Xander's Story

"I'm thinking we should do the wheelchair thing even if you fix the foot, which doesn't feel that bad anyway."

Then let me look at it!

"... I'm gonna say 'no', 'cause I wanna check something."

Okay, that was it. He wasn't putting up with this. It was one thing when Xander was out cold and wasn't deliberately trying to keep Alex out. It was something else entirely to be awake and actively refuse to try switching back. This was exactly what it was like the first year, constantly fighting and pulling and tearing at each other for what they both knew was their right to have. And just like before, one of them was very wrong, and that was Xander again because this was still his body and he'd taken it back before and if he had to do it again, he would. Right now. He started concentrating.

He fought harder.

Then harder.

Then stopped. Nothing. ... He was wrong.

In that first year, he'd always been able to feel his arms and legs. The problem was that they wouldn't move. It'd been as if steel had wrapped around them and kept them steady, ready to move only when this obnoxious intruder deigned it necessary. There wasn't that sensation anymore. In his panic, he hadn't really noticed, but reaching out for it now and practically swiping through empty air...

He tried one more time. Maybe he needed more motivation. He'd aim for punching Xander in the face. He doubted the guy would be nervous enough to give up control - if he could - for something like that, but one way or another, he'd know he still had some power.

Alex's fingers curled. His hand balled up into a fist. His elbow bent, his arm lifted, and with one focused push, absolutely nothing happened and he felt like an idiot for trying.

Dammit.

Xander's cue to crack up.

"Once again, I hold the cards," he laughed. "You can't control me, you can't hit me, I can tune you out like you're white noise and, if you try starting something, I'm gonna drink that whole damn bar until you shut up for a night."

That's called 'torture', Alex snapped. They use that on war criminals.

"Two years, snickerdoodle, and I turned out okay. I'm sure you can last a few hours." He really couldn't. The cab ride had been terrifying. "Gwen, if I were you, I'd just hand over the money and let me buy my own coffee. You're cute and everything, but I will wreck your shit if you get the order wrong. I'm not insane about it, but I like it done a certain way."

He smiled. Good to know he was awake enough to flirt.

Look down, look down, keep going - there, perfect -

What happened to my foot?!

"Huh. Looks swollen," Xander said, trying to bend it. "Ahhh, it's fine. I can still run on it."

Don't you even think about - Xander, dammit, sit down! Get off of it!

He didn't listen. Big surprise. He lowered himself onto the good foot, as in the one that wasn't mutilated and purple, then gradually eased his weight onto the other. There was no hiss of pain or sudden change in breath, but Alex could see the top of his cheeks and lips tensing into a faint wince.

"Okay. It's a little worse than I thought. Still workable, just... slow and steady would be nice."

Oh, yeah, definitely. Let's ask the French guy if he wants lunch before he comes to kill us - are you crazy? You did this to me! And for what? A latte?

"Which I didn't even get," Xander said. "Relax. Everything's fine. It's me we're talkin' about, not you."

... Fair enough. But still, Alex wasn't happy about this.

A wheelchair's too much. He could sense the disappointment. We could make do with crutches.

"Uh-huh, sure. So - who's Sal, exactly?"

Sit. Down.

Xander didn't do it until Gwen told him to, and even then he almost kept standing. He dropped on the bed and bounced a bit, too unconcerned by the battered piece of meat attached to his ankle to bother 'wasting his energy' dragging over a chair. He needed to stretch it out. Could he really not feel it? Alex could, and he had to do it through his imagination.

"You switched from me to a guy who drives a taxi? You know I can fly a helicopter, right? And a jet."

No you can't, Alex said.

"Like I couldn't use a gun?"

You know what? You wanna just write down everything you can and can't do? I get that you enjoy surprising us with some amazing new skill you've never mentioned before - ever - but it'd be nice to know what we had available to us before we slapped a half-assed plan together in a desperate attempt to get away.

"About that," Xander said. "Where are we?"

Some hotel.

"This is the best they have...?"

Suck it up, your majesty, Alex muttered. We've got more important things to deal with.

Xander nodded, very blatantly considering a different set of priorities.

"What's the status on that Starbucks? Can we go? Now?" And before Alex had the chance to snap at him for that, he added quickly, "Unless you two are gonna fight the Agents alone."

No Starbucks. This is serious, Alex said. If you want coffee, we can get you some, but we can't risk you passing out if we head outside. There's probably something in here. Maybe it won't kill you in three sips, but it should wake you up.

For once, Xander had to see the sense in what -

"Yeah, I'm gonna go to Starbucks," he replied, immediately back on his feet. "I have to make sure I can walk around anyway. What're you doing with that?" He was referring to the container Gwen was digging through. "Relax. Don't waste your time. I'm fine. I'd jump on it and show you, but I figure this one'll start crying."

Gwen, if you have to drug him to fix the foot, do it.

If she wanted to drug him for the hell of it anyway, he'd be fine with that as well.

"... So... Seriously? Cab driver?" Alex almost laughed at him. "'Cause I can drive a train, too. I mean - it's not hard. You push a button and let the thing go off on its own, but still. Train. Better than taxi."

He could find someone to sleep with in the middle of the desert, but he couldn't pick up on a joke? Some training. Then again, Agents were notorious for being emotionless robots. Alex gave himself a pat on the back. In his head. His real back was... well... inaccessible.

Xander.

"Huh?"

Close your mouth.

Alex honestly couldn't tell what had the guy drooling: hearing they were finally going to Starbucks or Gwen's pandering to his - Alex's, really - hormones. He thought he'd grown out of that. Obviously not, but at least the foreign name of the city sunk in and distracted him from any overly-lewd answer.

"Vestal? Where's that?

Here.

"Oooh, he's clever tonight," Xander said, sitting on the bed long enough to start cramming his foot back into the shoe. Gwen had to've heard the sharp hiss of pain. It looked like arthritis was going to be the least of his worries... "Easy coming off, not so easy going on. But I guess the important part's that first one."

He was getting tired of this. Alex hadn't signed up to be a third wheel at any point in this day.

Would you stop flirting?

"Flirting?"

Oh, right. This was how he was normally. And Gwen liked this? Really? He wasn't saying he was surprised - just... maybe a little more than relieved Xander couldn't pick up on what he-would-call-but-most-certainly-wasn't-jealousy.

He didn't want to leave this place. He wanted to stay in one spot, off his foot, close to whatever they were calling 'home' for evening so they didn't have to streak through thirty blocks to get back. That plan made the most sense, considering they were being chased by a hundred different people. Gwen, more than anyone, and as a rookie to this 'getting chased' thing, should've been more concerned for her safety. He was glad his powers were putting her at ease and he was happy she'd been able to stand up to that Agent-woman's nightmarish attack, but this wasn't the time to be taking stupid risks. Who the hell knew what was out there? Why was he being painted as the crazy, neurotic one when he was the only guy here keeping track of how much danger they were in? They couldn't trust Xander. Sure, he was an Agent too, but that wasn't what he meant. Unless coffee was a magical cure for whatever had happened to them, they should stay here.

"Okay! Shoe's on. Let's get some Starbucks!"

Alex was waiting for whatever response he had brewing for Gwen. Was it about trains? Was it about trains being euphemisms? That's probably what it was, or what Xander'd been trying to get to. Next thing he'd know, he'd be hearing the guy going on about 'taking a ride on his train' or 'next stop, your tunnel' and oh God, why were those words in his head?

Let's just go, Alex snapped, focusing on anything else. Hurry up, and then straight back here.

"Yes, mommy." He could see Xander smirking like a demon. "And - uh... judging by your face, dear lady, I'm gonna go ahead and say he's thinkin' enough dirty shit for me to not have to."

I'm not!

"Easy there, studmuffin. We'll worry about the wild monkey-sex when I've got a latte in me. Or four." He smiled brightly at Gwen, ecstatic to finally be on his way. "Lead away. Shortest distance possible, please, for more than one reason."

Xander paused suddenly, lost in a happy thought.

Wait for it.

"Hey, doesn't 'vestal' -"

Shut up. Just shut up, right now.

"I'll take that as a yes," Xander said, proud of himself. "After you."

Not five minutes had gone by and already they were thinking of other things to do. He understood why Gwen wanted to go to a store, though. The need for clothes was what prompted him to suggest going to her apartment when he'd gone to his. It'd be one thing after another, he realized sadly. First, they'd get coffee because Xander wouldn't have it any other way. Then the clothes, which would probably lead to them getting hungry. Alex wouldn't bother forbidding anything sit-down, mostly because no how subtly he tried using reverse psychology, the guy would always pick up on it and do the one thing that'd screw up their day. It figured. Better to say nothing and hope the idea didn't sprout up in his head by itself.

It would. It always did.

