Angel returned to Los Angeles as if nothing unusual had happened. His absence had barely been noticed, a fact for which the vampire was grateful.

He didn't want to lie about where he had been or what he had done, but he wasn't prepared to tell the others about seeing Xander.

Willow and Cordelia would want to know where he was. They would want to see him and try to understand why he stayed away. Angel knew Xander wasn't ready for that.

"Angel, you're back." Cordelia smiled at Angel as she shut down her computer.

"I am." He acknowledged as he looked around the nearly empty hotel, "Going home?"

"Yeah. I have just enough time to grab something to eat before I have to pick Will up from her evening class."

Angel nodded. "Anything happen while I was gone? Any visions?"

Cordelia shrugged on her coat. "Wes caught Gunn with a Laquira demon. It was pretty weird there for awhile, but Wes took care of it. Cut her head right off." She grinned.

Angel raised an eyebrow. "A Laquira demon? What was Gunn doing with a Laquira demon?"

"Don't ask." Cordelia shook her head in bewilderment. "Actually, she was looking for you. She said something about someone beheading her mate and someone having to pay." She shook her head again. "It didn't make much sense but Wes killed her, and that was that..except for the nasty stain she left in one of the upstairs rooms."

"Anything else?" Angel asked as he moved closer to the stairs, deciding he could wait until later to hear about the demon. Much later.

"Giles called."

"What did he want?"

Cordelia shrugged as the phone started ringing. "Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless." She answered. "Sure. He just got in. Hold on." She held the mobile phone out to Angel. "Ask him yourself."

Angel took the phone and watched as Cordelia moved towards the door. "If you need me, call my cell, otherwise, I'll see tomorrow night. Oh, and Spike's downstairs.in the basement." She shook her head and mumbled something as she walked out the door.

Angel returned his attention to the phone as whirlwind Cordelia disappeared.

"Rupert?"

"Angel, ah good. I heard you were out of town."

"Yes, I just got back." Angel said, not divulging any information about the reason for his trip.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly." The former watcher said vaguely.

"Rupert?" Angel asked as he started to move towards the staircase. He wasn't quite sure why Giles was so anxious to talk to him he called twice, but it had to be important, and he wasn't entirely sure who was still in the hotel.

Spike obviously, but Cordelia hadn't said if Faith was with him, and although it was silent, that didn't necessarily mean that Wes and Gunn weren't around, somewhere.

"What do you know about immortals?"

Angel froze in his trek up the steps. "Immortals?" He repeated brilliantly.

"Yes."

"As in people, or demons who can't be killed except by extreme means?" Angel asked, being purposefully vague.

"Not demons. People. An entire race of people appearing mortal until they die for the first time, thereby waking their immortality."

Angel furrowed his brow as he continued walking up the steps to the second floor. His theory about Xander seemed to be dead on.

"Angel? What do you know of them? Have you run across them before?"

"Once or twice." Angel answered cryptically. "They have a penchant for decapitation." Angel ventured, not wanting to give too much information away. It was too coincidental that he returned from seeing one such immortal to find Giles needing to talk to him, about immortals.

*~*~*~*

"Tell me about the Quickening again." Xander said as he came back inside, speaking as though he had never left.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"What's with the lightening?"

"When an immortal dies, all that he was, all his power, and all the power he had accumulated."

"From beheading other immortals." Xander interrupted.

"Yes." Methos inclined his head slightly. "The immortal who survives gets the power that is released by the beheading. This surge of power is called the Quickening."

"So." Xander said, still trying to grasp the magnitude of what Methos was saying, ".the last immortal alive, will have all the power of every immortal who ever lived?"

"Yes."

"Weird." Xander shook his head.

Methos felt a small smile quirking the corners of his mouth. This boy was nothing like what he'd come to expect from young immortals.

"So.. what now?" Xander asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Methos eyes Xander curiously, uncertain what the boy was asking.

"Well, I'm immortal.. you're immortal.. yet you're not trying to take my head. What gives?"

Methos smiled. "Not all immortals are head hunters. Some of us are just trying to survive. Some even have a nobler purpose."

