Xander was having the same dream he's had since the day she died. He's too late and too normal to do anything but watch her plummet to her death in order to close the portal and save the world, but more importantly her sister. He had helped get Anya to medical aide then helped calm and comfort Dawn. Xander jerked awake, his body shivering not from cold but from a chill that ate at his very soul. Since she had gone he realised several things. One was that they all needed Buffy much more than she ever needed them. The second was that he realised he still loved her more than ever before. The third was Anya knew this. How did he know? Because his hand had brushed the letter she left him.
He rubbed his eyes and concentrated on reading her words.
Dear Alexander. (His first thought was I'm in deep doo doo!)
By the time you read this I should be halfway to New York and halfway to getting you out of my system. I know you settled for me rather than chose me over your only love so lets not pretend anymore. You love a dead woman and I'm just something you can use while pretending it's her! God my eyes are leaking again so I'd better end this now before it's too late. I think the house you're uncle left you will help you deal with losing her. Just remember nothing solves lifes problems like quick meaningless sex.
If you're still free in maybe five or six years give me a call you always were good at the whole sex thing.
Xander ran a hand through his mess of dark hair and frowned. "Well that's better than her becoming a Vengeance Demon and ripping my family jewels off I suppose." He started to screw the letter up but stopped, then flattened it out. "Why is it that just when I think things cant get any worse it does?" He looked over to the last photo of the gang just before things went to hell. He smiled and ran a finger over Buffy's face. "It gets harder and harder to not join you Buff!"
He then thought about Anya's last words and hunted for the letter Uncle Rory had sent him just before Rory had gone down for a dirt nap as Spike says. "So you left your favourite nephew, read only nephew, your cabin in the mountains." He shook his head. "Hell if it's anything like your car it probably backs onto a toxic waste dump!"
Willow and Tara are putting the finishing touches on the demon barrier spell when Tara turns to Willow and kisses her cheek. "I think this has helped all of us a little." She shrugged. "You know." Willow hugged her. "Yeah! And it's been a big help to Dawn as well. It's taken her mind off of Buffy."
Tara looked around the newly renovated house. "And it doesnt hurt that it's in a cool area either!" They both look to Xander as he walks in and unbuckles his tool belt. "Well my Wicca workers how goes the spells? At least I don't see hundreds of broomsticks carrying water buckets so all must be well in Harrisville."
Willow snaps to attention and gives him a mock salute. "Spell to ward off demons all complete sir." Xander grins for the first time since Buffy had gone and nods. "Yeah and to think I thought An was nuts for even suggesting I fix this place up."
Dawn walks in with Giles. "Are you kidding? This place is it! Big five bedroom Cape Cod style house with large kitchen and lounge. All the mod cons you could ask for and a Barn for Buffy to..." She stops and the smile vanishes from her face. Xander walks up to her and he places an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah I know Dawnie. I keep expecting her to come waltzing in with that big grin on her face any second now too." He slaps his hands together startling them all. "Well another trip out here next weekend and it'll be finished! Casa Harris will be open for Team Scooby inspection. The Solar panels arrive on Tuesday. The generator's already wired up. Big screen TV with Satellite up and running, once we have power that is, so now G-man can scope the BBC World service from his chair while Dawn and Willow can surf the net in their rooms!"
Giles shakes his head. "Xander this must have cost a... BBC World service you say?" He smiles. "What about Discovery Channel?" Xander grins. "But of course Mon frae I ordered the whole box and dice for the gang, this can be where you get away from the city and the crime and relax." Willow sees something in his eyes that only an old friend could pick up on but before she can ask him Giles tells them. "Well it's going to be an eight hour drive back so we should really be moving."
Willow and Tara go with Giles whilst Dawn travels with Xander in his Jeep. They're about an hour from home when Dawn slowly wakes up from a restless sleep. She hears the radio playing Dido's here with me and over heres Xander saying. "Soon Buff.. It has to be soon! I can't keep it together for much longer!" She looks at his face and she sees the tears rolling down his cheeks. She thinks to herself. "My God he still loves HER! I hope he's not going to do anything stupid, I'll have to talk to Willow about this."
Dawn locks up her scooter and goes to Willow's dorm. She's about to knock when she hears an argument going on inside. "Willow if you love me don't try this! Giles said it was too dangerous even for the three of us to try!" She hears Willows voice reply. "But can't you see Tara? Didn't you see his face yesterday? Losing her is eating everyone up but none more than Xander. If we don't bring her back Im afraid he will try to join her and he may not be the last!" Dawn opens the door and the two witches jump. Willow wipes a tear from her eye and puts on a happy face. "Dawn! Ugh Hi! How long have you been standing there?"
Dawn shrugs her shoulders. "Not long why?" Willow grins and tells her. "Oh nothing we were just getting ready to go see you and Giles." She tries to change the subject. "Gee hasn't Xander's place come along since we first saw it?"
Dawn answers. "Actually that's what I've come to see you about." She places her helmet on the table. "Did either of you notice anything weird over the weekend?" The two witches looked at each other and shrugged. "Not even the sleeping arrangements? I checked each room, you had a double bed, Giles has a double hell even I rate a double, but did any of you go into Xander's room?"
When they shook their heads she told them. "Our three bedrooms are the only ones decorated! The other two are bare, not even a mattress on the floor, so where do you think Xander's going to sleep?"
Willow went white and began to wring her hands. "I knew it but I didnt want to believe it!" She turned to Tara. "See! Now we have to do it!" Dawn looked at them. "Okay! I think it's about time we had a meeting of the Scooby Gang!"
OUTSIDE WILLOW'S DORM.
Dawn raced out as soon as Giles pulled up in his BMW. "Willow and Tara said they were going to try something. " He looked over at her as he started moving forward and she shrugged. "I think it's some kind of location spell." She hated lying to Giles but the two witches had convinced her that he would just try to stop them and she was sure this was the only way to save both Xander and the group.
As the red BMW pulled away a Knight stepped from the shadows and held a radio to his mouth. "The Key has left the Wiccan residence and is with the watcher. I will follow them." He flipped the shield down and started his bike on a path that would shadow their's.
As they drove Giles asked her again. "So what makes you think Xander is going to...Do this?" awn shook her head and raised her eyebrows. "Were you always this blind to him? " She counts off on her hand. "1 he's used all his savings renovating the house and building the barn for us.2 his is the only room not completed.3 he's made sure that all OUR wants have been met yet he didn't buy that DVD player he's always wanted. And the last one took a lot of coaxing from Willow but his boss told her Xander took out a hefty life insurance policy, a Sunnydale special he called it."
Giles looked disheartened. "Why didn't I see this coming? I knew he was hear broken by Anya's leaving." Dawn shook her head again and mumbled. "What is it with you people?" Before loosing her restraint. "Is it that you three never bothered to actually look at Xander or did you just not care? Every time BUFFY walked into a room or looked his way his whole face lit up. His every effort was devoted to saving her and making her life better. His heart didn't break when Anya left him! His very soul died when Buffy died!"
Giles did two things she never thought he would ever do. He swore at his own stupidity then pushed the BMW to its very limits. "If we loose him..." Dawn placed her hand over his. "We won't.. We can't!"
Giles pulled his car up in a screech of rubber then the two of them dashed for Xander's apartment. Giles bashed on the door until Dawn remembered the spare key hidden in the laundry room. She raced back and Giles opened the door but they were too late. Xander had left his apartment hours before, Dawn went straight to where she had seen Xander hiding something when she used to come over. She returned with an empty box. "It used to hold his Uncle's handgun!"
Giles ran a hand through his hair then snapped his fingers. "The new house! He told me he liked the fact it was so close to the desert and he liked the quiet."
It was a long drive but Xander had made it in near record time. He put the finishing touches on installing the solar panels and hooked it up to work in sync with the generator. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned. "Well it's finished Buff! Casa Scooby is ready for the gang to move into." He took an envelope out of his coat pocket and placed it on the mantelpiece then looked at the colour portrait he had made from the photo of the seven of them and ran his hand over Buffy's face. "Well it's almost time B!"
He went into the other room and took out his hiking gear and changed into them. He then took the. 45 colt from the glove box of his car and slipped it into his coat pocket before he went back inside and did a walk through. He checked each room and imagined the gang as they lived their lives out here. He shrugged into a backpack and locked the door behind him just as he saw Giles bring his pride and joy to a halt in front of him. Giles slammed his car door and pointed a finger at Xander. "You stay right where you are! " He marched over to him as Dawn stepped from the car.
Xander sighed and put on a fake smile. "Hey G-Man you know you void the warranty when you do that to a Beemer." He saw the glare both Giles and Dawn were wearing and decided to try and bluff his way out of it. "I was just going for a hike. Kettles just boiled if you'd like a cuppa Giles..." He stopped when Giles held out his hand. "Give it to me Alexander!"
Xander shrugged and held out the keys to the house and Giles slapped them away. "The gun! Give me the frigging gun Harris!" Xander moved away from him and Giles gripped his shirtfront. Xander turned red as he saw his plan crumbling around his ears. "Back off Watcher! You were Buffy's boss not mine!"
Giles felt his 'ripper' side come to the front. "If you think she died just so's you could take your own life then fine! Do it and get it over with, end your foolish life before it's even begun!" Xander pushed Giles away. "You know nothing of what I want or feel! For six years I fought by her side with the faintest hope she may one day look at me as more than her Xander shaped friend!"
Dawn tried to break into the argument but she could only think of one thing to say and Willow told her not to say anything in case it didn't work. Her eyes went wide when Xander drew the gun on Giles. "Back off and leave me the hell alone! Every day she's gone my soul is eaten away! I could of helped but I froze I turned from her savoir to a rotten piece of shit that doesn't deserve to live!"
Dawn touched the silver cross that had belonged to Buffy but now hung about her neck. "She's coming back!" At first they didn't hear her so she repeated it much louder. Giles looked ashen faced. "NO! Those fools! If they try they risk being sucked into the nether regions with her!" Dawn smiled and shook her head. "No Giles it worked! I can... Feel her, she's back!"
Xander saw movement along his fence line and sighed. "I sure hope you're right short stop Cuz I think we're going to need her!" Two sedans came up the drive and headed towards the trio. Giles told them. "I think it's the Knights." Giles and Xander looked at Dawn and fought for a way out of the situation. Xander hefted the Colt and grinned. "Dawnmiester run to my Jeep and get in then slip out the other side. There's a ditch there. Duck down and don't move no matter what you hear!"
She undid the necklace and hung it around his neck. "If you get hurt you know she's going to kick your ass Harris!" He grinned then kissed her forehead. "Oh I have no intention of being hurt darlin'! Not now she's back, no GO!"
Xander brought up his gun and told Giles to run to his car and drive away till they were gone. Xander aimed at the windshield of the front car and placed a round just to the driver's left. The car skidded to a halt causing the other car to ram into it's back. He then jumped into the drivers seat and hit the gas. He followed Giles out then turned towards the dessert with the two sedans in pursuit. Giles doubled back and picked Dawn up and as she shut the door she told Giles." You're going to have to move to catch up Giles.
She shouted at him as he turned the car the opposite way and headed towards Sunnydale. "What are you doing?" She screamed at him and Giles told her. "He's buying us time to get you safe Dawn." She realised they had planned this while she ran to Xander's car. "But they'll kill him!"
Giles's knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel and his voice broke as he told her. "Don't you think I know that?" Dawn slumped in her seat and her eyes began to mist, filling with unshed tears as she told him. "He'll be fine! He always finds a way out of any trouble."
The two sedans braced either side of Xander's Jeep and tried to slow him down or force him into a ditch. "Xander took a firmer grip of the wheel and told himself." Come on Xandman think! Where to go, where to go? "He grinned when he remembered the old Government ICBM site just over the ridge." Perfect! Their city cars will pike it on that desert land!"
Suddenly his rear window burst as the Knights began to fire at him. "HEY! No fair! Since when did freakin' Knights use guns!" He felt a blow like Olaf had just punched his shoulder then felt the burn of hydrostatic shock. "Jesus!" His left arm hung uselessly at his side as he crashed through the wire mesh fence and drove haphazardly, across the desert.
The tyres of the following sedans drove over the sign that stated.
YOU ARE ENTERING US GOVERNMENT PROPERTY.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE MET BY DEADLY FORCE.
By Order Of US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISION.
Tara has finished drawing the magical symbols on the roof of the building Buffy had jumped from, while Willow had mixed the potion for the casting. Willow poured the mixture onto a mystical flame that turned blue and caused its twin to form in the centre of the pentagram. "Lords of fire, Lords of dust do for us that which is just!" She threw another handful of powder onto the flame and it grew brighter. Its twin began to form a vaguely human shape. "She that died on this very ground and by the potion we have burned, we beseech the Lords to return!" She threw another handful onto the flame and they felt the very air drawn into the shape forming in the mystical circle.
Tara saw Willow nod and she placed Mr. Pointy in the pentagram and chanted. "Slayer of evil, defender of good, with this offering from the Heart we beg thee not to depart." She then threw the I.D. bracelet Buffy had given to Xander into the centre of the shape. It then began to become solid, transforming energy to mass. Then she held up a bag of blood that Dawn had allowed them to drain from her. "From thy sister to thee, the sister the key, become the chosen one Buffy."
She tore the top from the bag and emptied it into the shape and both she and Willow grinned as it formed the one they had lost. They then sat back to back and went into a trance, Willow exerting all the power she had into the last part of the spell as they searched for Buffy's soul and led it back to her body. They both found her wandering in a kind of limbo her eyes blank and staring, and were taking her back when Jenny Calender stopped them. She looked at them and told them. "Heart, Mind, Hand and Body for her to return one must pay."
