Thanks to Tim Joy, Rob Clark, Red Jacobson, Dragonhulk, Nathan Postmark, Chorlton and Kaz for thier reviews. All very greatly apreciated.
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For the Love of ....
Chapter 6 : Here and Missing
June 2012
The high pitched whistling that accompanied her kept Roberta almost bopping along the pathway that ran through Allen Park, just north of Mount Hope Cemetery. The night was just nudging the cool side of warm. Her mid length shorts and tank top providing ample protection against the very slight breeze and more importantly gave her room to move if the situation called for it. Her dark brown hair, which was tied back, bobbed in tune with her steps. She'd been this way on too many occasions to remember exactly, but it was the most prudent course to take on her way to her usual destination. Every once in a while she, along with the others, would change their procedure, but for three years the usual had served them well. So unless they decided that there was a special reason to do so, Roberta always took the path through Allen Park.
Strangely, and no one had yet been able to explain the reason why, most of San Diego's demonic activity, what little of it there was, seemed to be centred around it's main cemetery. In a way it made sense to her, considering it's proximity to the city, harbour and other areas, but Roberta did wonder if maybe the gene for cleverness got sucked out with the soul when the undead rose.
She'd listened to Dawn tell stories about vampires and demons who had tried to bring forth Armageddon, suck the earth into Hell, or run for Governor. She couldn't help think that she lucked out living in San Diego. Keeping the dead from rising was the most popular past time for herself and the other two slayers. On the few occasions they had to go hunting something, it was your usual search and rescue. Nothing yet had decided that San Diego was a good place to 'cry havoc and slip the dogs of war'.
And as soon as she'd thought that, she wondered just how much she'd just jinx their whole future.
Entering Mt. Hope Cemetery, she started patrolling in their usual pattern. Checking an area, before moving on to the next. Over the years they'd all refined the original plans, to the point where if nothing was found, or there was no-one due to rise, the task was carried out with utmost efficiency. Usually there were two of them, and on two nights a week, three. But tonight, Roberta had the task alone. She had done so on many occasions, as had Kate. Kate was at College till late tonight, and Ashley was at home with her folks, even though Roberta knew that Ashley would rather be over at Dawn's or out patrolling with them; one thing that Roberta did agree with was limiting Ashley's involvement till she turned sixteen. She'd often wondered if the fact that Kate had been the lone slayer for a couple of years had been responsible for her moods. Roberta had been a year older than Kate when she'd been called and save for the incidents at school before she knew what she was, she'd never looked upon it as anything other than a gift. She'd heard horror stories about some of the things Slayers were put through before the break out of 2003. She wondered how any of them made it as long as they did.
She walked through some trees and into the spot that a few nights earlier had provided this years first real mystery. It had been two days since they'd begun searching via legitimate or slightly illegal means, everything they could on one, Xander Harris. But they'd found exactly zip, nada, zero. It was like he'd simply fell off the face of the earth in early 2006. And then all of a sudden in living, if very dark, colour he was there in front of them. The mystery only got bigger when they found out that not only did he use to be a watcher, but he was a close friend of their own. Roberta wasn't sure if Dawn was trying to or not, but either way, she did little to disguise the fact of how much Xander's reappearance had shocked her. The fact that Dawn had photo's of the guy, including some with just the two of them, meant to all three of the slayers that at sometime the two of them were friends. But Dawn hadn't wanted to elaborate, and simply said that he disappeared six years ago, and she couldn't believe that he was actually in San Diego.
Which was why the next few days were spent searching both through the computer-net's and on foot. So far nothing. Last night nothing. Roberta supposed that they were all hoping that he might just pop up again. Although she did think that he was lucky he didn't show last night when Kate was patrolling, as her elder slayer still wanted to tear him a new one for calling her Katherine. Yep, Kate could be anally pedantic sometimes, and she thought it wouldn't take Xander Harris a second occasion to learn that.
The sound of flesh and bone smacking together broke her out of her thoughts. The sound was as well known to her as a bass line to a mixing DJ, and in a split second she'd changed from ambling along to running at full speed. The branches and leaves flicked across her body as she burst through some of the shrubs that lined the path, coming out onto a small enclave, where she saw two vampires fighting with someone she presumed was human. She couldn't be sure. Plenty of demons were able to blend in with the human race if they wanted, but since the two vampires seems intent on ending his, or its life, she guessed it was a pretty easy decision where your loyalties lie. She couldn't help but stand and watch for a second. There was something about the scene in front of her that was just plain weird. The vampires had on leather jackets, blue jeans and she couldn't be sure, but it looked like their hair had been slicked back. Well at least until the fight started. Now it just flopped back and forth, oily clumps swaying with each parry and thrust. She took a step forward to jump into the fray, when one of the vampires was thrown off, and landed with a thud on the ground. The other one received a punch to the face, then as it was falling, the human, turned to face the other one who was just about to try and get up.
She watched in amazement as the light from one of the lamps illuminated his face. Xander Harris. Once again he was dressed all in black, from the boots up to his shirt and eye patch. Watching him move and seeing the muscles flex in his arms as he fought, Roberta was sure of one thing, wherever he'd been, he'd definitely kept in shape. He didn't seem to register her attendance at his own personal party. He simply stalked toward the vampire, extended his hand, and in a split second a metal pole shot out and thudded into the upper right chest of the vampire. In the blink of an eye, it pinned the vampire to the dirt and rock below, incapacitating him.
Xander turned back to the other vampire, who was getting up himself, and faced it ready for whatever he had to face. The vampire charged at him, leading with a round house, which Xander alluded with ease, dropping down and sweeping its leg out from underneath it. The vampire fell to the grass, and in a split second, Xander extended his arm and shot out another bolt. The result the same, and now he was standing between two vampires, each of them just as helpless at the other.
He looked down at the second one to be trapped. "Tell me what I need to know, and you'll die quickly."
A chill ran down Roberta's back at the sound and edge in his voice. It was a deep foreboding tone, but with a harsh edge, as if someone had run sandpaper over his vocal cords. Roberta picked up some tiredness in it, but there was also no mistaking it's determination. Even though Xander was addressing the undead, she found it hard to think of Xander as anything other than dangerous. There was just no softness to him at all from what she could see, and considering that Dawn use to be a friend of his, she wondered what had happed in the last six years to make him like this.
"You haven't killed me yet, Harris," the vampire spluttered back. Roberta could see blood being spat from its mouth as it spoke. She gasped as Xander stepped forward and kicked the prone vampire in its face. The head snapped back with such a force she was sure it would've broken the neck of a human. As it was she was mildly surprised the force of the boot didn't dislodge the head off the vampire. He gave it no time to relax though as he dropped to his knees beside it and pulled out a cross and pressed it to its neck. The smoke and smell of smouldering flesh hit Roberta just a scant few seconds after the screams of the vampire hit her eardrums.
She couldn't take the scene in silence any longer. She killed vampires, she didn't torture them, didn't play with them as this psycho seemed to be doing. She was half certain that he was enjoying it, if it wasn't for the fact that she doubted he was capable of such an emotion.
"Just kill it for fuck's sake!" she shouted to him.
Xander looked up for a moment. "It's none of your business."
If there was one thing people knew about Roberta Hernandez it was that if she considered it her business, then it was. It was something that Kate didn't appreciate, which in turn gave Roberta no end of amusement when she saw the elder slayer's face react to things that she did. She calmly walked over, pulled a stake out of her jacket and shoved it into the heart of the other vampire which was still staked to the ground.
At the sound of it turning to dust, Xander's attention switched around and he looked at Roberta with disbelief. Roberta strode up to him, refusing to be intimidated by how much she could feel his disgust at her actions boring into her from the one eye he had trained on her. She stepped to his right to go and take care of the other vampire when her arms were hooked by his hand and she was spun around and brought face to face with him.
Looking him straight in the eye she felt for the first time some fear. The scar which ran down his face almost seemed to pulse at her, as if it personally took pleasure in making her squirm. She had no idea what he'd do.
"I said this was none of your business. You or your friends," he snarled at her. He then lifted her and threw her back a little distance away. She landed on her feet easily enough and when she righted herself she looked back at him, surprised to find he was still watching her. She couldn't be sure but was that the tiniest trace of concern on his face?
Roberta thought about telling him that Dawn would like to see him, but in her own mind she wasn't sure if he was quite as sane as her Watcher may be hoping for and the last thing she wanted to do was tell someone unstable where their, for want of a better word, base was.
"You're in my town, so it is my business," she told him. Just as he was about to respond, she saw movement from behind them. "Look out!" she shouted to him.
She watched as Xander fainted to the left, then stepped right as the vampire thrust forward with what looked like a little knife outstretched in his hand. The vampire regained his balance and spun around to face the man that only moments before was his captor.
"You should've run when you had the chance," Xander told it.
"Nah, I'm going to do Marcus a favour and remove your annoying presence once and for all." He swung the knife forward in an inside out arch. Xander swerved out of it's way with ease.
"You aren't as handy as your boss with that," Xander counted, parrying and jigging in and out, trying to find an opening.
"Maybe, but I won't make the mistake of going for your eye," it spat back.
Xander froze as those words hit him. "You were there!" he said letting the words hang in the darkness. To Roberta his face clouded over as if a shadow had moved across his features, then with a cry of rage, he attacked.
Roberta knew that both Slayers and demons move fast. Kate was very quick in hand to hand fighting and she was no slouch herself, but as far as she knew Xander was a human and yet he caught the vampire totally off guard. A split second later she saw a stake sticking out of the vampires chest. A further beat later and there was nothing but dust.
The little particles slowly settled to the ground, taking away the curtain it briefly provided. As the last of them fell, she saw Xander kneeling in the spot where he'd just dusted the vampire. His eye was closed. She couldn't be sure, but...was he praying?
Then just as suddenly he got himself up, never meeting her gaze and started to walk away.
