Written as a Long Stand Alone (Was written so it can be read with out reading the first story).

Sequel to Dream Once More (Archived at the Sand lot)

Author: T. Claybourne  (t.claybourne@yahoo.com)

AU And Crossover

Rating: Rated R most chapters for violence and Language, some are NC-17 for sexual content

A/N I'd like to thank my Beta Reader Hawera And muses Michelle Branch, Robbie Williams and Evanescence

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Afterglow Chapter 25 Contemplative

"Is this too late, Angel? I know it's Monday morning here, but it's late Sunday night there, right?"

"Mia, it's only a little after midnight, it's fine."

"I'm in Amsterdam, looking for some psycho vamp that drains them and then rips their heads off. Only problem is I've only found and dusted about five vamps, none of them strong enough even to rip my fingernail off."

"How long have you been there?"

"Since Saturday. I'm all for this fighting the good fight, but being cramped up in a closet with nothing to do all day because it is too friggin' sunny, so much so that I can't even put my hand on the curtain, is another matter. I got here and the hotel room is tiny, the TV only gets Dutch stations, I forgot the power chord for my laptop and the battery is dead. I also forgot my journal because this assignment was at short notice. My operative was supposed to be here an hour ago and I'm going stir crazy with only one Watchers' journal to read and re read; and this Watcher was one boring full-of-himself ass. I had to miss my first date with Xander on Saturday night. I can't even enjoy this city while I'm looking for the vamp since I have to stick to all the dark alleyways and shadowy places. I've been to two demon bars and only harmless-to-human demons were there so I haven't even had a good kill, only a few measly vamp dustings. Oh damn, I can't believe I just threw all that on you. I'm sorry. What the hell is wrong with me?"

Angel chuckled, "Frustrated I think. It might help if you had Spike to kick around."

Mia sighed, "Well, that won't be happening."

Mia told him the coat story. They talked for a while longer and then hung up. Mia lay down and finally fell asleep.

It was five o'clock when there was a knock at the door. Mia opened it to find Xander standing there.

"Hi."

"Xander?" She quickly pulled him into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm your operative."

"You are eight hours late!"

"It'll be worth it. Get your stuff together. I have something to show you."

Mia kissed him, "It's already worth it; I can't believe you're here. I was so frustrated this morning."

"Frustrated, what kind of frustrated?" Xander's eyebrow went up.

"Shush. Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Don't forget your umbrella to get to the van."

Xander unlocked the front door to the canal house. It was even more slender than their London house. The entrance had a small rectangular foyer that led to a stairwell going up. It also had two large stairs going down to another small octagonal foyer with a glass door at its far edge. The door was covered in frosted glass, diffusing the sunlight that provided most of the light for the entrance.

"What's out there?" asked Mia, motioning to the door.

"A tiny patch of grass, a small bench and a canal."

"I'll have to take a look tonight."

Xander led the way up the steep stairs and opened an apartment door. He stepped through and asked her in.

Mia walked into the kitchen, which was up on a platform to the left with half-wall surrounding it. Directly opposite were a leather couch and a comfy chair. A television sat against the half-wall

Back across the wall of the living room were three doors. Xander opened the first to reveal the bathroom, and the next a small bedroom with a double bed. The third had a set of stairs; Mia climbed the six stairs to another bed- room, approximately the same size as the first, with two twin beds.

She came back down. Xander stood behind the couch.

"And, look," he pointed to an Xbox hooked to the TV. "Spike returned it. He told Willow that he'd got himself a Playstation."

Mia cocked her head and forced a small smile. "I didn't even know he had it. My journal and the power chord to my computer?"

"In my bag."

"So now all I need is to catch the creep." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mia went out as soon as the sun had set. She scoured the city and used every technique she could think of to find even one vampire. It was if they had all evaporated. She heard a scream down an alley, but it turned out to be kids goofing around.

Finally she went back to the apartment. Before she went inside she went round to the back, sat on the bench and smoked a cigarette. Even knowing Xander was going to be there with her tomorrow didn't make her feel less frustrated at how fruitless the last few nights had been. She'd missed her real date with Xander on Saturday and classes today for nothing. There was no sign of this vampire. Mia finished her cigarette and went upstairs.

