October 2000

Malcom stood in the deep shadows of the small apartment bedroom and 
scowled at the couple sleeping peacefully. His beloved, his eternal 
delight, his other half... was *mortal*. How he longed to just appear 
before his beautiful Anya and grant her greatest wish. To become a 
demon again.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. 

He *was* a Vengeance Demon, her counterpoint, in fact. Where Anya had 
been the Patron Saint of Scorned Women, Malcom was the Patron Saint 
of Wronged Men. He could grant any wish under the sun or moon... as 
long as it was asked by a male.

However, he wasn't going to let that stop him. He wanted his beloved 
back and he had a plan on how to do that. 

The mortal, Alexander Harris, was a key element of that plan.

The young man liked his Anya a lot, even if he didn't truly love her. 
He had taken her in hand and offered her friendship and protection, 
at first out of a sense of guilt, but then later, because he really 
had grown to care for her. In return, she helped him guard a secret 
he shouldn't ever have been made to carry.

Yes, Malcom knew what he had to do. First he would go into the past. 
Find the younger version of this Xander and then find a way to grant 
him *his* greatest wish. The world would then change enough that Anya 
would *never* feel the need to come to Sunnydale and help out 
Cordelia Chase. Thus, she'd never become mortal and be forced to 
leave his side.

Grinning wickedly, Malcom vanished without a sound.

*******

May 1996

Moving slowly so as not to awaken his father, *or* to jar his new
assortment of bruises, Xander tip-toed across his bedroom and over to 
the window. He had long since removed the screen and oiled the 
tracks. With the lightest of tugs, the window slid up enough for him 
to crawl out and onto the slight slope of the porch roof. Walking 
slowly and carefully over to the other end, Xander gave a small leap 
and grabbed onto the overhanging tree branch. Making his way along it 
with a few often practiced hand-beyond-hand reach-and-grab moves, 
Xander soon found himself in the old maple tree. A shimmy and a 
slide, then his feet were on the ground. He dashed quickly over to 
the overgrown bush at the end of his property and darted around to 
the back.

There they stood. His oldest friend in the world, Jesse. And his 
newest friend in the world, Malcom.

Moving silently and staying to the shadows, the three young boys ran 
off into the night towards the thin strip of woods at the far border 
of the neighborhood. They had a tree house there. A secret place 
that, until tonight, only he and Jesse had known about. Tonight, they 
were bringing in Malcom. A boy who had just as shitty a life as they 
did. 

The fastest route had been long since memorized and it only took them 
about fifteen minutes to get to their tree and then up inside the 
rickety wooden shack suspended in it's thick limbs.

Once inside, Jesse pulled out his cigarettes and his bic lighter. He 
lit the two scented candles they kept in the tree house for their 
middle of the night rendezvous and then he lit three of his smokes 
and then passed one each to Xander and Malcom. His sweet face softly 
glowing from the dim flickering light of the candles, Jesse turned to 
face Xander and raised up one eyebrow in a silent question. 

With a mischievous grin and a noticeable wince of pain, Xander reached
behind him and pulled a small, flatish bottle out that had been neatly
tucked in the back waistband of his jeans. Holding it up for 
inspection by the other boys, Xander jiggled the unopened bottle of 
Jim Beam that he had filched from the old man's liquor cabinet. 

Breaking open the seal, Xander removed the cap, took a swallow of the 
fiery liquid and then gasped for breath. The other two giggled at the 
expression of choking horror on his face and then Jesse grabbed the 
bottle and took a swallow for himself. He also nearly gagged at the 
strong whiskey as it burned a line down his tender throat. He then 
passed it to Malcom who took it but didn't drink.

"Do you two do this *every* Friday night when you meet here? I mean 
the smoking and the drinking."

Xander offered up a slight giggle.

"Well, *Jesse* smokes *all* the time as you know... *I* only smoke 
when I'm drinking. And yeah... every Friday we meet here and drink it 
up. Have been for the past two years now. Ever since Jesse turned 
twelve."