"Vamps with switchblades, that's new," she said off handily. She didn't know why she didn't want him to leave. Maybe it was because she knew Dawn wanted to know where he was. Maybe it was because she thought he should hang for a moment and let her know what the deal was. Or maybe it was because in the time between where he was scaring and freaking her out, he was a confusion. And that added to the mystery that was already there was something she didn't want to just forget about. So she decided a light hearted comment might be a start.
"No it's not," he said to her, not bothering to stop.
Roberta however wasn't going to be put off so easily. "Umm, Xander!" she called to him.
He stopped and turned around. "You know me?"
"Yeah, my Watcher told us about you," Roberta told him, still not sure if she wanted to mention Dawn by name. "Said you used to be a Watcher."
She watched as he seemed to ponder what she'd said. For a moment she thought he was going to stay and talk to her, but then he shrugged his shoulders just the slightest. "A long time ago," he told her. "Look after yourself okay?" he told her.
Roberta didn't know what to make of his words. On one hand it could've been just a brush off, but she was sure there was an ounce of caring in his words. It was maddening not to be sure, not to be able to get a handle on him. And the icing on the cake was when Roberta felt one of Kate's classic bad moods settling down on her.
"Look why don't you come back and meet my Watcher." She paused taking in both how he was looking at her and what she'd seen the last two nights. "We could probably help you."
"You think I'd let myself go anywhere near the council?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't you. I mean I know you left..."
"I left for good... umm," he paused realising he didn't know her name.
"Roberta."
Xander nodded. "Roberta. Thanks but no thanks."
She was going to argue the point but the little she had been able to ascertain about the man in front of her was that she doubted he could be persuaded to do something he really didn't want to do. "Fine, but the offers still there," she said as she stopped.
He just nodded his head again and then turned to walk away. Roberta watched as he did, waiting for the moment when she could follow. She might not have been able to bring him back to Dawn's place, but she sure as hell could find out where he was staying. As soon as he was out of sight she set off in the direction of where he was headed. She turned the corner where he'd gone and came to a stop. She looked around in a circle and realised that she'd lost him. Kicking the ground at her own failure, she set off back to her Watcher's residence.
Picking up the pace and wanting to report to Dawn as soon as possible, she didn't notice the black shape that came out of the shadows and staying fifty feet or more behind her, trailed her out of the cemetery.
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It didn't take long for Xander to get the nagging feeling in his neck. With each passing street it got more and more irritating. By the time he'd turned into Cypress Avenue he knew he no longer needed to follow where Roberta was going.
He hung back, sticking to the shadows and watched at as the Slayer walked up the stairs to the apartment building he used to know so well. It made sense to him. The Watcher's Council had rented the place and they'd simply assigned it to the new watcher when they'd arrived to take his place.
As Roberta opened the door and went inside, Xander wondered how long he would have. Would the Watcher's retrieval team be any more efficient then they were a decade ago? Even if they were, if things went according to plan he'd be long gone before they became a physical worry.
Turning back around and walking away from the place he used to call home, he checked his watch. At least he still had plenty of moonlight hours to look for his target.
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Her fingertips lightly rapped against the steering wheel cover, tapping away to the beat of the song that was currently blasting out of her CD player. Kate felt very up-beat tonight. She'd gotten some better than expected results from College, her parents had been pleasantly surprised and the cute guy from her Media class had bumped into her at the library. She smiled to herself reliving how he'd tried to make it seem like an accident, when she knew for certain it hadn't been. It was rather cute, she admitted to herself after he'd stammered a little before asking her out for a drink later on.
Turning into Cypress Avenue, all of Kate's good mood evaporated as she noticed who was walking away down the other side of the street from Dawn's place. He was mostly hidden in darkness but she couldn't miss the black eye patch even in the dim light. She almost slammed on the breaks and went to challenge him, but wondered if maybe he'd come to visit Dawn. Seeing as though he used to be a Watcher and a friend of hers, maybe he did. Though her natural inclination was to assume the worse, she decided to try and think it was all good. She pulled her car up at the curb and got out, closing and locking the door in one movement and a push of a button, before she bounded up the stairs.
She knocked on the front door to announce her presence, before turning the key in the lock and opening the door. Upon entering she realised that they hadn't just been socialising with a long lost friend. Dawn looked up at Kate to say hi, but as she was in animated conversation with Roberta, it was done with just a smile.
"He didn't hurt you?" Dawn asked concerned turning back to the brunette slayer.
Roberta shook her head. "No, he didn't. Ahh, look don't take this the wrong way, but was he always so psycho?"
"No he never was," Dawn replied softly.
"Well he scares me a little. He was brutal in torturing those vampires," Roberta told her, then as if only just realising Kate was there she turned to her. "Hi."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Well scary mystery guy was just outside," Kate told them matter of factly. "Seems like someone got followed home."
Dawn frowned at Kate's words but knew that the competition the two slayers had between them was not something she could get rid of, and usually caused her and Ashley to laugh more than worry. "Outside?" she asked, before moving across to the front door.
"He's gone now," Kate told her, surprised at how Dawn had reacted. "He was walking back down towards the Cemetery, I'd guess if that is where you found him," she said looking towards Roberta.
"You think you'd be safe? I mean I didn't tell him about you, cause...well he's a little unstable," Roberta asked Dawn.
"You don't have to worry about Xander," she said trying to reassure them both.
"But you don't know him anymore, Dawn. How long did you say it's been since you've seen him?" Kate wondered, looking at Dawn, trying to work out why she got the feeling she wasn't being totally honest with them.
"About seven years," she replied gently.
"What is it?" Kate asked her.
Dawn shrugged. "Just feeling a little weird."
Kate grimaced but didn't comment.
"Anyway, as I was saying before you arrived and interrupted my story," Roberta started to say, and Kate was almost sure she was going to poke her tongue out at her. "These two vampires, and I have to say, where the hell did they get their clothes from. It was as if they all wanted to be in a permanent re-run of Grease," Roberta stopped her train of thought at the look Kate and Dawn were both giving her. "Anyway...he definitely is looking for something or someone, and he seemed to enjoying inflicting pain on them to find out."
"And he wasn't a sadist seven years ago either?" Kate asked.
Dawn shook her head. "No, he wasn't."
"I don't like the fact that he knows where you live," Kate told her.
"He doesn't. At least I don't think he knows that Dawn is here. But one thing is for sure, he really doesn't like the Watcher's Council," Roberta added.
"No, I don't suppose he does," Dawn replied. "But I wouldn't worry about him knowing where we are. He knows this place very well," she told them.
Kate realised what exactly Dawn was saying. "He was your predecessor wasn't he?"
Dawn nodded.
"And you didn't tell us this earlier?" Kate demanded.
"I didn't think it was necessary," Dawn answered Kate, her voice soft as if she was deep in thought.
"You didn't think it was necessary to tell me that the guy who was meant to be my Watcher but bailed on us all, was back in town. No I can't see why that would be necessary," Kate protested.
"Kate!" Roberta cautioned.
"What?"
While Kate was ranting, Roberta had been looking at Dawn and noticing how much the conversation was affecting her. "Look," she said softly, pointing at their watcher and friend.
Dawn may have been sitting there with a calm exterior, but both girls knew her well enough to know that there was much more going on inside. Dawn looked at them both, her eyes moving from Roberta to Kate slowly. "I need to go out for a moment."
"Dawn, I'm sorry..." Kate started to say, thinking that she'd upset her too much.
Dawn shook her head. "No, you're right, I should've told you. I'll be back in an hour or so, okay?"
Both Kate and Roberta nodded their heads and watched as she picked up her car keys and jacket, and left out the front door. She'd only been gone for a moment when Kate got up out of her seat. "That's crap, I'm going after her."
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The short twenty minute drive gave Dawn plenty of time to think. But as the question that was most going around in her head was one she couldn't answer, it wasn't all that fruitful. Her mind had started spinning two nights ago and the revolutions had only quickened tonight. Xander was back. Xander, the man she still thought of as hers in so many ways, was back in San Diego after six and a half years. She didn't feel scared by what he'd do. She had no doubt that he wouldn't harm her or her Slayers. She was shocked to hear about what he was doing to the vampires, but the one thing she knew about Xander beyond anything else was that Human life was sacred and vampires should be dust. There may have been minor exceptions during the time she'd known him, but from the night his childhood best friend had been pushed onto a stake that Xander was holding, he'd always held the belief that a good vampire was dust.
Pulling up outside of the residence, Dawn felt the trepidation running through her veins as clearly as if it had been injected into her. She hoped he was here. Beyond anything else he was in pain. For him to be back in San Diego proved that. His actions only added to the evidence in her own mind. It had been five years since she'd come to this house. She'd checked on it every month or so for the first year she was in San Diego, hoping against hope that he'd reappear, but somewhere along the line she'd realised that he never would.
The house was so beautiful back then. The stone work was sparkling clean, the gardens tended with love, the grass manicured. But no more. The house had a fence erected around it, which had only served to be a new surface for the local street artists to paint on. But even the fence had fallen into disrepair and through a gap, Dawn squeezed her way inside. She wondered how long it had been since someone had even looked in on the place. The grass certainly didn't look like it had been mowed in a year and what used to be gardens were no more.
She moved quietly up to the house, and then started to walk around. But it became obvious to her that no one had been anywhere near this house in months. There was no sign of any windows being broken into, any sign of any body living here at all. She continued on till she had rounded the whole house, just in case she was wrong but as she got to the front of the house again, she sat down, the emotion of the night catching up to her.
She'd tried so hard to keep it all in, when she was in front of the others. In the hope that he'd be here. That they could talk and she could get the answer to the questions she longed to ask. Or at least that she could get his permission to break the silence she'd held for him for over six years. But it was obvious he wasn't here. This place didn't even feel like a home to her anymore. In fact as she sat there she started to get a feeling that she had hoped she hadn't.
