Getting On...

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PART 17

“He did everything you think he did, son,” Rupert said slowly, “but I can’t say that he didn’t have good reason. Heinrich thought—because he had been led to believe—that GSI was available. Of course, your mother had just… died…” he swallowed hard.

“I was rather lost at the time, Xander,” the Englishman went on. “Your… Joyce. Joyce was something I’d never expected to find. She was bright and shining, and within moments of meeting her, I knew she was meant for me. I consider myself blessed that she felt it too. When she was gone, I… well, I suppose you would say that I ‘lost it’.”

Xander’s brow furrowed and he shook his head. “That doesn’t mean that fucking piece of shit Aurelius guy had the right to…”

“No.” Rupert knew he was interrupting but he needed to make sure his eldest understood. “I had a crisis. I wanted…” He sighed deeply. “I wanted to forget, son. I wanted to pretend that Joyce was simply away. In fact, I think I truly did convince myself that she was merely annoyed and hiding, and a part of me thought that if I offered up our company, she’d… come back.”

Another deep frown crossed Xander’s face, even while he forced himself to remain silent but for an inquisitive “huh…?”.

“Even then, Ethan was working behind the scenes,” the elder Giles went on with an affectionate smile for his lover who was currently entertaining their guests, “because while I was too far out of my mind to realize it, he blocked Heinrich’s bid.” A small lowering of the brows was the only indication he gave of his own perplexity. “He still won’t tell me where he got the capital, but… well. Perhaps it’s best that I don’t know. But even at that point, Ethan didn’t come forward. He simply went back to whatever he had been doing before and watched through his many sources while I married Willow’s mother and discovered what a mistake that had been.”

“Sheila,” Xander grumbled. “At least you’re not still married to that witch. She was… evil.”

Rupert blinked a few times, then loosed an entirely unamused bark. “I understand why you might think that, Xander, but if you’ll recall, I never did divorce her. Nor she, me.” He shook his head. “No, Sheila is still my wife as far as the law is concerned. I simply count myself lucky that she’s never chosen to maintain any sort of relationship with any of us. Especially Willow.”

“I… what…? She’s… but where is she? How… how could she just abandon Wills? That’s… I mean, she gave birth to her, for fuck’s sake! I thought she was dead, or… how?”

His head shook again and Rupert smiled. “I don’t know and I don’t care, Xander. All that truly matters is… Willow is my daughter. Sheila has never sent her so much as a birthday card. Willow knows, of course, that her mother is still alive, but we—Ethan and I—have allowed her to believe that Sheila is so deep in the jungle pursuing her ‘research’ that she’s been unable to communicate.”

Xander’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his father. “But?”

Rupert sighed again and looked down at his hands on the table. “But the last batch of bills for her credit cards showed transactions in Paris, Rome and Brussels, as has been the case—among other places—for the last fifteen years. So, you see… she has no more interest than I in altering the status quo. If I were to cut her off, she might demand to see Willow and I will not allow that… and as long as I finance her lifestyle, she obviously feels no need to ask any such thing.”

Brown eyes closed and Xander sat… and sat.

He thought about everything his father had told him; thought about his hatred of the Aurelius family because their head had done exactly what Rupert Giles had asked for, even if his Dad had been somewhat insane at the time, and… and finally he thought about Sheila Giles abandoning their family when Willow was barely out of the womb, and…

“I still can’t say that I like the Aureliuses… but I guess I have to admit that Sheila’s way higher on my ‘hate list’ now.” Xander nodded sharply, entirely unaware of the fact that he was glaring. “We have to make sure that Willow never finds out, Dad. It’d be… well, she’d be upset at the very least.”

And as they were entirely in agreement, Rupert simply nodded and sipped his coffee.

* * * * *

William almost couldn’t believe that he’d agreed to go to Sunnydale. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure of why he’d told Buffy that he’d join her and Angel there the following day.

Of course, that was when he pictured deep, nearly glowing brown eyes beneath slightly shaggy sable hair, and he remembered.

Xander was there. That was enough reason.

That his lover would likely discover who William really was worried him, but… it wasn’t as though he could keep the secret forever, after all. Xander would have to know sometime, and… as Buffy had said, if they were at the Annual Shareholder’s Gala, the brunette couldn’t make as much of a scene as he might otherwise… and as an Aurelius, William could quite legitimately demand a good bit of Alexander Harris Summers-Giles’ time. Perhaps enough so that he and he beloved might make up.

None the less, he considered begging off when he imagined the look of betrayal on his love’s face when he did find out, but… his brother and Buffy were already in the air and reaching either of them was unlikely at the moment. Besides which, he was nearly five minutes late for his appointment with Cordelia, and the young woman wasn’t known for her patience.

Her patients, yes. But patience? Not even slightly.

William climbed slowly from his car, following Cordy’s orders even in his haste. After all, she could possibly be watching and while his bad leg hadn’t been giving him more than a slight twinge every now and again lately, he’d promised to obey her with regards to his treatment.

