Title: The Cerridewn Intent
Rating: R
Author: Banquo
Email: banquo@fanfiction.net
Summary: Future fic. A former member of the Scooby gang reflects on the
life he had left behind. But when that life comes back to haunt him, it
puts not only him, but also his wife in the danger he thought he left
behind. This is an AU, and it is a BtVS crossover, but I don't want give
away what show quite yet, but I forewarn you that I will be taking some
creative liberties with that universe as well. Also this is a future fic.
Archive: Go right ahead. Just notify me if you decide to archive any of my stuff. I'd like to know where all my stuff goes you know.
Chapter Two: History Lessons
As Xander pulled off the freeway and onto the detour he remembered the offer he had given Faith that night, before he left her motel room.
.
Xander was out of bed pulling on his shirt and gathering any other items of clothing that had been thrown onto the floor.
"So you're off to do whatever it is you do, while we're out patrolling?" Faith asked, holding the sheet demurely over her chest.
"As a matter of fact?" he said nonchalantly, without so much as a glance in her direction. "Yes."
"Aren't you even concerned about what me, and the others are fighting?"
"With what? The She-demons or the Hellmouth opening?" He answered as he pulled on his pants.
"You know?"
"Yes." He was only able to find one sock. He knew it was around here somewhere.
"You know, and you still aren't going to help us?"
"That is my current plan, yes." He answered her from the floor looking under the bed for his missing sock. Using his arm as a probe he finally located it. Clutching it in his hand he moved to get up, only to find a very naked, and very angry Slayer on top of him. Again.
"You know that the Mouth of FUCKING Hell is going to open tonight and you aren't going to lift a DAMN finger to help stop it!?!?
"No. And as much as I love being in this position," with those words Xander rolled his hips upward knocking Faith off balance. Using that to his advantage he planted his left elbow into the ground and pivoted to his right, effectively flipping Faith onto her back with Xander on top of her pinning her to the ground. Xander leaned down and kissed her again in the heat of the moment before saying, "and this position, neither of us have time for a second round."
Xander got up and allowed Faith to get to her feet. But not before he saw the small look of disappointment in her eyes.
"Besides." He continued as he put on the rest of his clothes. "I have it on very good authority that not only will the Hellmouth open tonight, but it will undoubtedly close as well."
"How good of an authority is this?"
"He's never been wrong before."
"There is always a first time."
"I trust him."
"I don't even know him Xander! How can you expect me to trust him?"
Xander seemed to look at her for a long time. "I could show you what he showed me."
"What do you mean?"
"You've always wanted to know what it is I do, well here is your chance. I'm making you an offer Faith. If you survive tonight, meet me at the diner we usually have dinner at and I'll tell you everything."
"But you just told me the Hellmouth will close."
"But I didn't say you would survive it did I?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Faith said with a sarcastic smirk.
"Well if this helps any, here is a little incentive for you." He said as he leaned down and kissed her again, slower this time. He let his lips linger over hers long enough to let his passion be known, but just short enough to make her want more.
"I gotta get going." He said, after releasing her lips. "I've got a world to save and so do you, remember?"
He picked up the SPAS-12 and walked over to the window of the room checking all directions before he pulled the door open. He was about to walk out when Faith's voice stopped him.
"Tomorrow night then?"
Xander turned back and nodded back with a lop-sided grin, "Tomorrow night."
With the SPAS-12 at the ready and a grin on his face he made his exit.
.
He remembered talking to Faith about that night later on. She said that he was dark, mysterious and incredibly sexy. Xander couldn't help but chuckle at that. Angel would have been proud! Either that or annoyed that someone was stealing his shtick.
As it turned out, Faith didn't meet him the next night. The injuries she sustained in the fight put her out of commission for a couple of days. He wasn't joking when he told her that he wasn't sure if she would survive or not.
Jason has shown him the numbers for missions such as that. Even with his best teams the mortality rate on the missions were at least twenty percent. The Scooby gang was lucky they had gone through so much already but their numbers had been much better. Later Xander discovered that another reason that Jason had chosen him was that he hoped that Xander would bring some of that 'luck' with him.
The funny thing about it was that he actually did bring that luck with him. Jason said that out of all the agents under his direct command, Xander had the highest success ratio. With each mission, his skills improved exponentially, he was able to fulfill the mission requirements with ease. In short, he was becoming the best. There were still some out there that could possibly beat him in different aspects of the game, but as a total player, he was seen as one of the elite.
But it wasn't until he brought Faith into the group did he truly become the best. Correction, when Faith joined him as his partner they became the best. Jason told them those above him had given their little unit a nickname; The Untouchables. They were the wild cards, the two of them separately they could change a situation in their favor, together they would win hands down almost every time.
As he pulled up to his modest home he saw his wife stretching on the front porch. Her daily routine included five mile run every afternoon. She trotted down the steps of the porch to meet him as he stepped out of the car.
"You're home early." She said as she threw her arms around his neck.
"You surprised? Do you have some young guy hiding in the back?" He joked. It had been their running joke for the past few years. Since they had 'settled' down he joked that she would find a younger more attractive man to replace him. She always laughed responded with the same answer.