"Sure. Clothes. If you think you need 'em." Xander's eyes hadn't moved from the Starbucks since he'd seen it. He hadn't even glanced at the traffic yet. Any second now and he'd just walk through the cars in some crazy trance. It'd happened before. Alex wasn't always paranoid for no reason. "I might need some."

I packed clothes. That was part of the reason of going to our room.

"Huh."

Red light. The cars stopped. Mostly. Good enough for Xander, who marched across the road like he had a death wish. He made it, thankfully, and waited patiently - according to him - for Gwen before taking off again.

Slow down, Alex said. I don't want us losing track of each other.

"Yup."

I mean it. It's not Gwen I'm worried about, Alex told him. If you drop on me, I can't get you up. I'm trapped in here, remember?

"So you keep telling me every ten seconds."

He picked up a trace of curiosity.

What?

"I don't know if coffee's gonna do anything," Xander said. His voice was lower. "I'm... okay for now, but I don't know how this'll hit me again."

When's that gonna be?

"Dunno."

Why wouldn't coffee help?

"Because I wasn't tired," he explained. "I mean - I was tired, obviously, but it wasn't a 'wow, keeping this up is a lot of work'. It was - just... exhaustion." Xander bristled a little. "And try to keep that to yourself, if you think you can manage this time."

She reads minds, Xander.

"Not my mind."

... I can't read your mind.

"It might have something to do with that not being your power," he said. "Geez - is this what it's like all the time? Whispering to a voice in your head? No wonder you don't have any friends. You look like a psychopath." He grinned at two fairly pretty young women walking by him on the sidewalk. They smiled back, but when they were past him, Xander snapped back into a serious mode. Gwen was likely still a little behind, but only because he was walking faster than normal. She'd blame it on his need to get coffee, he guessed. "Don't worry about it. You don't need to read my mind. And stop panicking over every little thing I say."

You aren't doing a lot to ease my suspicion, Alex said. Can't take over, can't 'read your thoughts'... How do you know she can't anyway?

"I can block her a little. I'm sure if she forced it - or if I'm sleeping or something - she can pick up some stuff. She's getting readings from my foot, that's for damn sure." He sounded sorry about that. Had his heart grown three sizes today? "But actual thoughts? No. I can keep her out of those."

Can I keep her out of mine?

"No."

What? Why not?

"Because you suck." He managed to restrain himself enough to wait for her again, letting her catch up. They were at the door of Starbucks now. Alex was impressed. He had actually learned to become responsible and considerate of others. That, or he remembered she had all his money. The credit cards were still in the hotel room. "You gettin' anything? You didn't finish yours last time."

Last time, you freaked her out and we got attacked.

Something told him Xander didn't see that as much of an excuse.

Alex wasn't completely sure, but the air around Gwen seemed a little... different. Drained, he guessed, when she said she was tired, and then he felt guilty as he decided she shouldn't've been pushed to keep pace with them. She had energy enough to push the bills at him though, and right when he was ready to accept that she'd been through a lot and could do with some shut-eye, he started wondering if he'd heard that tone before.

Gwen... He was skeptical. She smiled too fast for her to have meant it, and it wasn't in the 'I'm too tired to give you a full one' sort of way. Something wrong?

"You should have something if you're tired," Xander said, not the tiniest bit concerned. He took the money happily, but Alex could see in the front door's glass reflection that he still looked like a man possessed. "Up to you."

Starbucks was a completely different animal than any other coffee shop he'd been dragged to. He wasn't treated to the luxury of staying in one spot for very long, not when the counter so was close; Xander had his money back and now he was very purposely striding up to it. The guy was in luck. No one else had the crazy need to drink however many cups he planned on throwing down Alex's throat - now that Alex wasn't there to stop him - at whatever time of night this was, so they had the place to themselves, except for the stragglers that were finishing up what they'd ordered earlier.

Gwen wasn't panicking. That meant there weren't any Agents around. She wasn't rolling her eyes at anything, so it must not've been something stupid Alex had said. She sounded pissed off. Not a lot, maybe just annoyed, but that undoubtedly meant Xander, in some way, had offended her.

It wasn't because they'd walked ahead of her, was it? She knew what was going on and she'd more or less earned the right to be a part of whatever they were discussing, but she couldn't expect them to completely switch from years of only talking to each other to forcing themselves to include her in everything. In fact, she was better off not hearing. In the middle of all of this, she shouldn't have to know her powers had already - even if it could be overpowered - found a limit. She was lucky to have it. Xander was right: no one needed to read his mind.

Don't worry, Alex said. We're not leaving you out. And we really should get you something now while we know we're alone. In the morning, it might be different. They could be here by then.

"And caramel. And vanilla. And chocolate. And - like - half a bag of whip."

"So... everything -"

"Yes please!"

... 'Please'.

Like he said, a completely different animal. Gone was Xander, coffee fiend from the deepest circle of fast food Hell. Here was a guy who was almost in awe that they'd let a mortal man inside. It didn't matter if they spilled the drink, spat in it or threw it in his face, because Starbucks could do no wrong in Xander's eyes and he was giddy - like a kid on crack in a candy store - that they let him pay for their overpriced milk-water-heroin. But try saying that out loud without him punching Alex in the... wait - he didn't have a face right now.

Starbucks is crap and you should feel bad for drinking it.

"You shut your whore mouth," Xander screamed. And then immediately, he turned to the young lady behind the register with the most dazzling smile he had in his arsenal. "Not you. I love you. Please make me my coffee."

"No problem, sir," the girl laughed. And this was what Alex hated the most about the place: they were such robots and so used to coffee nuts running in and out of the sterilizingly wooden establishment that even these kinds of freak-outs could only startle them for a second. "Four venti skim everything lattes with 'half a bag of whip'." She grinned again. "Anything else?"

That's going to kill me.

"Probably. Yeah - that's it."

He didn't ask for 'gold encrusted flecks of chocolate' this time. He never did in Starbucks. Out there, in places like Roasters, he needed cue cards just to remember everything he wanted in them, which without a doubt proved he was only doing it to screw with the poor staff, because everything here was stuff he kept simple.

Don't drink it all at once.

"Uh-huh."

He was drooling again, watching the woman make his stupid drinks as if she was an angel sent purely to grant him this glory.

... Wait. Gwen wasn't mad about this, was she? Or - no - the two girls they'd walked by? That'd been a polite smile that they'd innocently returned... Had it been innocently?

The question would sound even stupider if he said it out loud. Alex asked something else.

Did those girls... giggle or anything when we saw them?

"What girls? Holy shit, look at her work. It's perfect already and she's not even done. I think I found a wife - let's steal her."

Okay. So if they had been... less than innocent, he could see how it'd be misinterpreted and how this was not helping his case in the slightest.

Hey. Xander? Why don't you make sure Gwen doesn't want anything? No answer. And that it'd be a good idea to run our errands before the Agents show up.

"Up to her. One's done!" And he just about giggled.

Okay, yup - it was definitely those two girls from before that'd pissed her off. Well, the two girls plus the smile, which Alex was convinced had been completely innocent.

This was why he stayed away from people. It wasn't just because he had a war for control waged until the day he died, but also the fact that he couldn't manage what other people did. He couldn't even stop what Xander did, and that, above everything else in his messed up life, got him into more trouble than he thought possible. He was ready to admit this to her and try to explain as convincingly as he could that she shouldn't take anything out of his mouth seriously - no matter who was talking - when suddenly, she shot a burst of fire at him, gathered herself and left.

Gwen? You're joking, right? You can't go off on your own, he called to her, getting louder as she got farther away. Did volume matter anymore? Whatever - he was shouting, only because there was no other way to make sure he had her attention. It didn't look like it was working. Gwen - stop! We need you!

He was beginning to sense a pattern. Coffee shops and Gwen storming out after Xander said something careless was going to be their 'thing', wasn't it?

"Where's she going?"

Oh, he'd noticed? Big surprise, and for once, Alex didn't mean that sarcastically.

You made her mad again, he said, beginning to feel some of Gwen's frustration leak into his voice from having to spell it out.

"... Okay..." Xander looked back at his coffee. There were two done now, and the barista was in the middle of making his third. "Where'd she say she was going?"

You don't need to ask, Alex replied, because you're following her. What part of 'I can't move you if you collapse so we need her to at least find someone to drag my ass - which you stole from me - back up to the hotel' don't you understand?

"What's the point of her going alone? I've got all the money," Xander said. "Unless she took my credit cards."

She has her own, you know.

Gwen was long gone. He didn't bother trying to tell Xander to go after her again. He obviously -

"You mean she has cash? She's using cash and only cash?"

