Fateful Encounter Chapter 4
(Magic Box)
Rupert Giles continued to look over his new store, marking down what needed to be done to reopen the Magic Box. He had grown very weary of having nothing to do since they had blown up the High School, whilst taking down the Mayor. He had not been contacted about becoming the librarian for the new school that been built to quickly replace the old one. He doubted even if he had, that he would have agreed to take the job, as he had grown to dislike it in that last year.
Owning a magic shop was something he felt would give him a new challenge and with his experience in magic he felt he could truly make this shop work. It would also give him a solid income and a place for the group to meet to discuss any threats to the Hellmouth. With Buffy and Willow in university most of the time, he had even less to do than before. Xander was trying to find a job and had agreed to help him with the shop, until he had located something.
Cordelia had left Sunnydale for LA to try to make a bid to become an actress and whilst he wished her luck, he seriously doubted she would make it.
Oz was also at the same university as the girls, but he spent a lot of his time with his band much to Willow's annoyance. Angel was also gone from Sunnydale and was no longer a risk and temptation for Buffy, although his help would be missed in dealing with the various threats to them and the Hellmouth.
Hearing the door open broke him from his thoughts and he turned to see Xander walk in and from the looks of him he was very nervous and tense, which confused him a bit. He wondered what was wrong, because when he had talked to Xander earlier in the day he had sounded fine and his usual cheerful self.
"Good morning Xander," he said, as he watched him shut the door and lock it, before moving over to the broken table and the only two standing chairs and sat down: "I take it something has happened?" he asked, as he took the other seat.
"Something big Giles and not something I expected," Xander replied, as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. He did not know how to begin and he also did not want Giles to be disappointed in him. "It goes back to my road trip. When I reached San Francisco, I ended up in a situation where I bumped into some truly amazing people," he began. "We all turned up at the scene of a demon attack on a witch. The strange thing is I had already met one of the people involved earlier in the day," he explained, before looking up and locking eyes with his mentor. "Giles does the name the Charmed Ones mean anything to you?" he asked.
Giles stared in amazement as Xander asked his question, because he did indeed know the name and the legends and myths surrounding it, three witches born to become the greatest white witches in the world, who would defend the innocent and fight the darkness. He had read many things on them and even once tried to locate them, as had the council, but they had never succeeded. The idea that Xander had stumbled upon them on his road trip was something he found hard to believe and yet he remembered how it was Xander, who had been the first of the group to discover Buffy's role as the Slayer and his as her Watcher and how he had immediately, upon learning the truth of the world, pushed to be a part of it and to help. So it was not to far of a stretch and yet he found it odd that he would be in such a perfect place to once again meet such a force, meant to defend the world from the horrors trying to destroy it.
"Yes I know about the Charmed Ones Xander," he finally replied, as he noted the younger man become a bit more agitated at his silence. "Are you telling me you met them?" he asked, as he settled back in his chair.
"Yes I am Giles. At the time I had no idea who they were, just that they were witches, who were there for the same reason I was, to help the witch being attacked by a demon," Xander responded. "And yet I noted how powerful they were, but I think I was still to surprised to see the person, I had been talking to earlier in the day, was in fact a witch and knew the truth about demons and vampires," he added with a dry chuckle.
"This is an amazing thing Xander. Do you realize how many people, the Council and myself included, have searched for the Charmed Ones and failed and yet here you come and walk right into them, without even trying," Giles interrupted him, but was quickly cut off by Xander.
"Giles, the Council must never learn where they are. Do you understand me?" He stated in the most dangerous tone he could manage, so Giles knew he was serious. "The Charmed Ones are not here for the Council to try and rule them, as we both know they would attempt to do and I will not put them at risk," he added.
Giles caught himself as he realized Xander was indeed very correct about what the Council would attempt to do, if they knew where the fabled Charmed Ones where located. He also had to remember he was no longer a member of that group, having been fired for his growing feelings towards Buffy, which in their eyes were wrong.
"Of course, I forgot myself for a minute," he stated. "I assure you Xander, that I will tell no one of this, especially not someone connected to the Council," he assured him, to which Xander nodded.
