Title: White Knight, White Light, Part 5 - Remembrance

Author: Xanfan

Rating: R/NC-17 for violence

Pairing: Xander/Angel

Summary: Slash Xander means more to the Scoobys than they could possible imagine, and when something happens to him, chaos ensues. Crossover with Highlander.

Spoilers: Anything in Ats & BtVS is up for grabs, but I have messed with the timeline a bit. Yes, I have tweaked the timeline a bit to suit my own purpose, so there.

Warnings: CHARCTER DEATH and Violence and slash.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Words in Italics indicate thoughts.

Last time:

Angel looked at His Boy sadly. Xander would gladly kill or be killed for one of his own, the people he considered family. Would he be able to fight if his own life was the only one at stake?

Angel had cleared the room, saying that Xander had a lot to consider and needed to rest after the whole being dead thing.

It was true.

Xander lay back on the bed, secure in His Angel's arms, starring at the ceiling.

He thought back to how he got here, not the whole dying/immortal thing, but the lying in Angel's arms part.

He and Anya had broken up not long after Buffy had been brought back from the dead. He had realized, that as much as he loved Anya, he wasn't really ready to marry her. Anya had taken that to mean that he didn't want to be with her at all, so they had parted ways. They had eventually worked out a friendship, so that was all good. He could only imagine how awful things would have been, had he waited to figure out that he wasn't ready to get married, like, on his wedding day. That was just too horrific to think about.

When they had realized that Buffy had been ripped from Heaven instead of rescued from a hell dimension, Xander had been devastated. He had not wanted to do the spell in the first place, since they weren't sure where Buffy was, but Willow had assured him that Buffy was in hell and that everything would be okay. But, everything was so far from okay, that it wasn't even funny. And Willow was using magic way too much, and for some not so nice reasons. The truth had come out about Willow using magic to mess with their memories, about the same time that he was offered a promotion at work. A promotion that would take him to L.A. Before, he wouldn't even have considered it, but, he really didn't think he could be around Willow right then, so he had said yes.

He had assured Buffy that he loved her and would always be there for her, but, that he needed to be not there, for awhile. She had made him swear to look up Angel if he needed anything or attracted any kind of trouble.

One of the first things he had done, after moving to L.A., was to look up Cordy. They had developed a long distance friendship after she left Sunnydale. He had missed that, the friendship, and almost brutal honesty, was what he missed most about their relationship and he was glad that he could get that part back.

Cordelia had made him promise not to go out on any dates until it was verified that the woman was not a demon, an ex-demon, or just plain evil. Apparently, his demon magnet tendencies had been relayed to the ex-cheerleader.

Xander had also been able to repair his relationships with the Sunnydale crew. Over e-mail, phone calls and frequent visits, he had been able to regain the closeness they had lost over time. Being physically apart from them had allowed him a little perspective on Willow and her behavior, and he had urged the others to intervene earlier than they probably would have on their own and Willow had gotten help in learning to control her magic, instead of letting it control her. Xander couldn't help but feel that disaster had somehow been avoided there.

He and Cordelia hung out a little, but their schedules usually conflicted, what with his daytime work and her nighttime evil fighting. He soon discovered that if he wanted to see his friend, he had to enter the belly of the beast, i.e. Angel Investigations.

Xander had been hesitant about seeing Angel again. He knew he had been less than welcoming to the vampire back in Sunnydale and expected the same kind of reaction to his own arrival in L.A. But, Angel had surprised him, Angel had been, if not exactly welcoming, at least not antagonistic towards him. So Xander reacted in kind and they had developed a non-hostile acquaintanceship.

When Xander had volunteered to help out with the demon fighting, Angel had insisted on giving him some actual training, since he had never gotten any before. He had joined Cordy for her training sessions with Angel and really learned a lot. Even Angel said he was 'not bad', which Xander took as high praise.

Over the months that followed, Xander and Angel realized that, with Buffy not a part of the equation, they actually didn't hate each other, and might actually like each other.

Angel never would have admitted it, but, Xander made him laugh. Angel himself, had a dark sense of humor that he rarely showed. Xander's presence loosened him up enough to let it out and Xander found that Angel could make him laugh, too.

So they became friends, bonding over sucky parents, bad choices in women, weird senses of humor, and demon fighting.

A couple of months into their friendship, Angel had been rewarded by the Powers That Be, they bound his soul. No more happiness raving lunatic vampire. Angelus was still there, but, he wasn't in control and he wasn't going to be anytime soon, or ever. The soul was large and in charge, literally.

When faced with the loss of his forced celibacy, everyone had assumed that Angel would make tracks to Sunnydale, to Buffy. But, he didn't. He surprised them all, by saying that that part of his life was over and that while he would always care for the blonde slayer, he wasn't in love with her. The "Fang Gang" had watched Angel in anticipation of finding out who would be the object of the vampire's affections.

Xander was surprised when Angel took him aside one day and said that, much to Angel's own shock, that when he first found out about his bound soul, his first thoughts had been of Xander.

Xander had stared at him in shock. He had always been a little attracted to Angel, which he had covered with biting comments and resentment, back in Sunnydale. He had never considered that Angel would ever like him back, that way.

Xander had taken a few days to think on the whole situation. He later went to Angel and told him that he didn't want to be in a relationship based on sex. That if Angel didn't think of him in squishy emotion terms, than he was going to pass. But, if Angel could maybe, someday, love Xander, then okay.

Angel had grabbed him and kissed him. Long and hard. When the kiss ended, Angel assured him that his feelings were squishy love feelings and that he wanted Xander forever, not short term.

They hadn't jumped right into bed, despite Angel's previous celibacy. They had actually dated and all that crap, before they had slept together.

Of course, when they did sleep together the first time, they didn't get out of bed, except for necessities, for days.

It was not happily ever after from there. They fought, they screamed, they pouted, but, they also laughed, made up and loved each other.

Telling the Sunnydale crew had been put off as long as possible, no one wanting to see what Buffy's reaction would be. But, when they finally found out, Buffy had surprised them all. She was a little hurt, but, she didn't seem all that surprised. She told them that she had always thought they had a lot in common, they just never took the time to find out. She also said that while Xander's demon magnet status did apparently translate to guys too, she was glad that this one had a soul and hadn't tried to kill him, recently. Xander had tried to be offended, but, was frankly, so glad that Buffy hadn't killed them, he couldn't be upset.

So here they were. They had come up to Sunnydale, not to fight evil, even though they had, they came to Sunnydale to visit Dawn on her birthday, bringing the whole crew, so both teams could meet and bond.

And Xander had ended up dead. Then, he got better.

Now he had to learn how to chop off people's heads, so they wouldn't chop off his.

Xander let himself drift off to sleep in his love's arms, sure that Angel would watch over him while he slept. Thankful that, if nothing else, they still had tomorrow.