Chapter Ten
'I managed to get Doyle up and decided that he should take my place on the couch, as although I wasn't exactly feeling in my prime, I was at least conscious.
Cordelia came in and had a concerned look on her face; at least she was starting to get over the whole 'he's-half-demon' thing.'
"What's with Doyle and the whole passing out in pain thing?" Xander asked as she knelt down beside Doyle.
"Dunno," Cordelia replied as she absently ran her fingers through his hair, "his visions never usually get this bad."
"Visions?"
"Yeah, he gets visions from the Powers That Be about wrongs that need to be righted. They normally give him a headache, but they've never made him pass out before," she explained.
"They've never been about The Scourge before," Doyle told them with a groan as he came to, holding his head in pain.
Cordelia suddenly realised what she was doing and rushed to get him a glass of water and a couple of aspirin to hide her embarrassment, although Xander caught the slight flush she had in her cheeks.
Having finally registered the word 'scourge', Xander had to ask the question. "We're not talking about The Scourge of Europe are we, because he's in the other room."
Buffy, who had just come back into the room with water and aspirin for Xander, gave him a look, but knew that it wasn't a dig at her ex, well, not completely anyway, as it did have to be asked.
"No, we're talking about the demon version of the Nazi party," Doyle explained. They're a group of pureblood demons that hate humans and half-breeds like myself. They believe in 'Ethnic Cleansing' and will die for the cause."
"Shit, there's nothing worse than fighting fanatics," Xander commented with a sigh. The others look at him a little strangely. "Soldier Guy's memories; he did a couple of tours in 'Nam and knows first hand how difficult it is to defeat an enemy who truly believe in what they're fighting for."
"Not difficult, impossible," Doyle informed them.
"Nothing's impossible," Xander replied firmly. "A couple of years ago I thought that the existence of vampires were impossible. A few weeks ago I thought that Buffy wanting to go out with me was impossible. A bunch of Hitler wannabes might be tough, but we'll deal with them like we do with everything else. Anyway, what else was in your vision?" he asked.
"I saw a group of demons cowering in a basement and a general location of where they were. Once we're in the general area, I should be able to track them."
"OK, what I suggest is that you and Faith go find these demons and check to see if they're alright," he suggested to Doyle, "while Buffy and I go meet someone I met during my road trip who might be able to help us against The Scourge. Cor, will you be alright here looking after Angel by yourself?" he asked.
Before she had a chance to answer, a voice from behind them started to speak. "If she isn't maybe I could help out?"
They all turned round and saw someone they never thought they'd see again, let alone want to see again.
"Wesley?" Xander asked, not quite believing what he was seeing.
The person that was standing before them looked like a completely different person to the Wesley they knew. Decked out in biker gear, a crossbow strapped to his back, with unkempt hair and several days worth of stubble all hid the former tweed wearing prick they all knew, well apart from Doyle that is, resided within. Only the accent gave it away.
"Yes Mr. Harris," Wesley replied, "it is me."
"I thought that you went back to the Council?"
"Actually, after everything that I experienced during my time on the Hellmouth, I realised that the Council's approach to things was out of date and decided to leave their employ. I'm now a rogue demon hunter."
"What's a rogue demon?" Cordelia asked, beating Xander by a fraction of a second.
"No, I mean I am a demon hunter that is not sanctioned by any official body."
"Ah. Not that we're not glad to see you, but what exactly are you doing here?"
"I was on my way through LA, when I remembered that Angel said that he was moving here. I thought that I would check in and see if there was anything that I could help him with."
"Wes, what do you know about The Scourge?" Xander asked. Seeing his face pale, even through the face fuzz, told them all everything they needed to know. "Could you see your way clear assist Cordelia research their methods and tactics? Forewarned is forearmed and all that."
"Of course," Wesley replied, while the others looked at Xander strangely due to his rather Watcher-like diction, "I'll do whatever I can."
Cordelia showed Wesley to where Angel kept his research materials.
"So Xand," Buffy began, "who's this person we're going to see?"
"As I said, just someone I met while I was here during my road trip," he told her, deliberately being cryptic. "He may have some people that can help us if things start to get out of hand."
"I feel that there's a story here."
"I'm sure that Gunn will be more than willing to tell you all the sordid details of my adventure here," he told her wryly.
"So there are sordid details?" The mischievous grin on her face was a sight to behold.
"No, but I'm sure Gunn will make some up. Come on, let's go while the getting's good." Xander got up a little too quickly, and staggered forwards a bit. Luckily, Buffy stabilised him before he could fall on his ass. "Thanks Buff."
"Think nothing of it."
"OK I won't," he replied with a smile, receiving a slap on the shoulder for his trouble.
'We continued on our way to Gunn's, where I quickly decided against taking the car, as I'm not well enough to drive and there was no way I'm allowing Buffy to drive my car.
I love her more than life itself, but Buffy's driving skills scare me more than any demon I've ever faced.
I also thought that the walk would do me some good, or at least help stop my muscles from seizing up. We arrived at the building around about an hour later; it's by no means the nicest place to live, but it's better than some of the places I've seen.
As we got closer, a couple of people come out to meet us, as they were probably trying to work out why the hell we were there.'
"What the hell do you want white bread?" one of them asked.
"Tell Gunn that Harris is here," Xander told them, ignoring their attitude as he knew it was mostly for show. They must have recognised his name, as their posture suddenly became a lot less hostile.
"Be back in a minute man," the other man said, before they both went back inside.
"Xander, why are they acting like guards at an army barracks?" Buffy asked once they'd left.
"Because for all intents and purposes this place is an army barracks, it just isn't used by the military. This part of the city is notorious for its high vamp population; these guys are the ones that try to keep that population down. A word of advice Buff; these guys have become extremely paranoid and may not like your normal approach."
"What do you mean my normal approach?" she asked dangerously.
'Danger Will Robinson! Buffy bomb armed and ready to blow!'
"No offence Buff, but your normal approach in situations like this is to act like you're in charge and start to give orders. You're a stranger here and they have no idea about Slayers, apart from Gunn and Alonna that is. Not only will that not work, you'll also ensure that they won't give us any help. I'm not trying to be mean, but you do have a tendency to believe that, as the Slayer, you should be in charge all the time."
"You're right," Buffy admitted after a moment, "and I honestly don't know why I do it sometimes. I just feel that if I call the shots, no one else has to feel responsible if things go wrong."
'Buffy bomb diffused; situation normal. For now at least.
After a couple more minutes of waiting, I could see Gunn come out of the building with a few others flanking him. He came over and we performed a long and intricate handshake that he taught me when I was here last.'
"Alex, how you doing bro?" Gunn asked.
"About the same as last time Gunn," Xander replied with a small smile.
"Shit, things can't be that bad can it?"
"Before I go any further, I'd like to introduce you to Buffy Summers. Buffy, I would like you to meet Charles Gunn."
"Call me Gunn," he told her, "everyone does. So, Alex, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked him.
"Thought I'd give you a heads up that some major shit is going down soon with some major league demons called The Scourge. They hate anything that isn't pureblood demonic in nature, and prefer to use a scorched earth policy to get rid of anything that gets in their way."
"Do you think we'll meet under normal circumstances? Last time was bad enough…"
"We don't need to get into that Gunn," Xander told him quickly, a little too quickly for Buffy it seemed as she suddenly got a gleam in her eye.
"Gunn, Xander here hasn't told me what went down when he was here last time, but he said that you'd be more than willing to fill in the gaps," she told him with a smile.
Xander sent Gunn a warning glance, but he completely ignores it and him. "As Alex may have told you, we have a high vamp population in this part of LA, and we try our best to ensure that their numbers don't grow too high. They act like organised crime around and are very coordinated, more so than normal so Alex told us. We must have staked the wrong suck head one day, as they sent around thirty vamps at us, along with a few other types of demons that I had never even seen before. We managed to hold our own for a few minutes, but they soon started to overpower us. Then your boy shows up and saves all our asses by causing a distraction and allowing us to regroup. Afterwards he taught us a few tactics that work better on vamps than humans. He also clued us in on the different ways to kill them, my personal favourite is my super soaker filled with holy water. He was only with us for a few days, but without him most of us would be dead or turned now."
"Hey I didn't really do that much," Xander commented.
"Don't sell yourself short; we were unorganised and unprepared. Your ideas have helped us, not only kill a shit load more vamps, but also reduced the amount of casualties we incur. We owe you a lot."
"You owe me nothing; you and your crew help keep this neighbourhood safe, and that's all that matters."
"Whatever you say man, but if you need any help, we'll be there," Gunn vowed, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"Thanks man; that means a lot. I will give you some warning, and this is something I told you last time; not all demons are evil and not all humans are good. We'll be protecting some refugee demons who only want to live peacefully, and a couple of the people on our team are demons themselves."
