"Xander, we need to talk about life after graduation." Cordelia informed Xander a couple weeks later.
"Graduation is three years off, Cor, is this something that we need to make a decision on now?"
"Maybe not a decision, but at least a first discussion." She leaned against him on the couch in her and Buffy's apartment. "Maybe even other decisions, but we have to start with the big one. While you were in the hospital and we were discussing new training methods, it came up that thanks to the fact that there's a large Weider community in Sunnydale, it really doesn't need multiple Grimms. In fact, it may not actually need a full-time Grimm. But other places do. There's several hundred Grimm worldwide and seven billion people, maybe somewhere around one third of them are Wesen and while the skills of a Grimm translate well to hunting vampires, it's not meant to be your primary purpose. Hunting dangerous Wesen is."
He was silent as he considered her words. "I know and I won't lie, it's crossed my mind what with the fight club and that damn dealer. Weider communities are rare, the Hellmouth and its constant influx of vampires made establishing one in Sunnydale easy, but elsewhere, Weider Wesen are often individuals, rather than an actual community. Bigger cities have more of them simply because they have a larger population. But that also means there's more dangerous ones and it's the dangerous ones that endanger us all."
"Living anywhere other than Sunnydale also increases other potential problems, ones of a more personal nature. I honestly believe we're solid, Xander, but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge the potential stress you hunting dangerous Wesen could put on our relationship. If we don't acknowledge it, we might not be aware of any warning signs, which might make it difficult to work through them. And if we can't work though them, we could be broken by them."
"I'm studying to be a Counselor, I haven't decided what area to specialize in, but I do know what those warning signs might be." Xander agreed. "Anxiety is a big one, in our case, that could take the form of you worrying about me while I'm hunting."
"As long as you minimize the potential damage you could suffer and make use of the training Uncle Rory is giving you, that's a small one. Still a concern, because I'm going to worry, but you doing everything you can to be safe, goes a long way toward helping with that." She continued. "The Wesenrein will always be a concern as long as they exist. In Sunnydale, our friends won't let them hurt us, that may not be the case elsewhere."
"I stand by my promise, Cordy, I won't let them hurt you. Us being together hurts no one, it's our choice and no one has the right to judge us. The Council doesn't seem to have any issues with us either. And they do have a problem with the Wesenrein."
"Which also helps, there's also the fact that some of those dangerous ones might target me to get to you, but I'm taking precautions by deciding to let Uncle Rory train me too, so I can protect myself. You don't want to be a Boogieman and you specifically are working hard not to be, but Grimm in general are seen that way by most Wesen out there."
"Unfortunately true and likely to be an issue at some point. All I can do is reassure them, I'm not going to hurt them and it's only the rogues, the dangerous ones, that concern me. They concern most Wesen too, largely because of the risk of exposure, but still a concern."
"There's something else we should discuss, Xander, especially since it could stress the other concerns."
"What's that, Cor?" He stroked a hand down the soft fur, barely there fur, on her back. He rarely ever even noticed it anymore, as he'd told the Faith in the other reality, you get use to it after awhile and just as Jesse barely noticed when Amy woged and certainly didn't flinch from it, Xander barely noticed when Cordelia was woged. It was just a part of her, that's all.
"Kids, they're still a long way off, Xander, but they bring their own kind of stresses and we need to be conscious of the fact that our relationship will potentially endanger them as well and we have to make sure we take precautions to keep them safe. Just being the daughter of a rich man increases risks to me, it's one of the reasons why Dad made sure I had self defense training. After Mom died, he really didn't want to risk losing me."
The idea of kids in the abstract was scary, the idea that they might be in any kind of danger, especially because of a connection to him made him sympathize with Buffy's fear of her mother knowing she was the Slayer way back when. Just that blood connection endangered her mother, just like a blood connection to him could endanger his children. Some might think it selfish to want children even knowing that. But that didn't change the longing for them.
"I swear to you, Cor, I'll keep them safe."
"I know you will. So will I."
The snuggled together on the couch, discussing and planning their future together for quite awhile, determined to anticipate and minimize any potential problems, just like Uncle Rory was teaching them with his new training methods. They couldn't anticipate everything, but they hoped they'd made a least a start on identifying and planning for them.