AN: I had to redo this chapter as of may 4th, 2005 because karaoke is some how wrong in a story. The song they should be singing is "I just want you." by Ozzy. Also the formating might be off here since the ff net program removes a lot of the stuff I try to use as scene seperators and stuff in thoughs.

The Hollywood Dance Club

C Deck

Everyone was watching the stage. Doing their best to make Ozzy Osbourne proud was Xander, Beth, Rebecca, Gavin, and Melissa. All linked together with arms around each other, in an almost football-like huddle, swaying left and right as they sang.

Buffy turned to Willow, and frowned a tiny bit. "They seem to be getting along very well."

Willow smirked at her. "You're jealous!"

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Cool it, you two," Amanda ordered, as she grabbed Lee and dragged him to the dance floor.

Cordelia walked up to the bar, where Lorne was watching and listening to the group on stage. "Think they'll ask you about their futures?"

Lorne just took a shot of brandy, and stared at them. "I hope not."

This caused Cordelia to get concerned. "What is it?"

He turned to her. "I'm getting a kind of group vibe here, so I can't be 100 percent sure."

"But..." she prodded him.

"But if anyone is thinking this group was put together for small-time stuff…forget it. It won't be long till they start catching up with the rest of you, in the 'we've saved the world a lot' race. But there is one thing I should tell you, about your boy up there."

"Shouldn't you tell him?"

Lorne shook his head. "No. He would never admit to it anyway."

"Admit what?" she asked, worried.

"Honey, when I first read you there was one main thing I saw in your aura."

"Him?"

"Well, yeah, but mostly your breakup with him. With you, it's seemed to fade a bit since you became friends with him again, but with him…"

The anagogic demon poured him self another drink. "With him, it's still there big-time. That guy is almost as guilt-ridden as Angel was, when I first met him. And the biggest dark spot of them all on his aura, is what happened between you two back then."

Lorne sighed, "What I'm telling you is this. Tread lightly. He would rather die than hurt you again, but your old squeeze is real unsure of himself. You need to build him up a bit."

Cordelia just stared at Lorne, then over to the stage where Xander was just finishing. "I will, I'll do whatever it takes."

Forty Seven Miles outside Billings, Montana

Max and Liz Evans were shoved against the wall of the cabin. Next to them, trying to get up were the few people they completely trusted in the world; Kyle Valenti, Isabel Ramirez, Michael Guerin, and Maria DeLuca. All looked up to see the countless guns aimed at them.

"Don't even try anything, you freaks!" the FBI agent-in-charge told them. "You might get some of us, but your human friends will not be so lucky!"

Max pleaded, "Please, we just want to be left alone!"

Several agents laughed at that. "Like you've been alone since the Fifties? So you can kill a lot of other good men? Like you'll kill these naive kids with you, when you get bored with 'em?"

"Boy, someone sure got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning..."

The Federal agents turned to see five people in military uniforms, and with them were at least 30 armed soldiers.

The lead agent angrily addressed the newcomer, who'd spoken up. "Who the hell are you! Get lost, this is our mission. These freaks have been killing our people for decades!"

"The name is Colonel O'Neill, U.S. Air Force. And, actually, these kids haven't killed anyone. The killer you're talking about was a shapeshifter named Nacedo, and a girl named Tess was the one who destroyed the base in New Mexico. Both are now dead, and you are harassing American citizens without due cause, so you shut up and get lost."

"You have no jurisdiction here, Colonel. Now…"

O'Neill pulled out a letter. "This is from Robert Mueller, who God help us all is still your boss. And his orders here are to shut up and leave, and never bother these kids again. If you don't believe me, go call him yourself."

"We're not going anywhere!" the agent angrily tossed the letter back at O'Neill, without reading it.

The leader of Team SG-1 yawned, and turned to a soldier next to him. "Take them out to the car, so they can make the call. If they don't cooperate, place them under arrest. If they resist, shoot them."

"Yes sir!" the soldier responded. He, and the other soldiers forcefully removed the FBI agents.

O'Neill and the four remaining people moved up to Max. "Max Evans, we are offering you and your people a full pardon from whatever those idiots out there have charged you with. You can come with us now or not, it's your choice."

"Why should we trust you?" Michael raised his hand to O'Neill.

"Kid, before you hit me with the same kind of whammy that killed Agent Pierce – which I'm told was self-defense – you might want to ask yourself, if you want to live on the run forever."

Major Carter looked to Max. "Would you happen to know the relative galactic coordinates of Antar? We've never heard of it, but if there are any more of those 'skins' on Earth, we should really find out."

"How do you know all this?" Liz asked, wondering what the hell was going on.

A voice came from behind O'Neill. "Because I told them."

All six people against the wall froze in shock when Alex Whitman, their very dead friend, appeared in front of them.

"A-Alex?" Isabel choked out, her eyes watering. "No…this is some trick. Alex is dead!"

