Get Xander!

Author: Stephen Howe <sh01[at]bigpond.com>

FEEDBACK: Sure.

DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss, WB and Fox! Joss created everything but lost his way!

Begins at the end of the sixth season. BTVS/Highlander/Get Carter (The Michael Cain version not the POS that was Rockys version.) x/over. Anya left because she feared death and decided to leave Sunnydale after what happens.

Xander is changed and his new life leads him in a different direction. The events deal with the Highlander Universe but entails none of the characters. Anyone that has not seen the original Michael Cain version of Get Carter please do as it still remains a classic despite its pale wannabe remake.

Latest addition


Prologue

1630 REVELLO DRIVE-SPRING 2002.

Tara and Willow are in their bedroom, Tara has an impish grin on her face as she buttons up her top as Willow moves closer, and Tara turns and faces the window as Willow kisses her. Willow sighs when she breaks the kiss and wraps her arms around her lover.

"Xander." Tara exclaims and Willow pouts. "Not quiet the name I wanted to hear."

Tara grins and says. "No silly, Xander's here, look." She points out the window and they watch as Xander, hesitantly, approaches Buffy. "You think they'll make up?" Willow asks furtively. Tara sighs and places he hands in her back pocket. "I hope so, it's the best part."

As they kiss Xander watches Buffy as she pokes a stick into the shrubbery, he digs his hands deeper into his pockets as he gathers the strength to talk to her. "Ah time for the spring poking already?"

Buffy turns and shrugs, even wearing an old top and jeans do nothing to hide her beauty. "Just making sure there are no more evil trio cameras." She sighs once more. "Or evil Uno."

Xander raises an eyebrow. "The sinister evil card game?"

She shakes her head. "Warren, Jonathon and Andrew got clinked...Warren pulled a rocket man."

Xander smiles. "You'll find him" Xander looks into her eyes and she can feel him in her very soul. "He won't be much good without his friends."

Buffy nods and begins to close the gap between them. "No he won't." She sighs as they both sit on the old wooden garden seat. She faces him her hands between her knees still nervous, frightened she might lose the one male who seemed to stay with her through all her trials and tribulations. Xander takes a deep breath and sighs as he rubs his hands in front of him. "How did we get here?"

Buffy shrugs. "Scenic route. Long drive."

The pair move closer together as they continue their talk. Xander's voice cracks as he tells her. "These last few weeks..."

Buffy nods and all but whispers. "I know."

Buffy can see Xander's eyes misting over as he fidgets, trying to get the words to come out right. "I thought I hit bottom, but...it hurt." He looks at his hands then back into her eyes. "That you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Spike." The name is all but spat out as he sees the hurt the mere mention of the name causes, he turns his face down, thinking he is not worthy to even speak of what the chipped monster had done to her. He chokes back the words. "It hurt."

Buffy is now almost in tears as she tells him. "I'm sorry. I should have told you." Her eyes are filling with unshed tears as her chest heaves with a choked back sob.

Xander shuffles his feet as he can't bear to look into her eyes. "You would have, if I hadn't given you so many reasons..."He looks back up into her eyes. "to think I'd be an ass about it."

Buffy smiles for the first time in a long while as she knocks his knee with her. "Guess we've all done a lot of things lately we're not proud of." She looks down remembering all the dirty hate full things she and Spike had done.

Xander places his hand on her knee and she looks back up. "I think I've got you beat." He tells her.

Buffy tilts her head to one side. "Wanna compare?"

Xander smiles. "Not so much."

His smile makes her world seem a little brighter; they continue to nibble away at the edges of their barriers, their fingers touching each others as he continues. "I don't know what I'd do..."He licks the corner of his lips and glances back up at her. "Without you and Will."

Buffy shakes her head. "Let's not find out." She can feel tears begin to form as she hugs him and he hugs her back. She strokes the back of his head and she can feel his arms wrap around her, making her feel safe once more. "I love you. You know that, right?"

Xander feels closer to her now more than at any time in his life and is about to tell her everything when he sees Warren striding in through the back gate. He moves away from her, his eyes wide.

"Buffy!"

She turns placing herself between the new threat and Xander as an enraged Warren stops short of the pair. "You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?" His plans in ruins and his friends in jail he thinks he has little left to lose as he brings the Berretta up and points it at her. "Think again!" He pulls the trigger but the recoil from the nine millimeter handgun is so different from what he'd imagine and the shot clips the tip of her shoulder as she tries to push Xander out of the way.

Buffy spins at the impact and Xander goes red with rage. "You freaking idiot!" He charges Warren as Buffy stumbles. Warren freaks out and keeps firing as he turned to run, the bullets cutting the air and missing his main target completely.

Tara and Willow sit up from the bed. "What was that?" Tara asks and Willow tries to sense from where the shots came from. "M.m. maybe its Dawn? She has a habit of watching those TV shows too loud. I..."Another shot rings out and the pair both look to the back yard. "Buffy?"

Buffy curses. "Where the hell did he get a gun from?" She goes to chase him but sees Xander gripping the fence, his knuckles white with the effort of keeping upright. Then she notices for the first time the ragged holes in the back of his shirt...Holes that seemed to be leaking... "Oh god no! Xander!"

She ran to him and he struggled against her. "I'm fine, really, go get..."He collapses bonelessly into her arms and she places him onto the ground, her eyes going wide at the three tiny holes that were dotted haphazardly across his chest. She rips open his once yellow shirt and then tears open the red stained t-shirt to reveal the three bullet holes just as Willow and Tara come running out.

"BUFFY!" Willow cries out and she sees her friend turn to face her, her top covered in red. "Oh god he shot you?" Tara follows Willow as she sprints over to Buffy and then sees her lover fall to her knees at Xander's side. "NO!"

Tara can see his aura start to fade as the two women try to help him. She turns and runs inside to phone for help fearing they were already too late.

Buffy had her hands on his chest trying to stem the flow of blood as it pulsed from his body. "No, Xander please hold on, please." She cried out to him as she saw him try to speak, the blood coloring his lips and mouth as he coughed. "...uffy?" He looked at the blood on her top and his mind went crazy. "Your top, did he hit you?"

She shook her head. "It's just a scratch; we have to worry about you. Just hold on, please..."She turned her head towards the house. "Tell them to hurry!"

Willow took her top off and folded it into a square then packed it on top of the hole over his heart, pressing down with all her might. Xander tried to say something but only blood came out. He fought back, through the pain and the sorrow and he knew what he had to say. "No vengeance Wills, don't want one of you damned because of me." He gripped her hand. "Leave it to...to God...'r whatever's out there."

Willow nods. "Yes, whatever makes you happy Xand, just hold onto me."

Tara came running out. "Five minutes, they said it would take five minutes to get here."

The words struck her hard as her senses could hear his heart beat faster as it tried to pump the remaining blood around his system. She knew some parts would be shutting down, trying to preserve his life but she knew, five minutes would be too damn long.

Suddenly they heard the howl of the sirens and the squeal of breaks as the medical unit pulled up the drive. Tara ran towards them and guided them around the back. "He was shot… in the chest." "Accident?" The lead medic asked."

"No...I think someone, maybe Warren, shot at him." Tara was confused as the pair raced over to the collapsed man. Willow moved aside but Buffy stayed close. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to move." The man said as his partner opened the emergency unit and started to cut away the remains of his clothes.

Willow moved her aside as the man threw her top aside and began cleaning Xander's chest with medical wipes. "Three entry points..."He turns Xander slightly and the moves him back. "Three exits." He dials the hospital as his partner hooks up the machine. He cradles the phone as he opens the medical chest. "Pulse 100 and thready, lungs sound wet...Sunnydale be advised patient is a white male in his early 20's,has multiple gunshot wounds sustained to his upper and lower chest..."

Buffy zoned out as they continued to work on Xander, Willow and Tara hugged each other for comfort as Willow asked. "Who did this?"

Buffy sighed. "Warren, Warren Mears." She looked from the whirlwind of action over Xander and then looked at the two Wicca's. "He shot at me and I pushed Xander away." She touched the deep scratch on her shoulder. "I was hit...He, he must have gone after Warren to try and." Her eyes went wide. "He saved me!" She began shaking. "This is all my fault...Why did you ever bring me back?"

Xander can see the two hovering over him as he watches from above his body, all the pain is gone but still he is tied to his mortal body. He can see Buffy, Willow and Tara as they stand by his side, ever the loyal friends. They lift Xander onto the trolley and hurry him to the waiting ambulance and he wishes he could tell them not to cry for him, he was just doing what he had to, to make sure Buffy survived. After all what was one normal fool more or less as opposed to the loss of a Slayer?

SUNNYDALE GENERAL.

Buffy is standing with the others outside the operating room when Dawn comes running in and sees the blood stained top and the bandage on her shoulder. "BUFFY!" She hugs her. "They told me someone was shot and I thought you were..."She hugs her harder. "Oh God I thought I had lost you again!"

She felt Buffy's hand begin to stroke her shoulder. "I'm fine...I'm always fine, slayer healing you know."

Dawn stepped back from her, her brow furrowed in worry. "Buffy, why are you talking so strange?" She saw Willow and Tara stood to one side, tears in their eyes. "What's..."Now it hit her, hit her hard. "If you're all here then where's..."She turned to face the operating room. "Xander?"

 

Meanwhile in the room the three doctors worked as fast as humanly possible over Xander. A nurse told them. "BP is down to 65 palp."

The doctor working on the heart placed a clamp on the heart. "Got to stop that bleeding by the left ventricle." He dropped the used scalpel and picked up another clamp. "How you guys doin' ?"

"We got a bleeder!" The other doctor exclaimed as he was covered in arterial spray.

Xander shook his head as he watched them fight a loosing battle with death over him. He saw the nurse drop a tray of medical instruments as the doctor called for the paddles.

Dawn looked from one friend to the other. "What happened? Will he be all right?"

Willow nods. "He'll be fine Dawn; Xander's a fighter if nothing else."

"What the hell happened Buffy?" Dawn demanded.

Her sister turned to her almost robotically. "We were talking out the back, finally getting our things together when Warren came in and started..."

The four of them turned as one when the doors opened. The doctor walked towards them, a look of heart felt sorrow on his face. "I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do, the wounds were just too..."

Buffy gripped him by the throat. "Wrong! Get back in there and fight for him god damn it!" She was shaking in both fear and anger; she hardly felt Dawn and Tara pulling on her arm or even see Willow walk zombie like through the open doors and into the operating room.

Willow saw her friend lying lifeless on the table, his features covered by a bland, blood soaked sheet. She saw the nurse gathering the used materials for sterilization and barked. "Get out." The nurse went to complain but then she saw the black, evil eyes of the red haired woman and scurried out.

Willow pulled back the sheet and stared into the lifeless eyes of her friend. "Come back, come back to us Xander." She saw the hastily sown up wounds on his chest and felt his cold still chest and then looked up, darkness had enclosed the room and a whirlpool of light was gathering above them her hair blowing in a mystical wind. "By Osiris I command you, bring him back!"

She placed her hand over Xander's heart. "Hear me keeper of darkness..."

A heavy voice boomed throughout the room. "Witch, how dare you invoke Osiris in this task?"

Lighting flashed and a demonic visage shifted into existence in the whirling light. Willow begged it. "Please. Please bring him back!"

The being shook its head. "You may not violate the laws of natural passing."

Willow held up her bloodstained hands. "How? How is this natural?"

"It is a human death by human means."

She shook her head. "But I..."

"You raised one killed by mystical forces, this is not the same. He has been taken by natural order. It is done."

Her tears were flowing down her face as she demanded. "No! There has to be another way!"

"IT IS DONE!" Osiris commanded her. "He is neither of your world, nor mine..."

"NO!" Willow's voice carries power and dissolves the image back into the dark.

The others hear her cry and they run into the room and stand by her side. "He's gone..."Her words carry no feeling; it's as if she had died along with him. They ease her out of the room. Dawn stands there looking at Xander's body; she moves forward and touches his lips as if feeling for his breath to return. She feels a part of her cry out for vengeance and yet another temper that cry with a certainty of his return. "Come back to me Xander..."She turns and walks towards the door then halts, turns back to face him. "I'll be waiting for you, even if it takes eternity, we shall never be apart for long."

She walks out and into the vortex of anger and grief that has followed Xander's demise. She looks at them as they argue over what should be done then she calmly tells them. "Leave Warren to the law, Xander would not want any of us breaking the natural order and suffering for it." Dawn searches the features of each then smiles. "When he returns he would want us to be as we were when he left." She looks from one to the other. "Friends that never forgot him or his ways."

Buffy went to her and they hugged. "I promise never to leave you or to forget who you are Dawn."

Willow and Tara move aside as an orderly pushed his trolley past the group and into the operating room. "I think it best if we leave now." Tara tells them as she maneuvers a stunned Willow out of the waiting room and into the hall. Willow turns to her and sobs. "Tell me she's right? Tell me he wouldn't want us to avenge him and he will come back."

Buffy watched as Tara nodded and then she felt Dawn tug on her arm. "Come on Buffy, we should go home and contact the others, let them know what's happened."

They were all but out of the area when the orderly paused at the elevator door with Xander's remains, the door opened and he pushed the gurney inside. The doors closed and instead of pushing the button for the mortuary he pressed the last button and they descended to the very bowels of the old hospital.

Chapter 1

STANSFIELD FUNERAL HOME.

Xander's body arched and twisted inside the thick black plastic bag as he followed the painful light back into his body and awakened. "Shit!" He cried out at the darkness. "I'm blind?" His nose picked up the aroma of formaldehyde and cleaning fluids at the same time his fingers brushed up against the zipper. But as he moved he felt the tight constrictions of the handcuffs attached to his hands. "What the?"

The orderly stood up and flicked the cigarette into the corner and drew out his sword as he saw his payday waken. He waited for Xander to rip the bag open and take a breath of air before he tapped his body with the point of the blade. "No sudden moves or it will be your last."

Xander felt an electric tingle in the back of his mind then looked over to the voice, when he saw the man he tried to back away. "What the hell's going on?"

The man grinned. "I wish I had a dollar for every time they said that!" He grabbed him by the cuffs and pulled him clear of the bag. "You my friend are the gift that never stops giving." He pushed the very naked Xander over to the wall and placed the edge against his throat while he secured the cuffs to the chain embedded there.

He stood back, sheathing the sword as he did, then sat back on the chair. "I used to make a fair amount selling off the fresh corpses to the owners of this..."He sniggered. "Establishment. But ever since I ran into one of their still hungry customers one dark and dreary night I found a new money spinner." He took the top off of a bottle of Jack Daniels and took a swig before going on.

Xander pulls on the chain to judge how secure it was and tells him. "So you were drained by one of your own customers. Can you say poetic justice?"

The man laughed. "Best damned day of my life!" He placed the bottle on the counter. "Ya see sport, I woke just the same way you did, all hurt and confused as hell until I worked out that either I was one of them or the idiot didn't drain me enough. The truth was that it was neither, the truth is...We're Immortals kiddo."

Xander stopped pulling on the chain and sniggered. "Yeah right and any second now Ed McMahon is going to come walking through those doors with a big fat juicy check!"

The man took another slug and shrugged. "Believe what you like but after they've drained you a couple of times you'll become a believer. See here's the deal, I sell you to these guys and they turn you into a never ending keg of liquid life for their customers. And when the time comes to permanently stamp your ticket I get to..."He taps the blade. "Get the final, and in my opinion better, energy source."

Xander shakes his head and glares at him. "My friends..."

"Think you're dead, well maybe. See by now the authorities have discovered the drawer you're supposed to be in is empty and the will have passed that information onto your next of kin." He looks at him. "And knowing who your friends are they'll put one and one together and come up with."

Xander slumps into his restraints. "Vampire."

The man smiles evilly. "See kid even if you somehow manage to get out of here the most you could hope for would be a sudden stake to the chest from the Slayer and the least, well I'm doubting she'd trust you too well seeing as how you saw you dead and all." He took a swig then continued. "Not to mention the freaks and their stupid 'Game', I tell ya I should get paid more for taking that little pain from your lives."

Xander kicks out at him but stops when he feels the chain give. "You asshole! Just how many innocents have you handed over?"

The man shrugged. "Ten...No you'll be my twelfth payday!" He grinned. "I always like nice even numbers, besides you newbie's wouldn't last more than a day or two in the game anyway."

Xander scowls at him. "Unlike a gentleman such as yourself no doubt."

