Slip Slide Melting

* * * * * * * * *
Part 9

Xander pulled into one of the prominently placed ‘Guard Only’ parking spaces near the Promenade and growled frustratedly at how long it had taken to get there. Fortunately, he’d been able to clear the slow lane on the freeway after a good fifteen minutes of calls and orders or they would have still been creeping along, hoping to someday reach Pico.

He climbed from the driver’s seat and rolled his eyes as the team arranged themselves around him. As if he was in any danger.

“Back off, soldiers. I’m not the objective here,” he reminded them before pulling the sensor unit from his jacket pocket and turning in a slow circle, eyes locked on the display. “Looks like we’re the lucky ones, guys,” he said with a grin while he pretended to ignore the team’s groans.

“Southwest,” he added. “Looks like… maybe four hundred yards.”

He started walking carefully, paying more attention to the silver box than his own steps but that’s what the team were for at the moment. They’d keep him from running into anything while he traced the PB. “Precious Burden. Hah! What was I thinking? Pain in the Butt is more like it…”

The five Guards exchanged amused glances. There was a reason they called themselves the PITA Patrol, after all.

“Call it in,” Xander added. “Encoded pin-hex.”

* * * * *

In the end, Spike had had to ‘borrow’ a vehicle. Fortunately, there’d been a smallish blue bloke with a spiky face getting off of a Ninja just after the SUV had darted for the on-ramp to the freeway.

He figured the courier was still sitting on the sidewalk and trying to process the fact that he’d just been mugged of his bike, but he’d worry about it later. Right now, he was too busy following the bloody Magus Prime, wasn’t he?

So he watched, and he followed, his brow furrowing when Xander said… something… to the blokes surrounding him and then stepped alone into what appeared to be a rather nice restaurant. “What the fuck are those so-called Guards thinking? Should be looking out for him!” he snarled softly, then blinked and looked up at the second floor balcony of the place.

“What…?” he muttered, watching as Harris crept across to the railing farthest from the Guards and slung a leg over the railing. “Sodding moron’s going to get himself killed… and when did he change his clothes? Or… yah, must be a spell, I’m guessing… Better not bloody fall!” he growled, watching closely as the brunette went from the railing to the ledge of the next building over, then dashed cat-like across a far too slender iron bar holding up an awning before dropping lightly onto the sidewalk at the end of the block, hidden from his Guards by the side of the building.

He strolled slowly closer, trying not to draw the bloke’s attention as he watched Xander shake himself and start down the walkway with an arrogant and jaunty bounce to his step.

“Now, that,” Spike said with a chuckle as he caught up to the man, “was truly impressive. Balancing on that rod alone… acrobatic, I’d say.”

The brunette turned, the well-known eyes raking down his body, then up. The full red lips quirked into that oddly appealing half-smile and Xander laughed. “Yeah, well… I’ve always been pretty coordinated. It’s like Dad always says. It’s easy as long as you don’t look down.” He winked and looked down, obviously checking out the blond’s groin. “Which I guess means… looking down makes it hard?”

And this… wasn’t Xander. Or not the Xander he’d been following, anyway, but… “Uh, Dad…?” he said brilliantly, soul and demon both confused by the bloke who looked exactly like Xander but obviously didn’t carry Spike’s scent at all… and was clearly hitting on him. It was only when he looked closer still that he realized… yeah, this was Xander. A younger Xander. Even moreso than the Xander he remembered from his chipped days… the early ones.

Not-Xander blushed slightly and sighed. “Yeah, I still live at home,” he muttered. “And believe me when I say, that makes it really hard to meet people. You know, unless they’re… approved.”

What Spike was just now figuring out was that it wasn’t the way Xander looked that appealed to him half as much as the bloke’s… spirit, he supposed, because here was this man who looked like the bloke in question and while he definitely found him attractive, he didn’t particularly want to toss him down and have a go at him. Then again, he wouldn’t have said no if he hadn’t met the Xander he’d originally been following.

‘This… this has to be Xander’s son,’ the soul whispered, staring at the young man who appeared much the same as the bloke they’d shagged repeatedly.

“So that’s why the impersonation of a circus performer, then. Chasing after you, is he?”

