lit_gal | Kin of the Heart

In this universe, Xander challenged Angel right up front--called him a pedophile to his face. And from there, everything changed.

Previous parts:
Part one: Bumbling to a Save
Part two: Family Ties
Part three: Devil in the Details
Part Four: Bad Karma
Part Five: Rust Upon Iron
Part Six: Mending Fences... or tearing them down
Part Seven: Quiet Waters Mirroring Undistorted
Part Eight: Bait, Swindle and Self-destruct
Part Nine: Deaf, Dumb, and Destiny-blind
Part Ten: The Road Not Taken
Part Eleven: Full Circle on the Lesson
Part Twelve: The Care and Feeding of Humans
Part Thirteen: A Little Brutal Honesty with Tea
Part Fourteen: A Slippery Leash
Part Fifteen: Flesh and Blood and Heart

Part Sixteen: A Slender Thread of Sanity
Part Seventeen: The Enemy of my Enemy
Part Eighteen: The Best Laid Plans
Part Nineteen: The World Turns
Part Twenty: Faulty Logic
Part Twenty-One: The Eyes of a Wounded Child

Part Twenty-Two: The Window Through Which You See the World

Xander followed Angel and Spike into the library, his eyes wide open. He really did not want to miss the historic meeting of Wesley and the fang gang. And he was probably avoiding the big issues here in favor of a cheap thrill when Wesley pissed his pants, but Xander had never pretended to be anything other than petty and in denial. Wesley piss first, dealing with Cordelia later.

And speaking of... the suit boy himself was bending over a big book that was lying open on the table. Buffy leaned against the circulation desk with an expression on her face that was looking way too much like Faith's, complete with the homicidal glare in Wesley's general direction. Actually, when they'd put Faith on the plane for Cascade, she'd looked way less homicidal than Buffy did right now. Then again, Willy had just called with the story of a Council team in town, so that might explain the whole homicidal look.

Spike slid to the side of the door while Angel headed right for Wesley, clearing his throat as he went. Wesley turned, and half way through the movement, he caught sight of exactly who had come into the library. His attempt to turn turned into a wide-eyed, arm-flailing retreat to the far side of the table where he grabbed at a half-carved stake.

"You... you're... good lord, you're Angelus!" Wesley clutched his stake to his chest like a teddy bear, and Xander snickered at the sight. Yep, one growl, and pissing would definitely be on the agenda. Across the room, Spike growled, a low, dangerous rumble that echoed in the room, and Wesley jumped and clutched his stake tighter.

Angel sighed and turned to give Spike a dirty look. Xander only smirked wider... at least until Angel turned the glare in his direction.

"I know who you are. I will not be deceived," Wesley grandly announced. He reached into his pocket and brought out a cross, holding it in front of him like a shield.

This time, Buffy snickered.

"I'm Angel, not Angelus," Angel said wearily. Xander managed to bite his tongue and not point out that Wesley would last about thirty seconds with Angelus. He reconsidered Wesley's tight grip on his stake and really, really bad form. Maybe ten seconds. Five if Angelus really focused instead of going all megalomaniacal with the descriptions of future evil. Angelus kinda liked to hear himself brag, which was a good way to tell him from Angel.

Wesley stiffened. "You cannot believe that I believe there is any difference."

With a huge smile, Buffy moved toward the table, twirling her own stake in a move definitely intended to show off. "Hi guys," she said with a smile toward Angel and a stake poke in Spike's general direction. "Wesley, I have heard the many and disturbing stories. There's difference, there's a huge difference. There is a whole world of soullike difference."

"Ms. Summers, I am versed in the curse with which Angelus is supposedly—"

Xander practically had a little countdown going in his head. Sure enough, Spike totally ran out of patience. "Bloody hell, I vote that we eat the berk and then just hunt down the fucking Council wankers." Spike glanced over at Buffy. "Wait... actually, they can have that one."