Willow and Tara looked at each other and Willow then kissed Tara. "Good bye my love tell the others it was an easy choice." But before Tara could argue Jenny shook her head. "It has already been done little one. The choice was made in the masters cave and the God's themselves marked him then and reclaim him now."
The two Wiccan came out of the trance at the same time Buffy revived, and all three shouted out one name. "XANDER!"
General Mayborn watched the view from the remote cameras as they panned across the replica city and the sky above it. One of the techs told him. "T minus three minutes and counting General." He nodded and told them. "Good, sound general quarters and begin countdown." He turned to the scientist sitting at the console. "I hope this works this time Jerry or Dubya will have our balls for sure."
Dr. Banyon told him. "Lets leave the worry aside till the test is over General. With the new Gamma and Delta ray projectors online the shield should work just fine. Project Umbrella will be the first step in the President's renewed Space Defence Initiative."
Meanwhile a short distance away from the testing site Xander pulls his jeep around and stops so he is facing the two cars." He aims the gun then relaxes and cocks his neck before taking out the front tyres from each of the pursuing cars. He winces as he turns the wheel and floors the gas pedal leaving the Knights firing after him. The Knights then move fast and take the two front tyres off one car and replace them with the spares from both cars. All but one pile into the repaired car and they drive off in a cloud of dust after Xander.
Xander looks pale but suddenly he's feeling no pain as he glances in the mirror and sees Buffy's cross around his neck. "Ya brought me luck again darlin'!" He brought the cross to his lips and kissed it. But then the Jeep shuddered to a halt as a cloud of steam erupted from under the hood. "Great! Harris luck strikes again!" Xander steps out of his disabled Jeep and strips his shirt down to check the wound. "Through and through I just need to patch this up and we'll get moving. He glances over at the passenger seat and sees Buffy sitting there. He grins." Never fear the Buffster's here! How ya doing Buff? "He frowns then says." Oh yeah sorry! Forgot about the whole jumping to your death thingy. Still at least you can feel no pain where you are right princess."
He looks away and sees a cloud of dust on his back trail, checks the clip in the gun. "One round! Just peachy! And now you're talking to dead people" He looks ahead and sees a small town shimmering in the distance. "With my luck it'll be painted red and a midget will be changing the town name to Hell." Xander tucks the gun into his belt and shucks into the backpack. "Well I just hope they got a phone or a sheriff that ain't Clint Eastwood!" He starts walking then turns to look at his Jeep. "You coming Buff or will you just wait to see whether I join you in the choir invisible?" He sees her waive to him then disappear. "Yep! Just lovin' this whole freaking day to bits all right!"
He's just entering the town when he begins to notice something weird about it. "I know I said I like the quiet but Jeez! Where are all the people gone?" He eases the pack off his good shoulder and takes out the water bottle, its contents disappear after three big gulps. "Ahh! H2O nothin beats it!... Jeez!" The sound of the klaxon causes him to drop the empty flask and spin around. "No doubt about it! This is the worst day so far! Now what?"
The countdown is into seconds as a controller comes running up to the General. "Sir we have an unauthorized person within the test site! " The General rushes over to the screen. "Stop the countdown!" Dr. Banyon shakes his head. "Its too late the generators have built up the charge! If we halt it now the town will vaporize anyway! Lets just see what happens, if the shield works he'll be fine."
The car with the Knights in arrives at the start of town and they see Xander running down the centre of the town. "This will be quick! But we need to find the key as well!" One of the Knights tells them from the front seat. "I think this guy's led us on a wild goose chase. Check with Ralph and see if she's with the Watcher."
One of the Knights speaks into a receiver. "Ralph this is Kendall have you seen the watcher yet?" After a second Ralph replies. "No... Wait he's just come onto I15 and passed my station. Hey! I thought you were chasing the Key? " Kendall shakes his head. "She's with him isn't she? Well get after them!"
Before Kendall can tell the driver to turn around a wave ripples across the road in front of them and the very air shimmers with a copper taste. "What the hell?" Then the sound like a plane breaking the sound barrier assaults their ears.
Xander stumbles and drops the gun, he places his hands against his ears. "What the hell was that?" He looks around and sees the air above the town shimmer with a golden hue then shatter into purple haze. He feels his skin sparkle and fizz. "I wonder if this is what Vampires feel when the sun hits them?" He then feels the worst pain in his young life and flings his arms in front of his eyes.
Alarms are going off in the control room as Dr. Banyon tells the General. "The shield held!" The General shouts at him as he points to the view screen. "But they collapsed after the attack! What's the good of stopping the missiles if the town's destroyed by the shield?" They watch as the destructive wave hits a car that was travelling down the street. "What the hell kind of piss ant security are we running here?"
They all watch as the car erupts into a ball of flame incinerating its occupants and turning itself into a funeral pyre. "Look!" One of the techs points to Xander as he begins to struggle to his feet. "That's impossible! His body must have been bombarded by lethal Gamma and Delta radiation! His whole system should have shutdown and gone into catatonic shock before dying."
Xander collapses and screams in agony as he feels his body's nerve endings scream out in pain. His last thoughts as he grips Buffy's cross are. "Guess I'm finally going to join you Buff...." His arm flops onto the tarmac of the road as men in radiation gear climb out of a helicopter that landed close by.
XANDER'S HOME.
The gang were gathered in the main room while they waited for Buffy to finish her training in the barn Xander had converted. Willow and Tara cast nervous glances at Dawn while Giles looked out the large bay window that faced the mountains. He turned around and looked at the gang as Buffy walked in wearing her training suit and a towel wrapped around her neck. "When Xander gets back I'm going to have to get him to set up a shower in there. Other than that it's perfect."
Dawn glared at her newly returned sister, a look Buffy couldn't miss. "Okay Sis out with it? What's crawled up your nose now?"
Dawn's fist hit the table as she stood up and mocked Buffy's voice. "When Xander gets back I'll get him to do more work for me! When he gets back? " She looked at the others in amazement. "We had a quick look around here when we got back then Tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber here cast some stupid search spell and came up empty. " She marched over to her and waived her hand around the room. "Nice of him to leave all this to us though huh! I guess it's an incentive not to look very hard for him."
Buffy glances at the others and their looks agreed with what Dawn had said. "Don't hold back Dawn, let it all out won't Ya!" Buffy looks at the gang as she tells them. "He built it because he KNEW I was coming back! He was the only one that believed in me enough to dare go down to the master's lair and drag me back from the other side and he was probably the only one that thought I'd return this time as well!"
Dawn looked into her sister's eyes and saw something there that made her feel both jealous and happy for her. Jealous because she saw her eyes fill every time she mentioned Xander's name and happy because she knew, if Xander survived his decoying of the Knights, Buffy would move on to him. Despite what the others thought she knew Xander had never stopped loving her sister. Anya had just been filler until the real thing woke up and smelt the coffee.
"Welcome back Helen Keller!" Dawn grinned at Buffy. "It's about time you opened your eyes and ears! Now maybe your heart will open too?"
Giles was about to tell them to act their ages when he caught the reflection of something in the corner of his eye." I hate to break up this happy family scene but it appears we're being watched.
The Knight had seen them start to argue over something then the Slayer had gone into the showers. The leader of the Knights had been amazed when he had radioed him about the Slayers return. But with other evil running rampant in Europe he didn't have the manpower to replace the Knights slain by the Harris guy.
He saw movement over by the cars and focused on that, his face broke into a lewd grin as he saw the two Wicca's make out against the door of the Watchers car. He zoomed in and then froze when he heard a female voice tell him. "You know we have laws about stalkers now." Just before everything went black.
He began to regain consciousness as he heard voices. "...And I say we just kill him! After all what the hell could a low ranker like him know?"
Giles tells them. "You're right of course. We'll take him out into the desert and bury him."
Dawn asks. "So who's going to kill him?"
He felt his hands being tied along with his feet as Giles answered. "Who said we were going to kill him? We'll tie him up and bury him. It's a long slow death but it's the least we can do for all the trouble..."
"Hey! HEY! I know stuff!" He screamed out as the hood was placed over his head. Buffy asks him. "Yeah like what?"
He thinks of what they would like to know. "There's just me and Francis left over here now. Your buddy took out the others and we haven't been able to replace them yet."
Buffy grips him by the shirt. "Bullshit! You're lying to save your ass! If he did that he would have returned by now!"
"Wait! I was there! He shot out our tyres and I had to stay behind when we took the tyres off the other car. Later on I followed the tracks in the car and came across a ghost town. It was in ruins with two cars burning in the centre of the town. A Black hawk had landed and they were carrying the body bags into its hold. I saw them place your friend into one before they loaded it into a military vehicle."
They took the hood of him and he saw the looks on their faces. "It would have been an honour to have him as a knight. He knew how to sell his life dearly!" He never saw the fist coming till it hit his jaw. Buffy drew back her fist to strike him again as she cried out the words. "He's not dead! He'll come back to us when he's ready he.. He..." She broke down in tears as Giles hugged her to him and told her. "Why would he lie? I had feared as much when the Knights no longer bothered us."
He helped her into a chair as she began to lose it. "No he can't be dead! I came back.." She looked at Willow and her eyebrows lifted. "Twice! He brought me back when the master had killed me and then you two did when... You know." She begged them as she wiped her eyes dry. "Come on we can do it again! You can do it again."
Willow shook her head. "It only worked because you were a Slayer Buffy! Xander was.... Xander."
She looked at Giles and her eyes begged his help but he shook his head. "I'm sorry Buffy there's very little we can do except grieve for him."
Dawn shook her head but before she could say anything Buffy had spoken her words for her. "NO! He will return! All we have to do is have as much faith in him as he's had for us!"
Xander groaned and tried to sit up but as he did he was over come by a sense of vertigo and slumped back onto the hard mattress. He moved his head around, trying to see what kind of a jam he was in. He remembered the flight from the Knights and their catching up with him in some whacked out town but since then nothing. His stomach rumbled and he knew from past experience that it meant he'd been without food for at least twelve hours.
He slid his legs over the side of the bed and gave his body time to get used to the room swaying like a drunken hoola dancer's skirt. He looked around the room again and saw it looked just like any of the other hospital rooms he had seen over the years. His eyes took in the large mirror that took up most of the back wall and he was suddenly very worried. He stood up and tried to regain his sense of balance, then walked over to the mirror. He peered into it and remembered something Willow had shown him on the Internet. It was about how to check that a mirror was just a mirror and not a surveillance device.
He placed his head against it so he could look across the surface of the mirror then touched the glass with his fingernail. He shook his head when he saw there was a gap between his nail and it's reflection. "Great! Now the freakin' dream comes true!" He remembers the dream he had when the first Slayer was after them all and remarked. "It couldn't have been the part where Willow and Tara do the whole ' We find you interesting and want you to join us' Oh no! Heaven forbid I get that part of the dream."
He walks away from the mirror and lies back on the hospital bed. "Oh no I got to get the mad scientists watching my every move gig!" His hand moves to where the cross should have been, he stops and sits up when he realises it's gone. Xander jumps off the bed and bangs on the mirror. "Just so's you know I will be getting that back before I leave!"
Xander feels the hairs rise on the back of his neck and he places a hand on them in an effort to calm himself down. His fingers find a criss cross of fine stitches running about an inch from the base of his hairline up. "What the hell is going on?"
His head turned to the sound of a buzzer and the door swung open admitting two men in white dust coats. "Hello Mr. Harris my name is Dr. Banyan and this is my colleague Dr. Jervis." He smiled at Xander as he saw him try to look around them and out into the hallway before the door swung shut.
"Not to seem ungrateful but could you tell me what the hell's going on?" Xander demanded.
Dr. Jervis tells him. "You were involved in a traffic accident Mr. Harris and you were incapacitated for sometime. We had to stitch up some deep cuts to the back of your head but other than that you seem fine."
Before Xander could ask him anything Dr. Banyon asks him. "We'd just like to ask you a few medical questions, just to keep our records straight... Do you have any allergies, any medical disorders in your family? Did either of your parents work for the Energy Commission, either Nuclear or alternate power?"
Xander shook his head. "Nope, the only things my parents were allergic to was work. Oh! Wait. If they had more than a bottle of Old Crow each they became extremely drunk, does that count." Xander told them in a mocking voice. "Now why the twenty questions?"
"We're just trying to figure out how you managed to survive while the others perished." The Doctor placed the clipboard under his arm. "And why they were chasing you on Federal land that was clearly marked?"
Xander suddenly remembers the Knights and how they had chased him onto what he thought was Indian land. He shrugged. "We were having a race and took the wrong turn. We came across the weird town of yours then... I can't seem to remember anything after that."
Xander looked at the mirror and squinted his eyes trying to see beyond the glass, if he could, and try to find out where the high-pitched whine was coming from. He looks back at the Doctors when he remembers where he had heard the sound before. Mrs. Summers had taken the gang to Six Flags for their graduation party and it was the same sound the video camera made that she had brought.
"Well Mr. Harris it appears we have finished with our preliminary enquiries." He glances at his watch. "We need to move along the scheduling of our tests." The two doctors exited the room and Xander heard the electronic snick as the door locked.
Xander moved back to the bed and sighed. "Someone's bound to wonder where I am and come looking. Till then." He slumps down on the bed and places his hands behind his head. "It's just a matter of waiting. What the hell they can only kill you once..." He heard the whining sound build up and his hand went to clutch at the cross that was no longer there. "I hope!"
Dr. Banyon and Jervis walked into the shielded observation room and nodded to the technicians. "Okay begin series 2, increase the Delta Radiation then double the Gamma rays." Jervis told him. "We should begin to monitor the subjects dreams. They could prove useful."
Jervis tells him. "The stitches seemed to be healing at a phenomenal rate." He checks the readouts and smiles. "I believe the implant is reacting far beyond our wildest dreams."
