As soon as they found out who was behind the attack, Xander had insisted they get back to the Hyperion immediately. He wouldn't explain himself either, which was really frustrating. But, she thought, she'd pull it out of him at some point.
"I know you don't get it, Angel," Xander said. "You getting it is not important right now. Just find Oz and keep him in your sight at all times. I'll explain when I get there." He listened for a moment. "Okay, fine, that's a valid point. But get someone who won't fry in the sunlight to do it, because he's in a lot of danger. Okay? Good." Xander flipped his phone shut, then lay his head back against the headrest and groaned.
"So what are we dealing with here, X?" Faith asked. "Who's this O'Toole guy?"
"He's a wizard," Xander said. "Meddles in some voodoo."
"Thanks for the info, I didn't know that," Faith snapped. She pulled out into traffic, horn blaring. "Jackass. What's going on? Why's wolfboy in danger?"
"About five years ago," Xander said, "I killed some zombies. They were trying to blow up the school."
"Okay, and?"
"And, like I said, I killed them and the bomb didn't go off. The head zombie was a guy named Jack O'Toole. He said his grandfather had raised him."
"From the dead, or from childhood?"
"He meant from the dead, but I got the impression they were close."
"Gotcha," Faith said. "And this wizard guy's his granddad."
"Don't know for sure, but they sound similar enough that I'm not taking any chances."
Faith nodded, seeing the logic of that way of thinking, but something still didn't quite add up. "So, why are you getting all protective over Oz?"
"He didn't know it then, and I'm fairly certain he still doesn't, but… Oz kind of ate Jack."
Faith slammed the brakes, bringing the truck to a sudden halt. Car horns blared from behind them.
"Watch it!" Xander yelled.
"He ate the guy? And you never told anybody?"
"Well, what the hell was I supposed to say? 'Gee, Oz, you know how you woke up in the boiler room this morning, instead of the book cage? And you know how you haven't been hungry all day? Well guess what!' How do you tell someone they just ate a guy?"
Faith shook her head as she pulled back into traffic. "Jesus," she said. "That's messed up. When was this?"
"Senior year," Xander said. "Look, don't tell anybody about that, okay?"
Faith turned and looked at Xander oddly. "Wait, they don't know?"
"Nobody does, and I'd like to keep it that way. It wasn't a big deal at the time, and they'd just… it'll just be easier. Please?"
"I'm not gonna lie to Angel. I mean, I owe him, you know? And I won't put anyone in danger."
"Not asking you to," Xander said. "Just… if there's a way to avoid talking about it…"
"Gotcha," she said, as she pulled up in front of the Hyperion. "You got some weird-ass priorities, X."
"Well," he said as they jogged inside, "that must be part of what makes me so damned attractive."
"Well, it's doin' a good job," Faith said, without thinking.
She immediately hoped Xander hadn't quite caught that. She wasn't sure, but he didn't say anything. She wasn't prepared to deal with him if he had. And anyway, she had to figure out why the hell she said it before she could deal with it herself.
"Okay," Angel said as Faith and Xander strode into the hotel lobby. "What the hell was so – Jesus, are you all right?"
"I'll be fine," Xander said. "Where's Oz?"
"Buffy and Willow went to get him, they're on the way back. What's all this about?"
"A wizard, a zombie and a cake," Xander said. "I need to talk to Oz before all I talk to the rest of you."
"Why?" Angel asked.
"It's just one of those things," Xander said, "where you do something because it's the right thing to do."
Angel nodded, and when Buffy, Willow and Oz showed up a few minutes later he offered Xander the use of his office. He was surprised that Faith went in with them, and asked Buffy and Willow what Xander could possibly have to tell Oz about a wizard, a zombie and a cake.
They had no idea.
Seven minutes later, Faith and Xander returned from Angel's office and announced that Oz was meditating, and would join them when he could.
"He only meditates when he's anxious or disturbed, though," Willow said.
"Uh… yeah," said Xander. "Well, that's kind of what's going on."