"You kidding me? I don't think a man exists in this world that can keep up with me, let alone satisfy me better than you. Besides, I've put so much effort into you, it'd be a shame to waste all that hard work hot shot." She said with a wink.
"Well if you're not tired of me yet, would you mind if I joined you on your run? It'd help me wind down a bit." He told her.
"You do feel a bit tense." She stated, "Fine, just as long as you don't slow me down."
"I've been able to keep up all these years haven't I?" He said with a slight leer before adding. "Give me a sec to change and I'll stretch with you."
With that he disappeared into the home. A few minutes later he was at the front door in a tank top and warm-ups. He and Faith had kept in shape over the years, their respective enhancements made sure of that. However it was some of the skills, some instincts that had dulled over the years. The skills were still there, but they were woefully rusty with misuse. What might have taken seconds in a previous life now could take close to a minute.
After stretching a bit he turned to his wife and asked, "You ready to get going?"
"I was waiting for you remember?" She said with an annoyed look, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face for long, "Come on, lets go!"
With that they took off on their run. They headed to a large park that was located three miles from their home. Faith had told him once that she usually did five laps around the perimeter of the park, a total distance of about four miles. The terrain around the park heavily wooded with trails cutting through patches of trees.
By the time they got to the park the sun was hanging low in the sky. When he had asked her why she enjoyed running at this time her response was that it reminded her of patrol. The dark patches on the trail helped her keep her senses sharp.
When they had started there were a few people still in the park. A couple with their children, a man with his dog, a few other runners along the different paths, but as they begun their fifth lap Xander noticed that they had all left, trying to get home before nightfall no doubt.
As they turned the corner and onto a particularly dark patch on the trail, something grated against Xander's senses, something that harkened back to his days on mission.
He glanced at Faith who looked like she didn't notice anything, but still there was something here, something that was off. Up ahead there were two men walking towards them talking amiably. To some they would have looked like a couple of friends taking a short walk after work but something about them didn't feel right, something that hovered just outside of his senses.
Then he saw it, as one of them pointed to something in the distance and he saw that he was wearing suspenders and a belt.
To some it was nothing. To him it was a tell-all, something that raised warning flags in his mind.
One wore one and not the other, never both. The only reason you would have to wear both would be if you had something heavy in your pockets, like your two backup guns. He quickly assessed him. His pants were cut low enough that they came down to his heels. Not the kind of thing you would wear for work, but if you had an ankle holster and an ankle sheath it would hide both nicely.
What did they want? They weren't there on their previous passes; they had to be there specifically for them. Why? Did the Initiative finally decide that they wanted to clean up any and all loose ends? He and Faith had done what they had wanted, they left it all behind quietly and now they wanted to take them out?
Keeping pace he bent down and scooped up a glass shard off of the ground, he had noticed it earlier on their first lap of the park.
His sudden downward motion caught Faith's attention and he nodded his head towards the two men. After a brief glance he could see the realization on her face. She nodded as they both slowed their pace a bit.
Xander placed the shard in his palm as he felt its edges. It was a slight of hand trick he had picked up to conceal small items, if he needed it he would let the piece of glass fall into his fingers and use it as a small dagger. It would only be good for a single stab, but that was all he would need.
"Excuse me, Professor and Mrs. Stevenson?" The first man asked as they came to a halt. Both men were standing in their way, blocking their path.
"Yes? What can we do for you?" Xander replied breathing heavily, feigning tiredness, and belying his true physical shape.
"You will come with us, we have something we would like to discuss with you."
"I'm sorry but do we know you?" Faith asked.
"No but we do know you two." The second man said placing his hands on his hips, causing his jacket to bulge.
It was an overt threat, telling then that they were ready to use force if needed.
"Sorry, but we're not going to go anywhere with you two." Xander replied.
"Look buddy, like it or not you're going to go." The second man didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Xander let the piece of glass fall to his fingers. Grasping the shard on the flat edges firmly Xander stabbed the second man in the stomach tearing skin and muscle tissue in the process.
The man cried out in pain as he went to clutch his stomach, it was this very movement that showed Xander that he was dealing with amateurs, either that or extremely wet behind the ears rookies.
Always go for you weapon first, always.
It had been one of the mandates that Jason had given him. The pain would still be there if you didn't draw your weapon, this way you have a chance to defend yourself.
The first man reached out to his partner trying to help him but was only rewarded by Faith's arms dislocating his shoulder.
Xander meanwhile, reached into his opponent's jacket and pull out the gun in the shoulder holster, pistol whipping the man at the same time.
Almost as soon as his opponent hit the ground so did Faith's. She had hit him with a chop across the carotid triangle pinching the arteries located there cutting off the blood supply to the brain enough to cause unconsciousness.
Switching the safety on the gun off Xander calmly swept the area looking for any other threats. The fight took less than fifteen seconds and he didn't notice if the two were able to contact any backup, but he wanted to be sure. While he swept the area he looked at the Model 92 in his hand.
It wasn't Initiative issue that was sure. The Initiative standard sidearm was the Glock 21, when he had left. The only people who used Berettas as a sidearm were the US army and government agencies. It wouldn't have been uncommon if they were in the Pacific Northwest, but here, here these men had to work for the government.
