A lot of talking is being done in this part. OOCness will occur. If
any blaring inconsistencies are found please tell me. :)
I do have a vague idea of where this thing is going. Xander will be
paired with someone, but it won't be Harry. :) As for Xander being
aged to 11 and attending Hogwarts; I have that in another story so
if you want to read that, patience will be required. (I went through
challenges issued on the xanderslash ML and my brain went into
overdrive; how I'm going to be able to focus on school when it
starts is still a mystery to me. *g*)
***
Part 5: Discussions, realisations and good byes
"Are they ever going to find a way to fix Xander?"
Even if he was in the bedroom, where he slept on a mattress on the
floor, he could hear Anya talking in the living room. Not that it
was hard to hear her, even without vamp hearing, she was talking
rather loudly. She was angry, he could tell, but there was a trace
of tears and defeat in that voice. Which was only natural
considering it had been two weeks now and the slayer's group still
hadn't found a way to make Xander 19 again.
"I'm *so* sorry Anya, they have been looking and looking, but they
just can't find a solution. Xander has grown though, the others may
not have noticed, but I have and I think he's now the equivalent of
a six months old baby, instead of a new born. I'm sure he'll be
Xander again in no time at this rate."
Dawn trying her best to be optimistic, to comfort Anya, but there
was a hint of defeat in her voice too. She had a point though, the
whelp had aged and if he kept aging at the current rate he would be
himself again nearly two years from now. Spike could understand
Anya's frustration; two years was a long time for mortals.
"I know that." Anya snapped, "but by time he is grown up again he
won't be *my* Xander anymore!"
"Sure he will." Dawn tried.
"No!" Anya adamant. "He's feels different now and I know what it is.
Something that was wrong before but made him my Xander has been
righted by this de-aging business and if he grows up with this being
right he'll be completely different person. Can't you understand
that?"
Her voice rose till she was shouting and he could hear her fighting
really hard not to cry.
"Anya.."
The shouting had woken up Xander who had been sleeping in his
bassinet and he started crying, cutting Dawn's reply off as she
apparently went to pick him up. There was some murmuring and
shuffling around, a bottle was probably prepared for the baby.
Xander quieted down and after a while there was shuffling again and
Dawn announcing that she would take Xander for a walk. The door
opened and closed, and there was silence. Anya was still out there,
he could hear her heartbeat, and it was evening out as if she was
falling asleep.
Spike thought about her words and remembered the scene he'd come
upon a couple of days ago. He'd come back to the apartment, where
Anya had let him stay, after being out helping the slayer (Dawn had
begged him to go with her sister, Riley had been busy.). It had been
just an hour before the sun was going to come up and he hadn't been
surprised to realise that demon girl and the baby was up. The door
to the bathroom had been open and he'd heard the splashing of water.
Thinking Anya was giving the whelp a bath he'd gone to door,
prepared to enter, but stopped when he'd heard Anya's soft
murmuring. Not giving away himself he'd sneaked a peek and seen Anya
in the bathtub with Xander in her lap.
"I'm sad Xander." She'd said to the baby gurgling happily at her.
Spike had been a bit surprised seeing how aware the little baby's
eyes had seemed. It was like the baby was hanging on to every word
Anya said.
"I'm sort of happy too." Were the next words out Anya's mouth. "I
think it's I'm happy for you, not for me. It's strange."
She did indeed sound sad. And very confused. Spike waited for her to
continue.
"I'm happy for you because you feel right now. Not that you felt
wrong before, just like something was off. But I guess that was made
you the Xander your friends and I know. *My* Xander."
There was a smile in her voice now.
"Anyway I think that that off feeling was what all the demons sensed
and why you appeared to be such a demon magnet. You're a little
wizard Xander and when you grow up this time I think you'll be
strong one too. I'm sure you didn't know about yourself, something
must have happened to you that made you hide your magic and forget
that you had it. What happened and how you did it, I don't know."
She sighed and laughed softly. When Spike sneaked another peek he
saw the baby squirming in Anya's arms, he was trying to reach for
one of the toys in the bath. Getting hold of it he stuffed it into
his mouth and turned his attention to Anya once again.
