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*****
Melissa sat in a chair in the library, staring idly
into space. She was getting bored waiting
for Angelus to arrive and her anticipation level was reaching the breaking
point. She was an
impatient person by nature, preferring some kind of action to endless
waiting. She wanted to
get this over with and get her friend back. This scared her,
though she did not want to admit it
to anyone. When she had had problems of this nature before, Angel
had always been there
to help her. Now, Angel was the problem, so he couldn't help
her. She felt vulnerable,
although having William, Dru, and Buffy helping her did help subdue
that feeling somewhat.
She drew the necklace Buffy had given her out from under her shirt,
and twirled it around in
her fingers. "I can do this," she thought emphatically.
"For my friends, I can do this." Content
that she would be able to handle Angelus when he arrived, she glanced
over at Buffy who
also seemed lost in thought. "Poor Buffy," Melissa thought.
"This has to be hell for her. She
loves him, and she might have to kill him tonight." Melissa couldn't
imagine being in that
situation and didn't want to. Then, as they usually did, her
thoughts wandered to her friend
and charge. "I hope Willow's okay," she prayed. "I wonder
what they're doing." She smiled
at this thought, imagining what Xander could have come up with to occupy
Willow. Knowing
his gutter-dwelling mind, it would definitely be something interesting.
*****
Willow was feeling flummoxed again, and she definitely
did not like it. She had been fairly
certain during their discussion the previous night that Xander had
been thinking some very
interesting things about her. She had been having similar thoughts
about him, and had
eagerly awaited Buffy and Melissa's departure so that she and Xander
could be alone. She
realized that they were in danger and everything, but she didn't see
why she couldn't at least
get some smoochies while Buffy and Melissa were off saving Angel.
The moment they left,
though, Xander had turned on the television, and she was now watching
"It's a Wonderful Life"
with her best friend sitting on the bed beside her. "Xander?"
she questioned, deciding to just
speak up.
"Shh, Wil, this is my favorite part," Xander answered
quickly. He wasn't ready to have the
conversation she wanted to have. He didn't want to tell her that
he loved her until she was
well and she knew that he meant it. Until then, he would just
have to not discuss it with her,
he had decided.
Willow was starting to get annoyed with him.
Every time she had opened her mouth, he
had said the same thing. How could every part of the movie be
his favorite part? That just
wasn't possible. He was trying to avoid the conversation, and
that annoyed her. Bored with
the movie, she let her mind wander. She quickly thought of Melissa
and Buffy and a feeling of
dread washed over her. Something didn't feel right about this
whole situation, she thought just
as the door opened and Angelus entered.
"Hello, kids," Angelus said with an evil grin.
"Hmm, looks like Spike was lying to me when
he said Melissa stayed here with you. I guess there's a trap
waiting for me at the library. I
think I'll take the two of you along as insurance," he motioned for
his minions to grab Xander
and Willow, who struggled but couldn't escape, and left the room leaving
a trail of shocked
hospital employees in his wake.
*****
Spike cursed as he and Drusilla watched Angelus
leave the hospital. He had had a feeling
that Angelus didn't believe him, and so had followe him to the hospital.
He knew what
Angelus would do next, and he had to get to Melissa to warn him.
A wave of terror hit him as
he considered what Angelus would do to his beautiful, little Melissa
for this plan. "No," he
thought angrily to himself. "He will not hurt her. I won't
let him." "Let's go," he said to
Drusilla. "We have to warn Melissa."
"I'm going to warn her telepathically," Dru answered
in a voice that astonished Spike. In
her determination she had dropped her last pretenses of madness and
she sounded calm
and in control. This was not the Drusilla she had presented herself
as for the past couple of
centuries. "Hmm," he thought absently. "I'll have to ask
her exactly when she stopped being
insane." She hadn't bother to inform him, that was for sure.
She reached out carefully with her mind. She
found the mind she sought and sent a
careful message of danger to her. The last thing she wanted to
do was to overwhelm Melissa
now. She had to be ready for Angelus so that she could face him
as soon as he arrived.