"Well, oddly enough, I was; but then I got recruited for a job back down here in the land of the living, so they gave me a copy of my old body. And so, here I am," he told her.

"Job?" Michael yelled. "You just came back to life for a job! No way. You're a skin!"

Alex shook his head. "No, I'm not. Guys, I'm not another version of Tess, Nacedo, or Kivar. I'm Alex Whitman, and when I found out that I could help you all out after I got back…I said what the hell."

A pause, as he saw their expressions. "What? You think you guys are the only aliens living in this country? Hell, there's one alien who's a TV writer in Hollywood, for God's sake! Look, you can have your lives back. But whatever you decide, I wanted to say thanks Liz, for figuring out what Tess did to me. And Isabel, those little visits from me that you never told anyone about while you were dating Jesse…that was all me. I was up there at the time, but you did say that you would name your first boy Alex. Hell, we danced at my grave for God's sake..."

Isabel was shocked. "That was you?"

O'Neill looked them over. "Come on kids, what do you say?"

Staples Center

Home of LA Sparks

Julie Connor nailed another shot from the free-throw line, as her friends Mary-Beth Pepperton and Kristy Ford watched. They were the only ones on the court, after everyone else had left after practice.

"Julie, you only missed one out of ten. I think you can stop now," Mary-Beth complained.

Before Julie could respond, they heard another basketball being dribbled at the other end of the court. All three women turned to see the man dribbling the basketball, as he walked towards them. "Mary-Beth, you should know by now how much of a stickler for perfection Julie is..."

Mary-Beth smiled wide. "Vince!" she called out, before she ran over and hugged him. "What are you doing here? Last we heard from Danny, was that you were working at NORAD!"

Lieutenant Vince D'Amata looked at the three women gathered around him. "Well, I just got reassigned here. After the fun that was Sunnydale, I asked for a transfer – and here I am."

Kristy's eyes went huge. "You were at Sunnydale during the war!"

Vince nodded.

Julie leaned in. "That story the President mentioned last week…invaders from another dimension? That can't be true. Can it? I mean, it's Star Trek stuff..."

"Yeah, but it's also all real. I got the fun of seeing them real up close. While I can't say what I was doing there, I can say this…we got off lucky. If that portal hadn't closed when it did, along with Miller and his team taking out a shield tower to give our guys a way in…we would not be having this chat now." he reflected sadly. "I've seen way too much death for a dozen lifetimes."

The three women looked at each other; up till now, their biggest problem had been getting jobs in the same city. Now their friend had lived through a war. "Do you want to talk about it, Vince?" Mary-Beth asked him softly.

The Immortal shook his head. "Maybe later, but thanks. At least, there's some good news. One of the guys I went in with was able to recover from his wounds that he'd received. After I heard about how he got better, well, I just had to sign up here."

"How did he recover?" Kristy asked.

"You wouldn't believe me, even if you did have clearance to know. But you know one thing I wouldn't mind right now?" he asked them.

"What's that?" Julie wondered.

Vince tossed the ball to her. "To see if you're still any good."

Julie raised an eyebrow at him, before grinning. "Oh, you're on pal..."

"It's time to see," Vince told her, "if getting drafted into the pros has gone to your head."

Demon Command

Control Room

11:47 PST

"Does he really think I don't see him?" April asked herself in annoyance. She watched the small screen in front of her, as the computer program sat in the darkened control room.

She spoke into the phone. "Security let him pass. The captain is expecting him." After she hung up, April continued to watch the vampire that thought he was sneaking on board.

( It's about time, ) Xander thought, as he shut off the monitor. Without even looking back at the open sliding glass doors to the private deck, he asked, "What took you so long, Dead Boy?"

"How did you know it was me?" Angel asked at once, as he came into the room.

Xander turned his chair around to face him, and held up the small monitor. "We started tracking you, as soon as you parked half a mile away. We have this entire area under 24-hour surveillance, you know."

"Nice toys," Angel said as he closed the sliding door, and then stood staring at Xander.

( He's even got that same old 'I'm evil' pose, ) Xander smiled. "And to what do I owe the honor of your company tonight, Angel? You know, I will be seeing you tomorrow night after all the debriefings are done."

Angel smiled, as he appeared to be glancing around the room. "I just wanted to have a chat with you alone."

"Oh, and what about?" Xander asked, as he started to mentally count down what he knew was coming. ( Three…two…one. )

"If you hurt Cordelia again, I will kill you."

Xander had to fight the urge to laugh. "Is that so?" he asked with an amused smile.

Angel growled at him, "Don't push me."

"Boy," Xander told him two seconds later. "You forgot the 'boy' part at the end. I mean, that is how you threatened Riley, isn't it?" He imitated Angel's voice, "Don't push me, boy."

"You think I'm joking?" Angel moved closer.

Xander tried to stop smiling. "No, no, I think you're deadly serious. But I just love the self-righteous attitude from you about this." Angel gave him a stare that would make others shake in fear, but not Xander. "Oh, come on Angel. When did that ever work with me?"

