Title: Complications (Frankie's Story)

Author: Jeanny

Spoilers: Through the End of Season 5 - Takes place in an AU Season 6

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Yes, please! jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Distribution: Go ahead, I don't mind, just credit me and tell me where it's going.

Summary: After fighting with Anya, Xander heads to Los Angeles and winds up receiving something that was meant to hurt Angel...and then it gets complicated. Buffy/Angel Crossover.

Disclaimer: Joss & Co. own just about all these characters. I'm only playing in their sandbox with a few of my own toys.

Author's Note: This is the Frankie Story alluded to in Who's Your Daddy, but you don't need to read that story to understand this one. This story is AU for that universe. Buffy is alive, but she's lost her Slayer powers.

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The vase smashed against the wall, ceramic pieces falling into Xander's hair. He grimaced as Anya covered her face with her hands, still shaking.

"Ooooh! You make me so mad, Xander! If I still had my powers..." Up till that moment, Xander had been putting all his energies into trying to calm down his jittery fiancee. The wedding planning had been stressful for both of them, and it was natural for it to flare up now and then. But he simply couldn't believe she was threatening him with her past vengeance demon powers. Again. After all this time. His own temper boiled over, surprising them both.

"What would you do to me, Anya? Have my entrails eaten by rats? Make sure I went prematurely bald? Curse me with dull razors for life? Full House reruns on the television always and forevermore? What? Tell me!" Anya's mouth dropped open for a moment in shock, but she quickly recovered. When she spoke it was in a quieter tone.

"I wouldn't do anything to you, you're overreacting-"

"I'm not overreacting, Anya! You're the one who overreacts to everything! You threaten me with your demon past every time we fight. I've had it. I keep waiting for you to get over losing them, but I'm thinking that's never going to happen."

"So what are you saying, Xander?"

"I'm saying...I'm saying I'm tired. You're never going to come to terms with being mortal."

"But...I was a vengeance demon for over a thousand years, Xander. I've been human for less than five. It's who I was, so it's part of who I am. I thought you understood that." Xander could hear something in Anya's voice, but he still wanted...to be right. Just once he wanted to win.

"I do, but-"

"Get out." The raw pain in her voice startled Xander. No anger, just hurt. Hurt that he'd caused. He felt suddenly numb and unable to think clearly. He clung to the hope that he'd misheard her.

"What?"

"I said, get out. Go away. I don't want to see you. Just...just leave me alone!" There was no misunderstanding, it was all very clear. But Xander felt completely unable to move. Anya grabbed her coat and purse in a sudden flurry of movement. He could hear the beginning of sobs in her harsh breathing.

"You won't go? Then I will. Goodbye, Xander." The door had never shut with such finality. Xander's knees buckled, and he sat hard on the couch. He stared unblinking at the wall until the phone rang. Hope leapt in his heart as he dived for it. *She's sitting downstairs, waiting for me to follow, calling on her cell phone, she wants to work it out, she-*

"Anya?"

"Xander?" Giles sounded a bit puzzled. "I thought you and Anya were together this evening."

"We were. She left. Something you need, Giles?" Xander asked flatly.

From the long pause before Giles spoke again, he could tell the Watcher knew something was very wrong, but was unsure how to broach the subject if Xander didn't mention it first. Xander had no intention of talking about Anya with Giles or anyone else right now. He would figure it out on his own first, and let her cool down, and then they would talk and it would be okay. He told himself all of these things when he was waiting for Giles to speak again, and he believed none of them. The truth was something was very, very wrong, and had been for quite some time, and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Yes, well, it seems like I might have found something in one of the texts I received from the Council. Might have some bearing on our current situation." Despite his depression Xander sat up straighter. The current situation that Giles had alluded to was Slayer-related, and therefore took precedence.

"That's good...it is good, right?" Xander had picked up something in Giles' tone, something that gave him a feeling his bad night was about to get worse.

"Yes, it's quite good. The answer to our problem might very well be contained in this particular passage."

"You know, you didn't say 'but', so why did I hear it anyway?" Xander pressed wearily. Giles sighed uncomfortably.

