Getting On...

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PART 27

One thing Gunn was glad of was that he already knew where William Barrington lived. It made things much easier, since he was fairly sure that he’d find Xander Harris there, as well. After all, considering where the younger man’s apartment was, he wouldn’t blame him for shacking up in the better place.

Of course the dark-haired man still paid rent on his apartment, but aside from some girl who’d been making a ruckus—Xander’s neighbors’ words—nobody had noticed either Xander or William there for a while.

Gunn wasn’t quite sure of why Alexander Summers-Giles would maintain a semi-crappy place like that as his residence unless that was where he entertained his work friends—the ones who didn’t know who he really was—but he figured it didn’t much matter. In fact, he pushed the question entirely from his mind as he parked in the visitor’s lot behind William’s building and strolled slowly along the landscaped walkway to the front.

It took a mere two hundred dollars and one business card to find out from the doorman that yes, Mister Barrington had a ‘friend’ staying with him, and yes, that ‘friend’ was tall and dark… and had a propensity for jeans and flannel as well as keeping a working-man’s hours when the couple weren’t away. Which they were at the moment.

That was the last thing Gunn had wanted to hear, but there wasn’t much he could do about it since the doorman either didn’t know or wouldn’t say when they’d be back.

He walked back to his truck with a frown on his face and drove slowly away, making a mental note to leave a message on William’s answering machine. Someone should warn the men that there was something going on, if only so they could be on guard. And somebody should know about the tall man lurking behind the bush on the far side of the parking lot, even though the guy didn’t seem to be doing any harm.

It was as he was about to dial Kendra’s favorite Chinese restaurant for a take-out order that his phone rang and he forgot all about calling anyone.

A deep sigh sprung from him when he recognized the incoming number as one of the phones at Central Lock-Up, but it could be any number of clients, and he had to answer.

“Gunn,” he greeted, voice clipped and cold… then he heard the voice stammering at him and groaned silently, even while he swung the truck into a U-turn. “I’m on my way,” he said, ending the call without further explanation.

“Those fucking Aureliuses are more trouble than they’re worth,” he muttered, breaking any number of laws to get there faster.

And maybe Xander Harris wasn’t actually an Aurelius, but he was connected closely enough to one of them that he might as well have been… and he’d liked the young girl who’d just called him. At least until Cordelia Chase had been so convincing regarding the Giles kid’s sexual history.

So now he had to go bail out someone who’d hired him and been lying to him. Someone who’d somehow made it past his bullshit radar and had seemed like good people.

It was times like this that Gunn hated his job.

“I am so asking Angel for a raise…”

* * * * *

His Dad hadn’t been thrilled that he and Will were leaving early, but he’d seen the logic in it. Neither of them had wanted to draw attention away from Buffy and Liam—or Angel, as the man preferred to be called—and if their relationship had somehow become common knowledge right then, that would have been all anyone wanted to talk about.

Xander didn’t know why, but for some odd reason, people paid more attention to same-sex couples—as though they were circus freaks just dropping in to do a show.

It didn’t matter that he’d been out for almost ten years. Every time the shareholders and board members and so on even thought he was ‘involved seriously’, it became the topic of conversation, and while he and Will hadn’t been exactly subtle, they hadn’t acted like theirs was anything more than a casual thing… or not where anyone but family could see, in any case.

That had been deliberate on both their parts, once they’d been able to think.

William had had some sort of intuition about what was going to happen between their siblings, and while it had made Xander’s stomach crawl to think about Buffy with Liam at the time, he’d had to admit that his sister would be fully pissed off if he and his lover upstaged her, and that was never a good thing.

That was at least part of the reason he’d decided to hold off on his and William’s plans until after Buffy and Liam’s wedding. That and… he wasn’t afraid to tell his Dad what they’d decided but it would be easier to refuse being talked around if the plans had already been put in motion.

So they were leaving in just a few minutes and nobody had any reason to focus on anything but his sister and Will’s brother, and that was as it should be.

But more important than everything else—to Xander, anyway—leaving early meant going home.

Home.