"You're a cute baby Xander, I like you like this but I also would
like my boyfriend back. But I won't get that will I? I have lost
him. I don't think those friends of yours will find a way to age you
back right now and that's what it'll take for you to be our, *my*
Xander again. The aging has to happen in the immediate future or
else I think you just have to grow up again. If you stay here and
grow up with your friends, and me we will have a part of you back.
Just a part because *I* would make sure you didn't hide your magic
again and you would know what you are and you *would* be different.
I know that. That's why I'm sad - my Xander, my boyfriend is lost to
me. As a wizard you don't really belong here with us, in this world.
You really should grow up among wizards and be trained properly.
That's why I'm giving your friends another week to see if they can
find something, which I don't think they will, before I start making
arrangements to send you off to the wizarding world. Your friends
won't be happy about it but I don't care about that, in this case I
know better than them what's best for you. After all I spent over a
thousand years as a magical creature."
The sound of the baby blowing a raspberry could be heard and Anya
giggled.
"I think it's time to dry up now, what do you say?" She cooed and
got a happy noise in reply. There was splashing and shuffling as the
pair got out of the tub. Anya spoke again as she dried the baby.
"I love you Xander and the thought of having lost you hurts. It
feels like my heart is being crushed - still I know that when you
grow up this time I won't be right for you, and you won't be right
for me either. But everything will be all right - I can *feel* it."
At this point he'd inched away from the door carefully and had to
admit he was feeling rather sad and mushy after that little speech.
At the same time excitement had coiled in his stomach; Anya had
confirmed his belief that Xander was a wizard *and* she had
indicated that she knew how to get to the wizarding world. He'd
grinned maniacally to himself as he went to bed - perhaps she'd
agree to let him tag along when she sent Xander off. Thoughts of
seeing Sev again had been his last ones before falling asleep.
Again Spike grinned to himself as he thought about that
night/morning. He hadn't quite gotten around to asking Anya about it
yet; they'd been busy with the baby and researching. Thinking now
was as good a time as any; he got up, pulled on his jeans and went
in to the living room.
"Anya.." He said quietly as he shook her shoulder, trying to wake
her up. Sleepy and red-rimmed eyes opened and looked questioningly
at him.
"What?"
"Need to talk. About Xander."
"OK." She said and pulling herself into an upright position. "Talk."
"Well you know that business about Xander being a wizard." He
started hesitantly and continued when she nodded. "I overheard you
telling him that you wanted to send him the wizarding world if the
Scoobies didn't find a way to fix him within a week. How exactly
were you planning on doing that?"
"Why?" she asked suspiciously. He thought it was a weird moment for
her to become suspicious, after all he'd spent the two last weeks
helping her and Dawn with a *baby* for crying out loud. He decided
to just tell her.
"Because I want to go with him." When her eyes widened in confusion
he added "OK, so not exactly *with* him, just I want to go to the
wizarding world too. Lived there once and I know someone there. And
you know the whelp's a baby now, he'll need someone to take him and
he practically *loves* me:" The last was said in a very smug voice.
"Oh." Was the only sound Anya made. She didn't continue until Spike
looked at her pointedly, eyebrow quirked in question.
"I still have contact with D'Hoffryn you know. He's promised me my
powers back if I died or if my heart got broken and if my heart
isn't broken right now I don't even want to consider how a broken
heart actually feels because this is *so* painful." Voice broke,
tears threatened.
Spike could sympathize, he really could but he wasn't a patient
vampire and he needed her to get to the point right now.
"What does you getting your powers back have to do with anything?"
"You're not very smart are you?" she huffed, ignoring his 'I resent
that'. "With my powers I have access to alternate dimensions *and*
magical worlds." She saw realisation dawn in his eyes and continued.
"Wizards have several methods of transport and for Xander I was
thinking of a portkey. You know what that is?"
"Object spelled to move you to a specific location." Spike answered
automatically.
"Exactly. I can, with my powers, make those... I think."
"Excellent! When do we move? I can go right?"