Xander remembered that Gunn's outlook was a lot like his had been when he was first introduced to the real world; humans good, demons bad. The problem with that philosophy was that the world didn't work that way; there was no such thing as black and white, only shades of grey.
"A lot has changed in the last year, Alex. We've changed our opinion on a lot of things, including demons. We leave the demons alone that do the same to us, and we've even helped out a few from time to time and vice versa."
"That's good to know. We're not sure what's going to happen, but it's always nice to have contingencies in place."
"Have you always been such a boy scout?" Gunn asked.
"Have you always been an annoying bastard?" Xander replied.
"I can definitely answer that in the positive," another voice said joining in the conversation. Xander looked behind Gunn and saw a familiar face.
"Alonna!" he exclaimed as he rushed over to her and then spun her around, receiving a mock-glare from Gunn, and an all too real one from Buffy.
"Uh, Buffy, this is Alonna, Gunn's sister. Alonna, this is Buffy Summers…"
"Xander's girlfriend," Buffy finished for him.
The tone in her voice that screamed 'he's mine!' actually felt good to Xander. It was also the first time he had heard her call herself that, and it sounded like music to my ears.
"Knew it had to happen one day," Alonna commented with a smile. "When he wasn't helping Chucky here with 'Vamp Killing 101', all he did was talk about you."
'Shit, that had been something I had forgotten.
I had thought at the time that, as I would probably never see the people I met again, I didn't have to hide my feelings for Buffy. Looking back, I did talk about her quite a bit, and on more than one occasion on my travels I got the distinct impression I was boring people to tears.
The problem I had now, was that I knew what was coming and had no way of stopping it.'
"Oh really? What things exactly?" Buffy asked, looking at Xander who was squirming slightly.
"Come with me and I'll tell you all about it," Alonna replied before she led Buffy away.
Xander couldn't resist the shudder the consequences of that would be brought on. It was a shudder that Gunn noticed.
"Don't worry man, sis won't say anything bad," Gunn assured him.
"The problem is I told her some things about what I did that Buffy and the others don't know about. Nothing bad, but I doubt Buff will be happy that I didn't tell anyone, or that I got into those situations in the first place. By the way," he went on, "Buffy's ex-boyfriend has been here in LA for a few months now, set up a detective agency called Angel Investigations."
"Yeah I heard of it, talk was that they were dealing with the more surreal of cases. Thanks for the heads up; I doubt your girl would be happy one of us staked him thinking he was just another bloodsucker."
"You'd be right there," Xander agreed, "but personally I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If you do ever cross paths he does have a tendency to want to take charge of a situation, it's all part of that 'Champion' thing they've got going on."
"Duly noted."
'We continued talking about less serious things for the next half an hour or so, until I noticed Buffy and Alonna coming back arm in arm and laughing, although I did receive a glare from Buffy as they got closer.'
"I think we'll need to have a... chat when we get back to Sunnydale Xander," Buffy told him, and as Xander recognised the tone in her voice, he simply nodded in acknowledgement, realising that to say anything else would probably ensure that he'd get his ass kicked all over LA, and that was before dealing with The Scourge.
"We better get back to the others," Xander said after a moment before turning to Gunn, "Gunn, it was a pleasure as always."
"Same here man," Gunn told him, "don't wait so long to see us next time. Also make sure that it's not a business trip."
"I'll do my best, but I won't promise anything."
'Buffy and I finished our farewells and started to make our way back to Angel's. We didn't say anything all the way back; I'm guessing that she was still thinking about the conversation she'd had with Alonna.
There are a couple of events that I hadn't told any of the Sunnydale gang, not because I was ashamed, but because I simply didn't see a need to tell them. This of course doesn't mean that they won't think that I should have told them. I knew that this particular conversation I was going to have would probably not be carried out in a calm, civilised manner, but then again hardly any of our conversations are so I should be fine.
When we get back we find that Angel was up and about at last, his vampiric healing having dealt with the worst of his wounds. He had to drink a lot of blood to speed up the process, completely depleting his stock, so he's going to have to re-stock the fridge, but apart from that he was going to be fine.
I have to say I'm a little pissed that he was almost back to 100 after only a few hours, but it was going to take days, possibly even weeks, before I'm able to get back to training full time, although I'm sure that Giles and Buffy will try to insist that I wait longer. My middle name should be stubborn instead of Lavelle, hell anything should be my middle name instead of Lavelle.
My relationship with Angel has always been less than friendly and I doubt that will change too much but since we've been here I have the distinct impression that he wants to rip me apart, Buffy's little revelation about our relationship didn't help matters in the slightest.
I know that Buffy wasn't happy about the situation, so I guessed I'd better take one for the team and try to clear the air with him. I also wanted to ensure that he didn't transfer his anger for me to Faith once we'd left, as I doubt that things would go well if he did.
I knew that Angel was a formidable opponent, but Faith didn't have the disadvantage that Buffy did, as she'd have no problem going all out against him, and as she had always revelled in her Calling, she might even have the advantage.
With Faith and Doyle still out, and Buffy having gone over to Wesley and Cordelia to catch up, it gave me the perfect opportunity to speak to Captain Hairgel.'
"Hey Angel, I take it you're feeling better?" Xander asked as he went over to the ensouled vampire.
Angel's usually expressionless face gave way to one of surprise for the briefest of moments before returning to normal. "Yeah, although I have had better days. Yourself?" he asked.
"I won't be running any marathons in the near future, but otherwise I feel like shit," he replied with a smirk.. "Do you think we can have a chat?"
"I thought that we already were?"
"I mean in private."
'Angel nodded in agreement after a moment's hesitation, like I was really going to try and stake him with the others around, and we made our way to his office.
I knew that Buffy would be listening into our conversation no matter where we went, which given I eavesdropped on theirs seemed fair, but I wasn't really worried by that as there was nothing I was going to say to Angel that I wouldn't want her to hear anyway.
Moving our talk to his office at least gave it the illusion of being private, which was enough for me. As I really didn't to be alone with the guy any longer than was absolutely necessary.
The things we do for love, hey?'
"So what didn't you want Buffy to hear?" Angel asked immediately as he closed the door.
"To be honest nothing; if she asks I'll tell her whatever she wants to know. We had a surprisingly civil conversation on the phone before we came here, but since then we've both been acting downright unfriendly towards each other whenever we were in close proximity. As for my part I'm sorry," Xander told him, only his vast experience at lying hiding his true feelings, "I shouldn't have taken out my anger at Spike out on you."
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Angel asked after a moment.
"No," he replied with a sigh, knowing that he wouldn't receive anything close to an apology in return. "I think that it's high time we finally tried to work out our differences, for Buffy's sake at least."
"Fine. Tell me Xander, why do you hate me so much?"
"Hate is such a strong word," Xander told him, although he didn't deny it was accurate. "Alright, point one; you're a vampire. Soul or not, good deeds or not, the bottom line is that you are a vampire, and I will never allow myself to like a vampire. Period."
"That's quite a narrow viewpoint you got there," he commented.
"Is that fair to you? Probably not," Xander admitted, "but then again, we both know that life isn't fair. The first vampire I ever had a conversation with was Jesse, who up until the point that your sire Darla turned him, had been my best friend, my brother in all but blood. He was also the first vampire I ever staked, to save Cordelia no less. That leads on to point two; your family."
"Blaming me for what they have done, when you just apologised for transferring your anger for Spike onto me, is a bit of a double standard don't you think?"
"If you'd staked Darla that first night you made your presence known instead of giving Buffy a cryptic message, Jesse might still be alive today. If you'd staked Drusilla the first time you talked to her in Sunnydale instead of just letting her walk away, Kendra might still be alive today. If you'd staked Spike that night you went to give me to him as a gift, he wouldn't have been around to piss me off."
Angel would have commented on all of that if it weren't for two things. The first was that as much as he would have liked to deny it, Xander had a point; had he staked them when he had the chance instead of letting them live, countless lives would have been saved, that number increasing every day as Drusilla was still alive.
The other reason was that Xander hadn't sounded angry, he had just been stating his opinion. Angel was used to Xander being emotionally driven when it came to conversations like the one they were having, so for him to remain calm and rational was quite frankly putting him off.
"I noticed you haven't pointed out your jealousy over Buffy choosing me over you."
"I hadn't got to that point yet, as that's actually pretty low down the list at the end of the day. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy about the way she'd fawn all over you and see as nothing but 'one of the girls'," Xander went on, making air quotes, "and I admit that I was jealous, but despite my resentment for you, I never hated you for it. It wasn't as though it was the first time someone had been chosen over me, so I was used to rejection."