The man shrugs. "Yeah I've had a couple of close shaves but see I'll let you in on a little secret." He opens his coat to reveal a short barreled shotgun. "I cheat; I cheat a whole hell of a lot. One of them fools gets within range of my head and BOOM! Game over." He takes another drink. "So I miss the light show, big freaking deal, I mean who the hell needs all that pain any way?"

Xander is slowly pulling the spike the chain is secured to out of the old brick wall as the man rambles on about the game. He stops only when his capture turns to look at him and gloat. The man glances up at the roof as the sounds of a car can be heard. He caps the bottle and stands up. "Well looks like my banker's arrived and I guess its time for me to say adios." He walks by him. "See ya in the funny papers kid."

As he passes Xander pulls the chain free of the wall and swings it with all his might till it makes contact with the man's head. Xander moves in and hits him again and again until he no longer moves. He quickly finds the keys to his cuffs in the inner pocket of the man's jacket and unlocks the manacles. Xander glances around then shivers as a cold wind blows into the cellar.

He looks at the man and shrugs. "Your clothes are the least you owe me." He undresses the man and quickly puts the clothes on shucking the shotgun free of its holster and checking its load before jerking the barrel closed. He also picks up the sword and takes it from the scabbard before he moves towards the big door at the top of the stairs.

Xander glances back down to make sure his captor is still unconscious before he cracks open the door and peers out. He can hear two men talking in the other room and he takes a hesitant step out of the cellar in his bid for freedom. He creeps towards the open door when he feels a buzz at the base of his head and turns in time to dodge the shovel's edge that was aimed at his head.

"Jesus!" He turned and deflected the next strike with the sword just as the other two came into the room. Xander stamped his foot on the handle of the shovel and brought the sword down in a sweeping arc, only realizing he was about to take a life when the blade cut through the neck of his captor.

He turned as the body dropped to the ground to deal with the other two but the pair knew what was to come next and had dived for cover. Xander cried out as the bolts of energy hit his body and the power of the 'Quickening' surged through him. The memories of the man and the quickening of those he had killed washed over Xander, buffeting against his mind until he thought he would go insane.

Xander ran blindly down the hall and flung open the doors that led into the night. He paused at the sight of four expensive town cars and the chauffeurs that stood by them and then searched for a way out of this nightmare.

One of the owners of the funeral home tapped the headless man's body with his foot. "It appears we will need a new supplier Mr. Huntington."

The other man nods. "A shame Mr. Brown, he was a man of many talents." He looked up as a tall man entered the hallway. "What should we do about this situation Mr. Huntington?"

Huntington looked at their best customer and smiled. "It has been sometime since we've had a hunt here, what say you to an impromptu manhunt?"

The tall man smiled as his face morphed to that of a vampire as Huntington motioned to him. "We'll need something the prey wore, but knowing you the body bag will suffice." He walked out and was joined by the others as they gathered around the bag, inhaling Xander's scent. "Shall we say the first draining and half a million to the one that brings him down?"

The other three nods and he grins. "Excellent! I always enjoy a brisk workout before I dine."

The pair watches the four elite vampires as they hurry out into the night. Huntington opens a cloakroom door and removes two large caliber handguns from the safe therein. He hands one to Mr. Brown and motions for him to follow the others. "Remember to only go for the head if he looks like escaping Mr. Brown."

Mr. Brown smiles. "Oh but of course Mr. Huntington, but of course."

Xander had dodged the hands of the servants and ran as fast as he could out the gates and into the woods, something in the back of his mind told him of the freight yards that were due east of the home and closer than the main road. As he ran his mind tried to assimilate all the information the quickening had flooded his mind with. Knowledge, skills and the accumulated thoughts of a man with no moral compass to tell him right from wrong.

He heard the men running behind him as they searched the night for him and he paused as he heard the distinctive sounds of a freight train. "Get to the train and get the hell away from here." He began running towards the yard and as he turned a bend in the path a dark shadow stepped in front of him.

"Well a short hunt but a profitable one." The man stalked towards him. "A taste now, I'll save the rest for another time."

Xander shook trying his best to play the frightened victim until the vampire was within range. "I don't suppose you've heard the saying about counting your chickens?" The vamp paused and looked confused as Xander swept the blade down in a blur of steel and its head struck the ground before its body exploded into dust. "How about stupid is as stupid does?"

He moved past the pile of ashes and held the sword flat to his back; his newly found knowledge was becoming as second nature as his mind filtered out what it needed and filed the rest for later use. Another hunter stepped in his way and raised a gun in an attempt to halt his escape. The blade flashed up, severing the arm that held the gun, and then struck down taking the creatures head. Xander was almost out of breath as he came to a footbridge that covered the railway lines but he slid to a halt as there before him stood two more vampires, these two flashing their blades in an exhibition of swordsmanship even his memories hadn't seen before.

He smiled at them and brought the blade forward till it touched his nose in a salute. "I'm thinking you guys have never seen an Indiana Jones movie?" He saw their puzzlement then grinned as he brought up the double barrel shotgun and quickly blew both their heads off. "I hate leaches!" He growled. Xander replaced the gun in its holster as the sounds of an approaching train broke the dark night.

He went to the railing and remembered a time one of his 'guests' had made a career of jumping on moving trains to lighten its passengers of their wealth. He stood on the railing as the engine passed under and waited for the roof of a livestock car passed under. "Here goes nothing." He cried as he jumped. Just as he was in the apex of his leap he felt a hammer blow to his back and head landing hard and heavy in an open roofed transport container.

"Nice shot Mr. Brown!"

Mr. Brown turned to his partner. "Yes, you have to allow for the wind you know." He watched the train pull away. "Do you think it was enough?"

"Indubitably Mr. Brown." He held the Desert Eagle up to him. "I've yet to see one of his ilk survive a hit to the head from one of these beasts."

Mr. Brown sighed. "A pity about our guests Mr. Huntington."

Huntington just shrugged. "Plenty more where they come from Mr. Brown, the thing is to know what the customer craves before they do." He turns and heads back to the Funeral home. "Now lets get things cleaned up before we have visitors Mr. Brown."

1630 REVELLO DRIVE.

Xander's death hung over the house like a shroud of gloom, several times Buffy had started to dial Giles's number but had then hung up; unsure of how to tell her watcher of the way Xander had died. Not at the hands of some soulless demon as they had feared but at the hands of a small minded fool angered at her for ruining his geeky plans to rule Sunnydale.

She had let Willow and Tara go over to Anya's apartment and break the news of her ex-fiancées demise but that was well over three hours ago and she was beginning to fear for their lives. Buffy could still smell the scent of his aftershave as it clung to the house like it was his very soul. She jumped when Dawn placed a steaming cup of fresh coffee at the side of her hand. She looked up at her sister and felt a knot in her stomach. Dawn had more than just a crush on Xander, she knew because she had once read her secret diary when she was worried Dawn was going to run away. "Thank you."

Dawn squeezed her sister's hand and smiled. "It'll be okay Buff, you wait and see, any day he will come walking..."

The front door swung open frightening Buffy but Dawn just smiled. "XANDER!"

Tara shook her head as she glanced back at Willow. "Something happened, something weird even for this place."

Willow looked from one sister to the other. "We went with Anya back to the hospital, her being his closest family and all. Anya wanted to make sure the orderlies didn't steal his things."

"Apparently saw it on a Sixty Minute's special." Tara explains.

Willow nods. "We were sent to the administrator..."Willow looked at Buffy. "His body's gone!"

"Tara gripped her hand as she continued for her heart broken lover." It seems they have a...a...a thief, they said. "Tara closes her eyes." But from the way she was talking we knew it was more than just a thief."

Willow moves towards Buffy and sinks to her knees at her feet; her head is lying in Buffy's lap as she cries out. "They think he's become...he's been turned!"

Dawn shook her head, for the first time she was beginning to doubt what she had once held to be true. "No, they're lying." She looks to Buffy. "They have to be."

Tara kneels next to Willow and she says. "Anya believed them, believed them so much she got us to take her to the airport and caught the first plane out of here."

Willow wiped her eyes. "She couldn't stand the thought of us staking him or him turning her." Dawn shook her head vehemently. "I say they're trying to cover something up!"

Tara looked at Dawn. "By telling his family that he's a vampire?"

Buffy asked. "Did they come straight out and say it?" She looked from Tara to Willow. "Or did they just make it sound like it?"

Tara stuttered. "W... well they were sort of skirting around the edges a bit. But why would they say it if it wasn't true?"

Dawn strides over to the computer and connects to the internet. "Well why don't we find out?"

Chapter 2

NEW YORK-WINTER, 2002.

The demon skittered from the boot as it narrowly skimmed by its head. "Look...If I give you the thirty K could you forget you found me...Maybe?"

The man smiled as he gripped the Bochrael demon up by its tail. "You know Louise, is it okay to call you that? Good." He continued without a break. "I could do that but then my employer would send the next guy after you and me, and you don't want to know how hard it is to get Samuels to calm down." He shook the four foot demon then stopped, and looked her in her eyes. "Are you loosin' weight? Cuz I got to say it doesn't suit you Louise."

She gulped. "Yeah well let's see you get chased by a 'myth' for a few days and see how you hold onto your boyish looks sweet cheeks."

The man's cell goes off and he touches the hands free button. "Speak." He gruffly commands. "Yeah I think I know where she is." He looks at her. "You sure you wanna do that? It's going to make it hard for her to pay and if she doesn't pay you, you can't pay me and you really don't wanna do that." He shrugs. "Okay, see ya!"

He looks from her left arm to her right. "I bet you're a south paw, am I right?"

She gulps and nods. "Why?"

"The contractor wants you to remember what it felt like for you to miss a balloon payment, he don't want you to miss the second one." The man grips her right front leg and twists it; the snap of the broken bone could be heard next door.

She tried not to cry out, tried not to give him the satisfaction of hearing her pain. "Son of a bitch!" She hissed.

The man picked up the manila envelope and tucked it into his pocket. "The biggest." He left the room and came back with a glass of water and a slim green pill. "It'll dull the pain till they reset the fracture." He shook his head and whispered. "I must be getting weak in my old age."

He moved for the door and stopped. "You don't want to see me a second time so I suggest you sell what you can and steal the rest, just pay the man what you owe and for the love of Mike stay clear of Casino's!"

The man buttoned the top four buttons of his coat leaving the bottom four open so he had an easy path to Dizzy. He took the keys from his pocket and pressed the remote for his car, glancing around before he got in and drove off. Half way back to his hotel his cell went off again. "Speak."

ENGLAND.

Giles put the paperwork down in front of him and stuttered. "I.I...I got through, good lord!"

"Time is money and if this is a tele-sales call you are soooo calling the wrong person!" The line had an echo to it and suddenly the man's voice brought back another rush of suppressed memories. "Giles?" He gritted his teeth. "I don't know how you got this number but it had better be the end of the world?"

"Well I have my means and it is, during your many and varied travels have you ever heard of the First Evil?"

Xander shuddered. "Personally? I'm going to have to say no...But I seem to have a fragment of memory floating around that seems to, why?"

Giles closed his eyes and sighed. "It's in Sunnydale and it's trying to enter this realm."

Xander pulled up at the lights and shrugged. "Nuke it."

Giles's eyes popped open. "I'm sorry we must have a faulty line I thought you said..."

"You heard right, if it is the first the town's gone anyway so spare them the pain and drop one of those nice big bombs we have so many of and end it now while you still can." The light turned green and Xander sped off.

Giles shook his head in disbelief. "I know you're not the man I once knew but...You owe it to them to at least help."

Xander turned red. "I 'owe' it to them? Listen Giles who was it that went back as soon as he got most of his memories pieced together only to have your pet Slayer shove a wooden stake into my heart?"

"That was an unavoidable mistake; they thought you had been sold off as fresh meat to some vampire cult. When Buffy saw you she assumed..."

"She went 'Buffy' on my ass! Little miss kill first ask questions later did what she's good at and hit first before engaging her brain!" Xander cursed out his anger. "If Dawn hadn't have stood over me that bitch would have taken my head next!"

Xander thought back to that day and remembered when he awoke he had to fight back the urge to wring her scrawny neck. "It took me three weeks of... You don't want to know what I had to do to get back to those I had thought of as friends." He grinned. "Luckily my new 'memories' helped me out while I was confused."

Giles glanced at the scorched remains of a file the Council had on the Harris Conundrum. "Yes I've just finished reading the file the Council had on you."

Xander drove up to his hotel and sat while he tried to finish the conversation. "Well there you go then, just get them to send a couple of those 'teams' to..."

"I'm afraid the Council is no more. I take it you no longer watch the idiot box or you would have seen the reports on the 'gas explosion' that took out the whole group."

"The first?" Xander cursed again. "Okay I'll try to help, but just for you...and $120k."He grinned at the sudden silence on the other end. "I have expenses and that's my usual fee for 11th hour jobs, add to that the fact I'll have to juggle some of my clients around to fit you in."

"If the first wins you won't have any clients to worry about." He stood up and placed the file in his case along with some others. "I've arranged for the surviving Slayers in training to be sent to Buffy for protection and I'll be joining them tomorrow." He paused on his way to the door. "Xander please they are your friends."

Xander sighed. "Yeah you're right I almost forgot for a minute." He looked in the mirror and sneered at the reflection. "So that'll be $120K up front with another to follow on completion and a video apology from Buffy and Willow, I want so much tears and remorse I'll be able to sell it to saccharine junkies for years!"

Giles stops locking his front door. "You always were a jokester Xander…"He heard silence on the other end. "Bloody Hell man! How do you expect me to get her to apologize?"

Xander grins. "Beat it out of her, trick her I don't give a crap just get her to do it or you'll be flying solo down there Giles."

Giles grimaces then says. "I can only try…What about $120 plus an additional $50 if I can't?" Xander shrugs to himself. "Frankly at this point in my life money doesn't mean as much to me as hearing her crawling, begging for me to forgive her, just once I'd like to hear her say sorry to me for something!"

Giles says. "Well you're preaching to the choir here Xander, I just pray she's an oddity and not the prototype of future Slayers or I might just cheer the First on. I can but try Xander but you know her better than anyone."

Xander nods. "Yeah, true… look I may not be there by this Friday but I will be there, just tell Buffy if I see a stake in her hand instead of the tape it had better be medium rare or I'll just sit back and cheer on the First myself!"

Giles smiles but before he can say more Xander tells him. "Oh I'll be ditching this phone so don't try to call me again and you had better believe my new one will be a damned sight harder to find." He cut the connection and then dialed his service. "Hello Janine its Marcus here could you dig up any bounties you have for Sunnydale, California and its surrounding area." He shrugged. "I'm going home to touch base with some old friends."

SATURDAY.

"And we need the wanker because?" Spike asked Giles.

Giles watched the teens as they settled in from their victory over the Turok Khan. "Because he knows of the first and we need another striker."

Spike smiles. "I hear he's built up a nice little resume since he went bad, a real ball breaker!" Dawn glowered at him. "He's not bad! He's just mixed up."

Kennedy snickers. "And I suppose you're just the one to set him back on the straight and narrow? He'd have you and then go out for a real meal girlfriend."

Buffy glanced at the two then looked back at Giles. "We've got worse things to worry about than Xander. This Caleb guy for one thing." She glanced at Faith. "The SIT he tried to butcher said he had something of mine and then bragged nothing I could do would hurt him."

Willow came in from working on her computer. "I managed to trace that design he burnt onto the dead girl to a cult that used to be based at the old vineyard outside of town."

Buffy looks pleased. "I knew we could count on you Will."

Willow blushed. "Well actually I just received an e-mail from uhh Xander."

Dawn smiles. "I'm sure Andrew has a blank tape ready for you to use Buffy."

Buffy glares at her. "It was an honest mistake! Willow tried to find his soul but she couldn't, and even Tara said his aura was hidden!"

Willow sighs. "I still say we should have cursed him…"

"NO!" Both Buffy and Dawn cried out but for different reasons. Buffy paces. "It would have been wrong Willow, I thought his soul was in heaven and ripping it out to place it in a cursed demon would have been worse than hell for him." She turned to face Willow. "You know how much he hated…Hates Vampires." She looks heartbroken. "And I couldn't live knowing he would never know a moment of pure happiness without releasing the demon."

Spike smiles. "Personally I'd say more power to him! Better that than the freak he's become." He shudders. "Never ageing," He all but salivated at the thought of his old self. "Never knowing the joy of feeling the taste of…"He glanced around then grinned. "A good friend's hearty Sunday roast." Dawn shook her head. "No, he's much more than just some morally bankrupt creature! He can and will be so much more than any here could ever imagine."

Willow smiles fondly remembering her past. "I used to have a crush like that on him at one time." She smiles at Tara. "Before I grew up."