"Yeah sure. After all you're right in saying baby Xander loves you.
Which is weird because he's always hated you." Anya frowned.
"I know feeling was mutual." Spike muttered. "But now it's strange
'cause he feels sort of, I don't know, familiar?"
"Huh. Maybe you met one of his parents when you were living there?
Because I think maybe he was adopted and you know wizard parents and
child have resembling magical signatures." She watched as something
seemed to puzzle itself out in Spike's mind and he obviously made a
startling discovery if the widening of his eyes were any indication.
She chose to not ask about it.
"I'll go talk the others this afternoon and then we'll see OK?"
Spike just nodded at her dazedly. She watched him get off the couch
somewhat unsteadily and walk towards the bedroom. She didn't think
too much of it, she needed to make plans and Dawn was now entering
the apartment with Xander.
**
"You really think it's for the best?" Dawn asked quietly after Anya
had explained what she and Spike had talked about.
"Yes, I'm very sure."
Dawn sighed and looked at the baby lying on a mat on the floor
playing with a rag doll she'd found among her old toys. She really
didn't want him to leave, but what Anya had said made sense; it
would be better for Xander to grow up in a world where he belonged
and where he would receive proper training.
"I'll miss him." She said and Anya knew Dawn saw that sending Xander
away would be the best thing to do. The teen-age girl would be great
help in making Xander's other friends see that this would be for the
best.
"I'll miss him too."
"Yeah. It won't be easy convincing Buffy and the others about this,
especially not when Spike's the escort."
"They're just going to have to accept it. Come on." Anya got up and
dragged Dawn with her out the door. Baby Xander was left with Spike
- they were going to take a nap.
**
Convincing Buffy, Willow and Giles proved to be difficult, but not
as difficult as Anya had expected. It probably helped that Dawn did
the talking. There was shouting and crying. Threats of violence
entered when Spike was mentioned as escort. Anya telling them that
if something happened to Xander because of Spike she would
personally deal with him by giving him a demonstration of why she
was considered to be an excellent vengeance demon removed the doubts
about Spike's trustworthiness.
They all agreed that Xander would need training, but still they
didn't want him go away, couldn't Giles do it? No, he didn't have
the right knowledge. He'd agreed with Anya on that one.
In the end it was the mention of the possibility that Xander might
have a parent or two living among the wizards that ended the
discussion and convinced the close-knit group that this was the
right thing to do. Satisfied, Anya left them to their crying and
went to seek out her former boss and have her powers restored.
**
"This is the portkey," Anya explained holding up a lighter. They had
all gathered in the Magic Box to say good-bye and send Xander and
Spike on their way. After threats of what torture they would expose
him to if he didn't take proper care of Xander, Spike had been given
instructions of staying in contact. They wanted updates regularly.
"When you light it," Anya continued, "It will take you to Diagon
Alley. There you'll find Ollivander's wand shop. Tell him Anyanka
sent you and he will let you use his floo so you can get to
Hogsmeade. From there it's not too far for you to walk to Hogwarts."
Hogwarts had been settled on as the final destination as it was
there Spike's friend had lived and hopefully still lived. If not,
the headmaster would most likely offer his help to Spike and Xander.
"Time difference has been taken into account and it will be night
when you reach Diagon Alley. As it is winter, the sun won't rise, as
early as here and according to Dawn's calculations you'll reach
Hogwarts around breakfast time. OK?"
Spike nodded seriously. Excitement was a hard ball in his stomach
and his mind seemed to be running in a loop. //I'm going to see Sev
again, I'm going to see Sev again, I'm *really* going to see Sev
again.//
"You ready?"
Again Spike nodded. He shouldered the baby bag, adjusted his hold on
the baby and grabbed the lighter Anya offered him. With a grin he
lit it, felt a pull around his navel and then he was gone, leaving
behind four crying girls and a very distressed ex-Watcher. Willow
turned to her girlfriend for comfort while Giles did his best to
comfort Buffy and Dawn. They all hoped Xander would be OK.