"I meant what I said."

"I know. You're here, because the last time I was together with Cordy I cheated on her and got her impaled. And maybe also because I walked out on the woman I was going to marry on our wedding day. Am I close?"

"Right on the money."

"Well, before you get your probably-black-like-everything-else boxers in a bunch, let me say this." His face got deadly serious. "I will never hurt Cordelia again. Ever."

"You've made those claims before…"

Xander stopped him, as any and all feelings of goodwill from his last visit to the hotel disappeared. "Angel old pal, can you define the meaning of the word 'hypocrite'? Should I spell it out for you? Because that's what you are."

Angel just looked at him coldly as the USAF officer continued, "Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Whistler shows you Buffy in LA, and tells you that you're supposed to help her – nothing more."

Angel stared in shock, as Xander shook his head. "Yeah, I actually heard about that – right from the horse's mouth. You knew all along you couldn't do anything else with the Buff-meister, that it wouldn't work out. But did you keep it just business? Well, we both know the answer; you two made with the smoochies, then got groiny with each other. And so, we all got to meet your other half. And after a few months of killing and other acts, you get your soul back…"

"I know all this, Harris…"

The young man kept going though, "Then you come back from Hell with your big purpose to help the helpless. Do you go do that? No. You go back into Buffy's arms again. You know better than ever that it won't work out, and you two still get back together! But then you finally start to think with your head and figure out that it can't work, so you dump her – which was a whole lot of fun for her, I can tell you..."

Xander shook his head at the memories. "You then leave and try to fight the good fight here. I get letters from Cordy telling me how she'd found a purpose for her life, how she understands now why I always wanted to help out Buffy. You became her best friend, and then you went all nuts again."

"Xander, that's…"

"Shut up and let me finish."

The temperature in the room fell several degrees, as Xander continued, "You kicked her out of your life and went into idiot mode, just so that you could kill Darla and Drusilla. But did you kill them, Angel? Was pushing Cordy and the others away like that worth it? Did you take out the Big Bads? No, again. Hell, you even slept with one of them! But the best part's still to come..."

A short, deadly pause. "Even after both tries to be with Buffy, you still try to get together with Cordelia. You know it won't last and that it would only end with her heart being broken…but you went ahead with it anyway! How long did she cry after you two decided to stop seeing each other, buddy boy?"

Xander stood face to face with the vampire. "Now, on to me. With regards to Anya, and our little wedding of doom? Yeah, I left her. I ran with my tail between my legs. Not making excuses – but did anyone ever tell you about the nightmare future visions that that demon gave me? Or tell you about how they were all fake, to scare me off from my bride-to-be?"

The undead creature with a soul shook his head slowly.

Xander stared off into the void as he said, "You know what I never told anyone, Angel? That they weren't really fake. I'd seen all the crap in them going on between my mom and dad, and the chances were it woulda happened to me too..."

The young man's expression went dark and cold. "I've heard almost everyone I care about say I won't turn out like that, if I don't want to. My opinion, they should keep their damn mouths shut unless they've been there. There was this guy called Jon, he was an older kid of one of my dad's drinking buddies. When he got married, he swore to me that he would never hurt his wife like that, never drink like his old man. You wanna know where he is today? He's in almost nightly AA meetings, just so he can keep his monthly visitation rights with his kids!"

He paused to collect himself. "As for Cordy. I was a stupid ass who didn't know what I had, till I lost it. I had the love of my young life calling me every name in the book. Then she went after Wesley? Well, at least your friend Doyle and her actually stood a chance..."

Angel stiffened. "Don't you mention his name."

"Oh get off it, Dead Boy. You ever wonder how Doyle just happened to know everything, from Cordy's favorite old movies to her favorite ice cream flavor? Or what kind of music she liked, but would never tell anyone?"

"You?" Angel asked in shock.

He nodded. "I was in town for the day, so I thought I'd drop in and say hi. But you and Cordy were away hunting a demon, and Doyle was tending the office. We went out and had a few drinks. I gave him some pointers."

"Why would you do that?" the souled vampire asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm not the kind of guy who beats up on his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. I mean, who does that kind of thing? Oh, wait." He pointed to Angel. "That would be you."

Angel took a step towards Xander, but then stopped. "What I said stands."

Xander looked him in the eye. "You've delivered your little warning, so now it's my turn. You ever treat her again like you did back then, and I will dust you. And this is no idle threat here, because we both know I could do it now without breaking a sweat. I don't think you've forgotten about those funky new powers, right? So are we clear on this?"

"We're clear," Angel growled at him.

"Good. Now you're her best friend, and I respect that. So for the record, I will not be trying to get her to stop hanging out with you, or helping you in your quest to make up for your past. I still remember what it's like to have your friends treat you like you're neither wanted or needed, and God knows I would never wish that on anyone."

