Interlude

'Como Estais Amigos'

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AN: This was originally the end of chapter 13, but I felt it was getting a bit too long. And stylistically to me it felt like LOTR's scouring of the Shire, a sub ending after the real ending. But I didn't want to lose it either. So here it is instead, a short interlude before we get going with the finale. The title Como Estais Amigos comes from an Iron Maiden song which means How are ya'll my friends. At least that's what a Spanish speaker told me.

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What a mess, Major Davis thought as he walked into the hospital. It was one thing to keep armed soldiers deployed along the border for what had been several months now, but this current mess….. It was easily explained at first as an exercise, then as part of a program to stop illegal immigration coming across the Mexican border. Of course the bleeding hearts Liberals with a capital L were complaining bitterly about it. They always did.

But here along the border the capital L Liberals found they could count on little sympathy as the people were thoroughly fed up with illegal immigration. And even though it was only a cover story, perversely enough having two army divisions deployed along the border had helped to put a serious dent into the numbers of illegal immigration. This made the locals more then happy to see the boys and girls in khaki stay. Not to mention the decrease in drugs running.

But while seeing troops along the border had by now become a regular occurrence, having tanks and Bradley IFV's deployed outside a major El Paso hospital wasn't and the local media and network affiliates were now out in force. For now they were being kept at bay of course, but still, this going out on national news wasn't going to be well received in Washington. This meant lots of work for him later on.

For now though he walked into the hospital lobby and he had different problems to solve first. Armed troops were everywhere, while the last of the patients and staff were still being evacuated. Meanwhile a major of the 1st Cavalry division walked beside him explaining to him what had led to this current Charlie Foxtrot.

"My men arrived on the scene and tried to apprehend the suspect," the major said, trailing behind the mysterious US Air Force major who had even his brigade commander, a one star general, currently dancing to his tune.

"And what happened next, major?" Davis replied as they rounded a corner towards a set of elevators, "weren't you briefed as to what to do in case of a case Orange encounter? Especially in a public place like this?"

"I, uh, um," the army major stammered, "You must understand, major, when the warning did came the men…. Well, they…., to be frank, they were getting bored doing the job of the regular border patrol, sir."

"I see," Major Davis said frowning as the reached the elevators and he pushed a button.

"It's just that….," the army major said as he bit his lip, "when the case Orange alert came Lieutenant Alonso and his platoon were first on the scene and they probably felt a little more eager then they should have. But since the suspect was in a, um, hospital they felt that maybe it was better to intervene before hostages could be taken."

The doors of the elevator swished open and the men stepped inside and the army major pressed a button.

"You know the orders, major," Davis said as he looked upwards, "there were to be no engagements unless in self defense."

"I know," the major sighed, "and I gave the lieutenant a severe reprimand. But I can understand his desire. And that of the men. After two months of being at the border they're eager for something to happen other then arresting poor Mexicans, whose only crime is seeking a better life for themselves."

Davis sighed as he heard some sniggering behind him.

"At least for now we have containment," Davis said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped onto the floor they needed to be, with more armed soldiers awaiting them and standing to attention as they saw their ranks.

"Also I have to stress that above all Lieutenant Alonso was motivated out of a desire to prevent casualties amongst the civilian population," the major quickly added, "he felt that if he could draw the suspect out in the open his Brads could do some damage. They have been issued the new depleted uranium rounds and upgraded TOW warheads."

There was even more sniggering from behind Major Davis and he didn't even bother to reply. The upgraded ammunition was an attempt by the Pentagon to come up with ways to strike at the androids, although their resident Saiyan expert and all-round asshole scoffed at their usage. Still, something was better then nothing, right?

They rounded a corner and came upon a central corridor, where more armed troops were standing, many carrying tubes with anti-tank missiles on their back. At the end of the corridor Davis could see a barricade facing a different corridor, where troops manned a heavy machine gun and a grenade launcher. Before that was the nurses' station room, which now housed the forward battalion headquarters. Everywhere they passed troops stood to attention and the two majors walked into the forward HQ.

