Chapter 4
Xander did not changed his pattern when he sat by Cordelia's bedside. Occasionally, he would speak to her; tell her of some of the adventures that he had. He would also tell her about some of the good times they had when they had been together. (Willow thought that he must have made up some of it, considering they hadn't been together that long and they had hated each other for most of the time) But mostly he just sat by her bed and held her hand.
Willow was troubled when she saw this. The image that everybody had of Xander was of this very vocal, almost bubbly man whose charm was that he was always talking. As his best friend, she knew that under the surface was a very sweet boy who had deeper thoughts then most people knew of. But to see this talkative boy reduced to something like this worried her in a way that vampires and zombies didn't .
Something in Xander had been lost when Anya died. How much Cordelia's condition had aggravated this was unclear but it had sucked something vital that no amount of slaying demons or becoming a Watcher could fix. Xander needed to talk to somebody and she was the best person for the job.
"Hey Xander." Xander looked up at her.
"I missed the meeting, didn't I?"
"Don't worry about it." Willow maintained an air of calm.
"I'm sorry I lost track of time." He looked at his watch. "Shit, I've been here for two hours. Man, I'm not even going out with her and I'm still spending all my time with her." It was a feeble joke, but then most of Xander's jokes were weak. This one, however, came from a place of pain that hurt Willow's heart.
"I always wondered what it would take to shut Cordelia up." The moment the last word was out of her mouth, she knew that had been a spectacularly bad thing to say. "That was a stupid thing to say." Xander didn't seem to notice.
"I've been thinking. And I think that we should send somebody back to Sunnydale and put a plaque or a stone or something up. You know, something that honors the memories of everybody who didn't get out of Sunnydale before the Hellmouth was closed."
"You mean, like the people who died when the High School blew up... The first time?" Willow spoke slowly.
"All the kids who died in Sunnydale. All the ones we...couldn't save."
"That's not a bad idea." Willow saw an opening. "Maybe you could present the idea at our next board meeting"
"Yeah, I guess I could." Xander sighed. "Will, is... Is there something wrong with me?"
Willow didn't know how to answer that question. "No, I don't think so. We all deal with grief differently."
"I know. But I've----we've--- lost people before. It hurt but I got over it"
"Xander, you were going to marry her. She wasn't just someone you went to high school with."
"And I was getting over it. But...." Again he seemed at a loss for words.
"I know what Cordelia meant to you."
"Yeah." Xander laughed but it was hollow. "Four years she lived in Los Angeles, I called her maybe seven times. And I never went to visit her. It was like she was a part of my life that I was trying to forget."
"Xander, none of us called her or visited. But that trap swings both ways. She could have come here. The fact of the matter is we all got caught up in our own things. It's hard keeping the high school gang together when they leave town."
Xander sighed. "Even when I talked to her, she never told me about the kind of burdens that she had taken on. Did she ever complain about the migraines that she was getting every time she had a vision?"
Willow thought. "Maybe as a joke. I think she thought that they were part of the burden that she had to bear for helping Angel."
Xander shook his head.. "That's another thing that I had a lot of trouble believing even after she told me. How was it that she could work for Angel? I mean, the girl wanted to get away from everything that was going on in Sunnydale. How could she get dragged back in that circus?"
"She wasn't dragged, Xander. From what little I know, she walked into this with her eyes wide open."
"Did she choose to become part demon? Did she know that was going to be part of the package?" There was bitterness in his voice. Willow decided it would be best to keep Angel's name out of the discussion.
"She thought that she was doing the right thing."
"Like we did when we brought Buffy back from the dead?" Willow turned to Xander in shock. "Yeah, Anya told me about that. WE brought this whole thing with the First crashing down upon our heads. Because of what we did, the human race nearly went extinct."
Willow tried to gain control of herself. "And what were we supposed to do? The line of the Slayer went through Faith. There wasn't going to be anybody coming to help us. We had no choice."
Xander thought this over. "I know that."
"Then why'd you..."
"Because we never thought of things in the long term. We were always trying to get through the next day, the next battle, the next big bad. Maybe if we had thought about the consequences, we could have avoided.... Everything else." He trailed off.
