Millennium
By Zak

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Otherwise, I'd be rich. Alas, I'm not. So suing would be pointless.
Summary: New Year's Eve in Xander's basement.


Millennium

"Well, the end is on us, People. Any last words?"

Willow glanced at Xander, trying not to show her amusement at the nonchalant way that he'd spoken his declaration of doom.

Giles, on the other hand, was not amused. He glared at the laptop on the floor next to Willow's book bag. "I knew those things were going to be the death of us all."

"I thought you said that the Mayor's Ascension was going to be the death of us all," Buffy countered, smiling at the Watcher's obvious discomfort.

"O-or that Hellmouth Beastie," Willow added, trying to sound reassuring. "We survived that."

"All I know," Xander informed them all, "is that I'm not letting these babies go to waste." He patted the half-empty box of Chocolate Yodels that sat on the table next to him. "Any one else?" he offered as he pulled out his ninth snack cake of the evening. The others all regarded the box with semi-disgust. Not that they opposed Yodels in general, but this was the second box of the evening and they'd all had more than enough to finish out the Millennium without seeing another one.

"So, Will, our trusty resident computer expert, do you think that anything is going to happen?" Buffy asked, trying to keep the mood light, but slightly worried.

"Well, I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as they thought it was going to be. I think all the major problems have already been fixed and we'll only have to deal with smaller glitches and stuff. I brought my laptop with me just to kind of check it out after midnight. But I don't think anything'll happen. On the other hand, there might be-"

"See, Giles," Buffy cut Willow off, "the expert thinks we have nothing to worry about so relax and enjoy the New Year."

Willow took the hint and smiled brightly, keeping her theories of rioting and widespread panic to herself.

"Yeah," Xander concurred. "Besides, what's the big deal? So the computers think it's 1900; sometimes I go for weeks without knowing what day it is, and I'm still up and running." He popped the entire Yodel in his mouth, oblivious to the look the ex-watcher was giving him. "Besides, this is one of the best places to be. If there is a lot of trouble, this house is one of the oldest houses in California, been through a flood, several earthquakes, wind storms, and six simmers worth of Uncle Rory's kids running rampant throughout and it's still standing. Takes a licking…keeps on ticking."

"Your house ticks?" Buffy feigned innocence.

"If you don't think it's a big deal, why are you eating all of those?" Willow asked, still amused. She decided that with Giles' paranoia of all things computer, now was definitely not the time to clue Xander in to all the potential problems that could occur. If society weren't so dependant on computers-letting them run everything from the electricity to bank accounts to nuclear weapons, there wouldn't be much of a potential for disaster. But now was not the time to remind Xander (or Giles) of that fact.

"Hey, I'm just taking precautions," Xander defended his chocolate binge. He glanced at his watch. 11:58. Two more minutes. He reached over and pulled open his dormer fridge, grabbing out a bottle. He motioned for Willow to grab the glasses that were sitting on the shelf behind her. "Got us a little something to toast in the New Year," he announced, holding up the bottle of champagne and waving it slightly.

"Ooooh, Bubbly!" Buffy cooed. She frowned slightly. "Just how did you manage to get that? You're not 21."

"Ah, Rory will never notice it's missing. He's too busy with his less expensive tastes. "Besides, it's been in his cabinet for years. Picked it up at some antique shop or something."

"Xander!" Champagne from an antique shop? Oddness aside, she wondered about the expense of such an item.

"Don't worry, Buff, I'm sure Giles will be happy to buy him a replacement…" In reality, he'd already stopped by the same shop and noticed that there was quite a supply of the exact same "vintage" champagne. He strongly suspected that it wasn't entirely as "vintage" as the shop owners wanted people to believe. And he'd noted the price. Not exactly cheap, but he figured he'd shell out the money to Rory in the morning to cover it.

Willow stifled a giggle as Giles looked up in bewilderment at the mention of his name. "Yes, yes of course," the man agreed, obviously not realizing what he was agreeing to. Then he went back to observing the evil laptop. Willow wondered if he honestly expected it to explode at the stroke of midnight. For such a learned man, he was so incredibly clueless when it came to computers.

"Contributing to the delinquency of minors…tsk, tsk." Xander shook his head in mock disappointment. He began unwrapping the foil as Willow placed four plastic champagne glasses before him.

"I'm feeling rather parched over here," Spike reminded her, noting that there was one fewer glasses than there were beings in the room. It was bad enough that he was being forced to spend New Year's tied to a chair in airhead-boy's basement. The least they could do is let him in on the
festivities. Not that he particularly wanted to hear any of their sure-to-be-lame ideals and resolutions or anything. But a nice chalice of champagne would make the holiday more bearable. Unfortunately, the locals didn't seem to be paying him any attention. They were too busy watching the idiot boy spilling champagne all over himself after he popped the cork.

"Okay, so, who wants to make the traditional New Year speech?" Xander prompted as he wiped his hands on his shirt and then began filling the four glasses.

Spike scowled. "If I tell you my resolutions, will you let me have a bloody drink?"

Xander nodded to Willow to set out another glass. "You can have some if you keep those to yourself…" he relented.

"Normally I'd say that the resident patriarch figure make the toasts, but he seems otherwise occupied," Buffy noted nodding toward where man and inanimate machine were still having a stare-down.

"Which leaves…Xander?" Willow asked, sounding doubtful.

"Over the lips and past the gums…" he began to oblige.