"Really?" Xander asked skeptically. Methos didn't strike him as the noble type. "Is that what you're doing? Trying to help me.. being selfless and generous, spreading the knowledge?"

"Not exactly." Methos chuckled at the description.

"I didn't think so."

"I think this is the part where I offer to share my wisdom and show you how to defend yourself.. how to survive." Methos offered wryly.

"You think?" Xander raised his eyebrows.

Methos shrugged. "I don't do students."

"Ah." Xander nodded.

"I'd bet you already know how to both defend yourself and survive." Methos said, eyeing Xander's sword. "But I'm sure there's still a thing or two I could teach you."

Xander relaxed slightly. "Yeah?" He asked. "Very well then, educate me."

*~*~*~*

"Rupert, I'm not sure what I can do." Angel said seriously into the line. "You don't have a name, a relative age, or a description. He was last seen over four hundred miles away from here. This immortal of yours could be anyone."

Giles sighed. "I know. I thought perhaps with his apparent interest in vampires, you might have heard something."

"I will look into it, Rupert." Angel promised.

"Thank you."

Giles disconnected the line and left Angel to his own troubled thoughts.

He was stuck in a very awkward position.

It was obvious the immortal Giles sought was Xander.

However, Angel couldn't give Giles the answers he was looking for, not if he was to give Xander the time he needed.

Given a choice between assisting Giles and doing what he had to in order to protect Xander, the choice was clear.

There was nothing he could do now but wait.

*~*~*~*

Xander stumbled backwards in a move that was designed to appear as though he had been caught with his guard down. Methos recognized the move and smirked slightly as he moved towards his apparently fallen prey. Xander twisted around just as Methos was upon him and thrust his sword up once, sharply, catching the older immortal in the shoulder.

"Very good." Methos stepped back and rubbed the healing wound as he eyed his pupil carefully.

Xander stood up quickly and they began to circle each other. Xander leaned towards his right, but moved left at the last minute, ducking a blow that could have incapacitated him, had this been a real fight. His sword came up to clash with Methos'. Standing up, Xander sliced a gash into the side of Methos' arm, near his wrist, causing the older man to lose his grip on the weapon. Xander lay the blade of his sword against Methos throat. "Bang, bang, your dead." He whispered.

"Well done." Methos said, moving away from Xander, and his weapon as he wrapped a towel around his arm, though the bleeding had nearly stopped. "Never play fair."

"I've learned my lessons well." Xander bowed slightly, though he never took his eyes off his teacher. They were currently not on Holy ground, and one could never be too careful.

"You have." Methos acknowledged. "So, you're really leaving?" He asked, referring to the announcement Xander had made that morning.

Xander stepped farther back to catch his breath. "Yeah. This is the longest I've stayed anywhere since leaving California." He looked up and smirked slightly. "Besides isn't it time for you to be getting back yourself? Won't the little man be sitting at home wondering where you are?"

Methos laughed. "He's not the type to sit at home and wait. Besides he knows where I am. Which is more than I can say for some."

"Oh? What type is he then?" Xander asked curiously, ignoring the obvious dig.

Xander still hadn't learned much about Methos' life, or who he shared it with, except that his partner, for lack of a better word, was immortal, male and considerably younger than Methos.

That in and off itself didn't mean much. Xander had learned, in these past five weeks, that virtually *everyone* was considerably younger than Methos. Despite his curiosity, Xander felt uncomfortable asking too many questions since he had yet to share much bout Angel or what could possibly become his own personal life.

"I think you'd like him." Methos said. "If I was to guess, I'd say he's probably racing some poor schmuck around a seriously dangerous track.. just because he can."

Xander smiled at the image. Methos was probably right. He would like him, whoever he was. He started walking back towards the monastery and the safety of Holy ground.

Methos followed him inside and watched as Xander began packing up his few belongings.

Once he was done, Xander picked up his duffel bag and opened the front door, setting the bag on the ground outside. He stopped and turned around, unsure what was appropriate to say at this point. He really was out of practice in dealing with people, the past five weeks notwithstanding.

"Where are you headed?" Methos asked, recognizing Xander's inner struggle.

