***
"Dawn's with me, I hope that's okay, Wesley," Xander says when Wesley swings open the door to his apartment a few hours later.
Wesley is shocked by the younger man's appearance. He is painfully thin and pale.
"Xander…you're looking…" Wesley starts.
"Alive. You too."
"Why'd you bring Dawn? She's just a child," Wesley questions.
Xander flushes slightly. "I told you how I see…and know things? Well, it doesn't come without side effects."
Dawn appears beside Xander and slips a set of car keys into his pocket. "Hi, Wesley."
"Dawn," Wesley nods, motioning them inside.
"Xander can't drive so well anymore. He spaces out too much," Dawn says, once inside.
"I have this weird thing where I can sense people's emotions and traumas…I get them in flashes…pain, pleasure, love and depression…it bombards me…" Xander's face is pained but focused.
"What happened to you?" Wesley asks, stricken by Xander's emotional anguish.
"Long story…it upsets him," Dawn says, quietly, sitting beside him protectively.
"Things got kind of messed-up…but we saved the world and only a few people died…" Xander says, flatly. "Dawn?"
"Okay, Xander. Wesley, you have a bathroom?" Dawn knows what Xander is asking by only a glance at his face.
Wesley points to a nearby door. "Over there."
"Just a little for now, Xander, okay?" Dawn calls, as Xander stands up.
"Drinking makes the voices quieter," Xander says to Wesley, quietly revealing a flask.
"There has to be something else," Wesley replies.
"Pain…" Dawn says, as Xander walks away. "Stay focused in there, okay?"
"Thanks," He says, absently as he closes the door behind him.
Once Xander is inside the bathroom, Dawn turns to Wesley.
"Sometimes the flashes paralyze him so much that to make them stop, he'll…he'll hurt himself. He's punched concrete walls, sliced his arms, anything to distract him from the voices. He handles it pretty well most of the time but…it takes it's toll."
"What kind of flashes, Dawn?"
"They're not really flashes, we don't know what they are. He knows things…he knows about my life before Sunnydale, he knows about you and Angel, Connor and Lorne, he just knows things. He's like an antennae for some kind of psychic frequency," Dawn replies.
Wesley is stunned.
"He's okay, though. He takes care of us," Dawn adds.
Xander returns, looking more comfortable. "Wesley. You look worse than me and that's very sad."
"From what Dawn says, you know why," Wesley replies, cautious.
"Yes. It sucks. But you deserve forgiveness. Everyone does. I'm not Angel's biggest fan but…I've already sent him to hell once and I don't want to have that on my conscious again…it shouldn't be on yours either," Xander says, taking a generous gulp of whiskey.
"Where is Angel?" Wesley asks.
"First, we need to see Gunn and Fred. Are you up for that?" Xander asks, trembling slightly.
"Is it necessary?" Wesley replies after a beat.
"Yes. If it gets too ugly, too tense…I won't be able to handle it anyway…so let's make this easy for everyone and get it over with."