Jesse nodded his head in agreement and took a quick drag off of his
cigarette before making a 'drink up' gesture. Malcom did take a 
swallow, a *small* swallow, and he also gasped for breath at the hard 
taste. With a laugh, Xander snagged the bottle from his new friend's 
hand before he could drop it. 

"Don't worry. After the first sip or two, it starts to go down a lot
easier. Honest."

As if to prove his point, Xander took another swallow. This time, he 
only hissed in response to the burning liquid. Exchanging meaningful 
looks with Jesse which was followed by a swift nod and a grab for the 
bottle by the slighter boy, Xander turned a faintly serious 
expression towards Malcom.

"Yeah, see... The first night we came here and got blitzed off of 
stolen hooch was the first Friday after Jesse's twelfth birthday. 
See, Jesse's old man got arrested for Jesse's birthday for grand 
theft auto and assault with a deadly weapon when he pistol whipped 
some guy for his car."

Jesse handed the now half empty bottle over to Malcom again.

"That was the best damn birthday present I've *ever* gotten. Too bad
*your* old man can't get you the same gift, eh Xan?"

Malcom took another sip of the whiskey and gasped for air while 
Xander just frowned deeply and shared a high-five of agreement with 
Jesse. Malcom flashed Xander an odd look and then handed the bottle 
over to the dark haired teenager.

"So... what's up with *your* dad? I mean... what's he do to you?"

Xander grimaced and took a *big* gulp of the alcohol. He didn't even 
flinch at it's burn.

"The question is more like... what *doesn't* he do?"

Malcom raised up an eyebrow and Jesse lit another smoke before 
snubbing out his old one. He turned a serious expression to Malcom 
that was far too old for any fourteen year old to wear.

"Look Malcom. If we tell you... you *gotta* swear to secrecy. Okay? 
And you can't... freak out. At all. Got it?"

Malcom nodded. Xander took another swallow and didn't offer the bottle
around anymore. His expression had gone perfectly blank, as if he was
trying to mentally distance himself from the topic at hand. His own 
life. It was Jesse who spoke instead.

"See... Xan's folks are... well, they're drunks and Xan says they do 
drugs too, but *I've* never seen it. But that don't mean shit, they 
could hide it from me easily. And Xan's dad, he's always been pretty 
free with his fists, but ever since..."

Jesse trailed off and glanced over at the dark haired boy. Xander 
gave him an almost non-existent nod and then Jesse continued.

"Well, ever since Mr. Harris found out about Xan and me... Fuck it! He
caught us fooling around and shit. Ya know, having sex! *Together*. 
Well... he's taken to stomping on Xan's ribs on a *real* regular 
basis. Says he's trying to kick the pansy out of him."

Malcom blinked and was quiet for a moment. Then he turned and looked 
up at the two young boys, an odd gleam in his eyes.

"That really sucks man. I mean, the guy *could* have found a non-
violent way to deal with the whole situation. He doesn't have to, ya 
know, *beat* you or anything."

Xander nodded silently and took another swallow. He closed his eyes 
against a wave of dizziness and then passed the almost empty bottle 
to Jesse who quickly finished it off. That was when Malcom spoke 
again, his voice cutting through Xander's drunken mind and grabbing 
his attention.

"Did you ever just wish things were different? I mean, if you could 
have one wish to change something about your life, what would it be?"

Without even hesitating and thinking about his answer, Xander opened 
his eyes and looked over at his new friend.

"Me? *I* wish that my parents hadn't raised me. I wish that they had 
put me up for adoption or something so that I could have had a *real* 
family. Not this... fucked up life I'm trapped in. *That's* what I 
wish."

Xander watched in drunken amazement as Malcom's soft features twisted 
and became wrinkled and withered. His eyes glowed and he seemed to 
become something out of a nightmare. Then he spoke a single word in a 
voice that reminded Xander of the time he'd run his fingernails down 
the blackboard at school.

