To call the house that Sonja and Gregory were staying in, large would be like calling the White House a summer cottage. Or so Xander thought as he turned up the driveway of the place. The mansion loomed above him like a thundercloud made of granite, blocking all light as it passed by the sun. It was intimidating, monolithic, and didn't look particularly happy to have visitors. The huge picture windows were closed by dark curtains, the front doors appeared ready to stand up against a direct nuclear assault, and the gargoyles above the door look down with distaste at anyone brave enough to into their field of vision. The complete absence of any kind of welcome mat didn't sit well with Xander either.

His clothing did nothing to comfort him either. Dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt, Xander felt constricted. All of his clothes were either too small for him, or unbearably tight. He had been forced to go into what was left of his fathers' clothes for something that came even close to fitting him. With his lack of underwear, Xander Harris had never felt more like a male prostitute in his young life.

Stopping the car at the top of the driveway, Xander looked up at the huge house, and heard the theme from The Twilight Zone in his head. "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man," he said to himself as he walks up the immense front steps of the mansion. "It is a dimension as vast as space, and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow - between science and superstition. And it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

Having 'do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do' running through his head, Xander knocked on the great oak doors of the home. Faint footsteps were heard from behind the door, coming quickly and becoming louder. "Ok, Harris," Xander said quietly to himself. "Stay cool. You're in control."

With surprisingly little noise, one of the massive doors swung open. "Hello, Alexi," Sonja said with a smile. "Please, come in."

Sonja was dressed a white halter top and black leggings. Xander could detect the faint smell of fresh sweat, and hear her heartbeat beating faster then normal. "You were working out, weren't you?" Xander asked as he cautiously stepped passed the threshold of the door. "I can smell your sweat and hear your heart beating."

Sonja blushed slightly. "Yes, I was." She said as she closed the door and locked it. "I am happy to see that you are already growing accustom to your enhanced senses. Some have.trouble." The last of the sentence was said as Sonja took in the young mans' appearance with an appreciative look. "Gregory is waiting for us in the gymnasium," the Russian woman said with more then a hint of a smile. "If you could follow me."

As Sonja walked past him, Xander took a quick glance at her butt, then felt equal measure guilt and disgust. 'If this stuff is all true, then she's your cousin!' one part of his mind informed him. 'Yeah, but a 'distant cousin!' another, more hormonal controlled part rebutted. Sighing to himself, Xander kept his eyes off Sonja and focused them on the exterior of the mansion instead.

To Xander, the grim and intimidating exterior of the mansion seemed almost jovial in comparison to the stark interior. There was wood, there was stone and there was light. And that was all. As Sonja led him through the house, Xander couldn't help but marvel at the excess of nothing. It was as if they had found the one place in the world where any kind of comfort would seem ugly and useless. There were chairs and tables, lamps and desks, there were paintings and sculptures, there were all of the things that a mansion should have. But instead of being comfortable, or attractive, they were just there. Like sand at the beach, or water in a pool. Expected. Nothing remarkable about them. Except that they were unremarkable. "Quite the place you have here," Xander commented as he followed his guide down a flight of stairs. "If this place had any less character, it could have its own sitcom on UPN."

"UPN?" Sonja asked, puzzled, as she pushed open a large wooden door at the bottom of the steps. "Through here please."

Sighing, Xander let Sonja led him into a brightly lit room. It was so brightly lit, that at first hurt his newly sensitive eyes. Squinting, the Slayerette walked tentatively into the room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the harsh light. When he finally stopped squinting, he found himself standing in the middle of a large room carpeted with exercise mats. The walls were four incredibly long mirrors, only breaking in the corners where one stopped and another began. A wooden stand held an intimidating array of knives, swords and other, more exotic weapons. Finally, sitting on a wooden stool in a far corner, was Gregory. The old man was reading a newspaper, emitting a disapproving murmur occasionally. His cane rested innocently beside him. "Ah, Alexander," Gregory said glancing at his watch before looking at Xander. "I see you slept in. I expected you earlier."

