Title: Dreams and Prophecies

By: Shadows59

Summary: The threesome finally gets their normal life, but fate waits around the corner.

Category: B/X/Ay, T/S

Spoilers: More altered Season Six up to Seeing Red.

Disclaimer: Owned by Joss and Co.

A special thanks to Celine for editing and being able to figure out what I meant. Something not even my family has managed to do...

Chapter 1

Four and a half weeks after Black and White

Xander was sitting on the couch in his living room with his feet up on the coffee table and a look of pure satisfaction on his face. There was a bowl of freshly-popped popcorn sitting on the cushion next to him and an ice-cold six-pack of coke at his feet. He'd been planning this day for a week and everything was perfect.

"Who would've thought it," he said to himself with a grin. In high school he spent Saturdays alone in his room wishing he had a girlfriend and watching tapes. Now he had not one but two girlfriends and was insanely glad that he had a moment to himself.

Not that he didn't love Buffy and Anya (and Dawn too, but in much more of a big brother way), but this was the first time he'd had the place to himself in weeks and he was determined to enjoy it. For once there weren't any monsters to slay, books to research, or work schedules to arrange. He didn't even have to get off the couch until Faith came by to pick up a book for Giles. So he settled in and pushed play on the remote control of the DVD player.

"It's rain. R-A-I-N. Fine, try to kill it!" Leonardo Leonardo shouted at the King of Canada as he slammed down the phone.

Xander got another handful of popcorn and was about to shove it into his mouth between chuckles when someone started knocking on the door. Xander sighed and wiped popcorn bits off his shirt as he pulled himself off the couch. "Hold on, Faith!" He shouted as he hit pause and threw the remote down on the couch.

He grabbed the black hardcover book off the lamp stand even though it made his flesh crawl. It was an almost eight hundred page long treatise on the Inquisition that Anya had borrowed from Giles. She'd been reading it every night for the last week before going to sleep with the wistful glow in her eyes that always worried him.

That should have been enough warning, it was for Buffy, but he just had to look over her shoulder. The pictures he saw gave him nightmares for a week. It didn't help that Anya stopped every few pages to critique the book. She'd cluck her tongue or shake her head and say, 'Oh, no one lasted that long on the rack,' and so on.

"I've got a weird girlfriend," he muttered to himself, almost fondly despite it all.

Then he heard the knock again. Actually, this time it was hard enough to count as pounding. Xander rolled his eyes and walked to the door. "I'm coming. Keep your pants on, Faith!" Then he realized what he said and who he'd said it to and felt the blood rush out of his face. "I'm serious! If you don't, Buffy and Anya'll kill you after they're done doing worse to me!"

He reached for the doorknob, but stooped down to look though the peephole before he opened it. He hadn't survived for six years on the Hellmouth by being stupid. But it wasn't Faith on the other side of the door, it was someone much worse. Xander almost wished he could pretend he wasn't home, but it was too late. He opened the door, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Hello, Mr. Rosenberg."

Willow's father had been the closest thing Xander ever had to a real one, at least until Giles, not that he had ever told either man. So that made seeing him now, like this, so much harder. The older man had fallen apart over the last month. His eyes were bloodshot and his once-neat beard had become ragged and lined with gray. He wasn't even wearing a hat, and that was from a man so Orthodox that he considered 'Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown' sacrilegious. But the worse thing was the alcohol Xander could smell on the man's breath, although it wasn't even noon yet. Xander tried to think back to the last time he'd even seen Ira Rosenberg touch anything besides a bit of wine at the holidays, but couldn't think back that far.

"Alexander," Ira Rosenberg dragged out Xander's name. He was the only one who could call him that besides his mom. He'd earned it after the number of times Xander had crashed at the man's house to get away from his family.

"Mr. Rosenberg." The silence hovered over the two men like a living thing. In a way, it was. It even had red hair. "What can I do you for? Does Mrs. Rosenberg know you're here?"

Ira shook his head. "No. I don't think she even knows I've… She's buried herself in work since…" He closed his eyes and steeled himself. "Do you know where my Willow is? What happened to her?"