Buffy twirled her stake a little more aggressively. "Have I shown you my favorite stake, Spike?" The jokes were a little strained, and Xander knew full well that Spike was way not really joking with the letting Buffy get dead or captured offer, but at least they were all being civil... or what passed for civil with them. Standing on the far side of the table with his cross and stake, Wesley clearly hadn't received the memo that this was Spike and Buffy's version of playing nice.

"Stake him," Wesley demanded, his voice ending in a bit of a squeak.

"Hey, this is a new outfit. I do not want Spike dust cooties on me!" Buffy objected.

Just about the same time, Spike turned to her and spread his arms wide, inviting her to start a fight. "You're welcome to try, ducks."

Angel sighed, but before he could start yelling at anyone, Wesley found his voice. "Get out of this library or I will send both of you back to the bowels of hell from which you came."

The whole library pretty much went silent at that. Xander's brain was coming up with so many intestinal jokes that he had some sort of comic traffic jam where he couldn't actually manage to pick just one, and Spike literally turned his back on Buffy to stare at Wesley. "Fucking hell," he cursed. "Is he serious? I've heard better dialogue out of Lon Chaney."

Buffy shook her head and pulled out a chair from the table just as Giles walked into the library. "Sadly, yes. It's all 'bowels' this and 'good lord' that. Well, to be fair, Giles is very much with the 'good lord', but not so much with the bowels."

For a second, Giles stopped at the entrance to the door and just stared in obvious surprise at the group. Xander remembered the day when this little gathering would have inspired glasses cleaning and threats, but they had become much more trucelike since then. Now he just sighed and focused on Buffy. "Yes, thank you so much for that vote of support. I am underwhelmed with your expression of respect," he told her. Buffy ducked her head and shrugged at him.

"Wesley, I just received some news about a group of men who've come into town. Perhaps we can discuss a few things in private." Giles sounded all calm, but there was something in his voice that gave Xander the impression that Wesley really and truly did not want to be alone with the G-man right now. Obviously Giles was not in on the 'turning Buffy over to the English dudes' plan.

"What? Now? There are vampires in the room, Mr. Giles," Wesley protested.

"Yes, of course. Where are my manners?" Giles asked, and again there were very unGilesy tones in that voice of his. He turned to Angel and smiled, and that was truly not an expression Giles used with Angel. "What can I do for you Angel?"

That really didn't go over well with the tweed crowd. "What can you do for him?" Wesley demanded, his voice nearly a squeak. "Mr. Giles, do you have any idea to whom you are speaking?" Wesley went so far as to point his tightly-clutched stake at Angel. "Whether you call yourself Angel or Angelus, you will get out. Get out of this library right now."

"I'm trying—" Angel started, but Giles pretty much ignored him.

"I am well aware of their identities." They are one half of the Scourge of Europe and the current pains in my English arse. They are also uninterested in opening any Hellmouths, at least at the present time. However, if they are here to create mayhem with you, I might not object considering that you have tried to turn my slayer over to a group of thugs because she wouldn't fit into your narrow-minded, ham-fisted plans. So, bugger off." Giles turned to head for his office, clearly not interested in any long drawn-out conversations, slamming the door shut behind him.

Buffy stared after him with an expression that looked a little bit like someone had just hit her with a dead fish. "Wesley broke Giles. That was broken Giles. Unbroken Giles is way stuffier than that," she whispered, her eyes still focused on the closed door. Xander kinda agreed with her.

Standing near the door, Xander watched the shifting patterns in the room. Spike had taught him to watch a fight like the way you watch a weather front or weird looking birds with bizarre mating rituals. It was all about power and positioning. Spike moved slowly from one side of the room to the other, his normal nervous energy contained like a hurricane that all its wind shoved down into one very dangerous tiny package. But no matter where Spike moved, he always stayed close enough to Angel that he didn't allow major furniture between them. Giles had retreated to either get a drink or avoid killing Wesley, no telling which, and Buffy just sat in the middle, the original immoveable object. Neither tweedy interlopers or pissy Giles or vampires would make her give up her chair at the table where she looked leaned on one elbow and just sort of scanned the room.