"At ease," the army major said as he walked up to a captain, seated behind a row of monitors, "any change in the situation, Captain Powers?"

"No change, sir," Captain Powers replied as he stood up to give his seat to his commander, "All he does is sit there, caressing her hair."

On one of the screens a man could be seen, a teenager still, sitting beside the bed of a woman, still a late teen herself as well. She lay there immobile as he gently caressed her hair. Even from the 12" monitor in black and white it could be seen that the guy was heartbroken.

"That's him?" Major Davis exclaimed in surprise. The suspect looked nothing like the descriptions they had of the remaining android. Yet at the same time he seemed vaguely familiar.

"I know," the army major said, "he doesn't look anything like the descriptions we had. Yet that guy took on Lieutenant's Alonso's platoon, withstood pointblank gunfire like he was made out of Kevlar and threw a whole platoon out of the hospital. And then he created an energy barrier which has made any attempt to reach him impossible."

"And yet we still have a signal feed coming from the CCTV system?" Davis asked.

"My guess is that, um, since she's hooked up to various gizmo's he doesn't want to cut power, sir," Captain Powers quickly added, "and since that also still gives us CCTV signal we've been hesitant to cut power to him as well."

"What of the girl?" Davis asked pointing at the screen.

"From what we can gather he brought her in," the major replied, "we don't know exactly who she is, although one of my men claims she looks like a known adult movie star. It's hard to tell though from a civilian CCTV screen, major. It's made to keep an eye on patients, not to identify their faces"

"Can I see that barrier?" Davis asked next and the major nodded towards Captain Powers.

"Show them, captain," he said. Captain Powers gestured toward the door and they left the nurses station and went towards the barricade, a large mound of sandbags closing off a different corridor.

"He's in there," Captain Powers said as he pointed to a door on the other side of that corridor.

"Where's this energy barrier the major spoke off," Davis asked.

"There," the captain pointed out, "its twelve meters in front of us."

It was hard to make out but once you saw it there was a slight discoloration of the walls and floor before the barrier and behind it.

"It also extends to the floors above and below us," Captain Powers explained as Major Davis continued to look at the barrier, "it's an oval shaped bubble, roughly 20 meters wide and ten meters high. And its remarkably solid as well. It's like touching a rubber wall. Kinda spongy yet still fairly solid. On the 5th floor, where its roof is, troops have been entertaining themselves by throwing stuff on it."

"I see. I…." Major Davis said, then he stopped and his face darkened, like he just remembered something, "is there a place where we can talk in private, captain?"

"I'm sorry, sir?" Captain Powers said surprised, "I don't understand…"

"I mean in private without anyone else hearing us," Davis explained.

"There's a supply room over there," Captain Powers replied nodding to a door, "we could go over there, if you like."

"Not you, captain," Davis said as he held up a hand towards the captain and used his other to gesture behind him, "me and him!"

Captain Powers looked from Major Davis to the large man dressed in army fatigues without any rank insignia standing behind the major. Who had followed the major every step of the way, and who until then hadn't said a word.

Major Davis took the man in army fatigues by his shoulder and pushed him into the supply room, pushing him against a rack full with towels while he closed the door behind him.

"Alright," he said angry, "riddle me this. How come I have 1st Cavalry on a case orange alert, sealing off a entire hospital smack in the middle of El Paso when in fact its not that damn android of yours, but one Alexander Harris instead? One of your kids from Sunnydale, California instead?"

"Maybe he had a good reason?" Belmovekk said sheepishly, "how should I know? He left town. I have not seen or heard from him in months."

Davis wanted to say something, instead he looked down dejected and closed his eyes while he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How the hell am I going to explain this to Washington," he sighed deeply, "5th Army in Houston is in the highest state of alert, III Corps in Fort Hood is in the highest state of alert and 1st Cavalry out here is in the highest state of alert. I have reporters from every conceivable network camped outside the perimeter waiting for an answer and more on the way. Washington's going to have my head for this."

"Hey, it is not my fault," Belmovekk said pointing to himself, "nothing would have happened if your soldiers had kept to their orders."