"You're quite correct, Xander. There is a bit of a catch, and I'm rather abashed."

"I'm not touching the abashed part. Tell me about the catch," Xander prompted.

"The demon language used is rather obscure. I've been able to translate the majority of it, but there are a few key words I'm having trouble with," Giles said, each word coming from his mouth now sounding like they were causing him physical discomfort. "However, there is someone more acquainted with this particular type of demon. I believe he might be able to assist us in this matter."

"I'm guessing it's not me."

"No, I was speaking of Wesley."

"Wimpy? The one that she ran out of town after he got over his big owie from graduation?" Xander asked in disbelief. "You're telling me he could actually be helpful."

"In this instance, yes. And being that he's in Los Angeles..."

"You actually know where he is? I didn't think you guys were keep-in-touch close."

"I suppose I never mentioned it, as the subject was so sore, but Wesley works for Angel."

"Kid me not! Angel's got his very own wimpy Watcher? That I'd like to see."

"Glad to hear you say that..."

*****

Xander shook his head for the thousandth time since leaving Sunnydale. He couldn't believe that Giles had talked him into this, but in truth he hadn't needed much convincing. At that vulnerable moment, a trip out of town had seemed like a really good idea. Anywhere but Sunnydale had seemed like a good idea. Even Los Angeles. Even seeing Angel.

Even seeing Cordelia.

Graduation. That was the last time he'd seen her; she'd left to find fame and fortune in Hollywood not long after. Surprised was an understatement for what he'd felt when he'd been told she was working for Dead Boy while working on an acting career. But then it had been buried in the recesses of his mind like so many other thoughts, only resurfacing after he'd told Giles he would deliver the manuscript to Angel's office personally. Now he couldn't help being painfully aware that Cordelia represented not only his first real relationship, but his first failed relationship. On the heels of his sudden breakup with Anya, she was so not the person he wanted to see right now.

Not like he didn't understand fully well what had gone wrong with him and Cordelia. He was the one who threw the whole thing out the window to lock lips with his best friend. What was happening with him and Anya was completely different. Life in Sunnydale was a lot of stress on a relationship, especially after Buffy's death. And her return. And the current problem...

"What is it with me and violent women?" he asked aloud, then grimaced. "Great. What is it with me and talking to myself?" He had reached the address Giles had given him. He parked the car and stopped, looking at the Hyperion Hotel. It was a little more Hollywood than he had pictured, but still pretty broody. He could imagine it as an Angel place. *Probably did the lobby in black,* he thought sourly.

Just as he was about to open the car door, a heavy rain shower began to fall. Xander sighed. He had parked close as possible to the entrance, but he was still going to have to make a dash for it. Living in California, he had no rain gear to speak of with him. And Giles would kill him if he allowed his precious book to get wet. He removed his jacket, wrapping it around the book, relieved to find it covered it completely. The jacket was 100% waterproof, so with any luck the book would stay dry. Xander would get soaked, but he'd suffered worse problems than a little water. So it was that he burst through the doors of the Hyperion Hotel, soaked thoroughly. He stood shivering as water dripped from his jeans and sage-colored t-shirt and ponded at his feet.

"Hello?" he called out. The slight echo of his own voice was his only response.

Stepping gingerly, he winced at the squishy sound his loafers made, and glanced back ruefully at the puddles he was leaving behind him. He reached what had once been the reservation desk and carefully unwrapped his precious parcel, relieved to see it was still dry. A head popping up directly in front of him startled him and he fell back, landing hard on his but. He looked up into the face of a woman he didn't know.

"Oh...I scared you. You scared me too!" the strange woman drawled, a half-smile on her face.

"I called out, before...I'm Xander Harris."

"You are? That's nice. My name's Fred," she said, moving to stand over him and holding out her hand. She grabbed his hand as he reached for it and gave it a firm shake. "I should have heard you, when you came in, but I was thinking. I kinda tend to, you know, get a little lost to the world when I'm thinking. Gosh, you're very wet, aren't you?"

"You noticed that, huh?" Xander said, struggling to his feet. "So I'm guessing you work here? You're the receptionist?" Fred laughed.

