By Rob Sorenson

Xander Lavelle Harris was an angry man. He sat on the couch of Casa Summers, the home in which he'd spent the previous 6 months of his life in virtual chaos. Slayer trainees everywhere, a cacophony of female voices united in fear of death and loathing of their shared destinies. Andrew, sitting in corners and making references to things no one truly understood <Actually, I understood a lot more than I let on, but I wasn't telling HIM that>, Xander thought. Dawn, now becoming more and more distant as time went on. <I was hoping my talk with her would work, but it looks like she's going to have as difficult a time as I did.> Xander wished that feeling of uselessness on no one, much less someone he cared for as much as the Nibblet, as Spike called her. <Spike. There's another surprise in this fine semester they'd all spent together. Or was it a trimester? Possibly a thigh-mester. What was I thinking about? Oh yeah, Spike.> He had his reasons for hating the newly ensouled Bleach Boy, but he had to give credit where it was due. Spike had done more to keep Buffy together during the tough times than anyone. Xander was enough of a man now to give grudging admiration to him; which was more than he'd done for Angel all those years ago.

Xander himself had tried to be there for the Slayer, but there was a place in her that he couldn't reach. Some part of him knew that this was a good thing. The fact that virtually everyone else in the group (save Cordy) identified with her on a primal level, however, hurt him just the same. <There's nothing she can't tell me now. If I can get through what I did last spring I can get through anything. She has to know that>. Of course, Xander kept more than a few things from Buffy, but they didn't matter. <Well, they DO matter... but not in the grand Evil scheme of things. Certainly not to Buffy. I could talk to Will, I guess, but she's...disconnected. She has been since she pulled the Evil Totem Pole out of that cliff. Plus she's every bit as important as Buffy is at this point. My job was to be there if needed, I guess. Until now, he thought darkly.>

Dawn came slowly walking down the stairs. "Xand?"

"Hey Dawnie. You ok?"

"I will be when we know something. It's been 5 hours. I just want to know one way or the other," she said quietly with dry eyes. The tears were long ago used up this night.

"We will soon enough. One way or the other." Xander was staring straight ahead now, with no expression on his face. Dawn didn't know how to approach him when he was this way. <This just isn't him. I have to try.>

"Xand?"

"Dawn, honey, I don't want to talk about it."

"Nobody meant to hurt you."

"Of course not," Xander answered with a hint of a chuckle. "The Xandman understands. He's doing what he's told, like he always has."

"Umm, Xander, you ARE aware you're speaking of yourself in the third person?"

"He is aware of that, yes," he agreed with a hint of a smile. <It's working. The Summers charm will bring him back.> "Right now we need to focus on what could happen if...not everyone returns from this."

The concept of Buffy leaving her behind again rips at her insides <my magical glowy insides>, she thought rather inappropriately.

"Dawn, I don't want you to think negatively. You should know by now that your sister and Will are the baddest of badasses when it comes to this stuff. They have tons of backup too. Faith's almost as tough as Buffy, and Angel and Spike have their backs."

"I know that, Xander, but let's be real for a second. Things have to be pretty desperate when Anya tries a spell to get her Demonic powers back for just one battle. I still don't know why they brought Cordelia."

"Dawnie, Cordy is special now. She has visions, and could be really important. She can tell them where an enemy detachment is deploying from."

"Could I have that in English, Soldier Boy?"

"Ok, let me put it this way. Cordy can see things others can't see." He looked down as the familiarity of the phrase hits him. It's not lost on Dawn, either.

"Like you see things?"

"No, Dawnie, way better than I can see things. Cordy has visions of future Evil, and that can give them a strategic advantage. Plus, she's become a pretty good fighter." <Angel's helped her grow in a lot of ways. Jeez, I'm just a fountain of grudging respect for the Deadboys tonight.>

"Ok, then, I can see Cordy's value. What about Anya?" Xander looked back up toward Dawn, but his eyes were far away again.

