Disclaimer: All BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon. I am merely borrowing them and will return every single one unchanged. The only ones I own are Stefanie, Ivory, and (technically speaking) Alex. Hope you enjoy.
Author's Notes: For those of you who are expecting another Buffy and Angel story, I am sorry to say that this one centers more on Xander, Willow, and Cordelia. Nevertheless, I hope you find it enjoyable. Thank you.
It should have been just another normal evening for her. Do the usual rounds around Sunnydale at night, stake a vampire or two, and go home around midnight for some quality time with her family. But such was not the case this time around, Buffy Summers learned as she arrived back at the loft she and her fiance, Angel, had moved into a while back.
So much had changed in the past seven months since Buffy, the vampire slayer, had become a member of the very race she had sworn to destroy. But it worked to her advantage that she was a slayer, for that was what had prevented her from becoming a soulless, violent creature like so many others.
Angel, the 246-year-old vampire she loved with all her heart, was much the same as her, but he had become that way through different circumstances. Nearly eighty-six years back, he had made the mistake of feeding on a young Romany girl, and the elders had punished him by giving him back his humanity. He had been regretting his evil deeds and had sworn never to repeat them since that day.
Angel and Buffy had first met here in Sunnydale shortly after she and her late mother had moved to town. At the beginning, Buffy had been expecting a fresh start and a retirement from her former slaying duties in Los Angeles. But after a few meetings with her then-elusive informant boyfriend and her Watcher/mentor, Giles, and learning that her new hometown was crawling with vampires, Buffy had soon found herself wielding the same old stakes and crosses.
And somewhere along the line, in the first few months, Buffy and Angel developed an attraction to each other through his occasional meetings with her. By the time she discovered his true nature, Buffy had already fallen in love with him and vice versa.
Initially, he and Buffy had almost killed each other thanks to the machinations of Angel's old flame, Darla. But it was the strong bond between them that made both fall short of doing so, and had driven Angel to subsequently plunge a stake through Darla's heart when she had gone after Buffy with two loaded pistols.
For the years that followed, Buffy and Angel had attempted to have some sort of working relationship off and on. But what sealed it permanently was when she got pregnant with Ivory, their beloved ten-month-old daughter. And now, with a wedding looming large in their future, neither she nor her fiance could possibly be happier. All that was left was trying to discover a way for her and Angel to become mortal again, and life would be perfect.
Just then, Buffy was distracted from her thoughts as she neared her new apartment, by the yelling that was going on within. She stood and listened a moment, recognizing one of the voices as Angel's and the other as her usually shy, soft-spoken best friend, Willow Harris. And from what she could hear, they were arguing something fierce; she couldn't really make out what they were saying from this standpoint.
Buffy rushed inside, looking back and forth between her two friends; both had yet to acknowledge her presence and continued to quarrel. Willow's face was red with fury, almost matching the color of her hair, while Angel merely looked hurt and ashamed.
"You should have stayed out of it!" Willow was shouting at him. "You can't know what it was like to come back to an empty home and find out that my marriage was built on a lie!"
Angel couldn't even look her in the eyes, signaling that he must have done something extremely awful. "Xander's love for you was genuine," he replied quietly. "I had nothing to do with it other than making him realize it."
Instead of having a calming effect on her, his words only made Willow more furious. She stepped forward to slap him across the side of the face, while Buffy stared on in disbelief. Was this really the quiet, meek friend she had known for nearly six years?
Finally, Buffy spoke up. "What's going on here?" she asked in bewilderment, catching the attention of her true love and her best friend.
Willow took a step towards Buffy. "Let me create a scenario for you," she said. "Two years ago, my childhood friend, the boy I'd loved secretly for a long time, barely knew I was alive because he was so hung up on you. Then, for some mysterious reason, that literally changes overnight, and Xander is totally crazy about me."
Buffy remembered the incident of which Willow spoke. All four of them had been gathered at her old Victorian house that night for a sort of sleepover: her, Angel, Willow, and Xander. When they had gone to sleep, everything had been relatively normal, and the next morning, Xander and Willow couldn't keep their hands (or rather, lips) off each other.
"What does that have to do with anything though?" Buffy asked. "We never figured out what caused it, so why rehash it now?" Then, she looked at Angel curiously, an inkling of the truth coming to her as she observed his guilty expression.