"What is going on?" Dawn asked.
The entire group, sans SWAT team, had gathered to hear what was happening. And so, Xander laid out a bare-bones version of what happened – Jack O'Toole was a zombie, Xander put him in a bad position, and Oz was peripherally involved. He told them about the Brotherhood – taking pressure off of Angel's memories of the Order of Aurelius – and that Alan O'Toole was presumably Jack's grandfather, and was now out to get him, and maybe Oz, too.
"If it's only sixty years old, I doubt the Watcher's Council resources will be of much use," Dawn said, twirling a pencil between her fingers.
"Wolfram and Hart should," Wesley said. "We have all sorts of dealings with groups over the past… well, much more recently than the Watcher's Council. Especially since most of their records were blown up."
"We?" Angel asked.
"Yes, we," Wesley said. "The current proprietors of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart."
"Yeah," Angel said, scowling. "I just… I don't quite identify us as 'them' yet."
"I should hardly think that matters," Wesley said. "After all, we will eventually –"
"Anyway," Buffy said, cutting into the conversation, "you guys can do your mystical book look-up thing. What about us non-researchers?"
"Oh, there's lots of cool stuff you can do," Fred said, smiling. "In fact, back at the office, they have a full lab set up, we even have an electron microscope, and so many resources… it's like a dream come true! You know, if we weren't working for an evil corporation that might eventually turn us into evil versions of ourselves and plot against us in an effort to destroy the world and life as we know it."
Everyone looked at her.
"Um," she said. "Or you could go for tacos."
"Find something," Giles said. "Lord knows you'll just get in our way."
Buffy and Xander stuck their tongues out at the man.
When Faith tapped Xander on the shoulder and glanced at Angel's office, everyone turned their eyes towards the doorway.
"So," Oz said, "what do we do?"
Xander handed over some money, thanked the woman, grabbed the take-out bags and left.
"I didn't think she was serious," Buffy said.
"Fred loves her some tacos," said Xander. "And when was the last time I turned down food?"
"Probably when you didn't eat that bezoar infested egg back in high school."
"Yeah, that was gross."
Buffy nodded as the two of them got back into Xander's truck.
"So," Buffy said.
"What's on your mind?"
"Why do you think something's on my mind?"
Xander glanced over at her, and she rolled her eyes and gave in.
"I don't remember you killing any zombies," Buffy said. "I mean, I suppose it could have been during… that summer… but I don't remember it."
"Yeah," Xander said. "I know."
"So?"
Xander shrugged. "It's not a big deal."
"Obviously it is," Buffy said. "Other wise people wouldn't be leaving Xander-shaped death threats written in blood on your friend's wall, years after the fact. And if it wasn't a big deal, you'd tell me."
Xander frowned.
"And since it is a big deal, I wish you would," she said.
"Why do you think I keep big things to myself?" he asked.
"Because you do," she said. "You're not the only one who watches people, you know. I had to find out from Willow that you and Faith have this thing that Lorne foretold, she had to hear it from Dawn."
Xander kept his eyes on the road.
"If you want more, I've got 'em," Buffy said. "Talking to Angel for a couple of days has been pretty enlightening. You apparently get pretty talkative when you're drunk."
"Oh God," Xander said.
"A gay strip club, Xander?"
"I was strapped for cash," he said. "And I told you that!"
Buffy leveled a disbelieving stare at him.
"Well, most of that," he said.
"The point is," she said, "you keep things to yourself. Bottled up. You don't tell anybody about these things that you do, or that happen to you, and it turns out that the people who know you best… don't really know you at all."
"Don't be silly," Xander said. "Of course you guys know me."
"No, we don't," Buffy said. "How can we? If you're constantly not telling –"
"Because you know me," he said. "You know who I am. You know what kind of man I am. You know me. So what if you don't know that I killed some zombies, or that Will doesn't know I threatened your life that time? What does it matter? Those things aren't who I am, they're just what I've done."