Faith crouched down to the two unconscious bodies as Xander performed his sweep. Pulling out a badge fold she opened it out and confirmed Xander's previous thoughts. Pulling out the other man's badge fold she saw that they both were attached to the CIA.
The CIA in times past weren't allowed to operate on American soil. However what had happened ten years ago changed all that. It had plunged half the country into martial law while the other half turned a blind eye and quarantined the area off, letting the unfortunate to fend for themselves.
"We need to get out of here, quickly." He told her. "We could probably take a car from the far lot," Xander said but Faith held her hand up silencing him. "What is it?" He whispered.
"Listen." She said quietly, pointing upward.
Straining his ears he searched for the sound that had drawn his wife's attention. Leaves rustling, a dog barking.and.and a soft rumble.
That was what had triggered his senses earlier, the sound was as out of place here as a fish out of water.
The sound of a car in idle.
They moved quietly to see a car parked on a small access road at the back of the park, left in idle. No doubt, for a quick get away. Faith moved to the driver's seat while Xander continued to watch the perimeter, sweeping it with the M92.
"Where to?" Faith asked.
"Home. They wont be able to force their way into our home and the neighborhood is too full for them to try anything." He replied.
"They will confront us." It was a statement that Xander knew to be true.
"Yes, but at least we can do it on our own terms. Lets go."
As they pulled out of the access road and onto normal streets, they wondered why the agency would come after them. Their former identities were hidden, obscured into the past. No one outside of the Initiative should have been able to find out who they were and what it was that they did. Not even the other Initiative that Professor Walsh had control over all those years ago knew who they were. They all had the 'highest' government clearance.
But Faith, Jason, and himself and the rest of his cell were all beyond security clearances, to the world they were invisible, shadows in the dark, not a single person would betray that secrecy.
No one.
But someone did.
How could security been breeched so completely? Who would have sold their secrets? Someone had been sloppy, someone had opened the Pandora's box and now, now those who couldn't possibly understand their mission, their purpose, were coming after them.
Why? For what purpose? If they had wanted them dead, they would already be so.
Xander and Faith glanced at each other each knowing what was going through the other's mind. They were caught, unprepared and unawares, they had wanted something else. But the question was what?
They had been out of the game for so long, their secrets were dated, from missions long past. Anything they had to reveal would have been revealed by whatever source had leaked that information.
Faith pulled the car up to the curb in front of the house. Neither she nor Xander cared at this point how strange it must have looked for them to be driving up to the house since when they left they left without any transportation except their own two feet.
Xander hid the M92 from view as they walked up onto their porch. As they walked into the house he tossed the gun to Faith who deftly caught the weapon as she pulled a light jacket out of the closet. Quickly putting the garment on she secured the gun by the small of her back using her waistband to hold the weapon steady.
Walking to the front window they waited for one of two things to happen; either whoever sent the two agents after them would come in force, or more likely whoever sent the agents would come in quietly and clean up any residuals left in the area.
What happened next was completely unexpected. A limousine pulled up in front of their home, with small flags for both the United States and CIA mounted on the hood of the car.
Whoever was in that car was making a peace offering.
An open, public appearance, no shows of force this time.
As the car parked in their driveway, both Xander and Faith made their way onto the front porch.
Xander leaned against the doorframe an arm wrapped around Faith's waist as she leaned back into him. To any watching them from the street, they would look like a husband and wife welcoming a friend to their home. For Xander and Faith it gave them a strategic advantage.
Unbeknownst to those in the limousine, Xander's free hand was around the handle of the gun that Faith had placed at the small of her back. It was a position they had used before, in another life.
It had been another one of Jason's mandates; Amateurs always hesitate to harm a woman. Use that weakness; exploit it.
Faith provided a split second hesitation that gave Xander all the time he needed to get one, if not two shots off. At the current distance to the limousine, both shots would be deadly.
A man stepped out of the limo, his jacket in one hand. Turing his back to them, he closed his door and walked to the passenger side window. He knocked on the window and it rolled down. The man gestured to the driver and then turned around slowly to face the couple on the porch. Leaving his jacket on the roof of the limo he walked slowly towards the house.
"Looks like he's waving the white flag." Faith said softly to her husband.
"Looks like it." Xander agreed.
The man's movements were deliberate. He was showing them he was unarmed and alone.
He continued to walk up the path towards the porch until Xander told him, "That's far enough. What ever it is you have to say can be said from there."
Stopping his forward movement, the man spoke. "I'm just here to talk."
"I suppose your associates at the park 'just wanted to talk' as well?" Faith asked coolly.
An almost imperceptible wince came over the man's features before he answered. "Jones and Leffingwell, were a bit overzealous in their methods. But considering both your reputations."
"As what? A professor? A housewife? Your men underestimated my wife and I. Plain and simple. They didn't expect us to know how to defend ourselves, the university has many adult self-defense courses." Xander told the stranger in their front yard. Their cover was meant to avoid suspicion, not stand up against focused scrutiny.
"Is that so Mr. Harris? I seriously doubt they taught you two what you did to my men in a self-defense class."
"I don't know who Mr. Harris is, but I assure you my husband and I are quite capable of defending ourselves."
"And who exactly are you? And what exactly is it that you want?" Xander questioned the man standing in front of them.