Home to the place he shared with his lover; home to a big, soft bed that was entirely theirs and a space that was slowly coming to reflect both of them.

So, yeah. He was ready to go there. More than ready.

He smiled at his family, giving long, tight hugs to each of them and finally forcing himself not to glare at Liam. The goodbyes were short and to the point, but that was fine because he knew there would be long, rambling comments in his thread on the family forum when he got home, and that was good because he and Will were slightly pressed for time.

William’s farewells took mere minutes, consisting mainly of hugs for Angel, Buffy and Willow, a steady handshake for Mister Giles… and a smug, knowing glance exchanged with Ethan Rayne.

They were outside and in the car less than three minutes later, being driven to the airport and the GSI corporate jet that would take them…

“Home,” William whispered as he collapsed into one of the plush leather seats and strapped himself in, nodding to the Captain as he passed on his way to the cockpit. “Bloody hell, Xan. Like your family a good bit, but these last days have been bloody well exhausting!”

Xander couldn’t help laughing, even as he crouched down in front of his love and carefully straightened Will’s bad leg. “And now you know the rest of the reason I chose Texas, baby,” he murmured, gently massaging the blond’s knee, calf, and thigh in turn with strong but gentle hands. “Far enough away that they don’t just drop in, but close enough that I can get to them in a hurry if I have to… and less likelihood of snow.”

William was incredibly close to unfastening his seat belt and diving onto his bloke when the Captain’s voice came over the intercom to announce that they’d been cleared for takeoff in ten minutes.

“Bloody… God, Xander. Finish that rub later, yeah?”

Brown eyes sparkled wickedly, even as Xander took the seat beside William’s.

He secured himself quickly, then took Will’s hand in his own, squeezing once as a promise.

“Count on it, baby… I don’t want that leg cramping up when you’ve got me bent over our couch, do I?”

William groaned.

* * * * *

Jesus, the blonde girl fucked like no woman he’d ever had before. Lindsey almost thought she might have been a man in a previous life—or previously in that one—but he didn’t believe in reincarnation and he definitely knew the signs of post-op trannies… and this Anya wasn’t one.

“God,” he groaned, still exhausted from the extended bender he’d been on, and now even more so by the repeated bouts of hot, sweaty, naked sex. “Fuck, Anya… give me a break, okay? I’m only human!”

The young woman sighed as though he’d asked her to do housework.

“Fine,” she agreed after a moment. “Forty minutes, Lindsey. You take a nap. I’ll use the time to clean up.” She ignored his moan of relief as she climbed from the bed and crossed the floor to the bathroom, where she paused in the doorway.

“You’ve behaved yourself very well since you woke up the last time. I appreciate that in a man.” Anya smiled, her eyes lighting up as she thought of the perfect reward. “I’ll get my harness and strap-on ready to go, Lindsey. I remember how much you enjoyed that… once you stopped whimpering about the dildo being too big, anyway. Now, sleep. You’re going to need your strength.”

If he hadn’t already been half asleep, Lindsey might have had something to say to that, although his weary mind wasn’t sure of what.

As it was, darkness overtook him, even as he wondered what in the Hell he’d missed while he’d been blacked out. At least it sounded like he’d had fun, though.

* * * * *

“We should arrive at the church in a hot air balloon,” Buffy was saying, “made entirely of pink and white silk… with roses! We can have streamers of roses instead of those tacky ropes they always use, and…”

“Uh, I don’t think strings of roses would be strong enough to hold a balloo…” he started, groaning silently at the huge, wet eyes she turned to him. Christ, he was so fucking whipped. “But we could have roses woven around the ropes, Buff. They’d be much easier to see from a distance that way, and…”

Willow sniggered from just outside the doorway to the sitting room, then turned laughing eyes to her Uncle. “Are we sure William’s the gay brother? Because Liam sounds way too… floral-savvy to me.”