Wesley finally gathered his wits enough to talk without sounding like he was going through puberty. "Buffy, we will go out the back."

"Oh yeah, like going out back would save you if they were evil, which they aren't," Xander pointed out as he started detouring around Angel to sit at the table with Buffy. Angel reached out and caught him by the back of the shirt and pulled him back.

"Oi, I'm plenty evil," Spike objected.

"Shut up," Angel said without letting go of Xander's shirt. "Wesley, we came to talk about the man killed on patrol the other night.

Giles' office door came open and hit the wall hard enough to rattle. Standing in the open doorway, Giles looked a little red-faced. Yep, he'd gone for the good booze. Xander remembered that glossy-eyed look from his days of living with Tony Harris. Of course, now Tony Harris was more into the living on the streets and looking stoned, but that was his choice. Giles, though, just had the look of a man who had thrown back way too much booze way too fast. "Yes, Wesley, perhaps we should talk about this rumor I recently heard."

Wesley looked from Giles to Angel and back again. If Xander had to bet, he was guessing that Giles was way more with the dangerous right now. That was not a warm and friendly expression on his face. That was the expression of a man who had and might again summon a demon.

"Buffy killed a man on patrol. My duty to the Council—"

"Your duty was to your slayer!" Giles exploded as he strode forward until he stood next to Buffy, his hand slapping down on the table hard enough to startle Xander. Angel pulled him even closer, and Spike shifted into a new position closer to them both.

Wesley stiffened and blinked so fast that Xander thought the man was either about to cry or trying to fly using the power of his eyelashes. Oh yeah, seeing the power of Giles turned on someone else was almost amusing enough to make him forget how shitty it felt when Giles had ripped into him. Maybe Angel was thinking the same thing because Xander found himself pulled so close that his back was pressed to Angel's chest, and really... that was not good positioning for a fight.

"There is a bigger picture—" Wesley started, but he was not really having a good day for getting to finish his sentences.

"Buffy didn't do it," Angel said loudly.

"See?!" Buffy demanded. "Wait, how do you know I didn't do it?" she asked Angel, but Wesley just ignored her as he turned his attention to Angel again.

"I hardly think your word is good for anything."

"And what about Buffy's word?" Giles asked in a voice that was way too calm for his homicidal expression. Xander wondered if somebody shouldn't call Jenny and see if maybe she couldn't come and play referee... or maybe just turn someone into a rat. Xander normally disapproved of ratting, but right now, Wesley was kinda asking for it.

"Yeah, what about Buffy's word," Buffy demanded.

"And why did you not come to me?" Giles asked as he turned on her. The righteous indignation drained from Buffy and she started looking a whole lot more sheepish.

"I was going to," she started weakly.

"Mr. Giles, there are vampires in the room. While you may not be fond of your life, I assure you that I do not intend on shuffling off this mortal coil any time soon. I shall be in my quarters if you are interesting in discussing the rules and regulations of my position," Wesley grandly announced as he started backing toward the rear exit. Spike glanced over, and whatever he saw in Angel's expression, made him grin madly.

Before Xander could figure out what Spike's expression meant, the vamp darted forward and bitch slapped Wesley. Wesley stumbled away from the table, and his stake clattered to the ground. Before Buffy could get up from the table, Giles' hand landed on her shoulder and kept her from flying into the fight. Not that there was a fight. There was just Spike with Wesley in a headlock as Wesley did a lot of really embarrassing flailing. And squeaking. He was definitely squeaking.

"For heaven's sake, he is not hurting you, so kindly shut your gob," Giles said in a very cranky voice.

"I knew I liked you for a reason, Rupes," Spike said with an eyebrow wiggle. Spike hauled Wesley back to the table and shoved him down into the chair across from Buffy before leaning both of his hands on Wesley's shoulder.

Giles was clearly not impressed if the eyerolling meant anything. "Your approval makes my life complete. Angel, what exactly is your purpose here? If you are concerned about the Council taking Buffy, I can assure you that I had a long talk with them about the inadvisability of such action."

