2
Angel was staring at him.
"What?"
"If Faith dies, a new Slayer will be called," Xander blurted out. "She doesn't have to stay dead. Remember Kendra was called when Buffy was dead for only a few minutes."
"You've gone around the bend, Xander. I can't do that."
"Angel, think about it," Xander pushed forward in his seat, leaning toward the vampire. "What other answer is there? Let Buffy fight until she or the baby dies? Leave her alone in this? You know about Willow and Tara. They went off to Africa for research and now no one can find them. Giles is, well…Giles is Giles. But he's getting older. I try to help, but…I'm just human. No special powers. Just Xander." His voice was bitter.
"We just need Faith to die for a few minutes. Then the new Slayer gets called, we get Giles to get her to Sunnydale, and Buffy….Buffy gets to retire and raise our child."
Angel's face had gone from shocked to curious to speculative.
"How much of this is about Buffy? And how much of it is about you?" he asked.
Xander rocketed out of his seat toward the vampire, but Angel anticipated him and was on his feet as well. "Sit down, Xander," he growled, vamp faced. "Don't make me send you back to Buffy in a box.
"You have the gall to come here, and ask me for help because Buffy is bearing YOUR child?"
Xander sank back into his chair. He put a hand over his face, the hand that had been practically ripped off the last time Angel had seen him a year before. Scars crisscrossed the skin.
"Angel, I don't know what else to do. I don't know who else to ask," Xander said. "I've thought about this. For the last three months, since we knew about the baby. She deserves a normal life. The baby deserves a normal life.
"I've thought and I've debated with Giles. We even talked about rituals to strip her Slayer abilities from her permanently, so she wouldn't be a Slayer anymore." He ignored Angel's intake of breath. "But that would hurt her, could hurt the baby, would leave the world unprotected. Faith can't be trusted to come back and do the right thing even if we get her out of prison. I can't think of anything else."
"Does Giles know you're suggesting this?"
"Neither Giles nor Buffy even know I'm here."
"Why are you here?"
Xander looked up. Angel's face had smoothed, the vampire visage gone. "We don't like each other, Angel. We never have. But we both love Buffy. And right now, you're the only one who can help me."
He turned his head away from the flash of pity on the vampire's face.
"Xander, I don't know if I can help you. I don't know that I can kill Faith, even for a short time," Angel said. "But, for Buffy's sake, I'll see if I can come up with something."