1982 SAN FRANCISCO 

Tatiana Alexandrovna Nikitina, displaced Russian,
Professor of Biotechnology, Master of Anthropology and
with an IQ of 350, was currently speaking to her most
important audience ever.

"That's the way, kroshka, my little Alexei, my little
malysh, lozhechku za mamu. Oh what a good detka you
are!" She cooed as she fed her son of ten months,
Alexei, already a ringer for his mother with a tuft of
sable brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. He blinked
at her and smiled.

And then it began. They burst in, guns held out, and
snatched the child from his mother. He began to cry
and she yelled at them to let her go, to be with her
son, her malysh. Ignoring her, they took her son away.
As they went, they heard the sounds of her screams,
suddenly cut off. A bald man smoking a cigarette
watched it all. One of the men came up to him and
showed him the baby. He nodded and spoke.

"This is the one. Take him back to the Centre. And
send a clean up team to our former colleague's
apartment to take care of things.

"Yes Dr Raines."

1984 THE CENTRE: DELAWARE

Jared, Pretender and currently the Centres highest
rating genius, watched as Sydney tested the latest in
a series of children. There were always tests, and
Jared yawned. He couldn't understand why he was here
watching this one and said so.

"Because of his response, Jared. This child is
amazing, he can already do the things you did at an
older age, things the average person couldn't."

"And?" Jared said disinterestedly. Sydney looked at
him and sighed. Why would he think it was amazing, the
Centre was all he knew? No outside influences to
interfere with the simulations, no family, no
holidays, birthdays, nothing. 

The amazing things that happened at the Centre, the
psychics like Angelo, the fantastic results, were all
a matter of fact to him, no more, no less. He sighed
as he remembered the time a few years ago when Mrs.
Parker had died and he had hit Jared. Why had he hit
the boy when he couldn't understand why all the grief,
he had not been taught about love or loss, either.

"Young Alexei here, and you, working together, you
could find out things, Jared. Imagine." Sydney said.
Jared shuddered inwardly. Another child brought up the
way he was? He knew something was missing from his
life and he wanted to find it. 

But he didn't want any more children to be brought up
the way he had, no. Jared started to plan then. A way
to get Alexei out, and then maybe him. There were all
these things out there in the world, and his family,
too, somewhere.

1985 SUNNYDALE KINDERGARTEN

A little brown haired boy watched as all the children
ran around the yard in the kindergarten. It was
frightening, he had never been around other children
before, let alone so many other people. He held on
tight to the woman holding his hand and trembled
slightly.

"Listen, brat, let go of me. I ain't being paid to
stand here all day, just to look after ya. So you get
over there with all the other little beggars. I know
you're smart, kid, so you can make your own way back
when it's over. 

"And don't be too loud either when you get back.
Fred'll be back from his shift by then and he don't
like to be disturbed too much when he does." Joan
Harris pulled the little boy's hand off of hers and
shoved him towards the other children.

He stared at them and looked for a place to go. Right
there, next to that little girl with the red hair.

1996 HARRIS HOUSEHOLD

"Now you listen to me you little shit. I don't want to
see anything higher than a C on your report cards
anymore, you hear me? If you show you got brains, any
brains all, they'll find out and take you away!"

"Well maybe it would be better than here, Fred!"
Xander yelled. Fred Harris glared at him and with a
roar grabbed the young boy as he tried to get away.

"Don't you ever call me that, either! You call me Dad
and Joan Mom, otherwise they'll know something's up.
It wouldn't be better than here, boy. You like fresh
air, don't you? To go out where you want? These
people, they'd lock you up inside and you'd never see
the sun again. 

"So you be careful, hear? I ain't letting a good
source of money go 'cause of your stupidity!" Each
word was punctuated by a slap as Fred Harris
emphasized his words to his 'son'. "You hear me?!"

"Yes."

"What was that? What do you call me?"

"Dad. Yes...Dad". Xander said bitterly.

NEXT DAY

Xander sighed as he left the Harris's place, aching
from the beating Fred Harris had given him the night
before. 

