TITLE: Lullaby For Lost
AUTHOR: Ragna (RaverRagna@...)
RATING: PG, so far.
CLASSIFICATION: Mentions of Graham/Other.
SUMMARY: Xander and Graham have to help Xander's cousin/Graham's ex. But
it's a lot more than a simple stalking...
SPOILERS: Set sort of in the future.
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I
write it, you can post it. Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me
know.
PREVIOUS PARTS/ARCHIVED AT: http://www.envy.nu/allthepain/index.html
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If
you do, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB own it or
them. Various friends of mine are holding characters hostage. You may see
them by appointment only. The places mentioned are actual places in
Oceanside, CA.
FEEDBACK: Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking in the spiderwebs so
leave a message and I'll call you back...in other words, I want it. Don't
care if it's onlist or not, but I prefer offlist since I have quite a few
lists on No Mail.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Answer to a challenge (#34) at YGTS? Life's finally settling
down enough to where I can start this fic.
~*~*~
Xander pulled into the beachfront apartment. Danielle was in trouble, so he
was going to help. He glanced to the silent passenger next to him. "We're
here."

Graham was staring at the large waves on the other side of the asphalt.
Occasionally another car drove along the Strand, but there was a clear view
of the sunset and the huge waves barreling in the distance. The Oceanside
pier was up north, hovering in the background, which meant they were
southside.

Graham had never wanted to come back here.

"Triple overhead," he muttered.

Xander stared at Graham. "Why does she want you here anyway? How do you know
her?"

Graham finally looked at Xander, for the first time in the four hour drive
south. "She's out there."

"Out where?"

"Surfing." Graham pointed further into the driveway. "Her wax is out, and
her surfboard's not here. She's using the five nine, I bet. It's not big
enough, but she'll make it work."

Xander looked at Graham. "How do you know Dani?"

"Xander?" A female voice cut off any chance at reply Graham might have had.
Both men turned to see a young woman with long black hair and eyes exactly
like Xander's run across the blacktop street as fast as she could while
carrying a surfboard slightly shorter than her. "Graham?"

"Dani," Graham said, a small smile flitting across his face. "You changed."

"You did too." She smiled. "You were right...five nine. Seven broke a week
or so ago." She leaned her stick up against the wall and started to peel off
her wetsuit, revealing a bikini clad female body, soft curves and tanned
skin, with a blue rhinestone navel piercing. That was new to Graham, who had
seen every inch of that body in the past.

"Like it? Got it done at Sins on Skin..." She smiled at her cousin. "Don't
tell Mom, Xander. She still thinks of me as her little baby."

"Won't spill a word," Xander said, smiling. "Why'd you want us here?"

She looked from Xander to Graham, her eyes lingering. "He's back. He left
flowers. Black roses. And another doll."

Xander looked at Graham, something clicking. "You...you were the boyfriend,
when it happened last time. The one who...?"

Graham nodded. "Yeah. I thought I'd got him. I mean, he appeared...and..."
Graham looked at Dani. "Any chance it's not him?"

"No, it's him. Same handwriting, same arrangement, same everything." She
looked at them, her smile finally being revealed as the fake cover it had
been when her frown came to the surface. "Look, I don't want to go inside
right now. And I'm kind of hungry."

"Colima's?" Graham suggested.

"Sure."

***

The three of them walked the short distance up the Strand to Pier View,
passing the coffeehouse, the strip club, the adult bookstore and the record
store. It was the clash of two different worlds that made Oceanside such an
interesting place, in Dani's opinion. The blend of old and new, even more so
now that the city built the Regal movie theater and still wanted to get rid
of the old Amphitheater right on the beach.

Graham didn't care. He'd left it behind when Uncle Sam called, going to
Sunnydale. He never thought he'd be back anywhere near the base where he had
trained in Special Ops or the town where he and Dani had lived together
those years ago.

But he was back because of a plaintive request from Dani. Headstrong Dani...

The cook brought their orders; Dani's rolled tacos, Graham's fish burrito
and Xander's carne asada taco and carne asada burrito. Dani looked at the
two men, then around the crowd gathered at the popular restaurant. "He left
the roses, the note...the doll..."

"Start from the beginning, Dani," Xander said.

"Okay. A few years ago, this freaky guy started following me around at my
meets. He'd always be waiting around, just...there. And he always had a
flower for me, no matter how I finished. At first, I was flattered."