"Xander we grew up in a town where you had to live life day to day. Sure, we should have thought about the consequences but there were more immediate urgencies. That's how things are."
Xander stroked Cordelia's hand. "Tell me something, Will. Back when we founded the 'I Hate Cordelia' club, did you ever think that there would be a time when we thought of her as brave and noble?" Willow shook her head. "Me neither." He got up. "Of course, I never thought that she would become... This."
"Xander...."
"I mean, part of me would like nothing more than to see Cordelia awake. But then I realize that if she ever regains consciousness, we might have to..." He couldn't finish the thought.
Willow realized that she might not have a better opportunity. "Xander, have you thought about maybe working somewhere else? Getting away from all the fighting and the... bad memories?"
Xander looked up. "I've got everybody worried, don't I?"
"Xander, I don't think you should put yourself through this much agony when you don't have to. When there are other options. We're in the biggest city in the country; you have a lot more options then you think."
"I know, Will. And believe me I have thought about it. There are times when I really feel like telling everybody I want out."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because it's not finished yet." Willow looked up in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, don't tell that me you don't feel it."
"Feel what?"
"That sealing the Hellmouth didn't stop the forces of evil. I know I'm probably the least connected to the demon world, but even I know that whatever it was that Angel tried to stop is still out there. Those prophecies that you and Dawn and Wes have been trying to translate. There's some great force still rising and if we don't find out what it is, nobody will be safe."
Willow had not had any idea that Xander had felt the vibes this strongly. "Yeah, somethings out there."
"And I need to be able to set up the defenses." Xander sighed. "I know that I've got to find a way to get my head back in the game. But..." He sighed again. "Christ, I could give Angel a run for his money when it comes to brooding."
"I don't think that you have to worry about that." Willow tried to joke. Then seriously, "Look, I know some magic spells that can ease the pain a little..."
"Yeah, and those things never go wrong." Then before he became offensive, he said. "Look, I think I need to get through this by myself. Maybe if I... Changed my job. Worked training the Slayers some more. I don't know. What do you think?"
Willow wasn't sure what she was going to say (she thought that it was only a quick fix but couldn't think of anything better) but then her beeper went off. So did Xander's.
" Buffy wants to speak with us. Apparently somebody just showed up by himself at the lobby wanting to talk to us." she said.
"Us us or.."
"Buffy and Angel. They both think that it is important that we meet him."
"That's odd." It was. Despite the fact that they had been at this office for nearly a month, most of the clients for Angel-Slayer Inc. had been accompanied by Lorne or someone else from the firm. Only two other times had a client come directly to Wolfram and Hart. And Buffy and Angel had yet to deal with a client important enough to talk with the entire firm.
"Want to see who it is?" When Xander hesitated, she followed with: "It'll break up the day"
"What the hell." Xander shrugged and the two friends left Cordelia's bedside, unaware that the visitor was going to be a new landmark in their fight against darkness.
One of the things that Fred had missed most about what she had begun to think of as the pre-Pylean part of her life had been the long and interesting discussions that she had with fellow college students. Most of the talks had been in classes with other physics majors where they would talk about some of the more abstract theories that they read about in class. However, on occasion, she would go to the lounge in her dormitory and listen to some of her other classmate discuss themes that were out of her bailiwick. Philosophy, history, great literature--- while she didn't understand all the topics that were being discussed, it was somehow comforting to hear other people discuss anything with passion and animation. There were a lot of good things about working with Angel, but there was never any time to discuss anything that didn't have to deal with the crisis at hand. In a way this was good because a lot of the college students were just acting pretentious, but after a long period of dealing with emergencies you missed having talks about less important matters.
That had been one of the reasons that she had decided to have dinner with Andrew. Part of her wanted-- almost needed --- to talk about something that wasn't an emergency.
"I mean, I know that I'm not a theological expert and my biggest philosophical project was The Ethics of Star Trek, but there are some real ramifications in both areas about Spike---- and Angel too." Andrew said before taking a bite out of his sandwich. "I mean the idea of a soul as not just some metaphysical concept but actually being a physical thing---- that would set the religious world on its ear"
"I get what you're saying. I mean I'm not very religious myself, but even I know the importance of the concept of the soul." Fred paused. "But I don't think it's quite what most people or even I thought it was."