Uhh -

"You told her not to use anything but that, right? While I was out? You clearly explained why it'd be a fuck-stupid idea to use anything in her name - what am I saying? Of course you didn't. I can't trust you with shit." Instantly, he snapped his fingers at the woman, telling her, "Hey! You! I need that last one ten seconds ago."

"I'm making it now," the woman said, not feeling the pressure Xander was putting on.

Why don't you mind-fry her? Oh, but then you couldn't get your fourth gallon of caffeine. How tragic.

"Shut up."

That'd been bitter. It looked like Xander was going to have to choose, and he knew it.

Starbucks-chick might not've known what was going on, but Alex clued in. Credit cards, debit cards, ATMs or even cheques - all of it was completely off-limits, save for the ones he'd had made for life on the run. He knew it was stupid worrying about getting found when they had an Agent's freaking headpiece in their hotel room, but even if the Frenchman's team had been picked off one by one, the woman Agent might've had an army in the background. At the very least, a flag could've gone up to anyone else from their twisted group to keep on the look-out for him and Gwen. If she did anything that brought down their attention -

Can you stop waiting for the fucking coffee? You have three, he shot.

The agony of the impending loss came loud and clear in Alex's mind. It was the first real emotion he'd been able to pick up on.

"Fine." Clenched teeth. He grabbed the three in the tray, enough to shut down every organ in Alex's body, then started heading for the door, getting angrier with every step that took him farther away from Cup No. 4.

Thank you. I know it was hard -

"I'm gonna kill her." His eyes whipped around, looking for her everywhere. They settled on the stylized sign that oozed in pink letters 'Sally's Boutique'. He set off immediately. "I'm gonna chain her up, get my coffee back - she owes me five now - and then I'm gonna kill her."

Well, at least they'd be together again. That was something to be grateful for.

This store looked a lot smaller on the outside. The minute he walked in, the place stretched out in front of him, changing from a few well-groomed mannequins and a shelf or two of clothes to a forest of fabric he couldn't find the end to right away. He hoped he didn't get lost. At least the emergency exit had a sign pointing to it.

There she is, Alex said.

Xander grunted back, no longer rushing to get to her now that he knew where she was. He took the long way around, sticking close to the wall and out of sight. He had the three coffees in his hands still, but despite the maddening need to gulp it down - plus the scent of it wafting up, which had to have been driving him crazy - he wasn't drinking it. That was a very bad sign in Alex's well-educated opinion. As non-magical and 'calming' as Xander claimed Starbucks to be, every first step outside the shop ended with someone getting their brain zapped. He was starting to think the crap really did come with some drug effect. This was exactly what they didn't need.

"Sir?" Some girl was beside them. Alex would've jumped. Xander barely noticed. "Did you need something?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Oh." She didn't leave. "... Are you sure?"

Could you stop skulking around the back like a serial killer? You're freaking people out.

"If I was a serial killer, this conversation would've ended four words ago. Besides, I'm not bothering anyone. I'm the victim here." He gave the girl an annoyed and tight-lipped smile. "I'm fine. Thanks. I'm waiting for someone."

"... Oh. Okay." She took a step back, accepting the answer only because she didn't want to stick around long enough to question it. "I guess if you're here with someone -"

Xander walked off. Gwen was on the move, dragging a few shirts and stuff to the counter. What stuck out was when she passed by lingerie and actually stopped to look through it. Alex wanted to say something, to joke or laugh or simply comment, but if those three lattes were being ignored - painfully and blatantly ignored - then he couldn't guess what Xander would try to do if Alex said the wrong thing now.

The cashier had a friendly smile for everyone walking by. She tried to give it to them too, grinning happily as they walked up. It froze when Xander failed to return it, then slipped off quietly when they made eye contact. Alex could see the pieces in place for an attack. There was nothing stopping them from making that connection turn lethal, except for Xander's disinterest and a flicker of movement as Gwen's hand went into her wallet for a second time. As she pulled out a card - she'd been about to fire a flare gun after all - and the light bounced off its shiny skin, Xander walked up behind her shoulder blades, reached around her arms and over her wrist, then sharply plucked the plastic out of her fingers and bent the thing in two with his.

"Two minutes," he said, getting his mouth by her ear, "was exactly how long you needed to wait for to me to be ready. In that time, I would've gotten my fourth latte, which I'd not only already paid for but depended on to complete a very specific order, and after that we could've skipped along to any fucking store you wanted. Instead -" He dropped the tray of drinks on the counter. They clattered a little but stood up straight and proud. " - you turned this otherwise glorious dinner into a massive disappointment. I'm not drinking it and I can't get another one 'cause the dynamic's thrown off." His hand curled around her wrist. "We're going."

The girl behind the counter looked confused.

"Do you still want -"

The connection was back. This time, Xander went for it.

"Oh. Wow. Someone should call 9-1-1 or something. I think she's having a seizure." And with his newly freed hand, he lazily scooped up the clothes and started pulling Gwen back to the door, impossibly striding through the jungle like it wasn't there. Other staff ran by him, alerted and panicked. The one who was too far away to have heard what Xander said got a quick update when she tried to ask whether they'd paid. It might've been less suspicious if they'd grabbed a bag or something. "She's having a seizure. Isn't that weird?"

Alex was too used to this to care. Damn you, Starbucks. Every single time... But at least they'd gotten free stuff out of it.

I want you to know that I mean it when I say I'm proud of you. If we ignore all the hundreds of interactions over the months we might've missed because we didn't know her, then yesterday's shenanigans took... I dunno, twenty minutes? Maybe ten for her to yell at for being loud and ten for you to throw pizza at her?

"About twenty, yeah."

And after that, it's been been almost a full day. We got up at... seven? Early start, sure, and we spent forty minutes getting ready and making food for that Agent guy. Alex thought about it. It's maybe... I don't know, eight? Nine? It's night and things are closing up, so it's been at least twelve hours we've spent with her. Add that to the other bit, and you've managed to go about 750 minutes before you made Gwen cry. Congratulations! You're an asshole! Absolutely no one's surprised.

"Shut up, Alex."

Ooh - 'Alex'. Y'know - I think with me, at least, you got friendlier. I haven't been called an assbag since I was pushed out.

"Trust me, I've got plenty of names you're not hearing." Sure he did. "Alright. You. Stop making noise and listen."

What a charmer!

"I clearly can't trust you to look after yourself because you don't know what's going on. It's not the same with me and this dickball -" Thanks. "- 'cause when I'm trying to cover my ass, I end up covering his, too. I can't control you, meaning I can't look out for you the way I'm used to, which is doing everything by myself. Or at least whenever the guy decides to admit he should shut his stupid mouth and quit arguing with me."

I would really, really like to know why you had to make her seize rather than give her fifty bucks.

Xander kept ignoring him. He puffed out his cheeks and exhaled sharply, still tense in a way everyone knew had to do with his coffee. He let his eyes wander around the street for a short while, wearing a thoughtful face Alex could see in his mind's eye, before finally locking back onto Gwen and talking again, this time with something that bordered on humane.

"I get that this is new for you," he said. "Yesterday, life was routine, and today you can't go into a store without some incredibly sexy man yanking cards out of your hands, but you need to wrap your head around the fact that you're operating on a new level. 'No Agents around'? I don't know that. You certainly don't. As far as... whatever your powers are exactly have told you, there's no Agents of the kind we were dealing with at the apartment. That woman who'd been beating the shit out of you - her team's probably in our now ex-home, scratching their ass and going, 'well, shit, what do we do now?' But there's other teams following other cases. They don't share work with each other and they most likely don't know we're here, but they're all after the same thing. If they get a report from one of them saying 'keep an eye out for blah-blah-blah', you can damn well bet we're gonna be tailed again, and this time, by people completely new. That could work in our favour, there's always that chance, but..."

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling again.

We should get going, Alex said. I don't know when you're gonna drop.

"Yeah... And as far as needing you goes, this - the whole 'falling horribly asleep' business - should've tipped you off you have to stay around. You want your space? Okay. You don't have to stay. But if you're coming with me -" Us. "- then you're working. Don't lose sight of me, 'cause that could be the last time."

Alex started getting thin trickles of... guilt. From Xander. Was he feeling bad about this? The mystery around that was solved pretty fast because, in the next minute, he saw himself stepping forward and sweeping Gwen up into his arms.

"Sorry I got mad," he said, as a grin grew in his voice, "even though you did completely ruin my Starbucks experience."

Alex was going to say something about that, but he stopped himself, sensing a faint change in the air. Xander had scooped her up jokingly, crushing her to him to be a jerk but still managing to keep some space. It was a peace-offering of sorts, one he'd made Alex - if he was too tired - give to whomever else he'd made cry several times before. Unlike before, however, Xander was holding her for a second longer than he'd needed to get his point across. And he'd relaxed suddenly. It wasn't dramatic and Alex was more than willing to say he imagined it, but in that short moment, it seemed as if the friendly, stupid hug became -

"Okay, let's go," he chirped, stepping back. "Here's your clothes. I'm not carryin' 'em around."

