AN: Here's another chapter of this story. I am truly blown away by the positive response to this story. I'm glad everyone seems to like it. Some news, I have my novel finished and it should be on Amazon on 01/22/2014. Its called Holy Warrior:Awakening.
Now I submit for your enjoyment and consideration: Angel.
PS:Reviews make me happy. :)
Xander and Buffy were walking to school on the first day of classes since Principal Flutie's death. Buffy's dad had stayed the whole weekend and Xander found himself liking him which perversely made him even angrier at what was coming with him. For the longest time Xander had wondered why Buffy had been so hurt by her father's abandonment of her and Dawn. From Xander's perspective there should've been signs that it was going to happen, but even he, who had an honorary PhD in bad parents, couldn't see them. Even as bad as Tony's total rejection of him had hurt, he'd expected it and even HE at twenty-five had hoped it would be different.
"You ok?" Buffy asked.
"Just thinking. Your Dad is a really great guy. I like him," Xander said.
"You never met him?" Buffy asked.
"No. When he was still around he'd just pick you and Dawn up for his weekends and I never saw him," Xander said.
"And then he stopped," Buffy said softly.
"Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense. He obviously adores both you and Dawn. He's a bit uncomfortable around your mother, but they are divorced. It's not adding up," Xander said.
"You've been pensive over my relationship with my father?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, when he dropped out the first time around it really hurt you. I was busy groping Cordy at the time but I still saw it but didn't know how to help. Willow wasn't sure what to do either. I'd do anything to spare you that," Xander said.
Tears filled Buffy's eyes and she hugged him tightly and said, "Thank you."
"I love you, Buffy. All I want is you to be happy," Xander said squeezing her back.
"You are way too good for me," she said leaning her head against him.
They continued on to school but Xander's thoughts continued to churn on this mystery with Buffy's Dad.
Xander spent his first period in the library. It was one of the best things about his sophomore schedule. "Giles," he started, but he held up his hand, then indicated two students at the main table. Xander rolled his eyes. "I was wondering if our friend in L. A. had sent you a letter yet."
"Oh, yes. I got that over the break. I was going to mention that to you," Giles said, going back into his office, and returning with a letter. By that point the other students had left, back into the stacks for, well, Xander didn't really want to know.
"I am thinking that Angel will be helpful here pretty soon," he said, glancing through the letter, not finding anything unexpected.
"I still am not sure that training them to fight is a good idea, Xander. Besides you haven't even started yet," Giles said in a low voice.
"I get that you don't want us getting hurt and you think the best way to do that is for us not to be involved, but we are involved and we're going to stay involved, especially me, as Buffy is having my baby, which brings me to point two, Buffy won't be able to fight effectively in about three or four months, but the monsters won't let her have maternity leave, and lastly, the simple fact is we're in a warzone in this town. Knowing how to get out of trouble is only a good thing," Xander said patiently.
"How do you know they won't get overconfident?" Giles asked.
"We didn't the first time around," Xander said.
"What about Owen, from the way you act he wasn't part of the group during your first time through," Giles said.
That's where Angel comes in," Xander said with a grin.
"You've thought about this, haven't you?" Giles asked sighing.
"Of course I have. Though Buffy isn't going to be happy with the training regime I have planned. The mini-Slayers sure hated it," Xander said.
"What do you have planned, then?" Giles asked, fully prepared to squash Xander's training only to be smiling when Xander was done explaining. "Yes...you know your fiancée very well. She IS going to hate that."
"Oh, did you bring it?" Xander asked.
"Yes I did, though I don't think it's necessary," Giles said with a sigh.
Xander waited for the gang in the gym as he fiddled with the ancient piece of technology in front of him. It was a mystery how these things got popular and found himself missing his IPod not to mention iTunes. He didn't even have Napster in this benighted age. The infernal thing couldn't skip right to the track he wanted and if he missed it the blasted thing couldn't even rewind and he had go all the way through it again. Why create an audio system with no rewind? The only thing Xander could think of was that the 70's were a very strange period of history.
After lots of work he finally got it set up and with not a moment to spare as the gang started coming into the gym with Giles. He had the mats out and ready though he missed his gi, he'd have to get one soon. Street clothes it would be for the time being. Buffy came up to him and they kissed briefly in greeting.
"Ok guys, as you all know by now we live in a very dangerous town,there's all kinds of things out there and most of it is dangerous, unfortunately. Owen you really haven't seen the spooky side of the street yet, but trust me that the sooner you learn what I'm teaching you and get into shape the safer you all will be," Xander started. "That being said just a small demonstration of what I know is in order. My current body is way out of shape and this is going to be slow as I don't have the muscle memory but...here it goes."
He pressed play on the eight track and the sounds of Carl Douglas's only hit started from the speakers and Xander began a slow version of his Welcome to Cleveland demonstration, complete with faux english dub mouth movements. By the time the song was done he'd done better than he feared, but he was still far from his A game. The gang though were in stitches with laughter, which was the point. He was also more winded than he should've been. Both bad signs.
"Wow, Xander! That was amazing!" Willow said while Buffy just beamed at him. It was funny, but this was the kind of attention he always craved in High School, now...he just didn't care that he'd impressed them, of course that horrible display wasn't really worthy of admiration and the Willow and Buffy of nine years hence would've slapped him silly for it.
"No, it really wasn't, it was sloppy and slow and only about half the whole demo," Xander said, not quite keeping his frustration with his current sixteen-year-old body out of his voice.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, babe, it was really amazing," Buffy said.
"You don't understand, on the day I was shot I could've done that twice as fast, and twice as smooth. I NEED to get myself back into shape," Xander complained. He then shook his head and continued. "Ok, enough of my little pity party, we've got work to do. The FIRST thing you need to learn is how to fall without hurting yourselves. Buffy knows this instinctively, but I'm going to have her go through these exercises also as practice never hurt anyone. So our first basic fall goes like this…" Xander said and began the lesson. After the hour and half the whole group, with the exception of Buffy was winded.
"Ok...good work everyone, don't get frustrated you're just starting this and you've got the basics down, you just need to practice until it's second nature. One more thing, I want all of you to start running in the morning after dawn. I want everyone to be able to do a six minute mile in a month, it'll make these sessions easier and I'll sleep better at night knowing you all can get away from a bloodsucker," Xander said between breaths, but he grinned at the groans.
Xander and Buffy arrived at school the next morning a bit early and Xander saw Ms. Calendar going into her room. A thoughtful look crossed his face and saw Buffy looking at him.
