Steven worked hard for over a week to fix up his Store. He was still in the world of the dead and wanted to use his time effectively. He had also kept his potential customer alive by dropping food and water every day on the other side of the roof access door.

It was the safest way to make sure he stayed in the world, because as far as he knew, no one else was going to be entering that specific building and he could be shunted off to god-knew-where without warning if no customers were going to show up.

For making a very intelligent and quite correct assumption, you have gained a Store bonus!

Steven chuckled. Thanks, god!

You're welcome, Steven. Enjoy.

Steven knew he would, because a bonus meant a special extra. When he chose it mentally, the Store seemed to flicker and then it was twice as wide as it had been. He also felt it update mentally in his head and caught his breath. He ran over to the bathroom and look inside. He had already replaced the dirty toilet with a new one and added a proper shower stall, and he stared at the latest edition.

There was a soaking tub embedded in the floor that could sit five people inside, like a rich Japanese person's bathroom.

Steven didn't hesitate as he quickly set things up and tore off his work clothes and dove into the bath. He moaned as the heat soaked into his muscles and he relaxed against the side of the tub and stayed there for several hours. He would worry about what to do with the extra space in the Store after his much needed bath.

*

Steven laughed a week later when he finally managed to repair one of the vending machines and placed it beside the bathroom door. It was mentally added to his Store to become a permanent fixture and he gained the option to refill it by spending money when it was down to 25% of its capacity.

He resolved to fix the second one as soon as he could and would add it to his living area. It would last a really long time if he removed the mechanism to buy things, because if he didn't, he would be paying himself for things. His mental question gave him the feeling that he couldn't cheat the Store by essentially laundering money and boosting his sales by buying things from himself.

I thought so. Steven thought and went to the outside building's roof door and knocked.

“Yeah? Whaddya want?” A gruff voice asked.

“Do you want a bag of Skittles or a Mounds bar for dessert?” Steven asked.

“Skittles.” Merle said. “What's the main course?”

“Steak and potatoes. I managed to add enough inventory and storage space to afford the better MREs.” Steven said.

“Wonderful.” Merle said, a little sarcastically and a little thankful.

“Thanks for trading me for the rifle. I added it to the gun rack and now I can make bullets for it.” Steven told him.

“You're kidding!” Merle exclaimed. “Damn, that's great. You're like a survivalist's dream come true.”

Steven chuckled. He hadn't been surprised when he told Merle about killing his friends and the man laughed and said they weren't his friends, just cannon fodder for him to use as distractions when it was necessary. They were weak and didn't understand that the world had changed.

“How is the target practising working out with the pistol?” Steven asked and used his inventory to drop the food and water on the other side of the door.

“I prefer the rifle's longer barrel. It has more stopping power at long range.” Merle said.

Steven chuckled. That let him know it was going fine if Merle could pick off the dead in the street with a pistol. He didn't mind giving him more ammo every few days, since he was slowly whittling down the danger for them by drawing the dead to the side of the building and away from the weaker storefront.

“Hey, how much longer are you going to keep me here?” Merle asked.

“I'm just about done fixing the place up. I'll be leaving tonight.” Steven said.

Merle didn't say anything in response.

“You know I would let you out if I thought you wouldn't attack me.” Steven said with a smile.

Merle laughed. “That's just smart thinking, Steven. I'd rob you blind in a second.”

“I know.” Steven said. “It was nice knowing you, Merle.”

“Fuck you, too.” Merle said and laughed again.

Steven laughed, too. He tapped on the door and entered the Store. He had a few last things to do before he moved on. It would dip deep into his ready cash and he was surprisingly okay with that.

*

Merle had stayed right by the door all evening and wondered when exactly his faceless friend would disappear, because he would slowly start to starve to death without regular meals and the door locked. There was a loud bang that reverberated on his back and he rolled away from the door, knelt on a knee, and aimed with the handgun he had become a marksman with over the last two weeks.

There was a soft rattling like a metal chain moving and then nothing. Merle didn't move and waited for any more sounds, and there was nothing for ten minutes. He finally chose to take a chance and tried the door handle. It clicked open and swung freely with no noise. The hinges had been oiled.