"Yeah, well I expected to wake up, watch some cartoons, maybe have a waffle. Instead I wake up in intense pain and find out that I have to buy a whole new wardrobe because, wow, I have a new body!" Giving the old man a sarcastic smile, Xander glanced at his reflection, the physical changes he had undergone again striking him. "Seems we were all prone to disappointment today."

Gregory grunted and pulled himself off his seat. Taking out a pair of eyeglasses, the old man walked slowly toward Xander, leaning slightly on his cane. "Da. Let me have a look at you," he said as he seemed to inspect Xander. "Hmm. Ya, take off your clothes."

"What?!?" Xander said, stepping back from Gregory.

"We must weigh you. Take photographs." Looking over at Sonja, Gregory seemed to ask a question in Russian. "For records, yes? Before and after," he told the younger man finally.

Still backing away, Xander shook his head. "Sorry Yoda, this Jedi Knight ain't getting naked."

"I could leave," Sonja said from where she leaned against a wall. "If you are uncomfortable about doing such things in front of a woman."

Xander stared at her for a moment. "I'm not getting naked in front of you, him or anyone else!"

Gregory swore in Russian, muttering under his breath. "Very well! Come here!"

Xander cautiously walked toward the older man. "Alright, but if you try to rip my clothes off I'm so outta here." To his relief, Gregory didn't touch him at all, but merely looked closely at his body. "Um, not to be rude.ah hell, I don't care if I'm rude! Stop staring at me like a prize cow! You're freaking me out again!"

Gregory glared at him briefly before pulling a measuring tape out of his inside pocket. Xander said nothing as the older man took his measurements, taking notes along the way. Finally done, Gregory looked one last time at his notebook, and then tucked both the tape and the book away in his pocket. "Very well, we shall have new clothes for you by this evening. I will go now and make a phone call." Tilting his head at Xander, the old man walked away from him and out of the gym.

"He's not exactly good with new people, is he?" Xander asked Sonja, still looking at the door that Gregory had exited from. "Kinda tense."

Sonja shrugged. "Well you must understand, Gregory is under much pressure right now." Pushing herself off the wall, the young woman continued. "At the moment his elder brother, your grandfather, is dying on the other side of the world. Instead of being at his side, he is here, trying to convince a.reluctant young man that he must take his brothers' place as the head of our family. It is a great responsibility."

Xander, still not completely convinced of everything he had been told, still felt like a bastard. "I.had no idea," he muttered. "I mean, you guys show up at my house last night, and I wake up like this. I read this letter from this guy who says he's my grandfather, tell me things.things I can't even begin to believe and." Looking up at Sonja, Xander felt almost ashamed of himself. "I haven't thought of anything but my problems. Hell I haven't thought of anyone but myself."

Sonja looked surprised at Xander's words, and his remorseful tone. "Alexi.Xander. Both your Uncle and I know that you are under a tremendous amount of stress. It is understandable that you are thinking about yourself right now." Putting a hand on his shoulder, Sonja smiled. "Your entire world is changing. If you weren't thinking in terms of yourself, you would be a fool. That is why Gregory is taking such patience with you."

This time it was Xander who took on a look of surprise. "If that's him being patient, I don't want to see him in a rush!"

Sonja's smile took on a great deal of mirth as she stepped away from Xander. "No, I don't think you would."

Both of them were still laughing when Gregory returned to the gym. He cast a suspicious look at Sonja before turning to Xander. "Your clothing will arrive in a couple of hours. You're transformation exceeded our previous estimates, and it will take some time to make the alterations." With a grunt, Gregory moved back to his seat on the far side of the gym and sat down. "Let's begin."



