Part 4 Reflections and Revelations

As the SUV pulled onto Revello Drive Dawn spotted Giles' mid life crisis in the driveway. 'Going to have to see if I can get my hands on the keys'.

Alex grinned seeing the look Dawn was giving Giles' car. "Your going to have to wait until you get your new drivers license. Knowing your luck you'll get pulled over right away and I don't want to deal with the Sunnydale PD anymore than we have to."

Dawn wrinkled her nose, "I'm not that bad, and I don't get pulled over every time."

"Nine times out of ten, often enough that we bet on how long it takes you to get pulled over, rather than if." Alex replied as he pulled into the driveway.

Buffy had quit sulking and was starting to get curious about what Xander and Dawn were going to explain at the meeting. Opening the door she stepped out, "How many times have you been pulled over, Xander makes it sound like it happens every day. Are you that bad a driver?" She smirked, "Must run in the genes."

Dawn replied defensively, "I don't get pulled over that often. I really haven't kept track, and it's not that I'm a bad driver, it's that the police pick on me for the types of vehicles I drive."

Alex grinned and winked at Buffy. "She's actually a pretty decent driver. The police just have this thing about enforcing speed limits. Plus her tendency to leave strips of rubber on every corner tends to get the cops upset. The last time I checked with Birkoff you had accumulated 437 tickets and fines amounting to upwards of thirty thousand dollars."

Buffy gasped, "And they still let you drive? They must have been insane. I only had a few minor accidents, ran a red light or two and they took away my license."

Dawn shrugged and opened the door, "If I had had or had caused any accidents they might have considered pulling my license, but a few fines for speeding, really no big deal. As far as they were concerned I wasn't driving recklessly, I was driving to my skill level."

As they entered the living room Giles caught their attention. "Now that you're finally here perhaps you can explain where you've been, what happened to you and why you felt the need to destroy Spike." And muttering under his breath he continued, "And hopefully calm Willow down."

Alex stepped forward, "We will do our best to tell you what you want to know. But I'll have to insist that you don't go spreading this around. That means we won't be telling the fang gang or the potentials. This is for you, so that you can understand our actions and trust our abilities. You recognize that we have changed, this is to help explain the changes."

Dawn took up the story, "I'll start with the events two nights ago. We were all fighting a group of Vamps over in Hillcrest when I saw Spike hanging back a little. As Buffy had the situation under control I started to head over to him to see what was up, I thought maybe he was hurt or something.

"I was approaching from behind so I guess he didn't see me, but just before I reached him he turned and threw a crystal at Xander. I was close enough that I ran to knock him out of the way and succeeded. When the crystal landed it shattered and opened a portal.

"While I was still trying to untangle myself from Xander that bastard Spike came up behind us and gave us a push. The last thing I saw before falling into the portal was his grinning face, and that image has haunted me for 5 years."

Alex picked up, "Your wondering where the portal lead? Well the world itself isn't all that bad, no magic to speak of and no demons. But they have an equivalent for almost everything. The demons were replaced with humans, their souls so black they could do the Master proud.

"Now we happened to be just lucky enough that the portal dropped us into the middle of a terrorist organization's headquarters. Our reception was less than pleasant. We were tortured for two days before an anti-terrorist team liberated the headquarters." Alex paused and looked around. "Now your thinking like I was that we were saved and everything would be OK. Well you would be right and wrong about that. Buffy what would happen if the initiative had raided a vamp nest and discovered two victims who they couldn't classify?"

Buffy and Willow paled and Buffy responded, "Well they would confine them ppprobably run a lot of tests, even question them to find out what they were."

Dawn nodded, "Right on the money. We spent another couple days being interrogated by the good guys. They had no records of us existing and for them that shouldn't be possible. They have very comprehensive records. When they couldn't get us to give different names after three days they made us an offer. We could work for them or not. It wasn't that hard a decision. When they mentioned the not they slid us a photo of a cemetery.

We ended up with two years of intensive training. That's two years where we did nothing but train, there were no days off, no trips to the mall it was training 16 hours a day every day. It was hell and the only way out was a bullet. If I hadn't had Alex I never would have lasted the first month much less two years."

Alex broke in, "And if I hadn't had Dawn I never would have accepted the offer to begin with. After the two years were up they took us out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate, a tradition I think he called it. Turns out it was also our final test. It was supposed to be a simple assassination of a high profile crime lord, something to test our mettle and get a feel for fieldwork. Only someone botched the mission profile and there were two crime lords and a high profile diplomat present all with at least three bodyguards armed to the teeth. The first part went smoothly as the target was eliminated, then all hell broke loose. In the end we had taken out both of the crime lords, all their bodyguards, and unfortunately one of the diplomats body guards."