... Did I miss something here?

"Probably. You're incredibly stupid," Xander said. "So, yeah. That's over, as far as I'm willing to put effort into it. And don't worry about that chick in there. She's not dying. She'll wake up tomorrow with a headache."

But for now, she's having a seizure.

"Yeah, but... that's short-term. Are we eating or what? I'm starving."

"Given the options, I'd shoot for the hotel," Xander said. "Seems easier. Plus, I like bossing people around on the phone."

Alex was relieved. It was nice that they wanted to walk around and relax like nothing had happened ten seconds ago, which he admit would make for a much easier day tomorrow, but they still had to get through the night. Unless someone had a cart to drag Xander back to the hotel, they should go wherever it was safest.

Tomorrow. That was tricky. They'd gotten out of the city, but they were far too close for comfort. He was happy to have Gwen here - delighted beyond belief he had new company even if the circumstances were a little lacking - but this was going to be the first of a new set of problems. All the small things Xander had beaten into him, all the instincts he'd developed over years of practise and all the tricks he'd put together to keep out of sight had to be broken down, simplified and then stretched to fit two people. They shouldn't have stopped when they got away. They had the money to make it halfway across the country, and they should've been doing that, but they'd stopped.

He had to remind himself he was doing this to help her. She needed him until her powers were under control. Why Xander was bothering was his secret, but Alex wasn't leaving someone behind, not when she was on her own and new to this. The bank card was the first step to learning; it was a small, but in the right direction. From here on out, everything was going to have to be geared towards telling her what he knew. Then even if they were separated, he could be sure she had the basics under her belt and maybe get away before the Agents could do anything.

The hotel's a good idea, he said. We could always -

"Then again," Xander stepped in, now beginning to turn and look at everything around him, "as long as we're out here, we might as well see what they have."

... No, that's not what we're doing -

"That looks fancy."

And his eyes settled on an extremely sleek restaurant. Its windows were wide and gleaming in the city lights, but wooden blinds were set against them to keep the glow out. From what he could make of it, the place was dark inside, set low to create the kind of ambiance any millionaire would crave. Or else it was like that to keep its customers from seeing the price on the food. It looked expensive and private, the two most important things on Xander's list.

We're under-dressed.

"Maybe you are. I've got a wad of cash in my pocket. I'm settin' the dress code." He gave Gwen an excited grin. "Feel like spending a hundred bucks on fries?"

This was the sort of place Alex tried to not argue against. He loved living the high life as much as Xander did and he put up with some of the more questionable methods of getting money just so he could keep it up, but they weren't sure what was going to happen to him...

Just come up with something to get out of there fast, Alex muttered. Do anything to keep from going to the hospital. Believe me when I say that's the worst place to be in this sort of... transition.

"Welcome to Arimana's," the squat, grey-haired man said, his moustache twitching like he was ready to twirl it. "Name? Reservation? And we have a dress code."

I told you.

"We're missing all three," Xander said, "but I'm paying in fistfuls of cash, so I'm sure we can work something out."

"Oh." That was a weird mix of distaste and greed. "You're one of them. Very well, come with me. Window or booth?"

"Booth's fine." Windows were dangerous. The man stepped lightly from his podium and began to walk deeper into the restaurant. Xander followed swiftly enough, lagging a little either because he was lazy or staying off his foot. He was waiting for Gwen anyway, and before they fell into line behind the short waiter in his dark suit, he gestured to the decor with a quick nod of his head. "Looks nice, huh?"

'Nice' was putting it mildly. The person who'd designed this place had gone out of their way to make it swanky. It wasn't over-the-top or nauseating, and that was probably why it was so lovely. The simple browns, blacks and touches of beige wrapped together in the modest light, brought up by the gentle lamps glowing on the walls. The restaurant was divided into several sections, each one built a little higher than the last to have an excuse for the plush stairs and gleaming rails leading up. The waiter was taking them to the highest level - something Xander stopped appreciating after a minute of walking up - and when they arrived, the tops of the walls dividing the room revealed themselves to be small gardens. Glossy ivy came from the thin planter boxes and draped themselves over the edge. It was graceful, Alex felt, and if he didn't have to be stuck in some motionless, unreachable prison, he would've been thrilled to be here.

It's beautiful, he murmured.

"Nothing crazy," Xander said, sitting where the waiter waved. "I should be eating in places like this more often. It's the whole reason I take the jobs I take."

Let's not get into that, please. What's on the menu in here?

"Pasta. Gold. I want a burger," Xander said.

Great, except that's not on there.

Gwen was happy again. It eased his stress considerably. He shouldn't have been so worried about Xander talking to her; she liked him and they got along, even despite the flaring temper Alex knew was going to show up in its full glory eventually. But Xander was also impatient - ignoring the 'let's sit down and have a twenty-hour meal' mood he'd slipped into - and quick to point out mistakes. She might need them now, but once she had what she wanted, she could disappear whenever the next fight popped up, whereas they were stuck until this blew over. There wasn't going to be any 'light sleeping' or forcing themselves to stay awake. An extra pair of eyes was going to mean everything.

"I want them to put steak in the middle of two slices of bread."

You know we could've gone literally anywhere else and gotten you that.

"Yes," he said, "but then I'd be paying five bucks to crappy fry-cooks instead of fifty bucks to fancy Italians. It's the little things, really. So - d'you think they'd have fries?"

Also, the guy was a child. Alex didn't know if Gwen had picked up on that yet, but it was something she was going to have to put with, too.

Great. Your stupidity's spreading. You got her eating the same thing.

"Gwen, Alex called you stupid. Burger, please," Xander said, handing over his menu.

"Sir, we don't serve hamburgers here." The waiter serving them now was different than the one who'd seated them. He was thinner, taller, but in the same kind of suit as the first one. He was also seemed less forgiving about the 'quirkiness' of the order, but that probably only had to do with the fact he hadn't heard about the cash. "There's a McDonald's outside -"

"Why is this concept so hard for people to figure out? Take steak, take bread, put them together..." Xander rolled his eyes. "If you want me to make it myself, I'm more than willing to go back there."

That was a scary thought.

"Customers are not allowed in the kitchen, sir. If you'd like more time with the menu -"

Eye contact. Alex had the unfortunate inability to tell how sharp the effect was now that he was riding in the backseat; he could, however, make a pretty close guess, and he decided the waiter was lucky Xander still had a use for him. The jolt was barely anything, not even enough to feel pain, but it caught the man's attention and shut him up damn fast. Now he was on his guard, suspicious, not quite sure what had happened but quickly forming a theory for it. Whatever he decided on, it was the proper conclusion, which was great because Xander was more than willing to shoot him a few more times until he got what he wanted. The waiter accepted the non-menu choice, took Gwen's menu as well, then high-tailed it out of there, glancing once over his shoulder before disappearing entirely.

"I made a new friend," he said, folding his arms on the table. "Damn. Should've told him I wanted it rare. Think he'll figure it out?"

I think he'll take a stab at it, Alex said.

Yet again, it was up to him to worry. Wine? Ha. Yeah. Well - he could see where that'd be going. No, not... not any of that. He meant tactically. He almost wanted to bring up his concern, but then Xander really would drink just to spite him. Alex had figured out very early on that drinking stopped the voices in his mind and he was almost positive it'd work both ways. If Xander had too much and then he passed out, would Gwen be able to hear him? What about if she went to bed too, but then didn't get up if he started yelling? It'd be worse if only one of them drank, he felt, because then the full effects would be on that sole person, but if both finished the bottle... Unless she really felt sure Xander knew how to stop at 'just one'.

"I'll cut 'im some slack," Xander said. "So long as it's not burnt. Anyway. Gwen. How's the day been so far?"

Alex heard Xander take in a breath and he thought the question over. It looked like the answer wasn't going to be as rhetorical as Gwen might've meant it.

"There are..." He thought some more while he bobbed his head along to it. "I'd say there's three things that'd ruin my life completely. One of them's already happened - this... situation I'm in -"

How the hell do you think I feel? I never wanted you here.

"The second would deals with getting caught by the Agents. They're not gonna be as 'nice' with me as Alex before they destroy us. I've been trained to analyze things a very particular way, so if they do get us, they'll be going through every memory I've made over the past eight years."

Six.

"It won't be fun and it'll be very thorough. If I'm lucky, I won't feel a thing, and if I'm smart, it won't happen, but it's worth mentioning I'm already a little screwed 'cause there's a psychopath in my head hellbent on my destruction." From what he could make out, Xander had grinned again, but more wryly than usual. "As for that third thing... well, I've lived through it twice. I don't think I have to worry about it again. Still - though. Something to keep an eye out for, more or less."