Merle hadn't moved from his crouch, because he was stunned by the sight of a large stack of supplies in front of the door. There was also a backpack big enough to hold it all and a note. He read the note and laughed, crumpled it up, and shoved it into his pocket. He dressed in the body armor that the other idiots wouldn't let him have before, strapped on all the extra ammo magazines his new friend left him, and filled the backpack with months of food rations.

He put on the backpack and was surprised it was fairly light and picked up the machete with his right hand and the premium baseball bat with his left. A smug smile formed on his face as he made his way down to the front of the store and there was almost no dead walking around.

“Thanks a lot, Steven. Good luck wherever you went.” Merle said and removed part of the barricade and slipped out of the store without being noticed.

*

Congratulations, Steven! You have successfully survived your first world.
First world achievement unlocked! Store bonuses have been awarded for your diligent work on making the Store better (x5). Upgrades can be chosen from the available list. Would you like to see the list and make your choices now?

Steven accepted mentally and laughed at the choices. A break room, another living space, a personal bathroom, a storeroom that counted as a second inventory for him, an actual office, another bathroom upgrade for the public one, a second level with a single room, expanding the store's main floor again, and the biggest one of all... to make the Store freestanding when space was available.

Steven chose the freestanding option immediately. I can wait and choose the rest later. He thought, because he had been working on the Store for weeks rearranging things and wanted a break where all he had to do was sell.

He also wanted any changes to be applied while on a world and not in the place between, because he had been warned that any changes didn't count as him fixing up the place unless he did it in real-time.

Store Accessibility: Outstanding. Store Presentation: Outstanding. Store Stock: Appropriate.
Accessing localized dimensional barrier. Inserting. Materializing into world. Done.
Welcome to the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Steven felt the difference between his Store only attaching a door to a building and it becoming its own building. It was like the difference between dipping a single fingertip into warm water and putting your whole hand in.

He was glad that he had already changed into his best clothes, because almost as soon as the new display windows in the front cleared to show the outside, a group of teenagers walked by, froze at what the windows showed, and scrambled to come inside.

Steven felt proud as the teenagers ran to each of the racks of clothing, the purses, the cosmetics counter, and then to the dressing rooms. His store's main room was 20 feet by 20 feet, which was a perfect size for a single person to watch over.

Thanks to the vending machines, he had discovered that when he added something permanently to the store, he could pay to refill it. That made him squeeze in a display for everything he could with some behind temporary barriers, like the gun rack and survivalist equipment. A normal place didn't need MREs or weapons galore. The grenades he kept behind the counter under lock and key.

“Where did you get this purse?!?” A tall brunette shouted across the store and held up an expensive leather bag that Steven knew was worth a lot more than what he was selling it for.

“My stock room where the rest are.” Steven said and all of the girls let out squeals of delight.

“I'll take four of them!” The brunette said and looked at her expectant friends. “As long as they are different colors. We can't match.”

The three other girls nodded several times.

“This is for your birthdays and Christmas this year, got it?” The brunette pointed out.

“We owe you big!” The ditzy blonde agreed.

Steven nodded at them and went to his stock room. He grabbed the box with the purses inside and touched each one to make them all slightly different colors, then carried the large box out to the front of the store. The girls made another squeal sound when he opened the box and showed off the purses inside.

“They're really real!” The shorter brunette almost shouted.

The four girls happily dug through the box and picked out the colors they wanted. Each of them hugged the expensive purses to their chests and the tall brunette handed over her credit card. Steven accepted it and he was glad that he had installed one of the cash registers from the department store. It had a built in card reader and he typed in the cost of the bags.

“Thank you for your purchase.” Steven said and handed her the card and the receipt back.

The brunette looked at it to make sure he hadn't ripped her off, and caught her breath. “You didn't charge any sales tax!”

Steven chuckled. “It's included in the price. Who needs to do extra math? I sure don't.”

The four girls looked very happy and the ditzy blonde nodded.