"I don't doubt that," Angel muttered, although Xander was able to catch it.
"Getting back to the topic of your inaction," Xander went on ignoring the jibe, "you barely did anything more than feed Buffy obscure clues that first year, and only started having a more involved role after Buffy dealt with The Master's bones."
"That's a lie and you know it; I did help out."
"No, you helped Buffy out, always managing to be there just in the nick of time to save her if she got a little overwhelmed, but you were next to non-existent when it came to the rest of the human population of Sunnydale. Hell, you weren't even going to help her when she went to face The Master until I persuaded you." Angel went to say something but Xander put his hand up. "I freely admit that you have changed a lot since then, you wouldn't be considered as a Champion by the PTB if you hadn't, but first impression are hard to get over, and your first impression left much to be desired. Again, that may not be fair to you, but that's just the way it is."
"Anything else," Angel asked angrily, as much because he'd realised that Xander's reasons for not liking him were more legitimate than he thought as it was that his comments had cut him to the quick.
"Well, there's the fact that you knocked me out when you were undercover."
"I was pretending to be Angelus, if I hadn't done that Faith would have been suspicious."
"Granted, but that doesn't change the fact that you left me lying unconscious in the middle of the road, in Sunnydale, at night. If the driver that came by hadn't had hi-beams on his car, I'd be dead now. If I'd known what you were doing I might have felt differently, but given that I had been kept out of the loop..."
"Now you can't blame that on me!" he snapped, cutting in.
"I don't remember saying that I did," Xander replied, still in the same matter-of-fact tone he had been using the entire conversation, "I was simply pointing out the facts as I see them. You could have mentioned what was going on before the fact, but given that we barely spoke to one another unless absolutely necessary I can see why you didn't. That does not change the fact that you put my life at risk by sucker punching me like that, and even now I can see that you really have no intention of apologising for it."
'I decided not to bring up the time he nearly killed Buffy when he had been poisoned by Faith, although it was sorely tempting I can tell you, because I'd promised myself to be as objective as possible.
If you combine his weakened mental state from the poison and Buffy's stubbornness over him drinking from her, and I can't exactly put the blame all on him; Buffy has to have at least equal billing on that one, with Faith also sharing some of the blame as she caused the situation to begin with.
I waited silently for Angel to respond; I could tell that he wasn't entirely happy with my little monologue, but he was at least allowing himself time to consider what I'd said before responding, something I'm not known to be able to do often. In fact this entire conversation had been difficult for me, keeping my emotions from showing when I had such strong feelings about it.'
"I've got to admit that your reasons are far more reasonable than I though they'd be," Angel comment eventually, having taken time to not only thought about what Xander had said, but to almost calm down from the emotions that had been slowly building during Xander's explanation. "I basically thought that Buffy was the main and only reason you didn't like me."
"Oh, I forgot to mention that you use far too much hair gel," Xander added with a smile.
'Angel actually laughed at that one, and as far as I was aware it was probably the first time I'd ever heard him laugh. I'd heard Angelus laugh several times, although I'd never describe them as anything other than sinister, but never Angel.
Yes, I do see Angel and Angelus as different, but I see them as different personalities of the same person, as opposed to entirely different people. It would be so much easier if they were different people, then we could dust Angelus and still have Angel around, which would at least keep Buffy happy if no one else.
I then realised that I'd told Angel why I didn't like him, but he hadn't done the same. Seeing as it was only fair, I decided to rectify that.'
"I've had my say, so what is it about me you don't like?" Xander asked.
"Initially it was the same as yourself; Buffy. I knew how you felt about her and that you were the closest challenge for her affections, even if she didn't see it the same way. You could be there for her when I couldn't and that annoyed me. You were always rushing into the fight, never thinking of the consequences and usually getting thrown across the cemetery or getting knocked out. Your constant little comments about me, and your ability to turn everything into a joke rubbed me up the wrong way. I was also jealous."
"Huh?" That one came out of left field to Xander.
"Even though you couldn't fight or had the special abilities of the rest of us, you never shied away from the fight or backed down when the odds were against you. That time in the hospital, Angelus could see the determination in your eyes and realised that he may have been able to kill you but you would have taken him down with you. You scared him."
'What do you know, little old me scared one of the most feared vampires in history.
Only on the Hellmouth.'
"You're right that I did, and still do, throw myself into a fight," Xander admitted, knowing it would be pointless to argue. "Up until recently I've always seen myself as cannon fodder; if I won the fight it would be a bonus, but even if I died the distraction I caused whatever killed me would be enough for Buffy or one of the others to kill it. I'm not sure you'll be happy to hear this or not, but I've stopped seeing myself that way; I'll still willingly sacrifice myself for my friends, but I'm not fighting recklessly anymore. Before I left on my little road trip, I could take on a vamp or two and come off the winner, not bad when you think that I'm fighting something four times faster and stronger than I could ever be, despite the fact I might not have been able to move much afterwards. I got a lot better during my little journey around America…"
"I heard about Oxnard," Angel told him suddenly.
"How?"
"One of the smart vamps that left described you to me before I dusted him a few weeks ago. You do know that the rumour was that Buffy had moved towns?" he asked with a grin.
"Yeah I did, I couldn't help but laugh at that one. Anyway as I was saying, when I came back I asked Giles to start training me, including techniques that would allow me to access the soldier memories from Halloween..."
Angel put his hand up to stop Xander from speaking, "Don't get me wrong, but why are you telling me this?"
"I'm trying to let you know that I'm capable of keeping Buffy safe," he told him.
"I wondered when you might bring her up. You have to be happy that you've won."
The bitterness in his tone wasn't a surprise for Xander, as he'd expected something like that.
"Won? I've won nothing; Buffy isn't some sort of a prize in a game show," Xander replied. "Who she loves or does not love is completely up to her and, for some strange reason, I've been blessed. I know that you're not happy with the thought of our relationship…"
"That's putting it mildly," Angel snorted, interrupting Xander.
"... and there really isn't anything I can do to change that," Xander went on as though Angel hadn't said anything, "but you need to know that there isn't anything you can do to change it either."
'I stayed silent as I allowed Angel to do that thinking before talking thing he does so well, which is something that I need to work on.
His shoulders slumped slightly after about a minute of silence and looked at me.'
"I know that there isn't anything I can do about the way she feels," Angel said to him, before taking a step towards him menacingly, "but if you do anything to hurt her..."
"Believe me, if I do you'll have to line up to kill me behind Joyce, Giles and Willow," Xander assured him, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. "You know that I wouldn't consciously hurt her feelings. Before you bring it up," he went on as he saw Angel about to speak, "I am more than well aware how my relationship with Cordelia ended. There is no excuse for how Willow and I acted, we were wrong to do what we did. Buffy knows about everything that happened, and yet she still, for some strange reason, wants to be with me."
'I still wonder sometimes why it was that Buffy decided to give me a chance, but for once I'm not going to think too much about it; 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' I believe the phrase is.
I've done so much analysing the last few months, the things I've done, the things Buffy and the others have done, that I could become a psychologist, but there are times when its better to just go with the flow, and while it might not be the best idea, I'm going to do that with Buffy.
That's not to say I won't take it seriously, I doubt there is anything I'd take more seriously than our relationship, but I'm going to do my best to stop second guessing Buffy or myself all the time.
Deciding that a change of topic was called for, I brought us back to our original subject.'
"Just because we now know why we don't like each other, doesn't mean things will change between us," Xander told him.
"I know that," Angel admitted, "but at least we finally know where we both stand. We may never like each other but it might be wise if we could actually try to curb the animosity, even if it's only when Buffy is around. Deal?"
Angel held out his hand to Xander, who after a moment's deliberation took it in his own.
"Deal. Another thing I wanted to talk to you about is Faith," Xander went on.
"What about her?"
"She may well want to change, but her first instincts will be to lash out at people, at least to begin with. If he's going to be staying around, it might be an idea to keep an eye out for Wesley. He looks like he may have changed since Sunnydale, but he was her Watcher and he did capture her for trial, which we both know would have been very short and ending with her execution. She may not have friendly feelings toward him."
"Does she for anyone?" Angel asked honestly, forcing a smile out of Xander.
"Not really. She did make a pass at me yesterday," he revealed, "but didn't take it too kindly when I turned her down."
"Does Buffy know?"
"She was there when Faith did it," Xander replied, "but didn't make her presence known until after I turned Faith down. I guess she was waiting to see what I did."
"I'm glad you made the right choice," Angel said, although Xander could tell there was as much chance of him winning the Nobel Prize as there was of him meaning that.