With a whispered 'Good bye Xander', Anya flashed out too. She needed
to be somewhere quiet; having a broken heart was still painful.
end 5
any blaring inconsistencies are found please tell me. :)
I do have a vague idea of where this thing is going. Xander will be
paired with someone, but it won't be Harry. :) As for Xander being
aged to 11 and attending Hogwarts; I have that in another story so
if you want to read that, patience will be required. (I went through
challenges issued on the xanderslash ML and my brain went into
overdrive; how I'm going to be able to focus on school when it
starts is still a mystery to me. *g*)
***
Part 5: Discussions, realisations and good byes
"Are they ever going to find a way to fix Xander?"
Even if he was in the bedroom, where he slept on a mattress on the
floor, he could hear Anya talking in the living room. Not that it
was hard to hear her, even without vamp hearing, she was talking
rather loudly. She was angry, he could tell, but there was a trace
of tears and defeat in that voice. Which was only natural
considering it had been two weeks now and the slayer's group still
hadn't found a way to make Xander 19 again.
"I'm *so* sorry Anya, they have been looking and looking, but they
just can't find a solution. Xander has grown though, the others may
not have noticed, but I have and I think he's now the equivalent of
a six months old baby, instead of a new born. I'm sure he'll be
Xander again in no time at this rate."
Dawn trying her best to be optimistic, to comfort Anya, but there
was a hint of defeat in her voice too. She had a point though, the
whelp had aged and if he kept aging at the current rate he would be
himself again nearly two years from now. Spike could understand
Anya's frustration; two years was a long time for mortals.
"I know that." Anya snapped, "but by time he is grown up again he
won't be *my* Xander anymore!"
"Sure he will." Dawn tried.
"No!" Anya adamant. "He's feels different now and I know what it is.
Something that was wrong before but made him my Xander has been
righted by this de-aging business and if he grows up with this being
right he'll be completely different person. Can't you understand
that?"
Her voice rose till she was shouting and he could hear her fighting
really hard not to cry.
"Anya.."
The shouting had woken up Xander who had been sleeping in his
bassinet and he started crying, cutting Dawn's reply off as she
apparently went to pick him up. There was some murmuring and
shuffling around, a bottle was probably prepared for the baby.
Xander quieted down and after a while there was shuffling again and
Dawn announcing that she would take Xander for a walk. The door
opened and closed, and there was silence. Anya was still out there,
he could hear her heartbeat, and it was evening out as if she was
falling asleep.
Spike thought about her words and remembered the scene he'd come
upon a couple of days ago. He'd come back to the apartment, where
Anya had let him stay, after being out helping the slayer (Dawn had
begged him to go with her sister, Riley had been busy.). It had been
just an hour before the sun was going to come up and he hadn't been
surprised to realise that demon girl and the baby was up. The door
to the bathroom had been open and he'd heard the splashing of water.
Thinking Anya was giving the whelp a bath he'd gone to door,
prepared to enter, but stopped when he'd heard Anya's soft
murmuring. Not giving away himself he'd sneaked a peek and seen Anya
in the bathtub with Xander in her lap.
"I'm sad Xander." She'd said to the baby gurgling happily at her.
Spike had been a bit surprised seeing how aware the little baby's
eyes had seemed. It was like the baby was hanging on to every word
Anya said.
"I'm sort of happy too." Were the next words out Anya's mouth. "I
think it's I'm happy for you, not for me. It's strange."
She did indeed sound sad. And very confused. Spike waited for her to
continue.
"I'm happy for you because you feel right now. Not that you felt
wrong before, just like something was off. But I guess that was made
you the Xander your friends and I know. *My* Xander."
There was a smile in her voice now.
"Anyway I think that that off feeling was what all the demons sensed
and why you appeared to be such a demon magnet. You're a little
wizard Xander and when you grow up this time I think you'll be
strong one too. I'm sure you didn't know about yourself, something
must have happened to you that made you hide your magic and forget
that you had it. What happened and how you did it, I don't know."
She sighed and laughed softly. When Spike sneaked another peek he
saw the baby squirming in Anya's arms, he was trying to reach for
one of the toys in the bath. Getting hold of it he stuffed it into
his mouth and turned his attention to Anya once again.