"It was your boy that set off case Orange by getting noticed on the AWACS, coming in hot from Mexico," Davis countered.

"Like I said," Belmovekk shrugged, "considering he brought in a helpless girl he probably had a good reason. What was he supposed to do, let her die?"

Major Davis looked ten years older as he mulled things over. The Saiyan had a point. Had the army pukes not overreacted but kept to the rules of engagement this whole messy stand off could have been avoided. And his job would have been so much easier. That's what you get for trusting the Army!

"I will take care of this, major," the Saiyan said and nodded towards the door, "but how are you going to explain this to your superiors and the press?"

"Don't worry about the press," Davis said as he held up a hand, "ever since we began the Stargate program we have scenarios as to how to explain the sudden escape or emergence of aliens in the general public. It's Washington that worries me. Senator Kinsey may have lost the primaries but his name is being mentioned as a potential running mate. And he is highly critical of the SGC. He wants his pet NID to be part of our deals."

"If you like I could kill him for you?" Belmovekk offered casually, although it wasn't quite clear if he was joking or not.

"Tempting," Davis said as he rubbed his chin, "and I know a certain colonel who would probably become your biggest fan for life if you did just that. But unfortunately we can't ask you to do that. No matter how big the asshole in charge, the US military remains neutral."

"Suit yourself," Belmovekk shrugged and walked towards the door, "in the meanwhile I shall resolve our current unfortunate situation."

He was about to open the door and leave when Davis spoke again.

"You still owe us, Belmovekk, for all the troubles you caused us," he said, "and we will collect on that debt one day."

"I am more then usually certain of that," the Saiyan sighed as he left the supply room.

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Inside her room Xander sat by Angela's side, still stroking her hair absentmindedly, from time to time peeking at her monitor that monitored her brainwaves. Or lack of it. Still, every time her eyes looked at him there was a tiny spike for a moment. It was all he had to cling to right now.

After he had thrown out the army he had told the doctors to take a hike as well. They weren't getting any results anyway and there wasn't much they could do in the current siege. Why should they have to suffer because of it? It was a mistake coming here. Maybe he should have left her with Shimrod's. But somehow it didn't sit right with him to foist her off to him. After what she had done for him the least he could do was look after her. To bad he wasn't doing such a splendid job of that at the moment.

As he mused suddenly the world turned to white again and Xander felt intense gravity pressure taking hold of him again. He was again in that vast expanse of white nothingness, with only Angela and the bed she was on as company.

"You two really make for a nice couple, flyboy," a familiar voice said behind, "although I think I liked her in the other body more. Still, she's got a couple of good points like this."

"Spare me your sly digs and lewd comments," Xander said without looking back. He knew who was there.

"You didn't mind me making them when they were beating the crap out of you in Mang," Buffy said as she stepped up into view, opposite him and Angela's bed. She was dressed like a doctor would be. A female doctor that was in an adult movie. With very inappropriate footwear, a very short skirt, a coat unbuttoned so it could reveal more then it covered and a pair of glasses to top things off.

"Things have changed," Xander said gruffly as he ignored Buffy and instead looked at Angela.

"Oh, I think the only thing that has changed is that you've suddenly been confronted with the real cost of your obsession," Buffy smiled.

"Shut up," Xander said angry, "I have no time for this."

"So I'm old news now?" Buffy pouted, "discarded because Xander finally realized he could have had something else instead and didn't? Are you going to replace me with her now? She doesn't look like she's much fun anymore though."

"Shut up!" Xander called again. Undeterred Buffy leaned over the bed.

"You know, if you'd like I could be her?" she smiled lewdly and brought her hands to her breasts, "I never had a pair of tits like her before. Could be fun playing with those funbags."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

As he yelled Xander threw his hands in the air and began shooting huge chi blasts in the air that came down with devastating blasts in the distance. Then he released the biggest blast to date and shot it high into the air where it exploded with a light brighter then a thousand suns.

DOOM!