"There was no choice as far as I'm concerned; Buffy is the only one for me."
"There may not be much I can do about your relationship, but that doesn't mean I have to talk about it with you," Angel told him shortly, and Xander couldn't really blame him as he'd be exactly the same if the roles were reversed. Hell, he had been exactly the same when the roles were reversed.
"All I'm saying is that Faith will need to know that she has a place that she can call home and people she can count on, something that we didn't give her the last time in Sunnydale. I just want to know that she'll be given the best possible chance to make something of herself, as I don't want to fulfil my promise if she loses it again."
"What was that?"
"Let's just say that one of the reasons that she is so willing to make a go of it here is to do with what I said I would do if she messed up again. No, I won't tell you what I'm going to do," Xander told him before Angel could ask, "but Faith might if you ask her."
"I give you my word that I'll do everything I can to ensure she stays on the right side of the line this time," Angel told him sincerely.
"I know, otherwise I'd never would have suggested it. Well, we better get back outside before Buffy decides to come in and check that we're both still alive, or solid in your case."
'I allowed Angel to go first as we left his office, quickly coming face to face with Buffy.
Buffy looked over to the both of us, and her eyes kept flicking from Angel to myself and back. I simply smiled at her and she replied in kind, realising that I was fine, and then we all got back to preparing for tonight.
An hour or so later, just as the sun began to set, Faith and Doyle returned from looking for the demons in his vision.'
"We've found them," Doyle told them, "but they're scared stiff of getting discovered by The Scourge. We have to get them out of here before that happens."
Angel stepped forward. "There's a captain of a ship that owes me a favour who is docked here at the moment. I'll arrange for him to take them somewhere they can... blend in."
Wesley then decided to add his voice to the conversation.
"We do still have the small matter of The Scourge to deal with. A full on attack would not be wise, as we would basically lose." He quickly put his hands up when the two Slayers took umbrage to that. "There are simply too many of them, and they are too well organised of any successful attack to be made with the resources we have. Our best bet is to lead them away from the demons so we can get them to safety."
Buffy now went into 'Slayer Mode'. "And how are we going to do that?" she asked.
"Have you and Faith run interference."
"Why would that work?"
"As you were told by Doyle, The Scourge hate all humans and half-breed demons, especially vampires. What is less well known is that they hate Slayers even more, as they are called with the sole purpose of killing demons. Ever since the second Slayer line was created, their hatred for Slayers has only increased, and they have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack them. Seeing you both here at the same time will simply be too tempting to pass up. As long as you stay ahead of them you'll be perfectly fine."
"And if we don't stay ahead of them?" Faith asked.
Wesley looked from Buffy to Faith and back again before responding. "Stay ahead of them."
Xander didn't like the thought of Faith and Buffy acting as bait, but unfortunately knew that there was no other way. On impulse he took Buffy's hand in his own, and she turned and sent him a small smile in thanks.
"You'll be happy to hear that's one command I'll actually obey Wes," Buffy told him.
"I'm with you there B," Faith agreed with a nod, "just don't think this is going to be a habit Wussley."
Wesley actually smiled at that; before he would have got all British and indignant about it. "I have learned to expect the unexpected, especially when dealing with this group."
Cordelia then decided to add her two cents to the conversation. "So while Buffy and Faith lead The Scourge on a wild goose chase, the rest of us will be escorting the demons to the docks where Angel's friend will be waiting. Is it me or does that sound just a little too easy?"
"I have to agree with Cordy," Xander said, "an organisation like The Scourge will have contingency plans in place. Do we know what types of demon we'll be up against if we do face The Scourge?"
"They are made up of a wide range of different breeds of demon," Wesley replied, "each requiring a different method of killing."
"To quote Ash from the Evil Dead movies 'I haven't met anything that doesn't die from decapitation via shotgun'. I have a few weapons in the trunk of my car, but unless you know how to shoot it'll be better if you don't get one."
"Weapons training was part of the training a Watcher is given before they can be assigned to a Slayer or potential," Wesley told him, and both Angel and Doyle indicated that they knew how to shoot as well.
"OK, everyone who doesn't know how to shoot make sure you have some sort of bladed weapon with you as well as the usual toys. Those who do, if you could follow me?"
Angel, Doyle and Wesley follow Xander out to his car. He opened the trunk and took out a few shotguns, generously donated by the Watchers that had come to try to take Faith away, and a box of shells for each one.
"Angel, you need to take care when using this stuff, as I've had all the weapons and ammo blessed by a priest who knows what goes bump in the night. As I got the shotguns and shells from those wetworks bastards, they pack a far more powerful punch than regular ammo, so they should take care of the majority of demons that we might face. Aim for the head and if they don't go down take out their legs; if they can't walk they can't fight."
They all nodded in response, seeing the logic in my suggestion. Wesley looks at Xander with a questioning gaze.
"Xander, I must ask how you became so knowledgeable in this, as well as where this newfound confidence came from."
"The knowledge came from possession, the confidence was always here I simply had to show it," he replied before turning to Angel. "Angel, as this is your turf and you're the one with the Captain in your pocket, so that puts you in charge."
A momentary flash of surprise at Xander's remark was lost in the commanding expression that appeared on his face. "Right, while I sort out my contact, I need you Doyle to get something so we can transport them to the docks. Once I know when and where, can you ,Xander, contact your friends and let them know where we'll be, and that Buffy and Faith will be leading The Scourge around the city and that they may run into them at some point."
"Sure," he replied, "I'll make sure they know to stay out of the way if they do meet up with them. I don't know how many people Gunn will be able to spare, but any help will be useful. I've got some normal shells in the trunk as well; it might be an idea for you to get a bit of practise in. I may have never been a boy scout, but I still believe in being prepared. I'll then suggest that Buffy and Faith get some training in."
"Sounds like a good idea," Angel agreed. "Well we all know what to do so let's get to it."
'Wesley went off to find somewhere to use as a firing range, while Doyle went off to 'borrow' a van that would hold everyone. Angel and I go back inside and he made his way into his office to call his friend, leaving me with the task of getting two Slayers, who really don't like each other, to do a little training so they didn't get their asses kicked by The Scourge.
As you can see, I always get the easy jobs.
Not seeing them around, I guessed that they must be in the training room downstairs. When I get down there, I found that my task had been completed for me, as they were already training.
Of course, when I say training I mean trying to kick seven shades of shit out of each other. They were both moving so fast it was like two conflicting blurs, with both of them getting in as many hits as the other, and it looked like they're going for the kill, literally.
Faith got in a kick to Buffy's midsection that sent her flying, and I used that as my opportunity to get between them, hoping it would turn out as well as the last time.'
"Hey now ladies I think you need to…"
'The rest of my brilliant and calming rhetoric was knocked out of me, literally, as Buffy hit me with a palm strike to the sternum that was meant for Faith, which sent me crashing into the wall with a sickening thud and I passed out.
When I come to, I saw that both Faith and Buffy were standing over me, each with an extremely worried expression on their face.'
"Hey, Boytoy, you OK?" Faith asked.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Xand, I didn't mean to…"
"You didn't mean to hit me that hard, but you had every intention of hitting Faith that hard didn't you?" Xander asked Buffy, cutting her off mid stride.
Buffy looked away from him, and Xander was able to see tears in her eyes, but before he dealt with that he turned his attention to Faith, who had a smirk on her face over the way he spoke to her sister Slayer.
"You've got no reason to look so smug Faith," he told her sternly, "it wasn't a light tap on the shoulder that sent Buffy flying across the room was it?"
Xander was surprised to see that Faith actually looked guilty about it when he pointed it out. As he looked at the two women, neither one looking all that happy, Xander closed his eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten before he spoke again.
"I know that you've got a lot of issues to iron out," Xander said to them with a sigh, "but we don't have time for all of this shit. In a few hours you two will be going up against The Scourge, and if they catch you they will kill you, and the only back up you'll have is each other. I've been to too many friends' funerals already in my life; I don't want to go to anymore for a very long time. Buffy and I will be going back to Sunnyhell after we've sorted out this mess," he went on looking at Faith, "and unless there's an apocalypse I doubt you'll be seeing each other again for a while, so until we leave can you two try to keep your anger focussed on the bad guys?" They both had the common sense in them to say nothing and just nod. "Good," he said firmly, "now can one of you help me up, I seem to be having trouble using my legs."
'They both offered me a hand of assistance; Buffy glared at Faith who, for once, decided not to argue the point and walked over to the other side of the training room and started to pound away on the replacement punching bag after she obliterated the last one.
I gratefully took Buffy's hand and she gently pulled me up onto my feet and helped me upstairs and onto the couch as Angel came out of the office.'