Dawn turns on her. "You! You would not know how to bring out the best in him."

Kennedy laughs. "Listen little girl…"

Dawn swings on her. "Little? I'm the same age as you and at least I know what I want."

Buffy sees Dawn place her hands on her hips and sighs. "Oh she's a Summers all right!" She asks. "Just what did you and Xander get up to while I left you with him to baby-sit?"

Dawn blushed. "Nothing! And would you get your mind out of the gutter?" She relaxed. "Neither of us was ready at that time."

"Oh you bet your ass he wasn't cuz if he had tried I would have…"

"Staked him? That seems to be your answer for everything these days." She glared at Spike. "Excepting where it's deserved that is."

Tara is watching the scene from the corner of the room and each time Dawn mentioned or defended Xander she saw her aura flare a vivid green before it softened to its usual pastel green. Buffy shakes her head then tells everyone. "Enough of this, I say we mount up and pay this Caleb a visit." She shrugged. "Do our civic duty and welcome him to town and then we can talk about Xander and my …Apology."

Dawn glares at her and moves towards her. "We need Xander's help and he won't even consider it unless you say sorry." She places her hand on her sister's arm. "It's the least you could do for what you did."

Buffy looks at Giles who nods and then at Willow who blushes and says. "He was a friend Buffy, and I'd like him to be one again if I could." Willow looks at Giles. "Does he want us to beg or just say how sorry we were for jumping to the wrong conclusion? "

"I'd say all of the above and make it sound like you mean it even if you don't"

Dawn stopped Spike from following the pair as they went off to film the apology. "If I were you I would make myself pretty scarce when he does get back."

Spike smiles at her. "Why niblet? I've got me a shiny new soul to show him; what with that and me having my chip removed I'd say we had a lot to talk over."

Dawn shrugs. "Okay, just tell me when and I'll bring the dust buster. You seem to forget that the last time he had heard of you was after you tried to rape my sister, heaven forbid he finds out you killed again as well."

Spike raged at her. "You people keep forgetting I was under the First's spell!"

Dawn sighs and pats him on the shoulder. "I'm sure he'll have it engraved on your tombstone for you."

Tara smiles. "Keep riding him like that and he will do something about it Dawn. Or is that what you want?"

"I already warned him about an appointment he has with a can of gas and a match. He keeps pushing me and he'll meet them earlier than I had planned."

Later that night, despite Giles's objections, she led the best girls she had on a raid. Faith shook her head as she waited for Buffy's signal to attack. "Not to bright B, attacking an unknown stronghold at night with unproven troops." Her ears picked up the sounds of screaming and she gripped her sword. "Okay kiddies, stay close to mommy and I'll try to get you all back in time for the Gilmore Girls."

She ran into the courtyard and saw it was as Giles had feared; several girls were down while Buffy was lying against a wall. Spike was being pummeled by some guy in a cleric's collar while the Bringers were dealing with the rest. She wiped her damp hand against her jeans then gripped the sword once more. "Okay girls lift your skirts and hitch up your drawers its Showtime!"

Xander drove the Triumph way past the manufacturers limits as he tried to get to the vineyard in time. He cursed the fact he had to risk his life for a world that wouldn't weep if he lost his head this night and then his dark half was chomping at the bit to do some 'damage'. He rode up the stone stairs and then plummeted down the other side, exploding onto a stage of pure mayhem and blood.

Faith turned as she heard the roar of a motorbike over the cries of battle. She then saw Caleb grip Molly by the neck and lift her up by his left hand whilst his right flashed a short sword in the dying light. He suddenly stopped and gripped the back of his neck, looking from person to person until his eyes locked on the bike and then dropped Molly as if she no longer mattered.

Xander felt the 'buzz' the same time Caleb did and shook his head. "Great! Now I have to put up with one of those jerks again and their damned stupid game!"

Xander locked eyes with Caleb and he raised the front wheel just before the bike hit him sending all three tumbling end over end.

Molly staggered to her feet the same time as the guy in black leathers did. She saw him take out a Desert Eagle and a Glock then pick off some of the bringers as they attempted to swarm over him. Caleb pushed the bike from his body and stood. "Leave him! His head is mine!"

Xander grinned and dropped the pistols and tugged a saber from behind his back. "Talk's cheap pecker head and I've got a bounty with your name on it!" Xander placed his left hand behind his back and bent slightly at the knees; memories of several Immortals that Jack had killed before he took his head and the two he had fought came rushing to the fore. "You should never have left anyone alive Caleb, Bergen wants your head more than he wants his money."

Xander glowered at him. "Pimping your teenage converts make's even my stomach turn holy man."

Caleb laughs. "A bounty hunter?" He grins at Buffy as Spike struggles to help her to her feet. "Is that all you can offer me, a freaking immortal bounty hunter." He grins at Xander. "I have lived for a thousand years, killed over fifteen of our kind, and sampled all that this immortal coil has to offer. And what do you have to offer Boy?"

Xander shrugs and flexes his left hand, a four shot revolver slips into it as he smiles. "I'm a lot of things but 'rapist' is not on my CV." He eyed Spike then continued. "I've killed a couple of Gamers in my time but I'll let you in on a little secret..."His left hand flashes up. "I cheat! And I'm damned good at it." He shot Caleb in both knees then his right elbow and dropped the gun as he calmly walked over to him as he thrashed on the ground in agony.

Xander knelt by his side and picked up the sword and threw it to Molly. "Merry Christmas kid."

Xander motioned to Caleb with his chin as he stared at her. "He doesn't look so tough now does he?" He grinned then looked into Caleb's hate filled eyes. "I see you're a man of the cloth, I take it you believe in God and the devil?"

Caleb grimaced. "He shall smite thee down in all his evil glory; he will bath in your blood. The Master will avenge me and your demise will be painful."

Xander stood then drew back the blade. "I'll take that as a yes, I just wanted you to understand the risks involved in backing the loosing side. Tell Lucy Xander says bite me!"

Molly grimaced as Caleb's head rolled away from his body and then Xander warned them. "If I were you guys I'd duck."

Buffy saw little arcs of energy begin to shoot from Caleb's neck, the arcs grew stronger until they had become bolts of energy, energy that seemed be guided into Xander's body lifting him up from the ground and making him cry out in pain. "I hate this freaking shit!"

The bolts diminished and he was dropped back to earth, Molly dropped the sword and ran to him helping him to his feet. Xander gripped the sides of his head as all of Caleb's memories and those of the ones he had killed flashed through his mind, washing over him and almost drowning him in their pain.

He staggered but Molly had a good hold on him as she asked. "What the hell was that?" "My inheritance." Xander mumbled.

Buffy snorted as she turned away from him. "Let's finish off the rest of these Bringers then go home."

They made light work of the Bringers foolish enough to have stayed after Caleb had been killed. Faith walked up to Xander as he placed Caleb's head into a small bag and handed him the three guns. "Smooth move Xand, I think you may have pissed the Princess off though, stealing her thunder and all."

Xander shrugs and cleans the blood off the saber before sheathing it; he tugs the Desert Eagle and the Glock.45 from her hands and holsters the Glock before kissing the barrel of the Eagle. "Sorry about the dirt Dizzy." He holsters that as Faith hands him the small pistol. He shrugs. "Be still my beating heart..."He pauses. "Oh wait then that'd mean she'd fancy me, screw that!"

Faith grins. "You named your gun? How very serial killer of you." Xander's face goes blank. He suddenly has a vision of a hard faced teen and a knife called Katie.

Faith watches Molly as she glances at Xander and smiles. "I think you made a new pen friend, though she is kind of young and I think Dawn would kill her if she tried to bump uglies with you." Xander grinned. "I haven't seen Dawn for a while, she still cute as a button?"

Faith grins. "Don't let Dawn hear you call her that, she's all grown up now, and not the skittish little colt you knew."

Xander shrugged and tucked the bag under his arm. "I'll bet she's grown up some if you're her teacher." He sighs. "I don't have the time to hang around and find out, there's a demon holding a small fortune with my name on it in return for ten pounds of dead meat." He holds up the bag with Caleb's head inside.

Faith placed a hand on his shoulder. "My advice, make the time or regret it later on."

Xander shrugged and threw the bag to her. "Okay put Caleb on ice for me then. I have to get a new ride out of this berg any way." He spots Spike as he dives a small carrier van up to the edge of the courtyard.

Faith notices the look he gives the vampire and tells him. "He's been okay, Buffy leans on his support a lot, too much I think but hey who am I to grumble?"

Xander's right hand strays to the Desert Eagle and he mumbles. "Once a leach always a leach in my books." He looks around and notices Molly holding a seat next to her for him. "Oh no, not going there little girl!" He looks around. "Well not while Momma Slayer's watching anyway." He jumps in and sits next to her, keeping his body as far away from her as he can as he does.

"Thanks for the seat."

Molly grins. "I'm here to serve and protect, couldn't protect so I guess that just leaves…"

Faith tells her. "Boy toy's a touch to old for you, unless you like the name Lolita?" She shakes her head at Xander. "And you're already on shaky ground Mr. Bounty Hunter so I'd go take a cold shower when we get back and put that idea right out of your head."

As the van pulled up out front of Buffy's house Xander began to feel a sensation begin to build in his body, it felt like all the air was being driven from his body and his heart began to beat faster. He had to wipe the palms of his hands on the seat before he stepped out of the van and he began to feel light headed the closer he walked to the house.

"Hello Xander, it's been a while. I knew you would return." He looked up and saw Dawn for the first time since his 'death' and he suddenly felt at peace.

"Hey...Dawn?" Xander asked her, his eyes taking in her body. "When did you grow up?"

She smiled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Time ages us all...well some of us any way."

***** FLASHBACK *****

Xander stepped from the shadows of the porch as he saw the four returning from a patrol. Buffy saw him first and she paled. "Long time no see girls."

Buffy pulled out a stake and charged him while Willow and Tara stood in front of Dawn. Xander's eyes went wide as he saw the stake in her hand. "What are you doing I'm..." He had little time to do anything other than tuck and roll out of her way.

Dawn cried out. "Buffy Stop!" But the Slayer kept coming on like an unstoppable behemoth. "You should have stayed away from Sunnydale! You knew I would have no other choice but to stake you." Xander blocked one strike but it was a faint and he felt the wooden stake slide into his heart. "Shit! My..."

He dropped to the ground and to the amazement of three of the girls he failed to explode into dust. Dawn hurried over to him, avoiding Buffy's arms, and reached down to pull the stake from his heart. She turned around and showed her the blood dripping from it and the pool gathering at her feet. "You freaking idiot! Does this look like he's a god damned vampire?"

Buffy and Willow looked from the stake to the body on the ground. "Maybe it's faulty?" Buffy asked. She looked at Willow. "I've never had one do that before..."She grabbed the bag Willow was holding and took out a short sword. "Well this has never failed before."

Dawn held the point of the stake towards Buffy and glared at her. "You make one move towards his head and you'll feel first hand what this is like as I shove it up your..."

Tara steps forward. "He's not a vampire; I'm getting nothing from his aura." She blushes. "Even now he's uhh," She motions to his still form. "I'm still getting a very mixed up aura when it should be dissipating."

Buffy looks back to Dawn and asks. "You seem to know a lot about this, what the hell is he and is he dead?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know he's still our Xander and he always will be."

Xander coughed and gripped his chest. "…My Shirt!" He looked down at his now ruined shirt. "Oh for fudges sake! This was my best shirt" He remembered what happened and he sprang to his feet while Buffy and Willow backed away. He glared at her. "You staked me? YOU FREAKING STAKED ME!"

Buffy had a mixed look of both anger and shock. "I thought..."She then motioned to Willow. "That is we thought you were a vampire and..."

"Rather than wait to check you just decided to stake first and grieve later?" He saw the sword in her hand and the stance Dawn had as she stood between them. He felt his neck then shook his head.

"Well it's certainly nice to know who your true friends are." He took a few steps back and shook with anger. "You have no idea what I went through to get back."

Willow's eyes went wide. "You were in hell?"

Xander shook his head. "Worse, I came to in Mexico! You have any idea how hard it is to try and convince a border guard you're American and alive despite what the IRS says?" He took the keys from his pocket and sighed. "At least I thought that was worse, guess I forgot about this place huh." Dawn turned but Xander had paid little attention to the girl he had thought of as a sister. "See ya when hell freezes over girls."

Dawn cried out to him as he drove off. "Xander NO!" She turned and glared at her sister and the witch as she walked past them; she dropped the stake at her feet and sighed. "You have no idea what damage you have done do you? I only pray it's not enough to turn him against us all."

***** END OF FLASHBACK *****

Dawn walked towards him and he could feel his dark half scream in agony as she did, he backed up and turned to Faith. "I can't be here!" He pulled her to one side while Dawn looked downcast. He tapped his head. "I know what will defeat the First, you can't beat it, only bottle it up." He grimaced as Dawn started to walk towards him. "Come on, I'll tell you in the van. "He pulled on her arm and pushed her into the van then drove away.

Giles walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder as she told him. "He's not ready, not yet, but he will be one day."

Giles watched the van park at the end of the street and he asks her. "Is there something you want to tell me Dawn?"

She watched Faith get out and Spike drive the van away, then shook her head as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Not yet, when he's ready and the time is right I will tell you all." She turns and looks at Giles's face. "I wasn't made as I am just to be protected by Buffy; there was another reason, another person." She sighs. "Buffy isn't the be all and end all of me, I may have been made from her but I was created for another purpose other than to be her sister."

Giles was about to ask another question when his cell rings. "The money had better be in my account start of business Monday or I'll be very annoyed."

Giles sighs. "Yes most of the uhh funds will be there. Now if you would let me know where to send the tape?"

Xander looked surprised. "She actually made it? Well I'll be damned."Did you have to force her? "Giles answered." No, she just needed to realize what she had done, then she and Willow made an honest and forthright confession of what they had done to you and asked for forgiveness."

Xander paused and sighed. "Just keep it safe, keep them all safe Giles, especially the ones that need protecting the most."

Giles nods. "With my life Xander, just you stay safe and when you're ready we'll be waiting for you."

Chapter 3

CLEVELAND-WINTER.2004

Dawn could see a faint blue spark light up the night and she new she was having another dream, her mind relaxed and she prayed that this time she would learn more about the elusive Mr. Harris than where he had been.

She saw a large shopping complex and heard the sounds of gunfire echo through the rapidly emptying shopping Mall. She felt a sledgehammer blow to her back and gasped in the intensity of the pain as it almost blanked out her mind as it easily overloaded her pain threshold. Her body shuddered on the motel bed until she felt the almost calming electric tingle cover a small section of her back and insides.

She now knew she was seeing through Xander's eyes and feeling his pain but was it a past, present or future event? She had to know and if it was a future event then she had to know where and when. His eyes flashed past a large sign advertising an upcoming event…a shipment of Henley Bears from Britain were arriving and the sign even had a countdown of days already crossed off with a huge TODAY painted in bright fluorescent colors.

She sighed and made a mental note of the date, time and the Toy's-R-Us logo. Now for the where? She could see through Xander's eyes as he staggered outside in time to see some kind of explosion and she felt a wave of grief and soul felt anger wash over him as he staggered to his car.

Everything goes blank and the next sight she can see is of him looking in the mirror of what she can only assume is a hotel room, a very expensive hotel room. She sees him drop a bottle of alcohol onto the floor as his hand grips something and brings it into view. Her body shudders again when she can see it's a sawn off double barreled shotgun. His fingers pull back both hammers as he places the barrels under his chin and then she can feel a pain like no other as her vision blacks out.

She wakes with a start and a barely suppressed shriek then throws back the blankets and dives for the notepad on her dresser, then she proceeds to write everything down.

Buffy and Willow are just coming in from their patrol just as Dawn finishes frying the last piece of bacon for the breakfast she has cooked for the pair.

Buffy drops into her seat as Dawn places the meal before her. She looks from the hearty breakfast to Dawn and shrugs. "Okay what did you do?"

Dawn rolls her eyes as she places Willow's breakfast before her. "What can't a girl make her sister a nice breakfast anymore?" She sits by her side as both Buffy and Willow tuck in. "So how was patrol?"

Buffy shrugs. "No demons, vampires or other night crawlers…"She breaks into a grin. "Willow was propositioned though."

Dawn raised an eyebrow and looked at Willow who turned three shades redder than her hair. "Trying to make some money on the side hey Red? What would Tara say about you being picked up by a man?"

Buffy laughs. "Funny thing was it was two teenaged kids on the hunt for some midnight luvin' if you get my meaning."