"Who do you always have to mock me?" he said after he had vented his anger. She walked around the bed and tapped his forehead.

"Because that's the only way I can get through to you," she said shaking her head, "your skull is to impervious to anything else. Unless I use a rocket launcher armed with a clue-missile nothing gets to you. I left you for a reason and instead of respecting that choice you chased me to Tanjecterly and beyond. And now that you're confronted with the real cost of your obsession you're about to go off into another."

Xander wanted to say something but then he stopped. Instead he knelt beside the bed and gently began to stroke Angela's hair again.

"Why am I always so blind to a good thing?" he mused, "Why do I always end up screwing things up?"

Buffy knelt beside him and put her head on his shoulder.

"You can't help being who you are," she said as she kissed his neck, "you don't just do things, you do them fully and wholeheartedly. That's why I fell in love with you to begin with."

"Yet you ran away from me," Xander said softly.

"That too," she said as she closed her eyes. Neither said anything for a moment.

"I think I should stop coming here," Xander finally said, "maybe I should live in the real world again."

"Are you sure about that?" Buffy asked surprised, but Xander nodded.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I have to accept that what we had is over and that all this obsessing is turning me into some kind of Spike. And I don't think peroxide suits my looks."

"I don't know," Buffy said as she ruffled his hair, "could be nice."

Xander glanced at her incredulously.

"Just kidding," Buffy pouted back, "I like you just the way you are, my sweet Xanderbear."

"Well, this Xanderbear's going to grow up and be a man for a change," Xander said, "I think it's about time that I did."

"I think so too," Buffy replied and kissed his neck again. Then she let go and stood back as they both got up.

"I guess this is our last goodbye," Xander said as he looked at Buffy, his Buffy, for the last time.

"I guess so too," she said and slowly began to walk backwards, with every step fading more and more from view.

"I love you," Xander called out after her.

"I love you too," she replied, half faded away, "have faith Xander. I know you hate it but you work for it, remember. Have faith, the necessities, unlike the Powers That Be, they reward those who fulfilled their purpose for them. Well, at least one of them does. Who knows, maybe you end up getting both of us back."

"Hmm, harems, nice," Xander said smiling while he did his Homer Simpson impersonation.

"We're in the hands of fate now," her disembodied voice said one last time. And then she was gone. And with her the dream world in which she lived. He was back in Angela's hospital room. And then the door opened and Belmovekk walked in. Dressed in army fatigues and a beret straining to contain his wild hair

"Long time no sees, Big Guy," Xander said without looking up. Belmovekk reached for a chair and sat down on the other side of Angela's bed, opposite Xander.

"Hello young man," the Saiyan said courteously, "how are you?"

"I've seen better, "Xander shrugged, trying to sound casual, "I take it from having Desert Storm encamped outside you still haven't found your robots? And how the hell did you make it past my shield?"

The Saiyan let out a small but polite snort, then he smiled.

"There was once a tiger and a monkey. And the tiger was in awe of the monkey, as he could do the most amazing things. So one day he asked the monkey 'Monkey, can you teach me those things?'"

"'Alright, I will,' the monkey said and he began to teach the tiger. After a while the tiger was able to do the same amazing things as the monkey could. And when he felt confident that he had learned everything there was to learn he turned against the monkey and let his true nature come out. He chased the monkey, trying to kill him, when all of a sudden the monkey climbed into a tree."

"'Hey,' the tiger protested as he could not get to the monkey, 'why can I not do that?'"

"'Because that is the one thing I did not teach you yet,' the monkey yelled back."

"The other Buffy was right," Xander said shaking his head, "sometimes you just talk too much. A simple 'because I haven't taught you everything yet' would have sufficed."

"And rob me of the chance to tell a perfectly good parable?" the Saiyan smirked.

"How's the gang?" Xander asked, for the first time looking up towards the Saiyan, "Buffy okay? Will and Oz still doing the nasty? Faith still breaking hearts all over town? Giles finally found his mystery bad guy?"

"If you were interested you could have called," the Saiyan replied, extending his right thumb and pinkie and pretended his hand was a phone, "They all miss you terribly."

