Title: The One Who Sees

Author: Dhampyrx2

Category: Crossover W/ X-Men: Evolution, X-Men comic elements

Timeframe: Post-Dirty Girls, S7

Pairings: I'm open to suggestions that don't involve Spike, unless he reverts to his old, evil self

Summary: Xander's loss of an eye at the hands of Caleb stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. His family is angry, worried, and happens to include several Alpha Class mutants, who will descend on Sunnydale with a vengeance to find out what happened, and take their frustrations out on the Caleb and the First Evil's hides.

Standard Disclaimer: I own squat. Several very wealthy people own the rights to Buffy, X-men, and any other character I may throw in. I make no money off of this. Nobody else try to do it either.

Distribution: You want it, just ask.

"You smell like you took a rumble, kid." Wolverine stated conversationally as Buffy returned to Xander's room an hour after her confrontation with Caleb.

"Um, yeah. Caleb attacked me at the high school. Then some blue lady that said she was Xander's grandma came in and started wailing on /him/ until he took off and ran for his life." Buffy replied absently to the room.

The reaction to her statement was varied as Xander, Rogue, and Kurt all smiled, Wanda glared, and Willow looked a bit frightened. Logan didn't seem to care one way or another, as if he was expecting her presence.

"So Mystique is still here then?" Wanda commented rhetorically.

"Oh, come on, mom. Did you really think Nana Raven would leave without giving Caleb a piece of her mind after she saw my eye?" Xander asked derisively.

"When did she see your eye, rug rat?" Rogue asked curiously.

Xander mentally cursed his big fat mouth, knowing Mystique would be upset over his slip later, as he replied, "She kind of posed as a nurse last night to get some time to talk to me, then convinced Wills to leave for a while. Since she was supposed to be the nurse changing my bandages, she uh, well did. Change them. She wasn't too pleased after she saw the damage."

"That's why you seemed to react so strangely to her!" Willow exclaimed in realization.

"Yeah, Wills. Just my Nana. No biggie." Xander replied with a sick chuckle.

"As long as you're the only one that calls Grandma Raven 'Nana', you mean." Talia piped up as she and Tabby entered the room, having overheard part of the conversation. "I think she's still promising to gut anyone else that tries it."

"That's what she said. But she did make an exception for you making comments over it, pixie." Xander responded with a grin. That grin widened as TJ flushed in embarrassment at his little nickname for her.

"I thought we had an understanding about calling me that in public, big brother." she stated flatly.

"It must be the pain meds. All these embarrassing childhood stories are just begging to come to the surface. Along with a few pranks I promised to get even with you over in the last decade or so." Xander commented with a toothy grin.

"Eeep! Don't you dare! It's bad enough the people at the mansion know about the stuff you talk about. You can't reveal anything in front of new people!" TJ exclaimed.

"Ah, relax, Teej. If he was serious, he'd threaten you with that copy of your baby pictures Blue and Wanda sent him." Tabby interjected playfully.

"The WHAT?" TJ asked in horror.

Both Xander and his auntie held their cool for all of five seconds, before they broke down laughing. "God you're easy to get to sometimes, TJ." Xander wheezed in between guffaws.

Talia Josephine Wagner huffed indignantly at the teasing she had received, as Wolverine took a surreptitious sniff near Buffy to get Caleb's scent, before he asked. "So this guy was at the high school?"

Buffy, who had been engrossed in the sibling word war in the room, smiling as it made her think of Dawn, let out a distracted "Huh?" As the thought over Logan's question, she replied. "Yeah, I went there to think and try to clear my head. All of a sudden, he's behind me making with the evil guy overlord speeches. Then he attacked me, and taunted me and stuff. It was kind of weird though." she recounted.

"What was weird" Kurt prodded, his ears perking up as he listened to the Slayer's retelling of events.

"Caleb. It was like he was more into taunting me than he was into the actual fighting. But the way he did it...he wasn't trying to make me mad to make me sloppy of anything. I mean, I've done that with vampires and demons for as long as I've been the Slayer, so I can recognize it. It was like...he wanted to fire me up more. Like he was building toward something. I mean, he had me on the ground and out of it after he threw me through a wall, and instead of attacking me and finishing it, he was all like 'nyah, nyah, ny-nyah nyaaahhhhh!' 'Where's your fire at? Maybe I should go hurt Xander to get you to fight back properly' and stuff." Buffy mused as she recalled the fight more clearly.