"I'm more interested in Faith's future," Angel said. He finally let go of Xander and stepped forward. "Buffy didn't kill that man, Faith did."

"Which is the other thing I've said over and over, not that Wesley was doing much with the listening," Buffy complained quietly.

"Faith told me the real story." Wesley looked indignant until Spike dug his fingers into his shoulders, and then he hunched his back and made little distressed noises.

"Spike," Angel warned. Spike didn't look happy, but he did loosen his hold enough that Wesley stopped turning red in the face. Angel stepped up to the end of the table. "Faith told me the real story. She and Buffy were patrolling, and she thought the man in the alley was a vampire."

Wesley glared up at Spike for a second before turning his attention to Angel, and Xander had to give the man credit for having balls. He didn't have much brains, but he had balls.

"Faith is far more controlled in her attacks, so while I understand her attempt to cover for someone she sees as a friend, I still believe that Miss Summers with her inept attack style and refusal to properly trained caused the death."

"Hey, geek boy, Buffy is anything but inept... well, except for biology, she's got the inept going in biology."

Buffy turned to look at him. "Thanks so much, Xander," she said sarcastically. "But as I have said at least a dozen times, it was an accident, but it was an accident with Faith's hand on the stake." Buffy held up her hand, mimicking the motion of staking, and Xander nearly swallowed his tongue, because staking was not what it looked like she was mimicking. From the smirk on Spike's face, he had caught it as well.

The humor vanished when Xander thought about the other accident Faith had with her hand on a stake. His cock still itched, but that might be from the shower. The water had gotten a little hot when he'd been trying to get the feeling of Faith off his skin. The guys in the locker room were all about how good sex felt, and it did. It totally felt good. But then the good ended and you were left thinking about what a big, giant jerk you were for having the sex, and then you started wondering things that it definitely weren't healthy to wonder. His brain was dancing between topics like a monkey on crack. What if he'd gotten a venereal disease from her? She wasn't exactly the poster child for safe sex. She wasn't even the poster child for semi-safe sex. If they had poster children for sex that could get you killed, Faith would so be on it. And then his brain turned to thoughts of what it felt like to be held down. When her hands had caught his belt, he'd known it was wrong. He'd fisted the grass, but she was on him, her mouth on his, and that flash of wrongwrongwrong had vanished under 'oh fucking hell' and he'd given in. Knowing that the truth was going to shred Cordelia, he'd gone and had sex with Faith. God he was slime.

Xander pushed the slime thoughts aside because he needed to focus on here and now. He could freak about his own life the next time Angel dragged him to LA for therapy, and after the Faith and Xander show, he expected that to happen really soon.

"Perhaps you could tell us what happened," Giles suggested softly, his gaze on Buffy.

"So you shall just believe her? I questioned both girls extensively," Wesley argued, and again, Xander had to admire the balls and the ability to talk with no brains because no one with a brain would continue to get so pissy with Spike holding them prisoner.

"Newsflash," Xander said as he stepped forward; he was really sick of rehashing the Faith issue. "Faith told Angel and then told me and then told Spike and then a guy on the phone and then Jenny who she left a message for on her machine saying that she killed that guy. And yeah, she's feeling pretty torn up about it, and Faith and torn up is not really much like anyone else's torn up, but everyone gets to do their own version of crazy. So, she admitted that she did it and now she's left town to try and deal with it. Issue over. At least if Giles really sent the English guys away, the issue is over because if the English guys are still here, there be issues that not be over." Xander smiled goofily at the group, but instead of getting that exasperated-amused expression of his, Angel got his exasperated-worried expression on. He stepped to Xander's side and rested a hand on his shoulder before turning to Giles.

"Xander's right. Faith admitted that she killed the man by accident, and she is having a lot of trouble dealing with it. She does not trust easily." Angel's glare focused on Wesley. "Given the authority figures in her life, I don't blame her." Wesley paled, but this time he was smart enough to keep his big mouth shut.

"You sent her to LA?" Giles asked before the glasses finally came off.

