Title: Immortal Convergence
Author: Kay
Email: kaygrr@hotmail.com
Feedback: Do you really want to see me beg?  My happy dance is way more
entertaining. Website:  ssfdu.tripod.com/kay/journal.htm  (Sandy rocks)
Archive: Hey, just ask first <g> Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Pairing:
Xander/Wesley, Xander/Wesley/Spike, Duncan/Methos, Giles/Richie...etc.
Rating: PG Sequel:  None Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the
characters of the show don't belong to me in anyway whatsoever. Mutant
Enemy, I live in envy of you.  The same goes for Highlander and Rysher -
they may be your toys, but I'm going to play with them.  Niener.  This
story is written for enjoyment, not for profit.  This whore only works for
feedback.  Litigation would be a waste of time, people. I'm a member of
the Starving Student Sect. Summery:  A renegade immortal on the Hellmouth
puts Sunnydale in danger, and it's up to the Scooby Gang and some visitors
from Seacouver to put things right. Warnings:  spoilers up to Graduation
II...I think.  Xander returned from his summer a month ago, but that's
about it.  No Anya, no Tara (<sniff> I *like* Tara).  There is Riley,
though.  As for HL...say it with me people:  Richie isn't dead!  Let's
just pretend that in the next to last season, Ahriman was vanquished
without a certain never-to-be-mentioned incident occurring, K?  And the
final season of HL never happened, either.  Hell, if I'm going to be
messing about with the characters, why not mess around with time, too? <g>

Part Two/?

Xander leaned against the doorframe, hands shoved deep into his pockets. 
"Guess I'll be turning in now."

Willow twined her arm with Oz's.  "Are you sure?  We might still find a
few vampires to stake."

Buffy nodded, standing beside Riley.  "Come on.  You know you like it when
they go puff."

"Oh, I've had enough excitement to last me for tonight, I think."

Buffy wrinkled her nose.  "Are you sure?  I mean, you can't be wanting to
get back to your roommate."

"Ooh, maybe Xander wants to listen to him talk for a little while before
heading for bed.  One of his lectures usually puts me right to sleep,"
Willow giggled.

"More like puts you into a coma," Buffy laughed.

Xander pulled his hands out of his pockets.  "Good night."  He heard Buffy
call his name, but he let himself into the building and shut the door
firmly behind him, not bothering to answer.  He'd made it clear that he
was tired about the jokes about his roommate, that he resented the
constant insults to his friend, and they still continued to ignore him. 
He was through listening to it.

He walked up the stairs to the apartment that everyone knew about,
knocking lightly on the door as he opened.  "Honey, I'm home," he called.

"I'm in the library, Ricky," was the reply.

Xander ambled over to the room they'd filled with books and christened the
library and grinned as he watched the other man sort the all the
books...again.  Xander didn't know why he was allowed to put the books
away after a night of research; he never put them in the right place and
his roommate just ended up redoing it.

As he watched the other man work, his marveled at the circumstances that
had brought them together.  He'd headed out on his road trip almost before
the wreckage of the high school had stopped smoking.  Just past LA, a
tractor trailer had lost control on the freeway and jumped the median. 
He'd had no chance to avoid the other vehicle; the crash had been
horrific.  Xander didn't remember much of it, just sick helpless terror
and then blinding pain.  The next thing he'd been aware of was waking up
on the side of the rode, confused as hell by the fact that he was alive
and covered with a sheet.  He'd peered out and found a typical accident
scene, with cops and EMTs all over the place.  He was lying surrounded by
other white-sheeted bodies, but none of them were moving.

For once, Xander was grateful for having grown up in Sunnydale:  he was so
inured to weird that the whole situation barely phased him.  He'd made a
break for the woods after draping his sheet over the body next to him,
hoping that the rescue workers would figure that they'd just miscounted. 
Once safely away, he'd known that he'd have to find out why he wasn't
dead.  His clothes were torn and bloody, suggesting that he probably had
been at the very least badly injured.  He didn't feel possessed, but if he
were would he be in any state to notice?  He hadn't the last couple of
times it had happened, after all.  He decided to get to the closest help
he knew of and to leave his friends out of it until he was sure he wasn't
going to be a danger to them.