"What the hell happened to you?" Angel asked in surprise as he took in Xander's appearance.
"As a vampire I doubt I need to tell you this," Xander answered with a groan, "but never get between two pissed off Slayers, as it tends to be bad for your health."
He winced and nodded. "Are you going to be OK for later tonight?"
"No," he replied honestly, "but as there are now three of you, there shouldn't be any problems."
Cordelia came in with a glass of water and a couple of painkillers. "I overheard what happened and figured you might need these," She said to Xander, who promptly took them.
"Thanks Cor you're the best, as are your two sisters."
She gives Xander a bemused look, but bit back the comments that everyone knew were running around in her head and sat at her desk.
"I've arranged for my friend to be at the docks at 03:30 at Pier 13," Angel told them as he got back to business, "he said he'll be leaving at 04:00 whether we have got there or not. Do you think you can let your friends know?" He asked Xander.
Buffy glared at him for a few seconds. "At the moment I doubt he knows he has any friends Angel."
"I'm right here you know," Xander reminded her.
"You maybe be here physically, but you're not all here mentally yet; you took a bad knock."
"You should know, you're the one that knocked me."
"I said that I was sorry," she whispered shakily.
"I wasn't being nasty Buff," he told her softly, "I know you didn't mean to hit me I'm just a little out of it."
'I could see the tears building in her eyes, so I pulled her to me and she wrapped her arms around me and began to silently cry.
I guess the realisation that she could have just killed her boyfriend had sunk in and she wasn't feeling too great about it. I do my normal thing of whispering comforting words in her ear until she calmed down, and she began to fall asleep. I let her; she would need her energy for later tonight.
About half an hour later Wesley came in and noticed my condition.'
"My word Xander what happened to you?" Wesley asked.
"I bobbed when I should have weaved," Xander replied, wincing as he moved slightly to get a little more comfortable. "I'm afraid I won't be any help tonight."
Xander watched as Wesley looked uncertain about something for a few moments before he spoke again.
"That may not be the case; I know of a spell that can rejuvenate you, healing most of your injuries," Wesley told him. "I'm afraid, however, that there would be some risk involved."
"In that case his answer is no."
Xander knew that Buffy had been awake from the moment Wesley came in to the office, and wished that Wesley had been more tactful and waited to to him alone.
"How about I answer for myself Buff? What are the risks Wes?"
"There would be some risk to the caster, me, as this type of spell is rather powerful, and the recipient of the spell would lose a few years from their natural life span," he explained.
"How many years?" Xander asked.
"As little as two, as many as ten."
"How long will you need to prepare the spell?"
"NO!" two voices shouted firmly.
Faith had come upstairs during Wesley's explanation, and both she and Buffy voiced their opinion in a rather loud manner, doing nothing for the migraine that had been slowly building since Xander's attempt at being peacemaker between the unstoppable force and the immovable object.
"You're risking your lives by acting as decoys tonight," Xander told them slowly, trying to ignore the pounding in his head, "and I want to be there to help."
"We're Slayers, we were chosen to do this…"
"Don't you even try that shit with me Buffy!" he snapped forcefully, actually causing her to take a step back from due to his ferocity for a moment before she resumed her previous position holding him. "I've been fighting the good fight for nearly four years," he went on more softly, "if I wanted to stop I would have by now. You and Faith may have been chosen but I chose this and nothing and no one will change my mind, not even you." he turned his attention to Wesley. "How long do you need to prepare the spell Wes?"
"There are a couple of ingredients that I need, and I shall need to centre myself beforehand, I would say that an hour should suffice."
"Will you have time to do it?"
Xander could see that Buffy, Faith and Cordelia were all sending death glares Wesley's way, but he was somehow managing to withstand it, or he simply didn't notice them.
"I would think so," he replied, "once the spell is complete you'll feel the full effects within a couple of minutes."
"Do it."
'Buffy released me and stormed off into Angel's office, slamming the door behind her, which with Slayer strength was enough to shatter the glass.
I was not going to help pay for that.
I knew that I was going to need to speak with her before anything else happened, as even though it was my decision I would still need to justify it to her first, but to do that meant getting up, and I was still in no fit shape to do so, at least not by myself.
Looking over to Angel, he quickly got the hint and helped me up, and then half carried me over to the office, where I asked him to leave me to it. It hurt like a bitch and it took me a while, but I managed to make my way over to her.
It took a few moments for her to acknowledge my presence, and when she did she lifted her head to look at me and I could see tears streaming down her face.'
"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked him, moving away when Xander went to hug her.
"I have to," Xander told her softly.
"No. You. Don't!" she screamed.
Xander carefully moved over to her again and was thankful that she didn't resist when he went to hug her again, as he would have probably fallen over.
"Buffy, I love you with everything I have, and there is no way I will let you face the things that you do alone if there is any chance that I can be there with you," he explained. "You know that if the situation was reversed you would be doing exactly the same thing; it's what you do for the ones you love."
"I can't bare to lose you Xander," she whispered.
"I don't want to lose you either, which is why I want to be there to make sure. Everything is going to be fine."
"You can't promise me that."
"In this situation I can; I'm not stupid enough to piss off a Slayer," he told her with a smile.
He could feel her smiling into my chest and, even in my weakened condition, it affected him in a very... stimulating way. "I may have to stay in here for a couple of minutes before going back out there," he said, feeling embarrassed.
"At least I know that part of you is working," she teased.
"When you're around it's always on duty." She giggled and let Xander go, walking out of the office with a slight sway of her hips. "Make that five minutes," he called out to her.
'That girl was going to be the death of me, but at least I'd have a big old grin on my face when I go.
Once I had calmed down enough, I slowly made my way back to the others and sat down next to Buffy on the couch. Wesley had gone to collect the ingredients that he didn't have while I had been talking to Buffy.
Faith and Buffy were still exchanging glares but were trying their best not to say anything to each other, more for my benefit than to actually make peace with each other. At least it was a start; I doubted they would have been able to do even that a few days ago.
Angel had reverted to the 'silent and brooding' mode he used whenever he didn't know what to say, and wanted to ensure nobody drew him into anything, and Cordelia was reading a fashion magazine while trying to ignore the rest of us.
About twenty minutes later, Wesley returned with everything he needed for the spell, and then went downstairs to meditate so that he could perform it. After about another twenty minutes, he called for me to come down to join him.
I did so with difficulty, although Buffy was more than happy to help. Faith followed us down, but did so at a safe distance from her sister Slayer.
When we reached the bottom, Wesley was there to greet us.'
"Xander," Wesley began, "I need you to sit in the middle of the circle I have put on the floor and try to calm your breathing."
"Giles has taught me some meditative techniques; will it be OK if I use one of those?" Xander asked.
"That will be perfect," he told him with a nod before turning to Buffy and Faith. "I will need complete concentration, so I will have to ask that Xander and I are left alone."
Both Slayers instantly altered their postures to 'try and make me'.
"No way Wes," Faith said firmly, "you do it with us here or you don't do it at all."
Buffy looked over to Faith and actually smiled in agreement and gave her a small nod of thanks. It seemed as though they'd found themselves some common ground; Xander's safety.
"Fine," Wesley replied with a sigh, knowing that we wouldn't be able to move them, "but you'll need to stay quiet, otherwise the spell may go wrong and we don't want that do we?"
'They both shook their heads at that and took positions at opposite corners of the room, utilising their stealth capabilities to blend in with their surroundings.
I began to meditate, centring my body and mind in preparation for whatever sensations I may feel during the spell. I vaguely heard Wesley chanting in a language I had never heard before, that in itself having an almost hypnotic effect on me.
After a minute or two I began to feel a burning sensation from within my body, which quickly went beyond mere discomfort, and was soon firmly ensconced in agonisingly painful. I redoubled my efforts to keep myself centred, and I could feel the sweat literally pouring off of me due to the pure concentration I was having to exert to prevent myself from screaming in agony.
Just as I was about to buckle under the pressure, the pain disappeared and I collapsed in relief.
I heard both Buffy and Faith shout my name and rush over; I opened my eyes to see Buffy coming to me and Faith surprisingly going over to Wesley, who had also collapsed.'
"Are you OK?" Buffy asked him.
"I am now; that spell wasn't exactly pain free," Xander replied. "How's Wes?"
"He's five by five," Faith told him, "a little out of it though."
"I am fine Xander," Wesley assured him, "the spell was a success, but it took a little more out of me than I expected. I have not used a spell of that power for quite some time."
"Do you know how many years it's taken from him?" Buffy asked, hoping that it hadn't been too many. Of course to her even a day was too much, but Xander had been right in that it was his decision. It didn't mean she had to like it though.