He liked school, it was great, so easy. Yeah he acted
up in class, but after the first week or so he knew
each subject. An eidetic memory was good, very good.
But he had to pretend, to be something else, an
average kid. And he hated lying to Willow and Jesse
like this. 
Pretending he needed help with maths. Yeah right.
Willow was smart, yeah, but Xander read for fun
equations she hadn't even heard of yet. When he could
sneak into the library, that is. He could spend hours
in there, reading all the books.

Xander brightened up suddenly and smiled as he set off
on his skateboard towards school. A new school year.
And a new librarian, who had brought in a shipment of
books with him. He couldn't wait to see what they were
about. 

1999 THE ROAD

Xander drove on down the road, out of Sunnydale,
smiling happily. At last he was free, to go out and
see a little of the world. To find out for himself
what life was like without the Hellmouth. 

And maybe he could try out a few different things,
too, explore a little, see if he liked boys more than
girls. 

He certainly had gone off them after Faith. But he had
liked both equally before, so maybe it was time to see
what that side was like. He headed in the direction of
Oxnard first and smiled. Time to experience the world.

ONE DAY LATER: OXNARD

"That much?! Damn, that'll take all my road trip money
and then some. Look, do you know any place that's
hiring? And then I can pay you as soon as."

"Sure kid. Try The Fabulous Ladies Night Club, I hear
they're hiring."

A WEEK LATER

Xander stood there, tired, his hands sore, his feet
sore, from washing dishes. He stretched and yawned
before grabbing the next pot in the pile waiting to be
scrubbed. 

This wasn't quite what he expected when he wanted to
experience life out side the Hellmouth, but oh well.
Maybe he should take on a series of jobs like this,
just to see what it could be like.

"Hey Harris. How are you at dancing?" His boss
suddenly said from behind him. Xander jumped and
turned around to stare at his boss. Dancing? He
sucked. Except for those times when he let out the
Hyena and The Soldier, and let himself remember. He
was pretty good then. 

But he could only let go when he knew for certain the
Scoobies were nowhere near. He had no wish for another
spell from Giles to de-possess him, no way. The first
time was enough and unfortunately he remembered it
all. An eidetic memory really sucked at times.

"Not bad, why?" he said and smiled.

Part One: Xander  

NOVEMBER 2000 SUNNYDALE

There was a knock at the door to Gile's apartment, and
as the closest, Xander answered it. 

"Hello?" He said politely to the three who stood
there. He remembered one of them, and the woman looked
familiar, but he didn't have a clue as to who the bald
guy might be. He liked his shirt though.

"Excuse us, but we're looking for a Buffy Summers?"

"Sure" He said, not taking his eyes off them. "Hey
Buff, it's for you!" Buffy came into view and Xander
left them. He bent over and whispered to Anya and
Spike then sat down between the two of them. Anya
leant her head on his shoulder and Spike snorted and
stretched, yawning. 

A minute later the four of them stood in front of the
couch and Spike could heard Xander's heartrate,
already high, go even faster, and smell the fear as
well.

"Xander, do you remember Professor Asimov?"

"Asimov? Oh, I do like reading his books, though.
Like, I, Robot, or..."

"Not that one, Xan. The one you worked for when he was
here. I mean, you two were close enough while he was
here."

"You mean Jared? What about him?" Spike stiffened and
began to edge away. All of a sudden Nummy was calm,
his heartbeat slowed down, and his smell changing to
excitement instead. Last time that had happened Spike
remembered waking up a few days later to Xander saying
he had no idea what had happened to Spike. 

Xander explained in detail, later, what would happen
if Spike ever tried doing that to Anya again and to
wait for an invitation next time. Which would have
been soon, but not now. And he kissed Spike, hard. And
the invitation came. Spike shifted a little as he
remembered that time, all three of them together. He
smirked.

"We represent a corporation known as the Centre. Jared
was one of our major consultants and left suddenly,
taking an invaluable resource with him we want back."
The first man said smoothly, a European accent adding
a smooth air of sophistication to his words.

Xander's eyes widened as he looked at the man. Sydney?
It was. He remembered him, he was nice. But he worked
for the Centre. So the woman? A few times he had seen
her, younger, before he had been smuggled out. Miss
Parker. So who was the third guy?

"So what do you wanna know? Oh wait, I have something
for you. Jared said to give this to anyone asking
after him. So are you Sydney and Miss Parker?" He
said, taking a notebook out of his jacket as he looked
at them with an innocent face.