She stood up looking around her, and then saw them. Coming from the left, out of the shadows, she could make out three pairs of eyes. As they got closer, it became obvious what they were. Vampires. While she certainly had faced worse odds, she really wasn't in the mood, and was so not ready to have a fight. In her rush to get out of the apartment and come to Del Mar, she didn't even take a single weapon.
"Where's Harris?" the lead vampire asked.
If there was one thing that Dawn was expecting it wasn't to be asked by the undead about the one guy she was looking for.
"You know, I have no idea, but as I doubt you'll take my word for it pretend he's standing behind you and about to stake your ass," she shouted back at them, taking advantage of the momentary distraction as all three of them turned to check to see if she was bluffing or not. It was only a temporary distraction and she knew that it wouldn't last for long, something that became apparent when with a growl they faced her again and started coming closer.
Thankfully, as seemed to be the norm with most vampires, they tended to attack one out. Which usually meant they were pretty new and not very intelligent. Dawn ducked under the first one, and sprung up, sending a kick into the chest of the second one to come at her. Having knocked two of them down, she back peddled a little bit, trying to make her way toward the hole in the fence, and her car. The vampires were up in a moment though and this time they'd surrounded her to the front and both sides. Only where she was back peddling did she have any space. Slowly, keeping an eye on the three of them, she took a step backwards, then another.
Surprisingly she noticed the vampires backing off and snarling. Then as she took another step back she hit something. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned.
"So, this looks like a fun party."
Dawn's mouth hung open for a moment before her gratefulness came through. "Gotta spare stake?" she asked.
Kate smiled at her and lifted one out of her pocket. "Never leave home without three."
Both of them advanced on the vampires, putting into practice some of the drills that they had worked on over the years. Dawn may not be a Slayer but training with three of them, and having to hold your own was about the best training she could get.
In the end it didn't take long. While Kate took the attention of two of them, Dawn made short work of the other. They were definite new bloods, of that she was sure.
Once all three were dust, she turned to face Kate and could tell that there was going to be plenty of questions asked. Kate started walking towards her, and Dawn prepared herself for the barrage. In many ways Kate was Dawn's best friend, but that didn't mean that she was immune to the various moods and opinions of her eldest slayer.
"Kate, I..." Dawn started to say.
Kate held up her hand. "Not now, lets get back to your place. I think we are going to need a safe place for you to tell me what's really going on."
Dawn was about to tell her that she truthfully had no idea what was going on, but thought that Kate wouldn't be placated by her words anyway. So instead she simply nodded, feeling a little foolish at being almost scolded by her charge.
Kate walked out through the fence first, then Dawn. They both walked to their cars which were parked next to each other. Dawn unlocked her car, and was about to get in when Kate addressed her.
"You noticed what those vampires were wearing?" she said.
Dawn nodded. That and their questions about Xander were proof enough that it was no accident they were there. What's more it also meant that they knew Xander's history as much as she did.
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When they arrived back, they'd found a note from Roberta saying that she'd gotten a call from her parents and had to get home. Something about her little brother being sick. Dawn was actually relieved that she wasn't there, as she knew it was going to be hard enough facing one of her charges, without having both of them looking at her like she'd lied to them.
Both Kate and her walked into the room in silence, each taking a seat in the living area in opposite chairs. Kate looked up at Dawn. It was obvious she expected the Watcher to start off.
"Thanks," Dawn said to her. She meant it, but it also was a safe place to start.
"You know I'd always have your back," Kate told her.
Dawn nodded. "I know"
"But I want you to tell me the truth," Kate told her. "You've never lied to me before."
"I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't tell you some things," Dawn weakly argued.
"So you're arguing semantics?" Kate said raising her eyebrow.
"I don't think so," Dawn said. "Why did you follow me?"
"Well you'd just admitted to leaving out a little detail that our mystery guy was your predecessor and should've been my Watcher, and then you say you have to get out of here. I mean it was obvious that you weren't telling us something, and since that was new, I was really worried."
She couldn't help but feel guilt at Kate's words. It wasn't her place to make her Slayer's worry about their watcher. She hadn't spoken to anyone about her feelings towards Xander for so long. It was a part of her she tried to keep buried deep inside of her.
"Xander was much more than just a watcher," Dawn told her. "He was, at one time, the most important thing in the world to me."
"He was your boyfriend?" Kate asked catching on.
Dawn laughed a hollow chuckle as she shook her head at her friend. "No, he never really was." She closed her eyes and remembered the times they'd shared together in Sunnydale and in England. "He was my rock, my friend, my crush, my confidant and my love. He was that and so much more."
"I don't understand," Kate stated. "He wasn't your boyfriend?" she asked confused.
"No he never was. We used to go out and we did try a few times, but it never worked out for us. It was never the right time," she told her. "I was younger, too young for him to be interested in me, and then just when I thought he was, Sunnydale happened."
Kate had heard about Sunnydale and understood. "We were only in the same country for about eight months after that, and well, even though we both tried, it just never seemed to click. Then he got posted here."
"And then he took off," Kate added.
Dawn could feel herself almost leaping to Xander's defence, even after so many years. Even after everything that had happened to each of them. Part of her liked that she was still so loyal, and the other part hated it and wanted to bad mouth him as much as possible. But she had known for ages about Kate's abandonment issues. It was something that she had to break through years ago when she first started training her. In the end she didn't chastise anyone. "Yeah he did."
"Why hasn't he come to see you?" Kate asked.
Dawn shrugged. "I think it's like Roberta said. I don't think he knows that I am here. As to why he hasn't called me in the last six years. I don't know, I suppose there was always a lot of whys in our relationship."
There was something in the way that her Watcher answered that question that spoke volumes to Kate. She'd often wondered why someone who was young, attractive, intelligent, funny and so full of life seemed to have little or no social life to speak of. It was all so clear to her now. Each crease on Dawn's face added another layer to the proof that now seemed so transparent to her.
"He hurt you, didn't he?"
Dawn looked into her friend's eyes for a moment. She didn't need to say anything, she was sure it was clearly spoken to Kate.
"And you went looking for him?" Kate asked.
Dawn sighed, holding her head in her hands. How could she explain to Kate in one night what her relationship between her and Xander was? How could she tell her what she felt when he was around? How her heart fluttered, and her body felt alive? How she felt like she was floating every time he looked at her? How could she explain the guilt, loss and anger she was feeling whenever she thought about him now?
"Things never worked out how I wanted," Dawn told her.
Kate nodded. She was going to enquire more but saw the tired look in her friends eyes. It was still early so she knew that it had more to do with the emotional turmoil than the time of night. "I'm gonna get going. Are you okay?" she asked.
Dawn smiled in thanks for the end of questions, and Kate's concern. "Yeah."
Kate nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, you going straight home?"
"Nah, I think I'll give Mt. Hope one more going over. I have a feeling that something is heating up in San Diego. You don't usually see five leather jacket wearing vampires within a few hours in this ol' place."
"Okay, call me if anything comes up," Dawn told her.
"I will." Kate gave Dawn one last look, checking visually that she was okay, before walking out the front door.
After Kate had left, Dawn sat there, simply staring into the spaces of her apartment. Her mind was running wild with questions that longed for answers. But where as before the run in at Del Mar, most of the questions had been about what had happened to her one time love, now she was wondering just what he'd brought into her town. And how much trouble was it going to cause.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kate hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. The night had started so well with her better than expected results from College, but before long Xander Harris had popped up to put his proverbial wrench well good in the works. For so long she'd held anger towards the Watcher who'd decided to leave her to her own devices. Sure it had been offset by the arrival of Dawn and the relationship the two of them shared, but Kate had never really gotten over her own feelings of being unwanted. To find that someone else had not wanted to be there for her was a chip that still hung sweetly on her shoulder.
The next day had been only a quick visit to college to return some text books and then back to Dawn's to try and find out where Xander Harris was through more conventional means. The registration act of 2007 that required all people renting accommodation, whether it be long term or nightly at a motel or hotel to be registered on a central database had been one in a long line of measures the United States government had undertaken in the ongoing war against terrorism. And while it was meant to protect the general public it was also a very useful database to use when looking for people.
Of course it was technically and very practically illegal, but that never stopped any of them before. Luckily the Watcher's Council issued software to all Watchers that made tracing them almost impossible. She'd asked Dawn once if the Watcher's Council knew what they were using it for and had gotten a smile when told, "I think the developer would be very impressed with your endeavours."
Kate shook her head. Sometimes she was sure Dawn had spent way too long in the Mother Country.
As darkness fell, and their searches were still proving just as unsuccessful as the days before, she'd decided that she would go on a patrol. She reasoned that the two times they'd run into him before had been at Mt. Hope Cemetery and even if she didn't see him, there was something happening in the underworld and that was probably the best place to get a lock on it.
A few hours later and on her second patrol round Mt. Hope, she was about to go back to Dawn's and see if Roberta wanted to swap. She wasn't tired, just bored. No vampires, no demons, there weren't even any security guards that she had to hide her presence from. Whatever was going on, obviously wasn't happening tonight. At least not here. She turned on her feet and started walking back to the entrance where her car was parked.
Only a hundred feet from the entrance, she stopped not believing her eyes. To think they'd been looking for him for twenty-four hours and now he was there, simply sitting on a park bench. Incredulously to her, he seemed to be talking into a mobile phone. She walked closer to him, alert to any movements that he might make, especially after Roberta had told her how fast he was. As she got closer, she realised two things. One he hadn't realised she was there, his attention on the phone, and two, he looked happy-sad. Almost as though he was fighting to be happy in his sadness. She found herself transfixed and couldn't help but listen to his words when she got a dozen feet away.
"Is she okay?"
The voice was soft, caring. It was so different to how he'd sounded to them those few nights before.
"I know. Please I have to do this. You worry too much."
Kate couldn't move. It was as if she was asking permission for something. He sounded humble.