"Honestly there's no way to tell for sure," Wesley replied, "but knowing our luck we'll have to put up with him for a very long time," he added with a small smile.
"If I didn't know better," Xander said as he got up unaided, a stark improvement from the last few days, "I would think that was an insult, but as I know that to know me is to love me, I'll take it as a compliment."
"Whatever allows you to sleep at night," Wesley replied as he also got up unaided, although Faith had given no indication that she would have helped him in any case.
'After helping Wesley clear everything away, and going through some exercises to check that I hadn't suffered any ill effects, we all made our way back upstairs to find that Doyle had returned. He'd just started explaining what he's been doing.'
"I've... acquired some transport," Doyle told them, no one questioning his hesitation, plausible deniability and all that, "but it'll be wise to get it back before it's missed, that is if you want me to keep my dashing good looks." Cordelia snorted at that comment, but he ignored her and continued. "Are the arrangements in place?" he asked Angel.
"Yeah, I've arranged it. We need to get them to the docks by 04:00 or he'll leave without them. I've explained who he'll be carrying and he has no problem with it."
Doyle then noticed Xander and the others. "Hey, Xander, you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, have you been told what went on in your absence?"
"Princess gave me the Cliff notes version. The spell work?"
"Absolutely, I haven't felt this good in a while. I do need to ask you another favour Wes," Xander said, turning to the former Watcher.
"Yes?"
"I appreciate you using that spell but it would be a very good idea not to use it on anybody else unless absolutely necessary."
"That's a bit of a double standard isn't it Boytoy?" Faith asked him.
"If you combine the beatings I got from my father from as far back as I can remember, getting knocked from one side of Sunnydale to the other by vamps and demons, and the meditation techniques I've been using for months I've acquired an extremely high tolerance to pain." The gasps of shock from the majority of the room reminded Xander that he may not have told anyone about his home life before. "Given all that," he went on, "I have never experienced as much pain as that spell caused. Anyone who isn't as mentally disciplined for that sort of agony would not be able to keep the focus the spell requires to work correctly. I'm not saying to never use the spell again; I have no right to do so. All I'm saying is that you firmly label it 'Emergency Only'."
Angel decided to add his weight to the conversation. "Xander's right, that spell is too risky to use too often. Not to mention that the spell takes years off a person's life, if it was used too much it would become more dangerous than the injuries you're trying to heal."
"I agree that the spell should only be used when necessary," Wesley told them before turning to Xander. "I'm sorry Xander, I was unaware as to how much pain you would experience."
"Don't worry about it; I know that you would have explained it if you were aware. It may have had something to do with the amount of injuries I've incurred and the time period in which I attained them." Everyone began to look at Xander strangely, especially Buffy.
"Xander, when did you become British?" she asked, only half joking.
"My dear lady, the fact that I am currently using the English language in the way in which it was intended, does not mean that I have changed nationalities."
"You're really starting to freak me out now Xand," she told him seriously.
Xander looked at her emotionlessly for a few moments before cracking up with laughter. "Don't worry Buff, I'm still me, but with all the studying Giles has got me doing, my vocabulary has increased quite a bit. To be able to translate a demonic language into English, you need to have a better understanding of English first. It's a price I'm willing to pay, especially when I get to see your faces when I start speaking Watcher to you."
Wesley looked at Xander inquisitively. "Should I be insulted by that?"
"If I were insulting you, I'd also be insulting Giles, which is something I really wouldn't do. If I were you I would think of it more as... friendly ribbing. I've just remembered that I haven't called Gunn and let him know what's going on." Xander used his cell to dial Gunn's number, only to find that no one is answering. "Damn, he must be out. I'll have to go and wait for him to come back and then bring them with me. That going to cause any problems Angel?" he asked.
"That shouldn't be a problem; Buffy and Faith will be leading The Scourge on a merry dance, Doyle and Wes can go and collect our demon refugees and Cordy can come with me to the docks to ensure everything is OK that end. Once you've let your friends know what's happening, meet us at the docks and we can work it from there."
"Well it's 11:30 now, we won't need to make a move until 01:00. Why don't you, Doyle and Wes get a little practise with the guns to remove any rust you may have while I run through my usual routine with Cordy, Faith and Buffy."
"Why me?" Cordelia asked, finding it strange that she was being included, although also pleased.
"I know that you handled yourself well in the warehouse, but it's about time you started to learn how to defend yourself properly," Xander explained. "Looking back on it, one of the things that disturbs me the most is that we never learned self defence during High School. We spent three years fighting vampires, but never learned how to actually fight; I may have halved the amount of concussions I got if I knew how to land properly. I'm sure that with the rest of the Fang Gang's help, you'll soon be kicking butt with the best of them."
"Fang Gang?" Angel repeated, saying it like it had left a funny taste in his mouth.
"Yeah," Xander replied with a smile, "back in Sunnydale we're the Scooby Gang so I thought that you'd be the Fang Gang."
Angel glared at Xander for a moment before turning to Cordelia. "I'm not sure about the Fang Gang part, but Xander's right that it would be a good idea for you to know how to defend yourself in a fight Cordy; even if you don't come out with us that often this is still LA."
"Fine, but if I break a nail we'll be having words dweeb, you too Angel."
'Angel and I both just nodded, knowing that even though she had changed a lot, there would never be any getting rid of the core of what made Cordelia, well, Cordelia.
Angel, Wesley and Doyle left to practise their shooting, while the rest of us went downstairs and started training. Buffy and Faith sparred some more, but with the memories of the last time fresh in their memories, and the fact that I was in the room with them, they took it a lot easier on each other.
While they trained, I took Cordelia through a simple kata, her years as a cheerleader making it a lot easier for her to pick up the moves. After I was happy that she knew it well enough to practise on her own, I put the pads on and let her smack me about; the predatory smile on her face as she landed a kick was a little disturbing, but I ignored it knowing that she was just exorcising a few more demons.
Once we had all finished, we went back upstairs and waited for the others to return. An uncomfortable, but not entirely unwelcome, silence descended upon us until the others returned, allowing us all time to compose ourselves for the night ahead.'
"How did you get on?" Xander asked the guys as the came back from the office.
"Fine thanks Xander," Wesley replied, "Angel got a slight burn when he forgot to put his gloves on before reloading, but other than that everything went as expected."
"These pack a powerful punch mate," Doyle told him with a smile, "I wish I had one of these years ago."
"Doyle, it would have been easier if you didn't get into a situation where these were necessary," Xander commented.
"True," he admitted with a grin, "but they still would have come in handy. Everybody ready?"
Everyone nodded their heads and took that as the signal to make a move. Before they reached the door, Xander pulled Buffy to one side and kissed her with every ounce of love he had for her.
"Stay safe," he whispered to her after releasing her.
"You too," she replied just as softly, still feeling shaken by the kiss he'd just landed on her. "If you get yourself killed, I'll bring you back just to kill you myself. I love you, you know that right?" she asked, feeling and sounding a little uncertain.
"Absolutely," he told her, "and I love you. I'll see you later." He kissed her softly on the lips once more and then released her, leaving to meet Cordelia at his car. "You ready Cor?" he asked as he got there.
"As I'll ever be," she replied simply. "She'll be fine you know?" she told him, indicating Buffy.
He nodded. "Won't stop me from worrying about it. Doyle is going to be OK as well."
"What makes you think I care?" she snapped, although her eyes betrayed her. Even if they hadn't he'd known her too long to be fooled.
"Don't try that with me," he said calmly, "I know you like him, and that it's in a more than friends way."
"I don't want to talk about it," she replied firmly, confirming what he said without actually saying the words.
"You don't have to; just know that if you do want to talk, I'm here for you."
"Thanks," she replied softly before getting a hold of herself. "We better get going."
'We get in the car and drove to Gunn's, finding no one at home.
It's almost 03:00 when Gunn and the other's turned up, and by that point Cordelia was more than a little impatient. I sent her a warning glare to indicate that she better not start anything, and for once she took my advice, especially when she saw some of the hardware they were carrying.
Of course after it all this is over I fully expected to get it with both barrels from her to compensate, but I had long since become immune so I wasn't worried.
Much.'
"Yo Alex, what's up bro?" Gunn asked as he approached the pair.
"Alex?"
"Not now Cordy," Xander told her firmly. "My friends are trying to get those demons out of the country," he said to Gunn, "but I have a feeling that things are going to be FUBAR, so I was hoping that you and a few others may want to give me a hand?"
"When do you need us?" he replied instantly.
"That's the problem; it's going down right now. I tried contacting you earlier but you were out."
"Sorry, we heard about a vamp nest that was nearby and had to deal with it before it grew," he explained apologetically.