The view of Xander's room was blocked as the lead shielding slid down in preparation for the next stage. "It was a stroke of fate that the man was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We should be able to advance our studies by years from the information we get from him."
Banyon tells him. "Yes but its most important the military never find out about this or we'll lose more than our government grant! Remember the debacle the whole Initiative fiasco led to, all grants on human/demon dna grafts cancelled, years of work down the drain because Walsh couldn't control her experiment."
They observe a flash from behind the screen and the muted sound of Xander's scream. The flashes grow stronger and longer till it seems like it's a constant light. "Start the recordings when we achieve maximum cellular bombardment."
XANDER'S HOME.
Buffy kept a stern face as she listened to the arguments as they went back and forth between Willow and Giles as to whether they should even attempt to find this town. Buffy lets the shower water hit her hand till the right temperature is reached. She strips out of her training clothes and steps under the showers pulsing water jets. She uses the soap to try and wash away the day's woes, then she closes her eyes and directs the stream of water to her face. Her fist suddenly strikes out and hits the tiled wall and her sobs can be heard over the sound of the shower. "God not you Xander! Please not you!" The water mixed with her tears as she sank to the floor in the corner of the cubical.
Willow and Giles were discussing what they should do now when Buffy came walking down the stairs carrying her overnight bag. "We're leaving." Dawn shook her head as Willow asks her. "Why? This is the perfect place to come and relax, train and do research."
"No, this place is his, not ours, when he returns then we'll come back." Buffy told them as she made her way outside.
Willow looked at Tara as her girlfriend told her. "She's not taking this very well is she? I mean it's almost like she...She... No that would be to mean. Her returning and discovering she loved him only when he dies, the Gods wouldn't allow it."
Dawn followed her sister out to the car. "Hey you." She tried to grin at her but it came out as a lopsided grin. "You know since we're here all ready why don't we take a drive over to where the knight says he saw all this happen."
Buffy looked at her sister as she dropped her bag into the trunk of Giles's car next to the trussed up knight, then slammed the door shut. She placed the sunglasses on her face and lent against the car, folding her arms and staring at Dawn. "Why? Why all this trouble over some idiot that, even if he isn't dead, will probably get us all killed?"
Dawn copies her sisters attitude. "Probably because you love him more than he loved you! I believe when the knights came to take me we gave him the reason to join you wherever you were. But I also believe that if he knew you were alive he'd storm the very gates of Hell to come back." She kicked the dirt at her feet and blushed before she went on. "I had it all worked out Buff. I'd give him a year or three to get you out of his system then I'd start on him." She looks up at her and dares her to say anything. "By then I'd hoped the EEW factor would be gone. I'd be seventeen going on eighteen and he'd be twenty four."
"I figure we are cut from the same cloth so if I have these feelings for him then you must too! So what are we going to do? Go home and maybe miss an opportunity to find him, one way or another, or do we put an end to any doubts?"
Giles and the others come out to the cars to find Buffy sitting at the wheel with Dawn and the trussed up Knight in the rear. Buffy pulls the sunglasses down the ridge of her nose so they can see her eyes. She dares them to refuse her plan. "We are going for a nice drive into the desert where the tinman here will show us where this town is. Then we are all going to either find him alive or take his body back to rest amongst loved ones."
Dawn grinned at them. "Told Ya she loved him."
Doctor Banyan is going through the readouts of the last procedure they had performed on Xander. "Well Henry it looks like we were right to continue the program on our friend in there." He shows Jervis the final results and Jervis is stunned. He looks at the man sleeping on the pallet next door and breaths a heavy sigh. "Jesus James! These figures are astounding. His rad levels are normal yet we just exposed him to enough Gamma and Delta radiation he should glow till the next millennium!"
James grins and taps the sheet. "Look at his blood work up." He smiles as he sees Henry's eyebrows rise. "His blood is changing from being iron based to copper that could be the answer to his rapid healing and.." He flips the page. "The implant we inserted between his left and right spheres seems to draw power from the radiation. Something we hadn't allowed for yet will take credit for."
Henry looks at the computer generated results. "So every time we bombard him his I.Q. is dramatically increased for longer periods."
James takes the readout and turns a page. "Not only his I.Q Henry, his logics ability is also increased by the same factor. It means not only is he getting smarter his ability to process and use this knowledge is also increased."
"Yes but James we need to be able to control him, otherwise all this is useless!"
James moves over to a consol and types in a command. As he finishes a video starts to playback. "This is a recording of his REM state dreams. In almost everyone this blond girl is the center of his every thought. Whatever she tells him to do he obeys. Now that would have been perfect but after a check of his hometown records, it appears she committed suicide less than three months ago. But all is not lost...Watch."
The scene changes to an ice-cream truck and the two Wicca's replay the dream he had when the first Slayer had tried to kill him in his sleep. It had played on his most intimate wants and wishes, creating a scene where they wanted him and he desired them. He would have walked on crushed glass to bed them and James grinned at Henry. "All we need to do is... recruit these two girls." He reads the print out. "Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay. I should say we use their images, along with this Buffy's to assert our authority over him. We can of course also have the two females brought here to enforce our will."
A red light blinks on and James grins. "Well our subject is awake it seems." He turns on the recorders and raises the screen to find Xander is huddled over the toilet retching into the bowl, his skin seeming to have a slight greenish tinge to it. He stands up and glares at the mirror then begins to walk towards it. He strikes the mirror with his fist and James tells a worried Henry. "Don't worry its bulletproof."
They see Xander tilt his head as if he heard him, he then looks around the room and sees the lamp at his bedside. He snaps the top off and bends the metal frame till it suits his purpose. He then hits the glass with the sharp end causing the two scientists to jump in shock. James points to a tech. "Flood the room with narc-gas NOW!"
Xander pushes the sharp point into the glass then draws a large arc in the glass, moving faster and faster till his arm is almost a blur. He sniffs the air as the gas begins to be pumped into his prison and James could almost swear he saw the mans eyes turn from chocolate to deep green. Xander stopped and drew back his fist, then slammed it into the two-way mirror showering the scientists in glass.
He jumped through the gap as alarms blared through out the complex. He looks around the room and spots the tray with his personal effects. He pushes a tech that tried to block his way and the man flew ten feet to smash up against the wall. Xander picked through his things till he found what he was looking for. He unhooked the chain and placed the cross around his neck before striding over to Dr.Banyon. He glared at him. "I told you I'd be getting this back before too long!"
Xander shuddered then heard the buzz as a blaster was fired at him, instead of rendering him unconscious it made him even more angry. His muscles quadrupled and his visage changed, he saw the men with guns move towards him and he jumped over to them in a single bound. He struck each one down with blows that looked so gentle yet carried with them a force unequaled by normal man.
His body kept changing as he bounded down the passageway and headed for freedom. James hit a red alarm button and massive doors slide into their locked positions. "Don't worry! We'll get more men and put him under. Nothing leaves this facility without my orders." They see Xander, in his new form, strike the metal with clenched fists, leaving huge dents in the doors. "That's impossible!" Dr.Banyon told him in disbelief. "That doors ten times stronger than adamantium!"
Xander hit it again forcing a gap in the top of the door. He slammed his fingers through the breach then ripped the door from its hinges. Dr. Banyan shouted at the men as they chased after Xander. "I don't care what it takes but you WILL bring that experiment back!"
The cars with the Scooby's pulled up at the edge of the deserted town and the Knight pointed with his chin. "That's the place. You can still see the scorch marks from the burning cars." They drove up closer and Buffy found some dried blood about where the Knight had told them where Xander's body had been.
She smiles at them and Dawn asks. "What's so funny?"
Buffy replies as she holds up the blood stained piece of cloth. "Dead men don't bleed, Dawn!"
Suddenly the ground begins to rumble and the group heads back to the cars as the earth erupts followed by a massive door as it explodes from under the ground. Willow tells them. "Time to GO!" When a green monster comes bounding from out of the newly made hole in the ground. Giles stands there and watches the creature as it turns on a group of pursuing security guards and attacks them. "This is bloody marvelous! In all my years I have never..."
Willow's shout distracts Giles from his contemplation. "Giles! Unless you want to shake hands with that Hulk I suggest we get the heck out of here!"
Buffy screams out. "NO! I came here for Xander..." As she shouts her words cause the creature's head to snap around to face her. It finishes the last of its attackers and strides towards her. Dawn grabs her arm and tries to drag her to the car. "Come on Buffy! We can't stop this thing! We can always come... Oh jeez! It's after us!"
Buffy senses Dawn's, and the others fear, and she jumps into the car as Giles drives her car back the way they had come. Buffy turns the car around and speeds off after him. Dawn is turned in her seat as she tries to keep track of where it was. "Faster Buffy!" She cried out. Buffy's foot is flat to the floor and she glances at the speed as it hits 70 she glances in the rearview mirror and sees the hulk begin to shrink in size as they pull away. Dawn tells her. "It's still coming! I don't think we should stop Buffy. Maybe we should go home and call Angel. Get him and his crew to help then we can come back here."
Buffy nods as she wipes a tear from her cheek. "I swear we'll be back Xander. And then, big green guy or not, we will bring you back home."
Xander keeps up his pace but the cars pull away from him. He screams out a name and as his forlorn voice echoes around the desert Buffy could swear her Slayer hearing had heard Xander's voice scream out. "B B B UUFFY! !!!"
SUMMER'S RESIDENCE.
Giles was on the phone to Angel the minute they had arrived home. Buffy went straight to the 'War Room' and extracted the chest of weapons. She looked up as Giles came into the room. "When does he get here?"
Giles tried to think of a way to tell her but decided honesty was best. "He can't" He held up his hand before she could protest. "He said he'll try to get here as soon as he can but there's been an upsurge in demon activity ever since your return." He looks at her. "It appears Darla is at the center of it and his informers have told him she's building an army to battle ' The Risen Slayer'. She's telling them you are the beginning of their end."
"What? Jesus! I go away for awhile and everything turns to crap!" She touches the I.D. bracelet and looks out the window. "First these guys chase after my sister and cause..A friend.. To disappear and when we try to find him we're chased away by some green hulking creature!"
"Yes well I think we won't need to worry about that thing until we go back to search for Xander. " Giles tells her. "Our immediate worry is that Darla succeeds in gathering enough demons to attack us."
Dawn hugs Buffy. "Hey Sis, if I know the Xandman he'll fight his way out of hell to get back to you."
Buffy turns to her and she can see a tear begin to form in the corner of her eyes. "But how can he know? I only came back after he vanished!"
Xander woke cold and shivering in the California spring morning. He looked at his clothes and was shocked to see the state they were in. "Great! I finally buy some descent threads and those assholes ruin them!" He looks around the small room and is puzzled. "hey this is new?"
Small pieces of memory jar his mind as he remembers bits and pieces of the past twelve hours. He makes his way to the door and opens it to find himself deep in some forest. "So I get away and end up here... Wherever the hell here is." He begins to leave the cabin and as he does he tries to work out his location.
One and a half hours later Xander walked into the driveway of a Garage and studied the tourist map posted on the information center. His finger traced where he was back to where he thought the 'Ghost town' was located. "No Freaking way!" He exclaimed.
His exclamation had attracted the attention of the attendant and he walked over to him. "Can I help you sir?" He took in the torn clothes and his jeans that were held up by a piece of rope and shook his head. "The vagrants are getting younger everyday." He mumbled.
Xander blushed as he tried to follow the map till his finger arrived at the small town of Sunnydale. "How long do you think it would take me to walk to Sunnydale? I made a terrible mistake and need to get home."
"2 to 3 days I suppose... Maybe I could see about one of the drivers giving you a lift?" He shrugged. "Least I can do." He placed a hand on Xander's shoulder. "Look son everyone makes a mistake in his or her lives. Someone once gave me a break that turned my life around."
He walked over to the restaurant and went inside leaving Xander to ponder on how he had made it so far in just a short time. His hand went to his throat and felt Buffy's cross and shook his head. "No, it must have been a dream... She's dead and nothing will be the same again." He thought of how she sacrificed herself to save the world and he began to shake with emotion.
As he stared at the map and daydreamed of his Buffy being alive he failed to notice the two black cars as they pulled into the roadhouse. A man is on the cell phone to his boss. "Nah I can't see him getting this far sir. I suggest we..." His eyes were sweeping the people the people at the roadhouse when he saw the impossible. His hands flew to the photo on the dashboard and a smile crossed his face. "I don't know how he managed it but he's here!"
Banyan tells him. "I don't care how you do it but I want him back here! However I don't want to see it on the news!"
He closes the phone and opens the case at his side, handing his men the dart guns that it contained. "Banyan wants his lab rat in one piece and he wont pay for a funeral for him or us."
Xander was trying to work out the best way to get back to Sunnydale when a truck driver walked up to him and told him. "Jack says you need a lift to L.A.?" Xander turned and placed a hand over his eyes to stop the glare. "Sunnydale actually, but anywhere close is good enough for me."
The leader was loading the clip of tranq darts into his gun when one of his men taps him on the shoulder. "The target is on the move sir." He turns his head and watches as Xander climbs onboard a Mack truck. "Good! We'll hit him on the highway, the less witnesses the better."
Xander smiles as he sees a signpost and reads down it till he sees Sunnydale-30 miles. Jim tells him. "I've got to turn off soon Alex, I'm sorry I can't take you any closer, I hope things work out for you."
Xander nods his head and tells him. "Thanks for all your help Jim I really needed the lift. And I hope life's kind to you as well."
Xander glances into the side mirror again and sees the two black cars that had been behind them eversince they left the Truck stop. If it wasn't for the lack of traffic Xander would never have seen them and he was glad Jim was getting out of the line of fire. The truck pulled in and Xander shook his hand. "Thanks again for the lift Jim, if ever you need anything just look me up." Xander pulls at the T-shirt. "Thanks again for the change of clothes."