"You're thinking again, aren't you?" she asked.
"Yes, I am. I'll see you at lunch, babe. I need to have a word with Ms. Calendar," Xander said.
"Should I be jealous?" Buffy asked, teasing.
"Of course, my and Miss Calendar's passion knows no bounds," he teased back, then continued more seriously, "No this is about Willow's tutoring."
"Willow needs help in something?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Yes, hocus pocus," Xander said and Buffy's face lit up in understanding.
"Oh, that," she said and gave him a quick kiss, "See you at lunch then."
"Je t'amie," Xander said.
"Je t'amie," Buffy responded and went off to the library.
Xander then went into Ms. Calendar's room and rapped on the doorframe.
"Oh, Xander! Good morning, what can I do for you?" Jenny asked.
"I was just wondering if Willow has come to you about getting help with her magic," Xander asked.
"No, and why would she?" Jenny asked, crossing her arms.
"Damnit. She's a very powerful untrained witch. She'll start experimenting in a few months but without anyone to guide her, keep her on the straight and narrow," Xander said.
"And what make you think I can help?" Jenny asked.
"You know about the spooky side of the street and if I remember right you know a bit about magic as well. I was hoping you might be able to give her lessons or something like that. Keep her grounded," Xander said.
"What do you mean if you remember right?" Jenny asked.
"I'm a bit older than I look," Xander said and gave her the short version of what happened, then gave a more detailed accounting of Willow's descent into darkness finishing sadly with, "She tried to end the world, Ms. Calendar, my best friend tried to end the world. I don't want that to happen again."
"I see. I understand your concern, Xander, if she is that powerful she could be very dangerous," Jenny said.
"She's also one of our most powerful weapons in the fight against darkness and has helped save the world. With proper training she could be a powerful force for good," Xander said.
"True, but I don't that I can help, I know things but that kind of power...only a natural born witch has it and I'm not one," Jenny said sympathetically.
"A natural born witch?" Xander asked.
"Yes and they are rare, I doubt there is one in town other than Willow," Jenny said.
"There's actually two that I know of, but I wouldn't trust them for this. There's the coven in England, but I don't know that they'd want to come here," he said thoughtfully then he snapped his fingers. "I think I have a candidate, but she's a minor and I don't know if we can get her here."
"Really?" Jenny asked.
"I'll have to do some homework, and Willow's going to have to help. Thanks, Ms. Calendar!" He said as he turned to leave.
"Xander?" Jenny said, and he stopped and turned to face her, "Good luck."
"Thanks, I'm going to need it," Xander said with a grin.
Xander walked into the library to meet Willow, after training. He wanted to do this without the rest of the gang, as it was getting into some fairly personal stuff. Of course, with the new training schedule, time was budgeted even more carefully than money. They were all spending two hours in training, then supper either at Willow's, Jesse's or Buffy's, and then they were all starting to patrol together, mostly so Xander was sure everyone was fully familiar with the nightly battleground.
Willow was already there as he reentered the library. "Hey, Xander," she said as he entered.
"Hey, Wills."
"So what is it that you needed?"
"I know you haven't gone to Ms. Calendar yet about help with your magic, wanna talk about it?" he asked.
"I'm sorry I haven't yet, I promise I will," Willow said quickly and a bit defensively.
Xander held up his hands, "Not getting on your case about it, Willow. I'm just curious as to why. Last time around you loved doing magic."
"You aren't?" she asked, disbelieving.
"Yeah, Willow, I'm your friend, not your boss," Xander said.
"Could've fooled me," Willow said softly.
"Huh?" Xander said.
"Ever since your shoulder was healed you've been sounding more like R. Lee Ermey than Xander," she said.
"I have? Damnit, if I have, I'm sorry, Will, I just worry about you all. I've managed to save Jesse, but there's no guarantee that you or Buffy or Jesse or Owen or anyone I call family will survive this time and I want to stack the deck as much in our favor as I can," Xander said.
"It's just that you aren't the same. You don't need me to tutor you at all anymore and you seem to have forgotten how to have fun, movie night is the only time we all just hang, and now that Buffy's pregnant you'll have to do SOMETHING for money. You're more like an adult now," Willow said.
"I am an adult, Will," Xander said sadly. "A fun loving one, but still an adult."
"What is it like?" Willow asked.
"Scary as hell. I have a sense of responsibility I didn't have at sixteen, and there's so much that I'd LIKE to do that I don't know if I can. I'm only one guy and there's a lot of people who need help but I don't know how to help them and keep up with my responsibilities here and I'm afraid its going to affect my relationships with them. I'm afraid they'll blame me for KNOWING the hells they are going through and not doing something about it. I'm afraid they'll blame me. God knows I'm blaming myself enough already," Xander said with a sigh.
"You really feel that you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, don't you?" Willow asked, squeezing his hand.
"Yup, and I understand Buffy a whole lot more now than I did before I was shot," Xander said, smiling sadly.
"I'll go see her in the morning," Willow said.
"Actually, she can't really help you all that much, it turns out," Xander said sheepishly.
"Why not?" Willow asked, sounding confused.
"She's not a naturally born witch and apparently that makes a difference," Xander said.
"And I am?" Willow asked.
"Yes, and you have a LOT of power. You are probably the most powerful witch on the planet.
"So what can we do?"
"We had a friend who was a very powerful witch in her own right, I was hoping you might help me find her?"
"It's a her? Should Buffy be worried?"
"Nah, she's gay," Xander said, though Owen might have something to worry about, Xander thought.
"Oh, ok. Who am I looking for?"
"Her name is Tara Maclay. She's our age, so you'll probably have to look for her parents," he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Where is she?" Willow asked, confused by Xander's strangely subdued attitude.
"Uh, Wyoming."
"That doesn't narrow it down much."
"I don't remember what town it was. We never went there, and Tara didn't like to talk about it. It was just outside of Laramie, wherever that is."
Willow nodded. "This is important, beyond my magic, isn't it?"
"Yeah. We need to get her out of there. We need her, she needs us."
"Why?"
"She's family, also she's got it pretty bad. Not as bad as Faith, but bad enough." Xander shook his head. "You'll understand when you meet her."
"She's not the only one is she?"
"No. Some of the girls come from really bad places. Like nightmare bad. I know that we won't be able to save them all, I know. But damn it I want to try, and the first step of that is to get a witch here who won't put up with, sorry Wills, some of your less realistic ideas."
"I don't understand."
"You are capable of a lot of things, Wills. Some of it just shouldn't be done. Tara can keep you grounded," Xander said.