“We'll come back later today for some serious clothes shopping.” The tall brunette warned Steven.

“I'm more than happy to welcome such pretty girls back into my Store.” Steven responded and the four of them tittered and blushed.

They huddled together and left the store in a rush. The tall brunette stopped and looked back in through the front window, so Steven waved to her and she blushed again and walked out of sight. Steven chuckled at flustering them so easily and put another purse on the display that drew the eye.

Steven chose the Store bonus to make the storeroom into an extra inventory space for himself and stored the box to have it reappear in the storeroom. He declined the option of refilling the box for now, just in case they told their friends and he didn't want to give away that he could get more than what they saw.

An hour later, an older woman that looked like the tall brunette's older sister entered the store. She quickly browsed through the various clothes and things, spent a lot of time at the cosmetics counter, and brought everything over to the counter.

“I'll take that purse on display, too.” The woman said.

“Is that the color you want? I have a few others I can't fit on the display.”

The woman gave him a questioning look. “Can I look before I choose?”

“Of course. I aim to please.” Steven said and went into the storeroom and came back out with the same box. He opened it and the woman looked in, nodded slightly, and chose a pearly white color. He rang up her purchases and she handed him a nearly identical credit card. He knew then that this was that girl's mother and she looked just as surprised when she wasn't charged sales tax.

“I will be back later.” The woman promised and picked up her bags, nodded to him, and left at a fast walk.

Steven chuckled when the front door shut, because the woman looked like she was fleeing because she had gotten away with stealing something. That was the exact reason he had lowered the price of his more expensive items, because he wanted to draw in more customers and not discourage them by selling things for what they were really worth.

It was a delicate balance between earning as much money as possible and continued sales, which would ensure his business was both profitable and successful. He just had to remember to refill the things that sold when it was time and to change the colors slightly. Stagnation and sameness was the death of future sales.

*

“Where did you get that?” Buffy's sharp voice pierced through the normal talking in the school's hallway when she saw her social rival, Cordelia Chase, carrying a brand new Prada Bag.

“What? This old thing?” Cordelia asked, nonchalantly. “I found it in my closet under my Gucci belt.”

Buffy's face almost puffed up as she sucked in a huge breath to yell at her for lying. Anyone who knew anything about fashion, knew those bags weren't going to be on the open market until next season.

“Buffy, what are you doing?” Willow asked as she grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side of the hallway.

“I'm calling her out on...”

“Buffy!” Willow hissed in a whisper. “I thought we agreed to not draw attention to ourselves. After we pushed Xander out of the group to protect him when he tried to blow up the school, only for Oz to get hurt and he tried to take all the blame himself...”

Buffy let out a frustrated sigh and gave Cordelia an angry look. The popular girl countered her glare with a smug smirk and a hand motion towards her BFF Harmony. Buffy caught her breath when she saw a similar bag tucked under the ditzy blonde's arm and her hand had a death grip on it, as if she would never let it go.

The experienced vampire slayer's eyes roamed over the other two girls, only for her to feel faint. All four of the stuck-up bitches had Prada bags! All of them! AHHHH!

Cordelia saw Buffy's shocked state and laughed as she led her friends down the hallway and away from the sport nut and the computer geek. She also noticed Xander at the end of the hall and his smile after what she did to Buffy, so she chose to make his life just a little bit brighter. She would give him some of her attention.

Xander looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights as Cordelia pretty much stalked over to him. He wasn't a coward, though. He stayed there and stood his ground, which proved to the popular girls that he was tougher than most of the other guys in the school, despite his laid back attitude. The four girls surrounded him and he swallowed audibly.

“We like your backbone for finally giving up on the Scoobies, Xander.” Cordelia said and Xander's eyes widened at her actually complimenting him. “I wonder how long the group will last without you there holding them together?”

Xander looked surprised at her question.

“You were a founding member and they kicked you out, the idiots.” Harmony said.

“Yeah, you deserve better.” The short brunette named Lysette said.

“You know, if you wore a normal shirt, that outfit's not that bad.” Gwen said and the other three gave Xander a very pointed look as they inspected him.