"You're a cute baby Xander, I like you like this but I also would
like my boyfriend back. But I won't get that will I? I have lost
him. I don't think those friends of yours will find a way to age you
back right now and that's what it'll take for you to be our, *my*
Xander again. The aging has to happen in the immediate future or
else I think you just have to grow up again. If you stay here and
grow up with your friends, and me we will have a part of you back.
Just a part because *I* would make sure you didn't hide your magic
again and you would know what you are and you *would* be different.
I know that. That's why I'm sad - my Xander, my boyfriend is lost to
me. As a wizard you don't really belong here with us, in this world.
You really should grow up among wizards and be trained properly.
That's why I'm giving your friends another week to see if they can
find something, which I don't think they will, before I start making
arrangements to send you off to the wizarding world. Your friends
won't be happy about it but I don't care about that, in this case I
know better than them what's best for you. After all I spent over a
thousand years as a magical creature."
The sound of the baby blowing a raspberry could be heard and Anya
giggled.
"I think it's time to dry up now, what do you say?" She cooed and
got a happy noise in reply. There was splashing and shuffling as the
pair got out of the tub. Anya spoke again as she dried the baby.
"I love you Xander and the thought of having lost you hurts. It
feels like my heart is being crushed - still I know that when you
grow up this time I won't be right for you, and you won't be right
for me either. But everything will be all right - I can *feel* it."
At this point he'd inched away from the door carefully and had to
admit he was feeling rather sad and mushy after that little speech.
At the same time excitement had coiled in his stomach; Anya had
confirmed his belief that Xander was a wizard *and* she had
indicated that she knew how to get to the wizarding world. He'd
grinned maniacally to himself as he went to bed - perhaps she'd
agree to let him tag along when she sent Xander off. Thoughts of
seeing Sev again had been his last ones before falling asleep.
Again Spike grinned to himself as he thought about that
night/morning. He hadn't quite gotten around to asking Anya about it
yet; they'd been busy with the baby and researching. Thinking now
was as good a time as any; he got up, pulled on his jeans and went
in to the living room.
"Anya.." He said quietly as he shook her shoulder, trying to wake
her up. Sleepy and red-rimmed eyes opened and looked questioningly
at him.
"What?"
"Need to talk. About Xander."
"OK." She said and pulling herself into an upright position. "Talk."
"Well you know that business about Xander being a wizard." He
started hesitantly and continued when she nodded. "I overheard you
telling him that you wanted to send him the wizarding world if the
Scoobies didn't find a way to fix him within a week. How exactly
were you planning on doing that?"
"Why?" she asked suspiciously. He thought it was a weird moment for
her to become suspicious, after all he'd spent the two last weeks
helping her and Dawn with a *baby* for crying out loud. He decided
to just tell her.
"Because I want to go with him." When her eyes widened in confusion
he added "OK, so not exactly *with* him, just I want to go to the
wizarding world too. Lived there once and I know someone there. And
you know the whelp's a baby now, he'll need someone to take him and
he practically *loves* me:" The last was said in a very smug voice.
"Oh." Was the only sound Anya made. She didn't continue until Spike
looked at her pointedly, eyebrow quirked in question.
"I still have contact with D'Hoffryn you know. He's promised me my
powers back if I died or if my heart got broken and if my heart
isn't broken right now I don't even want to consider how a broken
heart actually feels because this is *so* painful." Voice broke,
tears threatened.
Spike could sympathize, he really could but he wasn't a patient
vampire and he needed her to get to the point right now.
"What does you getting your powers back have to do with anything?"
"You're not very smart are you?" she huffed, ignoring his 'I resent
that'. "With my powers I have access to alternate dimensions *and*
magical worlds." She saw realisation dawn in his eyes and continued.
"Wizards have several methods of transport and for Xander I was
thinking of a portkey. You know what that is?"
"Object spelled to move you to a specific location." Spike answered
automatically.
"Exactly. I can, with my powers, make those... I think."
"Excellent! When do we move? I can go right?"
"Yeah sure. After all you're right in saying baby Xander loves you.