Buffy broke in "You killed people Xander. I can't believe you would do something like that. It's our job to protect people not shot them. I thought you knew better than that, I thought I could trust you. You're no better than Faith, actually your worse she only killed two people, how many have you killed. And to think I trusted you with my sister."

Dawn came to Alex's defense. "Buffy he protected me, kept me alive in situations where we both should have been dead. Yes he's killed people and so have I but to quote Arnold 'They were all bad'. Some of these guys were worse than the demons and vampires you kill. The vampires kill for food these guys killed and tortured for the fun of it."

Buffy stood with her hands clenched knuckles white. Her whole body radiated rage and imminent violence. Then with a glance towards Dawn she opened her fists. The rage was still clearly visible in her face but the threat of a violent death had been banished.

"I don't care how you try to justify it! He killed people, they weren't vampires or demons they were living breathing people with *souls*. Don't you understand that?"

"Believe me Buffy we know that! But you don't understand why. WE did it to protect other people. People who didn't deserve to suffer and die. The men and women that WE killed were intent on destroying the lives of innocent people. They were evil. They cared nothing for humanity. Some people are just better off dead."

Dawn was starting to loose control, something Alex hadn't seen in a long time. The signs were small but he recognized them instantly. The twitch of her right shoulder, flexing of the left hand, the slight change in posture all signs that she was about to do something she would regret later.

Alex stepped in before Buffy could retaliate. "Suffice it to say they were not nice people and they got what they deserved."

"Deserved, did the diplomat's bodyguard deserve to be killed, did any of the bodyguards deserve to die? Did you enjoy it Xander? I bet you did, shooting them down as they were enjoying their supper. What happened to you? I don't even know you anymore."

Stalking right up to Alex she poked him in the chest, "Keep away from me." With that she stormed out the room unwilling to listen to anything else they had to say. The thought 'Xander is a murderer' was the only thing running through her head.

Alex looked around the room and shrugged, "I'd follow her and try to explain but I don't think she'd listen to anything I told her."

Giles grimaced, "You're probably right, she didn't seem to hear anything Dawn said."

Willow looked a little shaky but had to ask, "She was wrong wasn't she? You don't enjoy it do you?"

Dawn stared her right in the eyes. "We do not enjoy killing, but we do it because it makes the world a better and safer place. I like knowing that at the end of the day that people are safer because of my actions. Some days I actually enjoy my job, but I have never liked the killing."

Giles studied the two young people in front of him before asking, "If you had the chance would you stop. Completely stop even knowing there were evil people out there killing innocents and that you could prevent it?"

Alex glanced at Dawn before replying, "We wouldn't actively seek out people and situations, but if we were placed in a position where killing one evil person would save even one life I … we wouldn't hesitate."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "While everyone deserve a chance at redemption, that redemption should not come at the cost of innocent lives."

Willow turned to face Alex, "Xander, … Alex at what point when I was all veiny Willow would you have tried to kill me?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably, "You don't really want to know."

Willow pulled out the resolve face, "Tell me, I deserve to know."

He actually struggled against her resolve for several seconds before he finally conceded defeat.

"Willow I love you and you have been my best friend for like ever. You have to know that I understood when you killed Warren, I didn't agree with your method but I understood. However when you tried to end the world I had to stop you. I couldn't let you end the world any more than Buffy could let Angelus open Acathla."

With a hitch in his voice he continued. "I had a pistol with me that day up on the ridge. If you had continued we both would have died that day. If I had to kill my best friend to save the world I could do that, but I wasn't going to live in a world without my best friend."

Willows eyes widened and stepped forward to hug Alex, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never meant it to go that far, but after Giles supercharged me all I could feel was pain, a whole world of pain and I wanted it to go away. I'm sorry." Willow sobbed into his shoulder.

After a few minutes Willow pulled away from Alex and sniffled a bit. Dawn handed her a couple of Kleenex "It's ok Willow, it's all in the past and all is forgiven."

Willow offered both Alex and Dawn a small smile before return to her seat.

Taking the opportunity to bring up something that had been bothering him Giles spoke up. "Yesterday the two of you were wearing wedding rings. I don't see any today would you care to explain?"

Willows eyes got wide, she hadn't noticed either in all the excitement. "Wedding? Married? Explain please."

Dawn smiled and grasped Alex's hand, "Well in the other reality we were married, but here... well I convinced Alex here that we needed a ceremony all our friends and family could attend. Right now we've settled on engaged, and this morning Buffy and I had started with the wedding plans." She paused and continued in a sadder note, "Although I'm not sure how much of those plans are valid anymore. I do have one important question to ask you though Giles."

