*****

Chapter 3:

Spike tried not to worry... too much.

Yeah okay Xander just disappeared and you have to wait until after sunset, which is 'bout an hour away to see if anything bad happened to him. You can't worry too much. So just stop worrying you stupid git. Spike thought to himself.

He began pacing his crypt in frustration. There wasn't much more he could do then sit around and wait. There was no way he was going to go to the Watcher's even though he knew that Rupert would probably give him some answers. To many questions he'd have to answer. The main one being what was Xander doing at his crypt in the first place.

Spike could probably skate around that one saying that he had no bloody idea why the whelp was there in the first place. He could probably even make up some elaborate lie as to why he cared what happened to Xander.

The thing was if the Scoobies didn't know about Xander's disappearing trick they might blame him and that would get him seriously staked. So no going to the Watcher's was out of the question. Waiting at his crypt like a git was slowly driving him insane though.

Xander heard the ringing, but didn't want to bother to get up. He was having a wonderful dream that didn't need to be disturbed at the moment.

I'll just let the answering machine pick it up. That's what it's there forXander thought as he turned away from the ringing noise and curled up on his side.

Um this is Xander's place. Of course if you had this number you already knew that. Unless it's a wrong number and you don't know who Xander is in which case I'd think you'd already have hung up by this point... Well anyway just leave a message and I'll get back to you, hopefully. Xander's voice on the answer machine said.

Xander tried to record a better one, but after the twentieth time and it still sounded like he was babbling incoherently he decided to just go with that one.

"Xander?" Buffy's voice came through the machine.

"Xander are you there? Are you awake? Giles wants you to come over here as soon as you wake up. He thinks that with enough magic he can pull off this spell to call on a Higher Being or something. Anyway he wants you here as soon as you get this message. So just wake up now. It's passed sunset. Okay then see you later." Buffy said as the machine clicked off.

Xander groaned. As much as he wanted to figure out if he was doped or not, sleep was good and his bed was warm and everything was telling him to stay in bed.

Just gotta wake up, Xan-Man. Go over to Giles's and see what's up.

Suddenly that dizzy feeling that Xander was almost starting to get used to over took him. Xander looked up, wide-awake, to notice that he was lying on Giles's front porch.

"Gotta learn how to get that under control." Xander muttered to himself as he stood up and rang the doorbell.

"Xander I just called you. How'd you get here... oh right you can teleport now. Come in." Buffy said as she opened the door. She stepped back slightly to allow Xander room to walk in.

"Xander, you didn't change your clothes." Willow said her noise crinkling up in distaste at the slightly lessened alcohol smell from Xander's clothes.

"Sorry, I was kinda... walking... and then I thought about how much I wanted to go home and sleep and then whoosh I was at home on my bed and knocked out cold." Xander said.

"Could have taken a second to change before teleporting right back here." Buffy said.

"Well, I don't exactly have a hold on this teleporting stuff. I just heard your message and then thought I gotta wake up and come here and all of a sudden I was lying on Giles's front porch." Xander said shaking his head slightly.

"T... t... that's o...okay. M...magic's hard t...to learn at first." Tara said from her seat in the farthest corner of the room.

"You're telling me. My head is pounding and everything is moving in circles from all this teleporting stuff." Xander said walking over to the couch and flopping down. He rubbed his head and desperately wished he had some aspirin.

plop

Xander didn't even dare to look at anyone in the room or at the object that made a soft plopping noise near his hand.

"Xander... did you do that?" Buffy dared to ask.

"I'm guessing. Is it a bottle of aspirin?" Xander asked.

"Um, yeah." The three girls answered.

"Good can someone get me some water. I'd teleport into the kitchen, but I fear my head would explode if I keep teleporting and I can't really get up right now." Xander said.

"I'm on it." Willow said. Xander waved his fingers at her in thanks.

"Xander why don't you just you know think about getting some water." Buffy said.