"I am William Carmichael. Assistant Director for the CIA. As for what I want," he said taking a step forward.
"Stay where you are." Xander said firmly, stopping Carmichael in his tracks.
"As for what I want," Carmichael reached into his pocket and was about to pull out an item when he heard an audible click of a gun's hammer being pulled back. Looking up he saw that the man he knew as Alexander Harris had pulled a gun from somewhere and had leveled it at him.
"I don't care what it is you are going to pull out, but I want you to do it slowly, you so much as twitch the wrong way and I'll blow your head off." When Carmichael had reached into his pocket, Xander had to make a decision. Try to keep their cover intact or protect themselves, as it was with all maters concerning Faith he chose to protect her.
Faith, feeling Xander's grip on her waist slacken, she stepped away from him and moved to the side and began to slowly move toward Carmichael. Carefully keeping the man in between herself the limousine.
"Whatever you have in your hand, I want you to hand over to my wife."
"What makes you think I wont try to take her hostage?" Carmichael questioned.
Xander chuckled as he shook his head slightly. "If you tried that, she'd probably break your neck before I could even get a shot off and she'd probably use your carcass as a shield to get back into the house."
Carmichael looked at the stunning woman in front of him, who now had a cold smirk on her face. He could see that Harris was telling the truth. Slowly and in plain sight Carmichael took the small container from his pocket and handed it to the woman he knew as Faith.
"I just want to talk," he told them as he handed the container over. "Consider this a peace offering, I have more where that came from. There is a number written on it, it's my personal cell phone number. Only a handful of people know it."
Taking the container. Faith backed up until she was in the doorframe with Xander.
At the same time the man began to back away towards the limousine. Reaching back, he glanced at the door searching for the handle and opened the door and got into the limousine. A few moments later the limousine pulled away from the curb and down the street.
At the door Xander released the hammer on the gun and both he and Faith retreated into the safety of their home.
Faith opened the container while Xander eyed the window to see if there were any lingering 'visitors' outside of their home.
Moving to the closet Faith reached up to the doorbell mechanism and pushed a button. It was one of the few holdovers they kept from their old lives. I highly compact white noise generator. Should anyone point a listening device in their direction all they would get would be static.
That done Faith began to pry open the small container.
Looking at what his wife was doing he exclaimed, "Are you crazy! What if that thing is booby trapped?"
"I would have felt the bad vibes the instant I held onto it hotshot. You do remember that I have all the Slayer powers, including the spider-sense."
"I know it's just that this whole situation is unnerving. Faith, the guy knew who we were. I don't know what happened but someone seriously fucked up."
Opening the container revealed a small disc and a card with a number written on it. The disc was dated May 17th, 2000.
The date made Faith go pale. Xander saw the change and went to his wife's side. Seeing the date on the disc made him drop to his knees.
They sat there in silence, in a shared somberness. Seconds ticked by, each of them reliving a memory so painful it made them both physically ill.
"We have to watch it." Faith said as she slowly got up and walked to the living room with Xander following closely behind.
Handing the disc to Xander who placed the disc in the DVD player and turned the TV on. Sitting next to his wife he hit play on the remote control and the picture on the TV came to life.
Had anyone been passing by, or even listening closely at that moment, they would have heard a crash and low wailing. A wail that had embodied pain, agony and loss, a wail that emerged from the depths on an individual's soul barring all that was contained within.
For inside the home of Professor Jonathan Stevenson and his wife, the home Xander and Faith Harris, was Xander clutching Faith to him as they sat on the floor. Surrounded by the shards of what was left of their glass coffee table he comforted her as best he could while a white hot seething rage boiled inside of him as he continued to watch as the video on the screen looped again once more.
On the screen were younger versions of themselves. The night, they had lost the baby.
"What's wrong?" He heard Faith's voice say from TV.
He watched as the doctor looked at his younger self and shook his head, holding the unmoving form of his child.
He heard the barely whispered word as he saw the figure on the television lower his head in sorrow.
"Xander what's wrong?!" Faith's voice said again, more panicked than before, "Why isn't she crying?!? Xander, why wont she cry!?!"
Then the sobs came, not unlike the one he heard now, low guttural sobs. Sobs of pain, sadness and incredible loss; the doctors left the room as he watched as Xander and some of the other staff tried to restrain Faith.
But it wasn't reliving that moment that cased his rage to boil. Nor was it reliving this moment the cause of Faith's sobs against his chest. The next scene on the tape showed the doctors walking, in what had to be the hallway just outside of the room they had just been in, for he could hear the muffled cries of his wife still faintly on the video.
A man he had never seen before in his life walked up to the doctors. "Did all go as planned?"
The doctor nodded yes and handed a small bundle over to the man. As the man turned around to walk away Xander could see the bundle squirm and as the man pushed open doors at the end of the hallway open he heard the unmistakable sound of a baby crying.
His baby.
Against his chest Faith said the words he was thinking in his mind. But only she said them not with the rage he felt inside, but with pain that racked her body as she sobbed.
"They took our baby. They took our baby. Our beautiful baby girl. Xander, they took her!" She said once again as the video on the screen replayed the scene. Her body shaking with sobs.
Holding her close he tried to calm her down.