"No. Golly. We don't really have one of those. I'm the physicist. And I live here! With Angel. It's a very nice place to live. You know Angel? Wait, you're not a lawyer, are you?" Xander shook his head in confusion, trying to process the rapid-fire information.

"Not a lawyer? You're Angel's physicist? And we can't even get Giles to use a cell phone...wait...you live with Angel? You're not...with Angel in the 'with Angel' sense, right? I mean, he hasn't fallen back into any bad habits, you know, torture, mass murder, smoking..." Seeing Fred was looking at something behind him, Xander turned and saw Angel, Cordy and Gunn staring at him. He jumped in fright. "Gah!"

"Xander?" Angel asked, confused.

"Angel," Xander warily greeted the vampire. He didn't seem evil, and the others didn't seem to be afraid of him, so Xander decided he hadn't been too happy since their last encounter.

"Xander!" Cordelia said. It was mostly an expression of shock, but he decided to take it as a greeting.

"Cordy." Cordelia with shorter hair, in sweats and very little makeup, but still every bit a princess. Xander was struck by how beautiful she was...and also noticed that she was careworn and thinner than he remembered. Life had not been easy on Cordelia since she left Sunnydale.

"Xander?" Gunn said, his tone of voice saying that the name was familiar to him from somewhere but he couldn't place it yet.

"Guy I don't know," Xander greeted Gunn with a finger point salute. At that moment Wesley walked in, smiling when he saw Xander. He looked so different that Xander almost didn't recognize him. Dressed in a chambray shirt and jeans, he radiated a relaxed confidence that was antithetical from the uptight neurotic he remembered from high school.

"Oh, good, Xander, you're here." Cordelia and Angel looked at the former Watcher reproachfully, and Wesley's expression changed from happy to chagrined.

"Wesley didn't mention I was coming here," Xander surmised. Wesley gave a small embarrassed laugh.

"I mentioned it...didn't I?"

"No, you didn't," Cordelia said in that annoyed princess tone Xander remembered so well, then turned to him with a regal smile. "So, Xander. You're here. And you're wet." The last was said with more than a little distaste.

"I noticed that too," Fred chimed in eagerly, earning a smile from Wesley that was more than a little fond. Wesley's brow wrinkled when he fully took in Xander's soggy appearance.

"Why didn't you park in the covered parking...that I may have forgotten to mention to Mr. Giles. I'm terribly sorry, Xander." The younger man shrugged. So no one knew he was coming. So he was dripping all over Angel's floor. So no one seemed to find it worthwhile to offer him a towel or introduce him to the people he didn't know. On the heels of his breakup with Anya, not even close to worth getting upset over.

"It's okay. I don't melt, I was just worried about Giles' magic book getting wet. I put it on the counter." Wesley ran to look at the book eagerly. Angel was fidgeting slightly, and Xander knew he wanted to ask about the Slayer. Before he could, however, the young man he didn't know suddenly grabbed his hand and shook it, glaring at the others in annoyance.

"By the way, I'm Gunn." Xander smiled. He instinctively liked this guy. He was easy-going, but there was a definite edge about him that told Xander he could hold his own in a fight.

"Xander Harris, nice to meet you." Gunn's expression told Xander he had finally figured out who he was.

"Harris. From Sunnydale? Hey, you're the guy Cordy used to-owww..." Gunn rubbed the spot near his ribs that had been impacted by Cordelia's elbow, faking extreme pain, his eyes twinkling. Cordy rolled her eyes at him and Xander grinned.

"Couldn't have summed it up better myself," he said to Gunn, who grinned back. Cordelia's expression was shifting rapidly from exasperation to amusement to apprehensiveness. She licked her lips, suddenly seeming insecure beneath her usual bravado.

"So, Xander...you look good. Wet is a good look for you." Xander smiled gently at the awkward attempt at small talk, then grinned, remembering a happier time for the two of them.

"Unless I turn into a fish monster." Cordelia shrieked in strident laughter. Angel looked a bit pained, Gunn a touch alarmed, and Fred and Wes just looked bewildered. There was another awkward moment where Cordy tried to think of something else. Xander racked his brain for something he could say to her, but found he was too cold, sodden and weary to process any original thoughts. He'd just answer any questions she came up with, he decided, unless she wanted to talk about...