"Tara and I were close, weren't we?" Willow asked.
Xander sighed and nodded, "Yes you were. We all loved her, and she was an important part of the group."
"You said was, what happened to her?" Willow asked.
"She was shot, some idiot that Buffy crossed paths with tried to kill Buffy and got Tara instead. It was a bad time," Xander said stiffly.
"Is that what our lives are? Bad times and fighting all the time?" Willow asked, a hint of a whimper sounding in her voice.
"No, not at all. We have great times, we save the world and then we party, and summer is usually pretty quiet," Xander said.
"Ok, let's see what we can find," Willow said and they got to work.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked Xander later that evening.
"Making a pro-con list on two ideas I had for bringing some money into the house," Xander said.
"What ideas?" she asked sitting down with him and looking at his paper.
"Well, first idea was being a weekend handyman for hire and second was woodworking," Xander said.
"Woodworking?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, making things out of wood, find someone that would be willing to give me green pieces of paper with dead presidents printed on them in exchange for the wood creation," Xander said solemnly.
"You are silly," Buffy said, putting her chin on his shoulder.
"Yes, but that's one reason you love me," Xander said and kissed her.
"True," she said and returned the kiss.
"Anyway, so far in the pro column for handyman is faster income, references after high school, demonstrable experience, cover on the question of why I'm so good at age 18 with no work history in construction. The pros in the woodworking column are higher potential income, a portfolio of past work that I could refer back to, and artistic expression, and I suppose that I could translate those skills into construction, but it would be more of a stretch."
"Is it easier?" Buffy asked.
"Is what easier?" Xander responded.
"Life. Is it easier this time around?" she asked.
"Parts of it are, math is way easier this time. School in general, also, I'll probably graduate with a B average instead of the D+ I did the first time around. As for everything else, it's life. Life only has one difficulty. In many ways I'm nostalgic for the first time because it was simpler. Now I have to weigh the consequences of my actions more. I don't know if that is because I'm just older or because of my memories, " Xander said.
"I was hoping for a different answer," Buffy said.
"I'm not Superman, Buffy. Hell even Superman isn't Superman. We all have problems and challenges to overcome. It's how we meet them that matters," Xander said.
"Have you made a decision?" Buffy asked.
"Yup...Doublemeat Palace, at least until I can afford tools."
"That seems beneath you," Buffy said.
"Work is work Buffy, the only thing that would be beneath me is settling for it, which I'm not going to do. As a stepping stone to something better, it's perfect," Xander said.
Xander borrowed Giles's office and more importantly, his phone. He called the number that Angel had listed where he was staying. The phone rang several times, then a familiar voice answered. "Hello?"
"Angel, this is Xander."
"Hi, Xander. I'm glad you called."
"Why's that?"
"I'm stuck on a case, missing kids,." Angel said.
"That isn't good, what do you have?" Xander asked.
"Just that the parents of the victims noticed rats in the house starting about a week before the children disappeared, then no more rats. Oh...and Doyle had a vision," Angel said.
"Why is that name familiar?" Xander asked.
"He's part Brachen demon, he has visions. He's got a brogue thick enough to cut with a knife?" Angel asked.
"Probably never met him then, anyway, bring your notes, maybe Giles can help," Xander said, straightening up, picking up a pen.
"The Slayer's watcher?" Angel asked.
"He might have something that might help," Xander said, doodling on the paper by the phone.
"Ok, I have a lead that hopefully will pan out," Angel said.
"What kind of lead?" Xander asked.
"I noticed a pattern in the disappearances and who or whatever is doing this is moving in a clear direction in town. Long story short I found the likely next target, they have a son about ten years old and they've developed a sudden rat infestation. I'm doing surveillance tonight. If the pattern holds it should strike tonight, so hopefully I'll be able to stop it, but I might need help on finding a way to kill it,. " Angel said.
"If you do let us know and the Scoobies can do a research party," Xander said.
"Scoobies?"
"We who help the Slayer," Xander said.
"Isn't that dangerous?." Angel asked.
"Insanely, I wonder how we survived all of these years sometimes," Xander said, sounding much older than his supposed sixteen years, and indeed even older than the twenty-five he actually was.
"You sound tired," Angel said.
"Just worried," Xander said with a sigh.
"Lucifer?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, but more than that, you were the only Angel we ever met. Years and years and years no angels, just demons and bad things. Where were they? Were they working behind the scenes and Lucifer just outmaneuvered them? And then I saw Azrael again just last week, are they becoming more involved? And why?"
"You sure know how to keep a guy up at night," Angel said.
"You don't sleep at night," Xander said.
"It's an expression!" Angel growled.
"Got you," Xander said, then continued more seriously, "Come on down, we can help each other."
"What kind of help do you need?" Angel asked.
"The gang needs to see how strong a vampire really is, safely," Xander said.
"I don't know, I've got this case…" Angel said.
"You'll get to spar with the Slayer," Xander said.
"I'm there, tomorrow or the day after depending on how tonight goes," Angel said.
"Great! See you then," Xander said and hung up.
"Ok, so back to training. You've all done well with basic falls, so to keep variety we'll be adding a little something today. Buffy, if you would be so kind to join me on the mat, please?" Xander said.
"Sure thing!" Buffy said and bounced onto the mat.
"Now of course we are fighting things that will usually be stronger than us. You might think that means they win automatically. Banish that thought. Buffy, attack me," Xander said.
Buffy moved into range quickly only to get caught off guard by Xander kicking her on the backs of her knees forcing them to bend, he then took his arm and forced her the rest of the way down, his hand mock holding a stake above her heart. There were gasps from the rest of the Scoobies at this.
"Now Buffy did NOT just take a fall there. I beat her, fair and square," Xander said as he helped a stunned Buffy up from the mat. "I used my advantages in reach to counter her attack. I then used the biomechanical structure of her body against her. Hit the back of the knee, it ALWAYS bends. Doesn't matter how strong you are, it's designed to bend that way so it's weak in resisting bending. Once the knee bends and you aren't expecting it, most of the time you will end up on the ground," Xander said, his tone would've been familiar to many a mini-Slayer, up time. This was Instructor Harris, not Xander. The small demonstration was just as effective here and now as it had been then. That a normal human could get a Slayer on the ground and have time for a killing blow...it had sobered many a new Slayer. For the Scoobies though, the reaction was different but no less profound. It gave them hope.
"Next I'm going to show you, with the help of my lovely assistant, a hip throw. This is what we'll be practicing today," Xander said. And the pair took positions. Xander demonstrated the throw a few times, After the demo he paired Buffy with Willow and Jesse with Owen while he and Giles watched their forms.