"After dealing with the demon and being healed by Leo, their Whitelighter, we got to talking at their club and we both learned each other's stories. The bigger surprise was, that the witch we had rescued was planning to come here to hide from her family," Xander continued with his story. "I explained the dangers of Sunnydale to them all and I think she seriously reconsidered her plan and chose to remain in San Francisco to help the Charmed Ones," he added.
"I take it, she was natural born witch?" Giles inquired, a little disappointed a possible ally had been lost, but he knew that the Hellmouth badly affected natural born witches and could twist them into the exact opposite.
"She was Giles and she did not want to take the risk of being twisted inside by the Hellmouth's aura and to be honest we had no right to ask her to risk it," he answered.
"I quite agree," Giles nodded and truly was not surprised to see Xander once again thinking of someone else's wellbeing, before his own. It was something he had become used to seeing from him. "So what has you so tense about meeting the Charmed Ones?" he finally asked, as he was sure something had been left out so far.
"After the long talk two of the Charmed Ones, who by the way are all sisters, left with Tara and Leo to continue their talk. I stayed behind with the eldest sister, who had been the person I had bumped into earlier that day," Xander replied, really hoping Giles would be understanding about this and would not feel disappointed in his actions. "We spent the rest of the night talking, dancing and I'm sorry to say drinking. In the end we got so wasted that we did something that was clearly stupid and wrong, but at the time unavoidable," he continued.
Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them, as he began to suspect what had transpired that night between Xander and the eldest Charmed One, especially from the look on his friend's face. He began to suspect big changes were on the horizon and he did not know how the girls would react to this.
"Prue and I headed back to my motel and ended up having sex without any protection," Xander finally stated. "I know Giles, before you say it, that it was stupid of me to get so drunk and irresponsible, but it just happened," he added quickly, as Giles went to respond. "We thought we'd been lucky and there would be no consequences to our actions, but I made sure she knew that if she had ended up pregnant to call me and let me know, so that we could work through it together," he explained. "I still have doubts about my ability to be a father at the moment, but I would be damned if I ran from such a responsibility," he added.
"Xander are you telling me that not only did you get a girl pregnant after a one night stand, but that she was one of the Charmed Ones?" he asked, as he stood and began to pace. He was wondering about how on Earth Xander could find himself in such a situation.
"Yes Giles I am. I was surprised today when Piper, the middle sister, and Leo orbed in and then took me back to their place to meet with Phoebe, the youngest sister," Xander answered. "All they would tell me was that I needed to talk to Prue and so I did. She admitted she was three weeks pregnant and had held of telling me out of fear and because she was unsure that she had any right to ask me to leave my life here behind me and to move to San Francisco to help her," he added, standing up himself.
"I repeated my stance that I would not run from this. Yes I am shocked by the situation, but the only down side at the moment is I have no job to support either of them and I need to find an apartment in San Francisco so that I can try and build a relationship with Prue and not just because we're having a baby, but also because we both felt we connected on a deeper level than just a one night stand. The only reason I came back, was my loyalty and friendship with you and the others and my commitment in keeping the Hellmouth shut," he explained.
Giles looked his young friend in the eye and could see he was telling him the truth. Clearly his meeting with the eldest Charmed One could have turned out to be something more, had he not been so loyal to them and his need to help in keeping the Hellmouth shut.
Now that he knew the problem, he could already guess why Xander had come to him first, before explaining all this to the girls and Oz. This would be big news and would forever change the group dynamics.
Xander needed a good job to help support a child and its mother and the fact that he was already thinking of this, showed he was truly committed to doing whatever he had to do to help support and raise his child.
This impressed him greatly, as he had not expected him to be ready for this kind of responsibility and the same could be said for the others in the group. Clearly he had been wrong or maybe had just not read the young man correctly.
"Giles, I was hoping you may have some contacts which could help me locate a decent job in San Francisco, as well as an apartment I can afford to stay in," Xander finally told him. Verifying what he had already guessed was his reason for coming here first.
"I'll make some calls Xander and see what I can sort out, but this will take some time, so I suggest you sit down and think of how to break this news to the others, as I assure you this will be a big surprise to them," Giles assured him, clapping him on the shoulder in reassurance, before he headed for the counter, which held the phone. Thankfully it was still connected.
Xander sat back down and stared at the window, as he pondered how to tell Buffy, Willow and Oz about this.
