He needed a cheap costume. When seven dollars was all you had you made do.
Then he saw it, hanging in a quiet corner of the store. A old rumpled raincoat. Battered and weary it lit the fuse to a great idea. One of his all-time favorite characters wore a coat just like it.
Perfect.
He stole a look at his friends. They were making goo goo eyes at a ball gown obviously intended to impress Deadboy. He'd show them up. Taking the coat down he tried it on… Almost perfect it was a little big but with the suit it should fit alright.
Now to finish it off, he went to the bargain bin and rummaged through it till he found a toy police kit. Badge case, revolver and handcuffs. Just one last thing, there it was he grabbed up the toy cigar.
This was gonna be great.
He rushed up to the check-out and handed over his cash to the Creepy guy at the register and waved goodbye to Buffy and Willow, avoiding their questions and promising to surprise them later.
Joyce Summers answered the knock on the door to behold quite a sight.
There stood Xander Harris, looking rumpled in the extreme. A rumpled light grey suit with the tie loose at the collar and stained with what looked like catsup. Over it was a badly wrinkled raincoat that looked like it had lost a fight with a deranged ally cat and so had his hair. In his left hand was what looked like a badly chewed cigar.
"Excuse me ma'am, but I'm looking for a…" He trailed off patting his pockets finally pulling out a battered spiral notebook and clumsily flipping through the pages" Ah, here we are… Buffy Summers and a…" Again with the flipping and muttering, "A… Willow Rosenberg, would they be here ma'am?" He finish it with a look that was pure innocence itself.
Joyce was having a hard time controlling her laughter. "And who may I say is calling?" She managed to get out.
Oh, dear me, did I forget to introduce myself ma'am? I'm terribly sorry. Sometimes I think the Misses is right that I'd loose my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders… As a matter-of-fact she was just saying that over breakfast this morning. Do you like breakfast ma'am? Most important meal of the day." He started patting his pockets again. " Now where did I put that?... Ah here it is." He pulled out the badge and presented it to her.
"Colombo… Lieutenant Colombo at your service ma'am."