Xander straightened up. "Now after you walk out that door, as far as I'm concerned – this conversation never happened. You go back to brooding or being all champion-like, and I'll keep annoying you and calling you Dead Boy…hey, you know what? That moniker's getting kind of old. I have got to think of a new nickname for you. And I'm sure you have a few for me, don't you?"

Angel only nodded, before he started for the patio door leading to the private deck. "Uh, Angel?" Xander stopped him. He pointed towards the door. "We did track you all the way in here. Base Security knows you're on board, so you might as well use the normal way off the ship."

Angel crossed the room and opened the door…to find a USAF sergeant waiting for him. "What, don't you trust me?"

Xander shrugged. "You did sneak into a government installation. No unescorted civilians allowed. See you tomorrow."

About twenty minutes later, after he got tired of the endless CNN coverage of the last week, Xander was laying on his bed reading over D'Amata's report about what had happened after he had 'died', when the phone rang. "Xander's psychic network, Ms. Cleo speaking," he joked.

"Quit clowning around, dorkhead," came the excited voice of Cordelia Chase.

"Do I hear a little giddiness in your voice, Cor?"

She yelled happily into the phone, "I got the part, Xander! I got it!"

"Hey, way to go, Cordy!" he responded. "Do I get to find out what the show is about yet?"

"Well, I don't know Xander. They did want to keep it a secret so it's not all over the Internet tomorrow," she teased him.

"Ah, come on Cordy. Who do you play?"

"I play May Richards, a 24-year-old woman who was a child genius. Xander, from the script I've read so far this chick would like blow Willow out of the water! She's this big computer expert," she said.

"Right, so what's the show about?"

"Well, there's a two-hour pilot movie first, then we have a series later if they pick us up for next season. I'm not the main character; I become her best friend. But it's so cool, we work for the CIA and everything. Elizabeth – the lead – her father, along with my character's boyfriend and others go missing, after looking into some terrorist army. You wouldn't believe the scene I had to do in the reading."

"Not a love scene, I hope," he frowned.

"No, but there is a flashback to me and my boyfriend making out in the movie. At the end of the movie, we find my boyfriend dead on the floor of a bad guy hideout. We get there a few minutes too late, and she never gets to say goodbye to him. Xander, I had to do this huge crying scene. And they loved me!"

The young man could almost see her, jumping up and down in her living room. "And you said you'd never make it."

"Well, I guess having God setting me up to be discovered didn't hurt," she told him. "But it sucks that you can't be here to help me celebrate," she said the last word a little suggestively.

His eyebrows went up, as Xander heard that. "We will have plenty of time in Vegas, for that."

Her voice got deeper. "Oh, you can be sure of that, Mr. Harris. But I think we can manage for now. So…you want to know what I'm wearing, right this second?"

Xander's eyes went wide in surprise, before he smiled. "You know I do..."

Two days later

Las Vegas, Nevada

Cordelia frowned, as she walked into the hotel suite. "I swear, Xander, that idiot is going to get himself bitch-slapped! The guy would have made Faith blush..."

When she got no reply, the former seer turned around. "Xander?"

"Just a sec, Cor!" the man called out, as he dragged her bags in the room. As he set them all down Xander muttered, "Now I remember why I hated going anywhere with you, when we were in high school."

She glared at him. "And how come you didn't smack that guy?"

"Cordy, granted he was a jerk, but that friend of his seemed to be able to shut him up real quick. Besides, I don't know if we want to beat up one of God's old Prophet buddies while we're on a trip arranged by God," he reasoned.

"Well, okay, I'll let it slide this time. But if he says anything else, I'm going to smack him good!" Cordelia said, as she opened one of her bags.

"I dunno, Cor. I think he might like it if you start hitting him." Xander pulled the mother of his children to him. "Think of how much he would brag, when the hot chick that beat him up becomes a TV star."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Speaking of which, I'm going to need your help to rehearse the make-out scene with the boyfriend."

"Oh, I think I can handle that," Xander whispered.

"Good, because I might need to rehearse it several times. It could take hours," Cordelia whispered back, before she leaned in and kissed him. A few minutes later when they came up for air, she frowned.

"What's wrong Cor?"

"I just remembered what I forgot to bring."

"And what's that?"

She grinned at him. "Remember what we had to have around the room after Graduation?"

He nodded understanding. "Windex, and some Drano."

She leaned in and whispered softly in his ear, "Well then, you better run and buy some."

He kissed her forehead. "Your wish is my command." He started for the door.

"Xander?" He turned around. "Hurry back, my love."

He smiled. "You know Cor, I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing you say that."

A cliff over looking an ocean

Metatron walked up to her. "Okay, I get the fixing of everyone's destines, giving the girls back to those two crazy kids, even the thing with the aliens. But why was it so important to have her become a TV star, already? She got her family money back. She wouldn't ever have to work again."

She looked at him, smiling as always.

