"You know?" Willow looked up at her mentor, her brows crinkled. "How?"

Giles smiled softly as he remembered his visit the night before. "Jenny."

Willow looked from Giles to Cordelia and Faith who were seated at the library table, perfectly willing to let Willow do all the explaining. When she looked back up to Giles he still had that soft smile on his face and she wondered if maybe she had missed some important piece of information.

"Jenny?" She asked carefully, not wanting to upset the librarian. "Giles."

"She came to see me, last night." Giles interrupted.

"You had a dream?" Cordelia asked.

"No." Giles sighed. "It wasn't a dream. Jenny. she came to me. She told me that her peoples error had been fixed and that it was time to forget and move on."

"Error?" Faith asks, confused. Things are getting very strange. "What error?"

Giles sighed again. "Jenny was a gypsy. Her ancestors were responsible for the curse on Angel's soul." He pulls out a heavy book from the counter and lays it on the table in front of the girls. "I did some research. The spell they used, it was altered from its original form."

"The clause?" Willow asked carefully.

Giles nodded. "The alterations resulted in the clause, but also something else."

Cordelia groaned. "There's more? Does this mean that now that he's back he 's going to try and kill us all again?"

"I don't believe so." Giles turns a page in the book. "I believe that the curse was responsible for everything that happened before."

"The curse?" Faith asked disbelieveingly. "I hate to tell you this, G, but Vampires kill, that's what they do."

"Yes, but his curse, it changed him, twisted him somehow, and his. involvement with Buffy made it worse, it damaged him." He looked away from the book, his eyes staring sightlessly for a second. "But he's. better now."

"That's what Xander said." Willow agreed, not certain exactly what Giles was talking about but believing it to be the truth.

****

Angel woke up to a burning sensation. Not completely uncommon since his return from hell. But this time its different. He hadn't had one of *those* dreams in several days, and didn't remember having one now. It was something else that woke him.

The heat was coming from the body in his arms. Xander was burning up still. He could almost feel the steam rising from his skin. Angel climbed out of bed gently and went into the bathroom to get a cool cloth. Hopefully he could bring his fever down himself.

It was mid morning and there was no way he could get Xander to the hospital without turning to ash himself, and calling Xander's friends didn't seem like the best idea.

"Xander." He called softly as he placed the cool cloth on the boy's brow.

Xander stirred slightly before opening his eyes. "Angel?" He asked quietly.

"You have a fever." Angel replied to the question in the dark eyes.

"I had another dream." Xander mumbled as he tried to sit up.

Angel puzzled at the odd comment as he helped Xander up. "You should take a bath. It'll help bring your fever down."

Xander nodded and tried to get up, but his head started to swim in dizziness. Xander grinned slightly, and flopped back onto the bed, only barely aware he wasn't in the same bed he fell asleep in. "I don't think I could make it to the bathroom. I'll just rest here. It'll pass."

"I don't think so." Angel lifted Xander up and carried him into the bathroom across the hall.

The vampire set the young mortal on the toilet seat lid, and turned around to start the water in the bath. He left the water on the cool side, hoping to bring the fever down.

Once the tub was filled he turned around and pulled the mortal to his feet, divesting him of his remaining clothes, then moving him over to the tub, lifting him up and into the water.

Xander seemed only vaguely aware of the change in scenery as he sunk into the back of the bathtub, his eyes closed. The cool water felt like heaven on his heated skin. He could feel the vampire gently bathing him and he sighed in pleasure. His energy was returning, but he was still a bit weak.

After several minutes of silence, Xander opened his eyes. Angel was still gently washing him, but he had this odd expression on his face. When their eyes locked, Angel spoke quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"About what?" Xander was confused.

"The dreams. They're not dreams are they?" Angel rung the washcloth out and stood up to get a towel.

Xander sighed and sat up a bit. "Not exactly. More like. memories."

Angel took a deep unnecessary breath and concentrating on getting Xander out of the bath and dried before he even attempted to comment.

Once Xander was dressed in a comfortable pair of oversized sweats and sitting uncomfortably across from Angel in the living room he hazarded a look at the vampire. He knew this conversation was something that needed to happen, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

"How long?" Angel finally asked.