Xander couldn't help but squirm under their focused attention.

“I think she's right. It's not half-bad.” Harmony said.

“What do you say, girls? Fashion intervention?” Cordelia asked with an almost evil smile on her face.

“We only have gym this afternoon, so we can skip it.” Lysette said.

“Then let's go.” Cordelia said and nodded to the two blondes, Harmony and Gwen.

Before Xander could open his mouth to ask what was going on, the four girls dragged him out of the school and they piled into Cordelia's red convertible. They didn't notice a blonde and a redhead had followed them to the parking lot.

“I have the keys to Oz's van.” Willow said and Buffy grinned.

*

Xander was stunned as he was manhandled by four girls. That might not have bothered him as much if they were normal girls. No, these girls were the popular girls, led by the head bitch herself Cordelia Chase. He knew he couldn't escape, so he did everything they asked. He tried on everything, modelled for them, and nodded when asked if he liked their choices for him.

When Harmony asked if he wanted to become her boyfriend as a reward for listening to them, his head nodded on its own, and then he was back inside the change room and had her tongue down his throat. He quickly realized that he was making out with the pretty blonde and changed his attitiude to kiss her as if his life depended on it.

This was the right decision, because Xander soon felt her fumbling with his zipper and mentally thanked his previous self for taking a long shower that morning. Harmony let out a very happy sound at what she saw and then her mouth was very busy doing an absolutely wonderful thing to him down there.

*

Steven had to keep his mouth clamped shut to stop himself from laughing as he mentally watched as the inexperienced guy named Xander was enthusiastically rewarded for becoming Harmony's boyfriend. He really should stop them from thinking they could do things like that inside his store, then shrugged. The teen looked like he was having his mind blown as well and he didn't want to interrupt.

The other three girls were doing their best to raid his clothing and they were making quite the pile as they picked over everything. They brought it over to him and he brought out similar things in different colors, so the girls had a great time picking their favorites.

Steven rang them through and they happily paid the discount price for the high quality clothing. The girls moved on to the cosmetics section and tried many of the test samples, then came back to the counter and bought almost half of his stock. They pointedly ignored Harmony's smug face and Xander's goofy smile when the pair joined them.

Surprisingly, the girls all chipped in to buy the things they had picked out for him. Xander tried to protest, only for them to say if he wanted to be around them as Harmony's boyfriend, he had to look the part. Steven's whispered suggestion that he could pay them back later if he felt guilty about it, had the girls give him approving nods for convincing Xander to agree with their decision.

Steven noticed Xander's eyes flicked over to the Survivalist Section and he pointedly told the young man to come back whenever he wanted to keep looking around. The girls approved and dragged the poor whipped boy out of the store. Barely thirty seconds later, the front door opened and a slightly muscular blonde and a cute redhead ran into the store.

“Tell us everything that happened in here!” The blonde demanded.

“And a good afternoon to you, too.” Steven responded.

“Buffy!” The redhead said.

“If you're Buffy, then you must be Willow.” Steven said and both girls caught their breath. “The Cordettes had a lot of gossip to share about the Scoobies and how stupid they were for abandoning their founding member.”

“We didn't abandon him! He's only... ah... well, we are trying to protect him from... well...” Buffy stammered and then blushed.

Steven chuckled and waved his hand at her. “I'm just messing with you. Teenage drama is hilarious.”

Both girls pouted at him and Buffy crossed her arms with a huff.

“Why don't you browse around while I restock the shelves? We can talk while I'm busy.” Steven offered and both girls nodded.

Over the next twenty minutes as Steven refilled the racks and shelves with replacement clothing that was different than the ones sold, he told the girls about what happened to that poor unfortunate boy being used as a Ken doll by four Barbie enthusiasts. That comment made Willow giggle and Buffy smile.

Steven did not tell them about the changing room fun that Xander had, though. He might have seen it and the other three girls knew she had done it; but, that was no one else's business. He ended with them clearing out a good portion of his new cosmetics and brought out the mostly empty box of Prada bags. There were only two left and he put one on the main display.