"He was threatening Alex?" Wanda prodded icily, making more than one person in the room shiver. "How? What did that monster soy about my boy?" she demanded in a low voice.

Buffy, unwilling to defy any mother that angry, much less one as powerful as the Scarlet Witch, replied meekly, "Um...he kind of said that maybe he should hunt down Xander and poke out his other eye. And that he'd make a nice Bringer."

Xander grew pale at the threat, and Buffy and Willow both jumped slightly as the roomed echoed with a for too quiet whisper in the ensuing silence.

'SNIKT'

That foreboding sound that accompanied the release of adamantium claws went nicely with the fiery anger in the eyes of every one of the X-men present. Buffy had little doubt that her retelling of the evil preacher's words had just signed his death sentence.

"When I get my hands on that piece of shi..." TJ began to growl.

"Talia!" Kurt snapped at his daughter.

"Ja, Vati. No swearing. I know." she replied petulantly, rolling her eyes at her father's old fashioned ways.

That tense silence went on for several moments, before Wanda turned to Wolverine and commented, "You didn't seem surprised to hear about Mystique little romp, Logan."

The Canadian shrugged as he replied, "I ran into her while I was out smokin'. I figured she was in this for the long haul from how she acted."

Wanda just nodded in reply to that. She knew better than to ask just why the shape shifter hadn't revealed herself to the group. The animosity between Wanda and her former leader ran very deep, and was connected to three of the four people Mystique cared most for in the world. Kurt, Xander, and TJ were the center of the universe in the eyes of both women, although Mystique added Rogue to that list with equal fervor. As a result, the arguments the two shared over the fates of their shared family ties had created wounds that would never heal.

"Um, this may sound stupid and stuff...but why is Xander's grandma saving me such a big issue?" Buffy asked uncertainly.

"Mother has a habit of breeding tension among us, Frauline Summers. She leads a shady lifestyle, and she and my wife have had words over certain issues between them. Many words." Kurt answered tactfully.

TJ decided to elaborate on her father's statement to make it something useful, as she amended, "She's a terrorist and an assassin. She abandoned daddy with Oma and Opa Wagner after she had dropped him in a river running from Opa Erik to save him from some freaky experiments when he was a baby. Once she knew he was safe, she left him there. A lot of the arguments are over her reasoning."

"Momma has issues stayin' in one place. The fact that she was still workin' for ol' Maggers, who Wanda has her own issues with doesn't help." Rogue supplied.

"Oh." Buffy responded hollowly, surprised at the heavy issues that were brought to the surface by her question.

"That doesn't matter now." Wanda said coolly. "If she's hunting the person that hurt Alex, I'm actually grateful to her for once."

"Yeah, she's no prize as a person, but Mysti' is a real bear if you hurt her family." Tabby agreed.

As Buffy tried to wade through the tension that was the primary sensation on Xander's hospital room, Faith was filling in Dawn and the rest at Casa del Summers about the current situation.

"So Xander's a mutant? And his family are mutants, too?" Dawn asked in confusion. She, Faith, Giles, Andrew, Anya, and Robin were seated at the dining room table.

"Yeah. They seem pretty cool. I think they're just waiting for X to get his papers in order so he can check out of SunnyD's people chop shop." the Bostonian Slayer replied.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise. I suppose it makes some sense, though." Giles commented thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Rupert?" Robin asked curiously.

"Well, Xander's always had a knack for surviving things he had no night to walk away from. For example, the time he was hit with the a troll hammer and was basically undamaged comes to mind. That should have severely hurt him, most likely killed him, in point of fact. Xander just shrugged it off and kept fighting the troll to save Willow and Anya." Giles explained.

"I wonder if his extreme prowess at giving me several orgasms is a part of his powers?" Anya mused aloud. This resulted in more than one blush at the table, as Giles looked about ready to swallow his tongue.

