled suddenly. "Xander, come on! We have to get you home and find something to wear. Do you still have that skirt from Cordelia? I can't believe he asked you for a dance! You're not going to step on his feet, are you? Because --" She began gathering up books and piling them in the center of the table in a panic as she spoke.

"Will?" Buffy interrupted, "Remember that guy called Oz? You date him? Smoochies? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Willow abruptly stopped her movements and laughed nervously. "Yes, of course. This is silly."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Giles muttered under his breath, turning a page.

Willow sat down, a blush creeping up Xander's skin from the neck and spreading upwards. "Uh, maybe we can meet you there anyway?"

Buffy smiled and strapped her backpack on. "Sure. I'll be there by nine.." She left quickly before anyone could protest.

Xander looked at the doors before speaking cautiously. "Uh, Giles? We really have to go. We're supposed to be at Willow's house in about--" he checked the watch on Willow's wrist. "Eeep! Six minutes!"

Willow made a small noise of urgency and grabbed Xander's book bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

Giles sighed and waved them away. "Go. If I find anything, I'll page Buffy."

Willow moved to Xander and began pulling him towards the doors. "Thanks Giles!" she called over her shoulder. She turned to Xander. "If he asks you to dance, you're gonna say 'yes', right?"

"No! Will, I can't…" Xander's protested with Willow's voice. The voice faded as she pulled him further and further away.

Giles looked at the swinging doors and watched as they finally came to a rest. "They're adjusting remarkably well," he murmured, before bending his head over his book again.