He couldn't help another laugh as she made her interest known in the way that she leaned forward. It was a small, telling habit she had; one of those adorable things about her that made it so easy to disregard the fact that she was a vampire. His wariness of her kind was natural, but he'd learned long before meeting Emma that he couldn't judge a species on its stereotypes.
But no matter how cute she was when she got curious, Xander still hesitated over the words that had been running through his head. His concerns over Ashley. Over getting potentially too close to Ashley. He'd agreed to go to her cousin's party with her, and it had been a nice evening. Ashley had looked stunning. He'd dated on and off over the last hundred years, but nothing serious had ever come of it. That wasn't to imply that he thought anything serious might happen with the witch, but...things were already more complicated with her than they had been with anyone else in a long time. And she didn't even realize it.
"Let's say you influences a child's life when he was very young," Xander started. "Years later, you crossed paths again. When he was a grown man. Perhaps there was something about you that he recognized. Something about you that kept drawing him to you. And, perhaps, you to him. Would you feel compelled to tell him who you are?" It wasn't the sum total of what was going on, but it was close enough to get the gist across. Or so he thought.