A waiter - the third one of the night - came by with a bottle of red. It might've been rich, fancy and expensive, but Xander didn't look at it long enough to for Alex to check. He cracked it open like he'd done it a million times before, and by the time the waiter left, he'd already filled a glass for both of them. Wonderful. So everyone was drinking. Lovely - just... lovely.

Easy on the 'happy juice', he muttered.

"Uh-huh. So - don't worry," Xander said. "You haven't ruined anything. I'd say I should be asking you that, but considering it was me fucking your every plan at normality or the robot yanking your mind out of your brain, you technically owe me a thank you." His grin became a smile. "I'll settle for a card and eight coffees. I'm a simple man."

One annoyed by places with only three stars.

"And one that wants the book to be a best-seller. You wanna write I'm six feet tall with dashing green eyes and gorgeous brown hair? I don't want 'em thinking I'm some sickly kid. Alex."

Oh-ho, you're so - you're so funny, I just - I can't - shut up, you jerk.

Xander, who'd held off on a snappy comeback in favour of downing his wine, had to hold off again as a cry sounded off in the distance. It was somewhere on one of the lower levels, and though the planter-walls weren't so high that they couldn't see if they stretched, whatever was going on was obscured by the ivy and the rush of guests scrambling from their tables and tripping down the stairs. It would’ve been funny to see people as beautifully as dressed as that fall over themselves, but Alex’s sense of panic kicked in and, this time, Xander’s seemed to agree.

They saw him. A boy. Well – ‘boy’ in the sense he looked to be within his teens. He was ragged and homely as though he’d scraped himself together out of sewage and cloth he’d pulled from the gutter, and his face was filthy. His hair had been shaved off and around his chest was a strap for the bag that waited on his right hip. He stood with his back facing away from Alex, but he turned his head so quickly he might as well have been spinning. He was gathering his bearings or something like that, and when he did, a minute later, after everyone who’d been around him had either pressed themselves to their chair or run off entirely, he dove at the nearest table and started shovelling food into his mouth.

“Gwen,” Xander said, his voice low and focused, “I don’t know if your powers are automatic or as flashy as mine, but shut them off anyway. Whatever happens, don’t let that guy know you exist.”

Is he an Agent?

“Nope. Another case.” And as if the boy was trying to prove that point, he flickered out of existence and then popped back at the side of a different table ten feet away. “He’s moving too fast. He’s got people following.”

You see them? This wasn’t good. Dammit – they should’ve gone to the hotel!

“It’s just obvious. You don’t hurry like that unless you’ve got a tail.” He immediately stopped being interested and turned back to his drink. “Whatever. Leave him. Either the Agents show up or he goes away.”

Only one of those things is a good thing.

“Mm. Damn! This is fantastic,” Xander said. “I’m not much of a wine drinker, but holy shit.” Oh God the Agents. Oh God the Agents. Oh God the Agents. They could be here any second and they could find him – “What do you think, Gwen?”

It looked like he didn't have to worry about Xander getting drunk anymore. Not that that was still crowning his list of priorities, but it was one thing he was allowed to check off.

Okay, Alex said, keeping calm. What's the plan?

"Plan?"

Not so calm.

Are you serious? We're just gonna sit here? What if he comes over and drags a hundred Agents behind him?

"Uh... he doesn't know who we are? We're random people sitting in a booth. And if he is getting chased - as in right this damn second - I find it hard to believe he's gonna waste his time checkin' to see if there's any friendly faces around."

Or celebrities?

"Awwww! How sweet!"

I'm not saying it as a compliment, he snapped. Unless you decided to forget, that's how we ran into Peter. He 'recognized' you. He tagged along.

"I'm old news, buddy," Xander said. "My reputation's stunning and glorious, but it's been crammed under piles of 'top secret'. You heard what the Agency's calling me. 'The boogeyman' - ooooooh! So relax." He rolled his eyes. "Why does everything I say end with me telling you to calm the hell down?"

Maybe because you do such an awful job at it! What if the Agents see you?

"The Agents who aren't here yet, if they know where this guy is at all? Yeah - I think we're safe, twinkletoes." Under his breath, he added, "This is really gonna bump up the order time."

More popping. Faster, closer. The kid was on the move and not wasting any time about it. He was suddenly on the third level, then the fourth, then the fifth -

He's there, Alex said. He was whispering. What a waste of effort.

"For the last time, I have eyes, and I can clearly see what a non-threat he is," Xander told him. He gulped down the rest of his glass, then spun it around lightly on the table. "Look - if anything happens, I'll take care of it."

Great! Then you can be the new problem.

The boy did the same thing he'd been doing down there: as he wandered from table to table, he grabbed whatever the patrons had abandoned - Alex thought it'd make them stand out if they were the only ones still sitting, but he saw another couple petrified and frozen in their places, so at least they weren't alone - and shoveled it into his mouth. Whatever wasn't immediately eaten was thrown haphazardly into that bag of his, which was leaking gravy or spaghetti sauce or something else that looked gross.

"Would'ya look at 'im? He's cute! He's like one of those ugly, molting puppies you see people kick out onto the street, and then it starts raining and it crawls under a little box, and you drive by just as it sticks its head out and looks at you -"

The boy whipped his head around. With his eyes wide, twitching and unstably fearless, he stopped doing whatever the hell he was up to, opened his mouth and bellowed, "Gwendolyn Stewart! You're still alive!"

There was no indication Xander had even moved until he was standing in front of the kid and hauling him up by his grimy, holey shirt. One sharp mind blast later and the boy's eyes rolled into his head. He drooled a little bit, but he'd be okay. Xander was keeping him for interrogation.

"Let's go," he muttered. "I'm feeling... everything..."

Xander's eyes had drooped for an instant. That exhaustion - the one Alex had been specifically trying to avoid - was swooping in again.

You're taking him with you?

"Can't leave 'im running around," Xander said. "Come on, Gwen. Ooh! What's that?" With the chunk of shirt still in his grip, he and his new captive bounced over to that terrified couple. It was an old man and woman who'd ordered a plate of something red and soupy that'd floated up the wrong nose. "You mind if I just try a bit of this?" He helped himself anyway, grabbing the dessert spoon and diving in. "Oh man. That's good. I'm definitely coming here again."

"Did... did you kill him?"

The old woman's eyes were bulging out of her head.

"No, no. Not yet. Have a good night," Xander chirped. "Oh - and - uh... don't talk about this to the cops, 'cause I have magic powers and I'll find you."

The scary thing is, you probably will.

"I'm not a liar." He headed for the stairs, gesturing to Gwen for the third time. "Hurry up. We've got what his Agents want and I don't wanna explain how he ended up this way."

Xander was having too much fun with this. He was in his element again, barely bothered by the juice leaking from the kid's bag and landing more than once on the side of his leg. At Gwen's jibe, he laughed and tightened his grip on the shirt.

"What can I say? I'm a popular guy. I can barely get through a door without a mob of adoring fans," he said. "But from the sounds of it, this is your friend that crashed the party. I don't see a point in asking, but what the hell: do you know him?"

He was making good time, but the confident steps Alex was used to seeing him take were getting shorter and heavier. They had a fifty-fifty shot at making it to the hotel without help. Alex hoped tonight - this part of tonight, anyway - fell in their favour, because Gwen didn't need to drag two people around. She already had her hands full and, to be honest, he needed her awake enough to look at his foot again. Xander might've been too hopped up on the adrenaline running through him to care, but each time his toe was placed on the ground, that was another jostle that took them closer to... he didn't know - losing it entirely, maybe. And the shards in his hands... Dammit. No one ever bothered looking after him, and whenever he tried, he was always blocked by Xander/the Agents/some random explosion/the hand of God slapping him in the face for thinking he could go ten minutes without something stabbing into him.

This sucked.

Xander's new friend was not going to go over well. Alex didn't want him in the hotel room. He was dirty and that was a huge part of it, but he also didn't like the new threat hanging over him. Sure, if they ran into the Agents, he could - or Gwen could, because Xander wasn't going to be awake for much longer - always say he'd been in the middle of dragging the thief to the cops or... or that they just felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a place to stay for the night. But that'd only work during the short time they were travelling to the hotel. Once they were actually in there, records would start getting checked, pieces would be put together and then they'd have yet another person to babysit and add to this happy, happy family. Unless Xander felt like listening to him today.

What're you gonna do with him?

"See what he's doing here and what he knows," he replied. They were outside, walking back up the street they came from. Starbucks loomed in the distance, but other than an overly longing look at the place, Xander kept his eyes off of it. "He could tell us what the Agents around here are like."