"I'm not sure I follow you."
"Well, according to your basic religion--- Christianity or Catholicism is most obvious--- the soul is the part of your body that does good or evil. But in the case of Angel, the soul appears to be the part of you that does good and feels compassion for other people. At least that is was the fundamental difference between Angel and Angelus."
"But more than that, I think it would come as some kind of shock that a soul is something that can be possessed--- physically. I mean, you had it in the Orb of Thesulah. It was something substantial. I mean that's up there with the discovery of a new planet."
"I know. It's a shame that scientific papers aren't on the same level of theology papers, there's a real essay in here."
"How much scientific lingo do you need in order to write one of those papers?" Fred looked up at Andrew, who shrugged. "Hey, this is a pretty tough project I've taken on; doing something like this might be easier."
"Well, maybe we shouldn't rush to bringing this to light. I mean people have a hard enough idea adjusting to the concept of religion. The idea that we gathered data from knowledge of the existence of the undead--- well, that might bring a certain amount of attention that we don't need."
Andrew pondered this while taking a sip of his Coke. "Yeah. Back in Sunnydale, there was this wall of denial that everybody in town seemed to put up in order to avoid dealing with what was happening. I guess that you can't hope that it would be the same everywhere."
Fred, realizing that she might not get a better lead in, spoke up. "Speaking of Sunnydale, there was something that the others wanted to talk to you about."
"Really?" For a moment the eager smile on Andrew's face flickered. "Wait a minute. This wouldn't have anything to do with the request for an expedition to Sunnydale that I put in a week ago?"
"That's right, well that's not quite right. Wait a minute, who did you file the request with?"
"I asked one of the executives who worked here where I put the paperwork together to make a request. He told me to just put the paper together and he'd make sure that the right people saw it. I figured he meant Angel and you."
Fred sighed. "Well, whoever you talked to must have thought that you were in charge because they've readied for some kind of campaign there."
"Damn it! I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen. I wanted your blessing on this as well as your input."
"It's OK. We intercepted your application before anything got started. But..." Fred stopped. "What none of us understand is why you wanted to dig around there in the first place. Were you looking for more material for your story?"
Andrew looked at Fred as of she had grown another head. "God no. I admit that there are some weak patches in the story that need filling in and it's true that some of the only information is probably buried there, but I'm not crazy enough to want to root around there."
"Then why?" Fred was starting to get concerned as well as curious.
Andrew paused. "You have to understand... I have no definitive evidence that anything is wrong and it is very possible I'm worried about nothing."
"But..."
"I think that whatever evil that resided in Sunnydale, whatever it was that made the Hellmouth spit out monsters for all that time, is still alive." Fred felt a mixture of fear, dismay and alarm... But not surprise.
"But... The Hellmouth was sealed. The First was killed."
"What makes you so certain that it's dead? This thing was supposedly the well spring of every terrifying thing that existed since the creation of good and evil. What makes you so sure that something of that magnitude can be killed?"
"You don't believe Buffy and the other Slayers killed it?"
"I think they thought they did." He sighed. "How well do you know the X-Men?" Fred thought she had a look of astonishment on her face because Andrew said: "I'm going somewhere with this."
"Well, I saw the movie and watched the cartoon series. I probably don't know it as well as you."
"Well, the greatest threat that the X-Men ever faced was a mutant named, appropriately Apocalypse. Pretty nihilistic for a comic book villain; he wanted to destroy the entire world. But he could not be killed. There have been a lot of conflicting stories as to why, but what it came down to was he was so old that he existed outside of time".
A picture was coming together in Fred's head and she didn't like it much. "So you think that somehow the First... exists in other dimensions and even if it was killed in one it might still be alive in another?"
"I don't know. What I do know is that for all the chaos that was going on in the High School, nobody saw the First fall. "
"Don't you think that the Hellmouth closing is a pretty good sign that something big happened?"
"We have no evidence. For all we know, it could have been brought about by Spike's last act. None of them saw a body. "
"And that's why you want to dig up Sunnydale? To see if the things really dead?"
"Wouldn't you sleep a lot better knowing that this threat is gone for good?"