Now Xander wished as hard as he could that he had gone with his girls to the classical music concert, but it was too late. The three of them, Buffy, Giles and he, had talked about telling Willow's parents the truth. All the truth. Well, almost all the truth. What she had done at the end would never spread past the gang. But everything about the Hellmouth and what Willow'd been doing for the good fight. To show she was a hero, like that would make losing her easier. But he knew they were too grounded to buy any of it, and no one wanted to show them a vampire just to prove it was true.

So Xander told the biggest lie he'd ever told, even though he could still feel the knife in his hands. "No. I don't know…" He never got a chance to finish.

"Then why are you just sitting here! She was your best friend! Why aren't you out looking for her! She would have done anything for you!"

Xander was wrong, there was a bigger lie. "I have. I've done everything I could think of."

"Oh, you have, have you?" Ira asked as he turned and glared at the television. Xander turned and his stomach dropped when he saw the cartoon still frozen on the screen. "I'm sure you've looked long and hard sitting in front of the idiot box."

"It's not like that…"

"Then what's it like? Explain it to me." Ira crossed his arms and waited. Xander opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Finally he just hung his head.

"I thought so. She was always there when you needed help, but when she needs it you just abandon her. I never thought you were this selfish."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what else I can do for Willow." To Willow.

"Don't you ever use her name again!" Ira jammed his finger in Xander's face. "You don't have the right. She was kind and smart and loving and you don't have the right." His voice softened as he went on, and by the time he finished there were tears in his eyes. "I miss her so much, Alexander. My little Willow…"

"I know, sir. I had to remind myself she was gone for the first few weeks."

Ira rubbed his eyes and seemed to deflate. "She's not coming back, is she?"

Xander watched the man and decided to finally tell the truth. "No."

Ira just sighed and his shoulders slumped a little bit more. "I didn't think so. Shiela's going through every study she can find, trying to convince herself… But I've seen the news in this town. Do you know how many people disappeared last year?"

One hundred and fifty-seven. "A lot."

Ira sat down in a chair and buried his face in his hands. "Some days I think this town… That there's something wrong here." He looked up over his fingertips at Xander and looked mortified. "I'm sorry I yelled. I don't blame you, Alexander. Willow never had a better friend. I just haven't been myself."

None of her other friends slit her throat. Thank God she had me, Xander thought and felt disgusted with himself. "It's all right. No hard feelings."

Ira pulled out a hanky and completely missed the guilt on Xander's face as he wiped his eyes. "If you ever have a daughter, you'll understand. Though I pray that God doesn't do this to you. At least I would, but I don't think He's listening to me right now."

Xander nodded automatically, but he wasn't listening. All he saw was the horror show that started running in his head. He saw his daughter, who always looked like a mix of Buffy and Anya but never him when he tried to picture what she'd look like. He saw her as a vampire, a witch, a monster, and himself having to kill her over and over again. And each time he did a little bit more of him went with her. And he knew it would happen. After all he'd had to kill two of his best friends, why not his daughter too?

Neither man said anything for long time - long enough for the DVD to shut itself off. Then Ira looked around the room. "I'm sorry about what happened at your wedding. From the way Willow described her, that Anya girl sounded nice."

Xander managed to push his daughter's face to the back of his head. "It's all right. We've managed…. Everything worked out."

"Good." Ira said. He meant it, but didn't smile. He couldn't push himself that far. He looked out the window at the life that was still going on. "Hold on to her, Alexander. Things disappear so fast."

"I will," Xander said and told his fourth lie for the night.

Ira pushed himself out of the chair with a groan. "I'd better get back."

"Sure, sure. My house is your house," Xander said as he stared at the black television screen.

When he finally moved again, Ira Rosenberg was long gone. He felt the stake in his hand and saw his daughter's ashes in the sunlight and finally had enough.

"No. No way in hell," Xander said. There was only one way he could keep it from happening. He didn't think twice about it, he just went to the bedroom and pulled out the two suitcases, one was faded gray and the other a bright yellow, that were shoved in the back of the closet. He flung them onto the bed and started packing. He didn't even look at what he was taking; he just shoved things into the suitcases.