But you're not gonna tell him who you are, Alex said. You're gonna keep it to yourself?

"'Am I gonna reveal the one secret that's worth anything to anyone to some person I haven't even known for an hour'? Is that what you're asking? 'Cause I'm insulted you'd think I'm that shit-stupid."

Ha, ha. I get it. But seriously, you're not telling him, right?

"We'll see how it goes."

What? You're actually thinking about it?

"He knows who Gwen is and he got excited," Xander said. "Tell me you don't see the benefit in doing a big reveal." If the kid knew Gwen, he had to know Xander. Under the very real threat of having his mind explode if he got out of control, they might be able to keep him from doing anything stupid. "Besides, it could get him interested long enough to stick around. As a last resort, I mean. We can't tell him anything if he's going to disappear a second later."

We'll tie him up.

"... Can you see in there? Were you paying attention? Dude was teleporting all over the place," Xander said. "Unless you've got some magic -"

Alright, alright! Enough! Let's - just... let's come up with a back-up plan.

"I have a back-up plan."

One that's not sociopathic, Alex said. And stay awake. We're almost at the hotel.

He could see it now. They were moving fast. They might actually do this.

"He wasn't my friend and I learned my lesson. Calm down."

End of story.

Xander didn't bother talking again until they made it to the elevator. The walk over was stiff and silent as he gave everyone - every guest, every clerk, every bellboy - a quick nod of his head and a strict 'shut up and go back to work' smile. It went double for anyone who looked like they wanted to say something about the boy dangling from his right hand, but fortunately no one wanted to put their neck on the line about it. What Alex really found amazing was that the cops hadn't been called. He guessed it must've been so completely out of the ordinary, they'd assumed it was for a legitimate and legal purpose. Hey, he wasn't going to push his luck. It was about time something worked out for them. He would've smiled if he had access to his mouth.

The elevator ride was the closest thing he'd had to a rest all day; it was gentle, straight-forward and worked like he'd wanted. He was disappointed when they reached the fourth floor again, because as the doors opened and they stepped out, he felt like he was jumping back into the mess. It was more exhausting this time around and her comment on the very real possibility that this kid was Peter the Sequel had wrapped around his mind and choked him. Good work, Gwen. She was thinking like she was supposed to. And if anyone was going to pull up a reason for Xander to pay attention to something, it'd be her. He had no control over what she said or did, so if she demanded an answer, he really had no choice but to give her one. It was a subtle and unspoken form of blackmail neither of them realized was in play, but Alex did. Having this much time on his hands put things into place.

When they were in the hallway, Xander decided to break the silence and get to work putting her at ease.

"He's sixteen. His powers are 'running away'. He's the kind of person Alex could take, so you should have no problem kicking his ass. But we'll tie him up." 'We' meaning 'Gwen'. "It'll stop any outright attacks and you'll have the advantage."

Unless he is like Peter.

"Then he's not stupid enough to stick around once he finds out who I am," Xander said. "Or else he's here on a mission, and if that's the case, he's not dumb enough to try and fight anyone yet."

He could just take her -

"You're an idiot. That's not how it works." They'd reached their room, but he wasn't heading inside yet. Instead, he swung the kid around and put him in the middle of their merry group, making sure everyone got a good look. "See that? That's a stab at sympathy. Either he's truly down on his luck and on the run like us, meaning he'd have information on what he's running from and that'd help us out, or he's undercover and needs to get our trust for whatever retarded reason. If he wanted to kidnap or kill Gwen off the bat, he'd've done it instead of this... thing. So calm down. We'll play into it. He's not gonna hurt us."

He was a hundred percent confident in what he was saying. Alex believed that he believed he was right and he'd made a fairly convincing case, but there were so many questions surrounding this... Well - almost. Not yet. So far, there were only two he needed to ask: who was this guy and how did he know Gwen? The other questions would come later and come fast, but they'd have to wait a few hours. He hoped the blast wasn't enough to knock him out for the entire night. In the morning, they'd have to run again. Alex might not be the brains of this operation, but he was definitely its common sense.

You're going to be awake to make sure? She's right, you know. Given the options, we should get rid of him, at least until you're up.

As if he'd been reminded of how tired he was, he drooped again. He swayed - actually, literally swayed - before snapping his eyes shut, shaking his head violently, then forcing out a hefty breath through his nose and opening the room door.

"Just give me a bit," Xander said, now incapable of hiding his weariness. He took three steps inside, dropped the kid on the ground and made it as far as the couch before he fell. He managed to land on it, but with all the grace of a wet sack of cement. "I'll be up... later... ish..."

We'll set the timer, Alex muttered. No response for that. Xander was gone, face-first on the couch's far arm and right foot slung over the other. The other one was lying on the ground. Not that he'd let on, but he was going to be very stiff tomorrow morning or whenever he got up. So... Gwen. Uh... maybe you should sleep, too.

Gwen, without a doubt in his mind, was the most forgiving person in the world. Everything about her had to do with things ending up on the right side of life. He was amazed by it. It was... beautiful. And naive. She was still stuck thinking this was something they were going to ‘end’, that every problem had a solution and through sheer will and determination, or at least Xander’s intervention, they could stop these people and this messed up life once and for all. Maybe go back to normal. Something like that. It was a great thought and he wanted to agree with her, but he’d been doing this too long to get the words out. So he kept quiet and let her talk, trying to enjoy the sound of it. If she was going to bed, he’d be alone until one of them – any of them – woke up, so he needed to hold onto her voice for a little while longer. Alex didn’t find it terrifying so much as he thought it was sad, but as fun as pity parties were, he could do without one for now.

But the other stuff she said...

First of all, Xander didn’t ‘need’ coffee. He liked the taste, he liked getting his way and the more it festered in Alex's mind, the more pissed off he was about how far out of his way he had to go to get his roommate his stupid fix. Until today, he’d never stayed around to feel the effects of caffeine. He still hadn’t, technically, since Xander had thrown those out because the order was ‘wrong’, but for Gwen to even try imagining it was some... some physical need or anything other than an asshole obsession was... Well, he’d said she was amazing, hadn’t he? It was worth saying again. But he’d asked the guy. Xander had openly admitted once upon a time he got a kick out of those ridiculous, page-length orders. That much was obvious, and while it might not've explained why Starbucks was his number one and maybe it didn’t touch on why he’d dive for instant coffee if he’d been without it for a week... No. Alex was standing by it. Their necks had been risked too many times for a damn latte he'd barely been able to afford at first – and although he’d agreed that it was hilarious, especially when they messed up the order, he wasn’t going along with it now that there was a neck that wasn’t his he had to watch out for.

He’d been ready to break his short-lived vow of silence to set the record straight, but then she went on and – what. What? Was she serious? Or was she crazy? No, no, no-no-no-no-no – that didn’t... no, he hadn’t heard that right. No. No way. Xander had killed people in front of her. He’d dragged her around to get the damn coffee, too. She couldn’t... ‘like’ like him. Alright, it sounded stupid saying it that way even if it was only in his head, but... Xander? Xander. Xander. There - just - wasn’t –

Yeah. Yeah, we’ll... keep him under control...

He didn’t know if she’d heard him or if the hollow laugh he’d offered at her joke – Xander’s kind of joke; they were building a world without him – covered up any indication that his mind was... Xander barely had a soul! And he was an Agent! Ex-Agent – whatever – but still one of them and probably leading them into a fucking trap because he knew they needed him to lead them around and especially because he had a full half of their team under his grip and... Good God. The last few months had been a growing and uneasy tolerance, but right now, a solid thought was forming in his mind: he hated him. Alex hated Xander. Not a lot, not yet, but the seeds had been sown. It was something he was keeping to himself because she was too busy dealing with his foot – no more asking how it was because he didn’t want to hear the answer for – and maybe she wouldn’t pick up on it for a while, but he was grateful if it was something they never had to deal with. There was enough going on without her worrying about how they were getting along, and she would worry because she was too kind-hearted to let them seriously and maliciously fight.

Why the hell was this so complicated? Why – what was that sound? Did she kiss him? A surprised smile almost broke out in his mind until... Had she meant it for Xander? And the first one, back in the apartment - had that one been for him, too? He’d acted like it and Alex had rolled his eyes, because who’d expect any less from him when it came to that kind of thing, but Xander, more than anyone, specifically more than Alex, knew when people were flirting.

He was the third wheel in his own damn head. But how long would that last?

Sure. Good night. I’ll yell if something happens, he said.