"I sent her to get some help. She's scared, and her reaction to fear is not..." Angel paused, "rational."

Giles didn't answer, but he nodded.

"Where is she?" Wesley demanded. "She is my responsibility, and even if Mr. Giles has been derelict in his duties, I will not—" he squealed as Spike tightened his grip.

"Spike!" Angel yelled.

"Wot? The berk is a soddin' pain in the arse. Faith is ours, and we'll bloody well take care of her without him sayin' or doin' anything to muck it up worse."

"I would never—" Wesley made another pained noise.

"Right then, let's get this clear," Spike said cheerfully. Xander looked over at Angel, but he didn't seem interested in stepping in. "You're a fucking idiot. Your plans are idiotic, your strategies are idiotic and your research... you bloody believe anything ever written in a book, which means you can't tell shite from a shiny rock," Spike said. He let go of one of Wesley's shoulders and slapped him on the back in a gesture that would have looked friendly if it hadn't sent Wesley rocking forward so that he had to slap his hands on the table to keep his nose from hitting it. "The Council sent ya to get these two killed so they'd have a nice controllable bird on their leash. Now, I'd just as soon eat ya as look at you, but Angel there says that I don't get to kill you unless you make one move toward hurting either Buffy or Faith directly."

Wesley's mouth fell open in shock, and even Giles paused mid-polish with his glasses still in hand.

"Since the Council was using a mistake as an excuse ta pick up one of the slayers, I'm going to assume that they're willing to take a more active role in getting rid of these two and calling up a new one. So, if you do anything to help the Council—if you call them or send them one bloody report or ask for one bloody book for your collection—I'm going to take that as you acting directly against the slayers. Got it? One phone call, and you'll be my dinner so fast that ya won't have time to get dizzy from blood loss."

"I hardly think—" Giles started.

"He's right." Angel spoke quietly, but Giles stopped talking and slipped his glasses back on. "When Kendra was here, the Council sent anything you asked for... research, books, information. Since Faith arrived, they have been uncooperative."

"That might be due to my own... difficulties... with the group," Giles said carefully. His hand was resting on Buffy's shoulder. Xander was grateful for that support because she looked like someone had just punched her in the stomach.

"Not bloody likely." Spike jerked Wesley to his feet, and the chair he had been sitting in flew across the room as he accidentally kicked it. "Ya like to tell how you were headboy. So, tell me, how well did you do on the practical portions of watcher training?" Spike asked him. Spike had that pseudo-concerned look on his face, the one that made Xander wonder whether he was going to eviscerate someone. It was like watching a snake consider a rat. Spike let go of Wesley altogether and backed off a step, his head cocking as he considered him. "When you faced your first vampire, did you pass with flying colors or piss yourself?" Spike vamped out, and Wesley jumped. His butt was already braced up against the table, so he couldn't retreat, but he might die of a heart attack if Spike kept this up too long.

"I... I was successful."

"He is incompetent," Angel said. "And he is part of a plan to get rid of Buffy and Faith."

"As far as I'm concerned, they can have Buffy, but I'll rip the guts out of the first plonker to make a move toward Faith," Spike said with a snarl that showed all of his fangs. Wesley's hands clutched the edge of the table.

"That might be possible," Giles said slowly.

"It most certainly is not," Wesley snapped. Spike snarled again, and he fell silent and swallowed so rapidly that his Adam's apple did calisthenics.

"It's the only thing that makes sense." Angel stepped forward. "When Kendra was here, you had funding, access to research and all the assistance they could offer."

"And it still didn't save her," Wesley said snidely.

"She attacked me, mate. I never promised I wouldn't defend myself; I only promised to not start anything."