"Everyone OK?" Xander asked immediately, causing Gunn to smile a little at his thoughtfulness.
"A couple of guys had to go to the ER, but other than that nothing but the usual bumps and bruises. I can spare about a dozen of us, that do?" he asked.
"Yeah that'll be great. How long will you need to prepare?"
"We can come right now," he said with a shrug, "all our weapons are in the trucks anyway."
"Beautiful. In that case follow me," Xander told him.
Gunn nodded and went back to the others to sort out the troops, while he and Cordelia went back to the car.
"Alex?" Cordelia repeated as they got into the car, her tone telling him he better not try to fob her off again.
"Xander was the goofball that everybody knew in Sunnydale, I was trying to escape that so I started using Alex," he explained.
A car horn indicated to him that Gunn and the others were ready, so Xander started the car and, using the directions that Angel had given him, made his way to the docks. As they were getting close to their destination, Xander stopped the car just out of sight of the docks and waited for the others to catch up.
"Why stop here?" Cordelia asked.
"I have a bad feeling," he told her.
Cordelia nodded, knowing that in their group their instincts were sometimes all they had to guide them, and as Xander got out of the car she followed suit and watched as he went to the back of his car and popped the trunk, retrieving his shotgun and a few other items. He only had one bulletproof vest with him, so he handed it to Cordelia.
"You'll need this more than me Xander," she told him, but once she saw the look on his face, she sighed and acquiesced, allowing him to fix it to her properly to ensure it offered maximum protection.
By now, Gunn and the others had arrived and had gone over to the pair. "What's the deal?" he asked.
"I sense a disturbance in the force," he said in a passable imitation of Sir Alec Guinness, before returning to his own voice. "Feel like checking it out with me?"
"Sure," Gunn responded with a shrug, "beats having a normal life."
"Cool, I've a little toy for you," Xander said as he handed Gunn a shotgun, who took it appreciatively. "This way you don't have to get too close to the bad guys. Alonna will kill me if I let anything happen to her baby brother."
"I'm older than her, you know that!" Gunn griped.
"Physically maybe, mentally never," Xander retorted with a grin. "Cordelia, I want you to stay here with Gunn's men. If we're not back in 10 minutes, I want you and the others to make as big a diversion as you can without actually engaging anything. I have a few things in the car that will help."
"You sure?" she asked.
"I'm as sure of this as you are of fashion."
"Right. Be careful."
"Always," he assured her, although as she knew him it wasn't that reassuring. "Lets go."
Gunn followed Xander to the pier and his suspicions were confirmed; a couple of demons in SS style uniforms were standing guard at the ramp to the ship. Judging by the way they're dressed, they must be members of The Scourge.
"OK Gunn," Xander began, "we don't want to get into a fight with these guys, so stealth is the key. Can you swim?"
"Why do I think that my answer will get me into a lot of trouble?" Gunn asked with a sigh, even as he nodded.
'I simply smiled at him in response and began to walk over to the edge of the pier, out of sight of the guards, and lowered myself into the water. Once I'm in I look up to Gunn who, after a moment's deliberation, followed me in.
We swam up to the other side of the boat and, using the towrope I took out of the trunk of my car, I managed to lasso it to a hook. Testing it to ensure that it would hold, I began to climb up and then once I'm on deck I signalled for Gunn to follow me. Once he was up I gathered up the rope and we made our way inside the boat.
I contemplated suggesting that we split up, but I had seen enough horror movies to know that the outcome would not be of the good, and I knew that Gunn would probably make some comment that the black guy always dies first.
We managed to make our way down to the hold to find that The Scourge had the demons we were trying to protect captive, along with Buffy, Faith and the Fang Gang. My first thought was to rush them guns blazing, but these days I managed to resist acting on those sorts of impulses, knowing that the outcome would be my death and probably everyone else's as well.
One of the demons, I'm guessing the leader, was talking to the others and every now and then looked up at something being suspended from the ceiling by chains.'
"What are we going to do, Alex?" Gunn whispered softly to Xander.
"We wait until our ten minutes are up, and then use the distraction Cordy and the others provide to our best advantage," he replied just as quietly. "It will also give me a chance to think of something that doesn't end up with our heads disconnected from our bodies."
"You aint gonna get an argument from me on that one man. Can you hear what they're saying?"
"If you stop talking I can," he told him with a smile.
"Sorry."
'I smiled at him again, and then started to focus my mind, allowing me to concentrate on what they were talking about.'
"How did you know we were coming here?" Angel asked their captives.
"It seems that the captain's crew were less happy to have demons as cargo than he was," the leader replied, his accent actually tinged with German. "We let it be known that we would pay handsomely for the whereabouts of those demons and one of his crew decided to take us up on the offer." Several of his men then brought in the lifeless bodies of the captain and his crew. "Some people were simply born stupid."
Buffy and the others looked on in shock as the bodies were simply dumped into the corner of the hold, The Scourge showing them no respect. Before they had a chance to say anything, the leader began speaking again.
"You humans and half breeds have been a bane to our existence for far too long," he went on, "but with our new weapon will change all that."
"How's it going to do that Adolf?" Faith asked, and grinned at the scowl the leader sent her way before replying.
"Our scientists have designed a weapon that will kill anything that is not pureblood demon in nature, and we believe you're the ideal test subjects." He pulled out a small black object out of his pocket and pressed a button. The device hanging from the ceiling then begins to hum, and a light slowly began to appear. "In five minutes, the device will be at full power and when it activates, every human and half-breed in a five mile area will vaporise; the first step in the cleansing of the impure will begin!" he exclaimed, his men cheering as he began to laugh, an extremely clichéd laugh that all Bond villains have.
"Gunn," Xander whispered quickly, "we have five minutes before everyone in LA who isn't a pureblood demon goes the way of the dodo."
"Shit," he replied succinctly, "what are we going to do?" They suddenly heard an explosion outside, and one of the leader's sub-ordinates came rushing in. "Never mind."
"There is a group of human scum outside throwing grenades at our troops!" the demon reported quickly.
"Well don't just stand there, send the men to eradicate them!" the leader snapped.
'Taking that as my chance to do something, I fired my shotgun at the chains holding the device, which sending it crashing to the floor. It didn't stop humming, however, and the light continued to get brighter.
Using that as a diversion, Buffy and Faith both leapt into action, each having loosened their bonds during their conversation with the latest maniac. Angel had also managed to break free, and began to untie the others. Gunn and I used our shotguns to cover the refugee demons escape, while Angel and the others battled the remaining members of The Scourge, fighting with a fury I'd rarely seen before.
We made our way down to meet the others.'
"We need to stop that device," Xander told them unnecessarily.
Angel finished off the demon he was fighting and turned to him. "How?"
"Simple; when in doubt, blow the fucking thing up. Angel, take the others and get out of here, I'll be right behind you."
"I'm staying," Buffy told him firmly.
"We don't have time for this Buff, it's going to go off any moment!" Xander snapped.
"I'm staying!" she repeated, her tone brooking no refusal.
'Not having the time to argue, I simply nodded.
While Angel and the others all made their way out, I made my way over to the device and placed explosives either side of it. As soon as I'd armed the trigger mechanism, I grabbed Buffy's hand and ran for dear life.
As soon as we reached the deck of the boat, I set off the explosives while jumping over the side, dragging Buffy with me. As we hit the water the boat exploded, destroying the device in the process. We both swam for our lives, trying to get away from the sinking boat and the falling debris caused by the blast.
We stopped once we were far enough away and looked each other over.'
"Are you OK?" Xander asked her.
"I've been chased, captured, tied up and almost blown up," she replied as she rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"
"That you look cute when you're pissed at me." She tried but failed to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside her. "Come on, we better let everyone know that we're still in one piece, as well as help them kill whoever of The Scourge was stupid enough to stay around."
'We swam to the pier and got out of the water, immediately running towards the sounds of gunfire. When we get there, we found that only one or two members of The Scourge had stayed behind, obviously to keep us occupied so the rest of them could retreat. Wesley was right that they were well organised, and I had no doubt that this was just a fraction of the forces that The Scourge had available.
Angel and the others were holding their own, the shotguns I had provided being effective in at least injuring the demons, although not actually killing them. Swords however did work quite effectively, as proved by Faith and Angel as they decapitated two demons almost simultaneously.
I used my shotgun to hold off the last of them while Buffy rushed in and literally ripped its head clean off its shoulders. We all just stared at her for a few seconds, Faith being the first able to speak.'
"Hey B, you couldn't have tried using a sword?" Faith asked.
"I had a lot of anger I needed to release, I released it," Buffy replied simply. "Everyone OK?"