The glance wasn't lost on Willow. "Because Angel let it slip what he did, and it found it's way back to Xander," she replied bitterly, fixing her gaze back on the silent vampire. "Angel didn't fill you in, did he, Buffy? How he and I met in your kitchen after midnight for snacks way back when? How we talked about things, namely my attraction to Xander? After the events that occurred the next morning, I completely forgot about it."
At this, Angel spoke up, still unable to look Willow in the eyes for more than a second. "I wanted to do something nice for her," he said to Buffy. "So I snuck up to Xander's room after she had gone back to sleep and gave him a few subtle subconcious impulses that would kick-start their romance."
"Which you had no right to do! You shouldn't have played with his mind like that!" Willow snapped. "Now, because of you, Xander's run off, and I have no idea where he is or if he's coming back. All he did was leave me a note saying our marriage was a mistake!"
Buffy cut in here. "Whoa, time out... Xander left you?" she asked her friend in disbelief.
Willow dug a scrap of paper from her purse, handing it to Buffy to read. The slayer skimmed it quickly, then looked up at her friend in shock. "Oh, Willow, I'm sorry."
The red-head calmed slightly at this, stepping forward to hug Buffy tightly. "I'm scared I'm not going to see him again," she said, a sob in her voice. "Why did this have to happen, that he and I should find out this way, from Cordelia Chase of all people!"
Cordelia was another high school friend of Buffy's and the most self-centered person she ever knew. So it hardly came as a surprise to the slayer to know that Cordy hadn't given it a second thought before spilling the beans.
During Buffy's hesitation, Angel took a step forward, laying one hand gently on Willow's shoulder. "You're right," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have interfered the way I did, and I'm truly sorry for it... But it's not too late to set things right. If we can find Xander, do you think you could convince him that this hasn't all been for nothing?"
Willow took a step away from Buffy and looked down at herself, a small smile coming to her lips. Resting one hand over her stomach, she said, "Right or wrong, Angel, what you did has had some benefits."
Buffy reached up to wipe the tears from Willow's eyes, knowing instantly what the words and the gesture meant. "Congratulations," she said, her tone bordering between serious and joyful. "You and Xander will make wonderful parents."
Willow crossed her arms. "We still have to find him first," she said, her demeanor once again that of a quiet, timid young woman.
Buffy smiled, moving to get her jacket and tell Angel to stay to watch over Ivory. To Willow, she added, "I think I know exactly where to look..."
While Buffy and Willow began what would be a wild goose chase, Xander was just attempting to open his eyes, seated in his car on the side of the road. As his gaze came into focus, he became aware that the right side of his forehead was throbbing with pain and the front end of his car was curled around a signpost.
Xander awkwardly reached for the door handle next to him, feeling dizzy as he tried to think what had happened. Vaguely, he remembered being upset over something that had happened earlier today and wanting to go to an old hangout in the woods outside Sunnydale to sort things out.
Xander stumbled from the car, lying sprawled on the gravel shoulder for a few moments until he regained enough of his senses to move. Once that had happened, he stood, hanging onto the car for support as he walked around to the back.
Here was where Xander began to sense something was off. He turned to look at the size and shape of the car, realizing that it wasn't the one he had been traveling in before he crashed. And, ridiculous as the concept seemed, he began looking around for another vehicle that might resemble his. But there was no sign of one.
Xander wasn't given long to ponder over this, however, as he noticed a set of headlights advancing in the distance. He took a few faltering steps onto the road, waving his arms to be seen by the approaching driver. And, much to his relief, the car began to slow.
Once it had stopped, Xander walked over and peered in, his eyes focusing on the man sitting in the driver's seat. After a moment, feeling a chill, Xander stood up straight and began to back away in fright, as the other man (Ethan Rayne) got out of the car and started towards him.
Xander knew from experience that Ethan was a crafty and dangerous man in his forties who studied and practiced the Black Arts, even though Buffy had had more run-ins with him than Xander did personally. But none of that seemed to apply here; when he looked close, Xander could see that, for once, Ethan looked genuinely concerned.
The last thing Xander was aware of was that his nemesis was referring to him as Alex, almost questioningly. After that, the younger man collapsed to the ground, his mind losing its fragile hold on the light...
