A/N A few thoughts from the author before continuing with the story.
One reviewer asked if Wolf-Cordy would be satisfied with cuddling now that Xander and Cordelia have had sex. Yes, as funny as the idea of Xander being sexed up by a werewolf theoretically is, Wolf-Cordy will continue to be satisfied with cuddles. If anything, their scents being mingle will hopefully make her think it's already happened, not something she need to bother with. Giggles.
Now as to Xander and Cordelia's potential mystical abilities. For Xander, this is something separate from the leftover Hyena Boy, Fish Boy and Soldier Boy stuff. There are two things that happen in canon that suggest possible dropped story threads that point to Xander having a potential ability. That hilarious scene where they are researching ways to defeat Adam and he accidentally set a book on fire by speaking Latin and Giles dryly says 'Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books', suggests a potential pyro kinetic or pyromancer ability. Also, when he and Cordelia break into the base and Xander mentions he knows the access codes, that is not information he could have gotten from wearing old fatigues, those codes are updated on a regular, sometimes daily basis. This, along with the fact that Xander retains the knowledge at all, suggests a potential, naturally occurring clairvoyant or psychometric ability. I actually thought, when Xander first mentions retaining that knowledge, that the writers had come up with a clever way of giving him his own superpower, as well as the soldier knowledge and a practical one at that. And for a while, it seemed I was right as they at least made use of that knowledge he had gained. And then it just faded away, a lost opportunity. These are some of the kinds of dropped threads I like to explore in my stories, you never know where they will lead.
As for Cordelia's potential, a number of fanfics claim that a naturally occurring ability is why Jasmine and Skip manipulated her life in the first place. I'm incorporating that potential into this story. Not the manipulation part though.
And yes, I took another poke at the soul curse and a possible consequence of it. It won't come up every story, there's only so many ways to complain about that, but I'm not quite done with it yet,
So far everything Xander has done to protect Cordelia is based on knowledge and skills he is already aware that he has. Eventually, he's going to start exploring the abilities he's just finding out about and where they might be applicable in helping Cordelia, and by extension, though not the focus of his efforts, the others.
Everything he has done so far is going to have ripple effects and as we go on, those effects are going to grow.
The fact that Xander is dealing with his own issues of self esteem and self confidence along the way is secondary as far as he is concerned, but a big part of the overall story itself, including him throwing himself on an emotional grenade. It will need to be addressed.
As for his having a tranq pistol, also within the realm of possibility. They're legal (problematic for a 17-18 year old to get or own, but he knows about Willy, a guy who deals with the black market), the sedatives themselves can be an issue and the legality of having them varies from state to state as they are usually only needed by vets, game wardens and zookeepers, but still possible to get.
In the show Xander went quite far in his efforts to protect people. Shaming Angel, in order to help Buffy, bluffing Angelus and Jack, threatening to kill Buffy, if Willow died because her attitude, stepping into Willow's black magic blast. Here, Cordelia's wish to keep her condition secret means he has to be subtle. Not his usual method. Unless you count his pep talks though out the show, they could be real motivating.