He didn’t expect it to. And it didn’t. Alex was awake for hours listening to the sounds of three people breathing. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it be, but he was distracted by the very simple fact that for whatever reason, or maybe no reason at all, Gwen had found a way to convince herself that Xander wasn’t an evil son of a bitch who was probably only keeping her around to be a sentry or something. Not that anyone would tell her. She’d run off. And she certainly should because now the guy was blacklisted in Alex’s mind. And - no - it wasn't because of a girl. He’d been thinking about this more and more lately, before Gwen was suddenly in the picture. Okay, it was part of it, bit it was not the main issue. He just refused to trust this man any further than he absolutely, positively had to.

It was six in the morning when light flooded in. Xander’s eyes had popped open, and exactly as he’d expected, he took his time getting up because he was probably stiff.

“Gwen got me a blanket,” he said.

I guess she did.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine.” Fuck that guy. Xander stretched. “There better be a toothbrush in here. Or – like – mouthwash or something.”

Ask her. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to get some if it’s for you.

That was Xander's problem. He didn’t bother asking ‘what’s wrong’ and invite Alex to talk things out; he laughed about it, enjoyed the entertainment and would let it build until the wrong words were said and then freak out and start attacking. That was attractive? Maybe if Alex killed puppies or something, he'd rise up the ranks a little.

“Think I should wake her up before I start this thing? She’s the star of the show,” Xander said.

I don’t care. Do whatever you want.

“Okay.”

And that was that. Xander got up, found a toothbrush, spent some time looking over the slab of blue flesh where his foot used to be –

Thanks, by the way, for letting it get that bad, he snapped. Gwen called you ‘Mr. Hulk’. I think it fits. You’re bipolar and masochistic, but that’s apparently a charming mix.

“She took the glass out,” was all he said, rubbing his fingers over the scabs on Alex's hand. “Huh.” Then he walked over to Gwen’s bed. Where a normal person would’ve seen fit to gently prod her until she woke up, or better yet, not try to include her in the interrogation at all, he decided to be ‘spontaneous’ and jump on it beside her. Sure – because the one thing someone on the run for their lives needed was to fly half a foot into the air and land flat on their face.

You’re a jerk.

Alex wouldn’t’ve done that.

“Wake up, sleepin’ beauty,” Xander chirped, relaxing and rolling around in the plush covers. “This is a great bed. We should grab a business card before we go. Anyway, I’ll be getting our new friend on his feet in a minute and I thought you’d wanna come along. Also, watch out for Mr. Grumpy-pants. He’s a little pissy this morning.”

Shut up, Xander.

“Aww. I love you, too.”

"Wooooow. Great! Thanks! That's what I wanted first thing in the morning - sure." Because he had every reason to be upset. Xander rolled his eyes and then sat up in bed, annoyed as he watched her walk to the bathroom. "What the fuck is wrong with everyone today? Seriously - it's like you all got together and decided to be pissed off."

She hit herself, he said. If you'd been paying attention...

"What - so I'm in charge of keeping us alive and her motor control? That sounds a little unfair." At least they knew he was awake. And - he had to admit - it felt good seeing him slapped around like that. Even if it was Alex's body, knowing Gwen's 'love' had a bit of an end to it was something to keep in mind. But - no - he wasn't going to - that wasn't... He was fine. He just didn't want her following him blindly, like he was going to fight against. "'Don't jump on the bed'. I got it. Geez. And I'm the bipolar one?"

Yes. As if he even had to ask.

Xander didn't accept that answer. He rolled his eyes again and muttered, "Yeah, well, I'm more justified than 'I had a bad dream' or whatever the hell's wrong with her."

Maybe you could try taking this seriously for five minutes, Alex spat. This is day two of the rest of her life. She just discovered she has powers and she's being chased and someone's trying to crawl into her head and some random kid knows enough about her to scream her name in the middle of the restaurant and then - because that's not enough and you need to make her life extra miserable - you come flying out of nowhere and dive-bomb the damn bed!

"Yes. That is an excellent recap of everything that's happened so far. Good to see you've been paying attention." He got up, stopped caring, then stretched his foot out. He said nothing about it, probably retracting whatever rare nice word he had for her, then got up and put his full weight onto it, testing it out. "Guess this makes us even."

Is it better?

"It's fine."

That's not what I asked.

"That's what I answered." He was already walking to the captive, but he stopped at a mirror hanging on a wall long enough to smirk at Alex through it. "See? I'm not the only one who can have a bad morning. Time to spread the agony, right?"

Don't kill him.

"Why is everyone treating me like I'm a monster? I swear to fuck - Alex, I know this is your fault somehow." When he didn't reply, Xander nodded his head a little. Then he moved until he was standing in front of the boy, who'd been cozily wrapped up in what were apparently curtains. Gwen's handiwork. Not bad for her first time in Alex's opinion, but Xander picked at it the second he was in reach. "Wow. Once again, I saved the day. Good thing he didn't have a knife on 'im or he'd've slit all our throats when he escaped."

I thought you said he wasn't dangerous.

"I said he wasn't here to hurt us. I've been wrong before. " He got down on one knee and started flicking at the boy's nose. "Hey! Wake up!"

"Ehn..."

"Better tell Gwen to stay in that bathroom. I don't want her clawing me for being a 'bastard motherfucker'." With his final pout out of the way, Xander reached forward and popped the boy's right eye open. He gave him a jolt, more than enough - much more - to bring him back to reality. "Rise'n'shine, kid. Don't suppose you wanna throw a swing at me, too?"

And then the boy began to scream.

So where'd that charm of yours go?

"Here it is." Alex saw his hand reach out and clamp over the kid's mouth. It was like a switch had been flipped. The boy shut up but continued looking terrified. Xander, undoubtedly smiling like a psychopath, took it as a compliment and told him, "That was a really annoying sound. If you do it again, I'm going to make your head explode off your shoulders."

The boy nodded.

I'm never asking you to babysit.

"And yet you still come crying to me whenever an Agent's around."

You're an Agent.

"Ex-Agent. Is that what this is about? Again? Dude - what do you want me to say?"

How about 'I'm on your side'? And this time, try not to say it like it's a joke.

"I never joked about that. But since everyone's 'panicking' over it, fine. I'm on your side. I have been on your side this entire time, regardless of what I was sent here to do, and if I have to tell you that one more time - well... I can get along on one foot."

Alex froze.

You're bluffing.

"Yes. I am. Finally you get it," Xander said. "Where is she? I fucking swear, if she hits me again, she's on her own. Excuse me for trying to lighten the 'holy crap AGENTS' mood a little."

"'M'I... terrup... som'thin'?"

"I love it," Xander said. "Half-awake, barely got shocked, and he's already making jokes. I'm either gonna adore this kid or legitimately hurt him by the end of the hour." He looked up at Gwen from where he was kneeling and gave her the same angry smirk he'd given Alex. "And as for what you 'dramatically revealed' - no, I didn't know that. I don't know how your powers work 'cause - surprise! I'm not a mindreader, but thanks for blaming it on me anyway even though we, as everyone likes to rub in my face, are in a strange place with people trying to kill us and very limited time and there's no better way to get him up."

Except for landing on him.

"Well - it's tricky. He's on a chair."

The boy shifted under the curtains in a way Alex thought meant he was uncomfortable. On his second glance, however, the kid looked excited to hear this happening.

"What's goin' on...?"

"She hit me in the face with a pillow," Xander said. "It made me a very sad panda."

Wow. A pillow.

"It's the principle of it. Next time, it might not be something so fluffy. That's the fun part of having a crazy dream and grabbing the first thing that hits your hand. Anyway! Enough about us. Tell me what you know about her."

The budding smile on the grimy face slipped off instantly and the boy started struggling against his makeshift restraints. As he did so, managing to make some progress, he loudly whined, "I didn't do anything - I don't know where I am - lemme go -"

"Annoying sound."

"Okay-okay-okay-okay-okay," the kid rolled out. He stopped squirming long enough to give Gwen a once-over, then prompting returned to wiggling every inch of his body in a growing attempt to make an escape. "I don't know her - who is she - I saw a picture - no I didn't - I was in a lab - I escaped - you know the Agency?"

"So right away, we're not keeping you, because we have a slightly higher need to have a secret than what you've graciously offered," Xander said. "Plus the 'crazy guy' role's been filled already. Twice."

"I don't know - I don't know - I don't know -"

"Annoying sound," he reminded.

The kid straightened up, his shaved head as dirty as the rest of him but focused on Xander anyway. He stared for a minute, changed his mind, then went back to pulling at the ropes.

He knows something, Alex said.

"Nooooooooo, really? Damn, Alex. You should be out here doing this." He didn't answer that. It went into the pile he was pulling together on reasons why Alex and Gwen were right to hate him. Xander snapped his fingers in front of the kid's face, drawing his attention back to where he demanded it. "What picture and what lab?"