"I so don't think so," Buffy cut him off, smiling despite herself. "How about a real toast?"

"I used to know a clever toast," Spike spoke up again, raising his glass as best he could without full movement of his arm. "But now I cannot think it. So fill your glass to anything, and damn your souls, I'll drink it."

"Can't argue with that one," Xander chuckled and raised his glass.

"Then how about you untie me and we'll toast?"

"How about something a little more traditional?" Buffy suggested.

"I know one!" Willow raised her glass. "Here's to you and here's to me, friends may we always be."

Buffy smiled and raised her glass.

"I know this one." Spike continued Willow's toast, with amusement on his face, "But if by chance we disagree, up yours, here's to me!"

Buffy sighed.

"Well, I was just going to leave that line out," Willow explained.

"We've only got about thirty more seconds, so how's this one?" Xander glanced at the girls and then to Spike. "May bad fortune follow you all your days…"

"Xander!"

"Let me finish! May bad fortune follow you all your days, and never catch up with you."

"It'll have to do. To friendship," Buffy toasted, and clinked her glass against each of the others'.

"To friendship," Willow and Xander agreed and repeated her sentiment.Spike shrugged and began downing his champagne.

"Giles?" Buffy asked, getting his attention away from the laptop and handing him a glass.

Giles smiled and took the glass. "To a remarkable group of people, may we all continue to grow in health, in wealth, and in friendship," he toasted.

"I could have said that," Xander mused. He clicked his glass against Giles' and then took a sip before setting the glass down and taking a look at his watch. "Okay we're down to ten…nine…eight…"

Willow and Buffy both took quick drinks then joined him on "three…two…on-"

And the lights went out. The only thing left providing light in the room was the screen from Willow's lap top.

"Somebody forgot to pay the electric bill," Spike sang.

"Do you suppose that it's because of Y2K?" Buffy asked Willow nervously.

"Maybe," Willow admitted. "I bet they have it on in a few minutes, though."

Xander rose to his feet. "I'm going upstairs to find a couple flashlights and candles and stuff, just in case."

Buffy nodded. "Want some help?"

"Untie me, and I'll go help," Spike suggested. The others ignored him.

Xander shook his head. "Nah, back in a minute." He started up the stairs.

Willow, meanwhile, reached down to pick up her computer. She just wanted to check and make sure that the date rolled over like it was supposed to. She moved the mouse over the time and smiled as it greeted her with Jan 1, 2000. She grinned and set it back down. "It worked! It's officially the year 2000!" She grinned at the others.

Spike and Giles both rolled their eyes; the former to indicate his amusement that the geeker-girl had to check her computer to tell her that, the later because he still didn't completely trust the thing. The power going out was only the first sign of trouble. So Willow's computer worked. That didn't mean that the rest of the computers out there were working.

"I guess I should probably start shutting this down. The battery only has a few minutes left on it." She looked toward the stairs, wondering how Xander was doing with locating flashlights. He hadn't gotten very far.

"Damn…they locked the door." Xander grumbled, coming back down the stairs. "I think the SafeWay is supposed to stay open tonight. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"They locked the door?" Giles glanced up at him.

"To give me 'the sense of living on my own'," Xander held up his fingers to indicate the quotes. He grabbed up his jacket and keys and headed for the back door.

"Maybe I should go with you," Buffy suggested, already getting up. It was one thing for him to venture upstairs alone, but there was no way he was going out in the streets of Sunnydale alone at this hour. Fortunately, he didn't argue the point.

"Maybe we should all go," Willow rose to her feet. "I mean the power's out and who knows what's going on out there and all."

Giles had to admit she had a point. Blasted computers.

"Well then," Spike gloated. "Someone is going to have to untie me."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, but one false move and you'll be the first vampire dusted in the new millennium." She reached over and quickly released the ropes.

Xander was the one to open the door, so he was the first to realize their predicament. Oddly the first thought that popped into his head was that he didn't want to be the one to tell Willow. She'd been so happy that her computer had the right date.

Giles saw it next. He blinked a few times, then turned around to go back into the basement to take a moment to relax and concentrate on the problem before reacting. He just knew something like this was bound to happen. Okay, maybe not just like this, but…He wondered if his books were still back at his apartment so they could do a little research. He didn't even want to consider whether or not his apartment was still there.

Concerned by the sudden change over Giles, Willow followed him back into the room. "Giles? Giles are you okay?"

"Bloody Hell," Spike grumbled upon reaching the door. He turned and headed back into the basement. Only one thing gave him comfort. At least the bloody fools that had caused all his problems were probably without a lab.

Buffy was the last to look outside. There was barely anything left. Actually…it looked more like nothing had ever been built. Xander's house was now kind of out in the middle of a wide plain. The long driveway led out to a dirt road that seemed to stretch endlessly in each direction without ever reaching anything.

"What happened to Sunnydale?" she asked weakly.

Xander looked at her for a moment before replying. "It wasn't Y2k compliant."

The End

End Note: I'm not planning to continue this one, as it was intended to be an "open ended" fic. However, it has been mentioned by several of my beta-readers that they'd like to read more; so if anyone wants to continue it or write a sequel feel free. Actually I even have several ideas that while I don't think I'll pursue myself (as I've already got several other fics I'm working on and just don't have the time to start another one...yeee) so if you want to continue it, and want a few ideas to get you going, feel free to email me at zak@slayerette.org. Thanks for reading; hope you enjoyed it! --Zak