Becoming I

Chapter 3


* * *


Quietly, he opened the door and found
Xander curled up in front of the empty fireplace, he sniffed lightly,
smelling of blood and tears.


Carefully, he shuffled his feet, giving
the boy time to compose himself.


Xander hastily wiped at his wet face at
the noise and turned to look over his shoulder. He sure as hell
didn't want Deadboy to catch him crying, he was not a little boy, 'he
was a man, dammit!' unaware of how just how battered his face looked.


"Hey Deadboy, long time no see,"
he tried to joked cheerfully, failing miserably----recognizing the
hollowness of his own laughter. He lowered his head, gazing at a
broken piece of brick on the flagstone of the fireplace, vaguely
aware that Deadboy had walked past him silently.


He was startled to then see him
crouched in front of him, reaching for him and drew back in
fearfully.


Angel looked at the alarm on Xander's
face and silently held up the wet washcloth, "Your face is
pretty messed up," he said quietly; and gently, despite the way
the boy trembled with nerves, he washed Xander's face.


"Oh," was the muffled reply
as Xander squinted his eyes, not daring to blink with Deadboy so
close. He had to be able to move fast, just in case.


Angel was aware of the wariness in the
boy's eyes and decided to ignore it for the time being, more
interested in finding out where and why he was here and why so
bloody. His nose flaring at the intoxicating scent.


Xander drew back in alarm at the
slightly golden tint to Deadboy's eyes, "Hey, Deadboy, don't you
go losing it on me, 'k," he said shakily, "I got a stake
and I ain't afraid to use it."


Angel froze, realizing that he was
sniffing the air around Xander, "Sorry, it's just...," he
said, dropping his eyes, and seeing the stake held in Xander's tight
knuckled grip.


"Yeah, I know. Maybe it's my new
aftershave!"," Xander said hopefully, trying to make a
joke, "


Angel gave him a faint smile, knowing
the boy didn't shave and moved away from the boy, "You want to
tell me what happen," he asked softly.


"Uhm, no," Xander said
hesitantly, his eyes widening slightly.


"Xander," Angel warned, "If
we are ever going to get along, you have, we have to start trusting
each other a little."


Xander looked startled, "Why?
Being a suspicious bastard has been working just fine for me and I
don't see any reason to change," he said reasonably, startling a
bark of laughter from Angel.


"Okay, how about I tell you what I
know and you fill in the blanks, okay?" And at Xander's hesitant
nod he began, "You went to the library, they found out you had
lied...you all fought, you went home, got into another fight, with
perhaps your father," he questioned, "You got hit, quite a
few times, went to Willow's house, then came here. How am I doing so
far," he said, a faint smile on his face.


"Well, you did pretty good, except
for the part about going to the bank to find out my father stole all
of my money," Xander said with a sigh, looking down, "And I
told Buffy 'Fuck you', thus destroying any chance of reconciliation
with them."


Angel shook his head, "You
apparently have had a very full day; but Xander, your
friends....Buffy isn't lost to you. She still cares, she was trying
to defend you against me," he said with quick smile.


He looked at the downcast boy, "Do
you want me to kill him for you?" He meant it as a joke, but he
was startled to find out that he really wanted to kill the the boy's
father.


Xander looked up startled, his lips
twitching despite his bruised face, "Nah, Mom already took care
of him for me, she coldcocked his ass with a vase," he laughed,
his meent ent fading as he realized the gravity of his situation: he
had absolutely nCKINCKIN' money now!


He sighed, his head lowering, "Is
the offer still open about the money?" He hated this, he really,
really hated this!


Angel looked at the downbent head, "Of
course it is. Tell you what, why don't I give you the money your
father took, that way you'll start off almost exactly the way you
wanted." He didn't want this...this already complex partnership
that they were about to embark on to start out so unequal, they had
enough problems facing them already.