"And Broots" The bald guy muttered. "Why didn't he
mention me?"

"Because you're insignificant." Miss Parker said
before holding her hand out and grabbing the notebook
and leafing through it impatiently.

"What does it say?" Sydney said as he looked over her
shoulder.

"It's just a series of newspaper articles about abused
children, no one in particular. No wait a minute, this
part is about prodigies, children pushed to the point
of abuse to perform." Sydney closed his eyes in pain.

"Is that what he thinks I was doing?"

"Excuse me, just what is going on here anyway?" Buffy
demanded.

"Sorry Miss Summers, but this is none of your concern.
If Jared gets in contact with any of you could you
please get in contact with us?" He held out a card to
Buffy and the Slayer took a hold of it.

"If he stole something from you why don't you just
call the police?" Willow suddenly said from where she
had been sitting quietly with Tara. In the meantime,
Broots, who had been steadily looking through the
notebook, found a photo and held it out.

"Wow! Hey Sydney, it's a picture of you! With a baby?"
Sydney came over and took it.

"Give me that! Probably it's a fake. No...it is me.
And the baby...who is it? He looks familiar." He
handed it to Miss Parker.

"Why would I know who the kid is? No wait a minute, he
does look familiar." Spike could feel Xander's heart
start to pound again and he frowned. Now what was
going on with him. He'd been jumpy since the three had
come in. Right then. He stood suddenly, drawing
attention to him.

"I'm off. Watching you lot is about as exciting as
watching paint dry." He sauntered out, giving Anya a
quick wink.

"Spike is right. I'm bored. I want sex. Come on
Xander." And she walked out too, leaving everyone to
stare after her in astonishment. Xander hopped up and
grinned nervously at them all.

"See ya!" and he ran out.

"Wow!" Broots exclaimed. "Are they always like that? 
I mean..." He looked down in embarrassment. Giles took
his glasses off and pinched the top of his nose.

"Unfortunately yes. And if you don't mind, I'd like
you to leave, please. You have what you came for and
I'm afraid we can't help you anymore. We, however,
were in the middle of something and must get on with
it."

"Oh well. Could you please thank the boy for passing
on the notebook when you see him?"

"We will. Goodbye." The Watcher said, firmly ushering
them out the door.

"Giles, that was so unlike you." Willow said, staring
at him.

"I don't know, Wills, they gave me the wiggins a
little."

"Yes, did you notice that they never answered you
about the police? Now, about this Gaffehred Demon..."

XANDER'S APARTMENT

"Oh Anya, you were brilliant! Aren't you glad we
worked out the signals like that? And Spike, that was
great!" Xander said, kissing each one in turn.

"Well it was pretty boring and I thought you two might
want out as well. So, who were they, Pet?" Spike said.
He felt Xander stiffen in his arms and he and Anya
exchanged a look.

"I'm gonna have to go."

"What?"

"Leave Sunnydale. Jared warned me they were after him
and now they know I'm here. It won't take them long to
figure out who I am. He was really sorry, if he had
known I was here, he wouldn't have come. He was after
the Initiative, and didn't know they had gone,
either."

"Wait a minute, why would they be after you and Jared?
And why was he after the Initiative?"

"Well, Jared was taken by them again for a while and
was out of the loop. He was originally going to get
them months ago. If he had you'd no longer have the
chip, Spike."

"What?!" Spike said, going into Game Face and letting
of Nummy and Anya, to pace about angrily.

"Well, he has more experience than me of how to do
this. Me, I've spent years in hiding instead. It's
only been the past year or so I've been able to
practice a little more." Xander mumbled.

"Practice?! What in Soddin' Hell is bloody going On?!"
Spike yelled. A figure suddenly appeared from the
shadows, tall, a floor length leather coat, and a rich
voice. He came into the light and spoke.

"He's like me." Jared said.

Part Two: Jarod  

NOVEMBER 2000 SUNNYDALE

"Practice?! What in Soddin' Hell is bloody going On?!"
Spike yelled. A figure suddenly appeared from the
shadows, tall, a floor length leather coat, and a rich
voice. He came into the light and spoke.

"He's like me." Jarod said. Spike made one abortive
move toward him before dropping to the floor clutching
his head and howling in agony. Xander and Anya dropped
on either side of him and held him.