Before Xander had the chance to ask what was beginning, pain exploded from the side of his head. Staggering back, he looked up in utter amazement. Sonja had kicked him square in the head. "What the hell was that for?" Xander stammered, putting a hand to the spot that hurt the most.

Sonja said nothing, but instead moved toward him again. Her right arm thrust backward, the Russian woman brought her left arm up, bent at the elbow and began to circle Xander. As the young man simply watched her in confusion, Sonja leaped forward, turning her body in the air so that her right arm landed squarely against Xander's jaw. Landing gracefully, Sonja jumped away from Xander in anticipation of an attack. "Catch me if you can, Alexi!" she taunted him with a smile.

A glance at Gregory showed the old man watching the fight with interest. Realizing that this was some kind of test, Xander sighed and rubbed his jaw. "You know, I usually have this rule about not hitting girls.unless they're dead and trying to bite me." Relaxing his body, Xander brought his hands up in the classic pose of a prizefighter and smiled crookedly. "But since you want it.come get some."

Smiling, Sonja changed her stance to match Xander's. Moving in, she danced back and forth, keeping her hands up. When Xander lunged forward clumsily with a jab, she moved aside and landed one of her own against his nose. Not waiting for the boy to recover, she added another two jabs to his jaw and one to his exposed right side. "Thank you sir," she recited in a mockingly accented voice. "May I have some more?"

Xander, finally getting his bearings again, glared her. "Shut up and fight!" Without waiting for a response, Xander moved forward and jabbed quickly. Sonja, raising her hands, blocked the attack and returned one to Xander's side. Instead of pulling away again, Xander took the shot and jabbed again. And again. And again.

Blocking and ducking Xander's fists, Sonja found herself backing away, slowly but surely toward a wall. Knowing that if she reached the wall, Xander would have her, the Russian woman dropped her guard and immediately commenced a counterattack. Jabs, crosses and the occasional uppercut all landed without Xander even attempting to defend himself. As she landed another series of jabs against his face, Sonja briefly thought that she might actually be hurting the boy, but then discarded the thought as physically impossible.

With his head being snapped left, right and back and forth, Xander's sense of direction went out the window. What he found strange was that, while Sonja was pummeling him without mercy, he discovered that he could push whatever pain the blows caused away. So Xander had no pain to fog his mind, only the disorienting jerks of his head as it bounced around under Sonja's blizzard of punches. Xander knew he had to do something, or he'd either throw up or pass out from dizziness. The attack caught Sonja completely off guard. One moment she was in mid-swing, an uppercut aimed for his exposed jaw, and the next she was staggering back, utterly stunned. Xander moved with quickness he never knew he had, and the strength of his punches were devastating. Blood began to pour from Sonja's nose and mouth, a cut opened up above her left eye.

By the time Xander got control of himself, Sonja stood before him, her face covered in blood and arms hanging down limply. As he watched in utter shock, she tipped forward and landed on the floor unconscious. "Holy shit I killed her!" he exclaimed as he stared down at Sonja.

Gregory, who had been silent for the entire fight, pulled himself out of his chair with a grunt, picked up his cane and walked slowly toward the fallen woman. Kneeling down beside her with considerable effort, the older man rolled Sonja on to her back and inspected the damage in silence. "What took you so long, eh?" he asked Xander as he probed the cut above Sonja's eye. "You should have beaten her much more quickly."

"WHAT?" Xander almost screamed. He stared at the old man in utter horror and backed away from him. "I just beat a woman to death with my bare hands, and the only thing you have to say is that I should have done it faster??" It was then that he noticed the blood covering the knuckles of his hands. "Aw shit."

Gregory watched as Xander fainted dead away and then snorts in mild disgust. Swearing in Russian, the old man put an arm around Sonja's limp body, and pulled them both straight with the aid of his cane. With another grunt he heaved the young woman over his broad shoulders and began to limp toward the door. With a final look at the unconscious Xander, Gregory began to climb the steps, quietly muttering about the lack of heart in today's youth.