Jim waives a hand at him. "Think nothing of it Alex, the company gives them out to favored customers as gifts."
Xander steps down and waives Jim off as he pulls away. He turns and spots the two cars pulled up to the side of the road. He looks skyward. "Would you give me a freaking break?"
Four men get out of the cars and walk towards him with their guns trained on him as the leader tells him. "Now then Harris I suggest you come quietly and make it easy on yourself."
Xander felt the anger build up in him as he realized how close he had come to getting away from his tormentors. Suddenly he felt the wave of vertigo wash through him again and his vision began to cloud. The leader stopped walking towards Xander as he saw his chocolate brown eyes turn green and the t-shirt begin to expand. He pulled the sunglasses from his eyes and, for a moment, he was frozen in shock. The inhuman growl that emanated from the targets throat spurred him into action. "Hit him!"
The four men fired and smiled as they saw the darts strike home. But the smiles were soon wiped from their faces as they saw they had little, or no, effect on him. Xander growled at them. "I wouldn't hang around here if I were y..o..u."
They each fumbled with the bolts of the handguns as they prepared to fire again but the sight before them made their resolve crumble. The leader heard one of the cars start up and drive away, he fired again but the green thing in front of him caught the dart in mid flight and sniffed the tip. "Hmm a derivative of the curare plant." He threw the dart back at him and watched as his pursuer crumbled to the ground. "I must say it's very effective."
He turned to the other man and told him. "Pick him up and get out of here! If I ever see either of you again I'll.." He looked around and smiled as he gripped the road sign and twisted it into a pretzel. "Dig it?"
Xander's transformation was almost complete and he tried to fight the primal urge to ' crush, kill, and destroy!'. "Thirty miles that away. Sunnyhell here I come!"
Buffy is sitting on a tombstone as she; Willow and Tara wait for yet another Vampire to rise. Tara is reading up on Demons and demonology trying to discover the Green beast that attacked them in the desert when she suddenly stops and asks. "This is the thirteenth cemetery we've been to tonight right?" The other two girls nod, each wondering where this was going. "And there's a further nine more scattered in the city outskirts."
Buffy closes her eyes and mentally counts the burial places she has to patrol. "Correct, that's not including cemeteries not in the official guide to the dead heart of Sunnydale."
Willow looks up from the grave. "There's an official guide?"
Buffy nods. "Yep, cd, book bag and T-Shirt. Our city fathers know how to beat a dead horse."
Willow frowns. "How come we don't have T-shirts?"
Buffy shakes her head. "It's kind of a mute point Wills! I mean how can we be a secret team that battles the undead if we wear T's to advertise what we do?"
Willow thinks. "But I was thinking that if we did have merchandise like that we could earn enough money to pay someone else to be sitting here in the cold waiting for some undead wanna'be to rise?"
Buffy frowns. "Point taken my witchy friend." She remembers Tara's question. "So why did you want to know Tara?"
Tara looks up from her book, holding her place with the stake she had been twirling. "Oh! Its just that I was wondering the mentality of anyone staying in a town that has more places of internment than it does bars and churches combined."
Buffy smirks but her smile doesn't last long as she thinks of the one person she wishes was by her side instead of god only knows where. "I wonder if Giles has found out anything else about that ghost town where Xander was taken from?"
Tara shuts her book. "Well that's the last book on demons and the closes I can get is a Grendal and that's fifteen foot tall with scales and two big horns. The one we saw was almost human looking, green."
Buffy looked quizzically at her. "I saw him and I couldn't see any horns."
Suddenly the grave exploded and the vampire started to exit his eternal resting place. Buffy jumped down from her resting place and waited for him to make his way out of the grave. He suddenly stopped and cried out. "Help! Something's got my foot."
Buffy waited for him to finish getting out but he then explodes into dust. Buffy places a hand on her hip and complains. "Now isn't that just like a man? Gets you all worked up then goes off before you can do anything!"
Willow smiles. "Don't have that problem any more! Not since I hoped on the Tara express."
Tara blushes then says. "We aim to please." She then brushes her hair away and asks. "Any idea why he suffered from the Vampire version of premature... Dustication?"
Xander was wandering nearby, searching for Buffy knowing she'd be in one of the myriad of cemeteries that seemed to be on every block. He was scanning the park. "Jeez did they build more while I was away?" He pulled at the jeans he had 'borrowed' from a clothesline and wished he had found one more to his own size. "Maybe I should have gone home first? I hate to bump into her and end up flashing her!"
Xander's mind had been a whirlpool of images and thoughts ever since he escaped from the lab, hell he even thought he knew the rudimentary thinking behind the use of Gamma and Delta radiation in the shield tests! He was heading towards his apartment when he heard a familiar voice.
"Listen pet its not the smartest of ideas to take on the Slayer and her pals! I ought to know love." Xander looked over the hedge and saw Spike talking to someone. He made as little noise as he could and snuck up closer.
Drusilla smiled. "But my new childe has a perfectly brilliant plan my Spiky."
Xander saw a third member of the scare bear bunch move into sight and he struggled to remember her name. She looked like someone he should know but his memory just wouldn't play ball. The blond slinked next to Spike and told him. "I sired Angelus and he sired your mistress so I guess you are technically my grandchildren. But if you try to play us Spike you'll die slow!"
"Who died and made you Queen bitch?"
Darla smirks and grabs his throat. "You did if you don't play ball Spike!" She drops him and suddenly looks around them. "Our 'guest' should have made itself known to the Slayer and her friends." She turns to Spike. "You're sure the one they called Xander is gone?" Spike rubs his throat and nods. "A pity, I had plans for that one."
"What? Make an example of him for the slayer?" Spike asks.
She walked over to Dru and they both snickered and looked at Spike. "Hardly my boy! He had the essence of pure evil power bubbling under his white hat!" Dru sighed. "And he looked totally nummy!" Darla ran a hand down Dru's cheek and she grinned. "That didn't hurt either mommy!"
Xander grinned puffed out his chest and whispered. "Told you I was nummy."
He then heard a twig snap behind him and as he turned a fist hit his jaw. The large demon shook his head. "Personally your not my type!"
Darla twisted around as Harlequin came into view dragging someone by their foot. "I caught this guy snooping around in the bushes. Not a good beginning to our partnership!"
Dru looks at their snack and claps her hands. "Ooh he's found kitten!"
Xander fights the blackness that surrounds him and claws his way back to consciousness. His head feels like its on a comfortable pillow and he snuggles into it causing it to giggle. "Tha's funny... My pillow don't usually..." He sees a fan of blond hair next to him and his heart surges. "Buffy?"
He looks across as the owner of the hair turns around. "Hmm, bout time you woke up!" She runs a hand down his cheek and caresses his pulse point with the tips of her fingers... Her cold fingers. "GAH!!!" Xander tries to jump back but his 'pillow' suddenly grabs him.
"Now, now kitten, Mummy just wants to talk..." She purrs into his neck and he feels her nip his neck. "For now!"
Darla sits up and grins. "We have such plans for you my boy." Her eyes run up and down his body. "Or should I say man!" Her hands follow the path of her eyes. "My how you've grown!"
Xander looks around and spots Spike but before he can ask for help Spike shrugs and draws a lungful of cigarette smoke before telling him. "Don't look at me droopy, you're not my type either!"
Dru looks sadly at Xander as she draws a nail up and down his chest. "Its a pity we have to brake you before we can make you." Both she and Darla vamp out.
Xander can feel the 'change ' begin as he becomes angry. "Oh crap!"
Xander lays there as the two Vampires try and seduce him to the dark side. He always kind of had a thing for Dru. As mad as a hatter but god the way she filled those dresses of hers...ZING! Now if she would just stop killing people he might have taken a shot at her, after all if it was good enough for the Slayer... At the mere thought of Buffy his mind cleared and returned above the belt buckle and back into his head.
He sighed. "Listen, girls, its not that I don't like the offer and what you're doing, especially you Darla! But I'm kind of a white hat and my only though is to stake you two... Err with a wooden stake that is."
Xander's anger had tempered with the kisses the two vixens had been laying on him like a politicians promises before an election. Darla moved her lips from his and whispered in his ears. "Your friend was a white hat too wasn't he? He didn't mind swapping teams so why should you?"
Xander's memory burned with the knowledge of who she was now. He pushed both vamps away and kicked himself off the ground pointing at her. "YOU! If Angel hadn't staked you I swore to make your last moments a living hell for what you did and what you made me do!"
Darla snorts. "Like you never did a bad thing in your life!" She pretends to think. "What about the LIE? Hm remember that? Angel told me everything Xander. He kinda runs off at the mouth once you get him under the sheets!" She laughs. "Boy he was pissed off at you at first but then the whole holier than thou gene must have kicked in and he said you did the right thing not telling her the truth."
Xander stood straighter and growled at her. "I did it! And I'd do it again if I had to! I lied to save her and my friends! She would have fought for a draw and he would have ripped her throat out!"
Darla laughed. "Bullshit! You did it to get into the Slayers panties boy! But you didn't have the guts to follow through! Your just like us.. No your worse than us! At least when we do something we enjoy we don't lie to ourselves about it!"
Xander was taken aback. Did he do it just to have a shot at Buffy? Darla's taunts were confusing Xander's mind. He knew why he had told the lie but now she had him doubting his own mind. Dru grinned at her childe as she twisted the boys mind around like a pretzel. She shimmied across the room and Dru saw how his eyes followed the rhythm of her hips, as she stood next to her childe and ran her hand over his chest, she could feel his heart speed up and the heat he generated made it feel like a summers day as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. She ran the tip of her tongue up the jugular vein and across his jaw bone till it was teasing his ear. "Maybe if you're a good little boy we can bring Buffy into the family?"
Spike was standing by the door, both angry at not draining the interfering whelp and jealous that he had garnered such a high place at both Dru's and Darla's 'must have' list. His sense of smell picked up the scent of arousal wafting off of the trio and was debating whether to go outside till their 'dance' was over when he caught the scent of something else.
Dru had almost succeeded in her plan to turn Xander but she should never had mentioned turning the slayer. She sighed into Xander's mouth as she captured his lips. "When we're through here we will have the means to finally vanquish that bitch once and for all." She kissed him and Darla finished her plan.
"With your knowledge of how the group works and how SHE fights we can easily defeat her." She replaces Dru at Xander's lips as Drusilla moves down to his neck and nips her way towards his pulse point, her fangs drawing a thin line in his skin as she does. "Then we can turn the two witches and use that brat to open the hell mouth." She stops and licks the tips of her fangs as she sees his life's blood pulse under them.
Darla moves to the opposite side of him as she prepares to join her sire in creating the Slayers doom. She looks into his eyes and tells him. "Unless you have other plans for the precocious teen?" She grins and sees Dru nod signifying it was time to turn the man. Xander felt his blood boil in anger and he struggled in their arms as he tried to fight them off. The two pairs of arms had become bands of steel, wrapping around him, almost crushing the life out of him. He felt the twin sets of fangs as they tore into his throat and then...
Both Darla and Drusilla gagged, and backed away from their victim. Darla spat out the foul tasting liquid. "What the hell are you?" Her eyes went wide as she watched his brown eyes turn green, then the coloring start to bleach out into his skin.
Spike hit on the large oaken doors as he decided the need for more bodies between him and 'droopy'. "Get in here NOW!"
Dru wiped the reddish green blood from her mouth as she stared on in wonderment. "Daddy was right to be a feared of this one!" She saw Darla start to release her talons in preparation to strike him. Dru gripped her arm in a vice like grip and dragged her from the room. "Time to go daughter! It's best we leave him to the others!"
Spike watched as Xander doubled in size and any recognizable features were wiped out by the transformation, until all that stood before him was a hulking green giant! "Bloody hell droopy! What have you done now?"
The two Vampire queens made their way from the old mansion and almost ran down two policemen as they responded to the break and enter call they had received. "What's going on here Mam?" The officer enquired of Darla. She played him for all he was worth. "Oh officer! we were walking down the street when a horrible creature dragged us into this place and tried to have his way with us!" She saw the man take in their voluptuous bodies and she could sense his desires had overruled his brains orders to run away as fast as he could.
He drew his pistol and ordered his partner to follow him in. As he did Dru tugged at Darla's arm. "Best we leave now love. The Slayer bitch is here!" Darla looked at where her sire was motioning and hissed as she saw Buffy and the two witches run towards them. "Yes let's leave her to deal with her little friend shall we?"
As Buffy neared the mansion she heard the sounds of gunfire and screams. "Get ready girls, this could be a bumpy night!"
As they neared the doors a Vampire came flying out, striking the light pole with such force its dust coated the three Scooby's as it exploded. "Wow! Someone's really pissed!" Willow exclaimed. Then ducked as a green Frawl demon came running by holding the stump of one arm as it screamed past them. "Well as long as what ever it is sticks to beating the crap out of demons I say more power to him." Buffy exclaims.
Then the two policemen came struggling by. The one helping its senior partner as they tried to escape the green typhoon of destruction. "You'd best get out of here before the thing gets out!" the one said as they made their way past the three women. Buffy sees a familiar bleached blond run towards them as if his un-life depended on it. "Help me slayer! He begged." Its gone bleedin' crazy!"
Buffy asked as she stopped him from running any further. Spike thought quickly and realized she presented the perfect weapon. "I dunno!" he held his head and pretended to be injured. "This ugly green thing grabbed me as I was trying to protect this little kid, more of a baby really, and dragged me into this place!"
Willow asked him. "What happened to the baby?"
