Twenty eight year old Cordelia Harris flipped through the racks of costumes with a growing sense of annoyance. "None of these are any good Harm!" she told her best friend as she re-hung the item back on the rack.
"Come on Cordy." Her blond friend said. "Some thing here has got to fit the bill!" She grabs one off the rack near her and holds it up to herself. "Come on, the naughty nurse is a classic!"
"Classic means old and over used Harmony." Cordy told her with a sigh. "I mean look at all this junk. Nurse's, Police women, Slave girls, School girls and French maids! All the old, worn out classics. Nothing good, it's all too old."
"Well that's what you get for being so freaky when you two first got married. You've done everything." Harmony stopped as she looked at another rack. "Well almost everything."
Cordelia looked around to make sure no one was near by, a habit she had learned over the last few years of dealing with the paparazzi, before responding. "I don't think we will ever go that far Harm. A little bondage play can be fun, and trust me Xander has done amazing things with just a pair of handcuffs, but I really don't see us using a leather face mask with zippers!"
Harmony thought for a moment. "You can go with the old standby, your old cheerleading uniform. I know Philip loves when I wear mine."
"Oh, trust me, we've used it. But the cheerleader fantasy gets stale when the guy actually did get the hot and popular cheerleader in real life. It takes all the fantasy out of it. You didn't meet Philip till junior year in college."
"I don't know what to tell you then Cordy." Her friend said. "But we're here so you might as well pick out something."
"That's just it Harmony!" Cordelia cried. "It *can't* be just something! Xander has been away for two and a half months! He's coming home tonight, and its Valentines day to boot!"
"Not to mention what he did for you last year." Harmony added.
Cordelia scowled. "I still can't figure out how he pulled all that stuff together so fast." She looked to Harmony. "And you just had to help him by keeping me out of the house for most of the day!"
"Guilty as charged!" the blond laughed as Cordelia shook her head. "You know Harm, you never did tell me how he got you to play along."
Harmony put on a look of mock shock. "What makes you think I needed an incentive to help out the long time husband of my best friend?"
Cordelia just laid down the costume jewelry she was looking at to stare at her old friend. It took about five seconds for Harmony to crumble. "Oh fine!" she exclaimed annoyed. "You know that TV show I like? Blind Justice?"
"Oh gee?" Cordy said sarcastically. "The one that's on an hour before my show? The one that Xander started as a set decorator on?"
"Yeah." Harmony told her. "Well they had this episode coming up that she looks through her high school year book. They had to put together a few pages of a fake yearbook, and Xander had them use *my* old senior picture next to Heather's!"
With a roll of her eyes Cordelia asked. "You know, why couldn't Xander have stayed a set decorator? Why did he have to take the promotion to full set designer? Then he wouldn't be gone so much!"
"Hmmm Cordy let me think." Harmony said she looked deep in thought. "Could it be that you gave his name to that director back then? That you stayed up all night to help him get his first proposal together?"
"Well I thought he would at least stay in town!" Cordy said as she threw her hands in the air. "I mean really, why did he have to be gone so long for a damn Disney movie?"
"There, there Cordelia." Her best friend said patronizingly. "After this last trip he stays in town to work on that new Star Trek series. I mean those always go what? Six or seven years?"
"Yeah. I guess so." Cordy said hopefully. "He'll be able to let his inner geek come out to play all it wants."
Harmony nodded absently before she stopped and squealed. "Oh that's it!"
"What is?" Cordy asked turning back around.
Harmony held up set of red lingerie zipped up in a clear garment bag. "I'd bet you looked great in this! Red always looked good on you!"
"I don't know Harm." Cordy said as she looked the outfit over. "Granted it would go great with that set of red heals I got last weekend. I'm just not so sure about all the feathers."
"Oh don't be so picky!" her friend admonished her. "It will go great with the rose petals."
"I don't know about those either." Cordy said concerned. "Isn't a trail of rose petals kind of girly?"
"Trust me on this Cordelia." Harmony told her holding up the outfit to her torso. "When Xander comes home after months of missing his young wife, finds a trail of rose petals that leads to you in heals, and this? Thinking about if rose petals are too girly will be the last thing on his mind." She snorted. "Hell, I doubt there will be anything on his mind after he gets a good look at you."
Xander Harris opened his front door and quickly dumped his various suitcases and duffle bags in the entryway. "Cor, honey? I'm home!"
He received no answer and was about to call again when he noticed it. The long curved stairway going to the upstairs of the mansion had a trail of rose petals going up it. And at the start of it he found a card with his name on it. Opening it he found a pair of court side tickets to next weeks Lakers game. He smiled as he read the card.
"Follow the trail to your real present. I've really missed you these last two months honey." -Cordy
When he reached the end of the trail of rose petals he opened the door, and found something that he was not expecting.
"This is so unbelievable!" Cordelia cried as she lay on top of several towels on the bed.
"Its ok honey, really." Xander told her.
"No it is definitely not ok Xander!" she fumed. "I had it all planned out." She told him. "By this time we should have been well on our way to possibly making our first little Xander junior, or at the very least I should be making you thank god for the amazing woman you married!"
"I do that every day Cordy." He whispered as he lay next to her.
"Oh don't try to sweet talk me now mister!" she seethed before she deflated. "I mean here I was sooo looking forward to you being back, and paying you back for how great you did last year! But no, I just had to have an allergic reaction to the damn feathers!"
"Well," he stated. "It is a plus for a guy to get his wife naked on Valentines Day."
"Xander!" she yelled. "My entire body is beat red, and I am covered in Calamine lotion!"
"And you're still the most beautiful woman on the planet." He told her before he kissed her.
"How am I ever going to live this down?" she asked sadly. "This has got to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life!"
"Don't worry Cor." he told her with a grin. "You know me, probably sooner then later I will have something much worse happen to me."
She looked at him with that twinkle in her eye that he loved so much, "You promise?"
"You can pretty much count on it."