Title: Who's Your Daddy

Author: Jeanny

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Season 5 Through Blood Ties.

Feedback: Please. jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Distribution: I don't mind, just credit me and let me know where it's going.

Summary: Xander has an accident and winds up in a very different place.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, especially the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them for the pure pleasure of messing with their lives.

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"Don't go to work today," Anya stretched languidly and gave her boyfriend her most seductive pose. The fact that she was wearing nothing but a bed sheet made it quite effective in the seduction department, she could tell by the look he was giving her as he slipped into his work boots. "Stay here with me, and we'll never leave this bed."

"Ahn, we've been through this. Work means money, and money means all those things that you like so much. I'm glad Giles gave you the day off. Enjoy it. Meet the other girls for lunch or something. I've got this job I've got to finish, and I've missed too much work as it is."

"But you only just got the cast off your arm. You're still delicate. You really shouldn't push yourself." Xander hesitated and went to pull his girlfriend into his arms. There was a touch of panic in her voice that he found alarming.

"What's going on with you honey? You sound scared." Anya hung her head.

"I had a nightmare about you last night. You were standing on the construction site, and all of a sudden..." Anya's voice choked as she trembled with remembered fear, and Xander rubbed her back soothingly. "All of a sudden there were hundreds of bunnies and they trampled you. I couldn't see you anymore, only the bunnies. It was horrible."

"Shhh, Anya, it was just a dream. And I know for a fact there are no bunnies at the site, so you don't have to worry." She pulled away from him, shaking her head.

"The bunnies were a warning. I used to be a vengeance demon, I know an omen when I see one. You're in danger." Xander gave a quick kiss, then glanced at his watch.

"In danger of being fired if I don't get a move on. Look, Anya, I don't know about warnings and omens, but I do know about nightmares. People have them all the time, and unless you're the Slayer, they don't really mean anything. Just too much pizza last night." Anya tried to smile, but she was clearly still shaken. Xander gave her another quick hug, then stood up. "You call Willow or Buffy and have fun with them today, okay? I'm going to be just fine, I promise." He leaned down for one more quick kiss before he hurried out the door, and in truth gave the whole conversation no further thought until he heard the foreman shout his name a few hours later.

As the beam came swinging towards him, he only had time to think, *Funny, that's not a bunny...* Then a white buzzing filled his mind and he had no need to think for a while.

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When Xander awoke, the world seemed rather blue and fuzzy. This was frightening until he realized that his head was under a blanket. He pulled it off his head and looked around. The pounding in his head was gradually fading to a dull ache, but it didn't seem like that ache had plans to be anywhere else for a while. He sighed with a mixture of resignation and puzzlement.

His surroundings seemed vaguely familiar, but at the same time he had the feeling he'd never been in this room before. It wasn't a hospital room, he was sure of that, it looked too homey. Getting up slowly, so as to not rattle his brain unnecessarily, he moved to one side of the room and opened the nearby door. Closet. Inside he saw mostly women's clothing, but found a few men's shirts and pants pushed to the side. The clothes didn't really seem like his style, mostly earth tones and grays, but the khaki shirt and pants he pulled out fit him perfectly. He turned to look across the room and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the other door. The pain in his head roared to life as he blinked in shock.

"God, I look...old! Well, not like Giles old, but still, older...is that what getting struck by a beam does to you?" He stepped close to the mirror, examining the small wrinkles around his eyes and mouth and the little gray streaks along his temples. Shaking his head, he pulled on a pair of tennis shoes he had found by the bed and, after staring at himself in the mirror for a moment longer, opened the door and walked out of the room. Something very strange was going on, and he meant to find out what it was.

The house was beautiful, filled with well done woodwork. Xander hadn't been doing carpentry for very long, but he knew how to tell when a master craftsman had been at work. If he wasn't feeling like he's fallen down a rabbit hole, he would have enjoyed just walking around and looking at it, but right now he needed to find Anya or Buffy. Someone had to know what was going on. Maybe Giles.

He walked out the front door and was relieved to note that he was still in Sunnydale, at least. He immediately recognized the street he was on. A few blocks down and to the right and he'd be at his parent's house. He turned and headed in the opposite direction, towards town and eventually Giles' apartment. It was sunny and warm and it felt good to walk, the pain in his head fading again to a dull throb he could almost ignore. The sound of familiar laughter carried on the breeze brought him to a sudden screeching halt.

"Anya..." he said softly, and looked around. He heard women's voices and children's laughter coming from behind some hedges. He remembered that there was a playground nearby and quickly headed down the path and towards the hedges. He ran around them and stopped short, his jaw dropping open. Anya was sitting on a bench at the edge of the playground with Buffy, Willow, Tara, and a blonde Cordelia that he'd stared at for more than a minute before he'd recognized. They were surrounded by strollers and various toys, watching a group of happily playing children. The oldest, a strangely familiar dark-haired boy, looked to be about seven or eight; the youngest, an infant in Buffy's arms seemed to be newly born, maybe a month old. He counted nine children in all. Anya looked up and saw him, and gave him a smile and a wave. He had to smile back, loving the way the sun glinted off of her hair. She looked exactly as beautiful as she had that morning. For a moment Xander forgot about the accident and all the strangeness he had experienced since awakening. That moment was shattered when the dark haired boy also caught sight of him and with a happy cry ran towards him, followed closely by six of his playmates. They were all shouting joyously, and Xander felt his knees grow weak.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" they cried nearly in unison, and as they reached him looked up at him expectantly. There was only one thing to do, really.

Xander fainted.

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