"Because I'm afraid that would get wet." Xander answered. "It's too early to start using the magic Willie Nillie." Willow said handing Xander the glass of water.

"Where's Giles?" he asked accepting the water and grabbing the bottle of aspirin.

"He went out for some herbs or something like that." Buffy said.

"Oh." Xander said as he swallowed the pills as fast as he could.

"The spell should go off without a hitch. Just call on the Higher Being, ask it if Xander's supposed to be given these powers and then say thank you." Willow said.

"Do I need to do anything?" Xander asked.

"No, not really. It's a simple spell." Willow said.

"Great so we just..." Xander was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Huh, I wonder who that is? Giles wouldn't knock." Willow said.

"Could be Riley. He knows this is Giles's place and therefore Scooby hang out number one." Buffy said.

"Is someone going to answer it?" Tara asked.

"Oh right." Buffy said getting up and walking to the door.

"Spike what are you doing here?" Buffy said with an angry tone in her voice. Xander turned his head to see Spike standing there looking over Buffy's head and search the room. His eyes met Spike's and Spike let out what looked like a sigh of relief.

Huh, wonder what that's about. He wouldn't come to Giles's just to see if I was okay, would he. Of course I did teleport out of his crypt like it was an everyday occurrence. He's probably wigged and wondering if there's a demon after him. Xander thought.

"Uh, hello Earth to Spike." Buffy said waving her hand in front of Spike's eyes.

"Huh." Spike said moving his eyes from Xander to look at Buffy.

"I asked what they hell are you doing here?" Buffy said again tapping her foot in a pissed off manner.

"Oh, right, um, well,... there was a demon! Yeah a demon and it was sayin' stuff like ''M gonna kill the Slayer whose wif' me.' Big bloke too. Thought you all might want to know 'bout it." Spike said.

"What do you want for this information. Money, blood, a lifetime supply of being a pain in my ass?" Buffy asked.

"No, I jus' thought you might want to know s'all." Spike said as he began to fidget a little.

That was not the right thing to say. And you had it all planned out. Okay you can still recover. Spike thought.

"But you know if you're offerin' a bit of dosh might be nice." Spike said leaning casually against the doorway.

"See always in it for yourself. Thanks, but no thanks." Buffy said ready to close the door.

"Buff, maybe we should see what the Bleached Menace wants before turning him away. I mean if it has to do with a demon it could be useful." Xander said wondering why he opened his mouth.

"Xander I'm sure we can take care of whatever demon is out there. Spike says big and it's going around trying to recruit people to kick my ass I'm sure I can just beat up Willy for answers." Buffy said flippantly.

"Yeah, but don't you think we should get the information that we can." This time Willow spoke up although not for the same reasons as Xander. It was better to know ahead of time what you're facing then to go out looking for answers. Better to always be three steps ahead.

"Oh alright come in, but you need to be out of her before Giles and Riley get here." Buffy said moving aside slightly to allow Spike to step inside.

"Shouldn't take that long so don't worry your pretty lil' head." Spike said stepping inside.

"Well make it fast. There's a schedule Higher Being calling and who knows how they'll take vampires." Buffy said.

"What're you callin' a Higher Bein' for?" Spike asked.

"Because something happened to Xander and we're just checking to see if it was the truth." Buffy said.

"Really what happened, whelp?" Spike asked his voice lacking interest, but his eyes had a twinge of concern in them.

"Um... well... see after... I went out last night to get drunk I came home and went to bed. Well... there was something... well something happened. A fairy looking lady came into my room said that the Powers that Be were watching me and the I strayed off course and here's some power to get you back on track. Then she did this weird thing with her hand and I got all warm and then I fell asleep." Xander said.

Spike raised an eyebrow and... leered at him?

"What?"

"She did a funny thing with her hand that got you all hot and bothered and you passed out." Spike said on the edge of laughing hysterically.

"What... gross Spike I didn't mean it like that." Xander said turning away from the giggling vampire and that was something Xander never thought Spike would be doing. He was actually giggling.

