Chapter 2: Reunited

"Okay Chrissy, we need to do this quickly. Your mom said she will be back from your teacher conference shortly." Dawn walked around Christina's bedroom sprinkling her powdered concoction in a circle on the carpet. The night before Dawn had reluctantly agreed to help Christina contact her decased father.

"Dawnie, will that come out? Mommy would be really upset if we ruined the carpet." The girl asked Dawn.

"Don't worry, this is just Ikhari Powder, standard in many spells and can be vacuumed right up." She explained to the child. She put the cork back on the bottle and walked over and lit the various candles. "Come here, and bring the photograph with you." Dawn asked as she put out the match and began to walk into the circle. Christina did as Dawn requested. She picked up the photo off of the night stand and walked into the circle. Dawn sat down at one end, and motioned for Chrissy to sit down at the other end. "Place the photograph in the middle of the circle."

"Okay." Her small hands gently set the frame on the floor. She then quickly glanced at the photo of her parents and her. Excitement began to build up. She then looked back up and saw Dawn open a book. "What is that Dawnie?"

"It is a template book that I......borrowed from Giles awhile back. It can access any book in the Council Library." She looked at the girl with a serious look. "Now Chrissy, you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone what we have done. We both would get in a lot of trouble."

"Cross my heart!" Chrissy said smiling, while nodding her head. Dawn smiled at her at, the candlelight reflecting off her face. She then looked back down at the book and requested a text that Chrissy couldn't pronounce. Dawn then began to recite the spell word for word. Chrissy giggled for a second as she found some of the words funny, Dawn glanced up and Chrissy quickly silenced herself. Dawn then continued the reading for several more minutes. Then almost as quickly as they started, Dawn was finished. Nothing had happened. A look of disappointment came across Chrissy's face.

"I'm sorry honey. I wasn't sure if it would work." Dawn was about to get up to comfort the girl when a cold gust blew through the room, blowing out the candles. Then a crackling sound filled the room as a small white light appeared above the circle. It slowly increased in size, and began to get noisier. Chrissy got scared and ran over and jumped in Dawn's arms. They both backed out of the circle right as a loud boom came from the light and something fell through crashing to the floor. Then the light quickly collapsed on itself. Dawn wasn't sure what had come through the portal, so she grabbed Christina and ran out of the room slamming the door behind them.

"What the hell?" Xander Harris groaned as he rolled over onto his back. He reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Xander, you really have to quit drinking." He said to himself as he attempted to get his bearings. He looked around the dark room. His eyes slowly adjusted to the moonlight seeping in through the windows. He then pulled himself up, while doing so he put his hand on some broken glass. "Ouch!" He yelped as he pulled his hand back. He was able to see that it was a broken picture frame. He picked up the photo and pulled himself up. He reached around looking for a light switch and flipped it on, and took a look at the photograph. Confusion filled his mind immediately as he inspected the photograph. He was staring at his own face, along with that of Cordelia Chase, his deceased former girlfriend. In Cordelia's arms was a young baby girl he did not recognize. He pulled the photo out of the broken frame and flipped it over. He noticed an inscription on the back and quietly read it to himself. "Giles, good luck in England. We will miss you a lot. Love, Xander, Cordy, and Chrissy." He then turned it back over and looked at the photograph again. He became immensely confused, perhaps he was dreaming? He just was not sure what was going on. He stood there dumbfounded for several moments when he heard the door slowly creep open.

"Who is in there?" A familiar female voice asked. Xander immediately recognized the voice and pulled the door quickly open.

"Dawn, what the hell is..." He was cut off as Dawn lunged at him with a large butcher knife. "Whoa!" Xander side stepped as Dawn clumsily fell over. She rolled over, preparing to jump back up and give it another go. She quickly stopped as she saw Xander standing there in front of her. A total look of shock covered her face.

"Oh my god, what did I do?" She continued to stare at him. "Xander?" She asked.

"Yeah it's me!" He walked over and helped her up. "Dawn, what the hell is going on?" They both looked at each other flabbergasted. Not clear what to make of the situation. He then took a look at the photo again and became angry. "What the hell is this?" He demanded, pointing at Cordelia in the photo. "Is this supposed to be a joke? You know how I feel about her. This is not very damn funny!" He snapped at Dawn. Xander's confusion and frustration distracted him from the little girl who appeared behind him in the doorway. Dawn looked over at the girl.

"Chrissy!" She yelled. "I told you to go the neighbor's house!" Xander turned around quickly to see who Dawn was yelling at. The girl looked quite a bit like the baby in the photograph, just older. The little girl stared back him at him, and then a big smile crossed her face. She ran across the room and jumped up into Xander's arms.

"Daddy!" The girl squealed as the force of her hug caused Xander to fall over on the bed. "It worked, it worked, it worked." The girl repeated as she buried her face in Xander's chest. Xander was not quite clear what to do with the situation. He didn't want to disturb the girl. So he slowly pulled her back to look at her. He looked her up and down, it then set in why she seemed so familiar. It wasn't just because she was the same child as in the photograph. It was her looks. She looked just like Cordelia did at age 9. Except for the ears, the ears were different. He put his right hand up to his own ears and felt them.

"She has my ears." He said to himself softly. He then looked back down at the smiling girl. He touched her cheek and smiled back at her. Xander was still confused, but something seemed right about the situation. As impossible as it was, deep down he knew this was his daughter. Even though he didn't have a daughter, this was his little girl. Dawn walked over to sit on the bed next to the two of them. "What is your name?" Xander asked the little girl.

"Don't be a dummy daddy, you know my name." Chrissy retorted, with sharp tongue reminiscent of Cordelia. Xander laughed to himself softly.

"Just tell me?" Xander requested again. Christina hopped off his lap and stood up straight looking at him.

"I am Christina Anne Harris." She said smiling. "Now quit being silly daddy!" Xander got up off the bed, and quickly adjusted his eye patch. After doing so he heard a door open and close downstairs..

"I'm home!" the female voice yelled from the first floor. Xander's heart sank to his gut as he instantly recognized the voice. He heard the woman walk up the stairs.

"We're in my room mommy!" Chrissy yelled back. Cordelia reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall to her daughter's room. "Mommy is going to be so excited." She whispered to Xander.

"Baby, I stopped at the store and bought you some Twinkies. You can have one after you take your bath." She said as she entered the doorway. She looked up from the shopping bag and stood face to face with Xander.

"Hi Cor!" Xander said to her as she stood in front of him. She dropped the grocery bag to the ground and fell over into Xander's arms, passing out from shock.