"Spike, come on. It's not Jarod's fault, he didn't
know I was here. How could he?" Anya poked him
suddenly and he glared at her.

"Well? Do the spell that stops his pain!" Xander
glared at her before glancing quickly at Jarod.

"It's alright, Xander, I already know what you can do,
remember? You've had four years to look at Mr Giles
book collection." Xander sighed and shut his eyes,
mumbling under his breath. Spike gradually relaxed but
kept his eyes shut as Anya ran her hands over him,
soothing him.

"It's not as if they always worked. I remember
Valentines Day a couple of years ago, I blackmailed
Amy into putting a love spell on me. And I tried an
enhancement spell to make sure it worked."

"Did it?"

"Oh yeah. It worked." Spike snickered and sat up,
still holding his head, as both Anya and Xander
checked him over. He put his arms around the two of
them and they held each other.

"Yeah, had Dru muttering about her clever little
Pretty boy for days until Angelus was ready to stake
her. She kept going on about what a great childe he
would be, so smart. When Angelus figured out she meant
Nummy he went barmy. See, Nummy had had years to get
his act right...stupid, goofy, clumsy...Angelus
couldn't believe Dru's Kitten and Harris were one and
the same."

"Good thing too." Xander muttered and Spike glared at
him before grinning suddenly and kissing him.

"Yeah, because that warm human body of yours
is...moist and delicious." Xander moaned and looked
down.

"You're not gonna let me forget that are you? You
really are evil." Anya snickered.

"Don't forget, Xander, he's the Big Bad." Spike glared
at her and Xander snickered in turn. Jarod cleared his
throat and Xander jumped.

"Right. Why they are after me. I'd better start at the
beginning, at least to when Jarod turned up."

SEPTEMBER 2000 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SUNNYDALE 

Xander whistled cheerfully to himself as he parked the
utility in the staff car park. The construction
company he worked for was in the middle of building a
new music studio as the Gentlemen had destroyed it
when they took everyone's voices away. As he bounced
along, Xander bumped into someone whose papers went
flying as they both ended up on the floor.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. Let me get those for you."
Muttering under his breath the young man was able to
quickly gather all the papers together before handing
them over. The other man took them and smiled,
lighting up his whole face.

"Thank you. Would you like a Pez?" He held out a Daffy
Duck holder and Xander happily grabbed one and put it
in his mouth. He closed his eyes in delight and
chewed, a big smile on his face.

"Oooh, sugary goodness. Now that's the way to start
the day." He opened his eyes to see the other man
staring at him as if fascinated, and Xander blushed.

"They are really good aren't they? They're my
favourite, I think."

"But what about chocolate? Chocolate is of the good."

"Chocolate? I don't know if I ever had any." Xander
stared at him.

"What, you were locked away for years and never got to
have chocolate?" Jarod stared.

"How did you..." Xander interrupted him.

"How could you live without trying chocolate? What
about Easter? Christmas? Remembrance Day? My friend,
to make up for bumping into you I have got to
introduce you to chocolate."

"Oh you don't have to bother..."

"No, no bother. No bother at all. I finish work at
four and I can take you to the Chocolate Box. It's a
combination coffee bar and chocolate shop."

"Well if you want to, that would be good. I finish at
half past four, though."

"That's all right, I can come pick you up."

"I'll be in room P2-04."

"Oh, you doing Psyche? My friends are too. I know
Buffy was panicking last night because she has no idea
what the new lecturer will be like. Willow said to
relax, it'll be easier on the first day as Professor
Asimov adjusts."

"Not really. I happen to know that the professor
intends to give a quiz to see what they know." Xander
stared at him.

"You're him aren't you?"

"Well yes. Professor Asimov. But you can call me
Jarod." He smiled again and held out his hand. Xander
took it and smiled back.

"Xander."

Part Three: Jawod  

SEPTEMBER 2000 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SUNNYDALE 

"Is he cute or what?" Buffy was saying to Willow as
they left the classroom.

"Yeah. Hey, just because I have a girlfriend doesn't
mean we can't look. Sometimes we talk about...Xander!"
He looked up and smiled at them.

"Hi guys. You and Tara talk about me? I'm flattered
Wills. If you and Tara ever want to have
a...discussion with both of us Anya and I could
arrange a time." Willow blushed.