"But it does matter, Xander," she said. "How can it not? You've done all these things and –"
"Did you ever believe I wouldn't do them?"
"What?"
"If you knew I saw zombies running rampant through town, would you assume I did my best to make sure they weren't a threat, or would you assume I just ignored them?"
"Xander, of course I would assume you did your best to take care of them."
"So why does it matter if that situation actually came up? You know what I'd do, you know why I'd do it, you know what kind of person I am. Why does whether I've actually done something matter as much as whether I would?"
"Because," Buffy said. "Xander, even if the specific situation didn't cross my mind, I swear to you I believed that you would do the right thing in, say, the zombie situation. But it does matter that I know if you did."
"Why?"
"So I don't have to worry about you!" she said, tears forming at her eyes. "So I don't have to stay up at night wondering about you, or if you've gone and left me like everyone else!"
Without looking at her, Xander pulled his truck off the road and into a small parking lot. He turned the truck off and shifted in his seat so he was looking at her. The reflection of the setting sun gave her eyes an almost fiery look.
"Buffy… what do you mean leave you? I'm not leaving you."
"But you could," she said. "I thought you were, after high school. I thought you had had enough of me, and my life, and were leaving. But you weren't. You still came around whenever you could. Not as often as I would have liked, but you still came around."
"And I still will."
"But I don't know that!" she protested. "I mean, you fight zombies, you… you do other things, probably, and I don't know that, so how do I know that you can take care of yourself? I mean you were always getting hurt, and stuff."
"Buff," Xander said, "back in Sunnydale, you spent more time in the hospital than I did."
"I just… I need to know that you're safe."
Xander sighed. "Angel has trained me. Faith is always around. Gunn's got my back. I can fight better than probably 99 of the humans in this city, and some of the demons. And despite all that, I'm not safe. I never will be, as long as I keep doing this. But how I am now is the best it's gonna get. You can't protect everyone, Buff. You never could. But you can focus on those who really need your help, because me? I'm better off than most, and I plan being around for a long time, so I can come crack jokes about your boyfriends, and demons, and, you know, your hair and stuff."
Buffy sniffled, then panicked. "What's wrong with my hair?" she asked, swiveling the rear-view mirror towards her.
"Nothing," Xander said. "But I love making you worry about it. Listen, Buffy, I train the way I do, with the people I do, so I can live the life I lead. And I'm not planning on going anywhere for a very long time. Okay?" Buffy nodded, and smiled at him. "Good," Xander said. "Now let's get these tacos back to Fred before she decides I've eaten them all myself and comes at me with an axe."
Buffy laughed and shook her head. "You're a nut."
"Yeah," Xander said, seriously. "But one axe-chasing was enough. Never again will I come between Fred and her food."
"Good you're back," Gunn said as Buffy and Xander entered the offices of Wolfram and Hart. "Fred started muttering about her tacos, I thought I'd have to take her out at the knees again."
"You mean that was true?" Buffy asked, incredulously.
"Hell yeah that was true," Gunn said. "Girl gets some speed when she's motivated, too. Yelled at me for choosing Xander over her tacos. Damn near broke us up."
"Really?" Buffy asked, wide-eyed.
"Nah, I'm messin' with ya. We were still cool, but she told me never to get between her and tacos ever again."
Buffy looked between the two men, and saw them grinning at each other. She scowled. "That's not funny guys!"
"On the contrary, I think it was very funny," Gunn said, as he and Xander exchanged their overly complicated handshake.
"What've you got?" Xander asked.
Gunn held up a file. "Everything our archives have on this Alan O'Toole guy. And yes, he is the grandfather of your boy Jack."
"Figured," Xander said, taking the file from Gunn. Buffy took the food bags from Xander, saying she would deliver them 'to the brains.' The guys thanked her and sat down, as Gunn went over Alan O'Toole's file with Xander. The file was pretty sparse, but it tracked his whereabouts up until about two years previously, although it didn't have anything on his connection to The Brotherhood.
