Through the Eyes of a Child
folder
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer › Slash - Male/Male › Spike(William)/Xander
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
10
Views:
12,248
Reviews:
23
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer › Slash - Male/Male › Spike(William)/Xander
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
10
Views:
12,248
Reviews:
23
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 3
[thoughts] because yahell won’t recognize italics
Inside the Magic Box, Buffy finally exploded in anger. “Why is Spike taking care of Xander, soulless evil dead guy, remember? How can you think he can take care of a little kid and what is with this being scared, crying and thinking we’re going to beat him. Why can’t we just take him back to his parents so they can take care of him? That’s where he should be. Or even Anya. Why can’t Anya take care of him? I mean I know they are on the outs because of the wedding and everything but she still might help take care of him”
“Buffy, to begin with Anya most decidedly cannot be trusted to care for Xander. She’s still upset with him and besides that she is also not in town right now. You must remember that Xander’s mind may be six but his body is that of a grown man. Do you really think he would want any of you helping him to dress, to bathe? Spike is the most logical choice. I have to try and find a way to bring him out of this and I can’t do that while babysitting. I need to research and it is quite possible that I may end up having to get in touch with the council. There may be something in one of the watcher diaries about this demon. I will also consider calling on Angel and Wesley one of them may happen to know something about this demon. As for the being scared nod not going to his parents, I think Willow may know more about that than I do even though I have my suspicions.”
Willow shook her head sadly and started to tell her friends things that she had never mentioned to anyone but Jesse when he was still alive. Jesse had understood, he had seen it happen. “Buffy, we didn’t all have great parents. You had a good mother and well my parents may not pay me much attention but they never hurt me. Xander isn’t that lucky, his parents aren’t like that…they’re mean, hateful drunks. That’s the reason he used to sneak over to my house all the time. When they started drinking and the fighting got worse, he would sneak out…he…he started doing it when he was 4.” Willow started to sob and for a minute couldn’t say anything else. “I tried to always be there for him, I would wash off the blood and put Superman Band-Aids on the cuts and tried to get him to tell me what happened but he would never say the words. The story was always that he fell or something tripped him. It just wasn’t possible for him to come right out and say it was his parents. He pretended that nothing happened and each time he went back to them. I think it was still going on until he moved to his apartment.”
“No way, I would have noticed if he was getting beat up. We saw him nearly everyday Willow. Do you really think they were still beating him up and none of us noticed?” Buffy was beginning to cry herself as she thought of all the times she had ignored how slowly Xander walked, how carefully he moved around, or the bruises he sported even when they hadn’t fought anything for awhile. “They really were hurting him weren’t they? Why didn’t you say something? I could have….we could have stopped it, showed them what it feels like to really be hurt. There had to be something I could do.” Buffy didn’t like feeling helpless especially when it was her friends who were getting hurt.
“It was up to Xander, Buffy. You can’t make someone ask for help. I tried for years to get him to admit that something was going on but he pretended that everything was fine. I think it’s how he coped, that and making a joke out of everything. He just couldn’t admit that something was really wrong.” Willow’s shoulders slumped in a defeated posture, “I really tried Buffy. This is new for you but I’ve been living with it since I was 4 years old. I was 5 when I finally figured out that monsters could be the people that were supposed to love and take care of you before that all I really knew was that my friend was hurt. I tried so hard to be there for him and love him…” Willow broke down and sobbed. Tara pulled her into a hug and slowly rocked her back and forth, gently rubbing comforting circles on her back.
“We know you tried sweetie. You did everything you could.” Buffy watched the two as comfort was given and received. She hadn’t felt this helpless since sending Angel to hell.
“Buffy we know you want to help Xander but Willow is right. You can’t help someone until they are ready to ask for help.” Giles was polishing his glasses again trying to keep his fingers busy and wishing, not for the first time, he had the ability to let Ripper out to play. That would teach the boy’s parents to beat him, a little of their own back at them. He felt as guilty as Buffy, he hadn’t noticed how often Xander was hurt either. For now the best thing he could do was what he did best…research. He had to find out everything he could about the Graz’elktheus demon. There had to be a way to help Xander.