"That's not what I meant!" Xander pouted.

"You don't like me?" he said in a small voice, looking
at her through his lashes.

"I do."

"Good. How about Friday night, you, me Tara and Anya?
About sevenish?" Willow looked stunned and Buffy
looked as if she wasn't certain whether to laugh or to
bolt.

"Gotcha!" Xander grinned. Willow narrowed her eyes and
hit him.

"You...you...man!"

"What are you doing here Xander?" Buffy finally said
with a smile.

"Why ladies. I can't come and see my two favourite
girls?" He put his arms around them both.

"You don't usually." Xander let go and put his hand on
his chest dramatically.

"I am hurt. Cut to the quick. You think I'm here for
some ulterior motive? I didn't come see you
especially?"

"I'm ready now Xander" Jarod said, coming out the
door. "Miss Summers, Miss Rosenburg. Don't forget to
read chapter ten for the test on Thursday."

"We won't Professor Asimov." Xander swung his arm
around Jarod and they walked down the corridor, the
girls staring after them.

"Now the important thing about chocolate, Jarod, is to
take your time. Oh wait," he turned to the girls,
staring at them both. "Giles called. Seven O'clock."

"Giles?" Jarod said.

"A friend. Now, chocolate..." they went out of hearing
range and the girls finally looked at each other.

"How come Xander knows Professor Asimov?"

"No, you know what's really scary? He's teaching
someone about chocolate" Willow said seriously. Buffy
stared at her and then they both laughed.

CHOCOLATE BOX 

They sat down at a table, hot chocolate in mugs in
front of them and a variety of chocolates scattered
about on the table. Finally Xander looked up, his face
serious.

"Okay Jarod, why are you really here? Are you still
working for the Centre?" Jarod stared at him.

"What do you know about the Centre?"

"You don't know me? Are you on the run from them? And
you came here, to Sunnydale?" Xander made as if to get
up and Jarod grabbed his wrist, holding him there.

"Who are you?!" Xander sat down slowly and shut his
eyes.

"You don't do you? And you led them right here. Jarod,
are you familiar with your mythology at all?" Jarod
let go and stared at the suddenly much paler young man
in front of him.

"A little."

"Ever read anything about 'El Boca Del Inferno'? The
Hellmouth? Do you have any idea what someone like Dr
Raines would do to get at the occult powers in this
place?"

"Apparently, Dr Raines has found religion." Xander
stared at him, his eyes wide. Then he laughed, a
short, bitter one.

"That evil bastard found God? They sent him to Africa
for 'treatment'?"

"Yes. How do you know so much?"

"A lot of things can be said in front of a child and
they think you won't understand. Even when they know
you're a genius, even when you just cracked the
Pentagon security codes at the age of three every day
for a month until they finally had me create one.
Jawod." 

The Pretender stared at the young man in front of him,
eyes wide. No one had called him that except for...

"Alexei?" The young man smiled grimly and nodded. 

"Oh no. The Centre knows or will know soon, I'm here.
I led them straight to you!"

Part Four: Alex  

CHOCOLATE BOX

"I led them straight to you!"

"Well damn." Xander said mildly, a look of slight
annoyance on his face. Jarod stared at him.

"You aren't exactly alarmed about this are you?"

"I have a few defenses that the Centre goons won't be
expecting. It's just that I'm not ready to leave yet."

"Ready to leave?" Xander looked around him and stood
up.

"Let's go back to my apartment and I'll explain it
there." Jarod stood and followed him out of the coffee
shop.

XANDER'S APARTMENT

Twenty minutes later they sat opposite each other at
the table, glasses of orange juice in front of them.

"Since I was rescued from the Centre the people who
took care of me impressed on me the idea that I
mustn't be too good at anything. If I did, the Centre
would find me and take me back, I would never see the
sun, the stars, or go to the beach again. Not that
they bothered to take me to the beach, Willow's family
did.

"So I learned to hide what I was. That wasn't too
hard, anyway. I worked out how to look at the
curriculum for a subject and studied that. By not
bothering to do homework much, and pretending to not
understand when Willow tried to explain, I managed to
get by with an average of C's and D's. I wanted to do
better in high school and made the mistake of saying
that to Mr Harris." Xander paused and shuddered before
continuing.