"Done."

There was a bright flash of light and Malcom disappeared. Then, with 
too much alcohol running through his system, Xander passed out.

*******

September 1996

"Alex! Wake up already! Mom is going to be *so* mad. This is the 
second time I've come in here and you're *still* in bed."

Xander opened his eyes and looked into the face of an annoyed blonde 
girl with beautiful eyes. She seemed *very* familiar, but he couldn't 
recall her name. He looked around and wondered where his boyfriend 
was. Je... J... *something*. Little by little the details faded and 
he looked around his room again. Things began to click into place and 
memory rushed in again.

A dream. It had all been a bad bad dream. Alex remembered how he had 
felt for the cute younger boy. Well... not *all* of it had been bad.

He turned a sleepy eye up to his sister and waved her over to sit on 
the edge of his bed.

"Buffy, come over here. I *gotta* tell you about my dream before it 
slips away."

Her eyes suddenly sparkling, Buffy bounced over and plopped on the 
end of his bed by his feet, curling her legs up under her. He was 
just about to tell her about the cute boy and the tree house by 
candlelight when a young girl in a Blessed Mother Elementary School 
uniform peeked her head into the room. Alex and Buffy both grabbed a 
pillow and tossed them at her.

"Go away Dawn. This is *teenager* stuff. You're too young. Go finish
getting ready for school. *We* still gotta pack for the move."

The young girl turned away and ran down the hall, her teary cry of
"Moooommmm" ringing in the air.

His sister Buffy turned her full attention back to him with a wicked 
smile on her face.

"Okay Alex. I'll make ya a deal. You tell me about the cute boy *you*
dreamed about and I'll tell you about the cute boy *I* dreamed about."

Alex mirrored her grin.

"Deal. Besides, who knows, maybe these mystery dream guys are just 
waiting for us to move to Sunnydale and save them from their boring 
lonely lives. Right?"

********

October 2000

There was a huge flash of blinding light and then Alex felt as if he 
was being ripped into a thousands pieces. Something horrible was going
wrong with the spell. It *had* to be the work of Red Queen. Only 
*she* was strong enough in magic to disrupt a spell that he and his 
step-dad were working. He groaned at the pain and felt a rush of 
panic when he couldn't even hear his own voice. Then there was a 
sudden bone-jarring lurch and Alex felt himself laying on a cold 
linoleum floor. 

Opening his eyes he saw that he was still in his step-dad's Magic 
Shop and that his sister was hovering over him with a concerned look 
in her eyes. There seemed to be a few people gathered here, but he 
ignored them. Focusing his blurred vision on Buffy, he reached up and 
grabbed for one of her hands.

"Help... up... please..."

Part Two  

The wind had been knocked out of him hard and it wasn't easy to 
squeeze those words out. Instantly, his sister easily, but gently 
helped him back up to his feet. He leaned on her, confident in her 
superior strength to support his wobbly knees while he tried to 
quickly gather his wits. After a few deep breaths, he felt much 
better and he glanced up at her with a rueful grin.

"Thanks Sis... don't know what happened. Kinda hurt though."

Alex blinked in mild surprise. He reached out and gently lifted a 
lock of her soft golden hair confused.

"You cut it. *Short*. When did you do that? And why? I thought Riley 
liked it long?"

His sister just stared at him as if he'd said something strange and he
wasn't sure *what* it was, but he didn't give her a chance to answer. 
He had spotted someone he hadn't even been aware had come into the 
shop and was walking over to him.

Reaching out to run a gentle hand through the icy blonde hair, Alex 
grinned wickedly.

"What? Did you and Sis do each other's hair? Doesn't matter. I'm just 
glad you went back to blonde. *Much* better this way. Definitely 
yummy."

That said, Alex grabbed the collar of Spike's leather duster and 
pulled the vampire in for a deep possessive kiss. His love stiffened 
in shock for a moment and Alex wondered when the normally 
exhibitionist vampire had gotten shy, but then Spike melted into the 
kiss and opened up for his tongue.