Drusilla quickly apprised Melissa of the situation and then cut off
the telepathic link. "Okay,
let's go," she commanded Spike and headed for the school.
*****
Melissa sat up abruptly, as the full import of Drusilla's
hurried message hit her. "Oh my
God," she breathed and grabbed her bag. "Buffy, Angelus is coming.
He has Willow and
Xander!" she cried as she rummaged through the bag, withdrawing a stake
and a cross.
Buffy armed herself with her own stake and cross and faced the door.
She snapped into
Slayer mode, and she could feel them approaching.
"They're almost here," she whispered, fear tightening
her throat.
Then Angelus burst through the door with his minions
in toe. They unceremoniously
dumped the two frightened teenagers on the ground and turned towards
Buffy and Melissa.
"That will be all," Angelus snarled, his face already contorted into
his vampiric visage.
"Leave." The vampires hastened to obey, leaving Angelus to face
the two Chosen Ones
alone. Angelus changed back into his human face, hoping to throw
Buffy and Melissa off their
guards. "So, Melissa," he drawled, ambling towards her confidently.
"Nice trap you set up
here. It would have worked, too, if Spike weren't so damned predictable,"
he added, making
Melissa's eyes flash. He chuckled at the reaction his words caused.
"I mean, did he really
think I would trust him? I thought I'd stop by and see what exactly
you had in mind. If it's
interesting enough," he leered at her, "I might be willing to let you
live."
Melissa drew a ragged breath. "You can't let
him do this to you," she reminded herself.
"He's trying to provoke a reaction. Don't even acknowledge Angelus;
talk to Angel instead."
"Angel," she said aloud, walking towards him but keeping the stake
ready.
"Angel's dead," Angelus replied, his evil grin in
place. "Sorry. Guess you'll just have to
settle for me."
"Angel," Melissa repeated stubbornly. "I know
that you're in there. The spell was cast, and
the soul was returned to your body. Listen to me," she said pushing
into Angelus's mind.
She had only once entered Angel's mind, and he had asked her to never
do so again. She
didn't want to betray him, but she had no choice. What she saw
in his mind sickened her.
The Angel she knew was not the person in control of this mind.
The images were angry and
full of hate. This demon loved torturing people and killing them.
She found what she wanted,
the memory of Jenny's death, and started searching for the soul.
Melissa had to present this
to him, to let him see what the demon had done, and then hopefully
the soul would fight back.
She didn't count on the demon sensing what she was doing. Realizing
that he was in danger
of losing control of the mind, the demon harshly pushed her out and
thrust her away from
him. She lost her balance and ran into the table behind her as
he whirled in fury.
His eyes lighted on Willow and he smiled.
He didn't care anymore. That little bitch was
going to pay for what she had done to him, and her death would also
devastate Buffy and
Melissa. That was just icing on the cake, he thought as he lunged
for her. Seeing what he
was planning, Buffy and Melissa both instinctively threw themselves
in front of Willow,
shielding her with their bodies. Howling in anger and frustration,
he turned and grabbed
Xander instead. He lifted the boy to his feet and moved his mouth
to his throat. Xander began
to squirm in fear, but he couldn't break free. Angelus's grip was too
tight, and Xander was just
not strong enough. Angelus's teeth sank into Xander's neck as
he tried to get free. Xander
went limp as his blood started flowing into Angelus's mouth.
Then, before he had drained
Xander, Angelus let him go, flinging him aside like a rag doll.
Willow watched in horror as Xander slumped to the
ground, and she scrambled toward
him, not noticing or caring that Buffy scratched her trying to keep
her still. She reached her
best friend's side and started crying. She looked around for
something to stop the flow of
blood and finally decided on Xander's shirt. She ripped a piece
of it off and pressed it to
Xander's neck, the blood trickling from the scratches on her arm mixing
with the blood flowing
from Xander's throat. "Xander," she moaned softly, desperate
to keep him alive.
Spike and Drusilla entered the library to see a
scene of pandemonium. Willow knelt next to
Xander, crying softly. Buffy stood dazedly in the center of a
very damaged library. Books
were scattered everywhere and tables and chairs were broken into pieces
all over the floor.
