What Changed?

Chapter 4

Xander was tired by the time he returned to the hotel. It had been a busy and emotionally exha usting week. Everything had come to a head at once. Thankfully he had been able to turn in his latest set of homework before all of this hit. He had a feeling that he would be able to get more information for his research now that he was in LA. After all, there were a lot of people that refused to see what was going on around them in LA. Not on the wide spread scale that there was in Sunnydale, but still plenty for him to be able to research.

Now that he was living in the hotel and working with Angel and the rest of the Fang Gang he would get to see how people explained away their brushes with the supernatural. His thesis was nearly complete, and soon he would be finished with his studies.

He had already had offers from a number of companies and from a couple of colleges to come and work as an interpreter and an assessor. His knowledge of ancient peoples and languages was extensive. However, he was already doing what he wanted to do with his life. Who knew, maybe he could be of use to those around him.

With a stretch he got out of his car and started grabbing stuff to carry in. Mostly he was taking in Spike's things. He figured that it would help the vampire to have his things surrounding him. He knew that they all wanted to know what was going on with him and he also knew that he was going to tell them the truth. Including the reason, the real reason, why he had always disliked Angel and why he had taken an instant dislike to Wes.

His mutation had manifested after the last time he had been possessed. Thankfully he no longer had to worry about them taking control. The girls thought that he used the memories of his time as the soldier to help during the battle with the mayor and the battle with the Initiative. In a way that was the truth. He did use those memories, but he also tapped into Riley and his friends. During the battle with the Mayor he had called on those memories and he had also accessed the memories that Angel had of countless fights he had had both as Angel and as Angelus.

Unfortunately, by the time things had settled down Angel had gone and he wasn't in any condition to seek the vampire out. Xander still blamed himself for not finding out who Riley was sooner. It wasn't until Spike had told them who Riley was that he even thought to read the soldier's mind. While Riley was somewhat harmless the woman he worked for was not. She was quite insane.

Maggie Walsh had a frightening agenda and was using both demons and mutants to create her vision. Each member of the Initiative was hand picked for the organization and mission. All of them were chosen because they had either exhibited or held the gene that caused mutations. She had murdered one of her own men and had begun to make a monster out of him.

Thankfully, with the help of a couple of Riley's friends and a chastised Spike and Giles, the Scoobies were able to get the goverment te whe what she was up to and stop her before anyone else died.

The fact that Spike had helped in the end was what made cursing him so vile. No one could really blame the vampire for wanting to be free to hunt and take care of himself. The chip made him helpless against humans. Xander couldn't remember how many times Buffy had beaten information out of the blond, when asking would have gotten the same results.


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Angel looked up as Xander walked into the lobby carrying several bags and a box. It was hard for him to equate this confident man with the boy he remembered. Other than the threat over Spike he had been both polite and friendly. Even to him. It was two reactions that Angel never thought to have directed at him. Sarcasm and dislike was all he ever expected from Xander Harris.

Cordy was also watching her ex-boyfriend. She wondered what had changed Xander so. Yet at the same time she wondered if he had always been this way and she had just refused to see it. Xander had more confidence and more sorrow in his dark eyes.

The last time she had really done more than insult Xander had been the week before they broke up. Xander had asked her what she wanted from life and, surprised, she had told him. He was the only one who had never laughed at her for her dream of becoming a actress. A dream that was long gone now. She loved her life. It was a little crazy, but she wouldn't give it up for anything. She just hoped that Xander gave her a chance to get to know the new him.

"Hey guys. Where should I put Spike's things?" Xander asked kindly.

Angel blinked and motioned up the stairs. "The third room on the left on the third floor. Spike is sleeping in my room," Angel answered.

Xander nodded. "Where is he?"

"In the room. He's resting. I've been pumping him full of blood. He's undernourished and unwell," Angel answered.

"Human blood?" Xander asked and Angel nodded.

"Good. I heard there was a good supplier here in LA. I hope you're eating it as well. I've been doing research and it says animal blood weakens a vampire until they're barely faster than a Slayer," Xander said in an off-handed way as he walked up the stairs, leaving a gaping Angel and Cordy.

Wes was also stunned, having walked in with Doyle and Gunn at the tail end of the conversation. He looked at Angel who nodded dazedly at his unspoken question. Was that really Xander Harris?