He counted himself lucky a mere two minutes later when he walked into the lobby of the building and found the very attractive young woman standing there with crossed arms and one foot tapping irritably against the faux marble floor. Her hair was up in her typical messy bun, two pens protruding from it at odd angles.

“You’re late,” she snapped, looking him up and down. “And don’t even try that old ‘traffic sucked and I couldn’t find a parking space’ thing, either. You know enough to allow an extra half hour when you’re coming this far downtown. Now move, Mister! You have a date with a treadmill and Rocky.”

William groaned silently at the mention of her massage-therapist assistant. The man was constantly giving his those looks, after all, even knowing that William was involved with someone else… not to mention the hands that lingered in inappropriate places during their ‘sessions’. Fortunately, William wasn’t even remotely attracted, so there was no wondering involved on his own part.

“Bloody hell,” he sighed. “Guess I’d best tell you the worst of it, then. You know… since you’re already punishing me with the gormless git.”

Cordelia frowned prettily, her forehead creasing ever so slightly. “Tell me on the way down the hall. Move!” she demanded again, smiling on the inside at the obvious worry William was displaying. It was just fun being around the blond and she was fairly sure that he knew her bark was far worse than her bite. She would never actually hurt the guy and she already knew what he was going to tell her, thanks to a very brief but welcome phone call from Buffy Giles.

It was interesting to Cordelia that while she knew who Xander Harris was and knew who William Barrington was, the two had never come clean with each other. That William knew Xander’s true status and name was simply icing on the cake.

Maybe it wasn’t much of a secret since William did know about Xander, but… the blond had sworn her to secrecy with regards to his own status during their first session, so…

It was good that William was going to see Xander, she’d decided. If only because however it worked out, she could stop worrying about accidentally saying something she shouldn’t.

Yeah, that was it, she told herself. It couldn’t be that she felt guilty for keeping secrets from Xander. Cordelia Chase didn’t do guilty.

“Change,” she ordered once they’d reached the locker room door. “Three minutes or I’ll come in after you myself.”

William shivered slightly as he ducked into the room to get into his therapy togs. The girl would do it; he knew that much from experience.

* * * * *

He was more tired than he’d ever been in his entire life when he slowly climbed the stairs to Xander’s apartment after his appointment with Cordelia.

Still, he was impressed at his speed, considering the fact that he’d managed each flight on his own and while exhausted both mentally and physically.

He couldn’t quite manage to be as frenetic as he’d thought he’d be since she’d told him that she’d changed her mind and his bad leg was strong enough for ‘whatever kind of acrobatics you’re thinking about doing with Xander… as long as neither one of you is actually airborne…’.

In fact, he was finding it difficult enough to put one foot in front of the other and open the door with the key his beloved had given him two months earlier.

Finally, he stumbled into the apartment he’d avoided since hearing about Larry, and he simply stood in the doorway between the living room and bedroom, eyes slowly finding the few things he was sure Xander would want with him for the next few days.

The cowboy hat they’d bought on a whim—white, to contrast with William’s black one. The Native American blanket they both had known was a fake, even while buying it—Xander had kept it at his place for the rare night they weren’t together because it reminded him of Will, he’d said. And the dirty-looking jacket made of some odd patchwork of lather, suede and lizard skin that the brunette had insisted made him a local, though William thought it merely made him look gullible.

“Right, then,” William mumbled, his eyes locked on the bed now, “Have to remember to pack them up in the morning…”

He made his way shakily across the floor, fingers loosening the fastenings of his clothes, and when he reached the side of the bed he simply groaned and fell forward.

It had been a long while since Xander had slept in that bed, but William could still smell him just a bit on the pillows… and that scent followed him down into slumber.

* * * * *

He was rather baffled and disoriented when he woke; mostly because he wasn’t sure of exactly where he was at first, but then it all filtered back.

Cordelia. Therapy. Pain. And the words he was still holding close to his heart, as well. ‘If you’re careful and you don’t try to hold him up, your leg will be fine, William… but if either one of you becomes airborne—in any way that doesn’t involve some sort of a harness—you’ll be answering to me, and trust me. You will not enjoy that!’

William couldn’t help the smile that spread over his lips, even as he leapt—carefully—from Xander’s bed and gathered the items he’d decided upon earlier.

They wouldn’t make Xander any less angry, he was certain, but they might make the brunette smile once they’d made up.

And they would make up, William told himself sternly. There was no other option. He loved Xander. Was in love with him, in point of fact, and there was just about zero chance that he was going to let the younger man end things for good, no matter what his beloved might think he wanted on the spur of the moment.

It took much less time to gather his own things once he’d returned to the condo he’d thought of as ‘theirs’ since the moment Xander had entered it and stayed.

Less than forty minutes passed before William found himself standing outside his own door with six packed bags and a bum leg, though it wasn’t as bum as it had been before.

“Bloody hell,” he grumbled. “At least two trips.”

* * * * *

tbc...