Melissa picked up a part of a chair leg that had broken off and wielded
it dangerously, looming
towards Angelus. "You bastard!" she screamed, threatening him
with her impromptu stake.
"I was trying to help you! How could you do this?" Spike
looked at Angelus and lost all
control. Angelus had murder in his eyes and he was also advancing
towards Melissa. Spike
launched himself at Angelus throwing him to the ground. Meanwhile,
Drusilla grabbed
Melissa and tried to restrain her. This situation had to be controlled
immediately before
anyone else got hurt.
Willow sat with Xander's head cradled in her lap,
holding the fabric of his shirt to his throat.
Tears streamed down her face, as she leaned over to kiss his forehead.
"Please don't die
Xander," she begged. "I can't live without you. I, I...love
you," she stammered. There, she
had said it. Then, suddenly a jolt went through Willow like an
electric shock. She looked up in
confusion and, seeing Angelus being restrained by Spike, a rage built
in her unlike any other
she had ever experienced. A scream of pure anger burst from her
mouth as she lay Xander
aside and flew towards Angelus. She dragged Spike off him and
picked Angelus up, pinning
him against the nearby wall. "You listen to me, you son of a
bitch!" she screamed, the hatred
bubbling out of her. "Angel has exactly five seconds to wake
up and take control of this
demon or both of you die!" She didn't want to give him even that
chance, but somewhere in
the back of her mind she felt that she owed Buffy and Melissa at least
that much. "Angel, the
demon killed Ms. Calendar and pretty much made our lives hell for the
past ten months. He
hurt Buffy more than you can possibly imagine. If you love her
at all, you'll fight this demon."
As Willow spoke the words, occupying the demon by
punctuating her words with frequent
punches to the jaw, Melissa entered his mind and showed Angel the images
that she had
found earlier. The combined assault allowed Melissa to locate
the soul and accomplish her
plan. The soul responded with fury, pummeling the demon while
Melissa attacked the
demon as well. Among the three of them, they managed to beat
the demon into submission,
and Angel sank to the floor. Willow followed him, still gripping
his shirt collar in distrust. Angel
looked up to see Willow glaring down at her, and shook his head in
confusion. He wasn't
really sure how he got here, but he was fairly certain that Willow,
"and Melissa," he added to
himself glancing at his old friend, had just saved his life.
"Willow?" he asked carefully, so as
not to provoke the girl who had just a moment ago been beating him
senseless.
"Angel?" she questioned. She glanced at Melissa.
"Is it really him?" she asked in wonder.
Melissa entered Angel's mind again, which caused
him to look at her, clearly annoyed, but
she didn't care. She thoroughly scanned his mind then answered
in the affirmative. "Sorry,
Angel," she apologized. "But you weren't yourself for a while
there."
Buffy turned slowly as she heard the conversation
taking place behind her. "Angel?" she
asked, walking over and kneeling next to him as Willow returned to
Xander's side. "Is it really
you?" she asked through the tears pouring from her eyes.
"Oh, God," thought Angel. "Did I do that to
her? Did I put that look in her eyes?" If he had,
he could never forgive himself. "Yeah, it's me," he answered
softly, cradling Buffy's face in his
hands. He smiled at her, the beautiful, soft smile Buffy remembered,
not the evil leer that had
taken its place. He brought his lips to hers, and in that instant
Buffy was sure. Her Angel was
back, and her heart sang. Then she heard Willow crying behind
her and remembered why.
"Xander," she whispered as she and Melissa both
turned to look at him and Willow. Willow
knelt beside her friend and love while Drusilla tried to remember the
nursing she had done in
preparation of becoming a nun. The blood had stopped flowing,
but Xander's face was pale
and his pulse was extremely faint.
"We have to get him to a hospital," Dru stated matter-of-factly.
"The car's in the parking lot," Spike answered.
"I'll carry him out there."
"I'll carry him out there," Willow insisted, picking
up her friend like she might pick up a child.
"Let's go."
Everyone else in the group was too shocked to argue
with her and simply followed behind
her silently. Willow placed Xander in the back seat of the car
while Spike and Dru got in.
