In a world where Kendra didn't die during Season 2, Xander Harris meets a girl in a bar. Post Chosen, but the potentials were never activated. I own nothing. The characters belong to Joss Whedon and the situation comes from the song, "Angel in Blue" by J. Geils Band and the movie Blue Angel. This was written in response to a XanderZone songfic challenge. This may just be a one shot, as I already have other fics going. Please review and let me know what you think of this - ml

Blue Angel

Xander Harris sighed when he looked at the location his colleague had chosen as a meeting place. There may be worse dives in Baltimore than this one, but it had to be in the top ten.

"All I wanted was to have some crab cakes, a couple of beers, and save the world," Xander grumbled. "This can't end well." He got a beer at the bar and found an empty corner table. All he wanted was to be left alone until…

"Buy a girl a drink?" a lady asked as she approached from his blind side.

Xander thought to himself, "This is the last thing…" then he saw her. She was young, with brown hair and eyes and a face to die for. Xander Harris had seen more attractive women up close than most Hollywood talent scouts, but this one was something special. And he had the strangest feeling, like he had met her somewhere before.

Not wanting to risk having his voice crack, he merely nodded to answer her.

"Name's Faith," she said.

He took a deep breath, "Xander,"

The girl motioned to the bartender, who sent a waitress over with a couple of overpriced cocktails. When the waitress left, she asked, "So, you looking for a good time?" she asked, leaning into him.

Xander thought, "How could this little girl be doing this at her age? She should be in school, making something of herself." He took a pull on his beer and said, "I'm here on business."

Faith pulled back. The look in her eyes left Xander little doubt about the kind of business that typically took place at this bar. "I don't want no trouble."

"I'm not up to anything illegal or immoral," Xander replied, trying to calm her. "My… colleague likes to meet at kind of exotic places."

"Exotic, huh? First time I heard this place called exotic. Now dirty, dangerous, and depressing, sure." She smiled, and Xander's feeling of déjà vu increased.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Again, the wariness returned to her eyes. "Gotta be someplace. Not like I had a lot of options."

Xander tried to interrupt. "I'm sure.."

Faith's face became a sneer. "Look. I've heard all this before." She spoke more loudly "I know all the lines. I'll save you, I'll take care of you. If you want me, you'll have to pay for it like anyone else. I'm not looking for charity and I don't want a priest or a shrink."

A large, oily skinned guy with large tattoos on his arms came over to them. "This guy buggin' you?" he asked the girl before turning to Xander and reaching across the table.

Xander sighed. He really didn't have time for this. He quickly grabbed the guy's wrist and forced him to the ground.

"The lady and I were having a private conversation," Xander hissed. "I was treating her with respect and will continue to do so. Leave. Now."

Xander released the guy, who shot a glare at Faith. "Why didn't you tell me you had a soldier boy? They never have any money. And you know you got bills to pay."

Xander realized that this must be Faith's pimp. "I'll cover the lady's time," Xander said. He reached into his wallet and tossed some bills across to the table. Faith quickly pocketed the cash.

"Why don't I just get some friends and take the rest of what you got?" The guy said.

Xander was going to kill his colleague for this. He got up slowly from his chair and sighed. He reached up and removed his glass eye, placing it in his shirt pocket.

That unnerved the guy. He stared into Xander's face and saw the look that had frightened vampires and zombies. The look freaked him out.

"I got business to handle," the pimp said as he backed away, his eyes never leaving Xander's face. Once he was a safe distance away, he turned to Faith. "You're nothing but trouble. I should have never let you work for me."

Having just seen him back down, however, Faith wasn't impressed with his act anymore. "Go home, Myron."

"Myron?" Xander asked.

"He likes to call himself 'Blade,' but I heard him talk to his mom."

They shared another smile as they returned to their seats. Xander wiped off his glass eye and put it back in.

Faith stared at this guy, trying to figure him out. There was something familiar about him. Even though she was sure that they'd never met before.

Xander felt that he had to try to help. "Look, you don't know me. You got no reason to trust me. And I'm only here for a couple of days. But here's my card." He handed the paper to her. "My cell number is there. If you need anything, just want to talk, whatever; give me a call. I'll do what I can."