Buffy gasped and pointed at it. “That's where she bought it, the sneaky bitch!”

Steven chuckled. “My second last one. An older woman was in earlier and nearly cleaned me out.”

“No wonder! Those are next season's releases!” Buffy exclaimed.

Steven blinked his eyes at her. “Are you sure? I saw the price I was supposed to sell them at and dropped it by 30% because I thought they were old stock.”

Buffy made an odd sound and fainted.

“BUFFY!” Willow yelled and knelt beside her to tend to her.

Steven held in his laugh at her reaction. He mentally went over the difference in dates from the last world and this one, using the Prada bags as a reference, and he knew they were old and outdated stock. That told him that he was not only jumping worlds, he was jumping time as well. When he checked something he knew would have a manufactured date printed on it, the MREs, the spot was blank.

Ha ha, of course. It covers or hides any inconsistencies. Steven thought and put the MRE back into his inventory. He took out a pack of smelling salts from the pharmacy and handed them to Willow.

“Thank you.” Willow said and cracked the packet under Buffy's nose.

“AH!” Buffy gasped and hopped up onto her feet and took a fighting pose.

“BUFFY!” Willow yelled and the blonde looked confused, then blushed as she lost the pose. “I'm sorry about that, sir.”

Steven chuckled. “My name's Steven and I'm only about ten years older than you.”

“And you own a store.” Buffy said with a slight frown.

Steven chuckled again. “Oh, no. I don't own it. It's a franchise license and I was granted this outlet. I can do what I want with it, though. I can expand, add anything for sale, change what I want to display, and operate during whatever hours I choose. It's great.”

“It does sound great.” Willow said and looked around. “You have a lot of different things for sale.”

“The electronics are a bit out of date because my stock source was selling out. I have tons of it just sitting in the back.” Steven said with a shrug. “On the other hand, the appliances and housewares are top notch.”

Willow nodded and glanced at the right section. It was small and had some nice things.

“I have a lot of things I don't have room to put out. If you saw anything you liked and it wasn't quite right for your preferences, let me know. I should have something you'll like in the storeroom.” Steven said without any inflection in his voice.

“Did... did you just ask us to go into the back room with you?!?” Buffy asked, surprised.

Steven stiffened slightly at his innocent words being taken like that, then realized it really could be construed like that. His eyes went from the top of her head to her feet and back again, which made Buffy blush and look uncomfortable.

“I'm sorry, Barbie. You're not my type.” Steven said and held back his laugh at her indignant squawk. “Do you have a cute sister?”

“You sick bastard!” Buffy exclaimed. “Dawn's only 12!”

Steve couldn't hold his laugh back anymore and laughed and laughed at Buffy's exclamation. “I knew... a hottie like you... would have... a nice girl next door type sister.”

Buffy looked upset for a second and then realized what the man said. She blushed and tried to cover herself up, despite being fully clothed and not showing anything. Willow saw her friend's dilemma and tried to step in front of her to distract whom she thought was an old pervert.

This just made Steven laugh more, because he knew the redhead was closer to his ideal than the blonde was. “I would prefer you... to the Barbie.” He said and made Willow blush deeply and try to cover herself as well. Steven laughed pretty hard at her reaction. “Sorry... I thought...” He paused and looked back at Buffy. “What does your mother look like?”

“SCREW YOU!” Buffy yelled and grabbed Willow's arm and ran from the store.

Steven laughed and laughed at giving them more to think about than abandoning their friend.

*

Joyce stared at her daughter as she relayed what the new store owner had said to her. She knew, like a logical person, that the man's comments had been completely innocent. It had just devolved from there, because Buffy kept making the wrong assumptions and the whole situation went way out of control. She held in her sigh and let her rant until she was out of breath.

She told her daughter that she would take care of things and Buffy had nothing to worry about. So, she climbed into her car and went to the new store that had great things inside for great prices. She hadn't realized how great until she entered the place and saw the diverse choices it had. It was better than a normal department store and was only a quarter of the size.