Fred thought this over, then nodded. "But what if you're right? What if the only thing that's keeping the First dormant is the collapsed Hellmouth? What if...excavating brought it back to life?"
"Then better it be us than someone doing it by accident or someone with a lot nastier motive." Andrew took out his wallet. "That's the other thing that worries me."
"I don't follow."
"A week ago, I was on-line looking for information on what was happening around Sunnydale. I ran across this." He handed Fred a piece of paper.
She looked at what was apparently an article from the Sacramento Bee." 'Multi-National Conglomerate Bids on Demolished Town' In a move that left the business world scrambling, Cloverleaf Industry announced that it was bidding on the land that made up the former town of Sunnydale. Spokesmen for CEO Martha Frowland announced that this was a culmination of an effort to rebuild the often troubled former city'" Fred looked up. "Well this could be problematic, but I'm not sure why you find this so alarming."
"Look at the name of the CEO."
For a moment Fred wasn't sure what Andrew was talking about. Then like a bolt of lightning, she saw it. 'Martha Frowland' unscrambled to read Wolfram And Hart.'
She looked up, stunned. "Have you told anybody else about this?"
"About what? For all I know, this could just be a coincidence."
"But you don't think so?"
"Let me ask you. DO you think that the people who used to run this place are insane enough to attempt to bring back a force that could wipe out the human race?"
Fred thought about this for ten seconds. It took that long for the enormity of all this to hit her.
"Come with me." she said as she got up. "I think we need to tell Wesley and Giles and the others. "
Despite the urgency of the matter, she couldn't help but turn to Andrew and say: "You know, when she was arguing to have you work with us, Faith told us that you had really changed. I don't think anybody here had realized how much."
Andrew gave a half smile as they started walking. "What can I say? When you fight in something as big as the last battle of Sunnydale, you'd have to be made of stone not to change a little. I'm a different person. Hopefully a better one."
Fred was about to say something complimentary when her pager went off. "Oh, now what?" she said.
"Anything serious?"
"Angel wants to meet with us at the front desk. Look, that's as good as any place to talk to everybody. Come with me."
The two of them walked towards the elevator.
Xander did not changed his pattern when he sat by Cordelia's bedside. Occasionally, he would speak to her; tell her of some of the adventures that he had. He would also tell her about some of the good times they had when they had been together. (Willow thought that he must have made up some of it, considering they hadn't been together that long and they had hated each other for most of the time) But mostly he just sat by her bed and held her hand.
Willow was troubled when she saw this. The image that everybody had of Xander was of this very vocal, almost bubbly man whose charm was that he was always talking. As his best friend, she knew that under the surface was a very sweet boy who had deeper thoughts then most people knew of. But to see this talkative boy reduced to something like this worried her in a way that vampires and zombies didn't .
Something in Xander had been lost when Anya died. How much Cordelia's condition had aggravated this was unclear but it had sucked something vital that no amount of slaying demons or becoming a Watcher could fix. Xander needed to talk to somebody and she was the best person for the job.
"Hey Xander." Xander looked up at her.
"I missed the meeting, didn't I?"
"Don't worry about it." Willow maintained an air of calm.
"I'm sorry I lost track of time." He looked at his watch. "Shit, I've been here for two hours. Man, I'm not even going out with her and I'm still spending all my time with her." It was a feeble joke, but then most of Xander's jokes were weak. This one, however, came from a place of pain that hurt Willow's heart.
"I always wondered what it would take to shut Cordelia up." The moment the last word was out of her mouth, she knew that had been a spectacularly bad thing to say. "That was a stupid thing to say." Xander didn't seem to notice.
"I've been thinking. And I think that we should send somebody back to Sunnydale and put a plaque or a stone or something up. You know, something that honors the memories of everybody who didn't get out of Sunnydale before the Hellmouth was closed."
"You mean, like the people who died when the High School blew up... The first time?" Willow spoke slowly.
"All the kids who died in Sunnydale. All the ones we...couldn't save."
"That's not a bad idea." Willow saw an opening. "Maybe you could present the idea at our next board meeting"
"Yeah, I guess I could." Xander sighed. "Will, is... Is there something wrong with me?"