"You would make an excellent Watcher, Xander," Giles commented as the others practiced.
"Owen, don't fight the throw, you'll only hurt yourself!" Xander called out then turned to Giles and said. "Thanks, that means a lot. Have you found out anything more about my dream?"
"Sadly no. There are few sources on angels I fear, and half of those are in the Bible," Giles said. "Buffy, bend your knees a little. Capital!"
"That's what I was afraid of. Have you found anything on the Scythe yet, beyond what I already know?" Xander asked as Jesse and Owen fell into a pile. "Jesse, keep your feet spread out, the wider your base the more stable you'll be!"
"I've made some discreet inquiries, but none have borne fruit as of yet," Giles said as Willow threw Buffy. "Very good job, Willow!"
Willow beamed with pride in response and the two best friends went back to work as Cordelia came in to the gym. She stared wide eyed at the proceedings.
"You losers putting on a production of Seven Samurai or something?" she asked.
"No...working on self-defense," Xander answered seriously.
"Afraid another teacher is going to try to eat you?" Cordelia said, crossing her arms.
"Not another teacher, but there's plenty of things in this town that would like to eat me, or at least drink my vital fluids," Xander said.
"Ew, Xander, gross, no one wants any sort of fluid contact with you," Cordelia said.
"Don't play dumb, Cordy. It doesn't suit you," Xander said, ignoring the barb.
"What are you talking about?" Cordelia asked.
"You've seen what goes on in this town, and in spite of the image of privileged princess you work so hard to maintain you do come through when the chips are down, even at the risk of breaking a nail," Xander said as he watched with growing approval of his friends improvement.
"You expect me to join your little freak show here?" Cordelia asked.
"It'll keep you in shape until the fall cheerleading tryouts, and it might even keep you alive as much as that would pain my two best friends," Xander said, then called out. "Take five guys!"
Buffy came over to him and gave him a kiss to which Cordelia made a disgusted face.
"You sure took the express elevator to the bottom of the social pecking order, wait until everyone hears you are seriously dating Xander. I thought you had potential to," Cordelia said sadly.
"Jealous?" Buffy asked.
"Of Xander Harris? You have got to be kidding," Cordelia responded.
"Yes, of course, because all you are looking for are Ken dolls cause you can't handle a real man," Buffy said causing Xander to hold up his hands.
"Ladies, ladies, let's keep it civil, please," Xander said.
"But she's insulting you and no one insults the father of my baby," Buffy said crossing her arms.
"What did you just say?" Cordelia sputtered.
Xander sighed and put a hand over his face a blew out a noisy breath, "She's pregnant, Cordy. With our child."
"Oh...wow...you guys...I never dreamed...that you could possibly sink any lower in social standing...but you found a way!" Cordelia said laughing delightedly.
"It gets better, Cordy. My parents kicked me out over it," Xander said, finding himself getting annoyed with the wannabe cheerleader, in spite of having known the brunette's better nature, but this caught her short and she stopped laughing.
"They did WHAT?" she said, sounding as outraged as Buffy had been on the night it had happened. "How dare they take you down to destruction like that when that is MY JOB!"
She stormed off and left the gym leaving Buffy stunned and Xander sighing.
On their way home, Xander and Buffy stopped by the Double Meat Palace and Xander filled out an application and was hired in fifteen minutes. He would be starting on Saturday. They continued on home and Buffy spoke.
"Are you sure you want to work there?" Buffy asked holding his hand.
"It's fine Buffy, it's only going to be for a month or so, so I can get some tools. I'm going to need to figure out a portable way to carry it all though," he said.
"It smells funny," she complained.
"What's wrong with you? It's not the most desirable employment, but it will get me some emergency money and this way, I don't have to tap my other income streams for it," Xander said.
"You have other income streams?" Buffy asked.
"Of course, that lunch box didn't get filled with benjamins by magic," Xander said.
"So why the icky bad place?" Buffy asked.
"Cause it was one of my income streams the first time around," Xander said.
"What was the others?" Buffy asked.
"Secret," Xander said.
"Even from me?" Buffy said pouting.
"I MIGHT be persuaded to tell you, but I think it'll be more fun to see if you can figure it out," Xander said.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Buffy asked.
"You're smart, you can figure this out, you already have your first clue," Xander said.
"I do?" Buffy asked.
"Yup, Manny wasn't happy about it either," Xander said.
"Manny the Manager...is he a macho-ist?" Buffy asked, mispronouncing masochist.
"Maybe, but you aren't supposed to be wondering about how Manny gets his jollies," Xander said.
"Xander! Bad images...bad boyfriend, no biscuit!" Buffy said.
"Je t'amie," Xander said, teasingly.
"Je t'amie aussi, but I'm still not sure what clue I have to your mysterious source of money," Buffy responded.
Xander then returned to the topic at hand. "You missed Manny's vein popping out?"
"Oh dear god no, that was disgusting!" Buffy said.
"So what did I say that made that happen?" Xander asked as they walked into the house. Dawn barreled into Xander seconds later.
"Xander! Xander you're home! Thank god!" Dawn squealed.
"What's wrong Dawn Patrol?" Xander asked.
"I saw a rat!" Dawn squeaked then continued, "And I need help with my homework."
Xander froze at the mention of Dawn seeing a rat then shook his head. That thing is down in LA. Angel's chasing it tonight, there's no way it could be here, he thought.
"Ewww...I'll go set some traps while you help Dawn with her homework, ok?" Buffy said.
"Sounds like a plan," Xander said trying to put the missing kids out of his mind.
"So just why do you need the third Saturday of every month off, anyway?" Buffy asked, as she went off to get the traps.
Joyce, Buffy, Dawn and Xander sat down to dinner that night. The rat Dawn had seen hadn't made another appearance as of yet and Xander was starting to relax.
"So you got a job, Xander?" Joyce asked.
"Yes, ma'am. Doublemeat Palace. I figure I can earn enough in about a month to get some decent tools then I can start doing handyman stuff around town," Xander said.
"Well your work around her has been amazing, but do you think people will hire you? I mean officially you are only sixteen," Joyce asked.
"Not for major projects they won't. But for simple things like unclogging drains, changing high light bulbs, moving furniture, patching walls, hanging pictures, maybe even light painting," Xander said.
"How much do you think you'll make?" Buffy asked.
"Sadly not enough to actually support you and the baby, but enough to help out. Sadly the Slayer gig doesn't pay very well, either," Xander said.