Looking down he saw the card that had Carmichael's number on it.
The number seared into his brain.
If Carmichael wanted to talk they would talk.
Xander wanted answers.
Answers he would get out of Carmichael, one way or the other.
.
End Chapter 2
Archive: Go right ahead. Just notify me if you decide to archive any of my stuff. I'd like to know where all my stuff goes you know.
Chapter Two: History Lessons
As Xander pulled off the freeway and onto the detour he remembered the offer he had given Faith that night, before he left her motel room.
.
Xander was out of bed pulling on his shirt and gathering any other items of clothing that had been thrown onto the floor.
"So you're off to do whatever it is you do, while we're out patrolling?" Faith asked, holding the sheet demurely over her chest.
"As a matter of fact?" he said nonchalantly, without so much as a glance in her direction. "Yes."
"Aren't you even concerned about what me, and the others are fighting?"
"With what? The She-demons or the Hellmouth opening?" He answered as he pulled on his pants.
"You know?"
"Yes." He was only able to find one sock. He knew it was around here somewhere.
"You know, and you still aren't going to help us?"
"That is my current plan, yes." He answered her from the floor looking under the bed for his missing sock. Using his arm as a probe he finally located it. Clutching it in his hand he moved to get up, only to find a very naked, and very angry Slayer on top of him. Again.
"You know that the Mouth of FUCKING Hell is going to open tonight and you aren't going to lift a DAMN finger to help stop it!?!?
"No. And as much as I love being in this position," with those words Xander rolled his hips upward knocking Faith off balance. Using that to his advantage he planted his left elbow into the ground and pivoted to his right, effectively flipping Faith onto her back with Xander on top of her pinning her to the ground. Xander leaned down and kissed her again in the heat of the moment before saying, "and this position, neither of us have time for a second round."
Xander got up and allowed Faith to get to her feet. But not before he saw the small look of disappointment in her eyes.
"Besides." He continued as he put on the rest of his clothes. "I have it on very good authority that not only will the Hellmouth open tonight, but it will undoubtedly close as well."
"How good of an authority is this?"
"He's never been wrong before."
"There is always a first time."
"I trust him."
"I don't even know him Xander! How can you expect me to trust him?"
Xander seemed to look at her for a long time. "I could show you what he showed me."
"What do you mean?"
"You've always wanted to know what it is I do, well here is your chance. I'm making you an offer Faith. If you survive tonight, meet me at the diner we usually have dinner at and I'll tell you everything."
"But you just told me the Hellmouth will close."
"But I didn't say you would survive it did I?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Faith said with a sarcastic smirk.
"Well if this helps any, here is a little incentive for you." He said as he leaned down and kissed her again, slower this time. He let his lips linger over hers long enough to let his passion be known, but just short enough to make her want more.
"I gotta get going." He said, after releasing her lips. "I've got a world to save and so do you, remember?"
He picked up the SPAS-12 and walked over to the window of the room checking all directions before he pulled the door open. He was about to walk out when Faith's voice stopped him.
"Tomorrow night then?"
Xander turned back and nodded back with a lop-sided grin, "Tomorrow night."
With the SPAS-12 at the ready and a grin on his face he made his exit.
.
He remembered talking to Faith about that night later on. She said that he was dark, mysterious and incredibly sexy. Xander couldn't help but chuckle at that. Angel would have been proud! Either that or annoyed that someone was stealing his shtick.
As it turned out, Faith didn't meet him the next night. The injuries she sustained in the fight put her out of commission for a couple of days. He wasn't joking when he told her that he wasn't sure if she would survive or not.
Jason has shown him the numbers for missions such as that. Even with his best teams the mortality rate on the missions were at least twenty percent. The Scooby gang was lucky they had gone through so much already but their numbers had been much better. Later Xander discovered that another reason that Jason had chosen him was that he hoped that Xander would bring some of that 'luck' with him.
The funny thing about it was that he actually did bring that luck with him. Jason said that out of all the agents under his direct command, Xander had the highest success ratio. With each mission, his skills improved exponentially, he was able to fulfill the mission requirements with ease. In short, he was becoming the best. There were still some out there that could possibly beat him in different aspects of the game, but as a total player, he was seen as one of the elite.
But it wasn't until he brought Faith into the group did he truly become the best. Correction, when Faith joined him as his partner they became the best. Jason told them those above him had given their little unit a nickname; The Untouchables. They were the wild cards, the two of them separately they could change a situation in their favor, together they would win hands down almost every time.
As he pulled up to his modest home he saw his wife stretching on the front porch. Her daily routine included five mile run every afternoon. She trotted down the steps of the porch to meet him as he stepped out of the car.
"You're home early." She said as she threw her arms around his neck.
"You surprised? Do you have some young guy hiding in the back?" He joked. It had been their running joke for the past few years. Since they had 'settled' down he joked that she would find a younger more attractive man to replace him. She always laughed responded with the same answer.
"You kidding me? I don't think a man exists in this world that can keep up with me, let alone satisfy me better than you. Besides, I've put so much effort into you, it'd be a shame to waste all that hard work hot shot." She said with a wink.
"Well if you're not tired of me yet, would you mind if I joined you on your run? It'd help me wind down a bit." He told her.