"I don't know. Weeks, maybe months. It all seems to blend together." He stopped and looked into Angel's eyes and suddenly knew now was the time to come clean, completely. Whatever was between them couldn't happen if he kept secrets.

"Before. when you were. not yourself. I kept having these dreams. I'm not really sure what they were about exactly. I can't remember the specifics, just that when I woke up I knew things I shouldn't."

"Like?" Angel prompted when it looked like Xander had stopped speaking.

"Like. that thing at the mansion. with Acathla. Willow was going to try the spell again. I was supposed to go tell Buffy about it, but I knew that I couldn't. Not because of what everyone thought afterwards." Xander looked into Angel's eyes, his own pleading for understanding. "It wasn't because I was jealous, or I hated you, or any other reason. I just *knew* that what was going to happen there, had to happen. It was supposed to happen." He paused and took a deep, shaky breath. "But, Angel, I didn't know about Hell, or what would happen to you. If I had, I."

"It's okay." Angel spoke softly, moving forward and pulling Xander closer. "You were right. I had to. go through that."

Xander nodded, knowing it was true. "Still, it. hurt." His voice sounded pained on the last word.

"How much have you seen. experienced?" Angel's words were soft, almost a purr as he enfolded Xander into his arms.

"All of it." Xander choked out. "Everything. I don't remember everything, but sometimes it comes back to me in these dreams. I can see it, feel it. it's almost as if I'm there." He trailed off, shuddering slightly.

"But, it's just a dream." Angel spoke more certainly that he felt. "Isn't it?"

"I. I don't know. I think so. But the things that happened to you there. I can still feel them, inside my skin, like they happened to me, but there isn't any scars, or. anything."

"There wouldn't be." Angel tried to speak clearly, his own horror at what Xander was saying, locked deep inside him. "If your. connected. to me, then there wouldn't be anything." He trailed off, not knowing how to explain it.

"Because you're a vampire." Xander stated, suddenly certain that that was the answer, although he wasn't sure how he knew.

Angel nodded and Xander could feel it against his back. "Was that the first one?" Angel asked after several silent minutes.

"First what?" Xander questioned, his brain was turning to sludge, his memories of the past few months swirling together.

"The first dream. was Acathla the first one?"

Xander started to nod but then stopped, a sudden memory coming forth. "No, it wasn't." He said, almost surprising himself with the words. "There was another one."

"When?" Angel asked, his voice soft against Xander's ear.

"The night before." Xander gulped and looked towards the window leading to the garden, his mind remember the dream clearly now. "The night before Buffy's birthday party."

They both sat in silence. Finally, Angel spoke. "What was it about?"

"It was weird. Jenny was there. and Drusilla. They were trying to tell me something, but I can't' remember what now. At the time, it seemed like gibberish, another language. Then there were all these flashes. Weird things. Werewolves and weird fish creatures, and me being chased by a horde of angry women, and death. Lots and lots of death. Then nothing until the fire. Then it was gone. It was over." Xander took another deep breath before continuing. "I couldn't go back to sleep for awhile after that. But when I did, I didn't dream again, that I remember, and when I woke up, it was only with a vague memory of having a nightmare, but not what it was about."

Angel sat absorbing this latest revelation, realizing the dream for what it was. Some sort of prophetic warning, which either was meant to alert to the coming troubles, or was supposed to help prevent the tragedies from occurring. Considering the sudden knowledge that everything had happened the way it was supposed to, and for a reason, the vampire had to believe it was the former.

"What do we do now?" Xander asked quietly, his own mind numb with the realities of what he had just revealed.

"About what?" Angel wasn't sure what the mortal was referring to.

"This thing. your coming back. the others. us. Whatever." Xander shuddered slightly, now chilled. His body's reaction to the recurring dreams was over now, and the night's chill combined with the cool body behind him was causing him to shiver, not to mention the odd subject matter.

"I don't know." The vampire let Xander go gently and moved out from behind him. He left the room for a second and came back with a thick blanket. After wrapping it around Xander, he resumed his position behind him and enfolded him back in his arms.

"I think I have to leave. Sunnydale. My place. isn't here, not anymore."

Xander agreed with this assessment. His weird unexplained knowledge told him the same thing. "When?"

"I don't know. Soon." Angel paused, shoring up courage to ask the next question. "Will you come with me?"

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