Xander looked at him firmly, "Uh
uh, no way Jose! Just so you understand, this to be a loan only,"
he stressed, "I intend to pay you back as soon as possible and I
want it written down that I owe you the money." He had his
pride! He may have to BORROW money from Deadb...Angel, but he intend
to pay it back, he was not gonna start his new life taking handouts.
He already knew he had an uphill battle just being AROUND the
vampire.


"If that's what you want,"
Angel nodded, impressed with the boy...with Xander's fierce pride,
his need to stand on his own two feet.


"Did you want to stay here
tonight, or would you rather I put you up in a hotel, I assume you
don't want to go home again," Angel asked.


"Could....could we go to the
apartment...tonight," Xander asked in a small voice, picking at
a loose string on his pants. Faintly shaking at the thought of being
cooped up with Deadboy for hours and no way out.


"If you like, but Xander, running
away without a word of explanation isn't the way you want to start
your life off. With regrets, with unresolved issues behind you. I
would have thought you would have learned from Buffy's mistakes if
nothing else," Angel said to the bent head, hearing the heavy
sigh from the boy. He could see the faint tremors and smell how
afraid the boy was.


"Wasn't gonna do that," was
the muttered reply. "Wrote 'em letters and stuff, not mushy
stuff either," Xander sniffed, furiously blinking back tears,
surreptitiously wiping his eyes.


Angel kindly ignored the wet drops he
saw falling on the bo...Xander's pants. "Did you want me to give
them the letters," he asked and saw the head shake.


"No, if you gave them to them,
they'll know that you know where I am and I don't want them to see me
like this," Xander said harshly.


"So you want me to sneak the
letters into their mailboxes then," Angel said hesitantly and
was rewarded by a slight nod, he sighed, "Fine. Let me find the
keys and the addresses of the doctors and we'll be off."


"Can we stop at my house, I gotta
get my stuff," Xander said quietly.


"Of course," was the easy
reply as Angel pushed himself from the floor and disappeared into the
bedroom, returning shortly with keys, a small locked case and an
address book.

"You ready," he asked the boy
standing by the door, touching his shoulder lightly feeling his tense
only slightly before Xander pulled away.


"Yeah, I'm ready," Xander
said looking at him.


They drove throughout the night, making
brief stops at everyone's house, leaving his farewell letters for
them all, retrieving his stuff from his home before finally saying
farewell to Sunnydale.




And as promised, the doctors Angel
recommended were very good. Handling his already shaky nerves with
calm patience. Who cared if they were green and scaly, certainly not
him, no sirree, he was perfectly fine with green scaly doctors. Of
course by the time his first appointment came, he made damn sure
Angel was right there with him, squeezing his hand, during his
examination. Better the demon you know, he thought with swiftly
rising hysteria.




The next several weeks in Sunnydale
were, to say the least, extremely stressful between warring
Scoobies..... the yelling, fingerpointing, slapping and name calling.
Each time they met in the hall, killer glares were exchanged, the
Library becoming a cold chilly place within to research each time the
remaining Scoobies met, working with each other in grudging silence;
each, blaming the others.....swearing up and down that they were not
the ones that drove Xander away.

But it was Cordy who finally pointed
out that they were ALL the blame for Xander's leaving: Buffy for not
having the strength of will to destroy Angelus and doing her duty;
Willow for not sticking up for Xander; Giles for entrusting Buffy
with, in her opinion, waaaaay too much responsibility; and Xander for
lying and running. He should have learned from Buffy's mistake, that
running never solve anything; the problems were still gonna be there
when you return.

Her clear insight, which Angel silently
agreed, left them stunned and speechless. They had all made mistakes,
some mistakes were worse than others, but running never solved the
problems. He was pleased to see that after Cordy's blistering tirade,
they slowly began to heal and work together. But, as promised, he
remained silent on the whereabouts of Xander Harris. He suspected
that Oz knew that he knew and he had a quick conversation with the
boy, swearing him to secrecy.