"That didn't go well. So I learnt what I could, when I
could, in secret. I'd go into the library and read the
textbooks, but have a comic in the middle in case I
was caught. It would look like I was pretending to
study when I was really not."

"But it was the other way around. So why are you
intending to leave if you haven't already?"

"Well, while I was at school I played the slacker. I
barely graduated and didn't even pass my SATs. Buffy
and Willow did so I've been able to sneak into the
University Library and read the textbooks there as
well. A couple of years ago I decided to go on a road
trip, to see what life was like for people who don't
live on the Hellmouth."

"Hellmouth. Is that a special name for Sunnydale?"

"You could say that. I'll explain that to you later.
Basically, during my road trip I learnt some things
about myself. I leant how to be myself. Just before
going, my final school year wasn't exactly easy for
me. I'm not all that good at figuring people out when
it comes to me personally. So I made a few bad
choices. And my friends drifted away from me.

"But during my road trip I met people who didn't know
the Zeppo Xander. Instead they met Alex. It was great
to be free. And then I came back here and it was more
of the same from my friends. The Harrises had moved me
down to the basement as well. Never liked living all
that closes to them anyway, they don't seem to
understand the concept of personal hygiene.

"So I decided to work, to see what I could do. It
usually took me a few days to learn all I could about
one job before I moved on to the next. To my friends I
said I was fired. I wasn't. Well, I actually was the
once, but I got sick. That's why I'm back in
construction again. There are so many different trades
within the one industry. Carpentry, plumbing,
electricity. And the engineering as well. I've learnt
all I can from them but stayed. I like to build things
and see a visible result."

"You said before you weren't quite ready to leave
though."

"Well, no. I came back before because I thought my
friends still needed me. They don't. Not really. And
I've read all of Gile's books and been successful with
quite a few of the...theories. For the last few months
I have had only two reasons to stay."

"Giles. Would that be Rupert Giles?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Since I left the Centre I've been looking for my
family. Once or twice I nearly have, I actually spoke
to my brother. But the Centre has managed to come
along and stop me. My brother's dead, and when I get
close to finding a trace of my family it's stopped.
Another thing I've been doing is justice. When I first
got out I met this man, Todd, and he said to pay me
back by doing some good for some one else. So I have."

"So what brings you to Sunnydale?"

"The Initiative."

Part Five: Spike

SEPTEMBER 2000 XANDER'S APARTMENT 

Xander stared at him for a minute and then put his 
head down on the table. 

"It's a little late for that. We destroyed them." 

"Actually you didn't. The original one, yes, but the 
same people have come back under another name. And 
they are watching you. All of you. The orders have 
come through that if you reveal any of what happened 
down there that you are to be dealt with." 

"Swell. So you know what we do?" 

"I have an idea. But I know for a fact that magic is 
an illusion. There are some very clever techniques out 
there. I was a magician for a while." 

"Magicians. Ah. So you've only heard the government 
version then. What if I showed you some real magic?" 

"It doesn't exist." 

"I can show you it does. Look, how about if I show you 
a spell?" 

"I would still think you had something hidden 
somewhere." 

"I could take my clothes off and do it." 


NOVEMBER 2000 X A 

"Oi! Are you saying you offered to get naked for 'im?! 
'Ow come you never bleedin' did that for me?!" Spike 
yelled, then glared at his younger lover. 

"Because before we got together you tried to kill me? 
Several times?" 

"Yeah, well, I might not have. Always thought you were 
a bit of alright. 'Sides, you were the first gift me 
bloody Sire offered me for over a century. I wasn't 
really ever going to kill you anyway. Not 
permanently." 

"What?" 

"Torture you, yeah. Kill the Slayer and all your 
friends in front of you until we were drenched in 
their blood. The Slayer last, though, after a few days 
of...bloodplay. And I'd have you there tied down 
unable to move, watching it all. And then, at the 
last, I'd turn you, saving the Slayer so your first 
meal would be Slayer blood. And she'd die knowing the 
ones she was supposed to protect were dead while the 
one she had always derided as the weakest link was the 
one who ended up killing her." 