"Yeah, I tried to convince Giles that he should be fencing the Vampires' stuff one night. He was Not Amused," Buffy said and Dawn giggled.
"Depending on what it is it isn't a half bad idea," Xander.
"What kind of things do Vampires have?"
"Mostly out-of-date clothing," Buffy said wrinkling her nose.
"Yeah, and it's usually ripe. Most Vampires not too interested in regular bathing," Xander said.
"Ewww!" Dawn said in delighted disgust.
"Sound unhealthy," Joyce said.
"It's not like they get sick, Mom," Buffy said.
"Yeah...but not every Vampire likes dust and dirty, some like mansions," Xander said.
"Like who?" Dawn asked.
"Dracula for one," Xander said.
"Dracula is REAL?" Dawn said.
"Yeah, he is," Xander said.
"Did Buffy kill him?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, she did," Xander said to the excited girl.
"Did you help?" Dawn asked.
"Not so much on that one. He put a mental whammy on me," Xander said.
"That's not the way you described it to me," Buffy said.
"No it's not, but we are in polite company, sweetie," Xander said.
"Dawn is not polite company!" Buffy responded.
"No, she isn't. However your mother is," Xander said causing Joyce to chuckle.
"Who wants dessert?" Joyce asked getting up and Xander started to get up as well to help clear the dishes. "You stay put, you've done enough around here already."
"I don't mind, Mrs S," Xander said.
"Stay, I've got it, besides then you can give Dawn the REAL description of your mental whammy," Joyce said and went into the kitchen.
"Well?" Dawn said crossing her arms.
"Do I have to?" Xander half whined.
"You brought the Dark Prince up, honey," Buffy said, clearly enjoying his discomfort.
Xander sighed and said, " I suppose you expect me to lie in this bed since I've made it?"
Dawn nodded enthusiastically and Buffy just smiled sweetly at him. "Doomed, I can barely say no to one Summers woman, two I'm just lost," Xander paused for dramatic effect then said, "I was his butt monkey."
Dawn burst into peals of laughter, only to have the laughter turn to shrieks when a large rat jumped on the table.
"Damnit!" Xander said as another joined it.
"What is it with these rats all of the sudden?" Buffy asked jumping back from the table as yet a third rat joined its compatriots.
"Get Dawn upstairs, now!" Xander shouted.
"Xander?" Buffy asked.
"Please, Buffy, no time to explain. I have a call to make," Xander said as the doorbell rang. "Or maybe not."
Xander jumped up to go to the door when Joyce screamed. "Go help your mother, I'll get the door."
"Right," Buffy said. "Dawn go upstairs, please."
"But I wanna watch!" Dawn pleaded.
"Dawn, this thing is after you, please do as we're asking. Its for your safety," Xander said.
"What do you mean its after her?" Buffy demanded.
"I'll explain everything once everyone is safe," Xander said.
"Ok," Buffy said accepting this logic and went into the kitchen. Dawn did as she was told and went upstairs.
Xander went to the door as the doorbell rang again. He opened it and wasn't surprised to find Angel and friend outside.
"Angel, good, come on in. We've got rats in the house," Xander said admitting the Vampire. Angel crossed the threshold and looked at Xander.
"You live here, now?" Angel asked.
"My parents kicked me out," Xander quickly explained.
"I'm sorry," Angel said, then pointed to the stranger. "This is Doyle. He's half Brachean demon. He had a vision of this thing coming here,"
"Never ride with this man, he's a maniac!" Doyle said, his Irish brogue thick.
"You were driving! I was under a blanket most of the way here!" Angel retorted.
"And you were driving me crazy! Under the blanket driver," Doyle grumbled.
"Guys! Future sister-in-law in danger!" Xander said.
"Right, where is the child?" Angel asked.
"We sent her upstairs," Xander said pointing.
"Oh no…." Angel said and started up the stairs Doyle and Xander hot on his heels.
Buffy came around the corner as they started up the stairs, "Who knew rats could be so mean...why are you guys going upstairs?"
"Come on Buffy!" Xander called.
"That's the Slayer?" Doyle asked.
"Yup," Xander responded.
"Huh...thought she'd be taller," Doyle said earning a punch on the arm from Buffy as they ran up the stairs. Then they started hearing the faint sound of piping coming from Dawn's room.
"Damnit!" Angel swore.
"What's that music, Angel?" Xander asked.
"It's got her."
"You might as well come with us, Mrs. Summers. She's not coming back on her own," Xander said as Buffy called Giles and Willow. They were all going to meet at the library. Buffy, Xander and Joyce took Joyce's SUV while Angel and Doyle followed in Angel's Cadillac. Buffy sat in back with Xander holding his hand in a death grip.
"Babe, not going to be much good to us if you break my hand," Xander finally had to say.
"Sorry, I'm just…." Buffy said trailing off as Xander nodded.
"I know, I'm worried about her too," Xander said.
"But it works out right?" Buffy asked.
"I have no idea what is going to happen, this never happened in my memories," Xander said.
"What do you mean it didn't? It had to have, right?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy, things are very different than my first time around. One thing is the first time around Dawn wasn't here yet for this thing to take," Xander said.
"Oh...that's right, and if she wasn't here it would've had to take someone else, but surely I'd have been involved if kids were being taken," Buffy said.
"And you think you aren't smart," Xander said, kissing her, then continued. "I think this thing did whatever it wanted in LA last time around."
"LA?" Joyce asked.
"Yup. Because the guy with the WAY too cool car back there was here in Sunnydale playing Mr. Cryptic instead of doing something useful like he is now," Xander said.
"Mr. Cryptic?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, he'd pop up give you a vague warning then vanish until he had another warning to give you. Idiot didn't even tell you he was a vampire until he accidently went into his game face while you could see him," Xander said.
"What?! He's a vampire?! And you let him into our house!" Buffy shrieked.
"Calm down, he's got a soul which puts him on our side, now that he's got his head screwed on straight," Xander said feeling more than a little weirded out at having to defend Angel to Buffy.
"He has a soul?" Joyce asked as Buffy thought about this information.
"Yes, Mrs. Summers. Every other vampire you'd ever meet has no soul and therefore no conscience. The presence of a soul doesn't mean the vampire is going to be a good guy, just look at human history and you know we can be plenty evil even with a soul. However it's impossible to be good without one. Angel's heart is in the right place or I'd have dusted him myself when I first got here," Xander said.