She looked down at the shorts she'd pulled on before they started walking,
finding a loose thread to play with. "Then I met Graham, after he'd come up
here to Camp Pendleton for training. The guy still showed up with flowers,
and even asked me out on a date. I told him no, I was seeing someone. I
thought he'd taken it okay."

She looked at her food now. "Graham came to the next meet. Lots of big names
there...Slater, Machado, Knox...he'd gotten leave and went with me to
Hawaii. The guy was there. Before, he'd only come to local meets. And then
he showed up there. Anyway, I started to freak a bit because he was
everywhere Graham and I were."

"On the last day, the morning of the finals, I went outside to go take a
morning surf. I saw a box there that said "To Danielle Harris" in scrawled
handwriting. I opened up the box to find dead roses, a dozen of them. There
was also a Barbie with long dark hair and a swimsuit." She paused, taking a
sip of her drink. "The eyes were cut out, the stomach was slashed, the
breasts were cut off...there was a noose around her neck."

She looked at Graham, who nodded. She started to eat while he spoke. "We
went to the police in Hawaii, but there wasn't anything we could do. Dani
stayed out of the competition that day; almost lost her deal with
Quicksilver because of it until they found out why. They got her an alarm
system for her apartment, and security at every meet."

"They're good to me," Dani said softly.

"Anyway, I did some digging, found out about the guy. His name is Scott
Captra. He'd been arrested for various things before including stalking, but
nobody pressed charges."

"Things got better after that," Dani said. "Security was good, if there was
anything going on I didn't know. I thought he'd given up. Graham and I...we
started to make plans." She looked at Xander only, avoiding Graham's eyes.

"And then, one night, we came home, and he was there. He was in my
apartment. He shot Graham in the leg, and..." She shuddered. "We managed to
get the gun away from him and hold him until the police came. We pressed
every charge against him that we could. And he was sent to jail."

"Where we thought he'd be staying," Graham added.

"And we both moved on with our lives," Dani said. "I'd almost forgotten
about him until last week. That's when I found the same type of box, this
time with black roses. and then there was another mutilated doll...and a
note. It said 'I'm back.' That was all it said."

The men looked at each other for a moment, Xander beginning to say
something, when Dani screamed, "There he is! He's over there!" The two men
whipped their heads around and saw nothing, just tourists coming out of the
California Surf Museum.

"Dani," Xander said gently, "maybe we should take you to home."

Dani nodded, numbly standing up, leaving behind four and a half rolled tacos
and an almost full drink.

***

Xander brought the cup of chamomile tea to Dani, who was sitting in her
living room. Trophies were on shelves at one end of the room between
pictures of family and friends. There was a computer on a long desk next to
that wall, covered in dust and papers. There was also a magnificent view of
the beach, where the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.

"Is your computer working?" Graham asked.

Dani shook her head. "No. This virus hit it, destroyed the hard drive." She
sighed, curling up into the Mexican blanket. Graham recognized it as the one
he got when they went down to Tiajuana together. "But there's another one in
my room you can use."

Graham nodded, leaving the room and heading into Dani's bedroom. Xander
turned to his cousin. "What happened?"

"I saw him. I mean, he was walking, and I saw him, and then he disappeared
into the crowd again." Dani pulled the blanket around her tighter, trying to
use it as a shield of some sort to keep the bad man away from her. "I mean,
it's like he just melted away into...nothing."

Xander sat next to her, putting his arm around his cousin. "Mom and Dad and
Aunt Dahlia never really said what had happened the first time. I had no
idea."

Dani hugged Xander. "I would have told you. I mean, I should have. You're
the only one who understands me and...this," she said, pulling out of the
hug and indicating her surfing trophies. "I just want him out of it. Out of
my life. I don't want to be afraid anymore."

***

Graham sent a quick e-mail to his commanding officer, who told him who to
report to at Camp Pendleton. He had known something wasn't quite right about
this entire thing the first time, and the feeling just got worse. Especially
after what had been found out about Scott Captra while he was in jail.

Scott had been a loner, with a tendency to fixate on things he could never
have through normal means. That included belongings, cars...and people. Dani
wasn't the first athlete he'd stalked.

But whereas normal stalkers were human, Scott was not. Not completely,
anyway. He was part shadow demon, which allowed him to blend into shadows
easily, to get around without being seen. The Initiative found that out and
had him registered.