Giles waited expectantly.

"My real father hasn't cared about me since I was ten, and you have been more a father to me than anyone. I was hoping you could fill the role as Father of the Bride."

Giles' smile practically lit up the room, "I would be honored."

Taking his cue from Dawn Alex turned to Willow, "Wills, I'm going to need someone to stand up for me, and I wouldn't want anyone but my best bud there with me. Willow will you be my best person?"

Willow was practically bouncing in her seat, "Oh yes certainly for sure. I'll be the best best person ever. Oh I have so much planning to do. Everything will be just perfect. You two will be so great together. Oh so many things to do where to start."

Alex smiled, "Calm down Willow we have lots of time, we haven't even set a date yet." Turning to Dawn, "We haven't have we?"

"No. No date yet, it may be a while, it may take Buffy some time to calm down and I really want her at the wedding."

The group continued discussing wedding plans and sharing stories for a time until Alex's stomach rumbled.

Alex rose and prepared to leave, "Well I guess it's telling me I should go and find us some food. I've enjoyed this. It's been a while since we've sat with friends and just relaxed."

Giles smiled at the young people in front of him. "It was good, it's a shame Buffy didn't stay to here the entirety of your story. I'll try to explain your side to her, but as you said before she may not listen."

As they headed to the door Alex spotted Buffy standing in the kitchen. She seemed to want to talk to them but was hesitant to approach. Realizing it was his presence that was stopping her he pointed her out to Dawn and then slipped out the door with Giles while Dawn was putting on her shoes.

Buffy approached Dawn with more confidence than she had been showing a minute before, "You know you don't have to leave. This is your home as much as it is mine. I can kick the potentials out of your room and you can have it back."

Dawn stared into Buffy's eyes, "And is Alex welcome to stay as well?"

Buffy looked away, "No. He's just changed so much, and after what he did to Spike I can't trust him." She held up one hand to stop Dawns tirade, "I believe you that Spike had it coming. But he didn't take time to explain it, he acted without consulting me, and he put you in a position where you felt you had to threaten my life. I can't trust a person like that around the potentials, I don't know what he will do. He's dangerous Dawn, he carries guns, isn't afraid to use them and has killed people."

Dawn realized that Buffy had either ignored or blocked out the part where she had claimed her hands were just as bloody as his and sighed. "WE may have killed people, but each and every one of them deserved what they got. WE never tortured, WE never taunted, each and every execution WE performed was sanctioned. WE are not serial killers, each action we took was calculated to minimize the risk to civilians and protect the innocent. You have killed demons that were nicer than these people. If you can't forgive and trust Alex, how can you trust me?"

Buffy visibly flinched at her words. "I'm sorry Dawn, you're my sister, but I hardly know you anymore. If you want to live with a murderer that's fine, but I'll never trust him. I can't and won't trust a mass murderer and if he comes on patrol you're responsible for him."

Dawn's eyes widened at the comment, who was she to talk, she had trusted Angel and Spike both confessed murderers. She couldn't trust Alex, but she made me responsible for his actions during patrol. And I'd done just as much as Alex. Her sister was more messed up then she thought.

As she was leaving Willow stopped her, "I'll try to calm her down, make her see reason. But I don't think she will ever accept Xan…Alex for who he is now. She'll always see him as Xander and nothing will ever justify killing a human to her. She still hasn't fully forgiven me yet and the person I killed had shot her.

I think part of the no killing thing is due the whole Ted fiasco. You saw how scared she was when she thought she killed him. Protecting humanity is something that she has beaten into herself as part of her destiny and she won't give it up lightly." Giving Dawn a sad smile she finished, "Can you tell I've spent a lot of time thinking about this?"

Dawn smiled and thanked Willow before heading out he door to join Alex in the SUV and head home.

"Well that went well."

"Could have been worse, I was expecting a beating from your sister at the minimum."

"Yah well I think my threats put a stop to that."

"At least Giles didn't try to pry any information out of us."

"Thank goodness for small favors. Buffy's little fit distracted him and Willow from asking any serious questions. What we did tell them was bad enough, but not enough to get them killed or recruited."

After a long pause Dawn continued, her voice almost a whisper. "You really think that they are here as well don't you? How soon before they come for us?"

Interlude the second.

"Sir. You wanted to be informed if there was any activity on the Sunnydale files. We've had multiple hits on the Finn file as well as the Harris file."

"Who?"

"The first hit was solely on Finn and was done by Sig Int out of Sunnydale. They recorded a conversation between Finn and Harris that had them concerned. Apparently Harris requested some equipment for his night job. They didn't dig deep and failed to touch the Harris file at all."