"You do feel a bit tense." She stated, "Fine, just as long as you don't slow me down."
"I've been able to keep up all these years haven't I?" He said with a slight leer before adding. "Give me a sec to change and I'll stretch with you."
With that he disappeared into the home. A few minutes later he was at the front door in a tank top and warm-ups. He and Faith had kept in shape over the years, their respective enhancements made sure of that. However it was some of the skills, some instincts that had dulled over the years. The skills were still there, but they were woefully rusty with misuse. What might have taken seconds in a previous life now could take close to a minute.
After stretching a bit he turned to his wife and asked, "You ready to get going?"
"I was waiting for you remember?" She said with an annoyed look, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face for long, "Come on, lets go!"
With that they took off on their run. They headed to a large park that was located three miles from their home. Faith had told him once that she usually did five laps around the perimeter of the park, a total distance of about four miles. The terrain around the park heavily wooded with trails cutting through patches of trees.
By the time they got to the park the sun was hanging low in the sky. When he had asked her why she enjoyed running at this time her response was that it reminded her of patrol. The dark patches on the trail helped her keep her senses sharp.
When they had started there were a few people still in the park. A couple with their children, a man with his dog, a few other runners along the different paths, but as they begun their fifth lap Xander noticed that they had all left, trying to get home before nightfall no doubt.
As they turned the corner and onto a particularly dark patch on the trail, something grated against Xander's senses, something that harkened back to his days on mission.
He glanced at Faith who looked like she didn't notice anything, but still there was something here, something that was off. Up ahead there were two men walking towards them talking amiably. To some they would have looked like a couple of friends taking a short walk after work but something about them didn't feel right, something that hovered just outside of his senses.
Then he saw it, as one of them pointed to something in the distance and he saw that he was wearing suspenders and a belt.
To some it was nothing. To him it was a tell-all, something that raised warning flags in his mind.
One wore one and not the other, never both. The only reason you would have to wear both would be if you had something heavy in your pockets, like your two backup guns. He quickly assessed him. His pants were cut low enough that they came down to his heels. Not the kind of thing you would wear for work, but if you had an ankle holster and an ankle sheath it would hide both nicely.
What did they want? They weren't there on their previous passes; they had to be there specifically for them. Why? Did the Initiative finally decide that they wanted to clean up any and all loose ends? He and Faith had done what they had wanted, they left it all behind quietly and now they wanted to take them out?
Keeping pace he bent down and scooped up a glass shard off of the ground, he had noticed it earlier on their first lap of the park.
His sudden downward motion caught Faith's attention and he nodded his head towards the two men. After a brief glance he could see the realization on her face. She nodded as they both slowed their pace a bit.
Xander placed the shard in his palm as he felt its edges. It was a slight of hand trick he had picked up to conceal small items, if he needed it he would let the piece of glass fall into his fingers and use it as a small dagger. It would only be good for a single stab, but that was all he would need.
"Excuse me, Professor and Mrs. Stevenson?" The first man asked as they came to a halt. Both men were standing in their way, blocking their path.
"Yes? What can we do for you?" Xander replied breathing heavily, feigning tiredness, and belying his true physical shape.
"You will come with us, we have something we would like to discuss with you."
"I'm sorry but do we know you?" Faith asked.
"No but we do know you two." The second man said placing his hands on his hips, causing his jacket to bulge.
It was an overt threat, telling then that they were ready to use force if needed.
"Sorry, but we're not going to go anywhere with you two." Xander replied.
"Look buddy, like it or not you're going to go." The second man didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Xander let the piece of glass fall to his fingers. Grasping the shard on the flat edges firmly Xander stabbed the second man in the stomach tearing skin and muscle tissue in the process.
The man cried out in pain as he went to clutch his stomach, it was this very movement that showed Xander that he was dealing with amateurs, either that or extremely wet behind the ears rookies.
Always go for you weapon first, always.
It had been one of the mandates that Jason had given him. The pain would still be there if you didn't draw your weapon, this way you have a chance to defend yourself.
The first man reached out to his partner trying to help him but was only rewarded by Faith's arms dislocating his shoulder.
Xander meanwhile, reached into his opponent's jacket and pull out the gun in the shoulder holster, pistol whipping the man at the same time.
Almost as soon as his opponent hit the ground so did Faith's. She had hit him with a chop across the carotid triangle pinching the arteries located there cutting off the blood supply to the brain enough to cause unconsciousness.
Switching the safety on the gun off Xander calmly swept the area looking for any other threats. The fight took less than fifteen seconds and he didn't notice if the two were able to contact any backup, but he wanted to be sure. While he swept the area he looked at the Model 92 in his hand.
It wasn't Initiative issue that was sure. The Initiative standard sidearm was the Glock 21, when he had left. The only people who used Berettas as a sidearm were the US army and government agencies. It wouldn't have been uncommon if they were in the Pacific Northwest, but here, here these men had to work for the government.
Faith crouched down to the two unconscious bodies as Xander performed his sweep. Pulling out a badge fold she opened it out and confirmed Xander's previous thoughts. Pulling out the other man's badge fold she saw that they both were attached to the CIA.