Ethan Rayne chuckled. “Liam is merely trying to appear interested in the planning, my dear. I expect it will last for almost another hour, so you might as well enjoy it while you can. I believe your sister will be rather distraught—and furious—when she finally realizes that he is merely agreeing with her in order to keep the peace.” He cocked his head, smirking just a bit more than usual. “Of course, the negotiations will begin rather soon. That should divert her attention for a time, and when they are finally finished, I’m rather certain that your father will insist upon a wedding planner.”

The redhead pouted and turned her own version of the wide, round doe-eyes on the older man. “But Uncle…”

The man snorted and shook his head. “As I am the one who taught you that look, Willow, you really should know better than to try using it on me.” He didn’t mention, of course, that Xander’s version—which was the original—still carried an awful lot of weight with him. So much so that Ripper had even employed it a time or two, much to Ethan’s chagrin… and to his shame, as it always worked when it was his love using it.

Willow sighed softly, then shrugged. “Okay… but we can still watch until it all goes kablooey, right? Oh, I need my video camera! This has so much blackmail potential!”

Ethan found himself grinning hugely as the youngest Giles dashed off down the hall to find just that item. “Bloody hell, I’m proud of that girl!”

* * * * *

As soon as she was certain that her husband was sleeping, Anya pulled his cell phone from its hiding place under the sink in the bathroom. She silently congratulated herself on turning it to vibrate when she saw that there were twenty-three missed calls, and all from the same number.

She showered leisurely before wrapping a towel around herself and lowering the top of the commode, her fingers quickly finding and pressing the correct sequence to return the call as she sat.

“Lindsey! Don’t you dare have sex with that woman!” were the words that greeted her and Anya couldn’t help but laugh.

“Too late, Aunt Maggie,” she announced smugly. “Your nephew and I were married almost four days ago and we’ve most likely had more sex since then than your dried up old coochie could possibly stand. I’m probably carrying his child by now.”

The low groan on the other end was nearly a compliment.

“I’m assuming,” Anya went on, “that you’ve had ‘your people’ investigating me ever since we spoke last night. So you know who I am… sort of. And you know that I don’t love Lindsey.” She frowned slightly. “He is very obedient, however, so I can’t say that I dislike him.”

“You little bitch! I’ll see to it that you never see more than a penny from this… travesty of a marriage! You’ll have nothing!”

It was almost heartwarming to hear Maggie Walsh sputtering useless threats. Almost. But still…

“There was no pre-nup, Aunt Maggie. I offered to sign one, but Lindsey wouldn’t hear of it.” More like, he’d been so drunk that he hadn’t understood the word, but that was irrelevant. The Elvis who’d married them had heard her offer, as well as Lindsey’s refusal.

“You shouldn’t have screwed my grandfather over, Maggie. But you did… and I’m a woman. I had to seek vengeance, didn’t I? I mean, what’s that they say? The female of the species is more deadly than the male?”

The older woman’s voice was almost a whisper when it finally responded. “Your… grandfather?”

A smug chuckle left Anya’s lips. “Donald Hoffryn. Surely you remember him. After all, he was the one who perfected the anti-depressant that made MacDonald Pharmaceuticals one of the top drug manufacturers in the world.”

Anya let the silence go on for nearly a minute.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Maggie. He died knowing he’d been ripped off by his most trusted friends. It broke him. So now you have a choice. You accept me into your family, knowing that my children—and Lindsey’s—will inherit the company… or I take you to court for grand theft, larceny… oh, a whole slew of things.”

A shaky breath ended with “you can’t prove anything…”.

Another laugh sprung from Anya’s lips and she shrugged even though the other woman couldn’t see her.

“I don’t have to. Not conclusively. The scandal alone would hurt you. Think about it, Maggie. The mere suspicion of dirty dealings might wipe you out. And what researcher would ever trust you again?”

She pulled the phone from her ear for a moment to check the time display, then grinned smugly.

“Take your time figuring out which option you prefer. I’ll call you later. For now, though… I have a date to have more hot, sweaty sex with your nephew.”

She ended the call and slipped the phone back into its hiding place.

There were still five minutes or so to spare, but the harness wasn’t that easy to get into. Still, it was worth it when it made her husband scream so well.

* * * * *

tbc...