"You sent him away?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, for his own good. The curse has an escape clause, if he knows a moment of true happiness his soul gets yanked and we have to deal with Angelus who was one of the worst vampires in history. Besides, as I said he wasn't DOING very much here anyway. He's better off in LA and the people in LA are better off that he's there. Tonight is an example of that," Xander said.
"Because the thing that has Dawn was free to do whatever it wanted in LA the first time around, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yup, now we've got a chance to stop it for good and save God knows how many kids," Xander said.
"Kinda makes up for the hyena thing, don't you think?" Buffy asked and Xander's expression grew dark.
"It's not a checkbook you can balance, Buffy," he said.
"Hey...I just want to see you happy, you are doing an amazing amount of good here, that has to count for something," Buffy said.
Xander sighed, then said, "Damnit!"
"What did you just remember?" Buffy asked.
"How'd you know I just remembered something?" Xander asked.
"You never just cuss like that, not out of nowhere," she said.
"I did remember something that's been bugging me since I talked to Ms. Calendar this morning. There weren't cheerleading tryouts after the Harvest so I kinda forgot about poor Amy," Xander said.
"Who's Amy?" Buffy asked.
"She's a witch, like Willow only her mother is one too and has kinda done the whole Freaky Friday thing with Amy to reclaim her glory days of high school. Which is truly pathetic," Xander said.
"Says the man who came back to his sixteen-year-old body," Buffy said.
"There's a difference. I was perfectly happy with my life where it was minus getting shot. I came back here because of a wrong done. Amy's mom...she's doing it just because she wants to. Also I'm not taking over my kid's life. We need to put a stop to it, but it's going to take planning," Xander said.
"We beat her once, we can do it again," Buffy said as they pulled into the school.
Giles, Willow, Jesse and Owen were already in the library when Buffy, Xander, Joyce, Angel and Doyle arrived. Much to Xander's pleasure there were several boxes of donuts on the tables.
"Now this looks like a research party!" he said clapping his hands together.
"Quite, Xander. Now what happened to Dawn? And who are your friends?" Giles asked.
"Gang, this is Angel, vampire with a soul and Doyle, half Brachean demon who has visions. Angel, Doyle, this is the gang. Giles, Englishman extraordinaire, Jesse, one of my best friends, Willow another of my best freinds and budding Wicca powerhouse, and Owen her boyfriend," Xander said making introductions.
"A vampire with a soul? Fascinating, how did that happen? Were you always ensouled?" Giles asked in rapid fire.
"Giles! Twenty Questions can wait until we find my sister," Buffy said.
"Oh yes, forgive me. Now what do we know?"
"Well our involvement started about a week ago when Doyle had a vision of rats and disappearing kids so I inquired with a contact I have in LAPD about the missing kids. Which lead to uncomfortable questions. Anyway she showed me the case reports and in all of the recent disappearances the houses had experienced a plague of rats prior to the child's abduction, and there was a pattern to the abductions, so tonight Doyle and I set up a sting for the thing," Angel said.
"Yes, and just after noon I get a vision causing us to hightail it up here," Doyle said.
"Did you see what has Dawnie?" Willow asked.
"Not clearly, but he was dressed in very bright colors and we heard piping when the Slayer's sis was taken," Doyle said.
"Bright clothes and piping, you say?" Giles said thoughtfully as he headed back to the stacks where the occult books were kept.
"Watch the watcherman work!" Xander crowed.
"Here we go...it's an entry from a priest's diary, 1384," Giles said and began to read.
"It has been 100 years since we lost our children, and the demon who took them still yet lives. The 'pied piper' as he has been called, is a demon of unimaginable cunning. He travels about with a huge pack of rats, sending them into towns and then offering to remove them. If the towns do not pay, he takes the children. This is what he did to Hamelin, we could not pay the price he asked, and he took 130 children from us. Each child's life he takes grants him one more year in the human world, though by glutting himself on our town, he revealed his weakness. In the carnage on the koppen we found two kinds of victims. Most were bitten by rats, some several times, some nearly stripped to the bone by them. Others had not been touched. There was not a mark on them, either by the rats or by the demon. Based on other demons that we have encountered, we believe that he uses the rats to sort out the wheat from the chaff, if you will, and those that the rats will touch, they can have, and those that they can't, or won't, they are what he is looking for. We are uncertain as to what the demon piper requires for his diet, but the rats know.
"I go with my brethren to face him now, as he passes through this way again. God bless our mission, for if we fail, I do not think the demon will be stupid enough to reveal himself again so brazenly.
Decan Lude."
"So the Pied Piper has Dawn?" Jesse asked.
"It would appear so," Giles said.
"Is there anything in there about how Buffy can kill it?" Owen asked.
"No, it just references that he lives with rats so he'd be where rats would congregate," Giles said.
"That doesn't narrow it down very much," Joyce said.
"How many rats does he hang around?" Angel asked.
"Easily in the thousands," Giles said.
"That many rats in one place, while not unheard of would be unusual, at least in modern times. Not enough food to go around," Angel said.
"You think you can track them?" Xander asked.
"Yes, once I get close enough I'll hear and smell them," Angel said.
"Its still not much to go on," Jesse said.
"Well, in the story he takes the children to a cave, maybe that's where he has Dawn?" Willow said.
"That's true I think it was the tallest mountain near Hamlin too," Owen agreed.
"Do we know how I kill it?" Buffy asked.
"The diary entry is silent on how they were planning on attacking him, though I think it's a safe assumption they failed," Giles said.
"Right, ok Jesse, Willow, Owen. I want you to stay here for this one, we've only just now started your training and I don't want you getting hurt," Xander said.
"Right, Xander, we'll stay with Mrs. Summers," Jesse said.
"Thanks man," Xander said.
"But...I wanna help. I'd feel icky if something bad happened to Dawn," Willow said.
"You have helped, Wills," Buffy said.
"I have?" Willow asked.
"Yes, Willow. Those who worm through books also serve," Xander said.
"We better get going, Dawn's not going to have much time," Angel said.
"Right," Buffy said and the four of them went out of the library. Xander felt a little guilty about leaving the others out, but it really wasn't until next fall that they really got into the physical aspects of the Slaying biz as he remembered.
"This is a really sweet ride, Angel," Xander said as they drove.
"Thanks, it's a classic," Angel replied.
"Yes, and he's as protective of it as a mother hen," Doyle chimed in.
"What is it with guys and cars?" Buffy asked.
"I could ask the same thing about girls and shoes," Xander said.
"That's different!" Buffy protested.
"Only different in your mind, young Padawan," Xander said.
"What's a Padawan?" Buffy asked.