Then she got in and Spike sped off in the direction of the hospital,
leaving Angel, Buffy, and
Melissa gaping after them. "What just happened?" Buffy asked
after a few moments.
"I'm not sure," Melissa answered, "but I think Merrick
and I misinterpreted a couple of
prophesies."
Not certain of what she meant, Buffy started walking
towards the hospital with Melissa and
Angel following behind. They reached it quickly, all of them
possessing superhuman
qualities. Giles met them in the waiting room, desperate to find
out what had happened. He
had been unable to wrest any information from the distraught Willow
or the comatose Xander
and he distrusted Spike and Drusilla too much to bother asking.
He was growing distraught
with worry over what had happened to Melissa and Buffy when he saw
them enter the waiting
room. "Is he okay?" they both asked quickly, seeing the worried
look on their Watcher's face.
"What?" Giles asked, taken aback momentarily.
"Oh, umm, yes. I think he will be. The
doctors said he lost a lot of blood, but they're doing a blood transfusion.
He should be okay.
His heart was still beating, so his brain didn't lose oxygen for any
length of time."
Relieved, they both burst into tears, the events
of the past hour finally catching up to them.
Angel wrapped Buffy in his arms and let her cry into his chest as Melissa
looked around for
William. Seeing him at the other end of the waiting room, she
ran to him, throwing herself into
his arms. She sobbed against his leather jacket while he stroked
her hair, murmuring to her.
Finally their tears subsided and they both stepped back. They
glanced at each other, and
Buffy started laughing. "You look terrible," she told Melissa
through her laughter.
"Yeah well, you try breaking a table by being thrown
into it," she retorted. "It does wonders
for your appearance." Then she joined Buffy in her laughter and
went over to hug her new
friend. Turning towards Giles she asked,"How long will that transusion
take? When can we
see him?"
"You can see him now," a young doctor answered her
question for Giles. "He actually just
woke up. He's going to be fine. He didn't actually lose
quite as much blood as we had
thought. He was mostly pale out of fear I think."
Melissa and Buffy hurried into Xander's room and
smiled at their friend. Willow sat in the
chair next to his bed, steadfastly refusing to return to her own hospital
room. "Hey, Xander.
Merry Christmas," Melissa said, motioning for Spike and Drusilla to
enter the room. "William
and Dru saved your life. Well, with Willow's help of course,"
she added. "They got you here
in their car so you could get some blood. Pretty nice of them,
huh?" she asked, feeling the
need to defend her friends.
"Yeah, Mel," Xander agreed. "Thanks you guys.
You didn't have to go to such extremes to
get me a Christmas present though. A car would have sufficed.
What happened to
Angelus?"
Willow turned Xander's face towards her and looked
at him with steel in her eyes. "We
fixed him," she answered. "He's Angel again, and I don't want
to hear a word about it. Buffy
loves him and he is our friend. We are going to invite him in
here and you are going to be
polite. It wasn't him trying to kill you, it was the demon.
Do you understand me?" she asked,
releasing his chin, which she had been using to force him to look at
her.
"Okay, okay," Xander agreed, rubbing his chin.
"Geez, Wil," he whined. "That hurt."
Buffy went out into the hall and invited Angel to
enter Xander's room. Angel entered, his
gaze resolutely pointed at the floor. "I'm sorry," he began,
trying to make amends for what he
had done.
"Don't," Xander said. "It wasn't you.
It's over. Let's just get past it. If you're going to be
involved with my friend I might as well get to like you. I guess
that goes for you, too," he said
looking at Spike. "Are you sure you're in love with this guy?"
he asked Melissa, seeing his
opportunity to get revenge for the "interesting thoughts" remark from
last night, and smiled as
her face turned red.
Then Melissa drew herself up to her full height
and answered proudly, "Yes I am." Spike
laughed and pulled Melissa to him, placing a kiss full on her lips.
"I love you too, little one," he
whispered in her ear as they drew apart, and Melissa beamed.
"Okay," she said turning to
Willow and Xander. "It's your guys' turn. Buffy and Angel
kissed out in the hall. William just
kissed me, it's about time by the way," she digressed, kissing him
again, "so now it's your
turn."