Willow didn't know how to answer that question. "No, I don't think so. We all deal with grief differently."
"I know. But I've----we've--- lost people before. It hurt but I got over it"
"Xander, you were going to marry her. She wasn't just someone you went to high school with."
"And I was getting over it. But...." Again he seemed at a loss for words.
"I know what Cordelia meant to you."
"Yeah." Xander laughed but it was hollow. "Four years she lived in Los Angeles, I called her maybe seven times. And I never went to visit her. It was like she was a part of my life that I was trying to forget."
"Xander, none of us called her or visited. But that trap swings both ways. She could have come here. The fact of the matter is we all got caught up in our own things. It's hard keeping the high school gang together when they leave town."
Xander sighed. "Even when I talked to her, she never told me about the kind of burdens that she had taken on. Did she ever complain about the migraines that she was getting every time she had a vision?"
Willow thought. "Maybe as a joke. I think she thought that they were part of the burden that she had to bear for helping Angel."
Xander shook his head.. "That's another thing that I had a lot of trouble believing even after she told me. How was it that she could work for Angel? I mean, the girl wanted to get away from everything that was going on in Sunnydale. How could she get dragged back in that circus?"
"She wasn't dragged, Xander. From what little I know, she walked into this with her eyes wide open."
"Did she choose to become part demon? Did she know that was going to be part of the package?" There was bitterness in his voice. Willow decided it would be best to keep Angel's name out of the discussion.
"She thought that she was doing the right thing."
"Like we did when we brought Buffy back from the dead?" Willow turned to Xander in shock. "Yeah, Anya told me about that. WE brought this whole thing with the First crashing down upon our heads. Because of what we did, the human race nearly went extinct."
Willow tried to gain control of herself. "And what were we supposed to do? The line of the Slayer went through Faith. There wasn't going to be anybody coming to help us. We had no choice."
Xander thought this over. "I know that."
"Then why'd you..."
"Because we never thought of things in the long term. We were always trying to get through the next day, the next battle, the next big bad. Maybe if we had thought about the consequences, we could have avoided.... Everything else." He trailed off.
"Xander we grew up in a town where you had to live life day to day. Sure, we should have thought about the consequences but there were more immediate urgencies. That's how things are."
Xander stroked Cordelia's hand. "Tell me something, Will. Back when we founded the 'I Hate Cordelia' club, did you ever think that there would be a time when we thought of her as brave and noble?" Willow shook her head. "Me neither." He got up. "Of course, I never thought that she would become... This."
"Xander...."
"I mean, part of me would like nothing more than to see Cordelia awake. But then I realize that if she ever regains consciousness, we might have to..." He couldn't finish the thought.
Willow realized that she might not have a better opportunity. "Xander, have you thought about maybe working somewhere else? Getting away from all the fighting and the... bad memories?"
Xander looked up. "I've got everybody worried, don't I?"
"Xander, I don't think you should put yourself through this much agony when you don't have to. When there are other options. We're in the biggest city in the country; you have a lot more options then you think."
"I know, Will. And believe me I have thought about it. There are times when I really feel like telling everybody I want out."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because it's not finished yet." Willow looked up in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, don't tell that me you don't feel it."
"Feel what?"
"That sealing the Hellmouth didn't stop the forces of evil. I know I'm probably the least connected to the demon world, but even I know that whatever it was that Angel tried to stop is still out there. Those prophecies that you and Dawn and Wes have been trying to translate. There's some great force still rising and if we don't find out what it is, nobody will be safe."
Willow had not had any idea that Xander had felt the vibes this strongly. "Yeah, somethings out there."
"And I need to be able to set up the defenses." Xander sighed. "I know that I've got to find a way to get my head back in the game. But..." He sighed again. "Christ, I could give Angel a run for his money when it comes to brooding."
"I don't think that you have to worry about that." Willow tried to joke. Then seriously, "Look, I know some magic spells that can ease the pain a little..."
"Yeah, and those things never go wrong." Then before he became offensive, he said. "Look, I think I need to get through this by myself. Maybe if I... Changed my job. Worked training the Slayers some more. I don't know. What do you think?"
Willow wasn't sure what she was going to say (she thought that it was only a quick fix but couldn't think of anything better) but then her beeper went off. So did Xander's.