He looked in Willow's direction to see that she had her hand over her mouth and even Tara was trying hard to cover her laughter. Trying, but not succeeding to well.

"What I don't get it?" Buffy said slightly confused by the situation.

"Buffy just think for a second about what Xander said." Willow said her hand still firmly planted in front of her face.

"Still not... oh...oh! Xander you should have just told us it was a personal call." Buffy said through her giggles.

"Oh my God it wasn't like that. Okay so it came out sounding a little like that, but damn you Spike gotta go and twist my words and make it sound like I said bad things that I didn't actually say." Xander said covering his face with a pillow.

He could here them all laughing. Tara's shy chuckles, Willow's hissing laugh as she tried her hardest to keep from laughing, Buffy hysterical laughter and Spike's guffaw that sounded too manly in the setting of a bunch of girls laughing.

For a moment it was like they were a group of normal friends.

Buffy wasn't rushing out to save the world.

Willow wasn't tapping away on the computer or performing various spells.

Tara wasn't shrinking into the scenery and stuttering over her words.

Spike wasn't annoying anyone or acting like the Big Bad.

Xander let a small smile grace his face from his hiding place under the couch pillow. He lifted the pillow to see his friends still laughing at him and he couldn't help, but laugh to. That's how Riley and Giles found them.

"What on Earth?" Giles asked as he took of his glasses and began to polish them. Riley scratched his head in confusion at the scene before him.

Buffy, Willow, Tara, Xander and... Xander's friend from a couple of nights ago were all laughing hysterically at something.

"I swear I didn't mean it like that. That's just how it came out." Xander said completely oblivious to the two newcomers.

"You know Xander if you jus' want to have another go with the fairy lady you should jus' say so." Spike said making everyone laugh even harder.

�Hey I feel kinda cheated here. I mean if this nice fairy lady is everything Xander says then maybe I shouldn't summon her for Xander." Tara said earning her a few shocked glances.

Spike stared at her for a second before bursting into laughter again. Buffy and Xander started to laugh again as well. Willow looked slightly upset, but only mildly so. She too began to giggle at her girlfriend's courage.

"That was a good one. Should talk more often, that one." Spike said in between his chuckles.

"Children!" the laughter died down and the group turned to see a miffed Giles and a confused Riley.

"Oh, hey Giles. Everyone was just having a laugh at my expense." Xander said.

"Yeah sorry Giles. We were just having a good time." Buffy said.

"Yes, would someone explain to me what Spike is doing here." Giles said tapping his foot impatiently.

"Big demon." Spike said.

"Yes, well, I'm all out of money today Spike." Giles said.

"Didn't come 'ere for the money. Jus' came to warn ya. This bloke means serious business." Spike said only slightly remembering that the big demon thing was a big lie.

"Somehow I doubt that." Giles said.

"Right, well I guess I'll jus' be on my way then. Let the demon rip the slayer to shreds for all I care." Spike said as he began to walk to the door. He was stopped by a hand on his arm. Spike looked up to see Riley grasp his arm.

"Do I know you?" Riley asked. Spike remembered that he was a member of the Initiative and was careful when picking his words.

"Nope just a friend of..."

"Yeah a friend of Xander's, but you look familiar. Are you sure we haven't met somewhere else?" Riley asked his eyes narrowing as he examined Spike closer.

"Um... no haven't seen you before in my life." Spike said in a horrible American accent that he would stake himself for later. Spike watched as Riley face contorted in what he could only assume was the slow thought process it took him to fully comprehend something. Confusion was clearly written on the man's face and then ever so slowly recognition dawned on his face.

"You're... you're... you're Hostile 17." Riley said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Spike said still trying to deny that he knew the man.

He tried to struggle free from his grasp, but the hand, although wasn't very strong, was a very human hand.

"Yes, I remember now. It took me a little while, but I remember. It's the Billy Idol do that gave you away." Riley said.