He was just getting ready to pull his lover into the back room for a 
little quick fun when the shocked voices of the people in the shop, 
his sister in particular, caught his attention. He broke off the kiss 
with a gasp and looked over his shoulder at her in confusion.

"Buf? Who's this *Xander* you keep yelling about? He a new Vamp in 
town or something?"

Suddenly, the room fell silent and everyone was staring at him as if 
he was a wack-o from mars. Just then his step-dad walked in and Alex 
sighed in relief. If *anyone* could figure out this confusion, *he* 
could.

"Yo! G-man!"

He got glared at.

"I've *asked* you not to call me that."

Alex grinned mischievously and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry Pop. Won't happen again. So... who's this Xander guy that has 
Sis all freaked? He a Demon? A vampire? What?"

His step-dad came to a stuttering halt and seemed at a loss for 
words. Alex wondered what the hell was wrong with the guy when a 
flash of color caught his attention. He turned to see the slight pale 
red-head and felt a wash of panic roll over him.

"Holy shit Buf! It's the Red Queen! Dust her or something!"

With that, Alex tossed his sister a stake that he had grabbed from the
nearest counter and began chanting in a loud voice while pointing at 
the wicked and evil vampire that had somehow wandered into their 
midst. He was just about to let loose with a blast of pure energy 
when Buffy stepped in front of him screaming at him to stop.

"Xander! What's *wrong* with you? Why are you attacking Willow? And 
what's up with that tongue action with Spike? Did you hit your head 
or something?"

*******

A half hour later

His sister... no, make that the Slayer, wrinkled her nose up in 
thought and put her now empty mug of hot chocolate on the table. They 
had all calmed down enough to figure out what was *really* going on. 
Now he was trying to explain to them about the alternate universe 
that *he* was from. The group included Giles, Buffy, Riley, Spike,
some strange girl named Tara that he didn't recognize and, 
chillingly, the girl Willow who on *his* world was the vampire known 
as Red Queen. Finally, Buffy broke the silence.

"Let me see if I've gotten all of this right. You are my brother and 
we call you Alex?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, Alex. Alexander Harris Summers-Giles to be exact. Mom and dad
adopted me after my... uh, biological-parents were killed in a car 
crash. Margaret was still pregnant and they had to remove me from her 
body. Mom wanted me because her best friend in college had been 
killed saving Mom's life from a drunk burglar with an itchy trigger 
finger. Bethany literally threw herself in front of the bullet. Well, 
Bethany had been Margaret's older sister. So..."

Buffy nodded.

"That... sounds like Mom."

Alex grinned softly at her and she continued.

"So, then we moved here to Sunnydale. We met Giles. I became the 
Slayer and you began to study magic?"

Alex nodded at her.

"Well... actually. I tend to concentrate on sorcery and summoning, 
but yeah. I guess I do have a basic knowledge of most forms of magic. 
Pop's the one to *really* go to if you have a question though."

"Okay. That's something I still don't get. *Why* do you call 
Giles 'Pop'?"

Alex shrugged.

"That's easy. He's our step-dad on my world. Him and Mom got married
about... oh... two and a half years ago. You were the Maid of Honor, 
Dawn was the flower-girl and I was Best Man. We partied the whole two 
weeks they were gone on the honeymoon. We both got grounded once they 
got back because, my then, boyfriend Larry set the backyard on fire 
when he knocked over the grill. I mean, Mom *really* missed those 
roses and I had to replace every single bush."

Alex rolled his eyes at the memory and leaned back into Spike when the
blonde vampire laughed out loud. Remembering that it wasn't *his*
boyfriend, he stiffened up and went to draw away again, but then Spike
slipped his arm around his waist and he relaxed again.

Buffy looked a little flustered and Giles had a deep blush on his 
face, but Riley and Willow were intrigued. It was Riley who asked the 
next question.