The file went so far as to list known magical disciplines, known acquaintances, known addresses, and speculated about his teachers, magical and otherwise. Xander was impressed with the file. And with Alan O'Toole, which was disappointing, because Xander had hoped the guy was a push-over.
He was most certainly not.
Alan O'Toole had been practicing magic for longer than Xander had been alive, and the guy, apparently, knew his business. Wicca magic, voodoo, some weird eastern disciplines that Xander was pretty sure he couldn't pronounce. It all added up to 'not good.'
"Here's my basic question," Xander said. "Why in the hell is he after me now?"
"No idea," Gunn said. "You'd think he'd have tried to take you out back in the 'Dale."
"Hmm," Xander said. "I was under Buffy's protection. Even a mage as experienced as this guy would have thought twice. Especially with ol' Ripper backing her up."
"And once you got to LA, you were pretty much hangin' with Angel," Gunn pointed out.
"Right," Xander said, nodding. "But that doesn't explain now. We've got Angel still, and now there's a resident Slayer here in LA? That doesn't add up."
"Maybe the dude just got tired of waiting," Gunn said.
"Man!" Faith yelled as Lorne led her down the stairs. Her arrival drew the attention of both men. "Xan, you seen this place? It's wicked tight. They got all sortsa neat shit here. Half the stuff'd make you think they're all evil now."
Gunn and Xander looked at each other, eyes lighting up.
"That's it!" they yelled together.
"What's it?" Lorne asked. "Something must be up, you two don't normally talk in sync. And by the way, 'N Sync? We represent them. Although we're apparently in talks to drop everyone but Justin. He's the only one who's going anywhere, now they've split up."
Xander and Gunn exchanged quick glances.
"Right," Gunn said, drawing the word out. "We were just trying to figure out why this O'Toole guy would have waited until now to try to find and kill Xander. Our guess is he thinks that we've all gone evil, so Xander's all vulnerable now. Evil Angel, evil Faith, rest of his friends in Cleveland, he's as vulnerable as he's ever been."
"Sounds good," Faith said. "But how does that help?"
"The more you know about your enemy, the better prepared you are," Xander said. "And it gives us something to talk about while the brains are doing whatever it is they do."
"Speaking of which," Gunn said, "I should be in there right now. I'll catch you guys later."
Faith sat down next to Xander. "How you holdin' up, chief?" she asked.
Xander smiled. "I'm all right. I just wish I knew what to do. I mean, look at this. My work has put my friends, my teammates in danger, and I have no idea what to do to get them out of it."
"Hey, don't blame yourself," Faith said. "You're in this cuz you did the right thing."
"I suppose," Xander said.
"Don't suppose. You can't predict every random thing these evil fuckers are going to do. Gotta do what you can when you know about it, and that, my friend, you are very good at."
Xander nodded. He leaned back on the couch, stretched his arm out and behind Faith's shoulder. "You know," he said, as Faith settled back into his arm, "despite having figured out who this guy is, and having a pretty good guess why he's waited until now to come after me, I have no idea how we're going to find him."
"Yeah, I –"
Xander quickly shushed her, then leaned forward, removing his arm from its spot, and looked around the office, waiting for something.
"What the hell are you doing?" Faith asked.
He leaned back, and placed his arm back around her shoulders. "It worked last time," he said. "We had a brief brain-block, and you and Lorne came and solved it for us."
"I don't think those things usually work when you're asking for it," Faith said, smiling at him.
"Yeah, but I'm allowed to hope." The pair sat there for a minute, silent, until Xander's phone rang.
"Yeah?" he asked. "Are you serious? Shit. No, no, of course. We'll be there as soon as we can. No, stay where you are, I'm coming to you. Do it, Jim!" He slammed his phone shut, angrily.
"What's up?" Faith asked, as they rose to their feet.
"Another attack," Xander growled, as he ran off to find the others. "They took Chris's daughter."
End Chapter 27