"Oi, that pounce bugger stole his look from me." Spike said realizing it was futile to argue with the guy.

�Buffy," Riley said turning towards Buffy and dragging Spike like he was a doll, "How could you... be laughing and paling around with a vampire?" Riley asked in a confused tone.

"He's... well friend's too strong a word... just a little while ago he was a bitter enemy... he's helpless. That chip you put in his head really works." Buffy said.

"Yeah works real good. Wanna take it out so I can shove it..."

"Riley, man he's harmless. Really, and he helps when there's cash involved so it's not all bad." Xander said cutting Spike off.

Sometimes the vampire was just itching to be staked or at least it seemed like that when he was picking fights with someone that had a firm hold on his arm and was ready to kill him if need be.

"Yeah, Riley, he's not so bad. Annoying as heck when he's tied to a bathtub, but hey anyone would be annoying if they were tied to a bathtub." Willow said.

"Thanks Red." Spike replied.

"But... but... but he's a vampire." Riley said shaking Spike a little.

�Ow." Spike said quietly Xander wasn't sure he heard it. He was pretty sure he was the only one that heard it.

"Yeah, but a harmless vampire." Xander said.

"Yeah, but he's still a... a... a vampire." Riley said.

"Right 'M a vampire, Goldilocks is the slayer, Red is a witch as is her little girlfriend, Rupes is a Watcher or well Ex-Watchers, the whelp... well he's the whelp and you are an idiot. Now that we've got that straightened out in words that I hope you can remember can you please let go of my arm." Spike growled.

"Spike unless you want to become so small that you can fit in a dust buster I suggest you not go name calling the person that has a hold of your arm. Riley... let go of his arm." Giles said as he started to place the herbs in various places in a circle. Sometimes he felt much older then he really was.

"I'm sorry Mr. Giles but he's a..."

"It's useless, Riley. No one is willing to stake him." Giles said.

"I'm willing to stake him." Buffy said.

"Then why haven't you already done so. Admit it Buffy you can't stake a helpless creature. He's impotent." Giles said.

"How many times 'ave I said not to use that word." Spike said still struggling to get out of Riley's grasp.

"He's right, let him go Riley." Buffy said. Reluctantly Riley let go of his grasp on Spike.

"Now Spike, perhaps you can stay and wait until after we summon the Higher Being to tell us about this... big demon." Giles said.

"Sure." Spike said rubbing his arm.

"Alright let's get started." Giles said to Willow and Tara.

"Great let's get started." Willow said dragging Tara to the floor where the circle was.

Willow sat on one side of the circle while Tara sat on the other. They held hands and spread some herbs in the middle of the circle. They began to chant softly and a white glow surrounded them. When it dissipated a tale slender woman was standing in the middle of the circle coughing slightly.

"Natalie?" Xander said recognizing her as the same woman that visited him last night.

"Oh, Alexander. I didn't think you'd call me this early. Are you already having trouble with your powers?" Natalie said.

"Well actually we called on you to confirm that the powers were genuinely from the Powers that Be." Natalie turned to face Giles.

"Why of course they're really from the Powers. What did you think I was some horrible demon trying to taint Alexander? He is supposed to be very useful in the upcoming years. He just lost his way a little and I was sent down to help him find it." Natalie said.

"So you gave him powers? How is that supposed to help him?" Buffy asked.

"I didn't just give him any powers, I gave him his powers." Natalie answered.

"But Xander doesn't have any powers." Willow said.

"Oh of course he doesn't have any powers. Not yet at least. In due time he was supposed to receive them, but I decided to give them to him early." Natalie said.

"So I'm really supposed to be powerful. Cool." Xander said.

"Ah, yes, but there's a reason that you're supposed to become so powerful, but then I'm getting ahead of myself. You have to learn that all on your own." Natalie said.

"Okay I knew there was a catch. There's always a catch. What do I have to go on some grave mission or something?" Xander asked.

"Oh it's far less complicated then that. You just have to open your eyes a little." Natalie said.