Not-Xander chuckled again and started moving down the street once more. “Something like that. He hates it when I slip the leash, y’know? Of course, that doesn’t stop me from doing it, but it gets harder all the time,” he said with another sly gaze at the blond’s crotch. “So you’re a vampire, huh? Cool.”

“Guess the not breathing gave it away, yeah? So what brought you out here tonight, then? Aside from wanting to escape your cage for a bit?”

The brunette sighed and gave a regretful look over his shoulder before turning the next corner, moving along the block behind the one he’d fled. “Actually, I had a date. Not that it matters now, I guess. Usually getting up and ditching a guy with the check but without even a goodnight fuck doesn’t bode well for a second date.”

Spike shrugged and carefully slowed his steps, smiling when the young man slowed as well. “Guess it depends on the bloke, doesn’t it? A nice one would understand if you explained it, I’m thinking. So question is… was your date? A nice bloke, I mean?”

Not-Xander chuckled and shook his head. “Not likely. Nice guys are kinda boring, y’know? I like a little… bad in my men.” He cocked his head and gave the blond an appraising stare. “Are you a little bad… fuck, I don’t know your name.”

“S… Will. And no, mate. Never been a little bad. Big bad, yeah. Little bad? Not a bloody chance.”

“Will. Nice to run into you. I’m Lex,” the young man said, shifting a bit closer as they continued walking. “So just how… big… are you?”

Bloody hell, the boy had no finesse. Even his innuendoes were heavy-handed. It was all Spike could do not to roll his eyes, but… Xander was nearby somewhere and he had that nifty gadget to lead him to the boy, so he’d do his best to contain the lad until his ‘Dad’ found him again.

“Big enough and bad enough, mate, to have you begging me to let you go…”

Lex grinned wickedly. “Oh, I don’t know… not really big on the begging, Will.”

“You will be, Lex… and right soon.”

* * * * *

“Shit,” Xander snarled as he reached the back of the restaurant with no sight of his erring child. “How does he do that?”

It wasn’t until he was walking back down the small aisle between the tables after checking the restrooms—male and female-- that he saw the vampire staring at him curiously. “Oh, great,” he muttered, “not again.”

“Okay, I’m not him,” Xander said quickly as he sat down across from the blond. “He’s my… brother and he wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place. I came to take him home and he ran. I’ll pay for whatever you guys had on my way out, okay? And if you want me to give him a message, I will.” It wasn’t this guy’s fault that Lex was a brat, after all.

The vampire laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. And just so you know, I never thought you were Lex. He just left a couple minutes ago and you’re wearing different clothes, plus…” He laughed again. “I seriously doubt a couple minutes is enough time for anyone to have as much sex with a Master as you reek of. Just… tell him it would have been fun.”

* * * * *

He was still blushing when he left the restaurant to find the guards standing just outside the door, using the overhang to keep a watchful gaze on the inside of the restaurant.

“He rabbited,” he announced, walking past them and back onto the sidewalk, “but he can’t have gotten too far, right?”

The Guards followed, wisely staying silent. The Magus Prime rarely blushed, after all, and they were well aware of how touchy he would be until the red faded, though most of them wondered what had happened to create that state.

The one Guard who knew chose to keep his mouth shut and keep his job. The benefits alone were well worth it.

“You three,” Xander ordered after staring at the sensor for a minute or two, “around the block. He’s on the next street over. Hang back and let me bring him in. You two,” he added with a nod to the others, “are with me. Give me ten feet or so. That should leave you with enough room when he tries to get away. And watch out for his feet!”

The men separated and moved in opposite directions. The PB was gonna get it and they’d be damned if they were going to miss the show.

* * * * *

“Oh… shit,” Lex breathed, catching sight of his ‘Dad’ approaching from ahead of him. He had no idea of how he’d managed to get so close, but then again, he’d been distracted by Will, and… “Sorry, Will. Gotta go…” And that was when he found long, pale fingers wrapped around his upper arm in an iron-like grip. “No, really… you don’t understand, okay? I need… let me go! You have to… Please, Will! Please, let me go and…”

The vampire chuckled and held the bloke’s arm tighter, his other arm stretching out to drag the brunette’s back hard against his chest. “Told you, didn’t I? That you’d be begging me to let you go… guess I was right, mate…”

His brows arched at the truly impressive spate of profanity that spewed from the young man’s lips and shook his head. “You kiss your Mum with that mouth, bloke?”