Faith smirked as she replied, "I don't know about that one. But, word of advise? Don't talk about sex stuff in front of his mom. She seems to really be big on the protecting her baby boy's virtue thing. B let it slip about he and I humping back in the day just before I came back from the cafeteria, and let me tell you, that is /NOT/ a look I want coming my way again."

"It's not going to be my fault if Xander's mother is some sexually repressed shrew that can't handle an adult conversation." Anya sniffed back indignantly.

"Um, Ahn? There's a difference between adult conversation, and X-rated conversation. I don't think any mother wants to hear about her son's sex life any more than a child wants to hear about her parents." Dawn supplied helpfully.

"Little D said it. Besides, from what his auntie was teasing his 'rents over, I don't think I'd call 'em repressed." Faith added with a smirk.

"Yes, and now, in a attempt to salvage this conversation from the sudden plethora of disturbing sex talk, do you happen to know what exactly Xander's powers are?" Giles enquired.

"B said something about a skin tight energy field that cancels out a lot of active powers, and some mumbo jumbo about reading what can happen around him to the point he can tell the future, or something. Truthfully, she sounded a bit confused over it, and told me to ask Red or Boytoy if I wanted better details. She only knew a little more than I did, and she was kind of overwhelmed with everything." Faith replied.

"I do suppose that would be the most sensible approach." Giles conceded.

"Well, if that's all done with, we have something else to bring up." Dawn said, gaining the attention of the whole room. "What are we doing for our resident Mr. Fixit's Welcome Home party? Because potentials have been bugging me over it practically from the moment they knew he was going to be anywhere near OK."

Faith glanced over at the clock, before she stood and said, "Well, as much fun as all this is shaping up to be, I need to jet. I promised X I'd be there when they checked him out of his little slice of Hellmouth in sterile white sheets and steel bed rails. I kind of don't want to welsh on a promise if I can help it."

From there it was simple round of goodbyes, and an occasional good luck with Xander's mom, before she headed out the door.

Faith got back to the hospital just in back of the nurse bringing in the paperwork Xander had to sign to get checked out.

"Glad you could make it back, Faith." Xander said with a comforting grin as he signed the forms necessary to gain his freedom.

The dark Slayer shrugged as she replied, "Said I would, X. Got no reason to back out on you."

Tabitha and TJ exchanged a look as Xander signed the last signature needed to get himself out of there.

"You know, Allie, Wanda and Roguey were pretty insistent about you being careful." Meltdown commented.

"Yeah, and since you have such problems with you pain medication," TJ added, as she picked up on Tabby's lead, "maybe you'll need some help for a few days, until you can get back up to speed."

Xander paled a bit, even as he eyed the pair suspiciously. He knew the tones they were taking as certainly as he knew the look in TJ's eye. He didn't need his tactical precog to know they were up to something. "Lucky I have my family and friends here to help then, huh?" he asked carefully, watching them both warily from his remaining eye.

"Yeah, it's good to have...friends." TJ replied with an odd lilt to her voice.

The others in the room were content to stand back and watch the little drama unfolding in front of them play out. Kurt and Wanda smiled nostalgically, as Rogue and Logan smirked, and Buffy and Willow tried to hold back their snickers. Everyone knew Xander was being set up for something, even Xander himself, it was just a matter of waiting for them to pull the trigger.

"Still, with you being all groggy and stuff, it might not be safe for you to be unattended much. And we'll be helping your group track down this Caleb jerk and put him in a hurt locker." Tabby mentioned casually.

"I suppose." Xander agreed warily.

"So I guess we'll have to make up a schedule with someone to help you for a few days that you can depend on." TJ added with an impish grin.

"I guess so." Xander replied, with clear understanding that no good would come of this little conversation.

"Of course there's also the issue that Sunnydale is so dangerous. What with all the kinds of demons and other nasties bumping around. I mean, you've always wanted us to keep our distance so that we would be safe." Tabby commented.

At that, Xander nodded in firm agreement. "I'd still like you all safe from this, auntie Boom-Boom." Xander responded firmly.

"Well, then I guess there's only one really...safe option for you. We'll have to have someone that's used to fighting demons and stuff near you to help you recover when we're not around." TJ said, her grin getting bigger.