"Um, Alex. You mentioned something about Buffy's hair? What was *that*
about?"

Alex smirked at his sister... um, the Slayer and her boyfriend.

"Well... it's like this. My sister and your double are engaged to be
married. She's been growing her hair long for the wedding. It's 
almost down to her waist now. When I saw *your* Buffy, I thought she 
had finally gotten mad enough at the braid she usually wears it in to 
cut it off. She's threatened to do it several times, but you... or 
rather, your double, always manages to talk her out of it."

Buffy and Riley both blushed, glanced at each other with wide eyes 
and then blushed again. Alex stifled a giggle. He could still torment 
his sister, even if she wasn't technically his sister on this world.

Then Willow asked a question and Alex flinched involuntarily back 
against Spike at hearing her voice.

"Um... and me? What was that whole Red Queen thing?"

Alex swallowed and looked at the table top. Willow seemed like a nice 
girl, but his memories of her were *vastly* different than what was 
sitting before him.

"Um... yeah. Well, *technically*, even though you're around me and 
Buf's age, you're Spike's Aunt. You were turned by a vampire named 
Darla. At first, you were one of the Master's servants, but as 
Darla's favored Childe, you had many privileges that other young 
vampire's didn't get. *Now* you are the leader of the group that 
*we*, my family and our friends, fight against. They call you the Red 
Queen and you live with Angelus in the old mansion. He's chipped like 
Spike, but it hasn't been spell modified, so... he's still a bad guy."

Willow went pale and the others got *real* quiet. Bad news does that 
to people. It was finally Giles who broke the silence.

"Um... Alex? Just how many vampires on your world have chips? And 
what do you mean about them being... um, spell modified?"

Alex squeezed Spike's hand when he felt the vampire tense behind him.

"Oh. That. Um... we *know* of twenty-three survivors. When Buffy and 
Riley found out about the Adam experiment that the Initiative was 
*really* working on, Riley blew the whole conspiracy out of the 
water. Of course, there was a *massive* cover-up and this *is* 
Sunnydale, so... Anyway, there's twenty-three vampire's who have been 
implanted with the chip, which was only a first step in the Adam 
project. At least for the undead. 

Spike was the only one who managed to escape once captured, and it 
was he who helped us release the others. *Most* of them followed 
Spike's lead and sided with us. Eight went with Angelus back to the 
Red Queen. The other fifteen moved into the old factory with Spike. 
We supplied them with blood and in exchange Spike had them help us 
fight whenever there was a rather nasty demon in town. Not to mention 
they helped us against the Red Queen's minions. 

The spell modification is something Pop and I put together. It's a 
neat piece of sorcery, if I do say so myself. The plans Riley stole 
that showed what the chip was and how it was implanted showed us that 
it was nothing that we could remove without killing the vampire. 
However, we were able to use the circuits and the implanted wiring 
throughout the brain to over-ride it's basic programing. 

The spell doesn't make it so that a chipped vamp can *attack* a human 
and they *still* can't bite. But they can now *defend* themselves if 
attacked first. In many cases, especially with the smarter and more 
self-controlled vampires, like Spike for example, have found that the 
spell allows them to actually *like* certain humans. In fact, most of 
our chipped vamps hold steady jobs as night watchmen at various 
businesses and a few work as personal bodyguards. Pay is usually 
donated human blood, but some will except cash too. The spell 
modified chipped vampires have created a whole new cash crop in *my* 
Sunnydale. Blood donation. 

And they all follow Spike as their leader. And since Spike works with 
*us*, his vampire's more often then not join us in various... 
adventures."

Everyone just stared at him with varying ranges of shock etched on 
their faces. Alex shrugged. In for a penny, in for a pound. He took a 
deep breath and continued.

