Part 6
“What’re you planning, babe?” Lex asked his lover with a grin as they watched Xander and Spike arguing about whether the Spiderman was better than Gambit.
Angelus smirked, “I thought we could get Alex and Angel together. I love you and you love me, who’s to say they can’t be as happy together as we are?”
Seeing the flaws in that logic Lex grinned, “Its not that easy and it looks like Spike has feelings for the human. He’s not going to just let Angel steal the man he loves.”
“We’ll just have to make it work. I’ll make a play for Alex and then Angel will act. Jealousy is a great motivator!” Angelus said seriously already formulating a plan.
Lex gave a dramatic sigh, “I’ll resist tearing Xander to pieces then for even looking at you. Although if he thought Xander was in danger, Angel might be forced to reveal his feelings.”
“Thank you. Do you think we should talk to the others about it?” Angelus asked as he looked at his lover.
Lex just nodded knowing his childer would find out anyway, and they could never resist the temptation to cause trouble. Maybe it would be fun? He knew the whole family deserved some downtime after the fiasco with Willow.
“What’re you planning?” Xander asked seriously noticing the hushed talk.
Lex did his best to look harmless, “Just talking about the differences between this world and our own. I’ve noticed that people have the same personalities as in my world. The only difference is that the majority of people who are vampires in my world are alive here.”
“You’re not planning on changing that are you? Buffy’ll be out for blood and I would like you to get home safely. At least one version of me will be happy that way.”
“Not really. Aren’t you worried that we’re going to attack you while you sleep?” Lex said amused.
Xander shook his head, “No. I trust you. I haven’t done anything to warrant you killing me, yet. I know only minions go around killing indiscriminately. If you try to kill me, I will fight back.”
“I wouldn’t expect any different.” Lex said with a smirk.
There was a loud knock on the door causing Xander to roll his eyes in annoyance. Who was it now? Whenever he had the chance to relax there always seemed to be some sort of chaos and he was tired of it. Surely the others could handle everything once in a while.
When Xander opened the door Angel said, “Hi Xander. Can I come in and talk to you?”
“No. You’ve already upset me by trying to kill people I care about and totally ignoring Spike.”
“Please. It important.” Angel said desperately.
Xander sighed, “Fine. Come in but don’t even think about attacking anyone.”
Angel followed the human into the house stopping in shock as he took in the fact that five vampires were sitting in Xander’s lounge talking. He was amazed Xander was still alive was this an hallucination?
“What is he doing here, Alex?” Angelus asked pasting himself to Xander.
Looking at Lex to make sure his vampire counterpart wasn’t about to freak Xander answered, “He said there’s something he needs to tell me. Probably about how dangerous you are.”
“Actually I need to talk to you in private.” Angel said quickly wanting to get his alternate away from his Xander. He was shocked to see that Lex hadn’t attacked, the behaviour was certainly strange for a vampire.
“I don’t think so Peaches.” Spike said angrily.
“Chill. We’re going for a walk. If I’m not back in forty minutes track Angel down and kill him.”
“With pleasure, Pet.” Spike said with a smirk as the two walked out the apartment. He waited for five minutes before grabbing his duster intending on following them.
“That won’t work. He’ll sense you before you get anywhere near them. You should just wait here with us.”
“Wait? While Xander is with my poof of a sire?” Spike shouted in outrage.
“Yeah. I’ll go and make sure he’s okay.” Angelus said with a smile.
“That’s a good idea.” Lex said with a nod seconds before his mate left the house.
As they walked through Sunnydale park Xander asked curious, “So what do you want to talk to me about? In case you haven’t realised we’ve never been close, Deadboy.”
“I know. I just wanted to make sure you are handling everything okay. It’s a lot to take in.”
“Since when have you cared about me? In case you’ve forgotten you’ve always hated me.”
“I don’t hate you.” Angel said quickly unable to believe Xander still felt that way.
Xander said wryly, “What would you call it? You always ignored me or treated me like I was worthless.”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure you don’t let your guard down with Puppy. He’s still a killer.”
Xander said with a small grin, “So are you. We’re all killers. He won’t hurt me. Neither will any of the others.”
“Why are you letting them stay with you? They’re still soulless vampires.”
“I know but you don’t need a soul to be capable of caring and loyalty. Just look at Spike.”
“Yeah. Are we ever going to talk about what happened after I lost my soul?”
“Not much to talk about. I took it as a complement, that he was interested in me.”
Angel shook his head at Xander’s naiveté, “He wanted to turn you. That isn’t a complement.”
Xander countered, “It is because he wanted to make me his childe. You know how rare that was.”
“You’re not involved with Puppy are you? It’s just Lex might not be too happy with it.”
Xander laughed at the understatement, “I’m not really involved with him. Lex wouldn’t come after me. He’s promised not to although he’s thinking of turning me. In his place I would probably do the same.”