Dawn smiled and began her plan. "Jeez this place must be cleaned out if kids can curb crawl at night without fear of getting killed."

Willow nods. "Its so boring at night it makes the Bronze look like the Viper Room!"

Dawn sighed and frowned. "I suppose this means another move!" She pouted like she used to when she went to school. "I was just getting used to this place." She stood up. "I might watch some TV before I go to the library."

She left the pair debating on moving and if so where would they move to and turned on the VCR, queuing up the program she taped from earlier on. "And yet another teenage girl vanished from the streets of Chicago last night only to be found naked and mutilated another apparent victim of the midtown mangler making her the sixth so far…"

Dawn could see their reflection in the TV tube as the pair watched the news report. Buffy looked at Willow and she nodded her agreement to Buffy's silent question. "Start packing Dawn looks like we're moving to the windy city."

Dawn started to argue only to be 'talked 'around by Willow into the necessity of their moving to help stop the murders. She sighed and nodded reluctantly then watched as the two went about organizing the big move as Tara came in from the rooms next door. "What's happening?"

Willow tells her of the news report and Dawn's eyes go wide when she realizes Tara had seen the same report. "Didn't the news say they caught…"She sees Dawn shaking her head, a pleading in her eyes and her hands clasped as if in prayer. "Uhh a clue or something?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't think they'd know what to do if they came across one of our guys."

Willow nods. "'Gangs on PCP' was always the popular excuse they used in Sunnyhell."

Willow and Buffy resumed their planning while Tara grabbed Dawn's elbow and steered her to Dawn's room. "Okay just why is it so important that I had to lie to my lover about our need to go to Chicago?"

Dawn bites the corner of her lip. "Cuz the Cubs are in the playoffs?"

Tara raised an eyebrow. "Since when did they start playing baseball in winter?"

Dawn shrugged. "Well you know how they've been crying out about needing more money…"

Tara crossed her hands and Dawn sighed, slumping onto her bed as she did. "Okay…"She looked up at Tara. "I had a vision about Xander and if I don't find him before it's too late we'll lose him from this world, from me forever!"

2004-WINTER, CHICAGO.

Xander was sitting in his hotel room waiting for the call from his employer that would mean the go ahead for the new assignment. He flicked through the channels while he waited and saw a few news reports of teens seen fighting gangs of adults and winning. Xander smirks. "Looks like the Girls are in town."

Just then the phone rang and Xander picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Settled in are we? Well don't get too comfy cuz the target's in town, he'll be at the Mall of the America's at 6pm tomorrow." Xander can almost see the man grin over the phone. "His kid's got a thing for Bears, I mean the dude's on every gang banger's shit list and word is he's going to be risking his life so his daughter can buy a freaking stuffed toy!"

Xander shrugs. "So I 'Lean' on him and he forgets everything he ever saw..."

"NO! I want this fuck dead! I want his whole family dead! I want the Feds assigned to protect him dead!" The man was ranting down the line. "I want it so messy that then next fuck that thinks he can squeal on me will remember this and pray to God I don't find out he even thought about it!" Xander's mind cried out for him to tell this man to forget he even existed but then he thought better of it. "Okay...Uh when do you want this 'message' sent?"

"As soon as you see him I want his blood on the floor!" The man paused. "I've sent some back up just to make sure everything goes smoothly."

Xander nods and starts thinking but the man spoils his plans. "I got a mole in the Federal woodpile so I know every move they make and this is the best possible time to hit him." Xander can hear him talking to someone else before he tells him. "Okay kid I know this isn't your usual gig but I need to know you can follow orders."

"I don't normally share my work, I especially don't like the idea of working with an unknown crew." "I've used these guys before and they do good night work, love working for blood too!"

"Leaches? He's using leaches!" Xander held the phone away from his mouth & fumed. He calmed down & asked. "Do you have a way to smuggle the 'tools' past the security points?"

"Yeah, yeah we got a guy stationed on one of the exits, he'll let you through. Just so there's no mistakes I want it dirty okay?"

"Got it, you want an example made."

"You fail and you'll be another one okay?"

"Oh I won't fail, I'll do what needs to be done just make sure your 'guys' don't screw the pooch." Xander sighed when his new boss hung up. He dropped the phone on it's cradle and shook his head. "What the hell have I got myself into?"

221 GROVEDALE DRIVE,CHICAGO.

Buffy stripped the protective plastic off of the dry cleaning and hung it up in her wardrobe. "Is it me or can you actually tell how close the town is to civilization by how quickly they return your laundry?"

Willow nods. "And whether you actually get it back or not." She spots the top Buffy had worn only the other night. "Hey they managed to get the Demon blood out too!" She saw Buffy glance at the framed photo on her bedside table. "He's fine Buff, we would have heard if he wasn't."

"Yeah I know Giles has a tag on him but still..."She sighed. "I'd feel better if he was still with us."

Willow nods. "At least he rang Giles to see if we survived Sunnydale's 'mysterious gas explosion'."

Buffy turns as Dawn walks past her room in a hurry. "You know the older she gets the weirder she gets." She bites the corner of her mouth in worry then asks. "When did you discover you were uhh..."

Willow smiles. "Gay? I didn't not till I found Tara." She looks towards Dawn's room then looked back at Buffy. "Would it matter if she was?"

"No, but...She's 19 and all she cares about is us, demon slaying and Xander, not necessarily in that order." Buffy shut the wardrobe door and said. "By her age I'd had several bad love affairs and died twice."

Willow smirked. "I think she's got a yearning for a dark haired man we both knew."

Buffy narrowed her eyes. "I'd swear if I didn't know better he's been casting spells again."

"Well I haven't heard of any towns suddenly having their women crave just one guy." Willow smiled. "And Spike burnt that letterman jacket so it rules that out."

Dawn lay on her bed as the two friends discussed her life. She placed a hand on her throat and closed her eyes as she felt another bout of vertigo strike. She saw images of places and events that had decorated Xander's new life until one finally swam into focus. Her eyes snapped open and she whispered. "Mall of the America's six tomorrow night!" She smiled. "Jeez and it's going to be so hard to get my sister to go to America's second largest mall!"

5.30 THE NEXT DAY.

Buffy, Willow and Tara are in the GAP sorting through the clothes while Dawn sits outside, her eyes never ceasing to scan the crowd for the ark haired man she knew would soon be there. Buffy glances at her as she holds up a nice black lace spaghetti strapped top. "Do you think Dawn would like this?"

Willow looks and nods as she picks another one just like it in a larger size and hands it to her. "You might go with one that fits though."

Tara sees Buffy look from one garment to the other as the Slayer says. "But she takes the same jean size as me?" Tara grins. "It's not the waist that's bigger Buffy."

Buffy sighs. "It's not fair, I got the 'one girl in every generation' deal and she gets the breasts to die for...ee! Hey Dawn, look what I got for you." She covers as she drops the smaller garment. Dawn nods absently and tells them. "I think Xander's here somewhere and he's confused or something."

Willow asks. "How do you know? Did you see him?" Tara moves outside to look at the crowd. Dawn shakes her head and places a hand on her stomach. "I can feel him here."

Meanwhile Xander tucks the long cardboard gift box under his arm and walks towards the Toy's-R-Us store, and then pretends to read the massive banner announcing the arrival of a new stock of Henley bears from London. He glances to the dark corner off to the left and sees a figure moving as if trying to relax tired muscles. "That's one." He scans every place he would have hidden if he was a vampire.

"Sammy told me six so where's number six?" He then glanced over to the emergency doors where the Feds were planning on bringing the marked man and his kid. Xander's mouth was suddenly very dry as he ran through his plan once more. A plan that would either mean his death or at the least being hunted by his boss till he lost his head.

Xander took a deep breath as he saw the emergency doors open and tightened his hold on the box. He glanced at the clock over the central arch and mumbled. "Showtime." He had purposely left his Desert Eagle at the hotel, deciding one way or another this was going to be no place for Dizzy to be today.

He saw the first man walk into the hall and do a steady sweep of the area before talking into his wrist. Then two more men stepped out followed by a small bespectacled bald man who held onto the right hand of a small red haired girl. The little girl smiled and pointed excitedly at the store and the sign, leaping forward dragging the man along. Xander saw a red haired woman behind followed by a female agent. Xander's eyes swung back to the red haired woman and his mind froze, his blood turned to ice water as he saw her protruding belly that could only mean one thing.

Xander felt a calm pass over him as he saw his own death sealed by the woman. The memories of 'gamers' he had killed all told of one regret, and that was of not being able to do the simplest of all things.

Family, the one thing an Immortal could never know, the joy of creating life through the most wonderful of means. Sure he could still make love but it was like eating Tofu, it satisfied the hunger but still left you unfulfilled.

Everything seemed to slow as he saw the first vamp charge from its hiding place. The Feds were good he gave them that but bullets were no match for the undead. Xander had to wait until he saw the other four make their move and even then he still didn't know where the elusive sixth demon was.

Tara's shout drew the others out to the balcony and Buffy felt the demons before she ever saw them. She unzipped her purse and drew out Mr. Pointy but Dawn's shout stopped her. She saw where Dawn pointed and then ran after her sister as Dawn sped off to where she said 'he' would soon be.

The BOOM of the combat magnum shotgun reverberated through the halls and the short bark of the Government Issue pistols joined in the chorus.

The heavy solid slug caught the vamp square under the chin and its head vanished in a spray of blood and grey matter shortly before the body exploded in a tornado of dust. Xander pumped another round into the breach and kicked the crumpled box he had hidden the gun in out of his way as he turned to face a second vampire, he held the shotgun to his shoulder and held his breath before pulling the trigger.

The creatures dust was still floating to the ground as he felt the tug of a passing round pull on his jacket. He racked back the slide and chambered another round as the first agent went down, Xander growled and moved forward until he had a clear shot at demon number three and took it out of the game forever.

He felt a hammer blow to his back and almost dropped the shotgun as he rolled away from the bullets that followed. He stopped rolling when a display took the rest of the rounds. He used one hand to pump the shotgun and then eased himself up so he could see the continuing battle.

Xander could feel the hot wet sensation as his blood flowed down his back. "Son of a bitch!" He gasped and then stood, he turned and saw the fourth vamp firing a handgun at the other agents as it ran towards the man his boss wanted dead. Two agents dropped as the creature emptied its gun into them and then it morphed into its true being and dove at the man's throat.

Xander transferred the shotgun to his left hand then pulled out the Glock and fired into the being's body knocking it off target and caused it to hit the palm tree to one side of his intended target. Xander holstered the Glock and scurried over to the still writhing body.

Its eyes went wide. "YOU! But you're supposed to be on our side!" It yelled at him.

Xander placed the barrel against the creatures head and sneered. "I'm on my side ass face."

He then pulled the trigger and hurried over to where the man and his family were huddled protectively behind a fountain. The female agent covered him with her gun and Xander snorted. "Please! If I wanted you dead do you seriously think I would be trying to keep these things from killing you?"

The woman looked pale and shook her head. "After what's just happened I don't even trust myself!"

Xander tried to chamber another round into the shotgun but found he was quickly running out of energy. "I've called for backup, they should be here soon." Her breathing was quick and shallow. "One thing I got to know though, what the fuck are they?"

Xander smiled as he looked at the man's wife. "A freaking pain in the neck!" He saw she didn't get his joke. "Gangs on PCP?" He stopped smiling. "There should be two more but I could only spot five, four are now dust devils and the fifth is over there by the coke machine but as for where number six is?" He shrugged. "Just keep an eye open."

He saw the emergency exit door and asked. "Your car parked close by?"

"Right by the exit, why?" She asked.

Xander smiled. "I'll distract ass face while you get your assignments back to the safe house."

The agent looked at the frightened family and then at the people running as fast as they could from the scene. She saw four women running towards them and she shook her head. "Freaking ghouls!"

Xander nodded to her. "Ready? Okay on three. One...Two...Three!" The agent herded the family towards the door as Xander fired his Glock at where the vamp was hiding. He turned and saw them halfway to the door when the vamp began running towards them and Xander moved to intercept.

As he moved his peripheral vision picked out a man lifting a gun from under his coat. Xander dropped the Glock and aimed the shotgun at the vamp and blew it away. He heard the statico drumming of an automatic and prayed the others had made it in time. Xander dropped the empty shotgun and dove at the man.

All the time he was being watched by Dawn as she was held back by Buffy. Her mind took in the blood that now covered his back as he dove at the man. "Oh my god!" She cried.

Xander collided with the man and they went down in a heap with Xander on top. He held the man down and then gripped his head, his mind telling him this must be the sixth vampire but then his body felt warm to the touch. Xander twisted the man's head until it almost snapped. "Who are you?" "Back...up..."The man grimaced.

"You work with Vamps?"

"They...pay well."

Xander growled as, in a brief and violent move he twisted the man's neck till it snapped. "Not well enough!" He sighed then stood, scooped up the shotgun and ran towards the exit.

He saw the car scream out of the car park and he smiled, his heart feeling as though he had done something it liked instead of something it had to put up with. He was about to turn away when he saw a small object followed by a trail of smoke leave one of the apartments overlooking the mall and head for their car.

"NO!" Xander cried out as the late model Ford was ripped apart by the rocket.

By now Willow and Tara had caught up with them and Willow looked at the dead bodies that littered the shopping mall. "WOW! Am I glad the vamps in Sunnyhell were to dumb to use guns!"

Dawn felt the pain in Xander's soul and she struggled out of Buffy's arms as they heard the explosion from outside. "Dawn!"Buffy yelled as they followed her. "God damn it what's gotten into her?"

Xander was struggling to get his car started when he felt the heat wash over him again as Dawn found him. "You part bloodhound?" He said sluggishly.

Dawn shook her head and motioned to the trail of blood. "Just a good follower, move over." She ordered him and he was in no condition to argue. She turned the key and started the car. "Where to?"

Xander sniggered. "Hell, and that's all I'm good for...Shit!" He coughed and he could taste the familiar coppery tang of blood on his mouth before he passed out.

Chapter 4

BUFFY'S HOME - CHICAGO.

Xander had struggled into the low rent home and had collapsed onto the dark green sofa over an hour ago and had remained motionless for the time it took Dawn to strip him of his blood stained coat and shirt. Five anguish filled minutes that had seemed like an hour to Dawn until she saw the ragged holes in his back spark with blue energy and close up , she then saw his chest begin to rise and fall, then his eyelids fluttered as he returned to life.

She smiled and was about to place a hand on his cheek when he sputtered to full wakefulness. "God Damn it!" He sat up and was momentarily at a loss for where he was. "Bastards!" He searched for his gun and began to stand, it was then he gripped his chest in pain as he felt the wave of heat flow over him. "What the...?"

He turned and saw what he knew was Dawn, but the woman that stood there seemed to glow with a mystical green aura. Dawn looked at Xander and his blue aura for the first time and watched it flair in time with hers. She stepped forward and Xander jerked back but when he felt the pressure of her open palm on his chest he suddenly felt whole for the first time in a long while. She moved forward closing the gap between them, she could feel his breath gently caress her cheek as he tried to control his urge to kiss her.

Xander lost himself in her eyes and suddenly felt her full lips brush his own before he gave into his urge to lose himself in her.

Just then Buffy, Willow and Tara returned from the Mall still worried about Dawn. Tara was the first to notice them, well to be more precise she saw their aura's as they flared and tendrils snaked from each of them and began to wrap around each other till their colors began to blur. Buffy's shout caused Tara to jump but not as much as it did Dawn and Xander. "Dawn! What the HELL have you been doing?"

Xander sprang away from Dawn and she could see the green and blue swirling handprint it had left behind. Xander seemed drugged, almost drained of energy as he searched for a way to explain what they had been doing. His mind berating him for kissing little Dawnie but his body yearning for more. He looked at the shocked faces of Willow and Buffy and the smiling face of Tara as she nodded to him.

Dawn turned around to face her sister and glared at her. "Do not ruin the one chance I...we have to get him back!"

Willow can feel Tara's hand find hers and she looks at her lover then smiles. "Well I guess this rules out the gay theory huh?"

Buffy shakes her head. "Raging hormones does not mean its love Willow."

Dawn's nostrils flare as she stares down her smaller sibling. "Oh there's rage involved Buffy, but only because of some inept timing!"

Xander could feel the heat begin to pass from him and he started to edge towards the door. "I think I should be going." He looked at Buffy and sighed. "I've already died once today." He held up his shirt. "And ruined a perfectly good Armani in the process." He dropped the blood soaked shirt and then an evil look crossed over his face. "Besides there's a man in New York that needs to be shown the errors of his ways."

Dawn span around. "NO! Vengeance is not the path you were destined to follow."