He looked at her like she was insane. "The what?... Oh yeah the brat... He ran off while I tried to subdue the foul creature of the night!" Willow's eyes narrowed. "I thought you said it was a baby?"
Spike sputtered. "Never mind the bleedin' twenty questions! That thing is going to destroy this town unless you stop it!"
He ducks as the Mansion is torn apart from the inside and a balustrade narrowly misses impaling him. Buffy cocks her crossbow. "Lock and load girls... Its Showtime!" Spike watches as the three make their way inside and as they do he dances a little jig as he strides away to where Dru and Darla had a second base. "Oh I love it when a bleedin' plan comes together!"
Xander had the last of the demons cornered behind a pillar but he just grinned and punched through the stone edifice and hit the creature standing there. He grabbed it by the throat and hefted it up off the ground but as he was about to finish it a crossbow bolt struck him in the forearm. He yelled in pain and dropped the creature. However, not before it lashed out with its hand, striking Xander in the throat.
Buffy reloaded the crossbow as Willow and Tara joined hands in preparation for a casting. Xander held up his hand and tried to tell them who he was but the damaged vocal cords would only let him croak out a garbled roar. He raced over to them before either of the trio could hurt him any more and hauled Buffy up to his face. She made a double fist and pounded it against his face in an effort to make him drop her. "Put me down you big green piece of crap!"
Xander could hear the two witches as they almost finished casting a spell and he knew if he was holding Buffy she too would be caught up in the magic incantation.
He was about to let her drop when she saw the cross and chain, now so tight around his throat that it looked like a choker chain, and she gasped. "Where did you get this from you bastard?" She began to hit him harder and faster in an effort to get him to talk.
All Xander could do was cry out a painful. "NOOO!" As she hit his throat again. His anger caused him to loose his grip on Buffy and she fell to the floor.
She felt something in her hand and saw it was her cross and chain. She must have torn it from the creatures neck when he dropped her. She looked around for something to use on him and saw the metal chair. Xander staggered around trying to tell the three Scooby's just who it was they were fighting when he felt the chair strike his leg over and over again. He ripped it from her grip and he was about to strike her, Buffy braced herself for the blow that never arrived. She looked up at him and she thought she saw tear forming in his eye.
He was about to try again to tell her when a spear point appeared through his side and he screamed in pain.
"B... U... F... F... Y!!!!!"
She looked over to see who had thrown the spear and saw Spike standing there. "Never fear Slayer! Spike is here!" He turned to the girls. "Now finish the spell and send it to hell!"
Xander turned with astounding speed and bounded after the blond Vampire. "Jesus! Come on ladies hurry it up!" Spike took off and Buffy had to forget about what she was thinking and just finish this creature off before it could hurt her friends. Buffy yelled at Willow. "Do it Wills!"
The witch finished the casting and pointed her finger at the green monster, a blue crackle of flame erupted from her and headed towards Xander. He was bathed in it's light and writhed in pain as he tried to make his escape. He turned and saw how they gathered around Spike and treated him like a hero as he strutted around boasting of how he heard the fight from over the ridge and just had to help fight this evil demon. He roared as he saw Buffy hug Spike in appreciations for what he had done.
Xander could feel the spell begin to crush the life from him and his mind raced to find an answer to his dilemma.* Iron* Iron earthed most charged spells and he had a pole of it running through his side at the moment. He staggered outside and jammed the spear point against the metal frame of the fence and screamed in pain as it dissipated the witches spell.
Willow and the others ran outside and she looked confused. "but that's impossible! "
The they watched in awe as he tugged the spear from his side, green blood spurting out as it finally came free. He threw the spear down and staggered as he turned towards them pointing an accusing finger at them. He tried to speak and finally told them through a pain filled voice. "Damn you all to hell!"
Buffy strode forward, hands on her jutting hips. "Been there done that and now we're Fed-Exing your ass back!"
He growled at them and ripped up the fence, hurling it at them as he made his escape. Spike made as if to follow but Buffy placed a hand on his shoulder. "Leave him Spike! Giles always said never track an injured beast. Wait a while and follow the blood trail to its lair." She held the chain in her hand and she almost lost herself in grief. "I promise you Xand, if it's the last thing I do this monster will pay for what he did!"
Spike just grinned evilly as he stood in front of them, thinking of the rewards his sire and Darla would rain on him when he went to them with the news.
Xander wandered around the nearby heights and found a cave system and remembered Buffy telling him about how they had searched here for Adam all those years ago. He placed a hand to the wound and was amazed at how quickly it had sealed, he only wished the pain of the Slayers betrayal would heal as fast. He didn't believe it when he saw her and the other Scooby's as they fought along side Spike against him. He struck the side of the cave with his fist and felt the very ground quake. He felt the change coming on again and braced himself against a stalagmite as his body shook, bones broke, and reformed, his frame shrank and began to take on the semblance of Xander.
"Well they may have gone bad but I'm damned if I'm going to let them win!" He moved deeper into the caverns and failed to see a shadow detach itself from the wall and make it's way outside into the first streams of daylight.
It had been two days since the last sighting of the green beast and everyone assumed it had crawled away to die of its wounds. Giles was talking with one of the creatures he had reason to deal with on matters regarding the new Darla/Drusilla threat. As Buffy and the others came into the shop the creature looked at Buffy and turned his face to the floor before exiting the building. "What on earth were doing talking to a Nathrak demon for Giles?"
He glares at Buffy and reprimands her. "Buffy! How many times do I have to tell you about these poor benighted creatures? You know they still retain the memories and soul of their former lives, yet are cursed to eat the dead and walk the earth for the rest of their natural lives scorned and hated by both the living and the undead!"
She holds her nose and waves the book around with the other hand as she tries to clear the air. "Yeah but they stink and they're butt ugly!"
Giles straightens his jacket and tells her. "Yes well having spent the last seven years dealing with all the scum there is, and I'm talking now about that dreaded race 'Teenager Painintheassus' one has become accustomed to the foul odors and bad habits."
"What did butt ugly want anyway?" Willow asks.
"If you only knew it would shock you to your core!" He glares at all three of them. "However he came here to tell me there's a new ally in our current fight against Darla." He sits down and resumes sipping on his cup of tea.
"And this hero would be...?" Buffy asks.
Giles begins reading his book again and tells her without looking up. "None of our concern. Ri... The Nathrak is keeping a close watch on him and will tell us of his moves."
Buffy sighs as she sits down. "Not that we need this things help anyway. We haven't had a sight of the Bitch Queen of New Orleans since the night we killed big green guy."
Giles looks up from his book. "So you're unaware of the battle that went down last night? Of the ten vampires and three scorch demons that were taken down by our mystery guest?"
"Giles if something like that had gone down Spike would have told us."
Giles snorts. "Would he? You have far to much trust regarding that thing and yet you doubt my word."
Buffy tells him. "He's changed Giles. The chip..."
Giles drops the book onto the table causing everyone to jump. "The chip means he can't kill without causing him pain! It does not mean he can't enjoy watching death and destruction being committed!"
Willow tells him. "He helped us after Buffy died and even before then! He's a friend Giles and we would trust him with our lives."
"Then more fool you!" Giles is about to continue when Cordelia walks into the shop. "Hey guys! What's the what?"
Xander had woken early that morning and checked the wound he had received in his battle against Darla's forces only to find they had healed during the night. He threw the bloodied bandage into the bin along with the shirt and trousers. "If I keep this up I'll be back to wearing the same crap I did when I was at school!"
He moved into the next room and saw the computer he had 'liberated' from the science department at Sunnydale USC, and checked it was still running the program he had started two days ago. His fingers flashed over the keyboard and, not for the first time, he thought about what Willow would say if she could see him now.
So far the computer could find nothing in any of the data bases across America that would help him cure or control the beast within. "Now I know how Oz feels!" His fist hits the table and he has to control his anger as it builds to the levels that would trigger his change. "Happy thoughts.. Happy thoughts.." His mind automatically went to visions of him and Buffy together. His eyes snap open. "No way Jose'! I got a pulse and a I'm more than a two dimensional character so that rules me out!"
He hears movement in the outer cave and he picks up the heavy caliber hand gun then drops it back onto the table when he sees it's his new friend 'Starvin Marvin' the Nathrak demon who inhabited the caverns before Xander moved in. "Hey Marvin, how goes the search for gastronomic delights?"
It throws down a parcel and shrugs. "Not so good when you dying for a New York steak and fries and all you can eat is rotting flesh."
Xander makes a face. "Eew! Remind me not to go to lunch with you." Not for the first time the demons voice sounds vaguely familiar to Xander. "Are you sure we haven't met before? Your voice sounds awfully familiar."
It shakes its head. "Believe me if we had met before you would have probably killed me!"
Xander nods. "Yeah it always amazes me how we go by peoples looks. I had a girlfriend in high school and man all she cared about was' is my hair okay? Do these shoes look out of date'. Man it was the hardest time of my life talk about high maintenance... Till now that is."
"Yeah females phht... Who needs 'em."
Xander looks at the demon and they both smile and say. "We do!"
"So was there anyone special before you changed?"
Xander's mind went straight to a vision of Buffy. "Yeah there was but she changed more than I did!" He thought of that night and told him. "She, and my so-called friends, believed every word Spike told them. Dam it! He has said at every turn that he was evil and we took him as a joke! Well at least I know him for what he is even if they don't!"
He placed a hand on Xander's shoulder. "Xander you have to remember that all they saw was some big green giant beating the tar out of two of Sunnydale's finest. They were in Scooby mode and didn't think to stop and reason things out."
Xander snorts in anger. "Well after last night at least the Dodo twins plans have been set back. Did you find out where their nest is?"
"Nope everyone's guarding that secret like they're June brides." He nods at the computer. "How you doing?"
"Getting there but it's going to be a slow battle to find out just what those pinheads did to me!" He takes out a new shirt and trousers from the dresser. "And I want to find out before I have to start wearing spandex!"
The demon shrugs. "Works for the X-Men."
"Yeah but none of them go from six foot to eighteen foot in no time flat!" Xander felt the now healed scar on the back of his head. "The only benefit is the increased I.Q. but I'd still rather be just the normal guy I was before."
"Xander, from what I've picked up you were anything but normal! Normal is RUNNING away when you find out the things that you thought were just in your nightmares were actually true, not running towards them with a cross and stake!"
"Hhmm. I suppose you're right but when you see people you care about being butchered by these things it kind of flips your mind." Xander turns off the monitor and checks his appearance in the mirror. "Guess I'll leave you here to have breakfast. I'll go see if I can't find out what their next move's going to be. I might even stop off at Spike's crib and do a little light dusting."
Marvin was beginning to open his parcel when he told him. "Don't bother he's moved. I guess when they didn't kill you he decided a move was in order." He looks up at him. "Here's a thought though, while you're semi- normal why don't you go pay your real friends a visit. Tell them what's what and sort out your life... You know she misses you."
He stops and says. "I wish I could but then they'll say or do something to piss me off and the next thing you'll know I'm the jolly green giant again and they'll be trying to cap my ass !"
"Xander two words of advice. The first is true friends would welcome you back no matter what you are."
"And the second?"
"Leave talking like a gangsta to the boys in the 'hood'! On you it comes out pretty weak."
Xander is across the street from Giles's place and he waits till the shop is empty before he goes in. Giles is facing away from him and he asks. "I wont be a minute.. Is there anything in particular you would like?"
"Um. . A magic pack of Hostess treats, one that never ends."
Giles just about drops from the ladder as he turns to look at Xander. He adjusts his glasses and makes his way to the counter. "Ugh.. Hi there Xander." He glances at the front door.
"Buffy and Willow have classes till noon, Dawn has art class so she won't be cutting that, Tara's at a magic circle club meeting. That leaves just you and me G-Man."
Giles hand comes up with a cross and he waves it in front of Xander. "Giles, man, take a chill pill before you pop a vein! It's daylight so I doubt very much that I'm a Vamp."
Giles is starting to calm down. "Bbbut you're dead! The knight said.. Moreover, we went to get... What the hell are you?"
Xander shrugs. "Dying for a coffee and a Twinkie but my guess is I'm going to have to settle for a tea and scone?"
Half an hour later Xander has explained everything to Giles and finished his cup of tea. Giles tells him. "Buffy will be ecstatic when I tell..."
Xander cuts him off and shakes his head. "No way Giles! I don't want any of them finding out about me. I'm still pretty pissed off at the reception I got the last time we met!"
Giles nods. "Buffy told me about that. You have to realize she thought you were a creature that possible had killed her ugh Xander."
"I know that Giles! Otherwise I would have killed them all by now. I thought she had gone down the same road Faith had. I knew that just before she died she had feelings for Spike and I assumed that now she had returned the feelings had proven to strong to break."
He looks at Xander. "It's true she came back with a burning desire for someone but it wasn't Spike it was..." Giles eyes go wide. "Dawn?"
"Eew! She's in love with her sister! Mind you I did have this dream once about Willow and Tara, they were in the back of my ice-cream truck dressed up like hookers and they asked me if I wanted to Fu.."
Giles shakes his head and interrupts Xander. "No DAWN!" He points out the window and he sees Dawn crossing the street. "Nice catching up with you G-Man but I got to book!"
Xander takes off out through the training area and out the back door as Dawn enters the shop. "Hey Giles, who was that?"
Giles picks up his empty cup and pretends to drink. "Who was what? There's been no one here since this morning's rush."
She picks up the other cup. "So are you a two fisted tea drinker now G-Man?"
"Oh that ! That was ugh.. A customer ! Yeah, it was a customer that wanted to try the new blend I ordered."