Angel ignored the distraction. "But now there are problems with your funding, they don't answer calls, they send an incompetent watcher, they won't share magical objects, and you can't get any research on this Ascension of the mayor's. This is an emergency, but they're still busy playing politics. I know that Buffy's not mine to defend." Angel looked at Buffy, and for one second, Xander could see the longing in his eyes. Angel still wanted her. He wanted her or he wanted to share her destiny or maybe he just wanted to be the perfect man she had always talked about that first year after Jesse died. Sometimes Xander didn't understand Angel, but he knew the vampire well enough to know that Angel's feelings for Buffy still ran deep. The emotion passed and, once again, Angel's eyes were cold. "You protect Buffy however you need to, but I will do what I have to in order to protect Faith."

"Even if that means killing?" Giles asked, his back a little straighter as he looked from Angel to Spike and back again.

"Yes," Angel said. No excuses or denials or explanations, just yes.

Wesley did a fish impersonation with his mouth going open and closed.

"They want me dead?" Buffy finally asked. Xander had rarely seen her look so utterly lost.

Giles didn't answer, but he stepped closer and put his second hand on her other shoulder.

"Right then," Spike interrupted the solemn silence, "if ya want to be the Council's boy, you run home to England where you're safe from the monsters. If you stay here, you either cut ties or I'll kill you. Got it?" Spike reached out and ran a finger down Wesley's tie in a gesture that mocked affection. Wesley was totally frozen. Spike looked up at the man and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I understand perfectly well," Wesley hurried to say.

"Good boy." Spike patted him on the cheek and backed up.

"They want me dead?" Buffy asked again, and Xander felt a stab of guilt at having rearranged her world view again. But better to rip out her idealism than let the Council rip out her guts.

"The entire Council, no," Giles assured her. "But Quentin Travers has a rather narrow and slanted view of Slayers and their role. He might be capable of this sort of manipulation."

"Great, so only the head guy is trying to kill me. Kudos to me," Buffy said quietly. Giles patted her shoulder. "Buffy, you are safe. The Council team has left with some convincing."

"Just how convincing were you?" Angel asked.

Giles stared at him for several seconds. "Jenny and I can be quite convincing," Giles said firmly. Angel took that as some sort of reassurance because he nodded.

"Spike," Angel said. Immediately Spike sort of danced backwards before he turned and headed for the door. Angel caught Xander by the arm and then they were quickly following.

They were out in the hall before Spike spoke. "Bloody hell, didn't mind that a bit. Mind you, it would have been a lot more fun to rip the wanker's bollocks off and make him eat 'em." Spike bounced and cracked his neck first one way and then the other, just like how he did before a fight.

"If he continues to conspire with the Council, you can do it then," Angel said. Xander looked up at him in surprise, but Angel didn't flinch away from the shock on Xander's face.

"Right, that's not disturbing, not at all," Xander complained softly.

"Wot? You'd rather let those pillocks go after the girls?" Spike demanded.

"Hey, no. I'm big with the condemning pillocks, even without knowing what a pillock is. I'm just a little iffy on the ripping off of body parts." Xander held his hands up in surrender. Looking down the hall, he caught sight of a woman leaning against a locker watching their group. Xander stopped walking. "Um guys, I think I need to go face some music."

Angel looked down the hall and then at Xander. "Are you sure?" he asked. Xander nodded. For a second, Angel's hand remained on his shoulder, the grip just firm enough that Xander knew he couldn't pull away. Then Angel gave a nod and let go.

"Hey, I'll see you guys at home, okay?" he asked, backing away from them and towards Cordelia. If she was going to kill him, he really wanted her to have a head start on the running for Canada, and if she left him alive, he didn't want witnesses for his humiliation. For a second, he didn't think Angel was going to take the hint. Thankfully, Angel turned toward the closest exit, catching Spike's arm and dragging him out with him. Right. Now Xander just had to survive his confession to Cordelia.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com

So Faith is on her way to Cascade, and I find myself hoping for a chapter on how that goes, since you've converted me to a Sentinel fan, even though I've never watched the show.

Love Spike's approach to the situation, protect family and eat/intimidate all others. Simple, direct, effective. If a tad bloodthirsty, but he's like totally hot so that like totally makes up for anything ;)

And I'm really curious to see how the talk with Cordelia goes.

Update soon? plz plz plz!

From:

Kin of the Heart

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