“Hello, there.” The handsome man behind the counter said. “What can I help you with today?”

“My daughter was in here earlier.” Joyce said.

Steven laughed and held up his hands. “She was extremely easy to tease and taunt when she assumed I was a lech trying to convince her to sneak into the back room to browse through my... ahem... stock.”

Joyce laughed at the innuendo and knew what he meant. “That's why I'm here.”

Steven kept laughing and Joyce knew then that he was a good man and hadn't meant anything of the sort. “I have to offer you the same thing.” He said and waved at the door. “Please allow me to escort you into my secret sex lair.”

Joyce laughed and nodded as she held a hand out to him. Steven accepted the hand and took the woman to his store room that had everything in it. Since it was a secondary inventory for him, everything he had in inventory was also represented there.

Joyce stared at everything from jewellery to appliances to clothing to weapons, and she was stunned. Steven walked her though the entire place and showed her everything he had available and Joyce seemed speechless as he revealed everything to her.

“As you can see, there's no bed back here or sex toys or anything.” Steven said. “I do have a huge selection that I really don't have the room to display at the moment, which was what I offered to your daughter to take a look at.” He said and motioned to the shelves and shelves of expensive clothing. “I'm not sure what she has to handle in her normal life for her to automatically assume that an offer to look in a back room means the guy wants to have sex with her.”

Joyce sighed and revealed what Buffy had been through before coming to Sunnydale and then some of the things she had seen her daughter involved with.

“Dawn's not involved with any of that?” Steven asked.

“How do you know about...” Joyce sighed loudly. “Buffy's big mouth told you.”

Steven snorted and muffled his laugh, which made Joyce softly laugh. “If Dawn's even half as pretty and smart as you, she's going to be a real boy-killer when she's older.”

Joyce nodded. “She's on her way there with her obsession with Xander.”

“Oh, that situation's changed a bit.” Steven said, conspiratorily.

“Do tell.” Joyce said, her voice interested.

“We need to go to my break room and I'll make you some coffee. This is not light conversation.” Steven said and Joyce nodded. He led her from the storage room to his break room and Joyce looked at the place with appreciation. He quickly did up two cups of coffee and grabbed a few free snacks to set on the table. He then told her about the afternoon's antics and Joyce was halfway between hysterics and continuous laughter.

“So, this was the highlight of my first day open.” Steven said and sipped on his coffee.

Joyce laughed and took her own sip. “If this was your first day, what's tomorrow going to be like?”

“I think that's the whole point of me being here.” Steven said and refilled their cups. “I get to meet interesting people, sell my wares, and make everything that much better.”

Joyce took another drink of the great coffee. “I want to ask what blend this is, except I don't want to ruin the mystery.”

“This, my dear Joyce, is Generic Coffee Blend Number 2.” Steven said, as if sharing a deep secret.

Joyce laughed pretty hard and looked highly amused, because it wasn't some rich exotic coffee.

“I'm sure that we can come to some kind of an agreement for me to share my super-secret deliciousness with you.” Steven said and wagged his eyebrows at her, which made her laugh even more.

An hour later, they were in bed together and Joyce couldn't have been happier as she yelled out Steven's name. She came hard and would never regret her decision to investigate the new Store owner.

Joyce went home that night, very satisfied, and swore to never tell her daughter that she was a fool for not taking Steven up on his non-existent offer. She hung the red Prada bag on her daughter's doorknob and went to her own bedroom to go to sleep.

*

Steven spend the next few days making a huge amount of profit. Word has spread, probably thanks to the Cordettes, Cordelia's mother, and Joyce. There was no chance that Buffy would be spreading it around. Willow was an iffy proposition, because she had apparently chosen Buffy over Xander and her loyalty would stop her from helping anyone that wasn't closely associated with Buffy.

Joyce showed up four days after her first visit and asked for more coffee, which was a blatant hint to Steven to close up early. He did so, to Joyce's delight, and they shared a lot more than coffee for the rest of the evening.