"Damnit...Lucas needs to get Episode I out soon, even if it will still have Jar Jar in it," Xander complained, but was glad he was keeping Buffy from worrying about Dawn.
"You don't happen to know what is going to happen on Passions for the next year do you?" Doyle asked.
"Nope, don't watch it unless I'm forced to and I can usually find something else to do," Xander said.
"Damnit! I want to know if George and Nikki are ever going to stop kidding themselves," Doyle complained.
Angel sighed, "I don't understand the fascination with TV, much less soap operas."
"You could always ask your grandchilde, Angel. He loves Passions, lord knows he forced me to watch it often enough," Xander said.
"What do you know about Spike?" Angel asked.
"Unfortunately quite a bit. He was a thorn in our side for a long time," Xander said.
"Something I need to know about?" Buffy asked.
"We've got time, besides, you always managed to kick his ass, he's got a sense of self preservation a mile long, not that he's not dangerous. He has killed two slayers in his time as a vampire," Xander said.
"You do know him," Angel said shaking his head.
"I thought you believed me?" Xander said.
"I did mostly, but hearing you talk like that, it brings it home," Angel said as he turned off onto a dirt road.
"It is kinda weird man, so what do you know about me?" Doyle asked.
"My ex-girlfriend had a crush on you," Xander said, not wanting to reveal his knowledge of Doyle's death. Cordy HAD been really broken up about it when it happened, but that was years in the future and might not even happen now.
"Oh really, what's her name?" Doyle asked.
"Cordelia Chase, she's a student at Sunnydale High," Xander said.
"Damn...jailbait," Doyle said sighing.
"She's going to be eighteen someday," Xander said.
"You do have a point there, lad," Doyle said philosophically as they arrived at the cave entrance.
"You smell anything?" Xander asked.
"She's in there," Angel said.
"Ewww...you can smell my sister from out here?" Buffy asked.
"Vampires, better than bloodhounds, they can talk after all," Xander said.
Both Angel and Buffy threw Xander a dirty look and he almost felt like he was sixteen again.
"Let's go save the day," he said with a grin.
They entered the cave and Xander wished he had his night vision equipment. He still had human night vision, which basically sucks. Buffy and Angel could practically see in the dark being a vampire and Slayer, Doyle…there was a meaty thump.
"Christ in heaven, OW! Who put that stalactite there?" Doyle said.
"Guess you can't see any better than I can," Xander said.
"Compiling a shopping list, honey?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, some of us are mere mortals unlike the warrior goddess you are, Buff," Xander said, his voice low.
"Ooo...warrior goddess. I LIKE that," Buffy said lightly, though Xander could tell it was just a front.
"Thought you might," Xander said.
"Quiet," Angel said and the two of them stopped talking then Angel continued, " I hear something up ahead."
Xander crouched low, "Based on what we know about this guy its probably rats and we forgot the D-Con."
The shadows of vaguely humaniod figures came out of the gloom ahead, as they attacked Angel and Buffy Xander could just barely see that they were ratmen. Buffy and Angel struck the lead ratmen hard and fast, Xander moved forward but the cave was too narrow for him and Doyle to get into the fight, not that they really needed to. Between Angel and Buffy they were being handled with little difficulty.
Then one of the ratmen got past Angel and Buffy and Xander caught it with punch to the gut followed by an uppercut. He then shook his hand, he really needed to toughen up his hands if he was going to be punching things, still it really should've hurt more since he'd never punched anything in this body. He dismissed it as Buffy charged into the lit cavern.
"Buffy! Watch out!" a painfully familiar voice screamed, before Xander could shout out a warning to her not to get too far ahead. Then Buffy was hit by a green energy beam.
"Buffy!" Xander screamed a watched in horror as Buffy turned into a six year old. He rushed to her as six year old Buffy started crying.
"Xander!" Dawn screamed.
"Dawn?" Xander said as he held his now six year old fiance.
"She'll be fine, so will the baby, you have to find him and break his pipe, then everything goes back to the way it should be," Dawn said.
"How tough is he?" Xander asked.
"You said Jonathan would be able to beat him up," Dawn said.
"So a bit of a pushover then?" Xander asked stroking the crying Buffy's hair.
"Yeah, his pipe can only take or give years once a day, so he's shot his load until tomorrow," Dawn said, then added as they entered the cave, "Hi Angel, hi Doyle."
"Who are you?" Angel asked.
"This is Dawn, or what she'll look like in about ten years," Xander said as the six year old Buffy clinged to his leg.
"Invest in a shotgun, lad. You'll need it to keep the blokes off of that one," Doyle commented.
"Yeah, starting with him," Dawn said with a grin.
"What?" Doyle asked.
"Well, from my perspective we'll be married in two weeks. I just hope delivering a quarter Braccan demon isn't too hard. Oh, and don't worry about Buffy, she only broke both of your arms when she found out," Dawn said and Xander glanced at the Irish half-demon.
"I would...ahem….that is…" Doyle started and Dawn started laughing.
"Got you, now let me loose I'll keep an eye on Buffy while you hero types go save the day," Dawn said with a smirk.
"Dawn...that was...that was really evil doing that to him," Xander said trying not to laugh.
Angel broke the manacles holding Dawn and she knelt next to Buffy.
"Hey, Buffy. Can you let go of Xander's leg so he can stop the bad guy?" Dawn said and Buffy threw her arms around her temporarily older sister.
"Any idea where he's hiding?" Angel asked.
"It was a few years before anyone gave me any details about this, so not really," Dawn said.
"Ok, so if he's the pushover Dawn says he is let's split up and see who finds him first," Xander said.
They split up and searched the various passages in the cave. The passage Xander took was a bit twisty then someone jumped out at him and tried to tackle him. The hit staggered Xander a bit but his would-be assailant down on the ground.
"Too easy," Xander said pulling up the piper and dragging him back to the lit portion of the cave. Once they got there, Xander said, "Hand it over."
"Hand what over?" the demon asked.
"You know what," Xander said punching him in the face.
"Hey, rude much? Besides you can't kill me. I only came here to see what caused the vampire over there to be all over my case. I saw an opportunity and took it," the piper said.
"'What do you mean?" Xander asked.
"I mean that you my friend should be dead nine years up time, and the vamp-hair should be here pining for the Slayer until he loses his soul. Lucifer miscalculated apparently," the Piper said.
"What do you know about Lucifer!" Xander roared.
"Only he got sick of Harris interference. Your family causes him no amount of grief in the coming centuries. None of his agents were able to seal the deal so he apparently got a little too hands on, since you are here. So...let me go and we'll let bygones be bygones," the Piper said.
