Disclaimer: I own no one, most especially the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them and putting them through the proverbial blender I call story.
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December 9, 2000
"Giles, do something...I can't be quarantined! I'm the Slayer!" Buffy was pacing as much as was possible in the small room. She was growing impatient with her Watcher's casual acceptance of their fate.
"What would you suggest I do, Buffy? I can't exactly say we should be able to potentially spread the plague about Sunnydale because you have a sacred duty to protect the world from evil. We'll end up quarantined in the psych ward." Buffy turned away, looking helpless. She really wanted to hit something, but she knew that would just make matters worse. Where were the vampires when you really needed them?
"Just once I'd like this job to come with some privileges. Or even a. A privilege."
Immediately after being informed of Xander’s condition they had been hustled into a room off of the main waiting area. That had been over an hour ago, and no one had bothered to tell them a thing since. Buffy could see Ben through the small pane of glass on the door; he was talking with a gaggle of other doctors and two nurses in the corridor. All of them were busily donning protective gear that made them look like astronauts. Giles couldn’t help but notice that many of them kept glancing nervously at the room that held the small group of Scoobies. Anya grabbed hold of Giles' hand, startling him. Seeing the extreme fright in her eyes, he simply patted her hand soothingly without saying anything. She closed her eyes, a fresh round of tears beginning to flow.
"Whatever Xander's got, it's so not good," Tara murmured to Willow. Willow nodded, still teary herself.
"Poor Xander...he hates being sick...and what if they can't help him? I don't think they think they can."
"Why do you say that?" Dawn whispered to Willow, her sensitive ears having picked up that last comment. Tara answered in a low voice instead, tilting her head towards the door. Beyond Ben and his group they could see passing hospital workers, all of whom were making furtive glances into the room as they were practically running to get away from it. Tara gestured at the doctors and nurses that were now clothed like the cast from Outbreak.
"Look at them. They're scared of us. I think they're scared of getting whatever it is." Dawn and Willow both looked at the medical personnel that were eyeing them warily. Dawn gulped.
"I'm scared of getting whatever it is," Dawn said in a small voice. They all instinctively formed a tight circle around her as the doctors entered the room and approached.
"I know, Dawnie...it's gonna be okay," Tara soothed, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders. Buffy drew closer to her sister's side.
"Don't worry, we're gonna get out of this." Dawn tried to smile and settled for a quick nod instead. A doctor they did not know began to speak.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Gray. I'm sorry for the inconvenience here, folks, but we're gonna need to take blood samples and check some vitals. These nice ladies are going to do the honors, if you would come right this way..." Buffy searched the group for Ben, she trusted him more than this strange doctor. With them wearing all that protective gear it was hard to tell, but she couldn't...she frowned.
"Ben? Where is Ben?" she asked. The doctors and nurses looked at each other, then the doctor who had been speaking snorted in annoyance.
"Not again. This has got to stop. And to do it now...he knows better than to...did anyone see where Ben went?" Everyone either shrugged or shook their heads, a comical effect in the bulky suits. "I'll deal with this later...right now let's get those blood samples and examinations done...then we'll get you all settled."
"H-how's Xander?" Anya asked, her voice still hitching with sobs. The doctor looked at her sympathetically.
"I'm very sorry. We‘re doing everything we know how, but...I’m afraid he's getting worse."
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June 19, 2011
Xander felt like he couldn't breathe. The children were gone.
Check that. His children were gone. Okay, they belonged to a version of himself that he hadn't gotten around to being yet, and he still couldn't get his brain around having had a kid with Cordelia Chase, but still...they were his kids. And they were the children of the women he cared most about in his life: Anya, Buffy, Willow, Tara...even Cordy. His eyes frantically searched the foyer for some kind of sign, some clue, anything...
"Xander?" He looked up at Angel, someone he had never expected to see in sunlight, even the rapidly fading kind that was filtering through the windows now.
"So it's true about you, and the being human thing. Okay, Live Guy, where are they?"
"Xander Harris?"
"Okay, Live and Not Funny Guy. We don't have time for...time...this has something to do with that time travel thing, I know it. Hey, I need the smart people in here! Where is everybody?"
"Has Buffy seen you?" Angel asked urgently.
"Yes, she's seen me, she brought me here, we came to check on the k-" Xander was silenced by Angel's unexpected punch to his jaw. From his new vantage point on the ground, he stared up at the former vampire. His gaping mouth had a small trickle of blood in the corner. He brushed at it and looked at the redness on his fingers, then back at Angel in amazement. Angel was shaking in fury.
"You bastard. Where have you been for the past ten years?" Xander just stared. There was really only one way he could respond.