Dawn looked at him through slit eyes then told him as she left. "I've got to find something for Buffy." She raced out and knew if anyone left the back alley they had to come out in Fillmore and that's where she was now standing. "She looked up and down the street till she saw the man wearing the black coat and she followed him. When he glanced behind to check whether he was being followed she ducked into a doorway, her eyes showed the shock of recognizing her target." Xander? But that's impossible!"
Darla prowled the apartments awaiting the fall of the dreaded sun and the comforting blanket of darkness. Dru was sitting at a table playing with the dolls tea set the previous occupants had left behind when they passed on from this mortal world. She held a small tea cup up to Miss Edith's china lips and told her. "The naughty little girl broke the teapot an' if she were alive I'd have her eyes for teacakes. " She placed the cup on the saucer and dabbed the corners of hr dolls mouth with a napkin then holds the doll facing her as she fixed her dress. "Do you remember Kitten? Well my childe and I have a plan set for him and when he awakens we three are going to have some very naughty fun with him won't we daughter?"
Darla stops and stands behind her sire wishing she could be as bold as Angel and dust her sire. "Yes Dru we will have oodles of fun as long as this quack gets here on time and does his stuff we will have all the time in the world to have fun with our jolly green friend!"
Dru frowns. "Oh no ! We don't like him! We much prefer the dark headed boy. Angelus promised me on Valentines Day he would give me the boys soul. Or his heart." She giggles insanely and places a finger to her lips. "But we told him we much preferred his body!"
Darla stubs out the cigarette and blows the last of the fumes into the dusk lit air. She only smoked because it gave her the sense of having breath; the ability to see her long dead lungs express themselves by exhaling the tobacco smoke into the air calmed her a little. She walks over to stand behind Dru. "When Dr.Banyon gets here we will aid him in capturing our green friend and when he transforms back to the boy I will bring him across." She inhaled the night air and her Vampire senses picked out the smells of life and she grinned, evilly. "Oh I sensed great good in the boy when we first met him. And we know Drusilla that were lies great good an even greater evil can be encouraged to grow!"
Dru morphs out to her Vampire visage. "Yes my daughter I have seen that when we turn the boy he will make Angelus's plans to bring hell on earth look like a child's game!"
Their evil laughter echoed across the still night as they prepared from the coming of the day of the dead.
Giles re read for the hundredth time the report that the Nathrak demon had left on his doorstep and held his head in his hands. "Dear Lord how much more does she have to suffer?"
The girl in questions voice drifted over from the training room. "How much more does who have to suffer?" He jumped and turned to her as she points to her ears. "Slayer hearing Giles. When Dawn has her Mandy More/ Brittney Spears albums on they're a curse but when it comes to overhearing mumbled words that involve suffer and she they're a godsend.. Now spill."
Giles shuffles the papers and debates on the wisdom of telling her. Then he sees the look in her eyes and he has no choice. "Apparently Dru and Darla have a plan to bring a great evil unto the earth. If the report is true It quiet possibly could mean the end of everything we have fought to maintain. My source doesn't know much but he knows it involves turning one you love."
Buffy looks confused. "But I don't love anyone ?" Her face goes pale. "Dawn... Could they mean Dawn?" She races over to the phone and dials her home and waits an eternity for the phone to be picked up. "Hello Summer's residence."
"Willow! Is Dawn there?"
"Yeah. Can't you hear that damn muzak coming from her room."
"Do me a favor and go check?" She hears Willow place the phone down then several seconds later she hears Willow frantically search the house calling out Dawn's name. "Buffy she's not here! I swear to goddess she was here not two minutes ago."
Buffy feels her world contract and squeeze her heart. "We have to find her Willow ! And before the terror twins get hold of her!"
While Buffy frantically talked to the Wicca on the phone Giles read the report again and tried to see if he read it wrong. No it appeared his take on the warning was correct. "Buffy I don't think it's Dawn that they're after. It appears their target is someone you love in the biblical sense. Your current boyfriend perhaps?"
Buffy frowns. "You know he's beyond anyone's grasp now Giles! That green bastard made sure of that and we took care of him last week."
"Buffy perhaps it's time I broke a promise.. I think it's time you knew the truth." He motions for her to take a seat before he continued. "Now he made me swear an oath not to tell you this because he didn't want you to be put through hell like you were with Angel." Buffy's face went pale as she thought the worst. "Xander... Is alive in a sense."
Buffy gripped the arm of the chair so hard it snapped off in her hand. "And you were going to tell me this when?"
Giles held up his hands. "Look! He said it would be best if you moved on from him and, having been told what he becomes, I have to agree. Before you ask I cannot tell you. It's his choice to either tell you or to keep his secret, all I can say is he's right not to have told you."
Buffy thinks for a moment then looks at Giles. "I'll ask Spike! He'll find out for me! He's the only one I seem to be able to trust nowadays!" She stands up and points the chair arm at Giles. "From now on Giles I want to be told these things whether it means you breaking a vow or not. If it concerns me I want to know!"
He nods and she throws the piece of wood to the ground. "First we find Dawn and then we begin the search for Xander and we bring him home!"
Xander is amazed at the amount his mind has been expanded. If Willow could see what he could do she would have been so proud of him and yet his increased I.Q. had come at a terrible price. The 'curse' meant he had to remain calm at all times lest he release the beast within. He was about to begin the second stage of the trials of the new vaccine when 'Starvin Marvin' came running into the cavern. "She's searching again!"
Xander lent under the bench and produced a vial of dark liquid that he sprinkled over himself whispering a few words as he did. Just as he finished two small yellow orbs flew into the cavern system and scurried about in search of something. Xander stood perfectly still as they first circled him and then the Nathrak demon before they departed. When they were gone Xander let out a sigh of relief then his face showed confusion when he heard the unmistakable jingle of the location spell as it discovered who, or what, it was searching for.
Xander moved to the front of the cave and looked outside and saw Dawn trying to sneak up on the cave. "Dawnie, what the hell are you up to now?" He muttered.
He looked around and asked the Nathrak demon to watch out for her. He knew Willow and or Buffy would be along soon to pick up the wayward sister and he didn't want to be anywhere close to her when she did. As he went to gather some things he saw two larger spheres racing towards him. He didn't have enough time to re do the stealth spell and he heard the jingle so whoever sent them now knew exactly where he was. "This just gets better and better!"
He had a good idea who had sent the more powerful spell and he realized he had to get as far away from Dawn as he could before Darla and her minions could catch up to him.
He saw Dawn look up from the scrub where she was hiding and was about to yell 'Surprise' at him when she heard a voice that chilled her to the bone. "There he is! There's my little kitten!"
Xander turned away from Dawn and motioned for her to hide as he looked towards the voice. "Hello Drusilla! And just for the record I am not your little kitten!"
Dawn watched as Darla and several large Vampires made their way up the incline towards Xander. He pointed to them and shouted. "You don't want to get me angry, girls! You wouldn't like it when I get angry!"
Darla smoothed down her red dress and smiled seductively at him." Ah! But honey we came all this way to bring a friend to visit you." She snapped her fingers and Dr. Banyan walked forward carrying what looked like an Initiative blaster.
"Hello Xander! These kind.. Uhh... People called me to tell me you have been a bad boy! You don't know the trouble you dropped me into Mr. Harris! But now, when I bring you back, the military will have no choice but to reinstate me so we can begin to produce more like you."
Xander looked at him with hate in his soul. "That little popgun wont stop me from ripping your evil heart out Banyan!"
Banyan looked at him and smiled as he pats the gun. "This ? Oh this isn't one of their pitiful little toys Harris. I modified this to work on your brain synapses. One jolt from this and you're down for the night big green!"
Xander saw the evil leers coming from Darla and Dru and he knew their plans didn't involve letting the good doctor take him anywhere. "You really think those two bitches are going to let you take me anywhere but where they want do you?"
His smile suddenly froze. "Of course! We made a deal, they get rid of the monster causing havoc in their small town, and I get to have your hide!"
Xander laughs. "You poor pitiful fool! Once I'm down you'll be lucky to live ten seconds more!" He looks at the perspiration building on the doctors forehead and tells him. "My advice to you is..." He hears the crunch as Darla breaks the mans hand. She then looks at the gun and smiles at Banyan. "Thanks for the toys Doc, but we'll take it from here." She looks at the other Vamps. "Care for a snack boys?" They growl and Xander closes his eyes as he hears the screams as they rip the Doctor apart.
Dawn looks on in horror then sees Spike walking calmly behind Xander. "Thank god Spike's here to help him." She sighs then lets out a gasp at his next act.
Xander hears something behind him and he turns to see Spike standing several feet from him. The British Vampire grins at him. "Hello Droopy my Dru would like to have a word or two with you." He holds up a gun like the one Darla is holding and he grins. "You can either walk down or.." His grin vanishes as he sees Xander begin to transform. He shouts down to Darla. "It appears the boy wants to play a game luv!"
Darla races up to join Spike before the transformation is complete. "Well stop him you cockney moron!" Spike grins. "Righto Luv no need for insults!" He points the gun at Xander and depresses the trigger. Dawn sees a bolt of lightening shoot out and strikes Xander in the chest. He roars an unholy scream and then she sees him triple in size, turning green as he does.
Her mouth opens wide and she exclaims. "Great Googamooga! He's Jolly Green!" She takes the cross from her pocket and moves towards him to try and help but a pair of strong arms encircle her. "Let go you damned vampire!" She presses the cross against the arm but nothing happens." She struggles as the beast lifts her up and carries her away from the scene. She begins to cry as she sees both Darla and Spike laughing with glee as they fire blast after blast at what once was Xander.
She grasps onto a tree halting the creature and giving her a final view of the one sided battle. She sees Xander drop to his knees then lash out as Spike gets too close. The power of the swipe sends Spike flying backwards smashing into a tree. "Yeah! DO IT XANDMAN !" Her smile vanishes as Dru picks up Spike's gun and finishes off his work.
Suddenly the creature trying to drag her away tells her. "Look kid Xander would kick my ass if he thought I let you get hurt so come on will ya!" He looks back and sees Darla kick Xander's body to make sure he's out. "We'll get him back I swear to god we will. But first we have to get you to Buffy and then we can free him."
She lets out a sob as she releases her hold letting the Nathrak demon carry her off to safety whilst she watches them carry Xander off to whatever fate they have in store for him. She shuts her eyes. "Please if there is a good god out there could you look over Xander?"
Buffy was in the lead as they came to the trail leading to the location where Willow's spell had found Dawn when she saw a Nathrak demon running towards them carrying someone over it's shoulder. She steps in front of it and sees the girls struggle. "Don't you types normally wait till your food's stopped wriggling?" She sees just who it is he has when Dawn turns around and yells at her. "Darla and Dru have Xander!" The Nathrak demon places Dawn down and tries to get its breath back.
He tells her. "They hit him with some kind of modified blaster and it took a lot to get him down!"
Buffy looks to Giles and tells him. "If you had told me sooner none of this would have been possible!"
Giles shakes his head. "It wasn't my choice to make Buffy. I had to respect Xander's wishes and I think he was right."
Dawn tells Buffy. "I think there are several things you need to know Sis. First off we really need to stake Spike! He's fed us a load of bull from day one! He's been running with Darla and Dru all along!"
Buffy shook her head. "No! He was helping us against that Green thing! "
Giles held her. "Buffy that green thing is Xander!"
She pushes him away pointing an accusing finger. "Bullshit! BULLSHIT!! Xander is normal, please let him be normal. And if he was this thing..." Her eyes go wide at the way they tried to kill it, the way they hunted it down like an animal. "Oh god he must hate me!"
The Nathrak demon looked at her. "At first he burned for revenge against you but over time he came to realize that you had no idea what it was you were trying to destroy. He had been making plans to ease his way back into your world. With Giles's help we were going to break the news to you a little at a time, but now we must save him from them before its too late!"
Buffy tries to take it all in. "How do we know where he is being taken to? And if we find him how do we control the beast?"
Giles takes his glasses off and sucks on the end as he thinks, he smiles and replaces them on his face. "Well we know someone who knows where the nest is? And Xander is always in control of the Hulking great beast as he calls it."
It was an anxious twenty minutes the gang spent waiting for the Judas amongst them to return. Spike walked, stiffly, into the Magic Box and slumped in a chair as he lit up a smoke. Buffy walks over to him and sits in his lap. "God I've been worried about you Spike!" She exclaimed and Spike's eyes went wide with hope.
"So you've finally come around then Slayer. ' Bout bloody time." He flicked the cigarette away and went to kiss her but stopped when he felt something pushing against his chest. He looked down and saw the business end of Mr. Pointy resting against his heart. He looked up at her face a frightened look on his as she gripped his bleached blond hair and forced his head back.
"Yeah! We've been worried you wouldn't drag your lying carcass back in time." Dawn tells him.
He has the look of a dear caught in headlights as he tried to figure out how much they knew. "I don't lie Slayer. Kill, maime and torture maybe, but I never lie!"
"So then you'll tell us where your girlfriends Darla and Dru are then?" When he looked like he was going to answer she pushed the point of the stake in further to remind him that lies can kill.
Xander is covered in heavy chains, chains that secure him to the large slab of marble the gruesome twosome had stolen from the Museum. Darla gripped the hulk's chin in her hands and turned him to face her, she then sniffed his throat emitting a deep throated growl. "There is much power her ! Once we have let him return to his normal state I will turn him."
She licks his pulse point and sighs and hums. "Ooh he's going to be such a childe! The likes this world has not seen since the time of the first ones!" She turns to Dru. "He will need lots of food when he wakens my Sister. Send the men out for those pure of body and soul for him to feast on!"
One of the minions asks her. "Hey dudette you do know this is like California don'tcha? Would a near new virgin do?"
Dru sidles up to him. "If I remember there's a convent over by the University. There's bound to be some holy sisters there." She grips his fangs. "And they ha better still be when they get here or you'll have a holy water enema!"