And every other weekend, Angel would
disappear and no one could find him.







The L.A Story - The Angel Years


* * *


Angel found that keeping Xander amused
in his lonely self-imposed exile proved to be, strangely enough, not
that particularly challenging. He helped the boy study for his G.E.D.
and found things to interest him, video games, books, movies and
music. Angel discovered that there was actually a fine analytical
mind lurking under that the unruly mop of hair.

And it was first in self-defense that
he began teaching the boy Go, Chess and other strategic games to keep
them from annoying each other so much; finding that their games were
something he was beginning to look forward to and finding, that as
the months past, that winning was becoming challenging.

He kept the boy abreast of what was
going on in Sunnydale, telling him that Buffy had rescued his father
from vampires and encouraged the boy to begin talking with his
mother. Hearing the boy crying in the phone to his mother
felt.....really good. Hearing the news that Xander's father had
joined AA made him...happy for the boy. For his next amazing feat, he
smiled wryly, he was going to get Xander talking to the Scoobies.


Gradually, gently they were easing
their way to.....not so much as friends but were tentatively feeling
their way to the point of not being.....adversaries towards the end
of Xander's pregnancy.

Angel reflected on how...not-enemies
they were slowly becoming and who knows, maybe they could even become
friends. And he had at last realized something important about
Xander: without Willow and Buffy around to constantly compare
himself, to reinforce his negative opinion of himself he was growing
and proving to be surprisingly intelligent and insightful.


During the long months of the pregnancy
they had even begun to have civil discussions. . He had told Xander
about Spike's return and despair over losing Drusilla, which sparked
an intense discussion about love and their definition of it. He
didn't want to admit to Xander about just how confused Spike's words
had made him feel about Buffy and their relationship. And he
discovered that despite Xander's propensity for the female flesh,
what he truly wanted was not burning passion, that fiery aspect of
love because when the fire was gone what did you have left.....ashes.
But what Xander wanted was a steady burning enduring love, a love
that would stand the test of time.


And he had realized that when the First
had tried to drive him crazy, it was the thought of losing his child,
of never seeing his child that kept him from succumbing to it, to the
visions.







* * *


Angel was sure he had broke all
speeding laws getting back to L.A. when Xander called him, screaming,
as he went into labor two weeks early. He was there coaching Xander,
encouraging him when the contractions began rippling visibly through
Xander's belly, he was there explaining 'Yes, I am quite sure that we
explained that he is human and HE DOESN'T HAVE A NATURAL BODY
OPENING!' and he was there when they finally pulled his daughter out
and placed her in his arms. He wish he wasn't there when the doctors
congratulated him, assuring him that he and his mate would produce
many fine children.

He heard Xander mutter, "Yeah,
like that'll be the day!"


They named her Holly Marie Harris and
they were assured by the doctors that their fears that she would be
born a vampire were groundless.


He stayed several weeks this time,
getting acquainted with his daughter, making sure Xander got the
proper rest that the doctors order. Both he and Xander took shifts
caring for her. He naturally took the nightshift, while Xander took
care of her during the day.

And she was slowly driving them insane!

Nothing they did was right, the only
time she stopped crying was when she was sleeping, but even then she
would lie there whimpering piteously.

They were the worst parents!


"We need help," Xander
whispered, afraid to wake the finally sleeping child.


"We need a female," Angel
muttered exhaustedly, slumped on the couch.

"We need a mother," Xander
felt like crying himself, his eyes were gritty from lack of sleep.


"You have a mother," Angel
looked at him, desperate pleading in his eyes. "Call her,"
he begged, with dawning hope.


So Xander made the call hesitantly,
swearing his mother to secrecy and begging her to come. He was alone
when they arrived, his father facing him with fearful eyes unsure of
his welcome; he saw the battle his father was facing each day to
overcome his own demons.

And he welcome them into his home.


