Part Twenty-Two
Giles worriedly glanced in the rear view mirror again. Watching as Iam and Xander stayed on separate sides of the car. Usually the two were talking and joking during the entire car rides. But tonight Xander looked as though he was about to cry, and Iam was as far over as he could get, staring out the window and mumbling to himself.
“Boys? How did the session go?”
The two looked up, startled. “Um, it was okay,” said Xander.
“Fine, normal, good, nothing bad, nothing happened, we’re good…” babbled Iam, mentally smacking himself. He did not need to start babbling like a maniac every time someone spoke to him.
“Oh, well, you two don’t seem like yourselves tonight, that’s all,” said Giles.
Iam paled slightly before babbling again, “Why wouldn’t we seem normal? We’re normal. Everything is fine and dandy. Peaches and cream.”
“Hmmm,” was Giles’ response.
“ ‘Lo?”
“Linds, it’s Jesse!”
“What’s wrong?” Lindsey tried to shake off his sleepiness when he heard Jesse’s frantic voice on the line.
“Your trial’s tomorrow! Father just told me.”
Lindsey came fully away at that. “What? What do you mean, tomorrow? I thought I had a week.”
“I don’t know. That’s all he told me. Was that it’s tomorrow and you’ll do fine because you have too much to lose.”
“Too much to lose? Oh, God! I can’t do this.”
“You have to.”
“What am I going to do? I’m nowhere near ready!”
“Lindsey, you’re going to do fine! I only wanted to warn you, so that you didn’t find out when you went to the office tomorrow.”
“So now I won’t be able to sleep!”
“I, uh, I could come help you sleep,” offered Jesse shyly.
“What about Vincent?”
“He doesn’t have to know. If he asks why I wasn’t here for br4eakfast, I tell him you picked me up early.”
“Well, be outside in about twenty minutes. I’ll be right over.”
Vincent watched as Jesse snuck out of the apartment. He had listened to the entire phone conversation. He knew Lindsey could be a brilliant lawyer, he just needed to get rid of some of his morals. And Jesse was perfect for the job.
Xander sat sullenly, watching Giles clean his glasses. After they had got home, Iam had locked himself in his room. And now Giles wanted to ‘talk’.
“Did something happen during your session? Because we can find a different psychiatrist for you.”
“No. I like Dr. O’Malley. He’s nice,” said Xander quietly.
“Then what’s wrong? You can tell me anything. I won’t get angry. I want to help you, to be everything your father wasn’t.”
“I know,” Xander said quickly. “You’re great. It’s just… I can’t tell you.” He hung his head.
“Why not?”
“You’ll make me leave,” whispered Xander.
“I would never do that, Xander,” Giles was emphatic. “Nothing could make me want to send you away.”
“Oh.”
“Please, I want you to be happy here. I want you to be able to trust me with anything.”
“Oh.”
“Now, will you please tell me what happened?”
Xander looked down at his feet and studied the dirt patterns on his shoes. Finally, he sighed and spoke. “Iam and I were talking while we were waiting for you. And, and I kissed him and now he hates me. And I’m so stupid!”
Giles felt terrible as he watched Xander burst into tears. He moved over to the couch and pulled Xander into his arms. “Shh, it’s okay. Iam doesn’t hate you. He was probably just very surprised and didn’t know what to say.” He held Xander through his tears, then helped the boy to his room.
Once Xander was in bed, Giles went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea. ‘Well, this certainly complicates things a bit.’