Xander shrugged. "No, but at least it'll keep me warm in the cold winter months." He looked deep into her eyes then forced himself to look away. "Besides the man wanted a statement made and I intend to see he gets his wish, just not the way he wanted!"

Buffy stepped forward and held out her hand. "I'm sorry for what I did back then Xander, we were wrong...I was wrong I attacked first without thinking things through .I just thought that if you were a vampire then the Xander I knew would have wanted me to end his suffering."

Xander nodded. "Yeah I would have, still do." He glanced at Dawn then straightened up as if making a decision. "In a perfect world I'd never go but..."He looked at Buffy. "I learned that this is far from a perfect world. "He saw Buffy blush. "It seems that unless you're the Slayer's lover you just don't get any chances at all."

Buffy shook her head. "How many times do I have to say sorry for that lapse? I thought you were a demon."

It was Xander's turn to shrug. "And you were just doing your job, like you did with Anya when she killed those frat boys." He smiled evilly and stepped towards her. "And yet you knew beyond any doubt Deadboy was on a killing spree, hell he even killed Miss Calendar." He shrugged. "But then I suppose that suited your purpose, her getting too close to your watcher and all, it would have meant Giles would have had a life beyond being at your beck and call!"

Buffy narrowed her eyes. "I thought you had forgiven us after we made that damned tape!"

Xander shrugged. "Forgiven? Yes but not forgotten!" His anger barely hidden in his voice. "Then came the time you were screwing yet another evil dead, he killed ,tried to kill us, hell in the end he damned near raped you yet all was forgiven. Even when he went back to being the murderous SOB he always was you still cut him more slack than you did me." He held up his hand to silence her argument. "Yeah and I know he had a soul and I know he was under the influence of the First." He shrugged. "But that plea doesn't wash with any of the other serial killers or mass murderers that we see on news at 11 so why that should cut it for a damned vampire I don't know?"

He felt a warmth pass over him and the anger melted away, he smiled a lop sided grin and turned to look at Dawn. "Yeah Dawn I know, she's your sister and that fact is the only thing keeping me from ripping her heart out and sending her back to heaven about now." He touched the silver cross and saw Dawn do the same to her cross; they were two people with but one spirit now and Xander bowed to her superiority over him. "I have to go now, some people need to be taught the hard way that evil begets evil. My 'boss' and his 'family' need to be taught that some deeds come with a very high price!" Xander spots his keys and picks them up then halts at the front door. "If I make it through this..."

Dawn shakes her head and tells him. "WHEN you make it through this, we will be waiting for you where it all began."

FALL 2004- NEW SUNNYDALE.

Dawn was finishing her notes on her dissertation to the New Watcher's Council and looked out the window of their new home as Buffy pulled up in her late model Dodge pouring herself out of it after a hard day at the new school. Dawn could hear Willow's feet hit the floor as she stumbled out of bed and the youngest member of the team shook her head with worry.

"You know frowning'll age you faster than anything known to man." Buffy told her as she entered the kitchen. Dawn looked up at the ceiling and turned to Buffy with a worried look. "Willow's up." Buffy raised an eyebrow and answered sarcastically. "Jeez and it's still daylight." She then placed her bag on the bench and went through the day's mail. "I think we should try to talk to her about Tara."

Dawn nods then remarks. "Molly saw Tara at the New Bronze Age last night." She looked up from the dissertation and sighed. "She said she looked 'zoned out'."

Buffy replaced the mail in the pile and nods as she remembers Angel. "Yeah breaking up from your one true love will do that to you every time."

Dawn shook her head. "No Molly meant 'zoned out' as in tripping the light fantastic. The party was an invitation only Rave. Molly was pissed because she couldn't get in but she did see Tara and from the way Molly described her she was flying without the aid of magic, if you know what I mean."

Buffy turned and looked at Dawn with a worried look on her face. "Drugs?" She rubbed her eyes. "I mean why would that not surprise me considering where we are?" Buffy shook her head. "No there has to be more to it than that, Tara was the most level headed girl I know."

Willow staggered into the room dressed in an old oversized nightgown holding a large Starbucks mug between her hands. "Morning ."She mumbled as she headed for the coffee pot.

Buffy and Dawn shared a look then Buffy said. "Willow...We need to talk."

Willow smiled at her after she took a big gulp of coffee. "Ahh! That hit the spot." She looked at Buffy. "'bout what?"

Buffy shrugged. "Oh I don't know...life? I mean you do plan on having one right? I mean this..."She motioned to the way Willow was dressed at this hour. "Isn't what you plan on doing for the rest of your natural is it?"

Dawn shakes her head and whispers. "Way to go sis..."She stands up and walks over to Willow. "What she meant to say was we think it's time you came out of your cocoon and re-entered the human race Will .I know Tara meant a lot to you but she's not dead she just ..."

Willow frowns. "Moved on...Without me." Willow placed the mug on the counter and her shoulder's slumped. "She was my one true love, my light and she just...left me." She could feel the tears begin again but she struggled on. "I thought after we came back we could really make a go of it. After all the big bad was gone, New Sunnydale was as clean as it was ever going to get and we were both moving ahead. Then she just...Stopped." She slumped into a chair. "She stopped liking the things I did then she just stopped liking me."

Willow looked up at the two friends and opened her heart to them. "The last time we truly made love was just after we came back here. Then it was as if she was just going through the motions until she actually told me it sickened her.... I sickened her!"

Dawn was looking at the way Willow explained and the emotions that passed over her as she did. "There's got to be more to it, no one does a total 180 like that for no reason."

Willow shrugged. "She won't even talk to me on the phone so what hope do I have of asking her anything?"

Dawn smiles. "Well she'll talk to me." She glanced at the clock. "She should be finishing her shift at the coffee shop by now." Dawn grabbed Buffy's keys and scrambled into a jacket before headed outside. "I'll find out what the heck is going on and then maybe together the four of us can return to normal once more." Her hand touched the small cross that hung around her neck for strength and the two other women glanced at each other.

Dawn suddenly smiled. "Hey before you know it all the gang will be back here!"

Buffy watched her sister run to the car and drive off, she sighed and was about to speak when Willow voiced her concerns. "We haven't heard anything from Xander for over a month." Buffy turned to her and Willow nods. "I've tried scrying but Xander being what he is the spell didn't work." She looked up into Buffy's eyes. "And the last we heard was when he rang and told us he was almost finished dealing with his boss."

"Something funky is going on in this town,I think maybe we should get GIles."Buffy closed her eyes and prayed her old friend was safe and alive. "Where the hell are you Xander?"

LOS ANGELES-TWO MONTHS LATER.
OFFICES OF ANGEL, PRICE, GUNN,WOLFRAM AND HART.

Wesley was reading through the latest reports of the gang war that was continuing to escalate in the Mafia underworld when Angel entered his office. He glanced at the heading and smirked. "Well as long as they're killing each other and leaving the innocent alone then more power to it I say."

Wesley nods. "Yes but the problem isn't who they're killing but what happens when the guns go quiet?" He looked up at Angel and explained. "The former head of the Genovese clan was a known item, the police knew what he would do in certain circumstances and knew he could be counted on to hold a cool head." Wesley tapped the report. "The way this war is escalating the only one's left will be the young hot heads that would kill you sooner than look at you, not the kind of people you would want at the head of organized crime."

Angel nods as he begins to read the summery of the report. "The police say this all started in Chicago when an informant and his family was assassinated before he could testify against the head of the Contorta Syndicate?" Angel dropped the report back onto Wesley's desk. "This effects us how?"

Wesley took his glasses off and began to explain. "The former owners of this company had dealings with the mafia, they kept files on all their 'associates' and their dealings. The Contorta Syndicate was deep into the black arts and had dealings with the demon underworld." He sighed. "We believe they were even involved in running the new drug Escopolene."

Angel shook his head. "My god who would have thought anyone would have come up with a drug like that? 100% Addictive after even the smallest dose to both human and non human users"

Wesley nods. "A being so hooked would sell everything it had for just one dose, one more fix, and it's still out there on the streets."

"And this Syndicate pushes it?"

Wesley nods. "It's slowed up since this war started but it's too valuable a commodity for it to dry up completely."

Angel was getting angrier by the second. "So why doesn't the law get onto them?"

Wes shrugged. "To big, to well entrenched in their own ranks, it would take the Federal Government to put an end to it."

Angel smiled. "Or a group of well intentioned civilians perhaps?"

Wesley nods and taps the report. "Hence my reading up of the subject, what we need though is some people on the inside that are willing to risk their lives to stop..."

Gunn runs into the room and grabs the remote from the table, he holds up a hand as he thumbs through the channels. "You guys really need to see this!"

A reporter can be seen in front of a burning building as Gunn turns up the volume. "...standing here in front of what used to be a warehouse in the dock area of Miami. This building we have been informed held the largest Escopolene or 'scope' factory in the US and was destroyed just hours ago by members of the Genovese family in retribution for the attack on their family by the Contorta Syndicate."

The reporter touched his ear piece then went on. "News just to hand Jim, it appears the head of the Contorta Syndicate , a Samuel 'Sammy the Pig' Gillette, has been killed along with several of his associates in a home in Orange County LA."

The three look at each other and then Gunn exclaims. "Damn! I hope Disneyland's okay."

Wesley picks up the phone and dials a number. "I'll ask a friend if she knows anything." The phone rings a couple of times before Wesley gets an answer. "Lockley."

Kate sighs. "Not now Wesley! I'm up to my neck..."

Wes interrupts. "We need to know about the killings in Orange County."

Kate cups a hand over the receiver. "What do you know about it?"

"Only what was on the news, we were looking into the Contorta Syndicate when the news broke."

Kate glanced around. "First reports were that it was a 'tit for tat' slaying but we now believe it runs deeper than that. Look I'll e-mail you everything I have if you do the same for me?"

Wes hangs up and opens his e-mail server sending Kate all the files they have on the Contorta Syndicate. "Kate says it's more than just a gang war now." The file downloads and Wes's eyes go wide before he turns the monitor so they can all see. "And rightly so."

Angel looks at the gruesome CSI photo and asks. "I've seen this before,but where?"

Gunn glances at it and then snaps his fingers and grins."Whoever did this is a fellow fan of an old Sci-Fi show that used to be on TNT.

Wes takes another look at the photo and nods. "Ah yes ...Um..."He closes his eyes. "Some favours come with too high a price,a lesson to be learned for generations to come."

Gunn turned to Angel. "Who do we know that's a Babylon 5 nut?"

HOLIDAY INN ANEHIEM.

Xander walks stiffly into the bathroom and rips the top off of the bottle of whiskey, pouring a large drink into the plastic glass there. He, haltingly, strips off his top coat and upper garments to reveal three small holes in his side that are opening and closing like small gasping mouths with every move he makes. From the holes pour copious amounts of blood that he tries to stem with the medical pads he bought. Xander grips the side of the sink as his other hand pours the alcohol over the wounds. "Son of a bitch!" He cries out between gasps.

Xander cleans out the wounds and waits for the usual blue sparks of energy that would signify his 'quickening' repairing his body. "It's taking longer each freaking time!"

Xander's cell phone rings and he hesitates to answer it before flipping it open. "Yeah?" He closes his eyes and mind to pain his body's in before answering. "Hello Giles, I thought I told you to lose my number?" He grinned then grimaced as another spasm of pain ripped through his body. "Uhh look Giles this not a good time to ..."

Giles spoke over his complaint. "You know I wouldn't call if it wasn't a matter of life or death but I need your help."

Xander edged the curtain aside and glanced out of the window. "I'm afraid I can be of little help to anyone for a while Giles...Hell I could use a shit load of help myself about now!"

Giles sounded disappointed in his answer. "Is it because of what they did?"

Xander smiled. "No Giles, I forgave them that the minute they got up the resolve to make that tape,still have bad memories but like a Politicians promise that will fade with time. This something of my own doing, I made a promise to a family and I carried through on it and now." He glanced out of the window as a dark car pulled up outside and felt a tingle in the back of his mind. "I guess its time to face my judgment."

Giles nods, deciding not to add their problems to his. "We'll muddle through Xander, I pray you do as well, is there anything we can do?"

Xander smiled. "A prayer's as good as a bullet in these times Giles." He watched a tall man step from the car and begin to walk towards the stairs. "Look I uhh..."He struggled for the right words. "I hope everything works out okay for you and the gang and tell..."He struggled into a new shirt and glanced at the suitcase that held his sword. "Tell Dawn I'll see her in a place where no shadow falls." His fingers reached for the silver cross that hung about his neck ,the mate for the one he knew Dawn and the others wore. "Good luck Giles."

He closed the phone and threw it on the bed before opening the case and drawing out his sword, he watched the light reflect off of it as he turned the blade in his hand then said. "Before now my friend you have never been drawn in what you might call 'honorable' circumstances, but one way or another that ends today."

The door to his room is kicked open and the stranger tells him. "There can be only one!"

Chapter 5

AMTRAK 221 BOSTON - NEW SUNNYDALE.

Xander sat and watched the world speed by as the train took him closer to the one place he swore he'd never return to, clutched in his hand was the curt cable that had assured he would. He turned from the window and glanced at the crumpled notice and its words beet against his very soul.* Giles killed in auto accident, funeral in four days. Please come home.* It was unsigned but it didn't matter all that mattered was the brief conversation he had with Giles, a furtive cry for help that Xander rebuffed in favor of survival.

He placed the cable on the seat and smoothed it out as best he could before folding it and returning it to his inside pocket, he then took from the same pocket a clipping that he had cut from the Sunnydale Herald and was lost in the photo of a crushed convertible as it was being dragged from the ocean.*Local man killed in plummet from Kingman's Bluff*

Xander closed his eyes and lost himself in the relentless 'clickety clack' of the trains motion. "Was life here so bad you reverted to the 'man of leisure year' Giles?" Xander saw his station rapidly approaching and he felt the sudden heat flow over his body as he felt her presence. "How the hell does she do that?"

He saw people at the station as they waited for friends and lovers and then he saw 'her' dressed to keep the unseasonable California winter away from her perfectly formed body. The train ground to a halt and he stood, his hand automatically reaching for the one piece of luggage he carried and the one reason he had returned by train. The heavy metal case contained the tools of his profession, or to be more correct the tools of his old profession.

This trip was to be more than to just pay his respects to a man that was more than his mentor, more than his biological father and yet Xander had spent the past month since Giles's hurried phone call on personal business rather than to be by his side.

Xander walked stiffly to the exit, his wounds were taking longer to heal, a fact he found both frightening and amazing considering the knowledge he had 'absorbed' during his few quickenings. An immortal is just that, immortal till the day someone took his head.

Still today he would bury the very tools that had kept him alive and tomorrow he would stand with the others and bury the man that had kept him alive for so many years with his knowledge of the undead and fatherly advice.

He strode from the train and saw Buffy, Molly and Dawn standing there waiting for him. He smiled at them but his heart was not in the flash of cheer. "Long time no see slayer...s" He nods to Molly who smiles and blushed at his smile.

He turned to see Dawn who moved towards him, her hand rising to touch him before Buffy stepped between the pair. She went to grab his case but he moved it away before she could. "It's all right Buff, I can cope."

Buffy nods the she motions him to follow them. "The van's this way." Before she ushered Dawn forward towards the van and away from Xander. He saw Dawn shrug off her sister's hand and pull down on the mohair jacket and move away from her.

Molly pats Xander on his back. "Be nice to have a man about the place..."Her eyes dropped. "I mean since Giles um...you know...It's been empty around Cassa Summers."

Xander nods then asks. "So was it true what the paper said?" He stopped walking as they gathered around the new van. "Was he drunk?"

Buffy took out her keys and then nods. "Yeah, he was distracted for a few days and then went all quiet for a while." She looked at him. "But after all he had gone through no one would ever begrudge him one vice."

He saw Dawn glare at Buffy and knew she was holding something back. "We only red the police report, none of us ever checked whether it was true."

Dawn turned to Xander as she said the words then Buffy stood between them, her back to Dawn. "Let's get a few things straight, after what we did to you I owe you a lot." She jerked her thumb behind her at Dawn. "But if you think that means I want my sister making out with a killer then I think we should call it a day before one of us gets hurt...and it won't be Dawn."

Xander sighed and shook his head. "Do you know me so little that you would even think I could, or even would allow a hair on her head to be harmed then yeah I guess it is time we called it a day!" Xander started to move away then dropped his bag. "SHIT!" He turned and glared at her. "I came back to this place to bury a great man, not to get all up close and personal with you Slayer!"