Xander wasn't aware of much after he fainted, just catching bits and pieces of things as he swam in and out of consciousness. When he came to at last, even before he opened his eyes, he was aware of several voices talking over him. Plus, his head felt funny, constricted somehow, and, reaching up, Xander found it to be covered with some sort of gauzy material.
"Hey," said a musical feminine tone to Xander's immediate left, interrupting the other two in the background. "He's waking up." After that was silence, and the young man blinked his eyes open, waiting until his pupils adjusted to the light. But once he saw who the three people around him were, he immediately wished he was back in sleepland.
For starters, the melodic-voiced blonde to his left wasn't even supposed to be alive, or at least in existence. He had only met her, although informally, a few times, but there was no mistaking her face. It was Darla, the vampiress who had killed one of Xander's best friends years ago.
The panicked young man shifted his gaze next to Ethan, who merely stood there eying him curiously. Then, Xander looked on to the third person, who much to his surprise, was Cordelia Chase, snob queen of Sunnydale. What was she doing hanging out with an ultra-evil bloodsucker and a voodoo-priest wannabe, Xander wondered. Personally, these weren't three characters he would throw together in the same room.
"Where am I?" Xander asked, eying all three of his companions warily.
Cordelia took a few steps towards him, looking worried. "Alex?" she asked, reaching over to stroke the side of his face, then stopped herself. "I'm sorry... I know you're not him," she said, mostly to herself. "So, let's start with, who are you and what were you doing in my husband's car?"
Xander's eyes widened in confusion; the last he had heard, Cordelia was still very much single. "Your husband?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Cordelia said, starting to get angry. "Just whose car did you think you were driving? And if you don't answer in the next two minutes, I will call the police and have you arrested for auto theft!"
Ethan stepped forward at this, putting his hands around Cordelia's arms in an attempt to comfort her. "It's okay," he whispered to her. "We'll find Alex. I promise."
Darla looked over at her two comrades, having just performed a quick telepathic probing of Xander's thoughts. "Well, you won't find out from him," she said solemnly. "He's just as confused as we are." Looking at Xander, she added, "No one here is going to hurt you. Just tell us what happened, how you came to be here."
Xander contemplated this a moment, then decided he had nothing to lose by doing so. It surprised him that Darla hadn't yet made a move to bite him thus far.
"My name's Xander Harris," he started, choosing to keep to the basics. "Earlier this evening, I learned some disturbing news that could potentially put an end to my marriage... I was driving to an old hangout when I crashed. And when I woke up, I found myself in someone else's car... I don't know how I got there or where this Alex person is."
Darla exchanged a nervous look with Cordelia and Ethan, then focused back on Xander. "Your wife... Who is she?"
Xander swallowed nervously, then answered, "Willow... Willow Rosenberg."
For some reason, the mention of that name got Darla totally rattled. She stood and began to pace the room, then stopped and focused on Cordelia. "Either he's insane or he's one of them," Darla said. "And I don't get either impression... Plus, I don't see him and Willow having a relationship, considering the way she is now."
Xander cut in. "Someone want to tell me what's going on?!?" he asked impatiently. "Why is the prospect that I'm married to Willow so hard to fathom?"
Darla was all too ready to reply, but Ethan stopped her, silencing her with a single gesture. Taking a step closer, he asked, "Tell me about your Willow. What's she like?"
Xander lay his head against the pillow, lost in the memory of his wife. "She's sweet, modest," he answered gently. "Totally caring towards other people. In fact, she's about the most loving person I know."
Ethan paused. "Xander, I have a few more questions for you, and I want you to answer as truthfully as possible. For starters, you know who the three of us are, right?"
Xander nodded. "Darla is a vicious vampire who I thought was dusted three years back. No offense," he said, the last comment directed to the blonde vampiress. "Cordelia is a newly made vampire, who turned from being evil to being good for complicated reasons. And you're a Black Arts practitioner who enjoys causing havoc for my friends and I."
Cordelia threw a glance at Ethan. "Could he be any further off the mark?" she asked in annoyance. "What planet is he from?"
Ethan looked back at her. "I don't think the question is what planet, but rather what dimension." Seeing Cordelia's confused expression, he added, "It would appear that our friend, Xander, here and your husband, Alex, may have switched places in each other's universes."