"That's it?" he asked in surprise. "She ends up a role model to a Slayer 80 years from now?"

God looked him right in the eyes.

The man looked mildly surprised. "Her great-great-granddaughter! But the odds of that happening are…" Metatron stopped, when he saw her glaring at him. "Right. Well, anything else you feel like letting me in on?" he asked her, somewhat annoyed.

She nodded, as his eyes went wide in shock. "You can do that! But that's against every rule for them, that we've set up down there! On their 16th birthday, they really get the full deal? I mean, there is only one to go around..."

God raised her right hand, and an object appeared in it. A jar of clear glass, and in it one could see a massive amount of energy; bolts of lightning, flashing and crackling around.

Metatron was speechless. ( I thought it was lost, when the Powers did what they did. But it wasn't, was it? The plan was always to transfer it into the muo-ping, right from the beginning. )

For a moment, his Creator assumed its true form, as if to say 'congratulations for figuring it out' – a form that could not be described, in any symbology known to mortal man.

Metatron bowed his head, but soon went back to his thoughts. This had never been done before. And until that moment, he'd thought it couldn't be done. Because in the receptacle lay the 16th birthday present for Erica Francis Harris, and her sister Kelsey Jesse Harris.

Their mother's Quickening.

Xander slid the key card back in his pocket, as he walked into the suite. "I think you're right, Cor, I'm going to have to beat him up. The guy offered to pay me for a nude picture of you!"

He heard no reply, though. "Cordelia?"

The young man walked into the main room of the large suite, and stopped. The room had been transformed; the lights were off, and about two dozen candles were around the water-filled hot tub.

Xander looked over and saw a note on the couch, next to a small gift-wrapped package.

We did a few of your fantasies last time.

But there is one from high school I always wanted to do.

Open it, and put it on.

But don't you dare get in the hot tub yet.

Call me when you're ready.

He ripped open the small package, and grinned. There in his hands, was a pair of maroon Speedo swimming trunks.

A few minutes later, Xander called out to the closed bedroom doors. "I'm ready, Cor."

In the low light, he saw the double doors slide open. There, in a very small blue robe, stood Cordelia Chase. Her hair was up, and he watched as she pointed a small remote to the side and the radio started playing soft music.

Then the young woman slowly walked over to him, and looked him over with a gleam in her eye. She then said in her best airhead voice, "You're that cute senior that's on the swim team, aren't you?"

He played along, "Why, yes, I am. We just got done with practice."

Keeping the airhead voice, Cordelia giggled. "Well, I wanna go for a swim, but I heard there was a bunch of scary old fish monsters running around. And I'm just a poor little freshman. Do you think you could stay a while, to keep me safe?"

Xander tried not to laugh. "I'll make sure no fish monsters come anywhere near you."

Acting scared, Cordy looked to the hot tub. "Could you test the water first for me?"

"Sure." He sank into the hot water, and moved his hands around under the surface. "It's all safe. No monsters in here."

"Good," Cordelia said, as she untied the robe and it slid down to the floor. Xander's jaw dropped, when he saw the small black bikini she was wearing. It was so tight and revealing, she would get arrested wearing it in public. "Uh, wow...I mean, that's…that's a nice swimsuit you have on."

She smiled at his spluttering. "Well, I have a friend in my computer class named April, and she showed me a few places to buy some new suits."

Cordy slowly got in the hot tub, and sat across from him. "I'm still a little nervous, way over here in the deep end. Can I come over there and sit with you?"

He smiled. "Of course you can."

"Thanks. I'm oh-so-lucky to have a big strong guy like you to keep me safe." She moved over to him. But instead of sitting next to the guy, Cordy sat on Xander's lap, facing him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I think this is so much better. Don't you?"

"Oh, yeah..." He leaned in, and kissed her.

She giggled. "Wait till I tell my girlfriends that Xander Harris – the biggest stud of the senior class – kissed me! They'll never believe it..." Cordelia then smiled again, leaned in and kissed him, and then she moved down and started to nibble on his neck.

Hyperion Hotel

Angel, Gunn and Wesley walked in, arguing.

"Yo, Angel," Gunn was saying. "All you had to say was their blood ate through clothes! And no, I don't know how much a new jacket will cost..."

Before Angel could respond, they were told, "Be quiet, you guys!" by Kristen.

Willow and Kristen were walking around the lobby in their pajamas, each holding a baby and a bottle. "They're almost asleep," Willow told them.

Gunn whispered, "You put them to bed before we left, didn't you?"

"Well, they woke up again," Willow said, annoyed. "They sleep most of the night for Xander and Cordy, but for us they keep on waking up..."

The girl in her arms, Erica, started to cry again. Willow tried to quiet her down, "Oh, it's okay honey, Aunt Willow didn't mean anything. You're a nice, quiet girl..."