The CIA in times past weren't allowed to operate on American soil. However what had happened ten years ago changed all that. It had plunged half the country into martial law while the other half turned a blind eye and quarantined the area off, letting the unfortunate to fend for themselves.
"We need to get out of here, quickly." He told her. "We could probably take a car from the far lot," Xander said but Faith held her hand up silencing him. "What is it?" He whispered.
"Listen." She said quietly, pointing upward.
Straining his ears he searched for the sound that had drawn his wife's attention. Leaves rustling, a dog barking.and.and a soft rumble.
That was what had triggered his senses earlier, the sound was as out of place here as a fish out of water.
The sound of a car in idle.
They moved quietly to see a car parked on a small access road at the back of the park, left in idle. No doubt, for a quick get away. Faith moved to the driver's seat while Xander continued to watch the perimeter, sweeping it with the M92.
"Where to?" Faith asked.
"Home. They wont be able to force their way into our home and the neighborhood is too full for them to try anything." He replied.
"They will confront us." It was a statement that Xander knew to be true.
"Yes, but at least we can do it on our own terms. Lets go."
As they pulled out of the access road and onto normal streets, they wondered why the agency would come after them. Their former identities were hidden, obscured into the past. No one outside of the Initiative should have been able to find out who they were and what it was that they did. Not even the other Initiative that Professor Walsh had control over all those years ago knew who they were. They all had the 'highest' government clearance.
But Faith, Jason, and himself and the rest of his cell were all beyond security clearances, to the world they were invisible, shadows in the dark, not a single person would betray that secrecy.
No one.
But someone did.
How could security been breeched so completely? Who would have sold their secrets? Someone had been sloppy, someone had opened the Pandora's box and now, now those who couldn't possibly understand their mission, their purpose, were coming after them.
Why? For what purpose? If they had wanted them dead, they would already be so.
Xander and Faith glanced at each other each knowing what was going through the other's mind. They were caught, unprepared and unawares, they had wanted something else. But the question was what?
They had been out of the game for so long, their secrets were dated, from missions long past. Anything they had to reveal would have been revealed by whatever source had leaked that information.
Faith pulled the car up to the curb in front of the house. Neither she nor Xander cared at this point how strange it must have looked for them to be driving up to the house since when they left they left without any transportation except their own two feet.
Xander hid the M92 from view as they walked up onto their porch. As they walked into the house he tossed the gun to Faith who deftly caught the weapon as she pulled a light jacket out of the closet. Quickly putting the garment on she secured the gun by the small of her back using her waistband to hold the weapon steady.
Walking to the front window they waited for one of two things to happen; either whoever sent the two agents after them would come in force, or more likely whoever sent the agents would come in quietly and clean up any residuals left in the area.
What happened next was completely unexpected. A limousine pulled up in front of their home, with small flags for both the United States and CIA mounted on the hood of the car.
Whoever was in that car was making a peace offering.
An open, public appearance, no shows of force this time.
As the car parked in their driveway, both Xander and Faith made their way onto the front porch.
Xander leaned against the doorframe an arm wrapped around Faith's waist as she leaned back into him. To any watching them from the street, they would look like a husband and wife welcoming a friend to their home. For Xander and Faith it gave them a strategic advantage.
Unbeknownst to those in the limousine, Xander's free hand was around the handle of the gun that Faith had placed at the small of her back. It was a position they had used before, in another life.
It had been another one of Jason's mandates; Amateurs always hesitate to harm a woman. Use that weakness; exploit it.
Faith provided a split second hesitation that gave Xander all the time he needed to get one, if not two shots off. At the current distance to the limousine, both shots would be deadly.
A man stepped out of the limo, his jacket in one hand. Turing his back to them, he closed his door and walked to the passenger side window. He knocked on the window and it rolled down. The man gestured to the driver and then turned around slowly to face the couple on the porch. Leaving his jacket on the roof of the limo he walked slowly towards the house.
"Looks like he's waving the white flag." Faith said softly to her husband.
"Looks like it." Xander agreed.
The man's movements were deliberate. He was showing them he was unarmed and alone.
He continued to walk up the path towards the porch until Xander told him, "That's far enough. What ever it is you have to say can be said from there."
Stopping his forward movement, the man spoke. "I'm just here to talk."
"I suppose your associates at the park 'just wanted to talk' as well?" Faith asked coolly.
An almost imperceptible wince came over the man's features before he answered. "Jones and Leffingwell, were a bit overzealous in their methods. But considering both your reputations."
"As what? A professor? A housewife? Your men underestimated my wife and I. Plain and simple. They didn't expect us to know how to defend ourselves, the university has many adult self-defense courses." Xander told the stranger in their front yard. Their cover was meant to avoid suspicion, not stand up against focused scrutiny.
"Is that so Mr. Harris? I seriously doubt they taught you two what you did to my men in a self-defense class."
"I don't know who Mr. Harris is, but I assure you my husband and I are quite capable of defending ourselves."
"And who exactly are you? And what exactly is it that you want?" Xander questioned the man standing in front of them.
"I am William Carmichael. Assistant Director for the CIA. As for what I want," he said taking a step forward.
"Stay where you are." Xander said firmly, stopping Carmichael in his tracks.