" Buffy wants to speak with us. Apparently somebody just showed up by himself at the lobby wanting to talk to us." she said.
"Us us or.."
"Buffy and Angel. They both think that it is important that we meet him."
"That's odd." It was. Despite the fact that they had been at this office for nearly a month, most of the clients for Angel-Slayer Inc. had been accompanied by Lorne or someone else from the firm. Only two other times had a client come directly to Wolfram and Hart. And Buffy and Angel had yet to deal with a client important enough to talk with the entire firm.
"Want to see who it is?" When Xander hesitated, she followed with: "It'll break up the day"
"What the hell." Xander shrugged and the two friends left Cordelia's bedside, unaware that the visitor was going to be a new landmark in their fight against darkness.
One of the things that Fred had missed most about what she had begun to think of as the pre-Pylean part of her life had been the long and interesting discussions that she had with fellow college students. Most of the talks had been in classes with other physics majors where they would talk about some of the more abstract theories that they read about in class. However, on occasion, she would go to the lounge in her dormitory and listen to some of her other classmate discuss themes that were out of her bailiwick. Philosophy, history, great literature--- while she didn't understand all the topics that were being discussed, it was somehow comforting to hear other people discuss anything with passion and animation. There were a lot of good things about working with Angel, but there was never any time to discuss anything that didn't have to deal with the crisis at hand. In a way this was good because a lot of the college students were just acting pretentious, but after a long period of dealing with emergencies you missed having talks about less important matters.
That had been one of the reasons that she had decided to have dinner with Andrew. Part of her wanted-- almost needed --- to talk about something that wasn't an emergency.
"I mean, I know that I'm not a theological expert and my biggest philosophical project was The Ethics of Star Trek, but there are some real ramifications in both areas about Spike---- and Angel too." Andrew said before taking a bite out of his sandwich. "I mean the idea of a soul as not just some metaphysical concept but actually being a physical thing---- that would set the religious world on its ear"
"I get what you're saying. I mean I'm not very religious myself, but even I know the importance of the concept of the soul." Fred paused. "But I don't think it's quite what most people or even I thought it was."
"I'm not sure I follow you."
"Well, according to your basic religion--- Christianity or Catholicism is most obvious--- the soul is the part of your body that does good or evil. But in the case of Angel, the soul appears to be the part of you that does good and feels compassion for other people. At least that is was the fundamental difference between Angel and Angelus."
"But more than that, I think it would come as some kind of shock that a soul is something that can be possessed--- physically. I mean, you had it in the Orb of Thesulah. It was something substantial. I mean that's up there with the discovery of a new planet."
"I know. It's a shame that scientific papers aren't on the same level of theology papers, there's a real essay in here."
"How much scientific lingo do you need in order to write one of those papers?" Fred looked up at Andrew, who shrugged. "Hey, this is a pretty tough project I've taken on; doing something like this might be easier."
"Well, maybe we shouldn't rush to bringing this to light. I mean people have a hard enough idea adjusting to the concept of religion. The idea that we gathered data from knowledge of the existence of the undead--- well, that might bring a certain amount of attention that we don't need."
Andrew pondered this while taking a sip of his Coke. "Yeah. Back in Sunnydale, there was this wall of denial that everybody in town seemed to put up in order to avoid dealing with what was happening. I guess that you can't hope that it would be the same everywhere."
Fred, realizing that she might not get a better lead in, spoke up. "Speaking of Sunnydale, there was something that the others wanted to talk to you about."
"Really?" For a moment the eager smile on Andrew's face flickered. "Wait a minute. This wouldn't have anything to do with the request for an expedition to Sunnydale that I put in a week ago?"
"That's right, well that's not quite right. Wait a minute, who did you file the request with?"
"I asked one of the executives who worked here where I put the paperwork together to make a request. He told me to just put the paper together and he'd make sure that the right people saw it. I figured he meant Angel and you."
Fred sighed. "Well, whoever you talked to must have thought that you were in charge because they've readied for some kind of campaign there."
"Damn it! I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen. I wanted your blessing on this as well as your input."
"It's OK. We intercepted your application before anything got started. But..." Fred stopped. "What none of us understand is why you wanted to dig around there in the first place. Were you looking for more material for your story?"