"I was busy," Xander said offhand.

"I thought you would be," Belmovekk nodded, then he leaned over and spoke softly, "to answer one question, yes, master Giles did find his mystery bad guy."

"So, who was it?" Xander asked.

"Would you believe it is the mayor of Sunnydale?"

Xander contemplated that for a moment. At first it sounded crazy as fuck. Not baby face Wilkins the Third, who had been mayor of Sunnydale for as long as Xander could remember, practically a permanent fixture by itself.

But then it started to make sense. After all, the town had been a veritable demon smorgasbord for as long as Xander could remember as well. And the police department was so exceptionally incompetent, it could only be because the mayor controlled that department and decided who got appointed. Then Xander began to laugh.

"What is so funny?" Belmovekk asked the laughing teen.

"It's just…," Xander said as he tried to catch some breath again, "… Snyder…, suddenly the school board hiring a guy like Snyder makes perfect sense."

"I see," the Saiyan said not really getting it as he waited for Xander's laughing to stop. Which it did quite sudden

"Wait a sec," Xander said suspiciously, "how come the snitch system didn't rat him out to us? After all, no way he could control Sunnydale without some demons being in the know about this. And we did say in the Edict that knowledge of hidden plots was punishable by death."

"As best as we can tell he manipulated the snitch system from the start," the Saiyan replied, "and he manipulated us as well. Do you remember the Sisterhood of Jhe?"

"It's hard not too," Xander said as he shuddered at the memory of the night when the Hellmouth opened.

"It would seem that he was the guy who told us they were coming. It would seem they were old enemies of him. And from what I figured out there have been a few more of those cases. Judging from what I have learned so far I guess he used us to get rid of quite a lot of people that could have stopped him."

"But he's dead now, right?" Xander asked, "Buffy did kill him, right? Right after she learned he was the bad guy."

"Not exactly," the Saiyan said as he shook his head, "Wilkins is still at large. That is part of why I am here, Xander. We have need of your help."

"You've got to be kidding?" Xander said big eyed, "Why isn't that guy dead yet and what the hell could I do that one Saiyan, a sorceress and two Slayers couldn't do?"

"This is not to be underestimated, Xander," Belmovekk said and reached into his military fatigues to pull out a small portfolio from which he took out a picture which he threw on the bed, "meet Mayor Richard Wilkins III, mayor of Sunnydale and son and successor to Mayor Richard Wilkins II, who in turn was son and heir to Richard Wilkins I."

While the photos got progressively older, as did the fashion of the clothes being worn, the face on each of the three men was the same.

"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Xander said in a very understating way as he examined each picture.

"This guy has lived for at least a hundred years," Belmovekk said as he pointed to the oldest picture, "He basically created the town of Sunnydale and made it into his own image. If it was a slaughterhouse to grow up in it was so because he made it so. And yet nobody noticed it was the same guy who ruled it. Nor that he never aged a day. Somehow he cast a glamour over Sunnydale that prevented anybody from noticing he was the same guy. That and his great age suggest he is a powerful mage, Xander. They are not to be trifled with."

"Maybe he's a demon?" Xander suggested hopeful but Belmovekk shook his head.

"We managed to obtain some of his DNA from the town's museum. He is human."

"Okay," Xander admitted, "so he's big in the magic department. I can see how that would negate Willow. I still fail to see why it stopped you, Buffy or Faith from tearing his head off?"

The Saiyan looked somewhat uncomfortably.

"I was, uh, um, somewhat occupied teaching those soldiers," he said, then he looked even more uncomfortable, "and looking for the androids. And as it turned out Wilkins is not so easy to kill. As for Buffy and Faith, well, things have more or less broken down in both our absences. It would seem that, um, Faith, well, she has defected to Wilkins' side."

"What!?" Xander exclaimed, then he looked up to the ceilings, "you guys have way too much fun at my expense."

"There was an incident, two months ago," Belmovekk continued, "for a moment it looked like Faith had done something bad and the whole group turned on her. They hunted her until her name was cleared and it was learned Wilkins was the real culprit."