She drank some blood and felt the sun beginning to rise. She stuck her head into Xander's room. She had made him take the double bed. He had wanted her to take it, but she had reminded him that she had no circulation worries so she rarely tossed and turned, and a small bed would be fine for her. The sheet was pushed down revealing his chest, and his hair covered his eye patch. One arm stuck out as if inviting her. Mia was feeling pretty low and something just propelled her. She slipped out of her leather pants and shed her bra leaving them at the door. Wearing a tank top and her panties she slid in next to Xander and curled up.

Xander woke to the feel of her bare legs on his, and at first he thought he was dreaming. They were smooth and cool, and oh so firm. He ran his hand from her knee to her hip and opened his eyes quickly. It wasn't a dream: she was right there. He wasn't going to complain, but he wondered how it had happened, and how he had slept through it.

He breathed deeply and smelled her shampoo. She never had a dead smell like other vampires he had run into. No, Mia always smelled ... too good. If she knew how badly he wanted her she wouldn't just climb in next to him. Or maybe she would. Maybe she did it to torture him; it could be a vampire thing, or just a Mia thing. Xander watched as her deep blue eyes opened and focused on him. No, she didn't know; she couldn't; you would see it in her eyes, and those eyes said nothing about torture.

"Xander?"

"Hey?"

"I just, I was just, it felt, I couldn't sleep on my own, is that ok?"

"Yes, oh hell, yes," he kissed her and then crawled over the top of her. "I've got to get things arranged for the apartment upstairs and permits for the remodeling of the attic."

He kissed her again when he was standing next to the bed. "You keep on sleeping. I'll wake you up this afternoon for some Xbox fun, ok?"

She snuggled down. "At least the bed smells like you." ~ ~ ~ ~ Xander woke up every morning for the next four mornings with Mia beside him. It wasn't something they had agreed on; she just crawled in beside him after she came in from patrolling. On the fourth morning Xander had nowhere else he had to be, so he stayed in bed with her.

Mia rolled over and snuggled up against his neck. "You smell so good."

"As in smell good, or as in breakfast."

Mia put her chin on his shoulder. "Excuse me; I ate before I came to bed."

Xander chuckled, "Just checking."

"If I were going to feed I'd just do it, not talk about it." Mia bit his shoulder light and playfully.

He pulled her up until he could kiss her. "You know, Mia, I can't keep waking up next to you like this and not want more."

Her face became serious. "I knew you were going to say that. I 'm not sure I'm ready, Xander."

He smoothed back her hair, "I'm not going to pressure you, no way. That's so not me. Usually it's me being pressured so no, I want you to be ready."

"I'll think about it."

"Good. Could you think fast?"

~ ~ ~ ~ Later that day Klaus Kramer and Sabine Wegman (she told them later it was pronounced Sabina Vegman) rang the buzzer downstairs. Giles had sent the German Slayer and her Watcher. Xander got them settled in the apartment above the one he and Mia were sharing. That night she and Sabine patrolled and they hit it off right away. They talked easily. Sabine's English was good and she was patient when Mia tried to use her rusty German. That morning after patrol Mia went to bed in her own room.

It was an hour after she had gone to sleep that Xander woke her, "What are you doing?"

"I was sleeping; maybe you are familiar with the concept."

"I meant here, in this tiny bed, why are you sleeping here?"

"You said you couldn't keep waking up..."

He took her hand and dragged her out of bed.

"Nobody but you and Willow... that one important time... listens to me. I didn't mean that you should stop sleeping with me, I meant that I wanted you to start having sex with me." He pushed her to the bed in his room.

Mia gave a short laugh. "Xander, you thrill me."

"What?"

"You, the things you do and say, they thrill me."

"Is that good?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well then, I guess I'll keep on doing it." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sabine and Mia had finished patrolling, and Sabine had gone up to bed. Mia walked down the block and leaned against the wall of the canal, listening to the city awakening. Sunrise wasn't far away, but she enjoyed this time of morning more and more. It reminded her she was a part of this world but not quite in it. That didn't make it a bad time for her, just a contemplative one. Mia was thinking of the relationship between herself and Xander. If they had sex, knowing how they each felt, that would give rise to a commitment.

She smelled Sabine before she saw her.

"Hello Mia."

"Hi Sabine. I thought you went up to bed."

They each turned and looked out over the canal.