"I think we could arrange that," Willow smiled,
leaning down to kiss Xander. Their lips met
and locked, meshing perfectly just as their souls had done long before.
"I love you," she said
confidently as she drew her head back. Xander swallowed and looked
up at his friend, his
love, his world. She would trust it he decided and smiled.
"I love you, too," he finally said,
and the most beautiful smile in the world broke onto Willow's face.
"There, that was much
easier than I thought it would be," he thought to himself.
*****
"The rest is pretty much one big kissing fest with
Giles and Dru feeling way left out," Xander
told his daughter, ending the story.
"So, you named me after them because they saved
Mommy's life and they were your
friends. Daddy," Melissa added thoughtfully. "If Mommy's
daughter is supposed to save the
world and I'm Mommy's daughter, does that mean I need to save the world?"
she asked
quietly. This was the first time this thought had occurred to
her, and it worried her. What if she
wasn't strong enough to save the world? She didn't feel like
she was anything special.
"Oh, whoops," Xander answered. He glanced
at his wife, who nodded. "Well, your
Mommy and I decided that when you got old enough to ask the question,
you would be old
enough to hear the answer, so here goes..."
*****
After the kissing fest had ended, Buffy remembered
the question she had asked Melissa in
the parking lot. "Melissa, what happened back there?" she asked
again. "How could Willow
possibly be strong enough to carry Xander?"
Giles looke up inquisitively, and Melissa did her
best to avoid his gaze. She cast her eyes
downward, carefully studying the bedspread on Xander's bed. "What?"
Giles asked smiling.
"What is she talking about Melissa?"
"Well, it's kinda embarrassing. Remember when
I first came to Sunnydale and I told you
about those prophesies. Remember how you said that maybe Merrick
and I were incorrect.
That maybe Willow wasn't the mother of the True Slayer and everything.
Well, you were
right," she muttered, hating to give Giles the satisfaction.
She would never live this one down.
She had been so adamant that she was correct. Then she became
defensive. "But you
weren't right about her not being important at all. We just read
the prophesies wrong. When it
said 'And the blood of the line of Deborah', that was the name of the
first Slayer," she clarified,
"'shall mix with the blood of the line of Harris', that was the name
of the founder of Xander's
family, 'and from their love shall be born the one True Slayer.' we
assumed a more figurative
translation. It turns out it was more of a literal translation,"
she added. "Were you bleeding,
Wil?" she asked her friend. When she nodded, Melissa asked, "Did
any of your blood get on
Xander's neck?"
"Probably," Willow replied. "My arm was bleeding
and I was holding the cloth to the
wound. Some of my blood could have gotten mixed with his."
"And you told him you love him," Melissa stated
and Willow nodded. "See, literal
translation," she said, nodding emphatically at Giles. "Willow
isn't the mother of the True
Slayer. She is the True Slayer."
*****
"Wow!" Melissa Harris' eyes were wide. "Mommy's
the True Slayer?" she asked,
incredulous. "Does that mean she has to save the world?"
"She already did, munchkin," Xander tickled his
daughter.
"When?" Melissa smiled, pride shining in her eyes.
How many children could say their
mothers had saved the world?
"A year ago tomorrow," Willow smiled at her daughter.
"Wow," Melissa repeated. "So, Christmas is
a pretty big day for you guys, huh?" she
asked.
"Yup, they saved Angel, I didn't die, and Mommy
saved the world. Something else
happened on Christmas, but I can't remember what it is. Can you
Wil?" Xander asked,
smiling at his wife.
"Nope. We should probably go to bed, though.
Tomorrow's Christmas and Melissa needs
to go to sleep. Hopefully we'll remember by morning what that
other thing was." With that,
she and Xander kissed their daughter and headed for the door.
"See you in the morning,
sweetie," Willow told Melissa as she turned off the light.
"They'd better remember what tomorrow is," Melissa
thought. "It's only been six years.
They shouldn't have forgotten already." Then she slowly drifted
off to sleep, thoughts of her
mother saving the world occupying her mind.
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