The vamp ran off with several other vamps to do his masters bidding while Darla stepped back to the slab holding Xander. She ran a hand across his face and cooed to him. "Come on child calm down so you can return to the pretty boy you are then we can get this show on the road."
She smiled as his body started to change, bones contacted drawing flesh and muscle along with it and his color tone returned to normal. Darla climbed onto the marble slab and placed her head in the crook of his neck. "Soon my sweet we will be entwined in the forever after, our souls joined for all time by the evil in our hearts."
Spike is still trying to trick the Scooby's. "Look just how many bloody times do I have to tell you? I don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about!"
The Nathrak demon walks up to him and licks his lips. "You know you should really tell them what they want to know dead meat." He smells the scent around Spike and smacks his lips. "You do know you're dead don't you? And you do know what Nathrak demons eat?" He grips his arm and rips the shirt sleeve from it then licks the arm. "Anyone bring the ketchup?"
Spike sneers at him. "I've had worse torture. You do remember peaches don't you? He did far worse when Dru first brought me over."
Marvin dropped the arm and brushed his thumbs across his fingers. "Yes you're right. Ripping off an arm and eating it is so passé'." He snaps his fingers. "You know what I haven't had since I was turned into this? Meat balls and wieners." He scowled at him. "Now where can I get those from do you think?"
The gang was in two cars as they sped along to the Vista Ague apartments, Buffy turned to Giles. "Just where did you find this guy Giles?"
"He actually came to me when he found Xander and for a Nathrak demon to be so helpful to us one must assume he was once someone Xander knew or knew Xander and the group."
Buffy nods. "He seems okay but I just wouldn't go to any of his barbeques." She smiles. "I for one have never seen Spike be so co-operative so quickly. Maybe we should put Marvin's methods in the new Slayer Handbook?" She joked.
As they were speeding towards the apartments they saw a woman running along the road, her clothes ripped to shreds, and blood smeared on her face. Giles stopped the car and Buffy ran up to her and tried to calm her down. "It's okay ! Your safe now." The woman grabbed her, her eyes wild with fear. "You don't know that! The great Satan walks amongst us tonight my child!"
Buffy eases her into the car where Willow and Tara try to calm her. She looks around. "We were at Vespers when they came crashing through the skylights. They grabbed sister after sister till they found the ones they wanted, ten in all."
Willow asks her as Buffy and Giles scan the area for Vampires. "St. Augustine's. They broke into our prayer room and... God the sound they made as they drank Sister Maria!"
Willow shouts out. "Buffy!" she comes running. "Vampires attacked St. Augustine's Nunnery."
Buffy remembers the blond girl she had helped save from the Vampires just before the final battle with Glory. "Are they still there?"
The nun shakes her head. "No they left with the ten chosen ones."
Giles wonders. "What did they have that the others lacked?"
The nun blushes and bows her head. "They were all novices except for two. They were... Pure of body and soul. Unsullied by mortal man."
Giles looks scared. "Oh dear God!"
Buffy now looks worried. "What? What the hell does it mean Giles?"
"Darla and Dru plan to create Vampire Vampirus Unos. The first Vampire was created when the old ones were forced from this plane by the creators of the first Slayer. Before they left they let one of their mortal servants drink of their blood." He turns white. "If they succeed and let their creation drink of the blood of ten pure maidens there is nothing on this world that can stop it!"
Darla looks at the clock and nuzzled up next to Xander her long blond hair spread over his face as she poured sweet words in his ear. She turned to Dru. "Time for your party trick Dru." She sighs as she undoes the buttons of her dress then stands, letting it fall to the ground. Dru flicks water from a bowl across her 'daughters' body, chanting ancient words as she did. There is a flash of light and suddenly, there before them was the Slayer naked in all her glory.
"Well mommy how do I look?" Buffy asks in Darla's voice.
"Good enough to eat my love. Good enough for him!"
She sat back down, and then led down next to Xander as the others unchained him. She drew a nail across his chest and saw the green blood ooze from the wound and smiled as it turned red. "Wake up lover... Its Showtime!"
Willow and Tara had stayed at St. Augustine's to help the survivors of the attack while Buffy, Giles and the Nathrak demon drove on to the apartment block to try and rescue Xander. Buffy stared out the window as Giles drove at speed towards the place her Xander was held.* Her Xander!* How had it come to this? Before she left she had begun to see him in a new light. The way he handled trying to talk sense to the Knights, the way he comforted Willow and herself when they thought all was lost. She was amazed she hadn't seen it before now. Then she had the terrible choice, to kill her sister to close the portal or to sacrifice herself to save the world, which to her was no choice at all.
As she plummeted to her doom she thought of all the good times she had and all the fine friends that had stuck by her in the grim times. Every time the same smiling face was there to be counted amongst her small band of true friends When the going got tough her lovers usually bolted for the door. Angel knew what she was yet couldn't risk to be near her incase they were tempted to do the whacky and cause the return of the special guest star Angelus.
Riley. Riley was supposed to have been the love of her life. The one to make Angels love seem like a schoolgirls crush. Unfortunately Riley couldn't handle his girlfriend being the Slayer and opted out of the situation by rejoining his army friends and getting himself MIA in Belize. She thought about the way Dawn felt towards Xander, and then Spike, and grimaced. She had to remind herself to have a word with Dawn, she was becoming too much like her older sister in regards to men.
It all led her back to Xander, he of the dark good looks and the seductive chocolate brown eyes. She grinned at that thought.. Mm chocolate, they say chocolate is the way to a girls heart, if that's true then Xander was half the way there. She had thought of the way they had tried to protect him during the first year of college, she wanted one of the old gang to survive her way of life and she wanted it to be Xander. She had thought when Anya had returned to play 'connect the parts' with him he would have done the smart thing and booked his ass out of Sunnydale but no her 'white knight ' stayed on because she still fought the good fight.
Strange how the first name she spoke when the PTB returned her, with Willows help, was his. The first thought was whether he still lived. From what she could gather from her friends Xander was close to joining her in never never land that day she returned. She set her face and made a promise to the powers that WHEN they freed him she would make damned sure she would never leave his side again! This time if he said 'Can I have You' she would give him the biggest, longest most orgasmic happy in the world had ever seen.
Giles glanced at the young woman he thought of as his daughter and was puzzled by the smile that suddenly appeared on her face. He feared the pressure of her returning to the stress of all that has happened may have unhinged her fragile mind. He made a vow that should Darla and Dru have turned Xander he would be the one to end his undead life. He would spare his daughter the pain of killing another friend, he just prayed that he would have the strength and resolves to do it.
While the Nathrak demon only wanted to get this over with so he could return to his native land and be as far away from the Slayer and all the things she stirred up in his soul.
They pulled up just short of the apartment block and they took the tools of their trade out of the trunk and suited up for battle. The last thing Buffy took out before she shut the trunk was a small brown paper bag. "Okay you know the plan all we have to do is make sure Xander's okay and get him out. We can deal with Pinky and the Brain at a later date."
Xander woke from the affects of Dr. Banyan's drugs to find someone molded to his body. He carefully opened one eye and glanced around the room, looking for any sign of the good Dr. or the dynamic dodo's. He then looked at the woman that if she were any closer to him she would be under his skin. He jerked when he saw the blond hair and petite frame then his brain finally registered her slight case of nakeditis and he blushed.
He saw that either they had failed to restrain him or... Or Buffy and the others had somehow rescued him. "Yeah right! And she was so tired out from the Slaying she thought she'd just take a nap.. A freaking naked nap.. Next to me!"
Her hand came up and fumbled for his mouth then covered it. "Shh sleep now. Buffy tired." She moved her hand down until it rested on his chest, playing with the few strands of hair he had there before she yawned and grinned at him. "We really should rest now but" She gave him a coy little girl lost look and placed a finger in her mouth before taking it out and placing it in Xander's. "There's always time for the whacky, says so in the handbook."
Xander felt his throat constrict and dry up like he hadn't had anything to drink for months. "umm err and what handbook would that be?"
She takes out an imaginary book and pretends to flick through it. "Why the ten things to do with your lover on a rainy day..." She pretends to throw it away before kissing him deeply. "Funny thing is it just gives you one thing then says repeat step one, nine times." She grins and runs her tongue down Xander's neck before she sucks on his pulse point sending his mind into meltdown.
One thought kept clamoring for his attention trying to fight to be heard over the rush of his brain as it moved down to his pants... Pants his mind told him he no longer wore! He glanced down and saw an evil smile on Buffy's face as she slid the Happy face boxers down to his knees. His mind kept telling him COLD but he was ruled now by another organ as far from the mind as it could get. Buffy moved her way back up to Xander's face and she could feel him losing all control to her. She placed butterfly kisses across his chest till her lips made their way to his ear where her tongue probed for any signs of life.
Her hand fisted his manhood causing him to quiver and moan. "Dear god I hope this ain't a dream! "
Buffy panted in his ear. "It's no dream lover. Just join me and together we can do this for all eternity."
Suddenly his mind knew what COLD had meant as his senses returned to him. She felt icy cold, room temperature. He cried out in agony. "NO! " He hugged her. "Oh god Buffy no not you!" He brought her face to his and cried at what he had caused. "No please Buffy tell me I'm in some kind of trance or I'm really dead. Anything but this!"
He felt her tears on his face as she sobbed. "We tried to rescue you but there were just to many. We dusted Darla and the others but not before they killed Giles, Willow, Tara and...And drained me!" She pushed up from him and placed his hand over her left breast. "Please. . Xander be with me or... On the other hand, kill me. But don't leave me."
Xander tried to think straight but the thought of Buffy being like Angel, forever cursed to be alone, forever cursed to know not the love of someone. He thought of the repercussions of joining her, the death and mayhem they would cause in the world. He was fixed in his mind to end her life but when he glanced once more at her loving face and gentle demeanor he knew she would not, could not, possibly do harm to others.
She picked up on his frantic thoughts and gave him her best puppy dog look. "I don't know what happened Xand but I kept my soul. It must be a Slayer thing." She rested her head on his chest and ran her hand across it, her fingers playing with his nipple as she said. "I could teach you to control both your demons Xand but you have to come willingly or it doesn't work."
She looked up into his eyes and saw she had him, she then glanced over at the large double doors and saw Dru there peering in and giggling at the sight before her. Dru shut the door and turned to her minions. Take the walking blood bags to the next room and make them comfortable this shouldn't take too long."
She walked over to the table and checked that the Sumerian symbols were all in order and that the ingredients for the casting were ready for when kitten becomes man! She hears a noise from outside and she hurries to the other door and opens it. She sees the Slayer fighting her outer guard and she curses. "Owww! Everybody here now! " The room is flooded by their army of the undead and she points to the other room. "Hold them off for another half hour. Then hell will be upon the world once more!"
She raced to the ceremonial table and shrugged. "Ready or not kitten here it comes."
Xander watched Buffy as she cried in his arms. "Shh Buffy it'll be fine.. I figure the first century will be the toughest." He grins at her then she smiles and kisses him. "It won't hurt kitten I promise." He nods and tilts his head to one side and braced himself for what was to come."
She kissed her way to his throat then sighed as she vamped out and her fangs pierced his skin. She withdrew her fangs and touched the twin peaks of his wound with the tip of her tongue. She moaned in ecstasy and grinned as she knew this was going to be the feast of her un life, before plunging back into her meal. Xander moaned then his eyes snapped open. "Kitten?"
He fought to push her off and when he did she growled at him, her form shimmering as the mirage faded and Buffy was suddenly replaced by Darla she flicked back her hair and slapped his hands out of the way. "Too late my love! When you wake you will feel much better." She dived to his throat and resumed draining his life from him.
She felt the change coming on him as his blood began to mutate, she redoubled her effort and she felt his body grow but she also knew he would be too late.
Buffy broke through the outer guard and approached the main doors as she did she staggered and sensed a terrible soul searing pain wash over her. "NO! " She screamed out as she battered the doors down. She saw Dru standing there as the wacky vampire was about to finish her casting. Buffy saw her giggle and tell her. "Oh you're so late Slayer! My daughter has drained him by now and he will sleep. " She dropped the dust into the fire and was about to say the final chant when Buffy told her.
"You wouldn't want you to start this without your boy Spiky now would you?"
Dru stopped and she glared at Buffy. "He's on your side now Slayer."
Buffy held her hands behind her back and told her as she inched closer to her. "Oh I already know he was playing a double game Dru s you can drop the act now." She looked at her. "I have your lover and you have mine. Care for a game of swapsies?"
Dru hesitated and she whined placing her hands to her head. "All this is making my mind hurt!" She looks at Buffy. "You have my Spike? I don't have your Xander, my daughter has him in there."
Buffy shrugs. "She's your childe; order her to bring him out and then we trade. Harm him and you wont live long enough to regret it!"
She nods. "Wait there and don't move!" Dru walks backward to the door and races into the other room. Buffy whips up her cell phone and the brown paper bag. "Okay she's gone what do I have to do Wills?"
Dru hurries over to the two bodies wrestling on the slab, she sighs when she sees Darla using all her strength to keep Xander pinned to the slab as she tries to finish draining him. She slaps his face. "Just give it up BOY! It'll be much more fun that way!"
"Darla... DARLA!" Dru shouts at her till she looks her way. "You have to stop this now! The Slayer has my Spiky and she wants her kitten back!"
Darla pants and wipes a smear of Xander's blood from her lips. "I couldn't give a rats ass about bleach boy!" She turns her head to look at Xander as he struggles to get up. "Once we have him we can have a thousand Billy Idol wannabe's hell we could have the man himself if you want!"
Dru whimpers. "But I want my Spike!" She holds out her hand and stares at Darla. "I command you to stop this and hand the boy to me!"