Xander turned back towards the door and looked out across the expanse of dirt road that led to the abandoned monastery. "Home."

"Alexander." Methos paused, watching his young pupil before continuing. "Not everyone can go home again."

"I know." Xander acknowledged, looking up at Methos, with a new wisdom in his eyes. He wasn't sure he *could* go home. But he'd made a promise. "I told someone I'd be back."

"Someone important?" Methos asked curiously. Even though he'd spent several weeks with the young immortal, he still knew next to nothing about what had led Xander to leave home to begin with.

"I don't know. Maybe." Xander answered vaguely.

Methos smiled wryly as Xander grabbed his duffel bag off the ground, tucked his sword conspicuously out of sight and started walking away.

"Oh, Alexander?" He called when Xander was nearly a yard away.

"Yeah?" Xander stopped and turned around.

"Don't lose your head."

Xander grinned. "I'll do my best, old man."

Methos watched him leave and wondered if they would cross paths again.

*~*~*~*

Angel stared at the desk calendar Cordelia told him he *needed*. It didn't seem to serve much purpose but to remind him how long it had been since he'd left Xander, and cause him to doubt the wisdom of his silence.

The telephone's shrill ring did nothing to change his mood.

"Hello." Angel answered irritably. It was an inside line and he was in no mood to be pleasant.

"Angel." Rupert Giles spoke into the line, not at all put off by Angel's gruff mood.

"Rupert." Angel responded warily. He'd spent the better part of the last few weeks, avoiding Giles phone calls because he still hadn't decided what to say.

"The immortal I spoke to you about."

"Yes?" Angel asked quietly.

"It's Xander." Giles said quietly, not positive of the response he would get. "But you already knew that didn't you?"

"Rupert," Angel began, though he wasn't sure what to say.

"Didn't you?" Giles asked again.

"Yes." Angel admitted with a sigh.

"It's okay." Giles told him. "I know what you were doing. You were only trying to protect him."

Giles paused. "You love him."

Angel blinked slightly, uncertain if he had heard correctly.

"It's all right." Giles repeated. "I know. I've always known."

"How." Angel couldn't seem to string two words together.

"Your relationship was always so.. intense. His unexplained anger towards you.. your own irritation at him. the appearance of indifference that never seemed quite right. I recognized the steps as ones Ethan and I had danced long ago." He sighed sadly. "Hopefully it'll turn out differently this time."

"Rupert," Angel tried again, only to be interrupted. Again.

"When Xander left Sunnydale, I didn't blame him; I didn't try to stop him. After what happened, and his possible part in the outcome, and Buffy's reaction.there was nothing else for him to do."

Angel didn't know what to say to that, or how much Giles really knew about what *happened*. He decided to leave the past in the past, and settled on the present. "Rupert, he's not the same. He's changed."

"We all change. Some for the better, some for the worse, but we *all* change."

"Willow doesn't know." Angel said suddenly, feeling strangely out of control in this situation.

"Does anyone?"

"Spike and Faith. They found him. But they don't know about the immortality. That wasn't my secret to tell."

"I won't say anything." Giles assured.

"Thank you."

A brief silence followed before Angel disconnected and wondered what he was supposed to do now.

It had been five weeks since Angel had left Xander and he knew he was running out of time.

They both were. Willow and Cordelia were concerned enough that they were almost ready to break their silence and come to him. Spike and Faith didn't understand why Angel had let Xander go and were threatening to go after him. Again.

And now Rupert, who was definitely a wild card, in this situation.

*~*~*~*

Giles stared at the phone for a few minutes before picking it up and dialing the airport.

He told Angel he wouldn't say anything. He never said he wouldn't visit and see how things were for himself.

*~*~*~*

Xander hopped on his motorcycle and headed away from the safe haven of Holy ground, and the isolation he'd found at the monastery.

With the exceptions of regular sparring sessions, and several history lessons, Methos pretty much left Xander to his own devices.

Something had happened during those five weeks.

Something he couldn't quite understand and didn't quite except, but he thought he might be ready to go home.

Finally.

As the highway passed under his wheels, Xander wondered what would be waiting for him there.

The End