He stuck his hand out and whistled at a passing cab then pulled the door open .He threw in his case then turned to look at Molly and Dawn. "I'll let you know where I'm staying." His eyes met Dawn's and he couldn't help the feeling's that washed over him. "I'll..."He shook his head. "Christ...I'll see you later."

They watched him climb into the cab then watched it pull away. "I got to say Buffy you do have the oddest way of greeting friends." Molly told her.

Buffy sighed. "You have no idea what he has become Molly." She frowned. "I need Xander, the old Xander, not this ..."She waived her hand after the departing cab. "Soprano wannabe."

Dawn was sitting in the van as the two turned; Molly sat beside her and gripped her hand. "They'll come around love."

Dawn looked into Molly's eyes and nods. "Yeah I know...But I also know it'll probably be too late for one of them." She turned and looked at the small yellow dot that was the cab. "Ever since that day I've known this day was coming, I had hoped for a chance to be with him but..." Molly smiled. "Hey at least his in the same zip code now."

Dawn nods. "Yeah but so is his destiny!"

HOLIDAY INN.

Xander dropped the case onto the bed and went to the wet bar, pulling out a can of coke. His eyes fell on the miniature bottles of alcohol and shuddered. "My name may be Harris but I don't want to 'be a Harris."

He sat on the bed and stroked the silver metal case. "I guess I should get over to the mortuary and set things up for you Dizzy." He gulped down the coke then thought about his plan. "I sure hope Giles doesn't mind having you guys for company." He had decided to bury his tools alongside the man he had hoped he could emulate.

He took out his wallet and slipped the three photos from it, putting two to one side while he held the other between both hands. "Well Giles I guess I was too late to help you sort out what ever problems you had." He looked up and a tear fell from the corner of his eye. "At least you finally know peace, no more pain at loosing another loved one, no more fighting to get a useless idiot to try and do research." He sniggered and smiled. "I must remember to pick something up for you." He stood up and replaced the pictures in his wallet before stuffing the wallet into his jacket pocket. He leaned over the bed and picked up the phone. "Hi this is Mr. Harris in 21, could you get me another cab please?"

EVERGREEN MORTUARY.

The nightshift mortician walked out of the viewing room stuffing the 100 dollar note into his pocket as he did. "Man we get the weirdest requests in this place?" He smiled. "Still the tips more than compensate for it."

Xander stood over Giles's opened casket and he felt anger wash over him as he saw the remains of his mentor. "Sorry to see you like this Giles, I wish...wish I had been there for you. You deserved a better end than this, a better life even." He turned to check that he was alone then removed the pillow from behind Giles's head. He lifted him up and placed the contents of his case in the coffin before replacing the pillow and making Giles as comfortable as he could.

"The boys there kept me alive...well mostly alive, and I'd take it as a great honor if they could be buried with the human that had done the same for me." Xander bent down and picked up a large paper bag and placed it in Giles's hands. "Something for you to have on your journey."

He felt his eyes begin to mist over as his body gave into the emotions that raged within. "I guess this is the last I'll ever see of you Giles. "He choked back a chuckle. "Where you're going I cannot go, there's a much warmer place awaiting me when my time comes, if ever it comes."

The cosmetician had done a good job on Giles, he looked almost like he could sit up at any second a admonish Xander for being such a fool. He lent in and placed a gentle kiss upon his brow. "Say hi to Mrs. Summers and Jenny for me…tell them..." He shrugged. "Tell them I'm sorry I couldn't be the man they wanted me to be, tell them I'm sorry I became the 'thing' I am."

He smiled and wiped a tear from his eye. "But hey, I guess it'll be over soon." He had made a decision there and then that the next 'immortal' that came seeking his head would find in him a willing donor.

The mortician watched Xander leave then went into check that he hadn't 'done' anything to the body. His eyes fell on the paper sack the dead man had under his crossed hands and he opened it .He shook his head and looked back to where Xander had left. "Man we sure do get some freaks!" He reached in and took one of the many that the bag held and took a bite. "Mmm jelly filled too!" He walked away wondering just who the dead man was and whom the stranger that thought he would need jelly filled donuts in the here after was.

BUFFY'S HOME.

Willow glanced up from her place at Tara's side and looked out her bedroom window as the van pulled up. She looked at Tara and brushed a strand of her long golden hair from her face. "Xander's here honey." She saw Tara flinch and she held her hand tight. "its okay love, he doesn't need to know either. It'll be our secret, yours ,mine and ...and Giles's."

Tara seemed to stop her struggles and she turned to her whispering. "He must never know, or.. or ,or the same will happen to him."

Willow kissed her lover's lips then placed a finger on them. "Never, no one else will ever know what they did to you." Tara curled her body around Willow's and the red haired Wicca had to fight the urge to rip Tara's defilers souls from their bodies .But she calmed herself with the knowledge that sooner or later everyone pays.

She rocked Tara in time with the quiet music that played on the radio. "Xander told me that vengeance is a two edged sword and none of this means anything if we don't have each other." She gazed into Tara's eyes. "And now we do have each other again nothing that's happed matters anymore."

They both jumped when they heard Dawn's door slam shut quickly followed by Molly's voice. "He'll come 'round love, he always has no matter what the buffinator has done." Willow opened the door to see a very angry Molly. She nods at Willow. "Well she's did it again!"

"What the hell happened?" Willow asked.

Molly jerked her thumb towards the stairs. "Her majesty had words with Xander before he even had a chance to walk off the train ride."

Willow nods. "Oh." She entered the hall and shut the door behind her. "Did she tell him about Giles?"

"She mentioned the police report, at first I don't think Xander believed it but before he could make up his mind one way or the other she started in on him and Dawn."

Willow tried to hide a smile. "Buffy warning off a 'dangerous guy' from her sister. Man I wish some one had done that to Angel and Spike." Secretly she was glad Buffy had side tracked Xander from asking too many delicate questions about Giles. "I'll see you at dinner."

Willow opened and closed the door behind her, her eyes falling on Tara as she picked at the loose thread on the pillowcase. "Do you think he'll find out?" She began rocking back and forth. "I couldn't stand it if he knew as well I.I.I.I jjjust..."

Willow dropped at her side and hugged her. "Hush honey, it'll be fine everything will be okay." Tara looked up into her eyes. "But what if they try it with another girl?"

Willow shook her head. "I'm sure after the scare Giles put into them they wouldn't dare. Besides the news said there's no more of that damned drug on the market anymore."

Willow felt Tara nod against her chest and she prayed that for once they were right. She turned to look at the picture of the six of them back before Warren had sent the group spiraling into self destruction with that damned gun of his. Willow with Tara at her side, Buffy with Dawn at her side, Dawn's hand clutched in Xander's while she smiled at him, and Giles standing there like a proud parent.

Suddenly Tara's words made her jolt as if electricity had shocked her system. "If the signs and portents are right then I'm glad Xander doesn't know...another death because of me would be too much."

Chapter 6

KINGSHOLME PARK.

Molly kept glancing around for Xander but couldn't see him anywhere but when she went to ask Dawn the brunette just smiled at her. "He is here Molly, have no fear of that, Xander would rather die than not pay his last respects to Giles."

Molly shook her head and wondered just how Dawn knew where he was without even looking. She turned her gaze back to the display of flowers that had been sent from all parts of the world then squinted to read the card on the largest arrangement. "From Spike, deepest sympathies and regrets." Molly snorted then looked away. "Yeah and how much of that regret is because he wasn't here to see Giles do a swan dive off..."She stopped speaking when she saw a figure dressed in a black mourning suit standing apart from the group.

"Told you." Dawn whispered and Molly could almost feel the smile hidden in her words. She saw Dawn's gaze shift from Xander to a man as he approached him. "And now it begins." Dawn whispered.

Molly lent in. "Now what begins?"

Dawn sighed. "Both joy and sadness, a beginning and an ending all rolled into one neat little package called..."

"Alexander Harris?" The man called out to Xander then backed off as Xander turned sideways to him.

"I think he's over there." He motions with his head towards another funeral, his eyes scanning the area around and behind the stranger.

"An acquaintance asked me to tell uhh... 'Him' thanks for the assist in the family problem and to warn 'him' that if they could find him so could his former employers remaining family."

Xander shrugged and turned back to the funeral as the priest approached. "I think he had no choice, to not honor this man would mean that he had lost whatever honor he had left." Xander looked past Buffy and her group of original Scooby's and saw Dawn talking with Molly. "I'm guessing this 'Alexander' guy is through with that life, death is no way to make a living."

The stranger almost smiled. "So he's just going to go home and settle down to a nice slice of the American dream?" He tugged at the sleeves of his jacket grunting as he did. "People like us...We only settle down in our graves...If we're lucky enough to get graves."

Xander turned and looked at him with a bored glance. "You still here? Doesn't the dog pound shut in half an hour, best you scurry off before they lock you out?"

The man all but growled at him. "You should keep a civil tongue in your head Harris! You'll need friends, especially in this town." He grinned. "New town."He sniffs the air. "Same stench!" He leaned closer. "Strange how a tea drinker like your friend suddenly took it into his head to go on a bender then see if his car could fly..."

Xander turned and for the first time really looked at the man and the man paled as he realized he had let Xander rile him into saying too much. "I'll be going now." He backed away, his hand never straying from the slight bulge on his hip. "Just remember what I said about you needing friends."

Xander watched him leave then returned to watching the funeral jerking almost in shock as Buffy walked to within a few feet from him. "I'm sorry for the way I over reacted yesterday…" She paused and swallowed hard as if trying to force down a bad memory. "I think it best you join us, but as soon as it's over I want you out of town, out of her life."

Before Xander could reply she started to walk away then stopped in her tracks. "Tell me it's not some sick way of getting back at me, of scoring with at least one Summers." She remembered the dream, the one she dare not tell anyone of lest it become prophetic.

Xander sighed. "I gave up on any thought of us the moment I realized you preferred your men pulse free." He began walking towards the group. "Dawn is..."He shrugged. "An enigma, one that taunts me every time I get close to her."

Buffy watched him walk past her and she shuddered as her dream of last night flashed before her. Her nails dug into her palm as she tried to fist away the thoughts. "No, it can't be true, it can never happen."

Xander stood beside Willow and they hugged, he watched Tara blush as he looked at her and then saw something in her eyes. He shook his head and thought.*No, I've been among the wrong crowd for too long to think that!*

Willow smiled. "I'm glad you could make it Xander, he'd want us all to be here ,to be back together once more."

Willow moved away from him and Xander offered his hand to Tara. "It's been a long time Tar." She hesitated then took his hand; Xander noted the sidelong glance to Willow as Tara quickly shook then released his hand. "I'm glad you could make it back in time Xander."

His hand felt damp with her sweat and he had felt her hand tremble at his touch. Xander looked into her eyes until she tipped her head down in an attempt to hide them. Xander turned to Willow and said. "I won't be here all that long Wills, I only came out of respect for Giles."

He then noticed Dawn and Molly walk towards him as the priest began his prepared speech. The man talked about how kind Giles had been and how a special place was surely reserved for him. All the while Xander and Dawn were casting furtive glances at one another.

The ceremony ended and the coffin was lowered into the newly turned soil, each of them grasped a handful of soil and dropped it onto the coffin as they said their final farewells. Xander knelt and did the same, letting the deep brown soil run through his fingers as he said. "May you have love and raiment, a soft pillow for your head, and may you spend 40 years in heaven before the devil knows you're dead."

He stood and brushed the dirt from his hands as he felt Dawn by his side. "That was nice."

Xander shrugged. "It was something from one of those stupid books they made us read in school." He shrugged. "I thought it was appropriate for Giles." He glanced at Tara as Willow helped her as she broke down. "So how long has Tara been like this?"

Dawn shrugged and stepped closer to him. "She was separated from Willow for a short while, I had a talk to her then Giles went to her apartment. She came back the next day..."She looked thoughtful. "It was about that time that Giles went all dark and moody."

Xander stared after Tara and felt the warmth of Dawn's hand as it slipped into his. "We need to talk Xander."

Xander licked his suddenly dry lips. "I don't think Buffy would like that Dawn."

Dawn turned to glare at her sister as she gave thanks to the priest. "My sister doesn't like a lot of things Xander, that doesn't mean she's right." She closed her eyes and Xander felt a calming glow wash over him before Dawn slipped her hand from his. She smiled. "Holiday Inn room 21, I'll be there after Buffy goes on patrol."

He watched her leave and somehow even the bulky jacket couldn't hide the woman she had become. He jumped as he felt Molly goose him. "HEY!" He turned and warned her. "You girls are going to be the death of me yet."

She blew a kiss at him. "Yeah but what a way to go lover! Shagged to death by horny teenage slayers."

Xander nods, grinning at her as they began walking away. "Yeah it does sound kind of neat." He glanced around. "Mighty slim turn out considering there's supposed to be a legion of slayers nowadays."

Molly shrugged. "Some of the girls went to Cleveland with Faith and Wood, some went home while others." She shrugged. "I guess they just freaked at becoming Super girl overnight and just left."

Xander stopped walking and shook his head. "Please tell me you guys are at least keeping track of the girls?"

Molly shrugged. "Why? They can handle themselves now, nothing short of a master vampire can touch us now."

Xander chuckled. "God damn! Must be a Slayer thing."

"What is?"

"Arrogance and bull headedness all rolled into one neat package." He resumed walking. "At least for my own peace of mind if not your own could you please try to make sure they're all accounted for?"

Molly shrugs. "I'll get Willow right on it, as soon as she's done playing mother hen to Tara."

Xander looks over at the two Wicca warriors. "Yeah, Tara..." He took his keys out and turned to Molly. "You haven't noticed her doing anything out of character, funky like?"

Molly shrugged. "She was out of the loop for a little while, but D and Giles brought her back into the fold, he was upset over something too. Stayed in her room for ages, wouldn't let anyone else but Wills in to see her." She rubbed her tired eyes and snorted. "Some of the newbie's thought the three of them were doin' the beast with three backs." She shrugged. "Got to admit the thought had crossed my mind as well, some of the noises that came from her room sent teenage minds right into the gutter."

Xander unlocked his rental and asked. "Did Giles go anywhere while this was going on?"

She nods. "Yeah he went to that new club...The Gender Bender on Fifth." She saw him hesitate. "Right I forgot you're still new to this Sunnydale." She took out a pen and grabbed his hand writing directions on his palm.

She kept hold of it for longer than necessary and said. "You know I heard you got a thing for Slayers." He looked up from his palm and at her face. "Any time you some Slayer muscles to get your groove on just give me a call." She grinned. "Unlike certain Slayers I like my men to have a pulse."

Xander blushed for the first time since high school and quickly climbed into his car. "Uhh...If I need to scratch that itch I'll be sure to look you up."

Xander sat outside the club and watched it for several hours before deciding to go in. He had noticed the burly doorman turn away anybody over a certain age and Xander palmed a fifty from his clip and shook the man's hand. "I was told this is the place to be if you want...fun."

The man pocketed the note as if it were a common occurrence. "I can hear you talk for fifty, you wanna party it'll be c note at least."

Xander smiled and tucked a hundred into the bouncer's pocket. "I am a party animal!" He told him as the man opened the rope to let some more teens inside. He swept his arm forward. "Welcome to the jungle then sir."

As Xander passed him the man whispered. "Go to the back of the club, knock twice and tell them Sonny boy sent you."

Xander pushed his shades on and smiled. "Cool."

SUMMERS HOME.

Buffy had felt drained from the day's service and had gone straight up to bed; she had hoped to reclaim some of the sleep lost to the previous nights patrol and nightmare. At first she dreamed of the usual fighting and mayhem but then it switched to her standing outside a modest three bedroom home watching a small fair-haired girl playing with her dolls. The girl looked up at her and asked. "Mommy when is daddy coming home?"

The words slipped past her lips before she even had time to think. "I told you Sarah, he'll be home at five like normal." She glanced at her ring finger and saw a simple gold wedding band with a diamond ring along side of it. "Well at least I'm married!" She whispered. She looked at the car in the drive and saw it was a new Voyager; she shaded her eyes from the sun and looked at the houses around her before she realized the area looked like a respectable one.

She walked towards the girl and helped her up, suddenly feeling every ounce of the girl's weight. Her eyes went wide as her mind tried to handle what she knew was true. "I'm not a Slayer!"

"Daddy!" The girl cried out as a car pulled up the drive. Buffy turned and saw a man in a suit step out, pulling a briefcase and a laptop out with him. She felt a jolt run through her as she realized just who the man was."

"Hey Buff." He kissed her cheek as he dropped the case and hugged her. "How are my girls today?"