He sat them down and nervously tried to
explain about the nightlife in Sunnydale; you know, the things that
went bump in the night? Well, they really did go BUMP and THUMP in
the night. Looking in their eyes, he could see they really didn't
believe him, just humoring him as they nodded their heads. He sighed,
maybe when Angel got home, he'll show them.

Mr. and Mrs. Harris turned as they
heard keys jiggling in the door and saw a beautiful young man enter,
struggling with bags of groceries and blinked seeing Xander rush
forward, helping with the bags. And a horrible suspicion began
blooming in Jack's mind, and he clenched his jaw.


"Uhm, Mom, Dad, this is
Angel....uhm this is his place...that, uhm I staying in," Xander
stammered out, flickering a nervous look at his father's iron jaw. Uh
oh, he thought, what the hell did I do? He glanced at Angel in
confusion before taking the bags into the kitchen.


"You guys'll stay for dinner,
won't you," he said. "Angel's cooking, not me," he
said, with a crooked smile, he had inherited his cooking skills from
his mother.

"Uhm, Macy obviously, the uhm boys
seem to have everything under control, so why don't we go check into
a hotel, freshen up and come back for dinner," Jack said
uncomfortably. Macy, looking bewildered, reluctantly agreed.


Angel narrowed his eyes thoughtfully on
the man's face, at how uncomfortable he looked.... how he avoided
looking him in the eye and slowly smiled realizing what was the
problem.


"But I thought you were going to
stay here," Xander protested. "Angel said it would be okay,
there's plenty of space," he assured them eagerly, "I had
the room all made up for you," he looked at them with his best
puppy eyes, and seeing his mother weakening, he turned his most
potent weapon on his father, "Pleeaaase," oh yeah, he still
got it, he gloated watching his father cave in.


"Please do stay," Angel added
his pleas to Xander, his demon wickedly taking over, "Why don't
I show you around?"


Macy nodded eagerly, my what a fine
young man, Alexander is very fortunately to have him as a friend.


Silently, Jack followed them, not
daring to comment on his son's, he choked to himself, alternative
lifestyle. He glared angrily at Angel, his son was far too young for
making such a crucial decision. He knew exactly who to blame.


Angel smirked, he could feel the man
glaring holes in his back. "This is the room you'll be staying
in," he said opening the door to the room, his eyes narrowing to
cold slits as Mr. Harris brushed past him. He leaned against the
doorjab watching Mrs. Harris exclaim over the beautiful room, coldly
smiling as the senior Mr. Harris looked around the room, knowing that
serious dollars went into the decorating.

He faced the silent Angel, "This
room is kinda ritzy," he smiled, more of a grimace than
anything.


"I have plenty of money,"
Angel said with an cold smile, turning his head as he heard Xander
coming down the hallway.


"Mom, Dad you should see my room,"
Xander said excitedly. "Angel let me do anything I wanted to,
within reason of course," he added hastily, seeing the glare on
the vampire's face.


Jack twisted uncomfortable, he really
didn't want to see the room where his son and l...lo...lover slept,
but he couldn't resist the pleading look in his wife and son's eyes.
Stomping with ill grace, he peered into the room, blinking at the
wild decoration adorning the room. He looked bewilderedly at the icy
and composed Angel, trying to picture him in this bedroom with his
son, he just couldn't imagine it.


Angel stepped closer to him, "Perhaps
you would you like to see *my* bedroom," he whispered coldly in
the man's ear, emphasizing the fact that he and Xander had separate
room, his eyes glittering at the relief that shone in the man's eyes.


"And what's that room," his
mother said, pong tng to the last door, wondering about the strange
tenseness in both boys, before a wailing cry came from beyond the
door. Angel looked at Xander and opened the door into the nursery,
picking up the crying baby.


"Uhm, Mom that's the other thing
that I, that we needed to talk to you about," Xander said
wretchedly. He sighed as he beckon his parents into the room, taking
the fretfully wailing baby from Angel. "This is Holly Marie,"
he said to them showing them the baby.