(Whitelighter realm)
Leo sat down as he went over the many things had he learned from the Elders. As he had suspected they had not expected this and they did not know how it would play out. It seemed the meeting of Prue and Xander was sending ripples out that would change how things would play out and whilst not exactly a bad thing, it seemed the Elders were unsure how to really view it.
The child would be a powerful addition to the Charmed line and would gain not just access to the powers of the Charmed line, but the hidden abilities that lay dormant in Xander from his two possessions over the years. These abilities included greater speed, strength and senses from the Hyena and the child would gain a very good memory and perfect recall from the solider spirit.
The only reason they lay dormant in Xander was that he kept them contained, without even realizing that he was doing it. It seemed the changes evoked by these events in his life had changed him on the inside and yet he held these changes back.
He would have to talk to Xander and Prue about this sometime, as they needed to be aware of this. The Elders had also mentioned the child could also gain another power from the mixed bloodlines, but they were not sure what it would be. He wondered how the sisters would deal with having a child to care for and it made him wonder if Piper would ever want a child with him. Maybe he could discuss the idea with her, once they had Prue and Xander sorted out.
Another thing he would have to discuss with them was the Elders decision to assign a whitelighter to Tara and in a way to Xander, so he himself would not be too overworked. At the moment he did not know who had been chosen, but he was sure he would find out soon.
(San Francisco University)
Tara smiled happily to see Phoebe as she sat down to eat her lunch. Since joining the same university as the youngest Halliwell, they had begun to have lunch together. She loved spending time with Phoebe, who she got on with very well, even better than with Piper or Prue. She had to admit she had developed an attraction to Phoebe and it was growing daily, but she was very unsure what to do about it.
At the moment Phoebe was still getting over learning that her previous boyfriend had been a half demon assassin sent to kill her and her sisters. Even with the fact that this Cole had not followed through with his orders, out of real love for Phoebe, his actions had hurt her badly.
She also did not know how Phoebe would react if she came onto her, but she decided to give it more time and see what happened. Maybe she would be lucky enough that Phoebe would not be against such a proposal, as going out with her. She knew from their talks about their pasts that Phoebe had experimented with girls before and so was not completely straight. She hoped that if she decided to ask her out, that it would not damage her relationship with the sisters.
Phoebe also enjoyed spending time with Tara, as she found the younger girl to be fun to be around and very easy to get on with, she found herself easily talking about her past and what had transpired with Cole, which she found difficult doing with her sisters. She was also not blind to the looks Tara sometimes gave her and she could see that the younger girl was beginning to get interested in her in a more than friendly way. She did not know how to react to that at the moment, although she found herself rather flattered at the attention.
Her mind turned to Prue's situation and the knowledge that in a bit of less than nine months Piper and she would have a niece or nephew to help look after. She found herself not exactly envying her sisters predicament and knew from her own past, that it could have happened to her, but luckily for her it had not.
She wondered how Prue would deal with being a mother, although considering her eldest sister had basically raised her and Piper and whilst it had not always been easy she liked to think she had done a good job of it. When she truly considered the thought, she found herself sure Prue would be a great mother.
Across the city, in the largest graveyard of the city, Cole Turner shimmered into existence. He hoped that the large graveyard would hide his presence from the bounty hunters and hit demons the Source had sent after him since his defection and his murder of the Triad members. He knew Phoebe might not be exactly pleased by his return at first, but he was sure he could change her mind. All he really had to worry about was how Leo, Piper and especially Prue would react, once his presence was known to be back in town.
Prue had never liked him and since learning the truth of who and what he was that distrust and dislike had increased. A part of him knew it was out of fear for Phoebe, but sometimes he found it just annoying. Prue would be his biggest deterrent in getting close to Phoebe again, he was sure and Piper and Leo would follow her lead.
(Sunnydale, Magic Box)
Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg entered the magic shop Giles had bought. They were talking about their classes and how the day had gone for them. Oz soon followed them inside, after making sure he had locked his van up.
They found Xander already inside, staring out of a window and he seemed so be so preoccupied that he did not even noticed their presence. Giles, they noticed was at the counter flipping through a book, before he noted their entrance and put the book down. He indicated for them to take a seat. They picked up some of the fallen chairs and soon they were all seated, including Xander who looked tired and weary.