It was surprisingly easy for a dirty, bloody man torn clothing to flag
down a cab in LA.

Angel had been surprised and concerned when he'd turned up, while Cordelia
had immediately called dibs on taking him shopping for new clothes.  Angel
had sent her and a guy named Doyle home and had spent the rest of the day
testing Xander, making sure he wasn't possessed or a zombie or a
spontaneous vampire.  The answer finally came when Xander gave himself the
mother of all paper cuts while looking through a book.  Before he could
really get into swearing about it, the thin slice had stopped bleeding. 
Blue sparks had danced around the wound as it healed before their eyes. 
That had been the clue Angel had needed:  he told Xander that he was an
Immortal.  Angel hadn't known much about it, just that he could only die
by beheading, that he wasn't evil, and that he had to learn to defend
himself from other Immortals.

So instead of spending his summer cruising the open road and maybe
breaking a few hearts as he passed through towns, he'd begun to train with
Angel, learning how to fight with all kinds of weapons as well as with his
bare hands.  There had never been any doubt in his mind that he would
return to Sunnydale.  How could he not?  Now he could go and really be
useful, finally be able to protect his friends the way he'd always wanted
to.  He wasn't ready then to tell them what he was, and he still wasn't
now.  He wasn't sure how they'd react...besides, there was no good way to
bring it up in conversation.  "Funny you should mention shoe sales, Buffy.
 Did I mention I'm immortal?"  There were no good segues for it.

As summer had drawn to a close, Angel had fretted about letting Xander go
back to Sunnydale.  This had really amused Xander, first because the
master of all things broody was fretting, and second because he showed how
much he had changed.  He'd done some growing up over the summer, coming to
be Angel's friend rather than a snide rival.  Oh, he still kept up the
snide remarks, but he and Angel both knew it was more out of habit than
anything else.

Xander had been a little worried about leaving LA, too.  He knew he was
nowhere near done with what he had to learn in order to keep himself
alive; worse, he still knew way too little about what he was.  He'd run
into a few other Immortals in LA, but none of them had been interested in
talking to him.  They'd issued challenges and he'd met them; thanks to
Angel's training, he'd survived.  The freaky light show and spirit
absorption thing afterwards had both frightened and repelled him; it was
an incredible rush, but it felt way too much like vampirism for Xander to
ever be able to be comfortable with it, no matter how much Angel assured
him that it was the way things were supposed to happen.

Wesley turning up had been a godsend.  The former Watcher had been at
loose ends and doing his own tour of the United States at the time. 
Hearing of Angel's detective business, he'd come down to the office to
investigate and make certain that the vampire really was helping people. 
He'd known far more than Angel about Immortals and was able to explain the
rules that governed them to Xander.  He also sparred with Xander, giving
Xander some experience with a human opponent.  Oh sure, training with
Angel was great, but Xander seriously doubted that any Immortal would
suddenly shift features and start throwing him around with super-human
strength.  He hoped, at least.

Cordelia had suggested that Wesley go back to Sunnydale with Xander as a
joke, but Xander had jumped at the idea.  It would be nice to have some
there who knew his secret, who could help him train and figure out exactly
what was going on with his new life.  It was more than that, though. 
Oddly enough, dying had helped Xander to finish growing up.  He'd accepted
a lot about himself over the summer, including his purpose to continue to
protect his friends.  He'd stopped treating Angel as a rival and a pariah
and he did the same for Wesley, accepting the other man as a friend.

Thanks to Doyle, he'd also finally accepted the fact that he wasn't 
necessarily as straight as he'd been trying to convince himself he was.