"Right. Okay. Is Willow really gay?" asked Cordelia brightly.

...Willow. Xander flushed and turned to Angel, saying the first thing that came into his head to delay the Willow conversation.

"So Angel, Fred says she lives with you. What's up with that?" Angel grimaced at him, and Xander realized that by addressing Angel directly, he'd moved from the frying pan into the fire. Because while talking with Cordy about how the girl he'd thrown her over for was in fact a lesbian was awkward, what Angel wanted to talk to him about was beyond awkward. Collect your $200 and head straight to torturous. He shivered with more than just a chill waiting for the question to come.

"She lives here. I live here. It's a hotel. How's..." Angel let the rest of the question hang, unable to finish.

"The same. It's been hard." Xander answered quietly. The two men exchanged meaningful looks that went completely understood by the others. Angel had told them what was happening with the Slayer in Sunnydale.

"Oh. She hasn't asked for me?" Angel said finally.

"N-no." Xander stammered slightly. He had now passed chilly on his way to hypothermia.

"Angel, are you gonna get the man a towel or just let him drip dry?" Gunn said.

"Are you cold?," Fred asked Xander sympathetically.

"He needs dry clothes, Angel," Cordelia said firmly. When the vampire didn't say anything, she crossed her arms in annoyance. "Angel?"

"I'm o-k-kay," Xander said, his chattering teeth belying the statement.

"See, he's okay..." Angel said lamely. Seeing the glares from all four of his co-workers, he relented. "Go change into something. Cordy, can you..." Cordy smiled and took Xander's hand, leading him towards the stairs.

"Come with me, Xander. We'll dry you off and dress you up, and then you can tell us what's so vitally important about that book that you had to pull courier duty. Wesley has barely taken his nose out of it since he opened it." Part of Xander wanted to reply that no one had needed donuts, but he didn't want to be bitter and reopen old wounds. He could see an opportunity to get off on the right foot with Cordy, to maybe build a friendship that had never had a chance to develop before. The trip would be worthwhile then no matter what Wesley was able to uncover.

A short while later Xander felt a lot drier and more than a little ridiculous. Cordy had taken clothes out of Angel's closet that were quintessentially Angel, down to the black leather duster she had insisted upon. He had tried to balk at the boots until he realized that she had removed and hidden his sopping loafers while he was toweling off in the bathroom. Cordelia looked him over, grinning madly.

"Are you doing this to drive him crazy or me crazy?" Xander asked, looking at himself in the mirror and shaking his head. Cordy laughed.

"I get to do both at the same time. It's like double coupon day at Ralph's." She appraised her handiwork seriously for a moment. "You cleaned up good, Xander."

"Thanks...you look great, Cordy. I meant to tell you before..."

"You don't have to say that," Cordelia answered sadly as she led the way back downstairs. Xander frowned. He grabbed her arm at the foot of the stairs, forcing her to look at him.

"You're one of the most beautiful I've ever known, Cordelia Chase. Still and always, honestly and truly, from the bottom of Angel's shoes." Cordelia saw the sincerity in his eyes, and gave him a slow smile. She reached out and smoothed the lapels of the duster...and suddenly grabbed hold of them, screaming as a vision hit. Reflexively Xander put his arms around her as she convulsed.

"Angel!" Xander yelled, frantic. The others were there within moments. Gunn and Angel took Cordy gently from Xander's arms with a practiced air that told him this wasn't a first time thing. After a few moments she seemed to come out of it. She was still trembling and holding her head, her eyes closed. Fred stood by with a handful of aspirin and a glass of water, her expression pensive. Wesley stood behind her, his hands lightly on her shoulders and his expression grave. Xander had never felt more useless.

"Vampires...nineteen or twenty of them...they've kidnapped a whole bunch of high school kids...they've got them in an abandoned building, most of them are still alive...it's like they're waiting for something. The building, it has a name...it's got a C in the name...big letters...Costa...Costa Roja. That's it. Costa Roja Development."