With that, Ethan turned back to Xander, fixing him with a serious gaze. "I'm going to be blunt. This is not your world, and we're not entirely sure what brought you here or how to get you home. But, in the meantime, I will bring you up to speed." Ethan sighed deeply, then continued, pointing towards Darla. "First off, our blonde friend here is on our team. She was cursed with a conscience by a gypsy tribe nearly a century ago and turned good as a result."
Xander rolled his eyes. "I've heard that one before," he muttered under his breath.
Ethan went on as if Xander hadn't spoken. "And to understand exactly who Cordelia and I are, you would first have to become clear on what a vampire slayer is."
Xander interrupted. "I do," he said aloud. "I mean, I've known one or two where I'm from... She's the one girl in all the world who is destined to fight vampires. In fact, where is Buffy? Is she part of your gang?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow at this, clearly interested. "There is a slayer in our world, but it's not Buffy Summers. She was killed some years back by... Well, all you need to know is that Cordelia is the slayer, and I'm assigned to be her Watcher."
Xander wasn't given a chance to react to this startling tidbit, as Ethan continued on. "She met your counterpart in this world, Alex, in college, when he was engaged to Willow... Some things went awry, Willow was... was, um, killed, and Alex and Cordelia got married shortly after. He's known of her role and would often be there at her side to help her fight. Which is part of the reason she's survived as long as she has."
"What makes you think I'm Alex?" Xander asked. "Or that he and I are essentially the same person?"
Cordelia spoke up at this. "Because you look exactly like him, except that Alex is distinguishable by a scar that runs along the right side of his face. He got it on the same day we lost Willow, in a fight with a vampire known as Angelus."
"Angelus?" Xander asked in disbelief, feeling a chill. "I know him in my time... Only he was cursed instead of Darla, and he goes by the name, Angel, now."
Darla snorted. "Figures," she muttered.
Ethan shook his head. "This isn't good," he said fearfully. Turning to Xander, he added, "We'd better pray that Alex doesn't run into either Angel or Willow in your world. The results could be catastrophic."
"Why?" Xander pressed. "What could happen?"
"Alex could kill him," Darla answered. "He's been storing a lot of anger inside since Willow... Angelus was the one who murdered her, and Alex has never been able to forgive that. If he should run into Angel in your time... Well, I think you'd be without one good vampire when you returned..."
Despite himself, Xander couldn't help but laugh at Darla's use of words. "I'm sorry," he said when he saw it was agitating her. "But I can't even win a fight against Angel. Believe me, I've tried. So how do you expect Alex to?"
"Because he's not you," Cordelia answered. "Alex has a black belt in karate and served in the military for a short period of time. He knows how to handle himself quite well." Under her breath, she added, "That's what I love about him."
Xander considered this a moment, his mind reeling. "Okay, so that definitely puts Angel in jeopardy... My question is, what do we do about it?"
"We can't do anything," Darla put in. "Whatever actions Alex takes will have to be halted by the people in your world alone. We have no say in it... All we can do is to figure out how to bring him back and send you home simultaneously."
At that point, Xander and the two girls looked at Ethan, as if expecting him to automatically have the answers. But the elder man merely shook his head. "I'll have to do some research into the matter," Ethan said. "And it may take a few days before I find anything, provided there is something to find. Either way, I don't want you to get your hopes up."
Cordelia sighed, then took a step closer to Xander's bedside, taking his hand in hers lovingly. "In the meantime, you should get some sleep," she said softly. "Gather your strength... And we'll discuss this further at a later time, Xander..."
Cordelia stayed by Xander's side for a long while, until she was certain he was fully asleep. With that done, she gently eased her hand from his and went out to the living room of her loft, shutting the double sliding doors behind her.
Then, she turned to face Ethan, taking a few steps towards him. "You just love keeping the truth from everyone, don't you? You've withheld information from me, you've done it to Alex, and you're doing it now with Xander!" she said angrily.
Ethan smirked, something that never failed to infuriate her. Cordelia wondered, not for the first time, how she had wound up with this arrogant bastard for a Watcher. "Let it go, Cordy. What Xander doesn't know won't kill him," he replied. "And, in light of how he feels towards Willow in his world, he doesn't need to know what really happened to her here."