Gunn gave Wesley his ax, and took the baby from her. He started to gently rock her in his arms while he started to sing, "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Uncle Gunn's gonna buy you a big crossbow. And if that crossbow doesn't shoot, Uncle Gunn's gonna buy you a razor-sharp sword. And if that sword doesn't cut…" He stopped, when he saw Erica was fast asleep.

He looked up, to see everyone looking at him. "What? You think just because I was in charge of the 'Lost Boys', that we didn't have a few single mothers with us?"

Imperial Palace

The Grey Suit Man was surrounded by guards, as he started talking for his life. "But, sire...I did not order the troops out of the cave, she did!"

The large man on the throne stood up angrily. "Are you saying my daughter is to blame for this debacle?"

He cowered a bit. "No, no, of course not. She couldn't have known that they had the means to close the portal. I am only saying that the enemy should have been finished off, before we left..."

The other man waved a hand, in dismissal. "We can still conquer that dimension; we need only to retrieve the magnifier. Now, where would they take it?" His Emperor demanded to know.

"My liege, they would most likely take it to the place where the items from the SGC are stored. Area 51, they call it, in the state of Nevada. Now, we can take troops to their dimension, but we will need equipment to attack that installation. And without the magnifier, it will be difficult…"

"Enough!" the Emperor bellowed in disgust. "I don't care about the details, share them with the Imperial War Staff. The concern for now should be the one called Harris. The warrior my daughter wishes to have by her side..."

"Sire, I understand your desire to please your daughter. But it would alert them that we are planning to return, if we capture Captain Harris for Lady Sonya beforehand. In my professional opinion... I would submit we must seek to retrieve the magnifier first," the suited man reasoned.

Private Chambers of Lady Sonya

The daughter of the Emperor relaxed, as she sank further into her bath. Her favorite slave attendant was busy braiding her hair as she spoke to her, "My lady, I am sorry that he did not return with you."

Sonya reached over the side, and grabbed the folder holding the large photo of Alexander Harris. "I am as well, but one good thing did come of this."

"If I may ask – what is that, my lady?"

The woman smiled. "My future toy has proven himself in battle. No one will ever call him a worthless insect again, like that idiot who gave us all the information on him. My father respects him now, so he will do as I ask and try to retrieve him for me," she said slowly, as she gazed at the picture.

"But what of his mistress? The one known as Cordelia? Were we not told that she has powers as well? Will she not attempt vengeance, after you take him from her?"

Sonya smiled. "Don't worry about her. She has no idea what will happen, if she crosses me." She then looked to her attendant. "All in due time. Soon he will beg for me to claim him, but until that day…I need something else to occupy myself."

The attendant blushed as she stood up. "Yes my lady." She let her robe fall to the floor before she entered the bath.

Las Vegas

Cordelia, half-asleep, rolled over. She lightly moved her arm to wrap it around Xander, only he was not there. Her eyes snapped open, as she looked around the dark room. He wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Cordy slipped into her robe and slippers, and went to the main room. There she saw him, standing out on the patio – looking at all the neon lights, twenty stories down along the Vegas strip.

"Hey," the mother of the Harris twins said softly. "What are you doing out here?" she then asked, as she moved next to him at the railing.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

He looked away. "Cor, I gotta ask – how can you trust me again? I've only ever had two good things in my life, and I blew them both. I'm afraid that if we do start over, that I'll just end up hurting you again..."

Xander looked at her sadly. "Or worse."

Cordelia stared into his eyes. "Xander, this is not me taking pity on you. Trust me, you know what that feels like. Look, we've both grown up a lot in the last few years. Am I going to lie, and say that the time after we broke up wasn't one of the worst times in my life? No, I'm not. It was, but it taught me one thing. That I want you in my life. And you know what, Xander Harris? I know you won't hurt me anymore."

He just looked down. "Cor, you can't know that." His eyes started to tear up. "You didn't see those visions that the demon guy gave me. In the end I killed Anya, and it felt so real…"

Cordelia grabbed her lover, and turned him towards her. "No, I didn't see them. You want to know what I saw, Xander? I saw one thing, and heard about another. That time we were at your house when your dad came home drunk, most guys who grew up like you did would have stayed in their room and pretended nothing was going on. But you went right out and stopped your dad from hitting your mom. You stopped it. Then when he went after me and called me your 'cheap whore', you beat the crap out of him."

Xander hid a tiny smile. "I remember that you were more pissed that he called you cheap. But Cor, he didn't even remember it the next day, hell even my mom got mad at me for attacking him." He sighed, "What was the thing you heard about?"

"When Tara's family came and tried to take her back. Willow told me about how her brother threatened to beat her down, if she didn't go with them. Xander, you stepped right up to him; you wouldn't allow that sort of thing then, and I don't think you would allow it in our house."

"Well, Buffy was the one who really stopped…" he trailed off. "Our house?"

She smiled at him. "You think I'm going to raise those two on my own, pal? We're a family now, just like we should've been years ago. And as for the you-and-Willow thing, how do you feel about her now?"