Once the suitcases were full he started to close them, but he stopped with a sigh and picked up the picture that was sitting on the bed stand. It was a picture of him, Anya and Buffy that they'd had taken in one of the cheap photo booths at the mall. His two girls looked so happy as they grinned at the camera. They'd only been together for three days then, a lifetime ago. He picked the frame up and ran his fingers over the glass, then shook his head and put it back. This was going to be hard enough without…

He closed the suitcases, took one in each hand, and walked out of their bedroom. The apartment was dark and empty except for him, but it still had life. If he breathed in deeply enough, he could smell Buffy and Anya's perfumes as they mixed together in the air. Dawn's clothes were still in a pile next to the couch. She did almost as much cleaning as he did, so he never really noticed the mess before. He tried to pull it all in and let it all go simultaneously.

Then he saw Jessica dead again and knew he couldn't stay, but there was one last thing he had to do. He remembered how crazy everyone had been when Buffy ran away at the end of junior year. The hours he had spent helping Willow search on-line, going through morgue reports and hospital records for any sign that she was alive or dead. He couldn't leave like that. So he borrowed a blank page from Dawn's notebook and sat down at the kitchen table, where he sat and stared at the whiteness for ten minutes.

"Will was right, I should've paid more attention in Lit class," Xander joked to himself. If this were a movie he would've written a beautiful letter, but it wasn't. In the end he just scribbled down: I have to leave. Don't look for me. I'll send all the money I can. I'm sorry. Take care of each other. I love all three of you. Goodbye, X.

Then he got up, hooked the letter under a magnet on the refrigerator, and walked out the door. He walked down the stairs and went to his car with all the grace of Frankenstein's monster. He put the yellow suitcase down on the sidewalk as he opened the trunk and slid the gray one in. He turned to get the second suitcase and almost ran into Faith.

"Goin' somewhere?" Faith had her arms crossed and one foot up on the suitcase.

"Or other," Xander answered without a trace of emotion as he looked at her. Then he glanced down at her foot. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Faith said and took a step back. Xander grabbed the suitcase and threw it into the trunk.

"It's odd."

"What is?" Xander asked as he slammed the trunk shut.

"Never thought I'd see you do this. Leave B," she said to answer the question he didn't ask. She just kept going when he didn't say anything. "Guess I should've though. Everyone else has. Her parents, Angel, Beefstick, Giles – which I never thought would happen - even her Slayer powers. So why not you?"

"It's not like that," Xander said, barely halfhearted. "I have to go to…"

"…protect her? Are you just going out of your way to copy Angel? Cause I'm pretty sure he did this song and dance first."

Xander's hand tightened into a fist. Sunnydale wouldn't even win gracefully and let him leave. No, it had to take the last pound of flesh first. "Do you think I want to do this?"

Faith leaned back against the front door of his car. "I hope not. If you do, then you're the biggest idiot I've ever seen. Even bigger than me." She grinned as if she thought it was funny. "I mean, you've got the life that most men and quite a few women would kill for. Know what I'm saying? Not one but two hot women who love you…" Faith shook the hair off of her face and chuckled. "No, I take it back. You are the biggest idiot I ever saw, no doubt."

"They'll be fine," he said without a doubt in his mind.

"Oh yeah. B'll be just fine after her newest boy toy takes off on her. You even get bonus points for leaving her with a brat. None of the others thought of that."

Xander turned away from Faith and the apartment building. "She'll have Anya - and Dawn."

"You mean the girl that you all but taught how to be human? And who almost got re-conned by that demon boss of hers the last time you decided to 'protect her'? At least that's what Dawn told me."

"Dawn has a big mouth." Xander's face darkened. He was still paying for that incident at the Magic Box. Thank God there hadn't been any customers in the store or Buffy would've killed them all.

"And you have thin walls," Faith countered. "And speaking of the pipsqueak, just think about what'll happen to her if you go. Another parent out of her life, like that." Faith snapped her fingers. "Yeah. She'll be in great shape to help. Go. They'll be five-by-five."

"I have to go," Xander repeated, just as much to himself as to Faith.

Faith pushed herself off the car. "Go then. I'm not stopping you." Xander reached out for the door handle but she grabbed him by the forearm and yanked it away from the door. "Oh, wait. I am."

Xander glared at her hand. "What do you care, anyway?"

