Part 10
Either Willow didn’t tell Giles about ‘the basement incident’ or he was
implementing the same denial skills he had perfected during the Anya/Xander
circus of debauchery and semi-public sex. Xander was betting on the latter.
The smell alone, of sex in an area as poorly ventilated as the storage room,
would take days to dissipate. So he endured Willow’s knowing smirks and
Tara’s shy smiles, yet was spare any awkwardness with Giles, for which he
was deeply grateful. Dawn knew, not about the sex in the basement, or that
time in the training room, or the kitchen, but she knew that Xander and
Spike were more than just friends who spent a lot of time together. Xander
had only one truly terrifying moment when Dawn had looked at him all
wide-eyed and earnest and said “You realize you’ve scarred me for life,
don’t you?” But when that remake had met blind panic from Xander she had
been unable to keep a straight face. “I’m joking you moron. Although,” and
her voice became so wistful that he wasn’t sure if it was real or shammed.
“It isn’t every girl whose first two major crushes end up together, but I
think I’ll get over it.”
June ended with a ‘bugger” call. The kind of phone call where Giles said
bugger loudly, and them proceeded to grill the caller for details; while the
rest of them waited for him to get off the line and tell them how the world
was going to end. They gathered around the research table while Giles was on
the call. After a while, Willow looked at Xander with a single raised
eyebrow, so he returned it with two raised eyebrows and a “humph.” Dawn
giggled. Spike snorted. Tara said “I’ll make some tea,” and when to in the
small galley kitchen.
Giles was still on the phone when she returned with the tea things. Dawn
took Giles a cup fixed the way he liked it and was rewarded with a smile and
a nod, but he gave no sign of wrapping up the call. “Any idea what it’s
about?” She whispered as she perched on one of the iron stairs, on a step
slightly lower than the one on which Spike was lounging. She was answered by
assorted shrugs and head shakes but the focus of their attention was still
Giles and his interrogation of the caller.
Tara and Willow sat at the table with Xander and fussed with the tea and
cookies. Tara handed Spike the blood she had warmed. ‘Go T with Martha
Stewart’s undead living.’ Dawn had opted out of the ‘at least beverages give
us something to do with our hands’ stall and worried the skin along her
thumbnail. Willow reached over without looking and gently tugged her hand
away from her mouth, but replaced it with a cookie so that it didn’t count
as nagging. Giles finally hung up the phone.
“Apocalypse?” Willow and Xander asked in unison, pause for a startled look
and said “Jinx!” And then both hung their heads, at least appearing guilt
for acting like kids.
It was Tara who voiced the question they all had been thinking. “Has
something bad happened?’
‘Well,” Giles paused to refill his cup. ‘Oh so not good, a two cup crisis,
something bad has happened alright.’ “Actually,” Giles continued, “it seems
that something bad is about to happen. Something that the Powers That Be
have brought to Angel’s attention, he’s apparently involved in the
resolution. That was Wesley, it seems Cordelia has had a vision concerning
the Hellmouth.”
‘And, oh bonus, the LA team was road tripping it to the Hellmouth.’ Xander
watched Dawn for her reaction. She seemed to have come to terms, thought it
had been a struggle, with the whole ‘key’ concept. It had helped that when
she did find out, she had had a few months of real memories to back up the
manufactured ones. He knew she had memories of Cordelia and Angel, and even
Wesley, but had never really met them. This might just serve as a test run
to what her reaction to Mr. Summers would be when he came back into her
life. Xander had thought about asking Willow if there was a spell involved
in his continued absence, but wasn’t sure he wanted to know to know if there
was. He wasn’t sure how he would handle it if a complete stranger albeit
her father, showed up and tried to take Dawn, but he was pretty sure how
Spike would react.