"Great more crypticness." Xander said.

�So Xander's really supposed to be powerful." Buffy asked.

"Is that so hard to believe? Yes, Alexander is supposed to become very powerful. So powerful that he becomes a Higher Being and one of the top ones too. He just needs a little... help getting there." Natalie said and looked as thought she was scanning the group for one person in particular.

Her eyes fell on Spike and she said, "Yes everything is in order. Alexander be a dear and only call me when it's imperative." Natalie said leaving in a bright burst of light.

"What did she mean by one of the top ones. That's a good thing right?" Buffy asked to no one in particular.

"Yes, it's a very good thing. Only they most powerful demons or witches ever become Higher Beings and to become one of the most revered is unheard especially by an ordinary young man." Giles said taking of his glasses for what seemed like the millionth time since he came to Sunnydale.

"What did she mean when she said Xander just need some 'help' getting there." Willow said using air quotes on the word help.

"I'm not sure." Giles said.

"May...maybe Xander's supposed to m...meet someone that will help him." Tara offered.

"I still can't believe Xander's supposed to be some powerful head honcho guy. Seems a little surreal." Buffy said.

"Yeah very surreal. Look if it's not a problem I'd really like to go home. I'm beat." Xander said.

"Yes, of course you go home and get some rest. We'll meet here tomorrow." Giles said. Xander said his goodbyes the left for the night.

"Should we just let him go like that. What if he gets himself into trouble with those new powers of his." Riley said.

"Well there's not much we can do about that. Xander has to come into his powers by his own right. So, Spike what about this demon." Giles said.

She didn't look at me. You're jus' imaging thins'. Should he be walkin' out like that? He may be almighty now, but he's new to the whole power thin' an' Sunnydale sure does 'ave a lotta demons. Maybe I should go after him jus' to make sure he doesn't get hurt.

Spike thoughts were interrupted by Giles calling his name.

"Spike."

"Huh."

"You can tell us about the demon now." Giles said.

"Right, big, hairy, gray, most likely a Ghar-Tink demon. Nothin' to scoff 'bout. That one's free 'f charge. Night all." Spike said distractedly as he walked/ran out of the front door.

"Well he sure was in a hurry to get out of here." Willow said.

"Yeah and he seemed distracted about something. Didn't even ask for money." Buffy said.

"Well let's not question it. It's better that we just take the information and run with it. Let's do some researching on these Ghar-Tink demons."

Xander distractedly kicked at a rock. So he was supposed to be some powerful big mighty guy that made other big powerful mighty guys quiver in fear. It was a great plan, in theory, but it also meant some other things he wasn't sure he was quite ready to handle. Whatever this help was it was going to come and Xander wasn't sure whether he should be thankful or scared.

"You know every time you're outside you risk becoming vamp food." Xander turned around to see Spike a few steps behind him.

"It's a good thing you're always three steps behind me." Xander said.

"Look you may be all powerful now, but still not safe to wander the streets of Sunnydale alone." Spike said.

"Yeah, well I can teleport now you know. So all I have to do is think about wanting to be home and poof I'm there." Xander said.

"Yeah I saw first hand how that works." Spike said.

"Yeah sorry about that. Must have been shocked by it. I know I was when it first happened. Teleported in on Giles and his girlfriend... doing stuff." Xander said.

"How traumatizing for you." Spike said with mock seriousness.

"Well I didn't see anything so that's a plus." Xander said.

"You scared." It wasn't quite a question and a little too prying to be a statement.

�I guess. I mean maybe a little. It's a scary thought. Me with tons of power. I don't know if I'll be any good at it. You know I've done the whole leadership thing before and I was okay, but this is Xander with actual power. It's slightly scary." Xander said.

"I'm sure you'll do great." Spike said.

"Yeah maybe."

There was a moment of prolonged silence before Xander said, "So I should be getting home. I'll see you around Spike."

"Yeah see you 'round."

Chapter 4