“You don’t realise how fucking stupid this is! Get them as far away from you as you can.” Angel shouted as he shook Xander trying to make the man understand.
There was a loud growl as Angelus appeared gripping a stake in one hand. The vampire quickly approached his counterpart looking angry and bloodthirsty. Xander stepped in front of Angel, figuring he should at least find out why Lus was ready to kill.
With a smile Xander said, “What’s up, Angelus?”
Angelus said calmly, “I thought you might need some backup. He doesn’t appear to be treating you very well. He shouldn’t have grabbed you, I’m going to kill him for it.”
“I was just trying to make him understand.” Angel protested weakly.
“You can’t kill him, he’s needed here. I’ll come back with you, what did the others say about you following me?”
Angelus shrugged, “Spike wanted to come but we decided he should stay in case there were any more of those soldiers about.”
“Thank you for looking out for him. Lets get back, Spike’s going to be restless by now.”
Angelus said with a smile, “Yeah. I’ll join you in a second, Alex.”
Xander nodded and started walking towards his home slowly grinning when he imagined the look on Angel’s face when his doppelganger started stacking. He knew Angelus was protective of him and that the vampire was attracted to him. The problem was Xander didn’t know if the vampire was truly attracted to him or his counterpart. He wasn’t going to deny he was attracted to the vampire but he wasn’t going to let himself be hurt because of some unrequited love. He wouldn’t let himself be used again.
Angelus snarled at his counterpart, “Don’t *ever* touch Alex like that again! If you ever hurt him, I will make you pay!”
“Don’t call him that! His name is Xander. Since when have you cared about him? I thought you’d be happy now that your Lex is here?”
Angelus laughed lowly, “It doesn’t concern you. Alex is very special to me. So special I am going to ask him to come back to my dimension with me.”
“NO! He would be killed there and he belongs here!” Angel said both angry and afraid at the possibility of losing the mortal.
“He would be one of the most respected people on my world. Why would he stay here? Here he is unloved and treated like shit!”
“He isn’t! We look after him. He’s happy here!”
“You know I really think you believe that (!)” Angelus said pityingly as he looked at his counterpart. How could the vampire be so clueless?
“Even if you take him with you won’t your Lex kill him?”
“No. He likes Alex. I’m going back in two days and taking him with me.”
“Not if I can convince him otherwise.” Angel said angrily as he walked in the direction of Xander’s house.
Angelus watched the vampire go with a grin. It was going to be interesting watching the inevitable fall out, now he could go home sure Alex would be happy. Spike and Angel obviously had feelings for the mortal so there would be someone there for him.
Angel wondered just what he was going to say when he found Xander. How could he explain he had always been attracted to the mortal but hadn’t pursued the relationship for fear of Xander getting injured? The answer was simple, he couldn’t.
There was no proof Xander would even return his feelings although the pain in Xander’s voice when he spoke about Angel hating him showed the mortal had some feelings towards him. With that in mind he headed back to the hotel, to practice everything first. He didn’t want to mess up possibly the only chance he was ever going to have with Xander.
“I’m back.” Xander said with a smile as he opened the front door.
“Hey Pet. Did you have a nice little talk with my Sire?”
“Yeah. He said I’m an idiot for letting everyone stay. He seems to think you’re all going to torture me or something.”
Spike smirked, “I’m honoured. Did your Angelus find you?”
“Yeah. He’s dealing with Angel.” Xander said as he sat down wondering where all the others were hiding out.
Spike said worried, “Why? That poof didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Xander grinned, “Nah. He was just trying to convince me to believe him, he seems to think I’m incapable of thinking for myself.”
Spike said determined, “I’ll take care of it, Pet. The chip only stops me hurting humans so I can deal with him.”
“Don’t worry about it, Angelus is sorting it. I like Angelus, he’s a lot more relaxed than Angel.”
Spike stilled for a moment to get his thoughts in order before saying, “It’s because Angel broods too much. He’s too focused on trying to atone that he forgets the good things that make existence worthwhile.”
Xander mused, “Maybe someone needs to remind him. If it wasn’t for all the brooding, he would be very attractive.”
At Spike’s look of shock he continued, “Don’t even try to pretend you don’t know I’m gay. You knew I was into guys from the minute I walked into this place after spending that weekend with Lindsey.”
“Enhanced senses make it impossible to hide anything like that.” Spike said with a shrug knowing the man had figured that out years ago.
Still caught up in the memory of his and Lindsey’s time together Xander said with a smile, “Are the others in the spare rooms?”
“Yeah. How come you’ve got two spare rooms, Pet? I didn’t think you made so much money.”
Xander shrugged as he passed Spike the bedding, “Good properties are always available for very good prices in Sunnyhell. One of the few benefits of living on the Hellmouth. You can sleep on the couch, it folds out into a sofa-bed.”
“Night, Pet.” Spike said as the human walked into his bedroom leaving Spike alone to contemplate how he was going to make Xander his.
End Part 6