"As for what I want," Carmichael reached into his pocket and was about to pull out an item when he heard an audible click of a gun's hammer being pulled back. Looking up he saw that the man he knew as Alexander Harris had pulled a gun from somewhere and had leveled it at him.
"I don't care what it is you are going to pull out, but I want you to do it slowly, you so much as twitch the wrong way and I'll blow your head off." When Carmichael had reached into his pocket, Xander had to make a decision. Try to keep their cover intact or protect themselves, as it was with all maters concerning Faith he chose to protect her.
Faith, feeling Xander's grip on her waist slacken, she stepped away from him and moved to the side and began to slowly move toward Carmichael. Carefully keeping the man in between herself the limousine.
"Whatever you have in your hand, I want you to hand over to my wife."
"What makes you think I wont try to take her hostage?" Carmichael questioned.
Xander chuckled as he shook his head slightly. "If you tried that, she'd probably break your neck before I could even get a shot off and she'd probably use your carcass as a shield to get back into the house."
Carmichael looked at the stunning woman in front of him, who now had a cold smirk on her face. He could see that Harris was telling the truth. Slowly and in plain sight Carmichael took the small container from his pocket and handed it to the woman he knew as Faith.
"I just want to talk," he told them as he handed the container over. "Consider this a peace offering, I have more where that came from. There is a number written on it, it's my personal cell phone number. Only a handful of people know it."
Taking the container. Faith backed up until she was in the doorframe with Xander.
At the same time the man began to back away towards the limousine. Reaching back, he glanced at the door searching for the handle and opened the door and got into the limousine. A few moments later the limousine pulled away from the curb and down the street.
At the door Xander released the hammer on the gun and both he and Faith retreated into the safety of their home.
Faith opened the container while Xander eyed the window to see if there were any lingering 'visitors' outside of their home.
Moving to the closet Faith reached up to the doorbell mechanism and pushed a button. It was one of the few holdovers they kept from their old lives. I highly compact white noise generator. Should anyone point a listening device in their direction all they would get would be static.
That done Faith began to pry open the small container.
Looking at what his wife was doing he exclaimed, "Are you crazy! What if that thing is booby trapped?"
"I would have felt the bad vibes the instant I held onto it hotshot. You do remember that I have all the Slayer powers, including the spider-sense."
"I know it's just that this whole situation is unnerving. Faith, the guy knew who we were. I don't know what happened but someone seriously fucked up."
Opening the container revealed a small disc and a card with a number written on it. The disc was dated May 17th, 2000.
The date made Faith go pale. Xander saw the change and went to his wife's side. Seeing the date on the disc made him drop to his knees.
They sat there in silence, in a shared somberness. Seconds ticked by, each of them reliving a memory so painful it made them both physically ill.
"We have to watch it." Faith said as she slowly got up and walked to the living room with Xander following closely behind.
Handing the disc to Xander who placed the disc in the DVD player and turned the TV on. Sitting next to his wife he hit play on the remote control and the picture on the TV came to life.
Had anyone been passing by, or even listening closely at that moment, they would have heard a crash and low wailing. A wail that had embodied pain, agony and loss, a wail that emerged from the depths on an individual's soul barring all that was contained within.
For inside the home of Professor Jonathan Stevenson and his wife, the home Xander and Faith Harris, was Xander clutching Faith to him as they sat on the floor. Surrounded by the shards of what was left of their glass coffee table he comforted her as best he could while a white hot seething rage boiled inside of him as he continued to watch as the video on the screen looped again once more.
On the screen were younger versions of themselves. The night, they had lost the baby.
"What's wrong?" He heard Faith's voice say from TV.
He watched as the doctor looked at his younger self and shook his head, holding the unmoving form of his child.
He heard the barely whispered word as he saw the figure on the television lower his head in sorrow.
"Xander what's wrong?!" Faith's voice said again, more panicked than before, "Why isn't she crying?!? Xander, why wont she cry!?!"
Then the sobs came, not unlike the one he heard now, low guttural sobs. Sobs of pain, sadness and incredible loss; the doctors left the room as he watched as Xander and some of the other staff tried to restrain Faith.
But it wasn't reliving that moment that cased his rage to boil. Nor was it reliving this moment the cause of Faith's sobs against his chest. The next scene on the tape showed the doctors walking, in what had to be the hallway just outside of the room they had just been in, for he could hear the muffled cries of his wife still faintly on the video.
A man he had never seen before in his life walked up to the doctors. "Did all go as planned?"
The doctor nodded yes and handed a small bundle over to the man. As the man turned around to walk away Xander could see the bundle squirm and as the man pushed open doors at the end of the hallway open he heard the unmistakable sound of a baby crying.
His baby.
Against his chest Faith said the words he was thinking in his mind. But only she said them not with the rage he felt inside, but with pain that racked her body as she sobbed.
"They took our baby. They took our baby. Our beautiful baby girl. Xander, they took her!" She said once again as the video on the screen replayed the scene. Her body shaking with sobs.
Holding her close he tried to calm her down.
Looking down he saw the card that had Carmichael's number on it.
The number seared into his brain.
If Carmichael wanted to talk they would talk.
Xander wanted answers.
Answers he would get out of Carmichael, one way or the other.
.
End Chapter 2