Chapter 4

Angel glanced at his watch for the fourth time in five minutes. It wasn't like Fred to be late, and even Spike was normally on time. Now, they were both nearly twenty minutes late for the meeting.

Gunn looked over at the clock and let out a deep breath. "Why don't we get started? We can fill Fred and Spike in later," he said finally.

Angel nodded reluctantly. He had wanted to give the news with everyone present, but he also knew that it couldn't wait. The Eire got to his feet and picked up the pile of papers that Wesley had copied for him. "Wes received this transmission from his contact at the Watcher's Council this morning," he said. "It's a warning, urgent, from the sound-"

"Oi, wait for us, Peaches," came Spike's deep baritone voice. The young vamp stood in the doorway with an arm around Fred's shoulders. "We're part of the team too. 'Sides, I think we can 'elp with this little message." He grinned ferally. "Or, rather, he can 'elp." While he was saying this, Spike gestured to someone off to his left.

Angel's eyes widened in shock as the young man stepped into the room with Spike and Fred. He hadn't seen Xander Harris in years, and wouldn't have recognised him if the boy hadn't been giving the vampire his trademark lopsided grin.

"Long time no see, Deadboy," Harris said with a grin.

"Xander," Angel said gruffly. "The Council send you to help us catch this guy?"

Harris shrugged and picked up a crystal paperweight on Angel's desk. "They didn't exactly send me," he said lightly, turning the crystal in his hands. "Actually, they don't know where I am currently, and I plan to keep it that way." His voice took on a hard note and a flash of anger flickered in his eye.

"Good Lord," Wesley whispered, staring at Harris. "You're him. You're the renegade whom the Council is searching for."

"You were always the smart one, Wes."

Angel was relieved to see that he wasn't the only one who jumped as he heard Harris' voice in his mind.

"Show off," Spike grumbled. Harris grinned at him and winked, much to the vampire's obvious discomfort.

"Can someone please explain what the hell's going on?" Gunn demanded. "Who's this kid?"

"And what does the Council want with him?" Lorne added. "Though don't get me wrong, Chico; it's great to have another sensitive around."

Xander took a seat on the couch and Spike sat next to him; Fred settled herself near Gunn. Angel pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, wishing that he had just stayed in bed. He looked up and waved a hand in Xander's direction. "You might as well start at the beginning."

Spike unconsciously scooted closer to Xander as the young man began his story. At first, he had been impatient to learn what had happened, but now he wasn't so sure he wanted to know. The whelp had always been a positive, upbeat young man; now, he was cold, cunning, and full of pent-up aggression.

"It started about a week or so after Spike saved me from the First's priest, Caleb. I lost my eye in that fight, and Caleb called me 'the one who sees everything.' I didn't know what he meant by that at first, but a couple weeks later, I began to get an idea." Xander paused, taking a sip of the water that Fred had offered him.

"At first, I was scared shitless. I kept hearing thoughts that weren't my own, feeling emotions that weren't mine. I thought I was going insane. I finally had a special power, I wasn't just the donut boy anymore, but I wanted it gone.

"After the final battle at Sunnydale, I told Willow about my telepathy. She then told Buffy and Giles, who set me up with trainers. I trained with them for about a month when it became obvious that I was more powerful than even the best Council telepath. Soon, Buffy had me running missions that I didn't want to do. I didn't want to use my power to hunt people down; I wanted to use it to help people." Xander took a breath and looked around. Spike could see the pain in his single eye and noticed the rage just below it. He gripped the boy's knee reassuringly and Xander continued.

"I told Buffy I wanted out, that I wanted nothing more to do with the Council. She refused to let me go, saying that I owed her for all the times she'd saved my ass.

"I tried sneaking away, but she found me. Her Slayers brought me back to the Council and locked me up. Buffy told everyone that I was unstable and the power had gotten to my head, when in reality, it was the other way around."

Xander turned to face Spike, speaking softer now. "I refused to take it anymore. When the guards came for my next interrogation, I killed them. I'm still not sure how I did it, but I just let go of my rage and pain. Using my Talent, I escaped from the Council and hopped the first plane back to California. I figured if anyone could hide me, it would be you guys."

Gunn frowned, still suspicious of the younger man. "How did you schedule plane tickets so quickly and without the Council tracking you?"

"I had a friend on the inside," Xander said quietly, a faraway look in his eye. "She booked the flight and caused a diversion, which allowed me to escape. As far as I know, she's dead. The Council never would've let her live after helping me."

Angel looked at him steadily. "Willow?"

"No. Faith."

Spike looked up, genuinely surprised. He remembered hearing how the rogue Slayer had once tried to kill Xander when he had tried to help her. She would've succeeded if Angel hadn't arrived at the last second and saved the teen. "Faith tried to kill you; hells, she nearly raped you!"

"Yeah, I remember. I didn't trust her at first, but then I remembered how she helped us out in Sunnydale," Xander pointed out.

The longhaired man got up and walked over to Angel, his injuries no longer even seeming to irritate him. "Basically, I'm offering my services to you and this firm, in exchange for giving me a place to crash and getting the Council off my trail." He held out his hand to the Irish vampire. "Do we have a deal?"

Angel hesitated and looked over at Wesley. Spike resisted the urge to answer for his grandsire

The ex-Watcher studied Xander intently, noting how much the younger man had changed since they had first met in Sunnydale. "I believe that having someone with your degree of power on our team would definitely be worthwhile," he said, still studying the young man.

Angel nodded and gripped Xander's hand. "Alright then. Welcome to the team."