Darla hits Xander and then stands up. She walks over and slips into her dress. "I have just about had it with you, you crazy bitch!" She slaps Dru and sends her careening into the corner. "Just who the hell do you think you're dealing with? Some simple minded fledgling?" She grabs a chair and smashes it against the floor, picking up a stake shaped piece. "I am Darla, sired by the Master and sire of your sire Angelus."
She places the stake against Dru's heart and tells her. "If you interrupt me once more your madness will be a thing of the past, do you hear me?" Dru nods and Darla releases her. "If you want that moron so much then go and take him from her! But never enter those doors without my permission again!"
She watches as Dru scuttles out of the room then drops the stake and shakes her head. "Of all the Vampires in the world I had to chose crazy Mary to bring me over!"
Dru enters the room to find Buffy on the cell phone and messing with her spell. "What are you doing?" Dru screamed and raced over to her table pushing Buffy out of the way. She checked that nothing has changed and glares at her. "Darla has agreed to stop she's... Just preparing him to see you." Dru picked up a small vile and tipped the contents into the fizzing fire. "Ignas mortus Vampire Vampirus Unos!"
She giggles and points a clawed finger at Buffy. "Too late Slayer! Your Xander is now the first one reborn!"
Buffy pretended to be scared. "Oh my god! You mean when you poured that vile of 7up into the fire it brought back the First one?"
Dru sneered at her. "You are crazy! It wasn't... You switched vials! That's... That's cheating!" She backs up to the door with a crazed look on her face as she strokes her hair. "My Spike will come and get me." She nods. "There ain't nuthin can stop him from bein at my side!" She giggles. "By now my naughty daughter has drained my little kitten and soon he'll be more trouble to you than ever Daddy was. First one or not. He goes a loverly shade of green does kitten when he's angry." She looks puzzled. "I wonder if he'll do it now he's dead?"
Buffy begins to walk towards her as Giles and the Nathrak, having dealt with the rest of her minions enters the room. "Now just step away from the door and I'll hand Spiky over to you."
Dru looks at her. "Promise?" She sees the Slayer nod and she slowly steps away. As soon as she's clear Buffy charges for the door throwing the brown paper bag at her. "Here ya go! A Slayer never lies."
The bag hits Dru and splits causing it's contents to float over Dru. "She shuts her eyes and coughs." What the bleedin 'ell? "She hears a tinkle at her feet and bends down, picking up a micro chip with Made in Taiwan stamped upon it." Oh Spiky! Look what the bad girlie has done to you!"
Buffy swings the door open to find Darla bent over in a corner vomiting up what looks like pea soup. She stands with her hands on her hips and shouts to her. "That's what you get for fooling around with my honey! When you've quiet finished doing the Linda Blair impression do you think we could end this?"
Darla wipes the last of Xander's blood from her mouth and smiles at her. "you know it was better tasting the first time!" She slinks towards Buffy. "You know he's quiet... Nummy! The two of us had quiet the time before I drained his life from him."
Buffy takes her eyes from Darla and glances over to Xander, she sees he's almost completed the transformation to the not so Jolly green giant but something had stopped him. Buffy glares at Darla and sees Darla rub a deep cut along her breast. "You know when kiddo gets started he's quiet the little hottie! Would not leave my breast alone!" She smirks at Buffy. "His mom must have a hell of a time feeding him. But then I suppose we can ask him when he wakens from his nap time."
Darla checks the watch on her wrist. "However, I wouldn't want to be around here when he wakes if I were you! He's going to have a very large hunger. But if you hurry your bent witch pals may be able to curse him like you did my Angelus!" She sees Buffy is torn between stopping her finally, or saving her potential boyfriend from a life of evil. Darla taps her watch. "Tick tock Buffy! Times a wasting!" As she was talking Darla was making her way to the exit that she had built just for this occasion. She flings the door open and laughs out to her. "When he has his fangs at your throat tell him I'll wait for him where we first met." She begins to slam the heavy door closed behind her but has time for one more barb. "You never know he may bring you along as a pet!"
Buffy begins the long walk to Xander's side. She held her breath not daring to even hope for the best lest she jinx her hopes. As she stood by his body Giles and the Nathrak demon came racing in, Giles brushing some dust off of his tweed jacket. "Well we needn't worry about Dru anymore..." He sees Buffy standing next to Xander, her fist in her mouth, as the other hand trembles on its way to check Xander. Giles places his hands on Buffy and, gently, moves her away. "I'll check him for you Buffy."
He moves over to Xander and Marvin walks up next to Buffy. "You love him then?" All she could do was nod. "Maybe you should tell him that? Don't let your fear for his safety make you loose sight of that fact."
Buffy looks at him. "But what if he.. No longer loves me?"
The demon grins. "Oh I'd say that was a very remote possibility. He has loved you, one way or another, from the first time he saw your face."
She wiped a tear from her eye. "How do you know that?"
"Actions speak louder than words Buffy. Even more so in Xander's case. I ah have been looking into the kids history here in Sunnydale. It seems your boy has done quiet a lot that no one realized till now."
Buffy looked puzzled and was about to push him for more information but Giles turns and tells them. "We have to get him to a hospital ! It appears Darla may have been a bit presumptuous in her letting Xander drink from her." He grins.
He stands aside to let them see Xander spitting blood onto the floor. "God Damn! I don't know how dead boy does it!" He gazes around the room until he sees Buffy. "Hey Buffster! Long time no.." He tries to get up but Giles stops him.
"You have lost a dangerous amount of blood Xander we have to get you to a hospital."
Xander's face shows fear for the first time and he shakes his head begging them. "No! Please no hospitals, the minute they try to match my blood they'll know I'm not normal."
Buffy helps him up and smiles at him. "But Xand we always knew that anyway. Besides this is Sunnydale I'm sure the hospital has seen a lot weirder things than this." Xander gives her one of his lops sided grins and she helps him to Giles's car. As she places him in the back she turns to Marvin. "We'll talk later." He nods and she slides in besides Xander, cradling his head on her lap as she strokes his hair.
Buffy is pacing the waiting room floor waiting for any word of Xander as Willow, Tara and Giles try to think of a way to comfort Buffy if the worse happens. A doctor walks towards them. "Are you family?"
Buffy tells him. "Yes I'm his girlfriend and he's his guardian." This attracts a look of confusion from Willow but Giles plays along. "How is he ?"
The doctor scratches his head and reads the report again. "Well if I didn't know better I'd say his body is replenishing his blood but then we have seen weirder things here. But the weirdest thing was his toxicology scan. It came back negative for drugs but his cells have been bombarded by some form of radiation." He looks up from the report and asks them. "He should be ready to leave by the morning but we'd like for him to stay longer so we can try to work out what type of radiation and find out how he was exposed."
Buffy asks. "Is he in any danger?"
"No, he's fine it's just the damndest thing we've seen around here for a while."
"I'd much prefer it if he was home with me Doctor. He's been away for so long and he was on his way home when those muggers attacked him."
"Muggers? Yeah we get quiet a few 'muggings' here. He's a very lucky young man Miss Summers, very lucky." He writes something on Xander's sheet and tells them. "First thing in the morning I want you to wake him and let some fresh air into his room... You know open the window, throw back the curtains as far as possible, let the daylight into his room so he can see what a lucky man he is." He looks at Buffy and she nods. "You know what to do if he shows an allergic reaction to bright lights, get him here as soon as you can and we'll do the best we can."
The doctor says goodbye and walks off. "He knows!" Tara exclaims.
Willow tells her. "Well he works in Vamp central so. . DUH! I wonder if they've 'dealt' with any others lately?"
Giles nods. "I believe the spell that the ex-Mayor Wilkins placed over this town may be dissipating." He looks at the others. "People are beginning to see things and react to them in ways they wouldn't have before we uhh."
"Turned him into Mayor McNuggets?" Willow offers."
"Yes quiet." Giles replies. "Now all we need to do is get some sleep then begin the search for the last of the dynamic Dodo's."
Buffy grins." What? They replaced Passions with re-runs of Batman again?'
"Yes they did actually!" He straightens his glasses. "I intend writing a stern letter to the station regarding that matter as soon as our current dilemma is over."
They drop Buffy of at her home and Dawn rushes out to her. "Is he.." The look of fear in her sisters eyes reminds Buffy just how much Xander has intertwined his life with theirs. She hugs Dawn. "No Dawn he's fine. In fact we're bringing him home tomorrow so we need to get the spare room ready for him 'kay?"
She lifts her head from Dawns and turns, staring at the trees. "But first I have a few questions for a certain demon." Marvin would you join us please?"
Giles pulled the BMW up outside the Summer's Residence and waited for Xander to step out, after several minutes he turned to the young man he had thought of as his son and told him. "Look Xander after all the trouble it took for me to get you here the least you could do was see them before you leave."
Xander shook his head. "You don't understand Giles." He looks at Giles. "I'm a freaking monster! If I get pissed off at someone all hell breaks loose!" He looks at the house and Giles can see the emotions play over his face. "I love her Giles. If I ever hurt her I'd.."
Giles places his hand on Xander's shoulder. "I know...We know why you set up the house in the mountains Xander. We also know why you left it to us." Giles grins. "Just you and Dawn. Neither of you gave up on Buffy, until you decided to join her instead of waiting one more day."
Xander turned red. "I... Never meant to hurt anyone." He holds his hand up to the light. "And now it appears I have no say in the matter!" He drops them to his lap and sees Buffy and Dawn waiting on the stoop of their house.
Giles gets out of the car and tells him. "Life is full of choices Xander. You can choose to leave hearth and home amongst those that love you. " He motions towards Buffy and Dawn. "Or you can wander life's highways with no one or nothing to tie you down."
Cut to a border checkpoint on the Mexican/USA border. A truck has just past through Tijuana and slows down allowing a Nathrak demon to jump from the back and head for the scrub. It inadvertently dropped its wallet in the back and as the truck jolts it flips open showing a photo of Buffy. Along side the photo is a military ID in the name of Lt. Riley Finn.
'Starvin Marvin' checks his pocket but sees its too late to stop the truck so he shrugs and tries to make his way back to his friends, and their battle in Belize'.
Xander looked for a few minutes then stepped from the car and saw the smile on Buffy's face he knew he had no choice. He started to walk towards Buffy's door and he jolted as it was almost ripped from its hinges by Buffy. He gulped and just knew she was going to hit him, he only hoped he could control himself from changing.
She ran out to him and she saw him grimace as she drew near to him. She placed a hand on his chest and rested her head in the crook of his neck. She could feel his heart racing as she hugged him. She looked up into his eyes and told him. "Welcome home Xander, its been far too long!"
She walked him in and saw Dawn flittering about making sure the place looked right for him. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and smiled at him. "Hey X-Man! Long time." She motioned to the couch as Willow and Tara walked in.
Xander sat down and started to explain. "You see it's like this. If I get very angry it starts a chain reaction in my system that causes a change in my metabolism. My blood sends gamma and delta radiation mutated cells through out my body giving me the green look. My body expands and triples in size but for some reason I haven't worked out my musculature system is far advanced of what its torque to weight ratio should be."
Three of the five people present look confused until Willow tells them. "He gets mad, he goes green and turns into the hulk. "
Buffy looks at him. "What happens if he gets... Happy?" She grins and looks at Xander.
Xander shrugs. "I probably kiss you goodnight and go to sleep."
Buffy turns red. "Hey! I said gets happy as in full of Joy not gets a happy! Then again you could have said you join a Zombie gang for the night then take them out when they try to blow up your friends."
Xander's eyes go wide. "How do you know about Jack O'Tool?"
Dawn says. "I thought maybe he makes Angelus back down in the corridors of Sunnydale General."
Willow stands up and tells him. "Nah! He waits till we finish patrolling then goes back to take out the nests we found."
Xander looks at them. "Who the hell told you all this? If I wanted you to know what I do.."
Buffy looked at Willow. "Your friend 'Starvin Marvin' made a few enquiries when he found you. And he did what while I was away?"
"When you were 'away' we would patrol and mark any nests we saw on a map. Then we were supposed to inform Faith, when she was released, so she could take care of them." But John Wayne here must have thought they couldn't wait so he'd sneak off and use some home made napalm to take them out."
Buffy looks at him. "That stops right now!"
Xander looks at her. "Do you really think you could stop me?"
"No, but you really wouldn't like the alterative." He raises an eyebrow in answer. "No Buffy kissage or anything else if you get my drift."
Xander looks shocked. "I was going to get kissage?"
Buffy shrugs and sits on his lap. "Isn't that the 411 for boyfriend/girlfriend relationships?"
Xander smiles. "I've been upgraded from comic sidekick to romantic lead.. Okay romantic co-lead?"
She pecks him on the lips. "If you play your cards right you could be upgraded to Mr. The Chosen One."
Dawn asks. "Hey I've got a question. What happens if you change in the middle of. . You know."
Willow smirks. "She gets to walk like John Wayne for a while."
Buffy looks at Dawn. "Dawn isn't it past your bed time?"
Giles tells them. "Lets not forget Darla is still alive and out there somewhere plotting your doom."
"Way to be a wet blanket G-Man! Don't sweat it! We'll find, She'll slay, and we'll party. No problemo."
Somewhere in the sewers under Sunnydale. Darla is trying to organize a new army and she's having trouble. "no you morons! She's not dead and no Elvis did not come back with her! She's alive and she's the embodiment of our destruction! God you people make me so...So.. ARGHHH!" She starts to shake and she looks afraid as her skins pigmentation begins to turn green. She groans as her body expands and along with it her strength till in the end she's a large green Vampire.
Her eyes glow yellow and her ridge forms the visage of a vampire. She looks at the small vampires in front of her then at her hands. "Cool!"