Inside the Magic Box, Buffy finally exploded in anger. “Why is Spike taking care of Xander, soulless evil dead guy, remember? How can you think he can take care of a little kid and what is with this being scared, crying and thinking we’re going to beat him. Why can’t we just take him back to his parents so they can take care of him? That’s where he should be. Or even Anya. Why can’t Anya take care of him? I mean I know they are on the outs because of the wedding and everything but she still might help take care of him”
“Buffy, to begin with Anya most decidedly cannot be trusted to care for Xander. She’s still upset with him and besides that she is also not in town right now. You must remember that Xander’s mind may be six but his body is that of a grown man. Do you really think he would want any of you helping him to dress, to bathe? Spike is the most logical choice. I have to try and find a way to bring him out of this and I can’t do that while babysitting. I need to research and it is quite possible that I may end up having to get in touch with the council. There may be something in one of the watcher diaries about this demon. I will also consider calling on Angel and Wesley one of them may happen to know something about this demon. As for the being scared nod not going to his parents, I think Willow may know more about that than I do even though I have my suspicions.”
Willow shook her head sadly and started to tell her friends things that she had never mentioned to anyone but Jesse when he was still alive. Jesse had understood, he had seen it happen. “Buffy, we didn’t all have great parents. You had a good mother and well my parents may not pay me much attention but they never hurt me. Xander isn’t that lucky, his parents aren’t like that…they’re mean, hateful drunks. That’s the reason he used to sneak over to my house all the time. When they started drinking and the fighting got worse, he would sneak out…he…he started doing it when he was 4.” Willow started to sob and for a minute couldn’t say anything else. “I tried to always be there for him, I would wash off the blood and put Superman Band-Aids on the cuts and tried to get him to tell me what happened but he would never say the words. The story was always that he fell or something tripped him. It just wasn’t possible for him to come right out and say it was his parents. He pretended that nothing happened and each time he went back to them. I think it was still going on until he moved to his apartment.”
“No way, I would have noticed if he was getting beat up. We saw him nearly everyday Willow. Do you really think they were still beating him up and none of us noticed?” Buffy was beginning to cry herself as she thought of all the times she had ignored how slowly Xander walked, how carefully he moved around, or the bruises he sported even when they hadn’t fought anything for awhile. “They really were hurting him weren’t they? Why didn’t you say something? I could have….we could have stopped it, showed them what it feels like to really be hurt. There had to be something I could do.” Buffy didn’t like feeling helpless especially when it was her friends who were getting hurt.
“It was up to Xander, Buffy. You can’t make someone ask for help. I tried for years to get him to admit that something was going on but he pretended that everything was fine. I think it’s how he coped, that and making a joke out of everything. He just couldn’t admit that something was really wrong.” Willow’s shoulders slumped in a defeated posture, “I really tried Buffy. This is new for you but I’ve been living with it since I was 4 years old. I was 5 when I finally figured out that monsters could be the people that were supposed to love and take care of you before that all I really knew was that my friend was hurt. I tried so hard to be there for him and love him…” Willow broke down and sobbed. Tara pulled her into a hug and slowly rocked her back and forth, gently rubbing comforting circles on her back.
“We know you tried sweetie. You did everything you could.” Buffy watched the two as comfort was given and received. She hadn’t felt this helpless since sending Angel to hell.
“Buffy we know you want to help Xander but Willow is right. You can’t help someone until they are ready to ask for help.” Giles was polishing his glasses again trying to keep his fingers busy and wishing, not for the first time, he had the ability to let Ripper out to play. That would teach the boy’s parents to beat him, a little of their own back at them. He felt as guilty as Buffy, he hadn’t noticed how often Xander was hurt either. For now the best thing he could do was what he did best…research. He had to find out everything he could about the Graz’elktheus demon. There had to be a way to help Xander.