"Because you tried to help me once. So I owe you one. That and B's been through enough, lately. Most of it from me." Faith sounded completely unrepentant at the mention of her little prank war with Buffy, mostly because she was winning. But she shook of the good memories and got back to business. "What about you? Why do you haveta go?"

Xander sighed and leaned back against the car next to her. "Willow's father came by today."

"Oh. How's?"

"He was loaded. He almost started something, but caught himself in time. Just another reason I used to wish that… He said that if I had a daughter I'd understand."

"He doesn't know about Jessica?"

Xander shook his head. "Don't see how. Couldn't show my face over there, not after what I did." He saw his daughter again. "What I'm going to do."

Faith didn't like the sound of that at all. "What?"

Xander grinned a sick grin. "I saw it. I've had to kill my two best friends 'cause of the Hellmouth. Why not my daughter too?"

Faith grimaced as if he'd punched her in the gut. "You don't know that…" Xander just snorted and she dropped that line of argument. "All right. Life around here sucks. No arguments. But if you're here, she at least has a fighting chance. With you gone..." Faith took a deep breath. "My father left right after I turned four. Never saw him again. Mom - didn't take it so well. I don't know if anything might have been different if he'd stuck around, but I don't see it getting much worse. You know?"

Xander let out a shuddering sigh. "But what if?"

"Then we have a better chance with you here than not. If Jessica's anything like her parents, it'd take most of the Army and some of the Air Force and Marines to knock her down."

Xander smiled at the thought of his daughter climbing buildings and swatting at old biplanes. "We are a stubborn bunch."

"Like bunch of as… donkeys." Faith corrected herself. "Hey. You still stuck up for me, even after all the shit I've done."

"I always did like a lost cause." Xander wasn't quick enough to dodge the smack to his shoulder. He rubbed at the bruise and wondered how he had forgotten the Golden Rule of picking on a Slayer. Never do it if they're in arm's reach. "Thanks."

Faith shrugged and went to the trunk. "I'm just glad you're not as big an idiot as me. At least I hope not." She stared into his eyes and waited.

"No, I suppose not." Xander popped the trunk and they both took a suitcase. They were halfway up the staircase when Faith paused in thought.

"Though there is one thing bugging me. Why are you all crammed in a one-bedroom apartment when Buffy has an empty house?"

"No one wants to sleep in it after."

"So? Then why don't you dump it and buy another house?"

Xander stopped dead at the sheer obviousness of it. "Son of a bitch," he muttered to himself. Then he gaze Faith a long, penetrating stare, looking her over from head to foot.

Faith scratched at her arm like she had a sudden itch. "What?"

"Just making sure you're the real Faith," he said after he made sure he followed the Golden Rule. He saw Faith's 'revenge good' face and thought quickly. "Have you ever seen the Clerks cartoons?"

"Don't think so."

"Good. I still have a bag of popcorn waiting. Whaddaya say?"

Faith just shrugged. "Sure. The G-man can wait a while." She waved her hand up the stairs and leaned back against the railing so he could go first. "Go on."

There was no way in Sunnydale he was going to let her out of his sight now. "Ladies first."

"What is this, the sixteen hundreds?"

"Careful where you say that. If Anya hears you, she'll give a detailed talk about what life was like in the sixteen hundreds. So will Giles, come to think of it."

Faith scowled at the thought of a lecture and spun around on her leather boots. "Fine."

"Good," Xander said as he followed her up the stairs. He had to take his eyes off her to open the door, but she didn't try anything so he figured he was clear. They dumped the suitcases in the bedroom and went back out into the living room. "Just gotta do one thing first."

Faith nodded and plopped down on the couch while he went over to the refrigerator and gave his note one last look. Then he pulled it out from under the magnet, tore it into pieces and dumped them into a trashcan.

"Feel better?" Faith asked as she watched him walk over to the couch. She had to coke cans, one opened and one not. She held out the unopened one and waited.

"Much," he said as he took the can and sat down. Once he was comfortable he opened the can and the soda sprayed out with a hiss. He sighed and looked over at Faith as the liquid dripped down his face. "Feel better?" He echoed back.

"Much," Faith said with a smile as she put her feet up on the coffee table.

"Good," Xander said and restarted the cartoon.