Memories soon flooded her mind of how she had fallen for the dark haired boy when he had first moved into her street. Of how she had cheered him on as he won gold for Hemery High in the swim events. Of how they married shortly after graduating from UCLA, she as a business major and he as an architect.

She felt a tear form in her eye as she realized this was her perfect life, her lost memory of heaven! But just as she realized this the vision faded and the sunny skies became dark and menacing. The residential area had become a burning building and she was facing off against a dark creature that happened to be.

"XANDER!" She woke bathed in sweat and still trembling from her nightmare.

BACK ROOM OF THE GENDER BENDER.

Xander was sat at the table sipping from a small chilled glass of wine as he glanced around the room. The doorman had demanded a further $100 and remarked that the entrance fee was worth much more than the paltry c note. Xander could not fail to notice the five other men that sat in table set in a semi-circle around a large window.

A man stepped forward and smiled as he clapped his hands. "Well gentlemen I can say we have some excellent sport for you tonight." He turned as the lights dimmed then open the curtains to reveal the bar and dance club below. "Welcome to the real show!"

Xander watched the other men as they scanned the floors seeking something out until one pressed the button on his table, the man came over and asked. "Once again you have chosen first Mr. Muldoon, so who is the lucky one to be tonight."

The middle aged man pointed to a black haired girl that had the dress sense of a teenage rock star. He licked his lips. "Her." He settled back. "I wish to purchase her."

The man nods. "Anything requiring more than one nights 'pleasure' also requires the standard fee."

Muldoon nods and waived him away. "Of course." He stood and smiled. "I'll be waiting in my car for my goods."

Xander had to fight down the urge to see how much of the table and its contents he could fit inside the old slaver's body as he watched him walk out. Xander felt eyes watching him and he turned to see the man staring at him. "Have we chosen yet sir and will it be for one night or the goods lifetime?"

"God damn but there's some fine meat out there tonight Henri." A man spoke out and Xander could sense a darker force behind its human eyes. "Anything special like those others?"

The man was distracted from Xander and turned to face the other client. "Ah sir but you know those are only for use in our other establishment. You and the other members are free to make use of them at anytime you wish."

The demon snorted. "Yeah and at a thousand bucks a night you can bet your ass their special!"

The man shrugged. "But sir we have to use three times the usual dose on them that we do on the others." He points to a pretty blond. "Surely something as sweet as that would suit your tastes?"

The demon shrugged and Xander had finally put some of the pieces to the mystery together. He sighed. "I don't know...They all look nice I suppose. "He bit the corner of his lip as if deep in thought. "I was shown a vid of some pretty wild action before I came here, I was wondering if any of those 'goodies' were available?"

The host shrugged. "Alas the girls that were in our 'sampler' discs are more than likely already purchased goods or...of no monetary value other than the entertainment discs." He shrugged and grinned. "So many toys, so little time."

Xander looked around as he had before and spotted the curtain shift once more and he all but knew there was a guard behind it and smiled. "I guess I left my retirement just one damn day too late."

The barman had received the signal and he checked the monitor for the targets picture. He nods and opens a small bottle of blue liquid, pouring a small measure into a highball glass before toping it with the drink of the week. As he motioned for a waiter to take it over to the dark haired teen as she danced to an almost hypnotic beat.

He grinned and was about to signal back the job was done when the sound of the glass window crashing overcame the thumping beat of the dance floor. He looked up to see one of the upstairs guard smash into a table and lay still as the glass cascaded down over him. "Shit! I knew we should have banned demons!"

Chapter 7

THE ROOM.

Xander pumped another round into the shotgun he had taken from the guard before he threw him through the glass window and snarled. "Anyone that doesn't want to die leave now!"

The host began to follow the others out but stopped when the table beside him exploded. "Uhh! Uhh! Uhh! Not you pal, we really need to talk." He kicked a chair over to him and motioned for him to sit.

The host glared at him. "You have no idea who you're screwing with!"

Xander raised the corner of his mouth and sneered. "Like I could give a damn." He chambered another round and aimed it loosely at the man. "What you have to worry about is where the next round goes." Xander cocked his head to one side and turned pulling the trigger as he did, the blast caught the interloper square in the throat ripping the head clean off.

The man jumped as Xander chambered another round. "Who, where and how much pain do you want to suffer before you tell me the answers to the first two questions?"

The man was sweating like it was the middle of summer instead of January. "If I tell you they'll kill me!"

Xander smiled. "Are they here now?" The man shook his head. "Well I think you should concentrate on the here and now and leave me to take of your future...if any."

He shook his head again and Xander was impressed by the real brains behind this group "I give you my word to give you a 24 hour head start before I go after your bosses that should be more than enough time to get out of their reach."

The host began twitching. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

Xander's eyes narrowed as he told him. "Me? I'm just an accountant and I'm here to square the books for Mister Rupert Giles."

The man stopped shaking. "Who?" He then clicked his fingers. "The Brit? You're here because some limey SOB couldn't keep his freaking nose out of our business?" He laughed. "Man you don't know how cheap life is for these people!"

Xander laughed along with him. "Yeah I can guess..."His laughter froze and his eyes went dead. "It just got damned expensive for them real quick though!" He moved forward and aimed the shotgun at his chest. "I'm not normally this pushy but I figure a place like this has security up the kazoo so?"

He held his hand in front of him. "All I know is they came into town with some ex-vampire wannabe and his bitch. Had this wild idea of setting up a base for a string of clubs like this throughout the US."

Xander shook his head. "More."

The man licked his lips. "The two bankers are weird dudes man, never call each other by their first names and I think they're as bent as a three dollar note, won't even touch any of the toys just get off on watching others indulge."

"So who would know?" Xander walked towards the door and listened for any sounds of an assault.

"Muldoon, they old perv that was in here before, he's had lots to do with them...and another guy, a real Billy Idol wannabe…"

Xander froze at the last description. "And did he have anything to do with either the girls or Giles?"

He nods. "Yeah he was the one that found the 'specials' for the other two. He was the one that supplies the 'scope' for us too. I think his bitch makes it for him."

Xander nods. "That all you got?"

"Yeah, swear to god man, I don't know any more."

Xander sighs. "Okay, I'm sorry but I believe you, I really hope you like it down there, I hear tell its a dry heat."

The two guards heard the scream just before the shotgun blast silenced it. The one looked to the other as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs and prepared to fight.

"You want to live then leave now while I'm still in a good mood."

One guard motioned for the other to go upstairs but the man just dropped his gun and ran the other way. The guard squeezed his eyes shut; trying to psych himself up to attack, then opened them wide when he could feel a presence. "You I'll let live, I need you to take a message to your bosses."

The man nods. "Tell them..."Xander smiled as he remembered a line from his favorite movie. "Tell them they called down the thunder and by god I'm here! Tell them I've come back and Hell's come with me!"

THE SUMMERS HOUSE.

Buffy saw Dawn trying to sneak out of the house and she stepped in front of her. "A little late for a social call Dawn." She looked at her dress and smiled. "Though I think what you're planning is hardly a social event."

Dawn straightened and jutted out her jaw in defiance. "I don't care what you think, I love him and I'm going to him, I need to go to him!"

Buffy sighed. "I'm not going to stop you Dawn; in fact I want you to go to him." Buffy saw the shocked look in her sister's eyes. "Maybe the two of you can have a chance at normality I never got. Just get him to stop doing what he does and settle down somewhere safe and quiet." She smiled. "And I want lots of nieces and nephews okay!"

Buffy was almost crushed by the hug Dawn gave her. "I'll try Buffy, you can count on me to try."

Buffy watched Dawn race out to the car little knowing she was just a cog in the destiny that awaited the pair.

"So you're letting her go to him?" Molly asked as she stepped from behind the landing.

Buffy nods. "I figure that I had my shot at love, why shouldn't she."

Molly nods. "Xander started me thinking at the funeral and I made a few calls. "Six, there's six girls unaccounted for and I think I know who saw them last."

Buffy nods absently. "Yeah well things are pretty slow round here tonight so I'll cover your slot."She rests her hand on Molly's shoulder. "Go have some fun."

Molly watched Buffy walk back into the house. "Fun?"

HOLIDAY INN.

Xander eased off his shirt and sank down onto his bed, he rubbed his eyes with his left hand then said. "I think I'm going to have to tool up before I start shaking the tree."

He took out his notebook and wrote down everything the bar owner had told him and then sat up as someone knocked on his door. He got up and quickly worked the pen between his fingers and made a fist, the top resting on his palm.

He held the makeshift weapon at his side then opened the door, leaving the chain on. "Yes?"

"It's me." Dawn told him. "I said I'd be around tonight, can I come in?"

Xander closed the door, undid the chain then let it swing open. "My door is always open for you Dawn."

Dawn followed him in, locking the door behind her before following him inside. She opened the in vogue mohair jacket to reveal a top that showed she was no longer the little sister Xander had thought.

He dropped the pen and picked up his shirt shrugging into it as he turned. "Well Dawnnnn..."

She grinned as she watched him struggle for words. "Umm...Ahh...nice ..."His hands motioned to her skimpy top.

"Top?" She finished for him as she threw the jacket into a chair then sat down in the only other free one. She slowly crossed her legs and smiled. "I remember how much you liked the one Buffy wore once." She leaned forward and watched his mind fight a loosing battle with his eyes. "You know if you keep moving your eyes like that they'll explode."

She saw him blush and then leaned back in the chair. "You know I want you, I know you want me so why don't we cut to the chase and just make lov..."

Xander jumped up. "Ly cup of coffee? I couldn't agree more!" He started to move away from her and then he suddenly felt the warm sensation flood over him. He looked down and he could almost swear he could see ghostly tendrils of green energy begin to cover his body. He turned to look at her and saw her eyes blazing with an emerald green glow. He also saw a blue iridescent mist wrapping itself sensually around her form.

Dawn closed her eyes and moaned. "Yes! This was how it was always meant to be." She sat up and began slinking towards him, her hands pulling at the skirt that hugged her hips. He felt his mouth become dryer than a dessert as the silk skirt pooled around her ankles. She stepped out of it and he felt her hands on his skin, her fingers massaging their way up his chest and then pushing his shirt off of his body.

He could smell the fresh apricot of her hair as she gently kissed his pectorals and made their way up to the crook of his neck. "Please...Dawn I can't..."He could feel the pent up desires he had harbored for so long begin to fray the leash he had placed on them.

Dawn placed a soft finger on his lips. "The time for talking has long since passed Xand." She took his hand and placed the palm against her lace covered left breast. "Can you feel my heart yearning for you?"

He was mesmerized by the very thought that Dawn was actually seducing him! He closed his eyes and tried to fight the urge to take her there and then but the fact she was undoing his belt and pants caused him to snap them open again. "Dawmmm…" She placed her lips against his as she smoothed his jeans over his hips and onto the floor. She moved forward causing them both to collapse onto the bed, she straddled him and then sat up.

She grabbed the hem of her top and with one quick move she threw it to join her skirt on his floor. Then she unhooked the clip at the front of her bra and held the two pieces closed, taunting him with glimpses of her bare flesh.

"Alexander..." She swirled her head causing her long locks to spin as she built up a rhythm of grinding her pelvis against his very hard manhood.

"Oh jeez! Buffy's going to fucking kill me!" He pulled her down onto the bed and began kissing her fervently. He had never felt such pleasure or such lust as he had at this moment in time. His boxers flew across the room and Dawn could feel the soft, yet very hard, cock push against her belly. He smothered her breasts and nipples with gentle kisses mixed with nips as he worked his way down, down past her breasts that yearned for his lips, circled her belly button before reaching her ...

"JESUS FREAKING CHRIST!" Dawn cried out, her hands fisting the bed cover as she arched into his probing tongue. "Oh good god are we ever made for each other!"

She was almost at an orgasmic bliss when he suddenly stopped. She growled at him but felt his mouth on hers, his manhood sliding against her wetness begging to gain entry. She guided him in with her left hand then as he pushed she held his face in her hands. "I am the key, your key!"

They began to make fevered and frantic love, anyone passing by outside would have seen a green/blue lightshow sneaking out from behind the curtained windows, the cries of passion from with the room would have left little doubt to what was happening behind the closed drapes.

As Xander reached the heights of passion Dawn kissed him then moved her mouth bare inches from his. "I am the key that will unshackle you from your curse! "She opened her mouth and suddenly blue arcs of energy shot from within Xander and into her.

She smiled as her eyes began to glow blue and Xander screamed in agony as green energy coursed through his body. "Stop! Please...you're taking too much!"

She kissed him and their mouths glowed from the exchange of energies. He could hear her thoughts in his mind. "I am the alpha and you the omega, the beginning and the end, I was created to open doorways my Xander. And you were made to be so much more than you were."

He came and he felt as though he was emptying his very soul into her body. The pair collapsed into a deep sleep, their sweat covered bodies curled up against one another like entwined snakes.

CURL UP AND DYE.

Molly stopped talking to Jeannine as a bright bolt of energy lit up the night sky illuminating the storm clouds that seemed to be centralized over by the hotel district. "Wow, freaky night huh?" She asked Jeannine.

The hairdresser nodded. "Yeah some show." She placed a towel over something then asked. "So you wanted to know where, Mandy, Sarah, Jacqui..."She looked confused.

"Cindy, Clare and Amanda."

"Yeah, like I said they came here to get a new look ,they said they were finally going home and they wanted to look their best."

Molly nods. "Well they never made it, home or anywhere else."

Jeannine shrugged. "They left here okay ,you sure they didn't have any boy friends, or maybe they were hot for each other and didn't want to be shunned by the rest of you girls?"

Molly shook her head as she walked towards the back room, her senses going wild. "Nah, stuff like that means very little to girls who've saved...Um to go away."

Jeannine uncovered the tray and asked. "Well what do think happened to them."

"Well either they decided to split or...Something took them."

Jeannine smiled. "Those days are over."

Molly started to open the curtain. "I think..."She grunted as a dart hit her neck. She turned to see Jeannine point the gun at her again, her vision began to swim as the hairdresser pulled the trigger once more. "That's your problem ducks, you think too much."

Molly collapsed to the floor as she tried to fight the drug that was crippling her. The last words she heard was a man's. "Ah love, you always did have a warped sense of humor."

Chapter 8

MORNING.

Molly jerked awake and struck out. "..of a bitch!" She struggled to regain her vision and when she did she regretted it almost immediately. "Crap!"

She looked around her cell and saw three of the missing girls huddled in a corner. She winced as she sat up, and then leaned against the cell wall. "Well at least I found you." The three kept looking at her and it wasn't until she watched them breathe that she knew they were alive.

Molly stood and was overcome by a wave of vertigo. "Whoa!" She placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. "Any of you girls get the number of the truck that hit me?"

"Ssscopee..." One of the girls stuttered.

She turned to look at the girl that had spoken. "Sarah?" She strode over and knelt beside her. "Is that you? What the hell happened love?"

Sarah struggled to put the words together. "went ttto clubbb." She grinned inanely. "Got free dinks." She frowned. "Scum put scope in it, been doin things." She shuddered. "Horrible things to get more."

Molly went from girl to girl and checked them out and found bite marks, amoungst other things, on their bodies. Then her mind pieced together the information she had. "Slayers are drugged, forced to do..."

She looked at Sarah as the girl whimpered. "Anything, anyone for just one more hit."

Molly growled and struck out at the wall. "Ouch!" She shook her hand. "Man that..."Her eyes went wide. "Hurt! What the fudge?"

She turned to look at the door as she heard chuckling. "Well we wouldn't want you beauties at full strength now would we Mr. .Brown?"

Another voice answered. "Oh indeed not Mr. Huntington, it would ruin our fun and our burgeoning business empire."

A slot opened and a plate was slid inside. "Here's some nourishment, can't have our new toy disappointing our clientele now can we?"

Molly hurried over to it before any of the others could get to it, she picked it up and slammed it against the door. "If either of you two losers even makes a move to get in I'll ram this plate so far up your as..."

"Tsk, tsk! Manners my dear. "Huntington sniffled. "I just don't know Mr. Brown; this generation's youth makes me worry for the future!"

Molly slumped back against the wall. "Yeah well Buffy and the others find out I'm gone your freaking future's going to be awfully grim!"

A gentle laugh echoed into the room. "You know that was almost exactly what the others said." "Indeed yes Mr. Brown, almost word for word. This one seems to have more...spunk than the others, I do believe she will make an outstanding addition to our selection."

Molly searched for a snappy comeback but realized they were right, the only reason she even began searching was because...She grinned at the thought that popped into her head. "If I got this close then 'he' can't be far behind!" She whispered then crawled over to the others. "Buck up ladies, I do believe we won't be here too much longer."

