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About two hours out on the open road, Xander broke the
silence, "Wes?"
Wesley glanced over at Xander and lifted an eyebrow.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Xander said sheepishly,
while stroking the egg under the wet towels.
"For what?" Wesley asked, a little coldly.
"For treating you bad, Wes, I never gave you a chance and I
was awful to you. I don't have any excuses, I was a jerk." Xander
finished quietly.
Wesley continued driving, with no expression. Xander looked up
from his egg, then asked, "Wes?"
"Do go on, I'll stop you when I disagree with something you've
said." Wesley said primly.
Xander stared in shock. Then he turned his gaze back onto his
egg, and continued to stroke while thinking.
[Why should he forgive me?] Xander thought to himself. He
couldn't think of one good reason. He had given Wesley no reason
to ever do anything for him, and yet here he was.
"If I promise to act better, would you think about giving me
another chance to be your friend?" Xander asked hesitantly.
"I have no reason to trust in your promises. But be that as it
may, I will offer this in return. You treat me with respect and I
will do the same for you. If we can manage civility, then perhaps
one day, we can attempt friendship." Wesley said very
seriously.
Xander thought about Wesley's offer and was about to accept
when something occurred to him.
"Wesley?"
"Yes?"
"I know it sounds a little weird but, I'm not sure I know how
to be civil. I mean, I know what I think of as civil, but I don't
think it's the same thing that you think of as civil. Do you know
what I mean?" Xander babbled to a halt.
"Strangely enough, I believe I do. Very well, if you will try
to be civil, I will understand if you slip up, but be aware that
I will bring such occasions to your attention, privately of
course, and if I find that you are not sincerely trying, the deal
is off." Wesley said with steel in his voice.
Xander thought about it, bargaining for the possibility of
future friendship. Then it occurred to him that Wesley had
already given him what he wanted, in his own way he had said that
they could possibly be friends. Now he just had to prove to
Wesley that he was serious about wanting him as a friend.
Realizing that, he smiled, "Thank you Wesley, thank you for the
offer and thank you for coming to get me from New Mexico."
"You're very welcome Alexander." Wesley said formally.
Xander flinched at the use of his formal name but decided that
he could live with it from Wesley.
Another hour of silence passed before Wesley spoke,
"Alexander, do you have any idea what made you able to
conceive?"
Xander thought only a moment before answering, "I was on the
swim team in high school. The coach added something to the steam
in the steam room to change us. The guys that were on the swim
team longest, changed into monsters, they looked like the
creature from the black lagoon. When we discovered what he did,
the rest of us were taken to the hospital and given transfusions
to remove the poison from our systems. But the stuff was in the
steam, so it saturated our skins and we breathed it in. Ever
since I left the hospital, I haven't been able to go more than
half a day without getting wet or I feel bad. If I go a full day,
I get sick. And seeing as I've laid an egg, I think I was changed
into a sort of amphibian or reptile."
Wesley thought about what Xander had said for a moment, then
said, "So that's why you made a point of taking a shower before
we left the motel room?"
"Yes, and if we are going to drive straight through it could
be a problem. I mean it won't do any serious damage, but I'll be
sick for a few days after we get to L.A." Xander said
apologetically.
"We can stop later tonight. I'll call Angel when we do to let
him know what's going on." Wesley said evenly.
Xander opened another bottle of water and began to wet the
towels around the egg.
"Why do you feel it is necessary to keep the egg moist?"
Wesley asked with honest curiosity.
"It just seems to be the right thing to do. I suppose I'm
following my instinct, besides, when I have let the egg dry out a
little, it becomes agitated." Xander replied.
"Do you have any other left-over effects from your
adventures?" Wesley asked.
Xander thought, then began, "Well, I do heal a lot faster and
better than most people. I mean, about 2 months ago, I lost an
eye, it was completely gouged out. It grew back. I stopped
wearing the eye-patch when I left the others and got the motel
room. I think that's part of the seamonster steam thing. I mean,
you know that you can cut the tail off some lizards and it'll
grow back? Oh yeah, I can see in almost complete dark and smell
things better than most people can. I think that's from the hyena
possession."
Xander stopped for just a second then continued.