Cordelia walked up to join the rest of the group. "We're definitely better than the alternative. I'm afraid I used all of your grenades Xander," she told him with a smile, and the group could tell she'd had a lot of fun throwing them.
"I can always steal more; it's harder to get into Harmony's pants than it is to get into the armoury at the Sunnydale Army base."
"Firstly, eww. Secondly, that's cold."
"So is she," he replied. "I don't know about you guys, but I really feel sleep is necessary right now."
'All I received from that was a Mexican wave of nods.
Gunn and his people left soon after the introductions were made; I give him the address of Angel's office so he could come round later to say goodbye.
We all then make our way to our respective places of rest; Cordelia offered to put Buffy and myself up for the night at her apartment, as we still hadn't had a chance to go to a hotel. We graciously accept and I drove us there.
We got to meet Dennis, the resident ghost and Cordelia's roommate, who after trying to scare the living daylights out of us seemed to be a decent fellow. Buffy took the spare bedroom and I took the couch; I barely managed to undress and lie down before I passed out from exhaustion.
I woke up just before noon and, once the other two were awake, we made our way to Angel's, making a detour to grab some breakfast for us and doughnuts for everyone else.
When we arrive I could see Gunn and Angel standing toe-to-toe, Wesley and Doyle trying to keep them from fighting. Faith was just sitting back and enjoying the show, and when her senses picked up the aroma of the doughnuts, she came bounding over, snatched them from my hands, and returned to her ring-side seat, stuffing a glazed doughnut in her mouth.
Seeing that no one was going to calm down very soon, I decided to let my presence known.'
"What the hell is going on?" Xander asked loudly, causing the others to turn round him, as Buffy and Cordelia had gone off to share the doughnuts with Faith.
Wesley decided to answer my question. "Angel was trying to discuss with Gunn how we could help him with his patrols."
Realising that Wesley was trying to be diplomatic, Xander decided to translate that for him. "Let me guess; Angel's way of discussion was for him to tell Gunn what he wanted him to do, and when Gunn told him to shove it, he tried to intimidate him?"
Realising that he knew exactly what had happened, Wesley decided to go with the honest approach. "That about sums it up actually, yes."
"Angel what I'm about to say is in no way meant to insult you," Xander told him, "but you've got to pull your head out of your ass." Angel glared at Xander for a moment, but decided to remain quiet. "It may be called the City of Angels, but that doesn't mean that it's your city. You can't expect for everyone to bow down to your way of thinking just because you say so. Gunn and his people have been doing this for a long time now, and are pretty damn good at it; that in no way means that they can do everything by themselves, and although I can't believe I'm going to say this, you can be a big help to them."
Gunn went to say something, but Xander signalled for him to shut up and he reluctantly did so. "Gunn, I said help, not take over. I know that the reason you went on the offensive so quickly was because you thought that he was trying to take over your turf and I respect that; the hyena taught me all about being the alpha. Angel and the others can help you a lot, not only with patrols, but in intelligence as well. He has a way of finding out information; something we both know is vital to staying ahead of the game. He has a tendency to want to take charge as I told you yesterday, but I have a feeling that's a Sunnydale thing… oww," he said in surprise, and turned to Buffy who had just clipped him round the ear, which Xander thought to be plain mean.
Xander pouted at her, and Buffy sighed and kissed him to make up for it, which it did.
Angel was silent for a few moments before finally talking, facing Gunn as he did so. "I really can't believe I'm going to say this, but I agree with Xander. You've been here longer than I have, and I shouldn't have expected to just come in and take over. Can we start over?" he asked.
Gunn just looked at him for a couple of seconds before nodding once. "Alex trusts you so I'll give you a shot, but this is going to be a partnership. We help each other when we can, and give each other the heads up if we hear something we think the other will need to know. Everything else can be worked on as things go on. Deal?"
He extended his hand to Angel, who took it immediately.
"Deal." They stepped away from each other, and Angel turned to face Xander. "So when do you have to leave Xander?"
"Pretty soon I'm afraid," he replied, "I checked my cell on the way here and my boss left a message telling me he needed everyone at work tomorrow. I've found sleep allows me to last a full day of work; I've been pretty lucky with them so far, but I don't want to push my luck."
'I had hoped to have a little time alone with Buffy, as we really hadn't had any quality time since we started being a couple, but I knew my luck wouldn't hold out for long after we all got out alive earlier this morning.
The look that Buffy sent my way gave me the indication that she felt the same way, so I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. We'd have plenty of chances for 'us time' when we got back to the Dale, and I would make sure we took advantage of as many as humanly possible.'
"Not only that," Buffy added, "but I've missed some classes at college, and Professor Walsh has been looking for a way to kick me out of her class for a while now."
"She better not if she knows what's good for her," Xander growled.
"That's a bit over the top even for you isn't it Xander?" Cordelia asked.
"Not in this case it isn't." Xander went on to give them a brief explanation on Walsh and The Initiative.
"If you need any help…"
"We know who to call," Buffy assured them "but we don't want to run the risk of them finding out about a vampire with a soul, as I doubt they'll just want to meet up for tea and biscuits."
"Good point," Angel agreed, not liking the thought of being experimented on, "but if they decide to step up whatever they're doing, call and we'll be there."
"Thanks."
'We spent the next couple of hours sitting and talking; I tried to integrate Gunn with the others as much as possible, so things could run more smoothly between the two groups after I've gone.
What I found strange was that Gunn and Wesley hit it off almost straight away, although I have to admit that if Wesley had been like this when he first showed up in Sunnydale, I probably would have liked him as well. It was like having a younger version of Giles around, but without the demon summoning.
Finally it was time to say our goodbyes, Gunn being the first to leave as he had to get back to base and check on his crew.
Buffy and Angel went and talked privately for a while; they needed to have some closure to everything, and I decided not to eavesdrop on them this time around. I knew where Buffy's heart lied now, so I didn't have the jealousy that made me listen in last time.
Cordelia simply gave me a hug, and told me to keep up the fashion improvements. I told her that I would do my best, and that she should at least give Doyle a chance.
Doyle shook my hand; I told him to be patient with Cordelia, as she was worth the effort.
I gave Wesley Giles' number, so they could compare notes when the need arose, and so that they could try to reconcile their differences. I had a feeling that once Giles got to know this Wesley, it wouldn't take long for them to get along.
Faith kept her distance from me, obviously not interested in saying goodbye, but there was no way I was going to leave things like that so I decided to go over to her instead.'
"Hey Faith," Xander said gently as he approached her.
"What do you want Boytoy?" Faith asked him shortly, looking less than happy at the moment.
"I wanted to say goodbye and to check how you are."
"Goodbye, and how I am is no fucking business of yours."
"Listen Faith…"
"No you listen," she said cutting him off, "I've never backtracked before, but you've somehow managed to make me feel something for you, and when I make my move you fucking turn me down. If you didn't want me what did you help me for?" she asked him.
"I helped you because I felt you deserved it," he told her gently but firmly, hating that her life had made her think that way. "The only thing I would have liked in return is your friendship, but it wasn't a requirement. I'm sorry that I don't feel the same way as you do, but I can't help the way I feel. I'd still like to be friends, if that's OK with you?"
"Right now I doubt that a friendship will work," she told him after a few moments of silence, her voice not as angry as before, "but I'm not throwing the idea completely out of the window."
Xander hid the disappointment he felt, knowing that it was the only way Faith knew how to deal with emotions. At least she wasn't trying to choke him to death this time.
"That's all I'm asking; that you think about it. I know how annoying Cordy can be, so if she gets too much just count to ten, and then if all else fails find a demon to kill that isn't named Angel."
Faith actually laughed at that, an honest laugh that lit up her face. It was something Xander hoped she started to do more often, as it meant that the walls she'd built up were falling down and the real Faith would start to come through.
"I'll do my best but I won't promise anything," she told him.
'I decided to leave it at that; if I actually thought she'd hurt Cordelia or the others, I'd have fulfilled my promise by now.
We joined the others, including Buffy and Angel who had returned from their chat. Angel didn't look all that happy, no change there then, but I could tell by the look on Buffy's face that they had sorted things out between them.
Buffy said her goodbyes to everyone and went out to the car, as it was daytime Angel had to stay inside so I decide hold back a minute and say goodbye to him, as he was the only I hadn't and didn't want to add any fuel to the fire.'
"You've got a good thing going here Angel," Xander told Angel as he walked up to him, don't screw it up."
"My sentiments exactly," Angel replied with a small smile. "If anyone asks I'll deny it, but take care of yourself."
"My sentiments exactly," Xander repeated.
'I held my hand out to him and he grasped it. We shook hands briefly before I made my way out to the car and began the drive back to Sunnydale.'