By now, Xander's gifts were screaming at him about what they were doing, but for the life of him he couldn't seem to find a safe way out of it. Talia and Tabby had set this up well, and did it quietly so that he wouldn't peek into what was going on until it was too late. He really should have known better than to leave the pair alone together to get his clothes.

"TJ..." he said in a warning tone.

"Yes big brother?" the blue girl asked innocently.

Tabby smothered a small laugh as she continued their little off the cuff plot. In the end, true improvisation like this was the only sure fire way to set up Xander. You had to implement your next move the second you thought of it, so that he wouldn't divine and counter it. His auntie and sister had learned that after years of careful study in the art of pranking Xander.

"It's obvious that Buffy, Willow, and Faith, being the powerful demon fighters that they are, have to be the ones to help you." Tabby concluded proudly.

"Of course Buffy, as the senor Slayer, and overall leader, will need to stay near us to help us keep a handle on what Caleb is doing." TJ said.

"'Specially since this ass seems to be focusing on attackin' and tauntin' Shorty here." Wolverine cut in, ignoring the byplay in favor of the actual security concerns.

"Shorty?" Buffy questioned indignantly, as she glared at the man that was only a couple of inches taller than Oz had been.

Wolverine, as he had when anyone cried out in indignation toward his name for them, ignored her.

"Good point, Uncle Wolvie." TJ complimented with a childishly happy grin, which elicited a snort from the surly, self-proclaimed 'Canucklehead'.

"And we can't ask Willow to watch you all the time, since her magic is both a potent weapon, and the best detection method we have to track our enemies down. Besides, that whole Fluke thing might become an issue in such close quarters." Tabby added with saucy grin, before she blew a big bubble with her pink bubble gum.

"You told them?" Willow squawked incredulously.

"They're my family! And they live in a house with telepaths that I was visiting at the time! It just slipped out." Xander protested in a panic.

"Xander!" Willow cried out in admonition.

"Relax Willow, we were fishing for it anyway to find out who won the pool on when it would happen. Iceman was gloating for weeks over the five grand he ended up clearing over it." TJ responded to her exclamations.

Willow blushed crimson to the roots of her hair at the reply, and the memories of her Fluking with Xander, and the emotions associated with that time in her life.

"ANYway." Tabby cut in, regaining the attention of the room. "I think the choice here is clear. Faith will have to watch over you." Meltdown concluded proudly.

"Yeah." TJ interjected with an enthusiastic nod. "After all, like you all said, there's nothing 'relationshippy' going on between you two. So it's just the safest available option."

Wanda, who had to hold in her own occasional indignant squawks over the course of the conversation finally put in her opinion. "I hate to admit it, but they do bring up valid points, Alex. And you know Logan wasn't in on their games when he agreed." she said tiredly.

"Ja. They do make some points. Although I think meine daughter is being influenced by the time she spends around her auntie a bit too much." Kurt said with his own wicked grin. Let it never be said the Incredible Nightcrawler, undisputed king of mischief in both the Munich Szardos' Circus, and the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters (although Bobby 'Iceman' Drake would raise /some/ dispute to his title at the Institute) was above helping his daughter with some harmless matchmaking.

"Vati." Xander pleaded, knowing his chances of escape, however slim they were, were dead and gone if his father sided with the wicked women that had plotted his doom.

"So, Frauline, would you be willing to help care for our poor injured child in his hour of need?" Kurt asked charmingly, as he wrapped his arm around Wanda's shoulders, and his tail around her waist.

"Uh, yeah. I guess it's no problem. If X is cool with it, I mean." Faith responded uncertainly, taken aback by the surreal interaction around her.

"So what do say, big brother?" TJ inquired in a for too innocent tone. "Are you alright with Faith helping you out?"

"Even if I try to protest, you're going to make me look like an ungentlemanly ass, and still get your way, aren't you?" he asked, annoyed at how easily he was set up.

"Yep." TJ responded with certainty.

"Well then, Faith, I'd be honored to have you help me in my recovery." Xander said graciously to the Dark Slayer.

"Sure thing, Boytoy. It'll be fun." Faith responded almost unconsciously.

Unfortunately, that comment left an opening for Tabby to make a joke involving sponge bathes and changing clothes that set the cheeks of both young adults uncharacteristically aflame.

End Part 6