"When Ethan Rayne did a spell on Halloween that made everyone
become what they dressed up as, I was dressed as a soldier. So I
have this guy's memories, his name was Sergeant Christian Allen
Milford. He was a munitions expert..."
"Does Mr. Giles know about all this?" Wesley asked in
disbelief.
"Oh no, I've never told anyone. Giles knows that I remember
the soldier stuff and the hyena possession but he doesn't know
that I have her senses or can hear her in the back of my mind."
Xander said simply.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Wesley asked, concerned.
"He didn't seem to want to know. I mean, he knew that I
remembered the hyena possession but never asked me anymore about
it, and he knew that I remembered the soldier, but never asked
how much I knew about him, never even asked his name." Xander
answered.
"So is that everything?" Wesley asked, a little concerned.
"Oh no, there's more. When I was split into two people, Willow
broke the spell by saying something like 'undo the spell'. I
became one person, physically, but there are two of me in here.
But it's really okay. The shy, quiet me likes to stay in the
background and he just takes over when I'm bored. He likes to
read and watch discovery channel. This me, the one who's talking
to you is the one out front most times." Xander said freely.
"Why didn't you tell Mr. Giles and Ms. Rosenberg that you
weren't reintegrated?" Wesley asked, disbelieving.
"Well I, er we, discussed it and decided that we both want to
live. I mean, when the demon split us into two people, it made us
individuals. We LIKE being individuals, we like BEING. We both
have life and enjoy different things. So whenever I get the
chance to do something one of me likes to do, that one takes over
and does it. We get along and are both fully aware, so it's not
like some Cybil thing happening. I mean, technically I DO have
multiple personalities but they were formed when I was two
separate people so I figure it's okay." Xander answered, starting
to get a little nervous.
"Then that's the lot?" Wesley asked with wide eyes, glancing
at Xander.
Xander shyly looked at Wesley and shook his head.
"I was also infected with every disease that the white men
introduced to the Chumash tribe indigenous to Sunnydale. Since
then, I haven't had any disease. And when I was in the thrall of
Dracula, I... well, that's more of a preference than an
ability..." Xander trailed off.
Wesley focused back on his driving, and began to process the
information. He had the strangest feeling that these weren't all
Xander's abilities.
Xander was feeling like he may have said too much, and now
Wesley would think he was too strange to be his friend. So he
thought, [time to try out this civility thing and see how it
works.]
"So, do you think I'm a freak?" Xander asked Wesley
quietly.
"No Alexander, I do not." Wesley answered immediately.
Xander just nodded his head and began stroking the egg
again.
"Alexander, I must say that I am surprised that you shared all
that with me. May I ask why?" Wesley asked quietly.
"Short answer... you asked, no one ever did before. Long
answer... I trust you Wesley, I mean... I never took the time to
get to know you and I wasn't nice to you but I've always trusted
you. From the little that we worked together I saw enough to know
that you do what you believe is right and you are loyal. You may
have noticed that I trust my instincts, and my instincts say that
you are someone that I can depend on."
Once again they fell into silence. As the road and the time
passed them by, they were both considering the things that had
been said.
After a while, Wesley inquired, "Alexander, may I ask you a
somewhat personal question?"
"Of course Wesley, but I might choose not to answer." Xander
responded in his most polite manor.
"I was curious about the baby's other parent, simply for the
sake of determining what your baby's genetic make up is. Was he
human?" Wesley asked, trying not to offend.
Xander gave a gentle smile, "Don't worry Wesley, I'm not
sensitive about my baby's other father. It was Spike."
Wesley was shocked. The baby's other father was William the
Bloody, the Childe of Angelus. Then he began to look at all the
pieces that went into the making of this baby. So on top of all
of Alexander's physical alterations, possessions, and magics that
went into making this baby, the other father was a master
vampire, which makes the baby a natural being fathered by an
unnatural creature. That means that human or demon influences
could come from that side of the baby's makeup. [There bloody
well has to be a prophecy about this child.] Wesley thought as he
tried to focus back on his driving.
The mention of Spike seemed to have effectively killed the
conversation. So the two stayed mostly silent for the rest of the
evening, and late into the evening, they stopped at a motel to
rest for the night.