Getting On...

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PART 15

It had been a difficult night, Buffy remembered, slowly slipping from Angel’s bed and making her way to the shower.

Even with as slow as William had been in getting to his feet again from the edge of the pool, she’d been stunned enough that she’d barely managed to stop him before he could storm off without his boots.

Some fast talking had finally convinced him that Angel hadn’t said anything about his former life as ‘Spike Martin, Professional Beach Volleyball Star’… and amateur man-whore, although she hadn’t mentioned that part, no matter how apropos the appellation might have been, once. She remembered reading all about his many many exploits with both women and men, after all.

So she’d spent a good twenty minutes explaining that she’d figured it out herself; mostly because one of her good friends had been fascinated by sports-medicine when they’d been younger and had talked her ear off about his accident… at length… until she’d been sick of even hearing about it.

“But I had no idea that Spike Martin and William Aurelius were the same person,” she’d finished, “I swear, William. If Cordy hadn’t been so into your… injuries… I would never have connected your leg with that.”

Whatever she’d been expecting him to say, it definitely hadn’t been what had come out of his mouth.

“What’s my favorite color?”

Buffy was fairly sure that she’d looked like a moron when she’d answered with “Huh? How would I know?” but William had finally laughed.

After that, there’d been an awkward moment, broken finally by William’s next question.

“So…” he’d questioned, looking down at his boots, “This Cordy you mentioned. Would that be Cordelia Chase?”

Again with the looking like a moron, a state which continued once she’d admitted that yes, it was… and William had announced that the young woman was a friend of his boyfriend’s.

His boyfriend Xander.

Xander Harris, at that, although Buffy had a sneaking suspicion that the small blush that had tinged William’s cheeks when he’d said it meant that he, at least, knew who her brother really was.

Still, Buffy was giggling softly to herself as she finished her shower and stepped out, wrapping one of Angel’s truly enormous towels around herself. The rest of her careful questions had cleared up any possibility that it was somehow a different guy with the same name, and now…

Oh, now her brother was in so much trouble.

How dare he be dating an Aurelius after all the times he’d argued her out of going anywhere one of them might be?

It was just too funny.

Now all she needed to do was get William to Sunnydale, but that shouldn’t be too hard. She’d just invite Angel to go home with her and bring William along. They were becoming friends, after all, so she didn’t think he’d fight the idea too much.

Especially not with ‘Xander Harris’ being out of town… and the possibility of ‘accidentally’ running into him there.

“This is going to be too much fun,” she giggled, slipping off to her own room to plot the particulars of her plan.

It would totally get Xander back for that ‘Virgin for Life—Ask Me How’ bumper sticker he’d stuck on her car during her Junior year at Sunnydale Prep.

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Angel was already hidden away in his office downstairs by the time Buffy finished her plotting, but that was fine. She had an agenda, after all.

First order of business? Track down William and pump him for information about his relationship with Xander.

To that end, she quickly selected and called the number she’d saved to her phone the night before.

“Hey, William! It’s Buffy. Whatcha doing? Angel’s all working-boy. You feel like meeting up for breakfast…?” She glanced at her watch and laughed. “Or lunch, I guess?”

Ten minutes later found her tooling from the Aurelius Estate in the sporty Jaguar convertible Angel had loaned her for her visit, the address of the Ritz downtown already entered into the GPS system.

* * * * *

It hadn’t been until a good two years after Xander had left home that he’d finally understood his father’s liking of the Sunnydale diner. It had never seemed like the sort of place Rupert Giles would patronize when he could afford so much better.

Now, though, Xander figured the Diner was comforting for his Dad, kind of like Mamacita’s was for him. A place to just… be. No expectations, no need to be constantly on your guard.

Granted, the crowd at his favorite haunt in Dallas had no idea of who Xander was, aside from one of the regulars and a construction worker, while the people at the Diner had to know who his father was, but still… it must be nice for Rupert Giles to get away from his real life even a few hours a week and just be… Rupert.

And as his father had been meeting Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Xander supposed his Dad was trying to make a point.

“Hey,” he said, sliding onto the bench seat on the opposite side of the booth from the older man, “Fancy meeting you here.”

