Xander and Cordelia's Wish World
The trio materialized in an office. They looked around and saw bookcases lining one wall. Well made, deep ones of a dark color, attached to the wall. There was a nice desk that matched it centered toward the back of the room facing toward the door at the front of the room. Xander sat at the desk, typing on a computer. He looked to be in his late twenties, well built and looking good. A sound from the other side of the desk had him looking up from the computer. He quickly saved what ever he was working on and stood up, moving around the desk. He bent over and they heard him murmur "Did Daddy's little lady have a good nap?" He straighten up holding a small baby, that looked about three months old. She was wearing a yellow sleeper and had a headfull of dark hair. Xander moved back to the desk and laid the baby down on it, then reached down and grabbed a diaper and wipes. The girls watched as he changed the baby's diaper, all the time talking to her. She sucked on her little hand while watching him, obviously listening to the stream of nonsense that came out of his mouth. "Well looks like your going to need a change of clothes too, sweetie. Come-on let's find you something else." He carried her out if the room.
Willow, unable to contain herself any longer yelled, "Xander's a dad?! His wish involves being a dad?"
"It's more complicated than that, and simpler at the same time," Anyanka answered.
"Let's follow them," Amy said.
They trailed after him as he went to a medium size room toward the back of the house. Inside was a small bed and crib, along with two dressers and two rocking chairs, with a small round table with a lamp on it between them.
"Looks like there's another kid," Amy said as they watched Xander dress the baby in a small dress. "There now aren't you pretty, all dressed up and looking like your momma."
A horn sounded outside. "Oh, looks like big sis is home, let's go get her, ok?" The baby kicked her legs and Xander picked her up. They headed for the front door and went outside. The girls could see a short bus parked in front of the driveway. As soon as Xander stepped out of the door, the door of the bus opened and a little girl about 4 jumped down to the ground and ran up the drive toward him.
"Daddy," she called waving a piece of bright yellow construction paper, "I made you a picture."
"Come in and let me see it," he answered.
The little girl lead the way into the house with Xander and the baby in his arms following her. Once inside, they headed for the kitchen, where the little girl showed him her picture. "Look at that all my favorite colors, looks like one of my favorites shirts, the ones that make Mommy's eyes cross, that she'll only let me wear in the backyard, when we barbeque,"
"Yep, and I made it just for you, Daddy."
"Well then we should put it on the fridge so mommy will see it when she gets home. Bet you she's gonna want one too when she sees how pretty it is."
"Then I'll make one for her tomorrow."
"Good, then she won't think you forgot about her. Are you ready for a snack?"
"Un huh, apples please."
"Ok, here you go," he said pulling a small package from the fridge and tore the top off it.
Then he settled the baby into a carrier and set it in the middle of the table. He moved over to the counter and reached into the cupboard and pulled out a canister, then opened the dishwasher and pulled out a small bottle and nipple. He put some of the formula into the bottle and added some water, shook it up and then sat the table, feeding the baby while chatting with the little girl about their day.
As they chatted the front door opened and a woman walked in. She stepped out of her shoes and set them on a shoe rack near the door and headed for the kitchen. When she got there she leaned against the wall and watched the scene in front of her with a fond smile on her face. After a moment she said, "I hope you saved some those apples for me, you know they're my favorite too."
The invisible trio turned, startled and watched as the woman moved toward Xander. She leaned down to kiss him, which he happily accepted, before moving on to kiss the little girl on top of her head.
The cozy domestic scene shook Willow down deep inside. "Cordelia? His wish is to be married to Cordelia and have a family with her?!"
"Their wish."
"What?"
"Their wish, they're both the real Xander and Cordelia," Anyanka said. "They're wish involves each other. But like I said it's both more complicated than that and at the same time simpler."
"How? What is their wish?"
"To be good."
"I don't understand."
"They both want to be good. To be a good friend, a good husband or wife as the case may be, to be good parents, to have a career that each enjoys and is good at. His also includes never looking into the eyes of the woman he loves or their children and seeing fear or pain, especially because of him. Hers includes being loved for herself, not her money, to not be considered a trophy or prize, to be respected as well as loved by the man she also loves. That's their wish, to be good."
"They're happy."
"Very."
Willow ran out the back and Amy and Anyanka followed her out the door. Willow fell to her knees sobbing. Amy dropped down beside her and put an arm around her and just held her while she cried.
"They've loved each other since they we're children, just like you have loved him. They're just starting to acknowledge it back in your original world," Anyanka said.
"And Xander in the reality where my wish is?"
"Will find her again."
Willow saw the necklace in Amy's hand and before she could react, Willow had grabbed it and smashed it down on the ground and crushed it under her foot. She could hear Anyanka howling and then the next thing she knew they were back in the courtyard at the school. She grabbed Anyanka and dragged her toward the library. "Giles, she's a demon," she yelled, as she pushed the doors of the library open. Buffy, Xander, Cordelia and Giles all looked up startled as Willow burst into the room dragging another teenager behind her. Willow pushed her into a chair. "She's a demon," she said, pointing at the girl.
"Not anymore, you brat, you destroy my power center, I'm human again. Why did you do that?"
"To fix it,"
"Fix what, Willow, what happened?" Giles asked.
"I was in the courtyard. I was mad at Xander and Cordelia for kissing. She sat down beside me and she looked human and we where talking and I made a wish and she said 'Wish Granted' and it was and the world changed."
"Willow slow down, you made a wish and she granted it?" Giles asked. "What was it?"
"That we would each get the happy life we each wanted."
"That sounds like a great wish, why would you need to fix it," Buffy asked.
"Because it was all wrong."
"What was wrong?"
"My wish was to be married to Xander, but he hated me and was drinking and wanted a divorce. I had faked being pregnant to get him to marry me, after getting him drunk enough to sleep with me, because it was only way he would and then faked losing the baby, and he knew and he hated me."
"Yours was for Angel to be human and to not be the Slayer anymore, but human Angel was cheating on you."
"His wish was for his soul to be permanent and you to still be the Slayer and have lots of sex with him."
"What was mine and Cordelia's wish, Willow?"
She refused to answer, so the other girl did. "You two had the same wish, mostly. You both wanted to be good. A good friend, a good husband and wife, good parents, to have a good job that you enjoyed and were good at. Yours," she said pointing at Xander, "involved being able to look into the eyes of the woman you loved and you're children's eyes and never see fear or pain, especially because of you. Yours," she said pointing at Cordelia, "involved being married to a man who loved you for you, not your money. Who didn't see you as a trophy or prize and respected you."
"I don't understand, Willow, what was wrong with mine and Cordelia's wishes."
"You were married to each other, you were happy with each other."
A shocked silence greeted her statement.
"Which is when she destroyed my power center. Now I'm human again, I don't know how to be human, I haven't been human in over a thousand years."
"Angel was cheating on me?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, Amy said you both want to be together, but in different ways. And the different ways made you unhappy. He doesn't want to be human, you don't want to the Slayer."
"Amy?"
"Yes, I asked Amy to help figure out what happened, the Amy where I ended up, she was a little older so it might be different Amy."
"And Xander and Cordelia wanted the same thing. How did you know, what any of us wanted?"
"I read you, I had to, in order to know what you wanted. And then moved each of you to a reality where the circumstances matched your deepest wish."
"So these where all real places?"
"Yes, finding a world where you two," she said pointing at Xander and Cordelia, "are together was easy, there's a lot of them. Finding ones where the circumstances each of the rest of you wanted wasn't, because there aren't many."