"How could you let that happen!" Xander said aloud, "you're supposed to look out after them!"

"I was busy, alright!" the Saiyan said back, for the first time ever sounding angry at Xander, "I had a lead on the androids. I had to make a choice. Either lose them and run the risk of the future warning coming true. Billions of deaths, a planet in ruins. Or go back and help a single person, Faith."

"You would have done it for Buffy," Xander said accusingly, "I know you Belmovekk, son of Rebar, "had she been the one in trouble then those androids be damned. You'd broken every speed record to get back."

"Do you not think I know that already?" Belmovekk erupted angrily, "do you not think whatever happened to Faith haunts my memory already? I should have been there for her, just as much as I should have been there for you or the others!"

"Easy big guy," Xander said holding up both hands trying to sooth the angry Saiyan. Which by the way was the first time he had seen the Saiyan angry at him or any of them.

The Saiyan sighed as the anger left him and he fell back into his chair.

"You want to know the real funny part," he said sullenly, "I got played. It turned out my decision to not go back ended up costing me the androids as well. They had shown themselves in San Antonio to draw me there. And while I was there they doubled back and hit Capsule Corp. instead. Had I been in Sunnydale I would been in a position to get back much faster and catch them."

"Fate's a bitch," Xander said as he suddenly understood the Saiyan's anger. He wasn't really angry with Xander, but with himself. He blamed himself for making a double mistake.

"I take it from your little outburst that T.A.F.K.A.P. wasn't there to greet them," he asked the Saiyan who nodded in agreement.

"Vegeta was gone," he echoed, "and is still gone, destination unknown. If it were not for Yamcha's timely intervention Bulma and her family would have been dead."

"Thank god for small favors then," Xander said, "so how indestructible is our mayor?"

"You just cannot kill him," Belmovekk said shaking his head, "you punch a fist through him and the hole just grows closed again and he looks none the worse."

"Regenerative kind of guy, huh," Xander nodded then he made some chopping motions, "still, why not chop him up into mincemeat, then burn up every small piece of him separately? I can't believe it took you guys two months to do nothing."

"When they learned Wilkins was the mystery player they were at a loss what to do," Belmovekk shrugged, "at first we knew very little. So they tried to find out more about him. Both Master Giles and Wesley read every source they could get their hands upon. By then we knew the snitch system was compromised and they had to gather the information ourselves again. Even though the demons had lied to us we skipped retaliation in order to put Wilkins at ease. It was all for nothing. We never learned anything and thanks to Faith pretending to still be part of us he knew everything we knew."

"We only learned of Faith's double-cross two weeks ago. After that Buffy got so fed up that she assaulted Wilkins single-handedly. And that was when we learned he was impervious to harm. She tried doing what you did, using the mother of all Kienzans to slice him up but Faith stepped in. They both fought and Faith basically whipped Buffy's ass. It is clear that besides defecting to Wilkins' side, he has increased her power dramatically. I think barring maybe one or two of Goku's friends she is now the strongest human on the planet."

"Damn," Xander said, pretending to be annoyed, "and I thought I was. There goes my rep."

"Personally I think Faith only let Buffy live as to rub it in," Belmovekk continued, "You know how Buffy treated her."

"Oh, I did," Xander echoed, "when it came to Faith Buffy was a firm believer in the tough love approach. Personally I think she took way to many pointers from Vegeta every time they had a spar together. I guess tough love now came back to bite her in her shapely behind?"

"Ever since that happened Buffy crawled into her room and does not come out. No matter how much they tried to talk her out of it. Which is why master Giles asked me to find you and bring you back."

"Why me?" Xander asked surprised, "surely you, him and D.B. can talk her out of her funk? Or don't tell me, or please do, she won't even listen to D.B.? Oh, this is rich!"

"I have been searching the whole planet for you and there was no trace of you," the Saiyan said as Xander was laughing loudly, "I keyed in my scouter to look for your personal life signature to no avail, Willow and Giles used their best tracking spells, I even went to Kami's lookout. You were not on the planet. And suddenly I receive an android alert and found you here instead."

