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Wordsmith
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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, 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 spared 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 remark had met with
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 then 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 phone. 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 went 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, paused for a startled look and said "Jinx!" And then both hung their heads, at least appearing guilty 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, all right.* "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 is road-tripping it to the
Hellmouth.* Xander watched Dawn for her reaction. She seemed to have come to
terms, though 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 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 to arrive before attempting any physical reconnaissance. So they hit the books, checking out demonic holy days and various enigmatic prophecies. They 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 crowd 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 am 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 sizing 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 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 SenSurround experiences like Buffy's dreams had occasionally been. Even Buffy's dreams had been open to interpretation and usually could only be completely understood after 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 a 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 round of 'wanker vs. psychopath', had retired to neutral corners. Spike was 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 asked to see the rest of the shop he gave her and Gunn the tour, Angel having declined to take in the highlights so that he could continue to not watch 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 back door. 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 back door. 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 which was 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, "Angel...he....
Angel and Spike were arguing.... I...They went outside." Her eyes pleaded
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, sweaters, and purses but the two
nearest the door held a supply of stakes and several flasks of holy water. Xander
grabbed one of each and went 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 walked 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've 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 your time working on penance for your sins, but no one's
allowed 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 you're hurting. We're all hurting. But what ever you feel, it's only a fraction of what Dawn's going through. Did you even notice what you did to her?"
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. Spike and Dawn spoke in hushed voices as Willow bounced and explained a great idea; she had a '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 he went to warn Giles.
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