That was how he'd known Scott had escaped the special psych ward he'd been
sent to. Since he was human, there was no chip implant. And when the call
from Dani had come, which Graham had figured it would, he got permission to
leave his post and investigate.

It was also up to him to tell Dani the news about Scott's demon heritage. He
couldn't keep it from her; she had every right to know. But would she
believe him?

He sighed, leaning his head on his arm by the keyboard. Graham knew she
didn't believe in anything supernatural. Xander, on the other hand, was a
Scooby. He helped Buffy, who Graham disliked for what she did to Riley or
caused him to do to himself. He knew she was the Slayer, and all her friends
not only believed in the supernatural but helped her fight it.

He also knew that Dani would probably be more inclined to listen to Xander
than to him.

And that was the problem! They acted like nothing had happened, that Graham
hadn't broken off their engagement to go join The Initiative. That their
past was just a simple thing, not as complicated as it had really been. And,
of course, Graham had lied to Dani until he was safely in Sunnydale.

When he was there, away from her, he told her the truth. And that was the
most cowardly thing he'd ever done.

Maybe now he could make up for it in some small way by giving Dani back her
life.

Graham sat up again, picking up the phone to make a call, one he had never
imagined making. He needed help, and only one group of people could give him
the research he would need to either recapture Scott Captra permanently or
kill him.

"The Magic Box, this is Rupert speaking, how may I help you?"

***

Xander stood up when he was sure Dani was asleep. He took the freezing cold
cup of tea into the kitchen, bumping into Graham. "She's asleep."

"That's good." Graham yawned slightly. "Xander, I need to fill you in on
some things."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that what we're dealing with isn't completely human, and that
this time he might try to take Dani away." Graham sat down at the kitchen
table where a cup of steaming coffee and a pile of papers sat. "I called
your friends in Sunnydale. No one can come down here, but Rupert said he'd
try and send me some research."

Xander nodded. "What are we dealing with?"

"A shadow demon and human hybrid." Graham shuffled the papers, looking for
something in particular, and upon finding it handed it to Xander. "The
Initiative had him registered. We only found out about his demon lineage for
about three months before he escaped. He's more dangerous than we thought."

"And how do we get rid of him?"

"I don't know. We may just have to kill him, or something like that."

Xander got his own cup of coffee and sat down across from Graham. "She told
me what you did. How you left to join the Initiative and you lied to her."

"I thought she might have."

"Did you have a good reason?"

Graham thought for a moment. "At the time, I thought I did...but now I know
I didn't." He shook his head. "I'll tell you more later. Right now--"

A muffled scream came from the other room. Both men jumped up and ran out,
looking around. Dani's blanket was crumpled on the ground, and the window
was open. A man was trying to climb out the window with an unconscious Dani
thrown over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Dani!" Graham yelled, and the man turned around. He had a .38 caliber
pistol in his hand. Taking careful aim, he pulled the trigger.

Graham sank to the ground.

Xander looked from the man to Dani to Graham. Then he started to advance on
the man. "Leave her alone."

"Or what? You'll hurt me?" The man laughed, a sick sound like nails dragged
on a chalkboard. "I'd love to see you try." He aimed the gun at Xander and
fired again, but Xander ducked and the bullet missed.

While Xander was down, the man got onto the windowsill and jumped in a fluid
motion, melting into the shadows as he did. Xander sprang up and ran to the
windowsill, helplessly watching as the man headed to a car and sped off.

"Xander..." Graham said weakly. "He got me in the chest."

Xander nodded, running into the kitchen. He picked up the phone, dialed 911
and waited. "There's been a shooting..."

***

Xander had good reason to dislike hospitals. After his years of helping
Buffy, he'd seen many of his friends in them as patients, some more than
once. There was Buffy's bout with the flu and the whole bloodsucking
incident. There was Willow's coma and Anya's broken arm and Giles' numerous
concussions. But all of them were received in some sort of battle or fight.

Now, he was at Tri City Hospital, waiting to see if the only other person
who could help him get his cousin back would come out of surgery okay. He'd
been shot in cold blood by the same man who'd shot him in the leg years
earlier.

Graham had to be pissed.

The doctor came out. "Mr. Harris?"

Xander's head popped up from the cold cup of coffee he'd been staring at in
his hands. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Miller's surgery went just fine. No major organs were punctured, though
the bullet was less than an inch from tearing through his lung. He's asleep
right now, but he'll be fine." The doctor smiled. "I'm sure you're glad to
hear that."

Xander nodded. "How soon till he wakes up?"