"If he got sick of it in the original timeline he's going to get a belly full now. Now the pipe now!" Xander said.
"Come on, have a heart. I have contracts made up by Wolfram and Hart. The thought of them being broken...it makes me itchy," the Piper said.
"You can't die?" Xander asked.
"Nope, can't die, not until the energy death of the universe. Kinda sucks knowing that, but SOMEONE needs to observe the end," the Piper said.
"But I can cause you pain," Xander said. He hated that he was capable of what he was threatening, but no one messed with his girls.
The Piper swallowed, "Ok...ok...Wolfram and Hart are more imaginative but this is more immediate." The Piper reached into his clothes and pulled out the pipe. Xander took it and snapped it two. A green flash happened and Xander turned to see Buffy back to normal and ten-year-old Dawn holding onto her sister for dear life.
"You came, you came, you came," the now-little girl cried over and over. A marked change from the confident young woman she had been just moments earlier and would be again in about ten years.
"Of course we came, we love you," Buffy said holding her sister tightly.
"Mommy, mommy! Xander saved me!" Dawn shouted as she ran to Joyce.
"Of course, no mention of my contributions or anything," Buffy groused.
"The benefits of being her sister," Xander said.
"Is she always getting into trouble?" Buffy asked.
"No. In fact she did more to save herself than any of us did," Xander said and fully related the story to Buffy.
"So she turns into a confident young woman?" Buffy asked.
"Just like her sister," Xander said, kissing Buffy softly.
"Ahem, Doyle and I need to head back if we're going to get back to LA before sunrise," Angel said and Xander turned to him.
"Thanks, man. I owe you one. You need any help down in LA don't hesitate to call," Xander said and put out his hand. Angel took it and they shook.
"I'll keep that in mind, Xander. You'll make a great father," Angel said
.
"You can tell already?" Xander said.
"Vampire senses, creepy isn't it?" Doyle said.
Buffy then gave both Doyle and Angel a hug, "Thank you for helping Dawn."
"We'll have to do it more often if we get hugs like that," Doyle said.
"Hopefully she won't get into that much trouble," Joyce said coming over holding Dawn's hand who ran over and gave Angel and Doyle's legs a quick squeeze. "Thank you for saving my daughter."
"It was a pleasure, Mrs. Summers," Angel said.
"Oh, I know you need to get back tonight, but could you come up sometime soon so the gang can get a good look at real vampire strength?" Xander asked.
"I think we can arrange something. I'll be in touch. For now though, good night," Angel said and he and Doyle left the library.
Joyce started to gather up Dawn to take her home, and Xander gave Buffy one more hug. "Go home with your mom and your sister, I'll clean up here, I'll be home soon."
Buffy nodded. It had been kind of an emotional night, and she was feeling it more than she would normally. "Be safe."
Xander nodded, and they left, which left only Willow, Owen, Jesse and Giles. "This didn't happen before, did it?"
Xander shook his head, sitting down at the big table. "Dawn wasn't around yet for this to have happened, and the Pied Piper has some sort of time-sense so he knows what The Powers That Be did. We won, and that's the important part of it. He came up here because Angel was messing with his business, and he wanted to see what was going on here, the center of the disturbance in the Force, if you will."
"That sounds bad. What can we do about it?"
Xander shrugged. "Nothing really. Just keep on like we have been and hope for the best. Breaking the piper's pipe defeated him for the moment, and it apparently undid everything that he had ever done with that pipe in terms of giving and taking years from people. We should try to alert some of the in-the-know authorities so that they can be prepared for the number of children that he's killed suddenly not being dead."
"I'll phone the Watcher Council, it's early there," Giles looked at his watch, "About six in the morning. Most of the people I would need to talk to will be up. They will either know how to deal with this, or know who to contact."
"That's one worry down," Xander said and sat back. there was silence as Giles headed for his office.
"Can we help with the next one?" Willow asked hopefully.
"You helped a lot with this one. The hard ones are where the fight isn't physical, it's all about the books. There are some things that only certain weapons, charms, objects can harm. Heck, we couldn't even do any damage to the guy, just break his pipes. It fixed what went on with Buffy and Dawn, but it doesn't mean he won't be able to do it again. There are a huge number of books that the G-man has to run through whenever we come up against something more than the standard Vampire."
"Oh," Willow said, looking down. It was quiet for a moment. "Xander, I wanted to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"That Tara girl you asked me to find, does she have a brother?"
"Yeah. Um, Donnie, I think. I only met him once."
"Oh, ok. I think I found them then," Willow said. She handed him a newspaper clipping, an old one by the look of it, and he saw the date was several years before. The about fourteen-year-old girl in the picture was not as he remembered her, but for fourteen, it looked like the girl who would turn into their Tara. There was a slightly older boy, and the two people standing behind them were obviously the parents, and Mr. Maclay was as Xander remembered from four years in the future, but his eyes were drawn back to the girl who would be their Tara. Willow's Tara. Would that even happen now? He bit his lip, thinking.
"Is this not right?"
"No, it's right. This is her."
"Then what's wrong Xander?"
He shook his head. Tara didn't look any happier in that picture than on the day he'd met her, two years hence. Could they save her some of the grief her family would put her through? "She's not happy there. She was happy with us. We became her family. I just hope we can approach her in a way that doesn't freak her out totally."
"We have time to think about it. I only have this, I still have to find an address, a phone number, some way to contact her."
Jesse looked over his shoulder, at the grainy newspaper photograph. "She looks-"
"Don't even think about it, Jesse, you're not her type."
"Aw, man. Are you sure?"
"Totally," he said with a wink to Willow, and a bit of a smile.
Giles came back in then. "Well, that bit of unpleasantness is taken care of. The reports are already coming in; now that the Council has the truth, they will be able to disseminate effectively."
Owen spoke up then. "This doesn't feel like a win."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Xander spoke. "Sometimes we don't win. Sometimes it's just patch the problem, survive and go on to the next one, and hope you don't have to patch that particular problem again."
"Yes, rather," Giles said. "Dawn and Buffy are safe, and the piper can do no more damage until he manages to make himself another pipe, which, according to Mr. Travers appears to be quite difficult. He may not be able to do so within our lifetimes, even if Wolfram & Hart is helping him, which they may or may not do."
"I don't even want to think about that headache," Xander said. "They are the bane of many a white hat's existence. I think it's time to go home."
"Yes," Giles agreed. "Go home, sleep, we can start fresh in the morning."