Rupert’s brows arched for a moment before a rather large smile spread over his face. “Xander! Thank bloody Christ!” He frowned then. “Or is this just a happy coincidence and I’m still going to have to meet with that Wesley git?”

Xander couldn’t help the full-on laugh that exploded from him.

“No… no, I got Oz… I mean Daniel… to tweak things for me. Um, you still have to meet with that um… Windy-Mice guy, but not today. I…” He sighed and bit his lip. “We need to talk, Dad. About me and… well, everything.”

Rupert Giles frowned more deeply and put one manicured hand over his son’s larger, work-roughened one. “Of course, Xander. You know you can tell me anything, after all. Or is this about your sister and Liam Aurelius? Because I’m entirely sure that you haven’t the full story regarding what Heinrich did… and more importantly, didn’t do. You’re reaching an age now where you really should know the full truth; especially if you are to someday take the reins of GSI from my hands.” A small pause; then a wry smile. “Although I suppose that may be in question. Still, you need to understand what truly happened.”

Wide brown eyes blinked, even as Xander shook his head. “I want to know about that, Dad, but first I…” He blushed. “Um, things have… changed. I’ve met someone. Someone I love. Um, he’s… God, why is this so hard?”

Rupert smiled shakily and shrugged. “I believe it to be a right of passage, son. Or so it felt to me when I was near your age and informing my own father that I wouldn’t be following in his footsteps. He was rather… upset… that my cousin would be the one to inherit the grocer’s rather than me, but…”

He gave the young brunette a rather wry half-smile. “I was in love as well, you see, and Quentin Travers made me a very generous offer of employment that included the object of my affection, which my father never could. He didn’t have the… heart, I suppose, to accept that my proclivities were omni-sexual rather than hetero. But that’s another story entirely. You were going to tell me about your love. And how he’s changed things, correct?”

“And there’s yet another thing I really want to know about, Dad,” Xander replied. “I guess there’s a whole lot we’ve never shared, huh? But you’re right. I… damn, it’s so good to see you and I know this is a tough week, what with all the Board Members being here and their families too, and everyone needs some of your time, so I’ll just get on with it, okay?”

Xander looked down at the table between them, entirely unaware of the way his voice softened as he said “His name is William, Dad… and he’s so fucking perfect for me. I… it’s like I never really existed before I met him and…”

Rupert chuckled silently as his son went on waxing nearly poetically about the beautiful blond who had stolen his heart but given his own in return.

He only hoped that Xander and his William were spared the heartache he and Ethan had suffered before finally finding their own balance.

Then again, he realized, if things hadn’t gone as they had, he wouldn’t have his children—any of them. And that wasn’t something to even be thought of.

Xander, Buffy and Willow lived in his heart and always would, so perhaps… perhaps everything had gone as it was meant to.

Yes, Rupert decided. His life would have been much worse had he never suffered his split with Ethan when they’d both been just slightly younger than Xander.

There would have been no Joyce in his life. No Xander. No Buffy… and later, no Willow if he hadn’t married Sheila out of some misguided desire to give his two children a Mother.

It had been quite a ride thus far… and while he’d hated some of it, Rupert wouldn’t have traded where he was for anything. It had all gone as it had been meant to… and he wished the same for his only son.

“Barrington, you say?” he finally responded during a small lull in Xander’s monologue, “William Barrington?” Rupert didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the irony.

The man Xander loved was none other than Liam Aurelius’s step-brother… and as much a part of ATS as Liam was, himself. Or as much so as he could be, considering the rumors regarding the blond man’s mental state. Which perhaps explained why his son’s lover hadn’t told him who he was. Perhaps he didn’t know anymore, or simply didn’t think it mattered.

But then, considering what his son had told him, it seemed William wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.

“He sounds like a charming young man,” was what Rupert finally said, tilting his head at his usual waitress, Rosie, for a refill of hot coffee as what was in his cup had become rather tepid. “Perhaps you’ll bring him for a visit sometime, son.” ‘And perhaps you’ll not react as badly as I fear when you discover the truth of his identity…’

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tbc... soon.