"Huh?"
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December 9, 2000
"Oh, Magnificent One! Excellent news!"
Glory sighed. She was bewildered, and she hated that feeling. She never used to have problems like confusion; it was one more nasty side effect of this grotesque human imprisonment. She glared at the bumpy minion with enough irritation to bring him screeching to a less than certain halt.
"Tell me something. What is up with Ben?" She held out the protective suit like it was a used towel. "His taste in clothes has always been pretty rotten, but this is just...ugh!" She flung the discarded garment at Murk's head, causing him to have to scramble backwards. She eyed him impatiently. "So. News? It’d better be about my Key."
"Yes...it is, Your Highly Fashionableness...in a way."
"In a way?" Glory's tone made is clear that she was displeased with the qualifier.
"Why, yes, oh Most Splendid and Well-Shaped One, it is news of the Slayer. She has been quarantined." Glory ran her fingers through her blonde hair. Why could these minions never just come out and explain themselves?
"What are you saying? The Slayer's sick?"
"Well, she did not appear to be...but apparently one of her companions has been struck ill with some strange human affliction. Quite probably fatal."
"And they think it's catching, right?" Murk smiled widely. Oh, he had definitely outdone himself, the goddess appeared well pleased.
"Most certainly, oh Brilliant and Wondrous One." The smile on Glory’s face vanished, being instantly replaced by a glower of anger. Murk jumped.
"And Ben works at the hospital."
"Well..."
"And he could catch this strange human affliction, and get all dead, and take me there with him, you moron! Hello? Then it won't really matter if I find the Key. No wonder he was dressed like a beekeeper!" The last comment was more to herself, as she felt the pleasure of solving the mystery. Almost as good as a real brain-suck, the relief of losing that confusion.
"You are correct as always, Most Generous and Splendid Glorificus." Murk hung his head. This hadn't gone at all the way he had thought it would. Glory had begun to pace languidly, lost in thought. She stopped and suddenly turned to Murk.
"We have to save that stupid boy from himself." The minion brightened. This was an opportunity to redeem the situation.
"We will save Ben, Your Most Excellent Succulentness. No harm shall come to he who houses Your Indescribableness. Indeed we must...we will...err, what would you have us do?" Glory approached the minion with exaggerated patience. She grabbed him by the ear.
"Get the Slayer's friend. The one who's all dying. You're gonna get rid of him.” To Murk’s relief she released him and turned away, enjoying what she saw as the benefits of this new situation. “Problem solved, Slayer still out of commission...and then you'll find my Key, won't you?" Murk nodded happily. She tilted her head at him in exasperation.
"Now!" Murk scurried off to collect Jinx and Dreg. He would need help to carry out Glory's wishes, but when the time came he would make certain she remembered who had served her the most faithfully.
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June 19, 2011
"Oh my God!" Buffy and Willow cried out in unison as they saw the infuriated ex-vampire standing over their friend. Giles and Lili trailed in behind them, and also stood speechless.
"Okay, Buffy, I don't mean to quibble, but when you were telling me about Angel and his shiatsu, you could have mentioned that it made him INSANE. I'm just saying..."
"Oh my God!" Buffy repeated, tears springing to her eyes. Xander scrambled to his feet quickly, still upset but knowing he needed to put his feelings aside. Buffy was staring at him with devastation in her eyes. Willow just gave a soft whimper. He approached them, trying to quell the panic he knew they were feeling over the missing children.
"It’s gonna be okay, Buff, really. I‘m fine. I was just trying to find out what the Prince of Darkness here knows about our-oooof!" Xander found himself flying across the room. He made a less than graceful landing on a small sofa and lay sprawled across it, trying to get his breath back. Xander's mind was reeling. He had just been hit with the strength of a Slayer and the blow had come from- "Buffy?"
"You bastard. How could you do this to your friends? You vanish for ten years, let us think you're dead, and the whole time you're...what? Where have you been?" Buffy was practically screaming. Angel had put his arm around her and was still giving him that deadly stare. A low moan was the only warning before Willow collapsed in a faint. Giles only just managed to catch her in time. Lili was staring at him like he was a stranger, which was almost laughable irony. Realization hit him like another blow to the stomach.
"Oh God, the kids...the kids are gone because they were never here, because it's all been changed...I guess something must have happened to me. Not to me me, to the Xander that is me here now, but the me that you know, only you don't know that Xander any more, because...help?" Xander's last word came out as a whispered plea.
The unlikely answer to his prayers came walking in with an armload of groceries a second later. Spike studied the strange tableau before him for a long moment, then shook his head.
"Alright, I give up. What's this, then? And where the bloody hell are the children?"
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