"The Others."

"The second was by 'One'. Very thorough they touched everything. I blocked Seymour's attempt to track Harris' budget. Sent him off to US senate appropriations and left him lost.

"The third had the fingerprints of 'One'. Quite clever actually if I hadn't been watching the files from the earlier hits I might have missed it. They heavily modified the personal information on two records; Harris and the younger summers."

George raised an eyebrow. He was very familiar with the Sunnydale situation. He'd had had 'Three' monitoring the situation for years and his memories of the younger summers did not match their files to begin with. Even her civilian records were poorly crafted forgeries.

They bumped the ages up five years; added firearms carry permits, as well as altering some of the history. I checked further and found that all their records had been altered to match. The IRS even has filings for the appropriate periods.

"I don't know how they expect to pull this off but they added a bachelors in Computer Science major in information theory to Miss Summers and a masters in Political Science major in international relations to Mr. Harris. Both from the University of Sunnydale."

George grinned, "How to say I'm a spy without the words."

Greg shrugged, "If you say so, but judging by their old high school records they would never be able to back up those degrees."

"So what attracted the attention of 'One' to these individuals?"

"I'm still looking into that. It could be they noticed the Sig. Int query and followed it up. Looks like they just stumbled into them."

Greg was actually concerned. He hadn't been able to find out why Birkoff had been interested in Harris and Finn. He had tried every trick he knew to extract the data from section but got nowhere. Had Seymour found a way to hide data from him? If so how.

~~~~**~~~~

It was a much more confident Birkoff who approached Operations this time.

"I have an update regarding the Sunnydale situation for you sir."

Operations punched a key and the window darkened. "Continue"

"After my initial report I put tags on all the personnel involved. Two have since had their profiles highly modified. Nothing alarming individually, but both profiles practically scream CIA. Looks like Harris and Dawn Summers are now active.

"An hour after the modifications we had an incursion from Oversight. I logged several attempts to locate information on Harris and one for Major Finn. From the methods I would say that Hillenger is not as deceased as we believed him to be."

"I see. Do we know who did the modifications?"

"The traces place it in Sunnydale, but the methods used make it look like we did it."

"Have they moved?"

"No signs of it. Both cell phones are still located in Sunnydale."

"Both?"

Birkoff winced, "When I put a tracker on the first cell phone I located a second section cell. Both residing in Alexander Harris' apartment."

Operations nodded the information just kept getting better and better. "Anything else?"

With a shake of his head Birkoff withdrew and headed back to systems.

"Damnit George what the hell are you playing at this time."

Punching a few keys he brought up a comm. line. "Madeline can I see you in the tower. Immediately." Not waiting for a response he disconnected before slamming his fist into the consol. He had pieces, but nothing made sense. He couldn't run sims as none of this could pass through the section computers, and he couldn't see what Oversight hoped to accomplish with this. He needed Madeline's dispassionate view on the situation.

~~~~**~~~~

Lieutenant General Christoph was locked alone in his office and to say he was not in a good mood would be an understatement. He'd been in the military a long time and it still pissed him off every time one of his men went bad. He wouldn't have to worry about that if he'd accepted that fourth star, but no he wanted to stay with the fieldwork. Wanted to feel like he was making a difference, not sitting behind a desk in the Pentagon plotting wars that would never happen. With a sigh he turned back to the problem at hand.

"Finn what the hell have you got yourself into this time."

The General was flipping through a folder. The transcript in front of him seemed pretty damning without knowing who 'X' was. The robbing the armory comment tickled something in the back of his mind but he couldn't put a finger on it. Something about the initiative files.

With a curse he powered up his computer. He really hated the machine. More trouble than it was worth most days. When he reached the logon prompt he pulled out a palm pilot like device and pressed his thumb to the screen. A minute later he entered a 16-digit code and waited a few more seconds before receiving the password he needed.

He was just about to bring up the initiative files when he was struck by a flash of insight. Xander Harris. The boy had stolen an AT-4 to take care of a particularly nasty demon. He already new everything in the initiative file so rather than waste time re-hashing old information he decided to check out what the boy was up to now.

Despite Harris' claim you do not request a sniper rifle and flash bangs just in case. Opting to start with academics he brought up U of C Sunnydale checking for Harris' records.

Masters of Political Studies major in International Relations. It was a pretty specialized field of study, now why did that remind him of Webb?

If the kid was one of Webb's he wasn't going to step in it. Might as well put the matter on the back burner until he could contact Webb personally. Still it would be best to watch Finn in the event Harris wasn't working for the *State Department*.

Feeling somewhat better about the situation he tossed the file in a drawer and locked it before heading home for the day.