Which is weird because he's always hated you." Anya frowned.
"I know feeling was mutual." Spike muttered. "But now it's strange
'cause he feels sort of, I don't know, familiar?"
"Huh. Maybe you met one of his parents when you were living there?
Because I think maybe he was adopted and you know wizard parents and
child have resembling magical signatures." She watched as something
seemed to puzzle itself out in Spike's mind and he obviously made a
startling discovery if the widening of his eyes were any indication.
She chose to not ask about it.
"I'll go talk the others this afternoon and then we'll see OK?"
Spike just nodded at her dazedly. She watched him get off the couch
somewhat unsteadily and walk towards the bedroom. She didn't think
too much of it, she needed to make plans and Dawn was now entering
the apartment with Xander.
**
"You really think it's for the best?" Dawn asked quietly after Anya
had explained what she and Spike had talked about.
"Yes, I'm very sure."
Dawn sighed and looked at the baby lying on a mat on the floor
playing with a rag doll she'd found among her old toys. She really
didn't want him to leave, but what Anya had said made sense; it
would be better for Xander to grow up in a world where he belonged
and where he would receive proper training.
"I'll miss him." She said and Anya knew Dawn saw that sending Xander
away would be the best thing to do. The teen-age girl would be great
help in making Xander's other friends see that this would be for the
best.
"I'll miss him too."
"Yeah. It won't be easy convincing Buffy and the others about this,
especially not when Spike's the escort."
"They're just going to have to accept it. Come on." Anya got up and
dragged Dawn with her out the door. Baby Xander was left with Spike
- they were going to take a nap.
**
Convincing Buffy, Willow and Giles proved to be difficult, but not
as difficult as Anya had expected. It probably helped that Dawn did
the talking. There was shouting and crying. Threats of violence
entered when Spike was mentioned as escort. Anya telling them that
if something happened to Xander because of Spike she would
personally deal with him by giving him a demonstration of why she
was considered to be an excellent vengeance demon removed the doubts
about Spike's trustworthiness.
They all agreed that Xander would need training, but still they
didn't want him go away, couldn't Giles do it? No, he didn't have
the right knowledge. He'd agreed with Anya on that one.
In the end it was the mention of the possibility that Xander might
have a parent or two living among the wizards that ended the
discussion and convinced the close-knit group that this was the
right thing to do. Satisfied, Anya left them to their crying and
went to seek out her former boss and have her powers restored.
**
"This is the portkey," Anya explained holding up a lighter. They had
all gathered in the Magic Box to say good-bye and send Xander and
Spike on their way. After threats of what torture they would expose
him to if he didn't take proper care of Xander, Spike had been given
instructions of staying in contact. They wanted updates regularly.
"When you light it," Anya continued, "It will take you to Diagon
Alley. There you'll find Ollivander's wand shop. Tell him Anyanka
sent you and he will let you use his floo so you can get to
Hogsmeade. From there it's not too far for you to walk to Hogwarts."
Hogwarts had been settled on as the final destination as it was
there Spike's friend had lived and hopefully still lived. If not,
the headmaster would most likely offer his help to Spike and Xander.
"Time difference has been taken into account and it will be night
when you reach Diagon Alley. As it is winter, the sun won't rise, as
early as here and according to Dawn's calculations you'll reach
Hogwarts around breakfast time. OK?"
Spike nodded seriously. Excitement was a hard ball in his stomach
and his mind seemed to be running in a loop. //I'm going to see Sev
again, I'm going to see Sev again, I'm *really* going to see Sev
again.//
"You ready?"
Again Spike nodded. He shouldered the baby bag, adjusted his hold on
the baby and grabbed the lighter Anya offered him. With a grin he
lit it, felt a pull around his navel and then he was gone, leaving
behind four crying girls and a very distressed ex-Watcher. Willow
turned to her girlfriend for comfort while Giles did his best to
comfort Buffy and Dawn. They all hoped Xander would be OK.
With a whispered 'Good bye Xander', Anya flashed out too. She needed
to be somewhere quiet; having a broken heart was still painful.
end 5