For Elizabeth "Buffy" Anne Summers, danger in a man was her one true weakness; the kind of men she admired the most were those who had a little edge, as well as the courage to try their hand at standing up to her. She'd pretty much since accepted that fact — even learned to live with it. Basically, a nice, normal guy was never going to be her choice, nor would such a male entice her.

Contrary to what her friend Alexander Lavelle "Xander" Harris wanted to believe, he never stood a chance with her. From her perspective, he was the quintessential nice guy (or at least the epitome of the nice guy, if there ever was one). And as a matter of fact, even before she had been called as the Slayer, it was the nice guys who weren't exactly exciting or thrilling for her.

Her first boyfriend/crush had been Oliver Pike from back when she attended Hemery High in Los Angeles; he was as far from nice and normal as she knew one could possibly get. As she recalled, Pike was not even the typical rebel bad boy; instead, he'd been the real deal — he was young, but even then, she knew he had it in him to be a powerhouse in the underworld. 

She had been drawn to him like the proverbial moth to a flame, and in a different world, she would still be at his side. She still loved him dearly as a friend, and she sometimes wished it could have worked out between them. But, as she recalled, it didn't; she had left him, moving to Sunnydale and the Hellmouth — and he had moved on.

It had been hard, and he had offered to follow, but she had wanted him safe — well, safe from her world's darkness in any case. His moving on and becoming a white hat had sealed the ending of their relationship.

Pike was now a highly decorated United States Army officer, as well as a lead investigator in their police forces; Buffy smiled as she recalled how she felt proud of him for having accomplished that when she found out about it from piecing together the story through grapevine gossip. After all, who better to go after the smugglers and criminals than one who grew up in that life? 

However, he was still her dear friend, and she cared for him. If she could not fall in love with him and stay with him, then Xander never stood a chance.