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Xander knocked carefully on the door before pushing it open and walking inside. Looking over at the bed he could see Spike lying on the bed watching him. The blond didn't move or speak. "Hey, Spike, I brought you your stuff. There's more down in the car. I'll bring the rest up in a few."

"Why are you being nice to me?" Spike asked softly.

Xander walked over and sat down on the bed beside the blond. With a gentle brush, that shocked the vampire, Xander lay his hand down on Spike's cheek. "Do you remember when I collapsed that night everyone was screaming and threatening everyone?"

Spike looked at him in confusion, but nodded. It had been a month after he found out he could kill demons. They had come across a particularly nasty beast and Buffy had demanded that he help, then called him a liar when he told her how to kill it. That had started a huge fight and to their surprise Xander had fainted in thddleddle of it. The boy had passed it off as the flu, but both the Watcher and Spike had wondered if it wasn't another of the boy's secrets trying to make itself known.

"It wasn't the flu, it was all of the emotions and thoughts flying around that got me. I'm a mutant, Spike. One of my gifts is that I'm a psychic. You once made the comment that you couldn't figure out how I had fought so many years beside the Slayer and not gotten more than a broken arm. Well, that's because I have better than Slayer healing. As well as heightened senses," Xander told the amazed blond.

"Shit, Xander, no wonder you hated it when the idiots talked down to you," Cordy said from behind him. They had all followed him up the stairs with the stuff they had grabbed from his car. It hadn't taken them long to get upstairs and they heard the description of his gifts. Xander smiled sardonically at her.

"Yeah, imagine how they would react if they knew I will be getting my doctorate in a couple of months from Yale," Xander said somewhat snidely. Spike burst into laughter at the shocked looks on the faces of Angel and his little band.

"How come you play dumb?" Cordy demanded.

"I wanted to stay with Willow and Jesse. It was easy to go through school with them and still do what I wanted through homestudies elsewhere. Besides, it helped with my research," Xander answered her honestly.

"What research?\rdy rdy asked, coming further into the room. Xander had managed to surprise and fascinate her once again.

"The reactions of people and how they explain away things that make no sense or are in some way a threat to them. Take Willow, for example. It was easier to see me as her bumbling friend, rather than someone that I was not only smarter than her, but could keep up with her easily. Do you want to know what I was really doing at the Job Fair?" he asked.

She nodded. He had made up some story about life as a prison guard. She had never really bought it. "I was meeting with recruiters for some of the top museums and companies in the world. I can speak and read over 200 ancient languages and I can understand all of the demon languages that Giles and our vampires have exposed us to over the years."

"That's why Giles was always giving you the oldest books. Buffy was convinced it was so that the pictures would keep you occupied, but you were reading them!" Cordy exclaimed. Xander grinned and nodded.

"That still doesn't explain why you're so different now," she pointed out.

"Cordy, the reason I'm different goes back to Larry and graduation."

"I don't understand," she said softly. There was so much pain in his face.

"Larry and I were dating. He was my mate. He died at graduation. Do you remember when Buffy asked me to go to the morgue and put the stakes in the victims of graduation?" Cordy nodded. "Larry was one of them. He died that night. He was my mate and I had to stake him."

The group was silent as they listened to him. Spike and Angel shared a look over the boy's head. They both knew what he hone one through. Angel had staked Penn. It had nearly killed him. He had always loved Penn, not as much as he had loved Spike and Dru, but still, he was his Childe. Angel knew he would always regret the boy's loss. He couldn't bring himself to regret killing Darla. She had destroyed him and hurt his Childer with the first curse laid on him and the one that had come into affect after the loss of his demon. He had found out about that through a minion who had been given orders to bring him a letter if he were to ever lose his soul and be recursed.

The bitch had twisted his demon with the curse and driven him insane. To this day Angelus and Angel both were glad they had staked her. Their only regret was that had had not suffered more before her dusting.

Spike, on the other hand, had had to stake his only Childe. The poor creature had been badly wounded on his second night of life. Darla had been responsible for that as well. It was just weeks before he and Dru had left her for good. Dru had mourned their lost love for centuries and had been so fascinated with Xander because he reminded her of their Luca. Thankfully no one had ever learned about his Childe. Spike had always figured that Buffy would have used the death of his Childe to torment and hurt him.

"I'm sorry, Xander, I didn't know," Cordy said softly.

"No one did. I still haven't come out to the girls, and now it doesn't matter. They lost my respect when they cursed Spike," Xander told her angrily.