A thin, blonde man approached Xander. "So, made a friend, have we?"

Xander groaned. Now he shows up. "Spike, this is Faith. Faith, this is the pain in the ass who dragged me out here."

"Charmed," Spike said, sarcastically.

"Same here," Faith replied.

"Look. I don't mean to get in the way of you're acquiring some new and highly mutated venereal disease," Spike said, heedless of Faith's glare. "But we have three hours to save the world."

"Three whole hours," Xander deadpanned. "Normally, we only have one."

Faith didn't understand any of this. But she had been listened to lies and bull all her life. She could tell that these guys were serious.

"Faith," Xander said as he got up and tossed some more bills on the table. "Remember what I said."

He and Spike left the bar together. Faith, with more money than she needed for the night, almost tossed the card. But there was something about that Xander guy that made her want to know more about him. She waited for a moment; then followed them.

"Why did I ever agree to work with you again?" Xander complained to his colleague.

"Because you won't let me within a nautical mile of Buffy, the bit, Willow, or Kendra?" Spike guessed.

"Oh yeah," Xander said. "I remember, now." He had to admit, the blonde vampire was now one of his closest guy friends. How that happened, he had no idea.

"So, what's with the chit at the bar?" Spike asked.

"It was weird. The whole time I was talking to her, it was like I'd met her before."

"Teenage self-abuse sessions?" Spike asked, half seriously.

Xander thought about the question for a moment. "Let's see. Amy Yip, Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, Kendra, Ms. Calendar…." He cast an eye over to Spike, "Drusilla…" He laughed at Spike's glare. "Gotta say, no."

It was time to get down to business. "How many we got?" Xander asked

Three demons with offerings, and a caster, at least," Spike answered.

"So four," Xander said. "We should have shotguns."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to stop quoting Pulp Fiction?"

Xander smiled. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men…"

Spike snapped, "You do NOT get to be Samuel Jackson. You're Travolta. I'm Jackson."

Their joking stopped as they approached the cemetery. "Game time," Xander said.

Faith watched from the shadows as Xander and Spike defeated a group of demons in a Baltimore graveyard. She knew that weird things walked in the night, but she had never seen anything like this. Xander and the other guy; they were like comic book heroes.

They were walking back to the hotel when Xander's cell phone started to vibrate. He hoped that it was the girl he had met that evening. "Hey, this is Xander."

"Xander, it's Giles," came the voice from the other end.

"Oh, hi. You can relax, Spike and I stopped the troxa demons. So, no apocalypse today."

"Excellent," Giles said, though he sounded distracted. "Xander, I'm sorry, but I have some bad news. Kendra died this evening."

Xander stopped walking. Spike turned to his friend. "How did it happen?"

"She was in Boston and came across a very old vampire named Kakistos. Andrew said that she perished fighting him."

"I'll be in Boston in six hours," Xander said.

"No, you won't," Giles said, quietly but firmly. "Send Spike. Buffy will be leading a team. Our sources say that the newest potential is in the Baltimore area. You need to find her immediately."

"But Giles..."

"Xander, you know we can't use a vampire to make first contact with a Slayer. Now that she's been activated, other vampires will be aware of her. If you don't find her, she will likely perish."

"That's dirty," Xander said.

"It's true," Giles countered. "I'll have Willow work on a tracking spell and call you in the morning."

Xander briefed Spike about the situation and returned to his hotel.

Faith crept back towards her rented room. As she walked, she felt strange. It was as if she had been looking through the world through gauze her whole life. Her sight suddenly seemed clearer. She felt stronger.

She almost didn't notice Myron by her front door.

"Where's my money?" he asked.

"You'll get it tomorrow," she said, distracted.

The pimp tried to punch her, as he had countless times before. Effortlessly, Faith blocked the punch, kicked out Myron's knee, and broke his nose.

"Whoa," she said, surprised by her own strength. She gave Myron one last kick in the ribs before entering her apartment. "Something weird is definitely going on."