"It won't be long now, I think..."
Kate knew she was spotted when he stopped talking. He looked up and their gaze locked on each other.
"I have to go, no I'm sorry...I love you too." Xander clicked the phone closed and stood up, glancing at Kate, with what Kate could only assume was disgust and then turned simply and started walking away.
The curiosity that Kate felt had been replaced by her earlier anger at his dismissal of her. This was the guy who was causing them so much trouble and she wasn't going to be dismissed so quickly.
"So you're the famous Xander Harris?" Kate asked, not bothering to mask her distain for him. If she'd been hoping for a reaction she was sorely disappointed as Xander simply ignored her words and continued walking away.
Kate shook her head, wondering if she was seeing things. She spun around and called out, "Hey!" But still she got no response, and she found her self heading off after him, her anger growing all the time. "You know for someone who seems to keep popping up in front of us, and following others home, you seem awfully shy."
Still seeing that she got no reaction, she stopped and shouted out, "Or is it just that running away is what you are best at?"
She couldn't help but smile at how those words made him stop. She didn't think he'd be able to ignore her forever. "Well is it?" she goaded him, walking closer still, till she was just a few feet behind him.
"You have no idea what you are talking about."
His voice was tinged with sadness as if her words had indeed touched a memory. There was still a harsh edge to it, but it was soft. Still he refused to turn around and face her. Kate walked slowly around him so that he would have to face away from her, if he wanted to avoid looking at her.
"My watcher has told me enough."
He actually laughed at the statement, though Kate could tell the hollow ring it had in it. "Well I'm sure you know exactly what you're talking about then. The Watcher's have never lied to anyone have they?"
Kate was about to say, 'No, they don't' when she realised that she had been lied to just yesterday. And the cause of it was standing right in front of her. "I trust my Watcher," she told him truthfully.
She could see that her words had the slightest of effects on him. The muscles in his face relaxed just a little. "You're lucky then," he told her. "Have you had a good life?"
"Huh?" Kate asked, greatly confused by the question and why he would care.
"You're safe? Your life is good?" he asked again.
Kate nodded still in the dark to the origin of the questions. "Yeah, my life is pretty good."
Xander nodded seemingly deep in thought. He looked at her with the barest of smiles. "I'm glad, Katherine. I had worried..."
"You're kidding me?" Kate broke in. "You worried?"
"Is that so hard to believe?" Xander asked her. Then as if it wasn't important to him anymore he added. "If it is, it is, I suppose. I don't plan to be in San Diego for long, I'll try and stay out of your way."
Kate didn't know what to say. She'd planned to confront him, drag him back to Dawn's if necessary, but make sure she could let out all the feelings she felt towards him. But as he walked off, all she could feel was empty. And she didn't like it one bit. "Good!" she shouted, though even as she said it, she realised how pathetic it sounded.
She stayed there, watching as he disappeared around a corner debating as to what to do. In the end her curiosity was piqued enough for her to follow him. She took off slowly down the path, pausing at the corner to peer her head around, checking to see if he was there. Maybe he didn't care enough tonight, maybe she was just better at stealth than Roberta, but either way, she could see him at the end of the path, and knew that she would be following him to wherever he was going to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well I haven't been able to find any record of Xander Harris," Roberta stated looking up from her computer as Dawn entered the room. "No record of any Harris staying at any hotel that I was able to check on."
Roberta watched as a crease formed on her Watcher's forehead. "I thought that database would be more useful to us. We can get into every part of it?"
"Oh we can, but there is always some places that try to stay off the official radar. Stupid really especially after that place got busted last year. And a right pain in the ass when it means I can't find them," Roberta said with a smile.
"Oh yes, that's the worst part, making it hard for you," Dawn teased back.
"Hey, I'm just doing my level best, trying to find your ex-honey for you," Roberta stated slyly.
"Wha..." Dawn started to say thinking that Kate had broken her confidence. She had told Roberta about the vampires the night before, but the personal details that she'd told Kate were not something she wanted to go through again. It was buried deep inside her, and she was content to leave it there for now.
"Oh come on, it was easy to see. The way your emotions changed about one hundred times that first night we mentioned his name. And every time since," Roberta told her. Seeing that Dawn was still looking a little stunned, Roberta let her off the hook a little. "Well, okay I guessed a bit as well, but you have to admit that I was pretty dead on."
Dawn shook her head. Trust Roberta to see romance in any situation. She knew that she would have to say something. "Yes he is an old boyfriend...well sort of...but" She stopped and saw that Roberta was leaning forward on her elbows, resting her head on her hands as she listened to every word attentively. "Okay, well..."
She was interrupted by the sound of the keys in the door, and Kate walking in.
"Oh thank god," Dawn muttered to herself, ignoring the look Roberta first threw her, then Kate.
"What?" Kate said looking at Roberta.
"Oh nothing as usual," she grumbled before Dawn lightly smacked her on the arm. "Sorry, so how was your night?" she asked smiling as big a grin as possible.
"Well fine till I ran into Mr 'I love to torture vampires'" Kate replied taking a seat opposite the other slayer.
"What was he doing now?" Roberta asked, casting Dawn a glance and noticing that her Watcher was just as attentive as all the other times he'd been mentioned.
"Actually nothing," Kate admitted.
"What?" Dawn wondered.
"He just creeps me out, okay." Kate looked at Dawn but could see that she wasn't going to be satisfied with that. "I mean when I first ran into him he's torturing a vampire and he gets pissed when I kill it. Then he knows who I am, which I find out is because he was meant to be my watcher, but took off and deserted San Diego. Then Rob there," she signals to her younger slayer, getting a look back in return for the use of the nickname, "sees him doing the same sort of thing, then I see him outside your place, which used to be his, and now tonight I hear him talking on the phone to someone."
"Talking on the phone?" Roberta asked incredulously. "Ooh major alert."
"Roberta," Dawn chastised.
"Yes, I know it isn't much, but you should've heard him. He sounded, I don't know, almost kind," Kate admitted.
"And this creeps you out. I get threatened and see him take pleasure in inflicting pain on vampires, and you get "kind'" she replied using her fingers for air-quotes, Roberta replied.
"It's because he can be those two different people, and probably a third and a fourth that creeps me out. I can't read him," Kate replied.
"Xander was one of the kindest people I knew," Dawn told them, inside feeling much happier to hear that there was at least a little bit of the friend she knew.
"Yeah well anyway," Kate continued not caring to hear anymore about warm fluffy eye patch guy. "We get to talking, I challenge him and he sounds sorry."
"Ooh evil" Roberta sniggered.
"Shut it," Kate told her.
"Did you tell him about me?" Dawn asked not knowing if she wanted Kate to have or not.
Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry Dawn, but I'm not sure about the guy and I would rather have you meet him under our terms." She could see in Dawn's eyes that she agreed with her.
"Anyway, I followed him and found out where he is staying," Kate added, passing a bit of paper to Dawn. She could see that Dawn looked a little apprehensive as she took the bit of paper.
"He didn't see you?" the Watcher asked.
"I don't think so," Kate said.
Dawn opened the paper. "The Star Inn, on Broadway," she said looking at Roberta, who immediately typed up the hotel on her computer. She waited for a few seconds and then looked back at Dawn, shaking her head. "Nope, no record of a Xander Harris."
Dawn looked over to Kate. "You definitely saw him go in?"
Kate nodded. "It's not the Ritz and only two levels. I could watch him from across the street. I saw the exact room he went into."
"What number was it?" Dawn asked.
"Eight, why?" Kate answered.
Dawn looked over to Roberta. "Got it," she said. "Number eight is occupied by Paul Johnson."
"I wonder," Dawn said talking to herself. A second later she got up. "I'm going to see him."
"But..." Kate started to object.
"No, I'll be fine," she told her. "And I would like to go on my own this time," she told her friend with a smile.
"Okay," Kate agreed, then seeing the Dawn was still looking at her, she added. "Okay, really, I promise."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Inn, if you could call it that, was only a few blocks away and it took Dawn no time to get there. Less than ten minutes, which was less time than she'd spent sitting in her car looking up at the Inn. She could see, clearly under the lights on the balcony, the number eight, starring back at her, daring her to come up and confront her past.
She'd long since stopped dreaming about this moment. For so long she's hoped to see him again, make sure that he was okay. And now that she was moments away from such a meeting, she found herself getting a little angry. She'd had nightmares about something bad happening to him, and that was why he'd never contacted her, and yet he was here physically okay. Although strangely he seemed to have started wearing his eye patch again. Mentally however, was another thing it seemed, but that did little to placate the rising resentment for all the worry she'd been put through over the last six years.
Getting out of the car, she walked slowly but with purpose up to the stairs which would take her up to all the answers she wanted. She stepped each step, and once on the second level, started towards the room. She passed number 12, then 11, then 10. By the time she'd gotten to Number 9 she felt sick to her stomach, and then standing out the front of number 8, she was sure that she would throw up as soon as she looked at him.
She swallowed, and took a deep breath, then knocked firmly on the door.
"Coming!" A voice answered inside, and Dawn almost let out a cry in recognition.
The door opened in front of her, and she was standing face to face with the one man that had meant more to her than any other in her short lifetime. But he wasn't looking at her. He was thumbing around with his wallet.
"$34.95, right?" he stated fishing out some bills.
Dawn almost gasped at the sight. She winced at the scar which dominated his face, both below and on top of the eye patch. His hair was lifeless, he looked in need of a shower, and his clothes had the tell tale signs of being patched up on numerous occasions.
As he looked up, obviously wondering why he'd gotten no response, Dawn stood there with her arms folded.
And then their eyes met. Dawn stood there staring into the face of the man who use to take her breath away. She could tell that Roberta had indeed been correct. He had no idea she was here and she could tell that he was struggling for words.
"Dawn?" he croaked out seconds later, looking at her up and down. Dawn wondered if he thought she was real or not.