"So Giles what's up?" Buffy asked. "Do you found a new problem for us to deal with?" she added, always ready to deal with a demon.
Granted her first few days at university had not been easy and after her defeat by Sunday she had begun to fear she would not be able to deal with the changes in her life, but with help from her friends, including a pep talk from Xander over the phone, had gotten her back on track. She had gone out, staked Sunday and her gang of lackeys, before dealing with a demon who had been trying to suck her soul out.
Now she was more certain of her continued role as the Slayer and guardian of the Hellmouth and since Xander had finally returned from his road trip, things had seemed to be even more like they had before.
Granted she missed Angel and even Cordelia, but it was no longer as painful as before and she suspected she was finally ready to move on with her life.
"I'm afraid this is not as simple as some random demon or vampire Buffy," Giles replied. "What I am about to discuss with you will have far reaching consequences for us and the others involved in our group, so please pay attention," he added.
It had been agreed Giles would explain the situation to the girls and Oz, so that they would not immediately explode at the news. Xander just hoped it would work, as he was looking forward to Buffy and Willow's responses to this even less than he had been about Giles response to it. Oz he doubted would say much, as he was not prone to overreaction. He may actually look surprised, but that would be the extent of his reaction.
He listened and watched as Giles explained the situation, cutting off Buffy's attempt at yelling at him. He noted that, as Giles went on, Buffy seemed to calm down somewhat, as did Willow, who whilst looking shocked did not look as upset as he had expected her to be.
Only when it was revealed that he would be leaving the Hellmouth and move to San Francisco to be closer to Prue and their child did Buffy and Willow explode in shock, a little anger and in Buffy's case a small sense of betrayal at his leaving.
Oz looked surprised, but Xander also noted a look of respect in the musician's eyes and he guessed it had to do with owning up to his responsibility to Prue and their unborn child. He was thankful for that and quickly stood up and attempted to speak. Only when Giles finally shouted for Buffy and Willow to be quite and listen, did he try again.
"Buffy I am not leaving you, at least not completely," he assured his friend. "If you need me, all you will need to do is call Leo and he will bring me here, but my priority has to be Prue and our child," he added. "We're going to have a child together and it would be best if we could build a proper relationship together, before he or she is born and so I am going," he explained. "Giles has managed, through his contacts, to find me not only a small one bedroom apartment I can live in close to the mansion, but also a decent job in the area of construction, which I had begun to study here so that I can support myself and Prue," he continued.
"Ok I get it, you are not abandoning us, but it still hurts that you are going to be so far away," Buffy cut in. "I know we've been having some difficulties in my trying to keep you out of the slaying, but you kind of proved how helpful you can be during the Mayor business. I guess I am kinda nervous about you being involved in something just as dangerous as keeping the Hellmouth shut," she admitted.
"Don't worry Buffy. I won't be jumping head in first, as I will have to be more careful in how I try and help you and the sisters or I may end up dead, before my child is born and I have no intent to do that," Xander said with a sigh. "I promise I'll be careful and I will visit and call as often as I can, but for now my priority is elsewhere ok?" he stated.
The girls slowly nodded, with Willow quickly launching herself into his arms, trying hard not to cry. The idea of been separated by such a large distance was hard for her to fathom and she did not know how she would deal with not being able to see her best friend as often, as she had been used to since befriending him.
Even with the rocky patch their friendship had just gone through, thanks to the fluke, she still thought of him as her best friend and did not want to lose him, but she knew in her heart, that he had to go. She found it hard to think of Xander as a father, but was sure he would be a good one and she couldn't wait to see the child when it was born.
For the rest of the day the group discussed what would happen in the next few days. They all realized nothing would be the same again now and that it had all changed. They thought that maybe this change would have more positive results than the other changes they had gone through.
(Halliwell Mansion)
Prue lay on her bed wondering when Xander would move to San Francisco. She was nervous and edgy about how she would be able to continue to fight the demons, the more her pregnancy went on. Soon she would not be able to move as before and she would become a liability to her sisters. She needed to think long and hard on what they could do, to ensure their safety when that time came. She turned over and began to fall asleep dreaming of a much brighter future where the demons were all gone and she, Xander and their child lived in peace, as well as her sisters.