Willow hadn’t told Angel about the ‘key’, just that Glory had needed
something to lower the walls between the worlds and that Buffy had stopped
her, with her life. Willow had also told Xander that Angel was keeping eye
on Faith, and visited her frequently in prison. Xander had been concerned
about Faith himself. Not the way he worried about the gang, more along the
lines of how he worried about the watchers, and the initiative ‘and didn’t
Riley’s bailing put to rest any false hope we may have had that that bunch
of genocidal thugs had dispersed with the Adam catastrophe’, and akin to the
way he worried that Angel would one day check that pesky soul in a locker at
the nearest bus station and show up one night and kill them all. Xander had
always considered it wise to know who wanted to kill him and where they
were, but over the years the number had grown to the point he was thinking
of starting a Rolodex.
Giles decided that since the vision had been sent to Cordelia that they
should wait for Angel and company to arrive before attempting any physical
reconnaissance. So they hit the books checking out demonic holy days and
various enigmatic prophecies. The scoobies were well ensconced in the
research when the four of them strode into the shop like they were on
camera. ‘Sheesh, Hollywood.’
“Cordy...your hair...it makes you look...” ‘OH GOD! Abort! Abort! She’ll
kill me. Think of something, think of something.’ “Famous.” Xander stammered
‘and it’s a fabulous save by Alexander Harris, the crowded goes wild. Well
maybe not wild, but it did earn me Queen C’s million dollar smile and a big
hug. Wait, did she just growl? Spike? Jealous Spike? Okay in a stunning
display of my ability to multitask I have warm gooshy feelings and be scared
stiff at the same time, and not stiff in a good way’ “Angel. Wesley.” Xander
nodded to each and checked out the new guy while Cordelia introduced him
around. From the way he was sized him up Xander figured this Gunn must be
Cordy’s new boy toy. Xander wondered if she let this one be seen with her in
public.
Giles and Wesley went back to the office, to exchange secret watcher
handshakes or swap gossip about who was who in the ‘even though we study
things too weird to be believed we can still manage to make the
dissertations about them and boring’ club. They couldn’t have been talking
about the ‘case’ since between the limited information Cordy had, and what
the rest of them had found with the research they had done so far, they had
squat. Apparently Cordy‘s ‘visions’ weren’t full-blown sensoround
experiences like Buffy’s dreams had occasionally been. Even Buffy’s dreams
had been open to interpretation and usually could only be completely
understood it was too late. Willow and Tara, after making the polite social
small talk, excused themselves, saying they were going to get some
components for at scrying spell out of the storage room. Xander saw right
through that and figured they were going to the storage room for the same
reason he and Spike would have been if he had been quick enough to call it
first.
Angel and Spike after a brief of wanker vs. psychopath had retired to
neutral corners. Spike not so casually lounging on the stairs near the
research table and obviously, to Xander, standing guard over Dawn. Angel
lurked near the front of the shop, feigning interest in the merchandise.
Xander figured Dawn’s presence would forestall any bloodshed, so when Cordy
had ask to see the rest of the shop he gave her and Gunn the tour, Angel
having decline to take in the highlights so that he could continue to not
what Spike not watch him.
Xander was preening under Gunn’s praise of the training facility. He had
seemed especially impressed by a storage unit Xander had installed along the
wall near the backdoor. It was built in, but Xander had kept the design
simple. He wondered which the tall black man was really impressed by, the
functional design or the fact that one of Cordy’s spoiled suburban friends
had a job from which you actually got dirty and developed calluses. They
hadn’t been there long when Dawn rushed in and without a word began trying
to pull Xander toward the backdoor. The silent tears were back and she
didn’t even seem to notice.
“Dawn, honey, what’s the matter?” Xander soothed and began to stroke her
hair with the hand attached to the arm not in the death grip. She didn’t
answer immediately but turned a wide-eyed suspicious stare on Gunn and then
Cordy.
“Dawnie, you know me...” Cordy didn’t finish, she had reached out while she
spoke and Dawn stepped back out of reach and pulled Xander close.