"Anya did the only thing she could think of to help, and that's revert to her Demon form...with help from Willow. She had a lot of power as Anyanka...every bit as powerful as Vampires, at least. I'll tell you something Dawn. I never thought I'd be proud of Anya for bringing back her scary veiny face, but it took so much courage for her to sacrifice her humanity that way. She's come so far..." He trailed off as his voice began to break slightly. <I'm so sorry, Ahn. It took me nearly destroying your heart to find my place in the world. I'll never completely forgive myself, even if you do.>

"So you're ok, then? About earlier?"

"Dawnie, I'm not going to lie to you. Seven years is a long time. Seven years of committing your life to something. It's over now, though. One way or the other."

"Xander, when they come back you guys'll be back like always. We'll work it out together, like we always do. We have to try. We'll pay the price. It's do or die…"

"Dawnie, you weren't there for that song."

"Oh yeah. Math. Xand, did I ever thank you for taking the rap for me on that?"

He grinned. "No, but I accept your thanks a little late. It was no biggie really. I knew they'd believe I'd do something like that," he said with a touch of bitterness.

She took his hand. "Xander, it'll be ok. Trust me."

Xander slumped back against the couch. "Can we refrain from using that word for the next, I don't know, couple of millennia? 'Cause it's making me a little cranky, and you don't deserve it." Dawn nodded. <If they come back from this, I'm going to kill Buffy and Willow myself. How could they have said those things?>

"You want to play Monopoly? I'll let you be the car and you can make the vrooming noise when you go to jail," she said, trying to tease him into a response. She got nada.

"I'm sorry, Dawn. I'm usually hopelessly lost to the Summer's charm, but my heart's just not in it. Maybe later."

A slight chill suddenly manifested itself in the living room. They looked around, but saw nothing. Dawn's eyes became wide with fear and recognition. "Xander. Xander!!"

"What's up Dawnie? It's ok. Probably a draft from outside. I didn't nail that piece of plywood down hard enough--"

"Xander, look! By the door!" He turned, and his eyes grew wide along with Dawn's.

"Anya. Anya!!!" The former Anya Emanuela Christina Jenkins, now once again Anyanka with a human face, stood at the bottom of the stairs, eyes darting between in her unmistakable way, head tilting quickly back and forth. "Where is everyone else? My God, Ahn." He leaped to his feet and ran to his former fiancé with joy and relief. He wrapped his arms around her... and hit nothing. He ran unceremoniously into the wall at the base of the stairs, and fell back into them, causing a momentary lapse of his senses. <What the Hell? How could I miss her that badly? Have I got vertigo or something? I swear I was heading right for her.> Somewhere, deep within his soul he knew the implications of what had just occurred. Yet his heart wouldn't allow his conscious mind to process it. Until...

"Xander, Baby?"

He looked up, and saw Anya's face. Confusion morphed into recognition, then horror in a flash of blinding light. Still, he whispered, "Ahn?"

"What do you think," she said with a leer. "I was going to do this the way I normally do, but you had to come and rush in to touch me. Men. Right Dawn? Dawn, talk to Xander. Oh wait, you can't say anything when your windpipe is constricted, can you? Human physiology is something the Powers That Be botched pretty badly, luckily for me."

Xander looked over to the couch where he'd left Dawn, and the color drained from his face even further than it already had. An Ubervamp had her by the throat, and her eyes were bugged out in terror.

"Dawnie!!!!"

"I wouldn't try to save her if I were you. You get within 10 feet and my pasty bald friend will snap her neck and then yours. Do what I say and Dawn will get to live pain-free for a while longer." Xander locked eyes with Dawn.

"Just let her breathe. Please."

"Don't beg me, Zeppo. Just agree to listen to me for a little bit and he'll release her enough to get a little air. Ok?" At that point he'd have agreed to anything.

"Yes, fine. What do you want?"

"I want what I've wanted from the moment you saved the Slayer's life and weakened the line. I want you."

- End Chapter 2 -