Xander scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"You might say I wasn't even in the same universe anymore," he grinned, "ever heard of a place called Tanjecterly?"

"I cannot say that I have," the Saiyan said shaking his head.

"Trust me, it's in a universe a long, long time ago and far, far away," Xander said. Then he looked at Angela again and stroked her head.

"Who is she?" Belmovekk asked pointing at Angela, who until now had been staring at him with great interest, longer then she usually did, "she seems familiar somehow."

"Her name is Angela," Xander said tenderly, "she's an actress who makes the kind of movies you only see on the top shelve in the video rental store and she's my mistake. She lies here because of me, her body still here but her mind gone."

Xander then proceeded to give a brief account as to what happened to him since he had left Sunnydale, how he had met her, how they had met Shimrod and what had happened to them both in Tanjecterly.

"She is not only very brave indeed," the Saiyan agreed looking at the girl, "she must have really loved you as well to have made such a sacrifice."

"I know," Xander said as he felt his emotions rise and his voice beginning to choke. For a moment he said nothing as Belmovekk got up and walked around to put his arm around the teen's shoulder.

"Whenever she ragged on Faith too much I always tried to tell Buffy to let up," he finally spoke, his voice trembling, "to not judge her because she was stronger. And now I did the same. I want to be able to lookout after my girls. That is part of who I am. Yet perversely I found myself drawn to strong women who don't really need me at all. It was why I probably never fell for Willow even though she had the hots for me, cause, well, until you turned her into a sorceress she was the weak submissive one. I had to look so much out for her she practically became my little sister."

"I fell for our Buffy because she had this sense of strength and confidence surrounding her. The moment I first saw her I noticed. There was just no mistaking her for being anything else but a Slayer. No matter how much she tried to hide it. Of course I was so much out of her league at the time she barely noticed my feelings."

"Cordelia, well, you know her. Maybe she has no physical strength to speak off but she would cow Satan himself into submission by just scowling at him. She takes shit from nobody. That's why's she's Queen C. You have to admire that kind of self-confidence. And then there's my Buffy. Who had everything taken from her and yet she fought on determinedly. Her determination pales that of our Buffy."

"But Angela, she never had any of their strengths. She had life take a dump on her and then use her to wipe its ass clean. She just wanted someone who was nice to her, who'd look out for her. Submissive at first glance. But underneath that there was a girl who despite terrible things which happened to her was still caring, giving and willing to do whatever it takes. And I just….."

Xander bit his lip and looked away for a moment.

"And I just ignored a good thing because I was just tunnel visioning after something which had already passed and probably wouldn't have worked in the long term anyway. And now it's….. too late."

Xander began to cry and buried his hands in his face. Belmovekk said nothing but just gently squeezed the teen's shoulder.

"I will not say that no blame befalls you, Xander, good friend," the Saiyan said softly, "or to me. We can only learn from our mistakes and move on. The only difference between you and me is that I have more experience with both. I will say this. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that she returns to good health, my friend. I will indebt myself further to the SGC if need be, we will use the Dragonballs if it comes to that. No stone will be left unturned."

"But I am sure these words will be of little comfort to you right now. So I will share you a secret instead. A secret so great it will change your perceptions as to what constitutes your reality. A secret so great not even Buffy knows the full truth. For now that is. As Master Giles struggled to find his opponent, so did I. I will tell you who my real enemy is, young man, the one who I am sent here to fight."

Belmovekk placed his other hand on Xander's head and closed his eyes. For a moment neither said anything as the telepathic link formed, then he let go and the both of them opened their eyes.

Xander turned his face towards Belmovekk and hatred shone from his eyes.

"What you learned here today you must not reveal to anybody," Belmovekk said solemnly, "not even to Buffy or Master Giles. Not until the time is right."

"Don't worry, Big Guy," Xander said coldly, "my lips are sealed. From this day forward your enemy is now my enemy. I will not rest until we have won. I will come back with you to Sunnydale."