"Recently, Riley heard some rumors from some of his contacts that the
government has been secretly considering doing a nationwide sweep for
vampires. They want to chip them all now. I guess they figure that if 
they can duplicate the results of our spell modification directly 
into the chip itself, then they can make chipped vampires legal 
citizens. Personally, I think that they see dollar signs concerning 
unending tax money, but then again, I'm cynical.

Spike and his followers are... of a mixed feeling about it. On the one
hand, they want to see *their* numbers increase. It would be safer 
from other demons that way if their group wasn't an... anomaly. 
However, they also remember how *painful* it was to get the chip in 
the first place. And it says a *lot* when a soulless demon wouldn't 
wish a particular torture on their own worst enemy. Know what I mean?"

The room was still quiet as everyone tried to absorb all of the 
things that he had told them. He waited. He was sure that if he had 
been in their place, he'd be thrown for a loop too. Finally, Buffy 
attempted to lift the tension and lighten the mood.

"So... from that lip-lock action you had going on with Spike earlier, 
I'd say that you aren't with Anya?"

Alex frowned in confusion.

"Who's Anya? Never heard of the guy. No, Spike and I have been a 
couple since about three weeks after his escape from the Initiative. 
I was vampire sitting for Pop and studying for mid-terms when he 
started yelling his head off. Went over to see what was going on and 
found out he was sleeping through a nightmare. When I woke him up, we 
talked about it. After that... things just kinda went from there I 
guess."

Willow frowned at him.

"Okay... so. You're dating Spike now. And you *were* dating Larry when
Joyce and Giles got married, but... when did you date Cordelia?"

Alex blinked at her.

"*Cordelia*? The *cheerleader*! Why in the world would I date her? 
I've never dated a female in my life, and if I *did*, it wouldn't 
have been *her*."

Alex shuddered at the thought.

"Look. I know you guys have a million questions, but could we move on 
to other things? Like... how do we get me back home?"

*********

Two hours later

There was another flash of bright light and the sensation of being
shattered swept over him again. With a jarring lurch, he once more 
found himself lying on the floor of the magic shop. Wincing, he 
picked himself up and dusted himself off. Looking around he saw 
familiar faces that were staring at him in barely restrained 
expectation. He gazed at one face and then moved on to the next. He 
*felt* like he was back home, but he wasn't sure. Then he saw a 
person he hadn't expected to see and he flinched slightly.

"Um... ahh... not to sound *too* weird or anything, but... you weren't
planning to... I don't know,... *kiss* me, were you Spike?"

At the loud relieved laughter of his friends and the teasing head 
shake no from the blonde vampire, Xander slowly allowed himself to 
relax.

"Good. I've got to tell you guys, this has been one *different* kind 
of day for me. First I got zapped into a parallel world and then the 
fangless wonder stuck his tongue down my throat. I didn't know 
whether to scream in horror or if I should just stake him."

Everyone but Spike laughed at that. The vampire seemed to be offended 
at the whole concept. Buffy quickly cut off any comment he could make 
however.

"Welcome home Xander."

The young man grinned at his friend.

"Thanks. Sorry to blink in from another world and run, but I have got 
to go find Anya. We had plans and I don't want her mad. I'll tell you 
guys about everything tomorrow. Okay?"

And with that, Xander dashed out the door.

********

Very late that same night

Malcom stood in the deep shadows of the small apartment bedroom and 
scowled at the couple sleeping peacefully. His beloved, his eternal 
delight, his other half... was *mortal*. How he longed to just appear 
before his beautiful Anya and grant her greatest wish. To become a 
demon again.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. 

However, he wasn't going to let that stop him. He wanted his beloved 
back and he had a plan on how to do that. 

The mortal, Alexander Harris was a key element to that plan. First he 
would go into the past and find the younger version of this Xander. 
Then he would grant him *his* greatest wish. The world would then 
change enough that Anya would *never* feel the need to come to 
Sunnydale and help out Cordelia Chase. Thus, she'd never become 
mortal and be forced to leave his side.

Grinning wickedly, Malcom vanished without a sound.


END: With a twist of reality on the side...