"Well, you look like crap," she told him, pushing her way past and walking into his room.
End Chapter 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
For the Love of ....
Chapter 6 : Here and Missing
June 2012
The high pitched whistling that accompanied her kept Roberta almost bopping along the pathway that ran through Allen Park, just north of Mount Hope Cemetery. The night was just nudging the cool side of warm. Her mid length shorts and tank top providing ample protection against the very slight breeze and more importantly gave her room to move if the situation called for it. Her dark brown hair, which was tied back, bobbed in tune with her steps. She'd been this way on too many occasions to remember exactly, but it was the most prudent course to take on her way to her usual destination. Every once in a while she, along with the others, would change their procedure, but for three years the usual had served them well. So unless they decided that there was a special reason to do so, Roberta always took the path through Allen Park.
Strangely, and no one had yet been able to explain the reason why, most of San Diego's demonic activity, what little of it there was, seemed to be centred around it's main cemetery. In a way it made sense to her, considering it's proximity to the city, harbour and other areas, but Roberta did wonder if maybe the gene for cleverness got sucked out with the soul when the undead rose.
She'd listened to Dawn tell stories about vampires and demons who had tried to bring forth Armageddon, suck the earth into Hell, or run for Governor. She couldn't help think that she lucked out living in San Diego. Keeping the dead from rising was the most popular past time for herself and the other two slayers. On the few occasions they had to go hunting something, it was your usual search and rescue. Nothing yet had decided that San Diego was a good place to 'cry havoc and slip the dogs of war'.
And as soon as she'd thought that, she wondered just how much she'd just jinx their whole future.
Entering Mt. Hope Cemetery, she started patrolling in their usual pattern. Checking an area, before moving on to the next. Over the years they'd all refined the original plans, to the point where if nothing was found, or there was no-one due to rise, the task was carried out with utmost efficiency. Usually there were two of them, and on two nights a week, three. But tonight, Roberta had the task alone. She had done so on many occasions, as had Kate. Kate was at College till late tonight, and Ashley was at home with her folks, even though Roberta knew that Ashley would rather be over at Dawn's or out patrolling with them; one thing that Roberta did agree with was limiting Ashley's involvement till she turned sixteen. She'd often wondered if the fact that Kate had been the lone slayer for a couple of years had been responsible for her moods. Roberta had been a year older than Kate when she'd been called and save for the incidents at school before she knew what she was, she'd never looked upon it as anything other than a gift. She'd heard horror stories about some of the things Slayers were put through before the break out of 2003. She wondered how any of them made it as long as they did.
She walked through some trees and into the spot that a few nights earlier had provided this years first real mystery. It had been two days since they'd begun searching via legitimate or slightly illegal means, everything they could on one, Xander Harris. But they'd found exactly zip, nada, zero. It was like he'd simply fell off the face of the earth in early 2006. And then all of a sudden in living, if very dark, colour he was there in front of them. The mystery only got bigger when they found out that not only did he use to be a watcher, but he was a close friend of their own. Roberta wasn't sure if Dawn was trying to or not, but either way, she did little to disguise the fact of how much Xander's reappearance had shocked her. The fact that Dawn had photo's of the guy, including some with just the two of them, meant to all three of the slayers that at sometime the two of them were friends. But Dawn hadn't wanted to elaborate, and simply said that he disappeared six years ago, and she couldn't believe that he was actually in San Diego.
Which was why the next few days were spent searching both through the computer-net's and on foot. So far nothing. Last night nothing. Roberta supposed that they were all hoping that he might just pop up again. Although she did think that he was lucky he didn't show last night when Kate was patrolling, as her elder slayer still wanted to tear him a new one for calling her Katherine. Yep, Kate could be anally pedantic sometimes, and she thought it wouldn't take Xander Harris a second occasion to learn that.
The sound of flesh and bone smacking together broke her out of her thoughts. The sound was as well known to her as a bass line to a mixing DJ, and in a split second she'd changed from ambling along to running at full speed. The branches and leaves flicked across her body as she burst through some of the shrubs that lined the path, coming out onto a small enclave, where she saw two vampires fighting with someone she presumed was human. She couldn't be sure. Plenty of demons were able to blend in with the human race if they wanted, but since the two vampires seems intent on ending his, or its life, she guessed it was a pretty easy decision where your loyalties lie. She couldn't help but stand and watch for a second. There was something about the scene in front of her that was just plain weird. The vampires had on leather jackets, blue jeans and she couldn't be sure, but it looked like their hair had been slicked back. Well at least until the fight started. Now it just flopped back and forth, oily clumps swaying with each parry and thrust. She took a step forward to jump into the fray, when one of the vampires was thrown off, and landed with a thud on the ground. The other one received a punch to the face, then as it was falling, the human, turned to face the other one who was just about to try and get up.
She watched in amazement as the light from one of the lamps illuminated his face. Xander Harris. Once again he was dressed all in black, from the boots up to his shirt and eye patch. Watching him move and seeing the muscles flex in his arms as he fought, Roberta was sure of one thing, wherever he'd been, he'd definitely kept in shape. He didn't seem to register her attendance at his own personal party. He simply stalked toward the vampire, extended his hand, and in a split second a metal pole shot out and thudded into the upper right chest of the vampire. In the blink of an eye, it pinned the vampire to the dirt and rock below, incapacitating him.
Xander turned back to the other vampire, who was getting up himself, and faced it ready for whatever he had to face. The vampire charged at him, leading with a round house, which Xander alluded with ease, dropping down and sweeping its leg out from underneath it. The vampire fell to the grass, and in a split second, Xander extended his arm and shot out another bolt. The result the same, and now he was standing between two vampires, each of them just as helpless at the other.
He looked down at the second one to be trapped. "Tell me what I need to know, and you'll die quickly."
A chill ran down Roberta's back at the sound and edge in his voice. It was a deep foreboding tone, but with a harsh edge, as if someone had run sandpaper over his vocal cords. Roberta picked up some tiredness in it, but there was also no mistaking it's determination. Even though Xander was addressing the undead, she found it hard to think of Xander as anything other than dangerous. There was just no softness to him at all from what she could see, and considering that Dawn use to be a friend of his, she wondered what had happed in the last six years to make him like this.
"You haven't killed me yet, Harris," the vampire spluttered back. Roberta could see blood being spat from its mouth as it spoke. She gasped as Xander stepped forward and kicked the prone vampire in its face. The head snapped back with such a force she was sure it would've broken the neck of a human. As it was she was mildly surprised the force of the boot didn't dislodge the head off the vampire. He gave it no time to relax though as he dropped to his knees beside it and pulled out a cross and pressed it to its neck. The smoke and smell of smouldering flesh hit Roberta just a scant few seconds after the screams of the vampire hit her eardrums.
She couldn't take the scene in silence any longer. She killed vampires, she didn't torture them, didn't play with them as this psycho seemed to be doing. She was half certain that he was enjoying it, if it wasn't for the fact that she doubted he was capable of such an emotion.
"Just kill it for fuck's sake!" she shouted to him.
Xander looked up for a moment. "It's none of your business."
If there was one thing people knew about Roberta Hernandez it was that if she considered it her business, then it was. It was something that Kate didn't appreciate, which in turn gave Roberta no end of amusement when she saw the elder slayer's face react to things that she did. She calmly walked over, pulled a stake out of her jacket and shoved it into the heart of the other vampire which was still staked to the ground.
At the sound of it turning to dust, Xander's attention switched around and he looked at Roberta with disbelief. Roberta strode up to him, refusing to be intimidated by how much she could feel his disgust at her actions boring into her from the one eye he had trained on her. She stepped to his right to go and take care of the other vampire when her arms were hooked by his hand and she was spun around and brought face to face with him.
Looking him straight in the eye she felt for the first time some fear. The scar which ran down his face almost seemed to pulse at her, as if it personally took pleasure in making her squirm. She had no idea what he'd do.
"I said this was none of your business. You or your friends," he snarled at her. He then lifted her and threw her back a little distance away. She landed on her feet easily enough and when she righted herself she looked back at him, surprised to find he was still watching her. She couldn't be sure but was that the tiniest trace of concern on his face?
Roberta thought about telling him that Dawn would like to see him, but in her own mind she wasn't sure if he was quite as sane as her Watcher may be hoping for and the last thing she wanted to do was tell someone unstable where their, for want of a better word, base was.
"You're in my town, so it is my business," she told him. Just as he was about to respond, she saw movement from behind them. "Look out!" she shouted to him.
She watched as Xander fainted to the left, then stepped right as the vampire thrust forward with what looked like a little knife outstretched in his hand. The vampire regained his balance and spun around to face the man that only moments before was his captor.
"You should've run when you had the chance," Xander told it.
"Nah, I'm going to do Marcus a favour and remove your annoying presence once and for all." He swung the knife forward in an inside out arch. Xander swerved out of it's way with ease.
"You aren't as handy as your boss with that," Xander counted, parrying and jigging in and out, trying to find an opening.
"Maybe, but I won't make the mistake of going for your eye," it spat back.
Xander froze as those words hit him. "You were there!" he said letting the words hang in the darkness. To Roberta his face clouded over as if a shadow had moved across his features, then with a cry of rage, he attacked.
Roberta knew that both Slayers and demons move fast. Kate was very quick in hand to hand fighting and she was no slouch herself, but as far as she knew Xander was a human and yet he caught the vampire totally off guard. A split second later she saw a stake sticking out of the vampires chest. A further beat later and there was nothing but dust.
The little particles slowly settled to the ground, taking away the curtain it briefly provided. As the last of them fell, she saw Xander kneeling in the spot where he'd just dusted the vampire. His eye was closed. She couldn't be sure, but...was he praying?
Then just as suddenly he got himself up, never meeting her gaze and started to walk away.