He hadn't known if Wesley could come with him, though; neither he nor the
Englishman had any sort of employment waiting for them in Sunnydale, so
figuring out how to support themselves had been their first task.  They'd
found their answer in the shape of a billionaire with a penchant for
role-playing.  David Nabitt had been fascinated by the idea of an immortal
young man fighting against evil.  Once Xander had thrown in the
information about the blond young woman who was the first line of defense
against world destruction, the man had been hooked.  Xander had promised
to send him accounts of their exploits and a few pictures of Buffy and in
exchange David had rented out two apartments for them, one on top of the
other.

David had paid for the lower apartment to be converted into a large
practice area, with room for sparring and practicing anything they needed
to.  No one knew about that lower apartment; as far as Xander's friends
were aware, the one above it was the only one he had.  He and Wesley each
had their own bedroom and bath; the den had been converted into a library
for all the books David had supplied Wesley with.

Xander had been excited and nervous about Wesley coming with him.  Excited
because he didn't want to lose his new friend and teacher, but nervous
because of the way he was beginning to feel about him.  He'd also been
worried about how the Scooby Gang would react to Wesley:  they hadn't
exactly taken to him the last time around, although Xander had to admit
that a lot of that had been his fault.  In the month that he'd been back,
they'd gotten into the habit of making fun of Wesley but otherwise
ignoring him, something that Xander was rapidly beginning to hate.

Shaking those memories out of his mind, he watched with appreciation as
Wesley straightened and turned to face him.  Long legs encased in
well-worn jeans, a gray button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to
the elbows, and his every-present glasses in place, Wesley looked
comfortable.

Not to mention edible.  Xander grinned at him, letting a little of his
appreciation show.  "You ready to go out?"

He was delighted when Wesley grinned back at him almost identically.  He
loved the way the other man's eyes crinkled up at the corners when he
smiled.  Pierce Brosnan had nothing on Wesley's eyes.  "Why, Mr. Harris,
are you asking me out on a date?"

Xander laughed.  "Ooh, yeah, I'm Mr. Smooth.  C'mon Wes, we'll go out,
kill a few monsters.  It'll be really romantic."

"You've been taking relationship advice from Buffy again, haven't you?" 
Wesley shook his head sadly.

Xander raised his hands in surrender.  "If I ever start doing that,
please, for my own good, put me out of my misery."

"What, and miss the chance to see you try to pick up an undead farmer? 
Not for the world."

Xander sank back against the wall, laughing.  "You want to go?"

Catching up a few weapons and secreting them about himself, Wesley nodded.
 "I've got a line on a pair of Greshek demons in town to try to take out
the Slayer.  Shall we go dissuade them?"

"I love it when you talk British."  Xander gestured toward the door.  "I'm
right behind you."

"Incidentally, did you see that Immortal again?"

Xander knew the question was far from incidental for Wesley.  Sometimes he
thought the other man worried more about him encountering others like him
than he did.  "No sign of him.  I think he actually took my advice and
moved on."  He smiled softly at Wesley's relived nod.

As he followed Wesley out the door, Xander nodded to himself, pleased by
the way things were progressing.  He'd been flirting steadily with Wesley
for weeks and to his delight the Englishman had responded and flirted
back.  Sometimes he'd look up and catch Wesley looking at him, the
expression in his eyes making Xander flush and never want to look away. 
There was something growing between them, something that was getting
stronger and deeper and more necessary everyday.  Neither of them had any
inclination to rush it:  it was better to just let it grow on its own
time, to let it take its course.

Xander had rushed into relationships before, but he had no intention of
doing that this time.  He wanted to take his time and make sure it was
done right.  He didn't think he'd ever been in love before, but that
didn't matter.  All he needed to know was that when he was with Wesley, he
felt right.  Not just happy or horny or giddy or safe or comfortable,
although he felt all those things as well.  With Wesley, he felt right,
just as strongly as he felt wrong when he wasn't with him.

He wasn't going to take any chances with this.  He wasn't sure it was
love, but it was so close that he couldn't tell the difference.  As they
headed out onto the street he walked close beside Wesley, hyper-aware of
the way their shoulders brushed occasionally, of the small smiles the
other man gave him.

No, he was sure of it.  This was love.

*****