“No,” Lex snarled, still struggling as Xander came closer, “My Mother’s dead, you fucking asshole!” It was only the stunned surprise on Xander’s face that had him suddenly wondering just who it was that was restraining him.

Spike frowned and sighed softly. “Sorry to hear that, mate… but at least you’ve still got your Dad, yeah? And he seems to care about you, so… could be worse.”

Xander sighed, finally close enough to hear what the vampire was saying. “Uh, the word ‘Dad’ might not be… entirely correct. What are you doing here, Spike?”

The vampire snorted. “You’re welcome, pet. Nice to see you again, too. Happy to be of assistance with your wild boy, here.”

Two identical sets of brown eyes rolled. “Whatever,” the two matching voices said, sounding put-upon.

The Guards blinked but didn’t attack the vampire even though he looked an awful lot like the infiltrators who’d tried breaking into the Citadel over the years. The Magus seemed to know him, after all, and the two—three, including the PB—were snarking at each other like old and irritated friends. Instead, they simply kept an eye on the blond while keeping another on the PB as they all made their way back to the SUV… and none of them made a single comment about the vampire never letting go of the PB or even relaxing his hold.

After all, if Lex got away, they’d have to chase him again.

* * * * *

“Quite a boy you’ve got there,” Spike said, flopping back on the couch in the Magus Prime’s—Xander’s—office with a large glass of whiskey in his hand. “Care to explain how it is that he’s you? And don’t give me that ‘he’s your son’ line again, Xander. Looks exactly like you. Smells exactly like you. Aside from the fact that you’re covered in my scent right now,” he added with a sharp glare.

Xander frowned and shook his head as he put the stopper back in the decanter on his desk and went to sit on the opposite end of the couch from the vampire. “We’ll get to Lex,” he said after taking a long, slow swallow from his glass. “First, though… I think I need to tell you some… things.”

“You think. You think?” The vampire growled, letting his demon show. “You came to me, Xander… pretended to be a fucking whore! You… God, you had my cock in your mouth, my cock in your ass! You let me fuck you and never bothered to tell me it was really you! Not even when you knew I wanted you! And you THINK you need to ‘tell me some things’?” He slammed back the remaining booze in his glass then flung the crystal tumbler roughly at the far wall, smirking when it shattered. “You owe me, boy! An explanation, if nothing else!”

“I was coming to talk to you, damn it!” Xander snarled back, his own glass shattering, but in his hand as opposed to against the wall, “But you opened the door and got all ‘get to business and get naked’! What the fuck was I supposed to do? Tell you that I was really me? Because you would have so loved finding out that you’d just told me you wanted to fuck me, right?” He glared, eyes doing the night-sky thing again. He could tell.

“And why do you think I did it anyway, Spike? Stripped for you, sucked your cock, let you fuck me over and over again; let you make me beg and scream your name? Because it was what you wanted?” Xander snorted.

“Not likely! I did it because… because it was what I wanted! What I always wanted, even when I didn’t know it! So how’s that for fucking irony? I treated you like shit… treated Buffy like a huge disappointment because she wanted Angel, then you! But once the Change happened, what did I do, huh? I went out and found every vampire I could who would have me, as long as they reminded me of you! And I didn’t even realize it until after you just fucking appeared here last week! So who’s the pathetic one now? Who’s the waste of space?”

He was almost growling as the words flew from him, no matter how hard he tried to stop them.

“I have all this fucking power and it means nothing to me! I never wanted it; never asked for it! But it’s here and it’s mine and I have no choice about using it! It’s… fuck, I owe the magic! Owe it my best effort to keep things together, to keep order because the Chaos-times were… just be glad you missed that!” Xander shuddered.

“And through all of it, I never got to feel happy, never got to have anything just because I wanted it! Not even my lovers were chosen just because I wanted them! And yeah, I must have always known somewhere inside that it was you I wanted, but… fuck, every single one of them came with some sort of purpose!”

“Joseph, Mike, Jamie… even fucking Thomas! Each one was chosen to bring me support while rebuilding or to back me for long enough to show that I could get through whatever crisis was going on, and…”

Xander swallowed hard and lurched from the sofa. “And I shouldn’t have had that whiskey,” he grunted as he fell to his knees beside the waste bin and heaved roughly.

* * * * *

tbc...