"Vamps with switchblades, that's new," she said off handily. She didn't know why she didn't want him to leave. Maybe it was because she knew Dawn wanted to know where he was. Maybe it was because she thought he should hang for a moment and let her know what the deal was. Or maybe it was because in the time between where he was scaring and freaking her out, he was a confusion. And that added to the mystery that was already there was something she didn't want to just forget about. So she decided a light hearted comment might be a start.
"No it's not," he said to her, not bothering to stop.
Roberta however wasn't going to be put off so easily. "Umm, Xander!" she called to him.
He stopped and turned around. "You know me?"
"Yeah, my Watcher told us about you," Roberta told him, still not sure if she wanted to mention Dawn by name. "Said you used to be a Watcher."
She watched as he seemed to ponder what she'd said. For a moment she thought he was going to stay and talk to her, but then he shrugged his shoulders just the slightest. "A long time ago," he told her. "Look after yourself okay?" he told her.
Roberta didn't know what to make of his words. On one hand it could've been just a brush off, but she was sure there was an ounce of caring in his words. It was maddening not to be sure, not to be able to get a handle on him. And the icing on the cake was when Roberta felt one of Kate's classic bad moods settling down on her.
"Look why don't you come back and meet my Watcher." She paused taking in both how he was looking at her and what she'd seen the last two nights. "We could probably help you."
"You think I'd let myself go anywhere near the council?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't you. I mean I know you left..."
"I left for good... umm," he paused realising he didn't know her name.
"Roberta."
Xander nodded. "Roberta. Thanks but no thanks."
She was going to argue the point but the little she had been able to ascertain about the man in front of her was that she doubted he could be persuaded to do something he really didn't want to do. "Fine, but the offers still there," she said as she stopped.
He just nodded his head again and then turned to walk away. Roberta watched as he did, waiting for the moment when she could follow. She might not have been able to bring him back to Dawn's place, but she sure as hell could find out where he was staying. As soon as he was out of sight she set off in the direction of where he was headed. She turned the corner where he'd gone and came to a stop. She looked around in a circle and realised that she'd lost him. Kicking the ground at her own failure, she set off back to her Watcher's residence.
Picking up the pace and wanting to report to Dawn as soon as possible, she didn't notice the black shape that came out of the shadows and staying fifty feet or more behind her, trailed her out of the cemetery.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It didn't take long for Xander to get the nagging feeling in his neck. With each passing street it got more and more irritating. By the time he'd turned into Cypress Avenue he knew he no longer needed to follow where Roberta was going.
He hung back, sticking to the shadows and watched at as the Slayer walked up the stairs to the apartment building he used to know so well. It made sense to him. The Watcher's Council had rented the place and they'd simply assigned it to the new watcher when they'd arrived to take his place.
As Roberta opened the door and went inside, Xander wondered how long he would have. Would the Watcher's retrieval team be any more efficient then they were a decade ago? Even if they were, if things went according to plan he'd be long gone before they became a physical worry.
Turning back around and walking away from the place he used to call home, he checked his watch. At least he still had plenty of moonlight hours to look for his target.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her fingertips lightly rapped against the steering wheel cover, tapping away to the beat of the song that was currently blasting out of her CD player. Kate felt very up-beat tonight. She'd gotten some better than expected results from College, her parents had been pleasantly surprised and the cute guy from her Media class had bumped into her at the library. She smiled to herself reliving how he'd tried to make it seem like an accident, when she knew for certain it hadn't been. It was rather cute, she admitted to herself after he'd stammered a little before asking her out for a drink later on.
Turning into Cypress Avenue, all of Kate's good mood evaporated as she noticed who was walking away down the other side of the street from Dawn's place. He was mostly hidden in darkness but she couldn't miss the black eye patch even in the dim light. She almost slammed on the breaks and went to challenge him, but wondered if maybe he'd come to visit Dawn. Seeing as though he used to be a Watcher and a friend of hers, maybe he did. Though her natural inclination was to assume the worse, she decided to try and think it was all good. She pulled her car up at the curb and got out, closing and locking the door in one movement and a push of a button, before she bounded up the stairs.
She knocked on the front door to announce her presence, before turning the key in the lock and opening the door. Upon entering she realised that they hadn't just been socialising with a long lost friend. Dawn looked up at Kate to say hi, but as she was in animated conversation with Roberta, it was done with just a smile.
"He didn't hurt you?" Dawn asked concerned turning back to the brunette slayer.
Roberta shook her head. "No, he didn't. Ahh, look don't take this the wrong way, but was he always so psycho?"
"No he never was," Dawn replied softly.
"Well he scares me a little. He was brutal in torturing those vampires," Roberta told her, then as if only just realising Kate was there she turned to her. "Hi."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Well scary mystery guy was just outside," Kate told them matter of factly. "Seems like someone got followed home."
Dawn frowned at Kate's words but knew that the competition the two slayers had between them was not something she could get rid of, and usually caused her and Ashley to laugh more than worry. "Outside?" she asked, before moving across to the front door.
"He's gone now," Kate told her, surprised at how Dawn had reacted. "He was walking back down towards the Cemetery, I'd guess if that is where you found him," she said looking towards Roberta.
"You think you'd be safe? I mean I didn't tell him about you, cause...well he's a little unstable," Roberta asked Dawn.
"You don't have to worry about Xander," she said trying to reassure them both.
"But you don't know him anymore, Dawn. How long did you say it's been since you've seen him?" Kate wondered, looking at Dawn, trying to work out why she got the feeling she wasn't being totally honest with them.
"About seven years," she replied gently.
"What is it?" Kate asked her.
Dawn shrugged. "Just feeling a little weird."
Kate grimaced but didn't comment.
"Anyway, as I was saying before you arrived and interrupted my story," Roberta started to say, and Kate was almost sure she was going to poke her tongue out at her. "These two vampires, and I have to say, where the hell did they get their clothes from. It was as if they all wanted to be in a permanent re-run of Grease," Roberta stopped her train of thought at the look Kate and Dawn were both giving her. "Anyway...he definitely is looking for something or someone, and he seemed to enjoying inflicting pain on them to find out."
"And he wasn't a sadist seven years ago either?" Kate asked.
Dawn shook her head. "No, he wasn't."
"I don't like the fact that he knows where you live," Kate told her.
"He doesn't. At least I don't think he knows that Dawn is here. But one thing is for sure, he really doesn't like the Watcher's Council," Roberta added.
"No, I don't suppose he does," Dawn replied. "But I wouldn't worry about him knowing where we are. He knows this place very well," she told them.
Kate realised what exactly Dawn was saying. "He was your predecessor wasn't he?"
Dawn nodded.
"And you didn't tell us this earlier?" Kate demanded.
"I didn't think it was necessary," Dawn answered Kate, her voice soft as if she was deep in thought.
"You didn't think it was necessary to tell me that the guy who was meant to be my Watcher but bailed on us all, was back in town. No I can't see why that would be necessary," Kate protested.
"Kate!" Roberta cautioned.
"What?"
While Kate was ranting, Roberta had been looking at Dawn and noticing how much the conversation was affecting her. "Look," she said softly, pointing at their watcher and friend.
Dawn may have been sitting there with a calm exterior, but both girls knew her well enough to know that there was much more going on inside. Dawn looked at them both, her eyes moving from Roberta to Kate slowly. "I need to go out for a moment."
"Dawn, I'm sorry..." Kate started to say, thinking that she'd upset her too much.
Dawn shook her head. "No, you're right, I should've told you. I'll be back in an hour or so, okay?"
Both Kate and Roberta nodded their heads and watched as she picked up her car keys and jacket, and left out the front door. She'd only been gone for a moment when Kate got up out of her seat. "That's crap, I'm going after her."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The short twenty minute drive gave Dawn plenty of time to think. But as the question that was most going around in her head was one she couldn't answer, it wasn't all that fruitful. Her mind had started spinning two nights ago and the revolutions had only quickened tonight. Xander was back. Xander, the man she still thought of as hers in so many ways, was back in San Diego after six and a half years. She didn't feel scared by what he'd do. She had no doubt that he wouldn't harm her or her Slayers. She was shocked to hear about what he was doing to the vampires, but the one thing she knew about Xander beyond anything else was that Human life was sacred and vampires should be dust. There may have been minor exceptions during the time she'd known him, but from the night his childhood best friend had been pushed onto a stake that Xander was holding, he'd always held the belief that a good vampire was dust.
Pulling up outside of the residence, Dawn felt the trepidation running through her veins as clearly as if it had been injected into her. She hoped he was here. Beyond anything else he was in pain. For him to be back in San Diego proved that. His actions only added to the evidence in her own mind. It had been five years since she'd come to this house. She'd checked on it every month or so for the first year she was in San Diego, hoping against hope that he'd reappear, but somewhere along the line she'd realised that he never would.
The house was so beautiful back then. The stone work was sparkling clean, the gardens tended with love, the grass manicured. But no more. The house had a fence erected around it, which had only served to be a new surface for the local street artists to paint on. But even the fence had fallen into disrepair and through a gap, Dawn squeezed her way inside. She wondered how long it had been since someone had even looked in on the place. The grass certainly didn't look like it had been mowed in a year and what used to be gardens were no more.
She moved quietly up to the house, and then started to walk around. But it became obvious to her that no one had been anywhere near this house in months. There was no sign of any windows being broken into, any sign of any body living here at all. She continued on till she had rounded the whole house, just in case she was wrong but as she got to the front of the house again, she sat down, the emotion of the night catching up to her.
She'd tried so hard to keep it all in, when she was in front of the others. In the hope that he'd be here. That they could talk and she could get the answer to the questions she longed to ask. Or at least that she could get his permission to break the silence she'd held for him for over six years. But it was obvious he wasn't here. This place didn't even feel like a home to her anymore. In fact as she sat there she started to get a feeling that she had hoped she hadn't.