Xander stared at his vampire lover for a moment. 
Smiling, he stood up and tilted his head slightly to 
the side, giggling a little in a high pitched laugh 
that made the hair on the back of Jarod's neck rise. 
Anya nodded to Jarod and they went to another room, 
hearing the thud behind them as Xander leapt on Spike, 
then a few more thumps as they rolled around. 

"What was that?" Jarod asked, wide eyed. 

"Spike...well, he's evil. That was him being romantic. 
I remember when we got together...the blood, the 
torture, the pain...such sweet promises. And Xander? 
He was possessed by a hyena spirit a while back. He 
doesn't often let it out to play because it's hard to 
keep it hidden from the others...they wouldn't 
understand." 

"I see?" 

"Don't worry about it Jarod, it's a Hellmouthy thing." 
Anya patted his hand. In the background could be heard 
the sounds of growling, thumping and giggles. 

"So how did you get together?" 

"Oh that was easy. I was a vengeance demon..." 

AN HOUR LATER 

"...and the look on his face when I took my clothes 
off like that. Xander and I have been with each other 
ever since. Spike though was a different story. You 
know how the Initiative put a chip into him? It forced 
him to be with us. No one liked him, not even me and 
Xander. He had to stay with us for a while and it was 
interfering with our time together. 

“And I don't mean just the sex. At first we were all 
animalistic like you've seen us act in front of the 

others. Xander soon taught me how to act though. To be 
a human. And I taught him what I had learnt over the 
years as well. He'd read all of Gile's books and 
wanted to practice, learn other magicks. 

"Spike staying with us put a stop to that. We kept up 
the sex maniac act for laughs, and because they would 
ignore us. And it annoys the hell out of them. And 
they don't even realise we're only reflecting back 
what we see in them, just...a little more exaggerated. 
There was this house, that reacted to lust, and it 
focused on Buffy and Riley. It needed true love to 
release the spell and that was me and Xander. And they 
still don't get it. 

"So, Spike was doing his usual thing, being an evil 
vampire. And he found a way around the chip, at least 
as far as I was concerned. And he liked me, in his 
vampire way..." 

FEBUARY 2000 

"Spike, let go." Anya wriggled underneath the vampire, 
who held her tight and wouldn't let go. 

"I don't think so Anya. See, I want the whelp to 
suffer, and since I found a way around the chip I can. 
Anyway, I can do things to you ‘e can't. Show you 
pain..." 

"Spike, no! Xander is my boyfriend. Promising me 
torture is all very nice, but let. Me. Go!" 

"Well actually, Luv, I..." 

"Will let her go." Spike looked up and smiled. His 
Nummy looked absolutely delicious like that, eyes 
blazing and hands raised. Reminded him of this 
sorcerer he had met, only Nummy couldn’t do magic of 
course. 

“I don’t think so Pet. Not until you back away a 
little. I know you won’t dare try and stake me while 
I’m wrapped around Anya like this and I’m quite comfy 
‘ere.” Anya stared at him suddenly in surprise. 

“You like him! That’s what this is about. Xander, he’s 
courting you!” 

“What? By trying to rape you and threaten to kill 
you?!” 

“It’s what vampires do. Most demons do it that way. 
Oh…that is so romantic!” Anya sniffed and began to 
cry. Spike stared down at her in surprise. Threats of 
torture, bloodletting and rape and she’d glared at him 
and yelled back. But a hint of actual romance and 
she’s bawling like a baby. Women! He drew back from 
her a little and Xander struck. 

Spike suddenly found himself flying through the air to 
hit the wall, hard, with a loud thud before slumping 
down. Snarling, he tried to stand and was struck 
again. Looking up, all he could see was the whelp, his 
hands upraised, as Anya shakily stood up and went over 
to him. He put his arms around her and the building 
pressure, which he only noticed once it was released, 
stopped. 

“Bloody ‘ell! You’re a magic user!” Xander smiled at 
him grimly before ignoring the vampire and paying 
attention to his girlfriend instead. Spike lay there, 
and smiled. Even better! 

Nummy had great looks, a good sense of humour, and a 
tendency to keep secrets from the Scoobies anyway. And 
he was a magic user. As for Anya, she was ideal, 
smart, voracious, and a lover of violence, not to 
mention rather easy on the eyes as well. 

What a lovely pair of Children they would make when he 
finally got rid of the chip and could turn them.

TBC