"I wasn't ready. Isn't it getting very close to sunrise for you? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"What?" Mia acted the innocent. Sabine and Klaus weren't supposed to know that she was a vampire.

"Please Mia, I am a Slayer. My Slayer sense is, how do you say it, tingling. Besides, we got an announcement: the pictures were distorted but the information was there. I knew immediately it was you, the special, one and only, vampire with a soul."

"I'm not the only one."

"No, of course there are the other two, but you are the only one that was a Slayer first, and that has never killed a human. You are unique; there is no other like you, the one and only, the special one."

"Well, when you put it that way," Mia cocked her head a bit. " I guess I am..."

"My Slayer power is comes partly from darkness and I feel the burden of that every day. What you must feel, I can't imagine. I mean you have that Slayer power and a demon."

"Gee, Sabine, don't hold back. Go for it; tell me exactly why my life sucks so much."

Sabine smiled at her, "I'm sorry I have just been thinking of that for two days. And even with all that you seem to live a very normal life, as normal as we Slayers can. So, you are out here so close to sunrise because you are deciding....... what?"

"Nothing; just listening to the city wake up."

"Oh no, I think this is about the man, Xander Harris. I see how you look at him. I say, I think the phrase is... go for it."

Mia gave a short laugh, "And you base this on what?"

"His attractiveness aside, I see how he looks at you. We Slayers, we have enough loneliness in our lives."

"You're very astute for a seventeen-year-old, Sabine."

"My younger brothers and sisters hated it; they could never get away with anything."

"Are you bitter about what happened to them?"

"No, not bitter. Just determined to make sure all evil pays for it."

"I know that feeling."

"So about Xander, what have you decided?"

"Nosey much?"

"I live with my fifty-year-old Watcher, who makes sure I never have a chance to meet any boys. Let me live vicariously."

"You are right; I think I'll go for it," Mia rubbed her thumb across her locket.

"I think he is a very nice man, Mia; nice looking too," Sabine put her hand on Mia's shoulder.

"He's too old for you, Sabine," Mia turned to Sabine and lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh yes, and very taken," smiled Sabine

"Very," grinned Mia.

Mia started to feel the antsiness of dawn. She turned back toward the canal for one last look and caught the smell of rotting fruit. She heard someone speaking to her. As she turned to see who, she felt fangs sunk into both sides of her neck. She screamed with the surprise and pain.

The creatures pulled back and spit out huge chunks of Mia's flesh. "Unclean, Brother. She is Unclean."

"How, Brother? She has a soul and a human aura. I can see it."

"Some sort of magic."

"Try the other."

One of the inhumanly large creatures turned toward Sabine. Mia jumped and threw a kick to its back. It was like hitting a wall.

"Sabine!" yelled Mia. The other beast grabbed Mia by her arm, picked her up over its head and threw her; she hit a cement bench with her side, breaking the bench in half.

She staggered up and saw one of the things sinking its fangs into Sabine. "Sabine, move, run, do something!" The other girl seemed to be hypnotized by the creatures.

"Power, brother, darkness, demon power. It is a Slayer."

"Slayer? Brother, we need to take her. Maybe our lord will forgive us for touching an Unclean One if we deliver this Slayer to him."

Mia ran, dropping down low to spin around, in hope of knocking one of the creature off its feet, only the move didn't work out as planned. As her leg hit its legs she felt as if she'd hit a tree. She sprang back, knowing that she'd fractured her leg, and tried something else. Ignoring the pain in her leg she jumped and flew, landing a kick directly on the nose. She heard a crack.

The thing growled as it picked up a five foot round, traffic-blocking cement ball and pitched it at the foot that had kicked it. The ball hit Mia and exploded.

Mia's foot was awash with pain and she had trouble standing on it. One of the creatures was lifting an entranced Sabine over its shoulder. Mia felt her blood draining from the bites she had suffered, but she charged again, her stake aimed at the one carrying Sabine. Some deep instinct told her that the only weak point of these creatures was their faces. She landed a kick in its mouth with her uninjured foot and shoved her stake through its eye. It let out an animal screech.

"Take its head, Brother!" It yelled.

"No, Brother, the sun comes; I'll leave it for the sun."

The other creature grabbed her in a vice-like grip and with very little effort shoved her, head first, completely through the brick wall that protected the canal. Everything went black for Mia.