She stood up looking around her, and then saw them. Coming from the left, out of the shadows, she could make out three pairs of eyes. As they got closer, it became obvious what they were. Vampires. While she certainly had faced worse odds, she really wasn't in the mood, and was so not ready to have a fight. In her rush to get out of the apartment and come to Del Mar, she didn't even take a single weapon.
"Where's Harris?" the lead vampire asked.
If there was one thing that Dawn was expecting it wasn't to be asked by the undead about the one guy she was looking for.
"You know, I have no idea, but as I doubt you'll take my word for it pretend he's standing behind you and about to stake your ass," she shouted back at them, taking advantage of the momentary distraction as all three of them turned to check to see if she was bluffing or not. It was only a temporary distraction and she knew that it wouldn't last for long, something that became apparent when with a growl they faced her again and started coming closer.
Thankfully, as seemed to be the norm with most vampires, they tended to attack one out. Which usually meant they were pretty new and not very intelligent. Dawn ducked under the first one, and sprung up, sending a kick into the chest of the second one to come at her. Having knocked two of them down, she back peddled a little bit, trying to make her way toward the hole in the fence, and her car. The vampires were up in a moment though and this time they'd surrounded her to the front and both sides. Only where she was back peddling did she have any space. Slowly, keeping an eye on the three of them, she took a step backwards, then another.
Surprisingly she noticed the vampires backing off and snarling. Then as she took another step back she hit something. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned.
"So, this looks like a fun party."
Dawn's mouth hung open for a moment before her gratefulness came through. "Gotta spare stake?" she asked.
Kate smiled at her and lifted one out of her pocket. "Never leave home without three."
Both of them advanced on the vampires, putting into practice some of the drills that they had worked on over the years. Dawn may not be a Slayer but training with three of them, and having to hold your own was about the best training she could get.
In the end it didn't take long. While Kate took the attention of two of them, Dawn made short work of the other. They were definite new bloods, of that she was sure.
Once all three were dust, she turned to face Kate and could tell that there was going to be plenty of questions asked. Kate started walking towards her, and Dawn prepared herself for the barrage. In many ways Kate was Dawn's best friend, but that didn't mean that she was immune to the various moods and opinions of her eldest slayer.
"Kate, I..." Dawn started to say.
Kate held up her hand. "Not now, lets get back to your place. I think we are going to need a safe place for you to tell me what's really going on."
Dawn was about to tell her that she truthfully had no idea what was going on, but thought that Kate wouldn't be placated by her words anyway. So instead she simply nodded, feeling a little foolish at being almost scolded by her charge.
Kate walked out through the fence first, then Dawn. They both walked to their cars which were parked next to each other. Dawn unlocked her car, and was about to get in when Kate addressed her.
"You noticed what those vampires were wearing?" she said.
Dawn nodded. That and their questions about Xander were proof enough that it was no accident they were there. What's more it also meant that they knew Xander's history as much as she did.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived back, they'd found a note from Roberta saying that she'd gotten a call from her parents and had to get home. Something about her little brother being sick. Dawn was actually relieved that she wasn't there, as she knew it was going to be hard enough facing one of her charges, without having both of them looking at her like she'd lied to them.
Both Kate and her walked into the room in silence, each taking a seat in the living area in opposite chairs. Kate looked up at Dawn. It was obvious she expected the Watcher to start off.
"Thanks," Dawn said to her. She meant it, but it also was a safe place to start.
"You know I'd always have your back," Kate told her.
Dawn nodded. "I know"
"But I want you to tell me the truth," Kate told her. "You've never lied to me before."
"I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't tell you some things," Dawn weakly argued.
"So you're arguing semantics?" Kate said raising her eyebrow.
"I don't think so," Dawn said. "Why did you follow me?"
"Well you'd just admitted to leaving out a little detail that our mystery guy was your predecessor and should've been my Watcher, and then you say you have to get out of here. I mean it was obvious that you weren't telling us something, and since that was new, I was really worried."
She couldn't help but feel guilt at Kate's words. It wasn't her place to make her Slayer's worry about their watcher. She hadn't spoken to anyone about her feelings towards Xander for so long. It was a part of her she tried to keep buried deep inside of her.
"Xander was much more than just a watcher," Dawn told her. "He was, at one time, the most important thing in the world to me."
"He was your boyfriend?" Kate asked catching on.
Dawn laughed a hollow chuckle as she shook her head at her friend. "No, he never really was." She closed her eyes and remembered the times they'd shared together in Sunnydale and in England. "He was my rock, my friend, my crush, my confidant and my love. He was that and so much more."
"I don't understand," Kate stated. "He wasn't your boyfriend?" she asked confused.
"No he never was. We used to go out and we did try a few times, but it never worked out for us. It was never the right time," she told her. "I was younger, too young for him to be interested in me, and then just when I thought he was, Sunnydale happened."
Kate had heard about Sunnydale and understood. "We were only in the same country for about eight months after that, and well, even though we both tried, it just never seemed to click. Then he got posted here."
"And then he took off," Kate added.
Dawn could feel herself almost leaping to Xander's defence, even after so many years. Even after everything that had happened to each of them. Part of her liked that she was still so loyal, and the other part hated it and wanted to bad mouth him as much as possible. But she had known for ages about Kate's abandonment issues. It was something that she had to break through years ago when she first started training her. In the end she didn't chastise anyone. "Yeah he did."
"Why hasn't he come to see you?" Kate asked.
Dawn shrugged. "I think it's like Roberta said. I don't think he knows that I am here. As to why he hasn't called me in the last six years. I don't know, I suppose there was always a lot of whys in our relationship."
There was something in the way that her Watcher answered that question that spoke volumes to Kate. She'd often wondered why someone who was young, attractive, intelligent, funny and so full of life seemed to have little or no social life to speak of. It was all so clear to her now. Each crease on Dawn's face added another layer to the proof that now seemed so transparent to her.
"He hurt you, didn't he?"
Dawn looked into her friend's eyes for a moment. She didn't need to say anything, she was sure it was clearly spoken to Kate.
"And you went looking for him?" Kate asked.
Dawn sighed, holding her head in her hands. How could she explain to Kate in one night what her relationship between her and Xander was? How could she tell her what she felt when he was around? How her heart fluttered, and her body felt alive? How she felt like she was floating every time he looked at her? How could she explain the guilt, loss and anger she was feeling whenever she thought about him now?
"Things never worked out how I wanted," Dawn told her.
Kate nodded. She was going to enquire more but saw the tired look in her friends eyes. It was still early so she knew that it had more to do with the emotional turmoil than the time of night. "I'm gonna get going. Are you okay?" she asked.
Dawn smiled in thanks for the end of questions, and Kate's concern. "Yeah."
Kate nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, you going straight home?"
"Nah, I think I'll give Mt. Hope one more going over. I have a feeling that something is heating up in San Diego. You don't usually see five leather jacket wearing vampires within a few hours in this ol' place."
"Okay, call me if anything comes up," Dawn told her.
"I will." Kate gave Dawn one last look, checking visually that she was okay, before walking out the front door.
After Kate had left, Dawn sat there, simply staring into the spaces of her apartment. Her mind was running wild with questions that longed for answers. But where as before the run in at Del Mar, most of the questions had been about what had happened to her one time love, now she was wondering just what he'd brought into her town. And how much trouble was it going to cause.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kate hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. The night had started so well with her better than expected results from College, but before long Xander Harris had popped up to put his proverbial wrench well good in the works. For so long she'd held anger towards the Watcher who'd decided to leave her to her own devices. Sure it had been offset by the arrival of Dawn and the relationship the two of them shared, but Kate had never really gotten over her own feelings of being unwanted. To find that someone else had not wanted to be there for her was a chip that still hung sweetly on her shoulder.
The next day had been only a quick visit to college to return some text books and then back to Dawn's to try and find out where Xander Harris was through more conventional means. The registration act of 2007 that required all people renting accommodation, whether it be long term or nightly at a motel or hotel to be registered on a central database had been one in a long line of measures the United States government had undertaken in the ongoing war against terrorism. And while it was meant to protect the general public it was also a very useful database to use when looking for people.
Of course it was technically and very practically illegal, but that never stopped any of them before. Luckily the Watcher's Council issued software to all Watchers that made tracing them almost impossible. She'd asked Dawn once if the Watcher's Council knew what they were using it for and had gotten a smile when told, "I think the developer would be very impressed with your endeavours."
Kate shook her head. Sometimes she was sure Dawn had spent way too long in the Mother Country.
As darkness fell, and their searches were still proving just as unsuccessful as the days before, she'd decided that she would go on a patrol. She reasoned that the two times they'd run into him before had been at Mt. Hope Cemetery and even if she didn't see him, there was something happening in the underworld and that was probably the best place to get a lock on it.
A few hours later and on her second patrol round Mt. Hope, she was about to go back to Dawn's and see if Roberta wanted to swap. She wasn't tired, just bored. No vampires, no demons, there weren't even any security guards that she had to hide her presence from. Whatever was going on, obviously wasn't happening tonight. At least not here. She turned on her feet and started walking back to the entrance where her car was parked.
Only a hundred feet from the entrance, she stopped not believing her eyes. To think they'd been looking for him for twenty-four hours and now he was there, simply sitting on a park bench. Incredulously to her, he seemed to be talking into a mobile phone. She walked closer to him, alert to any movements that he might make, especially after Roberta had told her how fast he was. As she got closer, she realised two things. One he hadn't realised she was there, his attention on the phone, and two, he looked happy-sad. Almost as though he was fighting to be happy in his sadness. She found herself transfixed and couldn't help but listen to his words when she got a dozen feet away.
"Is she okay?"
The voice was soft, caring. It was so different to how he'd sounded to them those few nights before.
"I know. Please I have to do this. You worry too much."
Kate couldn't move. It was as if she was asking permission for something. He sounded humble.
"It won't be long now, I think..."
Kate knew she was spotted when he stopped talking. He looked up and their gaze locked on each other.