Andrew looked at Fred as of she had grown another head. "God no. I admit that there are some weak patches in the story that need filling in and it's true that some of the only information is probably buried there, but I'm not crazy enough to want to root around there."
"Then why?" Fred was starting to get concerned as well as curious.
Andrew paused. "You have to understand... I have no definitive evidence that anything is wrong and it is very possible I'm worried about nothing."
"But..."
"I think that whatever evil that resided in Sunnydale, whatever it was that made the Hellmouth spit out monsters for all that time, is still alive." Fred felt a mixture of fear, dismay and alarm... But not surprise.
"But... The Hellmouth was sealed. The First was killed."
"What makes you so certain that it's dead? This thing was supposedly the well spring of every terrifying thing that existed since the creation of good and evil. What makes you so sure that something of that magnitude can be killed?"
"You don't believe Buffy and the other Slayers killed it?"
"I think they thought they did." He sighed. "How well do you know the X-Men?" Fred thought she had a look of astonishment on her face because Andrew said: "I'm going somewhere with this."
"Well, I saw the movie and watched the cartoon series. I probably don't know it as well as you."
"Well, the greatest threat that the X-Men ever faced was a mutant named, appropriately Apocalypse. Pretty nihilistic for a comic book villain; he wanted to destroy the entire world. But he could not be killed. There have been a lot of conflicting stories as to why, but what it came down to was he was so old that he existed outside of time".
A picture was coming together in Fred's head and she didn't like it much. "So you think that somehow the First... exists in other dimensions and even if it was killed in one it might still be alive in another?"
"I don't know. What I do know is that for all the chaos that was going on in the High School, nobody saw the First fall. "
"Don't you think that the Hellmouth closing is a pretty good sign that something big happened?"
"We have no evidence. For all we know, it could have been brought about by Spike's last act. None of them saw a body. "
"And that's why you want to dig up Sunnydale? To see if the things really dead?"
"Wouldn't you sleep a lot better knowing that this threat is gone for good?"
Fred thought this over, then nodded. "But what if you're right? What if the only thing that's keeping the First dormant is the collapsed Hellmouth? What if...excavating brought it back to life?"
"Then better it be us than someone doing it by accident or someone with a lot nastier motive." Andrew took out his wallet. "That's the other thing that worries me."
"I don't follow."
"A week ago, I was on-line looking for information on what was happening around Sunnydale. I ran across this." He handed Fred a piece of paper.
She looked at what was apparently an article from the Sacramento Bee." 'Multi-National Conglomerate Bids on Demolished Town' In a move that left the business world scrambling, Cloverleaf Industry announced that it was bidding on the land that made up the former town of Sunnydale. Spokesmen for CEO Martha Frowland announced that this was a culmination of an effort to rebuild the often troubled former city'" Fred looked up. "Well this could be problematic, but I'm not sure why you find this so alarming."
"Look at the name of the CEO."
For a moment Fred wasn't sure what Andrew was talking about. Then like a bolt of lightning, she saw it. 'Martha Frowland' unscrambled to read Wolfram And Hart.'
She looked up, stunned. "Have you told anybody else about this?"
"About what? For all I know, this could just be a coincidence."
"But you don't think so?"
"Let me ask you. DO you think that the people who used to run this place are insane enough to attempt to bring back a force that could wipe out the human race?"
Fred thought about this for ten seconds. It took that long for the enormity of all this to hit her.
"Come with me." she said as she got up. "I think we need to tell Wesley and Giles and the others. "
Despite the urgency of the matter, she couldn't help but turn to Andrew and say: "You know, when she was arguing to have you work with us, Faith told us that you had really changed. I don't think anybody here had realized how much."
Andrew gave a half smile as they started walking. "What can I say? When you fight in something as big as the last battle of Sunnydale, you'd have to be made of stone not to change a little. I'm a different person. Hopefully a better one."
Fred was about to say something complimentary when her pager went off. "Oh, now what?" she said.
"Anything serious?"
"Angel wants to meet with us at the front desk. Look, that's as good as any place to talk to everybody. Come with me."
The two of them walked towards the elevator.