HOLIDAY INN.

Dawn was dreaming she was flying high up in the air above New Sunnydale; she dove and turned like a sparrow in spring time. She looked down and saw the people as they went about their daily lives and all but missed the little yellow spark of fire that each person had deep inside them. She looked puzzled and went closer; as she did she noticed some of them had a darker, more diffused spark.

She began seeking these out and noticed they were like the others only they performed small acts of evil. One man coveted another's wife and did all he could to separate the couple. One woman desired riches her husband could not provide so she stole from others to get what she wanted.

She saw acts of evil, some small, some large enough to gain the interest of others. She also noticed that the eviler the act the darker the spark inside that person was.

Suddenly she saw a vision, it looked like one of those monks she had seen once on the Discovery channel and the man smiled at her. She dropped to his side and asked. "You can see me?"

The monk nodded. "I can see all of our master's creatures, good and bad, small or large."

Dawn grinned. "Who are you?"

The monk shrugged. "I am, of no importance, merely one of his messengers sent to walk amongst his children."

Dawn nods. "Cool, like God's fed-ex guy."

The monk nods. "In a way." He pointed to her. "You have done what you were created for; you were the ying for his yang. The key that unlocked the true being he was and always will be."

He nods behind her and Dawn turns to see Xander walking down the street towards one of the people with the darkest of sparks. "Xander!" she called out to him but he kept on walking. She went to go to him but the monk stopped her. "Do not interfere my child, he does the Lord's work now."

She watched as the man grabbed a woman from the street and dragged into an alleyway. Dawn struggled with the monk. "Hey! We have to help her you asshole!"

The monk merely shook his head. "That is not our purpose, it is his."

Dawn turned to see Xander become a dark shadow, as dark as the man's heart, and he flowed into the alley. They heard screams and watched the woman come running out, the man scrambling out just seconds later. But the very shadows around him seemed to come to life and engulf him tearing him limb from limb until there was nothing left to mark his passing. The shadows returned to being just shadows, all but one, this one seemed to grow until it took the form of a man. Until it became Xander once more.

Dawn shook her head. "What have I done?"

"God's work my child. In a world filled with evil did you believe he would not respond to the prayers of the righteous?"

Dawn was searching for a reason for it not to be Xander. "But Xander is...is so normal. "She blushed. "Well apart from the whole 'immortal' bit."

The monk nods. "But you have negated the curse my child, as he has negated yours." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are just a normal woman now, no more 'galactic garage door opener' for you."

Dawn was stunned by the news but still pushed on. "But why Xander, why not someone else, anyone else?" She was almost in tears. "Me, take me instead of him, please...I...Love him."

"He has been watched from the very day he decided to join your sister's destiny. A being that would chose to endanger his mortal soul night after night, with just a mortal's body, a mortal's limitations, to defend himself with." He motioned to Xander. "And yet he has done more, so much more than our creator had ever imagined when he first molded man from the clay of the earth."

He looked at her and then sighed. "Would you see the world that would be if he is not ascended? Humans that would make demons appear harmless running free and unpunished. Countless dead unavenged whilst their slayers roam free and unhindered?"

He looked at her then touched her temple. "And other things..."

Suddenly the world span and just when Dawn felt she would be sick it snapped back into focus. She was at a club, the heavy techno beat flooded her senses, but just as she was about to ask a question she saw Tara walk up to the bar and ask for a soft drink. She saw the man slip something extra into her drink then watched as Tara drank it.

Time sped up and the setting changed to a drab back room of the club, she saw Tara struggle as if fighting some invisible beast then she just began giggling and sat up on the couch as an old man came in. "Oh yes this is the one." He leered at her and sat beside her, his hand resting on her knee. "Aren't we pretty young thing?" He brushed a hand against her top and then ripped it off in one quick movement.

Dawn growled and went to move forward but she just past through them as if she were a ghost. She turned to the monk. "Why are you doing this? Why don't you stop it?" She motioned to Tara's rape at the hands of a stranger.

"This has already happened...watch and learn."

Dawn saw the man leave after he had finally finished with Tara, She saw her friend sit up and try to sink into the couch but a man walked in with a glass and smiled as she scrambled to get it. "This poor child, like so many others, was drugged and used by these creatures over and over again till she thought she was dirty, that she deserved what they were doing to her. So even when she was finally freed of the need for the drug but the way she felt about herself meant these ...creatures had a willing 'toy'."

Dawn was holding back sobs of pain. "Oh Tara! How could we..."

She then saw herself talking to Tara, helping her ease her way back into life. She saw Giles go to her, she also saw Tara accidentally let slip a little of what had happened .She then saw three men bundling Giles into his car and then empty a bottle of whiskey over him before pushing the car over the edge of Kingman's Bluff."

Dawn held a hand to her mouth. "Oh my god! They killed him, Xander was right to have doubted."

The image wavered and she was back at the club. "And now you will see why Alexander will become what is ordained."

She saw him kill the host and the guards then saw the look in his eyes as he passed her. "Nothing will stop him from killing the others."

"A day of reckoning is coming my child, one that this world will has seen before. Hopefully it will pull back from the precipice it currently stands on. Xander and the other three like him. Have ridden this land before in a time before man had barely fallen from the trees. They scraped the planet clean of the foul creatures and made a safe haven for man. They came again when man became corrupted by the demons and permitted their return to this plain."

The monk bowed to her. "And now you have resurrected him in your hour of need."

Dawn shook her head. "I thought...I thought I would cleanse him of the curse, that we would live our lives together like lovers should."

"There is a chance his destiny might be avoided, but he would need to want it as much as you." He held her hand. "Should he fall before the first full moon of this New Year then his fate is sealed. But if he lives then another shall be chosen."

Dawn nods. "Keep him safe and sound and he will live." She smiled. "I think I can keep him ...distracted for a while." She watched the monk begin to fade and then she realized. "Wait! If Xander is one of four then what the heck are they?"

The monk faded totally from her dream and she began to float away from her sleeping state and awoke wrapped in Xander's arms. She felt him stir then remembered she was naked. She blushed and backed away, wrapping the sheet around her.*I'm naked!* She smiled as the sheet revealed Xander's nakedness. She sighed contentedly as she watched him waken from his slumber.

Xander yawned and smiled at her. "Morning..."He blinked three times then remembered the past nights events. He blushed. "Uhh..."He ran a hand through his hair then she saw a resolved look pass over him. "Look, Dawn, the life I lead..."

She placed a hand on his arm. "Is going to change from now on." She bowed her head and looked up at him through her lashes. "That is if you meant those things you said and didn't just say them to get me into bed."

Xander felt ...clean! Was the only word that seemed to fit the way he felt? As if years of filth and degradation had all been washed away by a summer storm. "A 'Dawn' Summers storm! "He whispered. Dawn grinned and moved towards him. "I'm sure Giles would no more want you to avenge him anymore than you wanted Willow to go all 'dark and veiny' after Warren killed you."

Xander nods. "But I have to do something."

Dawn moved closer to him, the sheet pulling away from her as she did. She embraced him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "You will, we all will."

He looked down on her as she continued. "We can take what you have learned to the police..."She saw him smirk. "Okay then we'll go higher, I'm sure these 'things' must have broken some federal laws, kidnapping, drugging minors and forcing them ..."

She saw Xander's bewildered look. "How the hell did you know?" He looked angered at her words. "Did you...do all of you know what had happened and did nothing!"

She shook her head; her long hair flew about her as she did. "NO! None of us knew, I...just do that's all." She sighed. "Okay I had a dream! After we..."She blushed. "You know, I had this weird dream where I found out all sorts of things." She remembered what the monk had said and snuggled up to him. "I just want us to be a normal, loving family."

Xander nods. "Yeah normal...A galactic door opener and an idiot that a race of immortals want to make a head shorter...That's normal for Sunnydale maybe, but for the real world?"

She kissed his neck and nibbled her way up to his mouth. "We'll make it normal." She kissed him and tried to remember everything she had heard the girls talk about doing to their boyfriends to keep them 'entertained'.

Xander closed his eyes as Dawn worked her charms on him. "For a girl that's never had a boyfriend you sure.."

Dawn straddled him and placed a finger on his lips. "Research girl remember?" She kissed away any doubts he had and they began to make love once more.

THE SLAYER'S HOME.

Buffy is knocking on the bathroom door. "Come on Wills, other people need to use the bathroom." Willow drops the bloodied tissue into the toilet and checks her appearance in the mirror; she wipes her nose then smiles as she sees her coal black eyes begin to return to normal. Willow flushes the toilet then unlocks and steps out into the hall. "All clear."

Willow walks to the bedroom she shares with Tara and finds her waiting for her on the bed. "Done." Willow tells her.

Tara nods then asks. "So he won't risk his life trying to avenge Giles, or...or find out about me?" Willow smiles and shakes her head. "No he's going to be..."She grins. "Sidetracked for some time I should imagine." She grips Tara's hand. "I've done everything I can to keep them safe. Buffy thinks she's doing the right thing allowing Dawn and Xander to be together." She tilts her head. "Funny how easy it was making her believe whatever I thought was right, I would have thought a Slayer would have been harder to manipulate."

Tara shrugs. "I never want them to find out what I did." She shudders. "But what about the people that did it, how will we stop them doing this to others?"

"I planted a seed in Dawn's mind; she will convince Xander that reporting what he knows to the authorities will work out better than any form of revenge he could dish out."

Tara nods. "They look good together." She rests her head on Willow's shoulder. "I hope they have a better life than any of us."

Willow kisses the crown of her head. "They will now love, nothing can stop them now."

*****

Chapter 9

TWO DAYS LATER.

For two whole days peace reigned over the lives of the Scooby's, all due to Willow's wanting Tara's secret to remain safe. Xander and Dawn spent the time as new lovers often do, finding out what the other likes and indulging in over kill. Buffy went on with her life, training and pushing the new Slayers as hard as she could, never knowing when death's steely hand would come for them or her.

Willow and Tara resumed their romance from where it had taken a dark turn and forgot the past.

But the past never forgot them...

Each morning Xander woke with his body spooned up against Dawn's, his right hand gripped in hers as it lay across her body. As in the previous day his eyes snapped open and his mind fought to remember something, something he had to do, but then the urgency faded along with his dream as Dawn snuggled down into his arms. She turned her head and smiled at him.

"Morning!" She chirped happily.

He gazed into her eyes. "Is it? I can't seem to keep track of time anymore." He gently brushed a strand of hair from her face and sighed. "I have never felt as..."He searched for the right word then shrugged and kissed the tip of her nose. "Happy, content, full of life. I feel like the king of the world!" He kissed her full lips and then added. "But only as long as you are my queen."

She shivered as his hand caressed her but pouted when he stopped. He looked her in the eyes and told her. "If we're to live here then I guess I had better make nice with your sister."

Dawn grinned at him and hugged him. "God that would be great! Just like old times." She glanced at him with lust filled eyes. "Only WAY much better. "She glanced at the clock and frowned. "I got to go catch up with some of the girls from USC."

Dawn sighed, stretched and then moved away from his loving touch, he watched her as she picked her clothes up from the floor and made her way to the bathroom .Her hand rubbed her back and she exclaimed. "I think we need to a warm up routine before we go to bed ,I think I've pulled a muscle I never knew I had."

Xander smiled. "Your wish is my heart's desire." He lay there as he listened to Dawn shower, his mind tried to make sense of how a man such as he could ever find the love of a girl as soft and sweet as Dawn. He thought back to when he first saw her when the Summers family had first moved to Sunnydale. A short streak of energy that never seemed to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. He knew they were false memories, placed there by the monks so they would feel the need to protect Dawn but he doubted they had intended his 'protection' to be this total.

A sudden flash of memory caused him to jerk upright in bed as his mind placed tow images before him. One was of Giles and the other a crushed and burnt out convertible as it was being placed on a tow truck. "GILES?"

MULDOON MANOR.

Reece Muldoon had led a long life getting his merest whims fully seen to by underlings. He moved away from the young girl and sat up, lent over her still body and pressed a button on the bedside cabinet. A man instantly appeared at the door just as Reece took a long drag from a cigar. "Get this place cleaned up and call the club." He stretched and smiled evilly. "I have a yearning that needs seeing to."

He watched the lumbering giant walk over and easily lift the dead girls body from his bed, her dark hair, matted with blood, fell across her face as her head left the pillow with a sickening crunching of broken bones. He smiled with the satisfaction of knowing he could do this until the seas dried up and nothing on this world could bring him to heal for his deeds. "Ahh the wonders of inherited money, will they never cease?"

The servant stopped at the door and reminded him. "The Club is closed sir, remember they told you of the incident."

Reece cursed and got out of bed and reached for the phone, he pressed a set of numbers and waited for an answer. "I have a job for you, I want someone killed in such a way that if anyone else dares interfere with my fun they will look back at this and regret even contemplating such an action."

The man quoted a price and Reece simply nodded. "I'll have my man fax you all the information we have I expect my problem to be solved by end of business tomorrow." He disconnected the phone and picked up a remote and switched on the large plasma screen TV which revealed a security scan of his 'home, from the collection of the worlds finest armaments to the three remaining 'toys' he had hidden in the basement.

He looked at the teenage boy and smiled before keying the call for his servant. "Hans fax everything you can find out about our interloper to Ferguson." He all but growled as he watched the boy beat against his cell door. "And get my safari gear ready, I think I'm in the mood for a spot of hunting before breakfast."

HOLIDAY INN.

Dawn looked at herself in the mirror behind the wardrobe door and brushed her hands down the dark green winter dress she had bought in the shop across the street while Xander was showering. The dress hid what she wanted and accentuated what she didn't want hidden. Her eyes caught the phone on the bedside table and she went over to it and dialed her number.

"Hello, Summer's asylum for the criminally inane." Buffy spoke into the phone.

"Uhh hi Buff it's me Dawn." She didn't know how well her sister would take the fact that she had virtually disappeared for two days without even a phone call.

"So Xander let you alone long enough for you to finally call huh?"

Dawn blushed. "Something like that, I meant to call before but I was umm busy."

Buffy smiled. "Yeah I can remember being that young and foolish once. I'm just glad you're okay and called." Dawn relaxed and continued to talk. "Well I was wondering if we could come over for dinner or something tonight." She paused. "I think Xander has something he wants to ask you."

Buffy tilts her head to one side and tells her. "You have to finish College before you do anything rash Dawn. I want at least one of us to have a solid foundation for the future and it's too late for me."

Dawn rolled her eyes as Xander came out of the bathroom. "Jeez mother hen much? Okay we'll see you round sevenish."

Xander was drying his hair as she walked towards him. "I need to go out for a couple of hours to catch up with Samantha and Annie." She picked up her clutch bag and kissed him. She wiped her lipstick from his lips with the ball of her thumb and told him. "We have a dinner date with Buffy for 7 tonight..." She paused and then asked. "Do you mind if I finish college before we get too deep?"

Xander shrugged. "We're lovers, don't get much deeper than that kitten..."He suddenly realized what she meant. "Jeez you want the whole nine yards don't you?"

Dawn was suddenly afraid that she had pushed her dream too far and began to panic as Xander sat on the bed and looked at her, his brow furrowed with concentration. "We don't have ..."

Xander held a hand up to quieten her then smiled. "I want what ever it takes to make you happy." He stood and walked to her side. "You want it and we'll have everything you ever dreamed could make you happy...White picket fence and 2.5 kids included."

She kissed him and said. "In two more years I'll have what I need to start an internship at Sunnydale General. By the time I'm twenty three I want that picket fence and two kids..."She kissed him again then whispered. "But only if you're there by my side okay?"

He held out his hand to her. "Then it's a deal Miss Summers."

She shook his hand and told him. "I'll have my people call your people to set things up." She joked along with him then stopped. "But what will you do?"

He smiled. "You forget I'm support 'o' guy remember, besides I got the where-with-all to keep us out of the poor house for quite a long time yet and then some."

Dawn blew him a kiss as she left the hotel room and Xander went back to getting dressed, when he had finished he then walked out of the room closing and locking the door behind him. The clerk nodded to him as he handed his key over then Xander asked. "DO you know of any half descent real estate agencies ?"

The man smiled and took a flyer from the desk and handed it over to him. "I believe these are the best available in the area. The town has only just been built and it seems we're getting the overflow from LA so now is the time to buy sir."

Xander nods his thanks and moves outside to his rental car. "I suppose I'll need a new car as well, and clothes, furniture hell a whole new beginning!" He screwed up his face. "All I have to do is live through a fun filled dinner with Buffy and her gang... I am so screwed!"