"I have to go, no I'm sorry...I love you too." Xander clicked the phone closed and stood up, glancing at Kate, with what Kate could only assume was disgust and then turned simply and started walking away.
The curiosity that Kate felt had been replaced by her earlier anger at his dismissal of her. This was the guy who was causing them so much trouble and she wasn't going to be dismissed so quickly.
"So you're the famous Xander Harris?" Kate asked, not bothering to mask her distain for him. If she'd been hoping for a reaction she was sorely disappointed as Xander simply ignored her words and continued walking away.
Kate shook her head, wondering if she was seeing things. She spun around and called out, "Hey!" But still she got no response, and she found her self heading off after him, her anger growing all the time. "You know for someone who seems to keep popping up in front of us, and following others home, you seem awfully shy."
Still seeing that she got no reaction, she stopped and shouted out, "Or is it just that running away is what you are best at?"
She couldn't help but smile at how those words made him stop. She didn't think he'd be able to ignore her forever. "Well is it?" she goaded him, walking closer still, till she was just a few feet behind him.
"You have no idea what you are talking about."
His voice was tinged with sadness as if her words had indeed touched a memory. There was still a harsh edge to it, but it was soft. Still he refused to turn around and face her. Kate walked slowly around him so that he would have to face away from her, if he wanted to avoid looking at her.
"My watcher has told me enough."
He actually laughed at the statement, though Kate could tell the hollow ring it had in it. "Well I'm sure you know exactly what you're talking about then. The Watcher's have never lied to anyone have they?"
Kate was about to say, 'No, they don't' when she realised that she had been lied to just yesterday. And the cause of it was standing right in front of her. "I trust my Watcher," she told him truthfully.
She could see that her words had the slightest of effects on him. The muscles in his face relaxed just a little. "You're lucky then," he told her. "Have you had a good life?"
"Huh?" Kate asked, greatly confused by the question and why he would care.
"You're safe? Your life is good?" he asked again.
Kate nodded still in the dark to the origin of the questions. "Yeah, my life is pretty good."
Xander nodded seemingly deep in thought. He looked at her with the barest of smiles. "I'm glad, Katherine. I had worried..."
"You're kidding me?" Kate broke in. "You worried?"
"Is that so hard to believe?" Xander asked her. Then as if it wasn't important to him anymore he added. "If it is, it is, I suppose. I don't plan to be in San Diego for long, I'll try and stay out of your way."
Kate didn't know what to say. She'd planned to confront him, drag him back to Dawn's if necessary, but make sure she could let out all the feelings she felt towards him. But as he walked off, all she could feel was empty. And she didn't like it one bit. "Good!" she shouted, though even as she said it, she realised how pathetic it sounded.
She stayed there, watching as he disappeared around a corner debating as to what to do. In the end her curiosity was piqued enough for her to follow him. She took off slowly down the path, pausing at the corner to peer her head around, checking to see if he was there. Maybe he didn't care enough tonight, maybe she was just better at stealth than Roberta, but either way, she could see him at the end of the path, and knew that she would be following him to wherever he was going to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well I haven't been able to find any record of Xander Harris," Roberta stated looking up from her computer as Dawn entered the room. "No record of any Harris staying at any hotel that I was able to check on."
Roberta watched as a crease formed on her Watcher's forehead. "I thought that database would be more useful to us. We can get into every part of it?"
"Oh we can, but there is always some places that try to stay off the official radar. Stupid really especially after that place got busted last year. And a right pain in the ass when it means I can't find them," Roberta said with a smile.
"Oh yes, that's the worst part, making it hard for you," Dawn teased back.
"Hey, I'm just doing my level best, trying to find your ex-honey for you," Roberta stated slyly.
"Wha..." Dawn started to say thinking that Kate had broken her confidence. She had told Roberta about the vampires the night before, but the personal details that she'd told Kate were not something she wanted to go through again. It was buried deep inside her, and she was content to leave it there for now.
"Oh come on, it was easy to see. The way your emotions changed about one hundred times that first night we mentioned his name. And every time since," Roberta told her. Seeing that Dawn was still looking a little stunned, Roberta let her off the hook a little. "Well, okay I guessed a bit as well, but you have to admit that I was pretty dead on."
Dawn shook her head. Trust Roberta to see romance in any situation. She knew that she would have to say something. "Yes he is an old boyfriend...well sort of...but" She stopped and saw that Roberta was leaning forward on her elbows, resting her head on her hands as she listened to every word attentively. "Okay, well..."
She was interrupted by the sound of the keys in the door, and Kate walking in.
"Oh thank god," Dawn muttered to herself, ignoring the look Roberta first threw her, then Kate.
"What?" Kate said looking at Roberta.
"Oh nothing as usual," she grumbled before Dawn lightly smacked her on the arm. "Sorry, so how was your night?" she asked smiling as big a grin as possible.
"Well fine till I ran into Mr 'I love to torture vampires'" Kate replied taking a seat opposite the other slayer.
"What was he doing now?" Roberta asked, casting Dawn a glance and noticing that her Watcher was just as attentive as all the other times he'd been mentioned.
"Actually nothing," Kate admitted.
"What?" Dawn wondered.
"He just creeps me out, okay." Kate looked at Dawn but could see that she wasn't going to be satisfied with that. "I mean when I first ran into him he's torturing a vampire and he gets pissed when I kill it. Then he knows who I am, which I find out is because he was meant to be my watcher, but took off and deserted San Diego. Then Rob there," she signals to her younger slayer, getting a look back in return for the use of the nickname, "sees him doing the same sort of thing, then I see him outside your place, which used to be his, and now tonight I hear him talking on the phone to someone."
"Talking on the phone?" Roberta asked incredulously. "Ooh major alert."
"Roberta," Dawn chastised.
"Yes, I know it isn't much, but you should've heard him. He sounded, I don't know, almost kind," Kate admitted.
"And this creeps you out. I get threatened and see him take pleasure in inflicting pain on vampires, and you get "kind'" she replied using her fingers for air-quotes, Roberta replied.
"It's because he can be those two different people, and probably a third and a fourth that creeps me out. I can't read him," Kate replied.
"Xander was one of the kindest people I knew," Dawn told them, inside feeling much happier to hear that there was at least a little bit of the friend she knew.
"Yeah well anyway," Kate continued not caring to hear anymore about warm fluffy eye patch guy. "We get to talking, I challenge him and he sounds sorry."
"Ooh evil" Roberta sniggered.
"Shut it," Kate told her.
"Did you tell him about me?" Dawn asked not knowing if she wanted Kate to have or not.
Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry Dawn, but I'm not sure about the guy and I would rather have you meet him under our terms." She could see in Dawn's eyes that she agreed with her.
"Anyway, I followed him and found out where he is staying," Kate added, passing a bit of paper to Dawn. She could see that Dawn looked a little apprehensive as she took the bit of paper.
"He didn't see you?" the Watcher asked.
"I don't think so," Kate said.
Dawn opened the paper. "The Star Inn, on Broadway," she said looking at Roberta, who immediately typed up the hotel on her computer. She waited for a few seconds and then looked back at Dawn, shaking her head. "Nope, no record of a Xander Harris."
Dawn looked over to Kate. "You definitely saw him go in?"
Kate nodded. "It's not the Ritz and only two levels. I could watch him from across the street. I saw the exact room he went into."
"What number was it?" Dawn asked.
"Eight, why?" Kate answered.
Dawn looked over to Roberta. "Got it," she said. "Number eight is occupied by Paul Johnson."
"I wonder," Dawn said talking to herself. A second later she got up. "I'm going to see him."
"But..." Kate started to object.
"No, I'll be fine," she told her. "And I would like to go on my own this time," she told her friend with a smile.
"Okay," Kate agreed, then seeing the Dawn was still looking at her, she added. "Okay, really, I promise."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Inn, if you could call it that, was only a few blocks away and it took Dawn no time to get there. Less than ten minutes, which was less time than she'd spent sitting in her car looking up at the Inn. She could see, clearly under the lights on the balcony, the number eight, starring back at her, daring her to come up and confront her past.
She'd long since stopped dreaming about this moment. For so long she's hoped to see him again, make sure that he was okay. And now that she was moments away from such a meeting, she found herself getting a little angry. She'd had nightmares about something bad happening to him, and that was why he'd never contacted her, and yet he was here physically okay. Although strangely he seemed to have started wearing his eye patch again. Mentally however, was another thing it seemed, but that did little to placate the rising resentment for all the worry she'd been put through over the last six years.
Getting out of the car, she walked slowly but with purpose up to the stairs which would take her up to all the answers she wanted. She stepped each step, and once on the second level, started towards the room. She passed number 12, then 11, then 10. By the time she'd gotten to Number 9 she felt sick to her stomach, and then standing out the front of number 8, she was sure that she would throw up as soon as she looked at him.
She swallowed, and took a deep breath, then knocked firmly on the door.
"Coming!" A voice answered inside, and Dawn almost let out a cry in recognition.
The door opened in front of her, and she was standing face to face with the one man that had meant more to her than any other in her short lifetime. But he wasn't looking at her. He was thumbing around with his wallet.
"$34.95, right?" he stated fishing out some bills.
Dawn almost gasped at the sight. She winced at the scar which dominated his face, both below and on top of the eye patch. His hair was lifeless, he looked in need of a shower, and his clothes had the tell tale signs of being patched up on numerous occasions.
As he looked up, obviously wondering why he'd gotten no response, Dawn stood there with her arms folded.
And then their eyes met. Dawn stood there staring into the face of the man who use to take her breath away. She could tell that Roberta had indeed been correct. He had no idea she was here and she could tell that he was struggling for words.
"Dawn?" he croaked out seconds later, looking at her up and down. Dawn wondered if he thought she was real or not.
"Well, you look like crap," she told him, pushing her way past and walking into his room.
End Chapter 6