*

It was another week later before Xander showed up to look through the Survivalist Section. When he admitted that he didn't have a lot of money, Steven told him that all he needed to do was bring in things to trade or sell, or better yet, help him stock up the store with new items. He gave the young man a job and Xander accepted with gratitude as he secretly armored himself up for his nightly patrols.

It took several weeks for the survivalist side to gain more weapons, both classic and advanced, and then there was suddenly a library section in the store with various subjects included. The magic one was kept separate, of course. That wasn't for normal people consumption. Steven knew better than to let the general public see certain products that he had available.

When Steven offered the Cordettes an exchange program for their clothes and shoes, the store seemed to gain a much larger clothing area and a much happier clientele. No one questioned it and Steven explained it away as moving his custom bathroom to the second floor where his living area was.

Joyce loved the huge bathroom and spent more time there in the evenings than she should have, with the excuse that Steven was a good cook and even invited Dawn over a few times to share a meal. Dawn loved having access to better clothing than Buffy and dove into the new relationship her mother had with the store owner as if he was going to be her new father.

Steven had laughed when the girl said that one night at dinner. Joyce looked afraid and Steven leaned over to kiss her, then he hugged Dawn as he said that he would be proud to claim her as a daughter, because she took after her mother and he cared deeply about her. Both Joyce and Dawn made 'aww' sounds and hugged Steven tightly.

*

Buffy wasn't sure why her nightly patrols seemed excessively light of vampires. She just took it as a dry spell and didn't think too much about it. She would never know that an extremely armored and heavily weapon-laden Xander made his own rounds and took care of the vamps long before she did her normal patrols. His skills and strength was starting to rival hers and Xander didn't realize it, either.

*

Joyce was completely in love with the sensible and normal man that ran the Store. Even her first marriage had never felt this fulfilling and she was sure that she didn't want to see if she would ever meet someone else that was as good for her as Steven was.

When she was at his store that night and soaking in the large bath, she asked him to marry her. Steven was only slightly shocked, until he smiled and gave her a very piercing look. He told her in no uncertain terms that if she chose to do this, that they would have to live there above the shop, because he couldn't leave.

Joyce knew he was an introvert and would never leave his shop, so she agreed that if he did agree to marry her, she would give up her job and move in with him.

Steven laughed and told her that wasn't what he meant. He would expand the Store for her, give her an entire level for herself, and she could move the museum of art inside and keep doing what she loved for as long as she wanted. Joyce accepted immediately and kissed him deeply, fully accepting that her life was going to be with him from now on.

*

Life for Buffy seemed to stagnate and she didn't know why. Her slaying every night had soon become every second night, then became only once a week. There were less and less things that went bump in the night for her to hunt and she couldn't explain it. Giles, her watcher, was also stumped. His research in the books of oracles and prophecies, revealed nothing.

Willow was becoming less invested as she and Oz became more involved with his band. The group slowly drifted apart when there was no real threats for them to come together to fight. They would never find out that Xander has become a very efficient vampire killing machine with Steven's Store giving him a pretty much unlimited amount of equipment and materials to fight.

Joyce kept the house for Buffy and Dawn to live in and moved in with Steven. They hadn't gone with a big wedding or anything and chose a private civil ceremony, which handled all the legal paperwork and they started their lives together.

Xander and Harmony were still going strong six months later and were talking about both kids and marriage after graduation, because Xander's job and rolling the vamps had given him a huge amount of money and experience. He was buff and strong, had lots of stamina, and he never rubbed it in anyone's faces. He had also taken the Cordette's lessons to heart. He was stylish, looked good, did good, and made them and himself proud.

The Mayor never ascended, because Xander had dealt with him as soon as Faith turned on the others. He dealt with her as well, only no one knew that. He couldn't have an evil slayer wrecking everything and getting Buffy blamed for it, even if it would have been a good prank to pull on her.

Xander married Harmony and they had a baby six months later. Both of them were happy parents and would never make the same mistake their own parents did with them. Steven provided them with everything they would ever need to raise a baby for free. He was named godfather and was very proud of that.