Dawn stood up on her toes to get closer to Xander’s ear and whispered in a
breaking voice. “Angel...he.... Angel and Spike were arguing.... I...They
went outside.” Her eyes pled with him to do something, to fix it, to not let
her go through yet another loss. She was scared and frustrated, and yes
Xander thought looking at the deepest most basic raw emotion in her eyes,
she was resigned. Resigned to the belief that Fate was yet again going to
kick the legs right out from under her, and leave her broken and alone.
“You stay here, with Cordy and Gunn. I’ll take care of this.” Gunn made as
if to come with him, but Xander just shook his head and nodded at the girls.
He paused at the storage unit by the door. Most of the cubbyholes held
personal items, textbooks, shoes, umbrellas and sweaters, but the two
nearest the door held a supply of stakes and several flasks of holy water.
Xander grabbed one of each and when out the back door.
The alley was wide and had plenty of room for a fight. As he suspected,
Spike and Angel had degenerated past the name calling stage and had moved on
to slamming each other against the walls. He had to stop this before someone
got dusted. Angel currently had Spike pinned face forward against the wall
and was growling out something about Spike’s lack of brains. Xander
resolutely walk over and stopped just out of reach before saying, “This
stops now, right now.”
“Xander, get inside. This has nothing to do with you, it’s between Spike and
I.” But Angel had taken his attention off of Spike for a fraction of a
second and it was a fraction of a second too long. Spike reared back and
cracked his skull loudly against Angel’s face and in a flash their positions
were reversed.
Xander stepped forward, and placed his hand on Spike’s bicep, not grabbing,
just touching. “Spike, go inside. Please.” Spike looked like he was about to
argue and Xander added, “Dawn is really upset.” And he went, without a word.
That seemed to surprise Angel more than the broken nose. “We have to talk.”
Xander watched as Angel pulled out an old fashioned handkerchief and blotted
his nose. ‘But hey, vampire, so it’ll probably heal by the end of the
night.’
“I said that this is between Spike and I.” Angel growled.
“Wrong. It ceased to be just the two of you when you dragged Dawn into it.”
Xander snapped. ‘Am I insane? Well, obviously. I wonder if he’ll kill me.”
“Xander, he’s a killer.” Angel reasoned
‘You know Angel I’d be more inclined to listen to you if you didn’t always
talk to me like I had one too many head injuries.’ Xander thought, but what
he said was, “So are you.” ‘Oh, and what’s with the pained look, you
supposedly spend all you time working on penance for you sins but no ones is
aloud to point out the truth?’
“Xander, listen” Angel started, but Xander saw where the conversation was
going and decided it would be a waste of time that they didn’t have.
“No. You listen. Spike is part of the team. If that’s something you can’t or
won’t deal with you should have just called this one in and stayed in LA.
Do you understand? You don’t get a vote. He is one of us. Whatever is
between you two, deal with it.” It had taken every bit of Xander’s control
to keep his voice low and emotionless. He wanted nothing more than to rage
at this man who seemed to posses the uncanny ability to sweep out of the
shadows and mess up his life. He walked back to the door of the shop, but
stopped and whispered just before opening the door, trusting that the
vampire would hear him. “You selfish bastard. I know your hurting. We’re all
hurting. But whatever you feel it is only a fraction of what Dawn’s going
through. Did you even notice what you did to her?”
When Xander walked back into the main room of the store. Over at the table,
Dawn was sitting on Spike’s lap and someone had made hot chocolate. ‘It has
to be ninety degrees out, this is taking comfort food too far.’ Tara and
Willow had been looking for scrying supplies or at least they were smart
enough to follow through with their cover story. Cordy just looked stymied
as she watched Spike stroking Dawn’s hair. The Spike and Dawn spoke in
hushed voices as Willow bounced and explained a great idea she had ‘read new
spell in the testing stage everybody duck’. Gunn wasn’t faking interest well
and Tara had a mildly worried look, that Xander found telling and went to
warn Giles.
Part 11
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