"But he could find out," Cordelia fired back. "The longer he's here, the greater the chance is. So I think we should just tell him and spare him what will be an enormous shock!"
"And run the risk of Xander deciding to go after Angelus himself?" Ethan asked. "Because, odds are, that's exactly what will happen if he knows."
Cordelia sighed, rubbing at her exhausted eyes. She knew that Ethan believed his intentions were good, but this situation did not call for any secrets to be kept. With this in mind, she looked towards Darla, who stood silently in one corner of the room. "You're the tiebreaker as usual. What do you think?" Cordelia said wearily.
Darla looked up, not at all surprised that she was being dragged into this argument. Brushing back the strands of her long blonde hair, she said, "I'm going to have to go with Ethan on this. The less Xander knows, the better. You could even go one step further and make sure he does not leave this apartment even for an instant while he's here... In fact, that'd probably be best, because you and I both know what will happen if Angelus gets his hands on Xander." Darla grabbed her jacket from a nearby chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get home, before I'm missed."
Cordelia watched Darla leave, then turned back to Ethan. "Okay, I give," she said. "Doesn't mean I have to like it though." Looking back towards the closed bedroom doors, she added, "I just hope he's spared the truth about Willow..."
His slumber was fraught with a series of nightmares, making Xander doze off and on the whole night. In spite of that, he was feeling better nevertheless when he awoke at last. After a few moments of calling for Cordelia, to no avail, Xander chose to get up by himself.
He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Quickly, he placed both hands on the mattress to either side of him, feeling slightly dizzy. But once that passed, he got to his feet, starting out of the room.
The smell of waffles hit him from the moment he opened the doors, and Xander drifted towards the kitchen. Upon seeing his approach, Cordelia abandoned her post at the skillet, walking around the counter to help him to a chair. "Are you okay to walk?" she asked in worry. "I mean, you don't want to overdo it so soon after the accident."
"I'm fine," Xander assured her. "And I should know what my limitations are. I wouldn't be up and around otherwise." He looked up at her a moment, at the remnants of flour on her face and in her black hair. "Do you fuss over Alex this much?"
Cordelia paused a moment. "It's what you do when you care about someone," she replied, going back to finish with the waffles. Once they were ready, she served one to Xander. "Do you do the same for Willow?"
Xander paused a moment at the mention of his wife, winning a curious look from Cordelia. Finally, he said, "Yeah, I did a little bit. Not that it matters now. I suspect that when I get back, Willow will be asking me for an annulment."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Why would she do that? I mean, I thought... I guess I figured you wrong. I know that Alex really loved her at one point in time. I just figured, from the way you talked about her, that you felt the same way."
Xander scowled. "Yeah, well, our marriage was a mistake, something that shouldn't have happened. She and I have Angel to blame for assuring that it did." With that, Xander went on to tell her all about the vampire's deceit that had led to him placing a ring on Willow's finger.
"And it wasn't fair to either of us," Xander concluded. "That Angel felt the only way to get me out of Buffy's life was to pair me off with a girl I only viewed as a friend! I never thought he would do something that cold!"
Cordelia remained silent a moment. "I don't know how to respond to that," she said quietly. "Except, I'm sorry it had to happen that way for you... So, here's my next question. Would it really matter to you at all if Alex did kill him?"
Xander froze, for he hadn't really considered that aspect. He thought long and hard over it, then slowly nodded. "Yes, it would," he admitted. "Only because it would break Buffy's heart to lose him, and I would never wish that on her."
Cordelia hesitated, catching the hidden meaning in the words he had used. "Wait a minute. You're saying... Angel and Buffy are involved!?" she said in disbelief.
Xander managed a silly little grin, taking a bite of his waffle. "Certainly the kind of thing you wouldn't expect of a slayer and a vampire, huh? They make a pretty unusual match, I'll admit that," he replied. "But they've somehow managed to make it work. In fact, they even have a baby daughter, and they're planning to get married soon. It's that serious... Plus, ever since she became a vampire herself, it's only made things more right between them."
Noticing that Cordelia was staring at him incredulously, Xander knew they were about to have a very lengthy discussion on this subject. But, strangely, he didn't mind; he was eager to share all the differences between her world and his. After all, it would help to pass the time a little faster for a while...