"Nothing like… After I saw your face that night, I couldn't…"

Cordy cut him off, "Then we have nothing to worry about, do we? Besides you're much more fun to do this kind of stuff with." She nodded to the main room, where the remains of the candles still sat out.

Xander suddenly asked, "What about that Gru guy? I thought you and him…or Angel, even-?"

Cordelia frowned. "First, Angel was a good kisser, but that's all we could do. And I was not going to end up like Buffy. With Gru, actually...it wasn't that hard to get bored."

"Bored?"

"Xander, please, his idea of foreplay was to kill a demon and give me its severed head! Sure it was interesting the first couple of times, but to have a guy that devoted to me? If I'd met him in freshman year, then I would have loved him– but after you, he was just dull."

"Come on Cor, I can't be that hard to top..."

She shook her head in frustration. "Xander, get it through your thick head, will you! God knows I was nothing more than a shallow bitch, back then. I was living day to day, trying desperately to find something interesting about shoes, for Heaven's sake! Before you, I didn't know what was really in this world..."

A sigh. "If I had lost my money when I was still the self-righteous Queen C, I would have self-destructed on pills like my mom. You made me give a crap; it's because of you that I wanted more out of life, than the latest fashion trend! It's because of you that I wanted to help Angel save the people of LA. And even now after I got what I wanted and I'm going to be a TV star…I still want to help. I have real friends and people who love me for me, not because of the size of my bank account."

Before Xander could say anything, she kissed him then took his hand. "Now let's go back to bed. It's cold out here, and I need you to warm me up." So, he followed Cordy back into the suite, closing the patio doors.

Office of General Andrews

Andrews spoke into the phone, "Yes, sir. Mr. Giles is on his way back to England with our proposal. He was very surprised at first with the offer, and I believe he's still very wary over what happened with the Initiative. But I think with most of Travers' people recently removed from the Council, the plan has a chance to succeed. Yes sir, I will contact you as soon as I hear back from them, very well sir. Goodbye."

As he hung up the phone, his intercom beeped. "Sir, your one o'clock is here."

He pushed the button. "Send her in, please."

General Andrews then looked up, as Amy Madison came into his office.

Las Vegas

"Xander?" Cordelia called, as she entered the suite.

"I'm in the hot tub, Cor," then he winced as he saw all the packages she dropped onto the couch. "Ah, honey? You just got the money a few days ago. Do you really think you should be going through it so fast?"

She waved off his concerns. "Please, I am going to be real busy for the next week, and then I have to go in for wardrobe fittings and promo shots for the movie. I have to get a head-start now."

Cordy moved over and hunched down, to be almost at eye level with him. "Besides, I think you'll like some of the stuff I bought. You wouldn't believe the kind of shops there are in 'Sin City'."

His eyes went wide. "More outfits?"

She smirked at him. "Hey, don't blame me. You were the one who suggested we try it back in Sunnydale."

"Yeah, but Cor, I was joking at the time. You're the one who brought the stuff."

"I seemed to recall that you didn't mind them. Are you complaining?"

Xander never hesitated. "Oh, no. No complaining here. I'm shutting up now."

"Good," she kissed him. "And a tiny part of it is me repaying you."

"Repaying me?"

"Xander, back when it was my first time…you made it special. If it hadn't been for you, my first would have been that bastard who turned me into an incubator for demon larva! It wasn't your first time, though; I heard about that quickie with Faith."

"We were broken up, Cor. And the words 'stay the hell away from me' sorta come to mind."

Cordelia grimaced. "I know, and I've kicked myself for that a few times. But now…" she turned on her thousand-watt smile. "I'm your first time."

"Uh, Cor, you're not…"

She stopped him. "Xander. Your old body went bye-bye. And now you have a new body. We're talking, Xander version two point oh. New body equals new first time."

He was about to argue with her, but stopped when he saw her glare. "You're right, Cor. It wiped the slate clean."

Pleased with his reply, Cordelia kissed him again, long, slow and sensuously. "Smart answer. Now go take a shower, and get dressed. We have a lunch reservation at two."

Vegas Hotel Lobby

Xander looked back in confusion. He and Cordy had just passed the two strange Prophets, and they just nodded. The tall one hadn't made any comments at all towards Cordelia. "Ah, Cor?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't he make any lewd comments about you? You didn't really start hitting him, did you?"

"No, my love, I didn't hit him."

"Then why…"

She just cut him off, "Here's our taxi."

Jay could hardly keep his cool as the veritable demi-goddess walked by, and he noticed how her boyfriend just looked at him as they left.

The Prophet looked to his friend, Silent Bob. "Man, what does she see in him? A fine girl like that deserves to be laid down and made loved to real slow, like..."

He then started to make kissing sounds, and began to thrust his hips back and forth. A group of senior citizens walked by, and looked on in shock. Silent Bob just shrugged at them, not even trying to explain his friend. He finally hit him on the shoulder, and motioned for Jay to move it.