"I'm on it," Gunn said roughly. He left for the computer. Fred took his place, handing Cordy the aspirin and holding the glass steady as the shaky brunette swallowed. Angel brushed Cordelia's hair back from her face gently, looking uncertain until she made a shooing gesture. He glared at Xander meaningfully. Taking the hint, Xander moved to support Cordy as Angel left to converse with Wesley and prepare for battle. Cordy blinked away her remaining tears and tried to smile at Xander, grimacing instead.

"Sorry about that," she said hoarsely. "I kind of get visions now...from the Powers that Be. To tell Angel what they want him to do." Xander and Fred helped her to her feet, and she managed a lopsided smile.

'They're a bit on the painful side," Fred volunteered, and Cordy glared at her.

"If by 'a bit' you mean very, very, very extremely much," she huffed painfully, then sighed.

"I don't know what to say," Xander replied honestly.

"Nothing to say. It's my gift and I can't return it. Just my luck," Cordy said with a short humorless laugh. Wesley, Gunn and Angel returned, loaded up with weapons. Cordy raised her chin defiantly.

"No," Angel said before she could speak.

"Don't argue, I'm going," Cordy protested.

"You should go home and rest," Wesley said gently. "Xander, could you take her?" Before Xander could agree Cordy had put a hand on his arm.

"No. Thank you. That won't be necessary, cause I'm going with Angel."

"Cordy..." Angel began, his tone warning.

"Angel..." Cordy matched his tone, her arms crossed in annoyance. Angel sighed.

"Why?" Angel asked.

"Cause there are too many of them, Angel. You might be Super-Vampire Guy, with your merry men here, but you need all the help you can get on this one. Trust me, I saw it. I know." Angel said nothing.

"Count me in, too." Xander asked. "Cordy's got me all dressed for it, right? All dark and brooding with no place to go. Shame to waste the look." He tried to convey through his eyes that he would also be there to make sure nothing happened to Cordelia.

"He could be very helpful," Wes said to Angel, who nodded curtly.

"Just try not to mess up the clothes," he said. "Fred?"

"I'll stay here and man the fort...it's not really a fort, of course. Y'all be careful. Call me if you need me to research something..." Fred trailed off wistfully, looking around the empty lobby. "Or if you just need to empty a room really fast..."

*****

The whimpering of the humans was satisfying, Carlos mused. But not nearly as satisfying as eating them would be. In the ten months since he had been turned, his mistress had never made him wait like this for a kill. The minion was starting to get nervous, and he could tell the others were too. None of them had yet been bold enough to actually question the delay until Lise returned.

Carlos hated Lise. Though she no longer needed to breathe, the waifish vampire had a way of always seeming out of breath, a trait Carlos found highly annoying. But mainly he hated her because their mistress prized her above all her other minions, including Carlos. Lise could get information and make kills that no one else could manage. She seemed inconsequential, and so simply escaped most people's notice. Only the mistress had probably ever noticed the girl while she was alive; now she was the mistress' right hand. Lise was unwaveringly loyal and deadly, but not terribly bright. Carlos prided himself on his greater intelligence; it was only a matter of time before he found a way to get rid of the little bitch without implicating himself.

"He's coming," Lise panted.

"And the dark-haired bitch, the one with the visions?"

"Yes. I saw them both. They were together."

"And did you get everything?"

"Yes. The Ph'roch demon didn't even protest when I told him it was for you."

Lise's words had made his mistress smile with pleasure, but Carlos couldn't stand being left in the proverbial dark a moment longer. He would never usurp Lise as the mistress' favored one without showing some initiative.

"Mistress," he said as deferentially as he could manage. "Please, could you tell us who's coming? Who are we waiting for?"

"We're waiting for Angelus." A murmur of alarm rippled through the minions. Even the newest of them had heard of the vampire that killed his own kind.

"We're waiting for Angel? To kill us?" Seeing the flash of annoyance in his mistress' eyes, Carlos was sure his overly quick tongue had just signed his death warrant. He gulped as she came closer, then sagged with relief when she only stroked his cheek affectionately. Darla smiled in satisfaction as she leaned in to whisper her secret.

"To join us."

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