*

Steven made business contacts over the years and had new stock brought in when it was necessary, paying the normal cost and not trying to steal or game the Store. He was at the point now that it was a huge department store with three levels, a museum and art gallery, and his living quarters. Surprisingly, Dawn refused to move in and stayed with Buffy at the old house.

Buffy went on to college and her slaying became less important as her life returned to normal. Willow had moved away with Oz to his hometown and the last time she had contacted them, she had become a werewolf and given up on magic, because the cost was too much for her soul.

Dawn graduated high school and moved away. She had no one left in Sunnydale and chose to go to L.A. to find fame, fortune, and whatever was waiting out there for her. Neither Buffy nor Joyce tried to convince her to stay with them, because they knew if Dawn wanted to make her own way, they had no right to try and stop her. She was old enough to make her own choices.

Dawn kissed them goodbye, gave Steven a brief kiss on the lips for being a great stepdad, and left. She was never seen again and eventually no one remembered her, except for Steven. He kept it a secret, because why would he remind them of what they lost? That would just be cruel.

*

Steven woke up one day and he was floating in nothingness. He was a little confused until he saw the notification that the world had been destroyed by the war between good and evil. There had been no winner or loser. It was just gone.

Before Steven could ask how that had happened, a popup told him that his interference had created a causality loop that made the entire reality unravel. He laughed because how could a single man with a Store cause that much of a change to erase an entire reality when he never once left the building?

There was no answer, so Steven sighed and checked his Store. It was still the same as it was, even with the museum and art gallery. He smiled at that, because he had spent many years being happy with his wife. He loved her and it was the best time of his life. His only regret was that Dawn chose to not join them and Xander had quit before he could offer him his own franchise.

Congratulations! You have survived your second world.
Second world achievement unlocked. Relevance bonus granted for free. Store bonuses have been awarded for your diligent work on making the Store better (x3). Upgrades can be chosen from the available list. Would you like to see the list and make your choices now?

Steven declined, because he didn't really want to think about them. It finally hit him that his wife was dead and he felt like a pit was opening inside of him. It was getting difficult to breathe and he wasn't even sure he still had any lungs.

Store Accessibility: Outstanding. Store Presentation: Outstanding. Store Stock: Appropriate.
Accessing localized dimensional barrier. Inserting. Materializing into world. Done.
Welcome to the world of... (insert world here)!

Steven hadn't read the destination and tried to not implode emotionally as he materialized inside the Store once more. He gazed around blankly and felt almost nothing about it. His pride in his work started to fade and he started to feel like it wasn't worth it.

“Steven? Love?” Joyce's voice came from behind him. “Is everything okay? You look lost.”

Steven stiffened and slowly turned around, as if in a horror movie, and his eyes widened as a thirty-five year old Joyce stood there in the doorway to their upstairs apartment. She looked gorgeous with her tousled blonde hair and wearing only a nightie and no panties.

“J-Joyce, you... are you...” Steven stammered as he tried to parse what it meant that neither he nor her were in their sixties.

“I'm sorry if you thought you were losing me when the Store transitioned, Steven.” Joyce said and walked over to him with a huge smile on her face. “I made a very lucrative deal with the Store franchise after we were married. It just never came up in all the years we've been together.”

Steven felt tears roll down his cheeks and he hugged her tightly. “Joyce... my Joyce.”

Joyce hugged him tightly and held him as he cried for the very first time. “My Steven.”

After everything their family had been through and it was losing her that hurt him so much that the strongest man she ever knew, cried. Her love for him grew and her lips lightly kissed the side of his head, then his cheek as she moved her head back, then his lips.

Joyce didn't protest when Steven lifted her and set her onto the counter and then he was inside of her and frantically made love to her. He was tender and quick, made sure she was taken care of first, then he desperately claimed her and gave her his all. They eventually made it back to their bed and continued on for the rest of the night.

Steven didn't feel guilty for doing what they did on the counter. It was self-cleaning and he would always remember having his wife there, because he could sit behind the counter every day and remember the sight of Joyce with her lusciously long legs spread open for him. It had been burned into his mind and would stay there for the rest of his life.