"Yeah I know, let's go get the camcorder ready," Jay said. "And the sooner I do this, the sooner I get my picture..."

Xander was getting nervous, as they came back to the hotel lobby. "Cor, are you okay?"

She looked ahead. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, we had that talk last night. You said everything was okay, but now you're…"

Cordelia stopped and looked at him. "I meant every single thing I said last night, Xander. Never think any differently. Okay?"

"Okay, Cordy. It's just that...you've been a bit out of it since we left. You didn't even hit me, when I made fun of Siegfried and Roy..."

"I guess this is all starting to get to me, is all. It's all finally sinking in how fast my life has changed again."

"I get it," he understood. "It's not that easy to believe that we talked to God, and…"

She shook her head. "Oh, no. I believe that. After all the stuff we've seen over the years, and me getting made into a higher being by those assholes up there? Not a problem. But I have two kids now. I'm just waiting for them to come back from a hell dimension as teenagers wanting to kill me, or something..."

"Cor, that can't happen again…" Xander stopped and got serious. "That can't happen again, right? I mean that idiot is dead, isn't he?"

She nodded quickly. "He's dead, yeah. To think Holtz had his own sidekick kill him – talk about twisted! Nothing to worry about there."

Xander grabbed her arm, as they walked. "Cordy, the elevators are back that way."

"I know, I just need to take the edge off a bit." She stopped at a door. "What do you say, Xander? For old time's sake?"

He looked at the door. It had a blue sign on it. 'SupplyCloset'. "Cor, it's got to be locked..." She turned the knob, and it opened. "Or not."

They went in, and closed the door behind them. "Wow," Xander said, as the light turned on. "They sure have big clean closets here, don't they?"

"Lock the door, stupid!" she told him sharply.

Grinning, Xander turned and locked it, and then he yelled at what he saw when he turned back. In front of him was Cordelia Chase, down on one knee. She had a silver ring in her hand. "Ah, Cordy-?"

"Quiet!" she shushed him. "I'm nervous enough as it is."

"Ah, okay..." he replied weakly.

The young woman took a deep breath, before she started her speech. "Xander, we started out as kids who didn't understand there was love buried under all that lust, till it was way too late. We both went our separate ways after Graduation. But I always felt there was something missing from my life, honey, and I know you did too. I loved my life, but when Angel did his little solo act a few years ago it taught me one thing. That my great life can be shattered in an instant. That's why I want something permanent."

She continued, "One thing I knew I could count on you for was that even when we fought, and I mean really fought, I knew if I was in any danger at all that you would drop everything in a second to help me. And I would do the same for you…well, afterwards I would have made fun of you a bit..."

Cordelia giggled, but just for a moment. "But you know what I mean. Look, I want you to know that this is not just because we have kids now. Our lives have changed several times, and I don't want to live anymore wondering what could have been. What I'm saying is…Xander Harris, will you marry me?"

He was too stunned for words.

"Well, say something!" she quickly seethed.

Xander's brain started working again. "Yes! Of course Cor, you already knew the answer before you even asked. Yes, I'll marry you."

She jumped up happily, and hugged him. "I love you, Xander!" Cordelia kissed him. Then she slid the ring on his finger.

"I love you too, Cor..." he whispered, as they kissed again. The young man wiped her tears away, "I woulda never suspected that you would ever propose to me, ya know?"

She smiled a big smile at him. "I'm Cordelia Chase. I don't wait for what I want, not anymore." She kissed him again, then moved to the back of the closet.

"Cor? What are you doing?" Xander asked.

She moved a shelf out of the way, and he saw a mini DV camcorder sitting on a big tripod. "How long have you been planning this?" he asked laughingly.

"Since our talk last night." Cordelia ejected the tape, and slipped it into her pocket. She then took his hand, and pulled him out of the closet.

When they got out, they found Jay and Silent Bob waiting outside on the other side of the hall. Cordelia squealed happily and hugged Bob, "He said yes!"

Bob just smiled at her, and shook Xander's hand. Jay looked very disappointed. "Ah, man!"

Cordelia made it a point to be right next to Jay when she told Xander, "Come on, my love. I just got this new Harem girl outfit that I am just dying for you to take off of me."

The three men's eyes bulged out. Bob patted Xander on the back, as they went for the elevators, and Jay started sulking. "Man, we cleaned the closet and got the hotel's camera – and not even a kiss on the cheek?"

Bob went in, and picked up the small item that Cordelia had slipped onto the shelf near the camera. A Polaroid picture.

He laughed as he saw it and gave it to Jay, as he locked up the closet. His friend grabbed it like a small child with a new toy, but his face soured when he saw it. "Oh, come on! That is so not fair!"

In the picture Cordelia Chase was wearing a shirt four sizes too big, that went down to her knees. On the white bottom of the picture were the words… "I am naked…under the shirt. Does that count?"

The end…