"I never said that!" Without a second in-between his words, the boy sat up and said even faster, "The lab - it had it - the one with everything - with the faces - it had hers - I saw it - I saw the name - she was dead - she's one of me - she's a friend -"

"And you came to warn her?"

"Nononononononono - I thought she was dead - everyone is dead - the Agents are crazy - they killed them - I escaped - they've got a machine -" This was what they had to deal with now? One of them was on already on an indefinite hunt for caffeine. They didn't need someone who was wired to a mountain of it. "The machine, the machine - it kills them - makes zombies - they die and then they're walking - it's weird-"

"In case anyone missed it, he's talking about what they use to do the transfers," Xander said. "Where's the lab?"

"I dunno - I dunno - I ran - I didn't - I can teleport -"

Xander stood up and rubbed his eyes.

"My head hurts. And since someone doesn't want me to get to the point the usual way, she might as well talk to him instead." With that decided, he walked to the closest wall and sat down at it, scratching his hand absently and waiting for Gwen to start. "If you need help, I'll grab you a pillow. I know you like those."

It was funny how everyone had the same way of dealing with Xander: good cop/bad cop like it was natural law, except he'd always been pushed into being the guy behind the mirror playing with the video camera and trying to look like he was involved. When those all-too-familiar words came from Gwen, the vague promise to the kid that he ‘wouldn’t do anything’, Alex reasonably assumed it’d be a repeat of the last time this had happened. Not with the guy they’d had tied up in their most recent of former apartments, but the one before that.

They weren’t in the habit of chaining Agents up and pumping them for information. There was only so much they’d give and only so much they had in the first place, but that one'd had a good idea of what the Agents’ plans were for the next week, so they’d gone ahead with it. No sooner had he expressed what little intent they had to harm the prisoner than Xander very discreetly mouthed the words ‘You’ll be dead by the end of this conversation’ and shut the guy up for an hour – and he’d done it while he was in control and talking, clearly a master of multitasking on top of everything else, so it took another ten minutes after Alex had coaxed the Agent into speaking to find out what had happened at all. Five minutes after that, Xander was bored, so they never got any details.

For the second time in two days, he’d been wrong. At what was practically her command, the guy shut up and let her do the talking, staying out of it and biding his time until he felt he was needed. Maybe she’d slipped him something while Alex’s eyes had been closed. Whatever it was, he was buying it in bulk from now on.

Just don’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know, he said quietly.

That didn’t feel like it was going to be a problem. The kid was barely listening to her. She might’ve had some weird sway over Xander, but everything he was doing was half-connected and contradicting. There was no controlling it. He’d pull at the restraints, sink back into them, whip his head around to see the room and then squish his eyes shut like he was trying to wish himself out of here. At every break between her words, he’d stick his neck out and bare his teeth like an animal, just as quickly cowering into himself when she moved on to her next sentence. Oh yeah. It was a much, much better idea having Gwen handle this. A little slower, but not by a lot, and if they really needed it, there was always that ‘head popping’ thing. It seemed to have a good effect on the boy.

So did the word ‘pancakes’.

“Pancakes! Pancakes – pancakes – pancakes –”

... Is he drooling because he’s hungry or because he’s insane?

“Bit of both, probably,” Xander said. “The pancakes are your reward for playing nice, kid. They aren’t free.”

That helped. The boy was alert and friendly and bouncing like he’d been stuck with a needle of crack.

“I want them – I want them –” His eyes started flashing, like he was hurling through a hundred thoughts at once. “My name. My name, my name – uh... Patrick! Patty!”

“Peter?”

“Peter! Peter – that’s it, that’s it –”

Now Xander was enjoying himself. This stopped being an interrogation and turned into a very fun show he was more than willing to put a stop to if it got out of hand, started going after Gwen or just got plain ol' dull.

“I take it back,” he said. “The guy’s nuts - one hundred percent.”

He could still be helpful.

“Yeah, for sure, very helpful. He’s had a run-in with our guys, looks like he knows what they can do.” He snorted. “Just would’ve been nice if he’d survived it.”

Alex wanted to feel sorry, but the kid seemed so feral that it was hard to pin down where the humanity he would’ve mourned was supposed to come from. What the hell had happened to him?

You should ask him about... He drew a blank. ‘Where do you know Gwen from?’ ‘What picture are you talking about?’ ‘Where did you see her name?’ ‘Do you know who we are?’ ‘Do you know if there’re others?’ ‘How the fuck did you get away from their headquarters if we can't hide across the country?’ But it seemed pointless now. The kid’s answers were random and – as Xander had now proved – easily changed. ‘Peter’? That was a bold choice. Did they really want someone around that they’d have to call ‘Peter’? Ask him about who’s chasing him. When did he get away? How much time do we have?

“A lot.” Of course the ex-Agent would know. “Labbies are stupid and they don’t send Agents against something if they’re blind. They’ll need a full profile on his powers, the tools to stop it, a team trained exclusively to get the guy... All that fun stuff. Hell – he’s in more danger being around us than he would’ve if I’d left him.”

... Well, at least they didn't have to worry about drawing another crowd.

The kid was trying to focus. His mind was still looked like it was wrapped around the thought of food, about the only thing that made him normal right now. He closed his eyes like he was trying to jam them shut for eternity and he stayed that way for a solid two minutes. The time ticked down in Alex’s head. It was almost enough for him to want to quit, even if Gwen believed there was a point to this, but her eyes were locked on the boy’s because she wanted this to work. She wasn’t stopping until she got some kind of answer out of him. Xander was paying attention, too. For a minute, Alex convinced himself it was because the scolding had finally set in and he’d decided to behave. Maybe, but that didn’t explain the way Xander was starting to sit forward. There was something he was waiting for he didn’t seem sure of yet. Something was wrong. Something... And if Alex could feel it from inside of here, inside of the head temporarily removed from his control, then it was obvious that Gwen, on the outside, had full access to notice it one way or another.

“I don’t know,” the boy mumbled. The words rolled around in his mouth. “I don’t know. I don’t know – I don’t know – I don’t know...”

It echoed. He thought it did, anyway. What the boy said sounded thick against his ears and faded too slowly. Blinking came as a reflex and didn’t actually reach his eyelids, but the effect was the same. It pulled him from the mud his thoughts had walked into. He blinked again, realized it was Xander doing the same thing for the same reason, and then Alex got creeped out.

Did you –

“Shh.”

He leaned closer, shifting in his seat as though he wanted to get up. He didn’t. Xander backed off without moving an inch, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out a little of that bad mood he’d been fuelling his tantrum with had just been sucked out. Normally, it’d’ve been a good thing because it meant he’d stopped whining and was focusing on what was in front of him, but given their increasingly terrible circumstances, it made Alex feel worse.

Gwen –

“Shh,” he hissed again. Sharper, yes, but quieter this time, too. If something was actually happening, he was trying not to interrupt. That was not Gwen’s influence but she’d certainly kept him in his place.

“No one’s there – no one’s following me,” the kid insisted. His voice had gone back to the hectic, high-strung squeal and Alex was overwhelmed by the distinct impression he’d shared a bit of the boy’s crazy and made it up. Well... Okay. No problem, then. But Xander kept shifting. “I’m alone – I’m always alone – I’m always never not alone –”

I’m really glad he’s tied up.

No ‘shh’.

“Pancakes – I never left,” the kid said. “I left it but I never left –” He stopped, caught his breath and then tried again. “I left it. I left it – the lab – it’s there – I don’t know where – they don’t know where I am - I left – but they want me – they need me – I’m new – I’m special – they want me in the machine –”

Well, yeah. Of course they did. If they were trying to stick someone in his head too, they’d have to bring him to wherever they did the transfer to make sure it happened properly.

“How many times did they put you in there?” Xander’s voice was low. “Do you hear any voices?”

You said they’d get it right if they got another chance, Alex said. The boy was struggling to understand what the hell those words meant. You said the technology improved.

“I think it did,” he muttered. Then louder, “Hey! Crazy kid! Were you always this crazy?”

“Nononononononono – they made me – all of us – everyone - I'm insane – no one left –”

“‘Peter’,” Xander said, halfway to sounding friendly, “how many times did they put you in the machine?”

“I don’t know – I don’t know – I don’t know – I don’t know –”

You’ve got a point?

“I've got a theory. I think they have more than one person in there.”

Not again. For fuck’s sake, hadn’t the Agents had enough time to figure out how not to screw this up? Seriously – it was getting to the point where Alex thought he could do a better job.

“Pancakes,” the kid shot out. “Pancakes – pancakes – pancakes – pancakes – been running – a week – running a week – always running – pancakes – pancakes – pancakes –”

“I'm convinced. He’s earned himself some pancakes.” He got up and headed for the phone. “Anyone else want breakfast? I’m still hungry from yesterday.”