"Probably a few hours. I suggest going home and telling his fiance that
things are going to be fine. I'm sure your cousin would like to know."

"I know she would," Xander said, standing up. "Thank you."

"If you hadn't called and done some simple first aid, Mister Harris, he
would have died. He should be thanking you." The doctor turned and left at
the calling of his name while Xander headed towards a pay phone.

He wasn't about to call his Aunt Dahlia to let her know her only child had
been kidnapped, and he wasn't going to be able to return to Dani's apartment
until the police were done. There was only one more place he could call.

"Giles, he got her," he burst out before Giles could finish saying hello.
"He shot Graham and he got her."

"Calm down, Xander. Who has he?"

"The half human shadow demon thing," he said, lowering his voice a bit. "He
came in and jumped out of the window with her and took off."

"Do you have any idea of the type of car he was driving?"

"A VW Bug or something. Not a new one, an old one. It was blue or black. I
couldn't tell because it was in the shadows." He rested his head on the
metal part of the pay phone. "He just disappeared into the shadows."

"Shadow demons do that." Giles paused for a moment. "Is Graham all right?"

"Yeah. Surgery went okay. He'll be awake soon."

"Good. Now listen to me. His military group knows of the threat of the
demon, and he had contacted them earlier this evening. When he wakes up, get
the information and go see them. You still remember some of your military
training?"

"Some of it."

"Then that is a plus. Inform them of Graham's injury if they do not already
know. I'll try and get Buffy or Anya down to you by tomorrow, but it's not
certain. Glorificus is starting to make her move."

Xander thought for a moment. "Keep them there. You're going to need all the
help you can get."

The operator interrupted the call, saying he only had a minute more unless
he inserted more money.

"Xander?" Giles said quickly when the operator was done.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

And then the connection was lost.

***

Dani first felt the dull aching pain in her head. she tried to reach up to
see if there was a bump, but found her hands tied behind her back. She then
felt the rope around her ankles and the cold floor under her.

And it was so dark...

"You woke up."

Dani froze. That voice...she knew it from somewhere. "Who are you?"

"You mean you don't remember me? I thought the flowers of the doll might
have brought it back."

"You..." She stopped. "Scott?"

"Amazing. You *do* remember." She heard a rustling to her left. "You look so
different."

"I...I let my hair grow," she said, trying to swallow the lump rising in her
throat. A cold hand touched her cheek and she flinched.

"You did more than that." The hand stroked her cheek, and finally Dani
realized she was blindfolded. "You're tan. You've been living a life." The
hand moved away from her check, traveling down to the nape of her neck. "I
can't be in the sun that much anymore."

"Wh...why?"

"Because, my demon half doesn't like it. It likes the cold, the shadows...it
loves the dark."

Demon? Was he really insane? "But I saw you!"

"And wasn't I in the shadows? I saw you with that boy you had been engaged
to, and someone new." He almost spat the word "boy." The hand moved from the
nape of her neck and a single finger trailed down her collarbone and traced
the V-neck of her shirt. "I finally got him, though. Right in the heart, or
somewhere around there."

"No..." she whispered. "No..."

She felt a cheek touch her cheek, and stale breath whisper a single word.

"Yes."

***

"I'm going to kill him!" Graham tried to sit up, but clutched his chest in
pain.

"You aren't going to kill him," Xander said.

"Want to bet?" Graham sank back into the cushions.

Xander shook his head. "You can barely move around without hurting, Graham.
You can't go after him. Giles said he'd try and send Buffy down here, but
they can't afford to have her here, so we're all Dani's got." Xander shook
his head. "No, I'm all she's got."

"We're not all," Graham said. "Go on base, through the rear gate. They let
civilians on base, especially since we used my car. It has the decals on it.
Go to the commandant's office. He can get you in touch with my CO and the
person I was supposed to work with on base."

"Are you sure they'll listen to me?"

Graham nodded towards the closet where his clothing was. "Take my wallet. My
special ID is in there. If they haven't heard--"

"Tell them, I know. Giles said the same thing." Xander walked over to the
closet, fished out Graham's wallet and put it in the opposite back pocket.
"Anything else I need to know?"

"Only talk to the commandant. No one else knows about the Initiative or
their experiments on that base except him."

Xander nodded. "I'll be back."

Graham sat up, wincing but forcing himself to do it anyway. "Xander, get her
back. there's things I need to tell her."

"I will."





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