"Oh Alexander, she's so
beautiful," Macy gushed, taking her from Xander, rocking her
crooning softly to the baby. "Yes you are, yes you are just the
most beautiful baby, oh yes you are," she crooned to the now
cooing baby.


Angel and Xander exchanged bewildered
looks, "How did you do that?" they both demanded.


Xander tried to explain, "We've
been trying to get her from crying for weeks. The only time she's not
crying is when she's sleeping or eating."


"Well, she probably wants her
mother," Macy said, looking down into the baby's face. "Yes
you do, you want your mommy don't you, precious, yes you do,"
she said to the baby and at the silence from the boys she looked up,
"Where's her mother? For shame if she left the baby here for you
too to take care of."


Jack saw the uncomfortable looks the
two exchange and knew that something strange was going on.


"That's part of the something that
we need to talk about," he said anxiously, turning his head to
look at Angel, who silently nodded.




"Let's go into the living room
where it's more comfortable and I'll explain," Xander said with
a sigh; oh man, is this gonna be a nightmare.


"Certainly, Alexander," Macy
said looking down at the cooing baby, "But what about the
mother, will she be joining us," she saw the strange looks
Alexander and that young man gave each other before her son sighed.


"Not precisely," he said and
bit his lip. Her eyes narrowed at that betraying nervous gesture,
something was definitely wrong here.


They retreated to the living room and
Angel went into the kitchen to prepare a bottle for Holly.


Xander waited until he came back,
watching as Angel took Holly gently from Macy and began feeding her.


"You remember about what I was
saying about Sunnydale," Xander began hesitantly, "I know
that you don't believe me but it's true." He took a deep breath,
"Holly is my daughter, there's no mother," he watched his
mother gasp and tears come to her eyes and knew she misunderstood.
"Mom before you go all teary-eye, understand: there never was a
mother only me, I had Holly, I gave birth to her."

He waited for the explosion, closing
his eyes tightly. When there was only silence he cautiously opened
one eye and seeing the look of terror on their faces and sighed
opening both eyes.


"You just had to go grr didn't
you," he accused the now gameface Deadboy, "Didn't we
agree, no grring around Holly? I'm pretty sure that I was apart of
that conversation, or was it just my imagination?"

"They weren't believing you,
anyway, so I gave them proof," Angel said cal a w a wicked glint
in his eyes.


Xander huffily crossed his arms, "I
was doing just fine!" And he was, not as well as Angel's
demonstration had been but he was getting there.


"You were taking to long,"
Angel pointed out smugly, they were both ignoring the senior
Harris's.


"Alexander, get away from
that....thing," Jack shouted jumping up and trying to pull his
son away from that creature. He believed! Dear God, he believed!


"Dad, chill okay," Xander
protested, seeing Angel beginning to growl softly, hearing Holly
begin wailing.


"Now look what you've done,"
he rushed to take Holly from Angel, trying with limited success to
stop her crying. "I hope you are happy now," he glared at
his flabbergasted father. "We're never gonna get her to stop
crying now, that's one of the reasons why we needed you here, Mom."


"B...but...," Jack sputtered
pointing at Angel, who had shifted his face back. Macy was torn,
looking back and forth between Xander and the crying child. Her
decision made, she rushed to the wailing baby and her son.


"Talk to her," she urged him
gently, "Make her feel like she's loved."


"But we do love her," Xander
protested, bewilderment in his eyes, ignoring his father's
sputtering.


"Remember that song I used to sing
to you when you were a little, sing that song to her," she said
quietly, "Remember how it made you feel?"


Xander tentatively began singing and to
his and Angel's amazement, it worked! Xander looked sadly down at his
daughter and swallowed hard, realizing that he had some serious
issues to still work through, loving Holly just wasn't enough.

"Mom, Dad, Angel's a vampire,"
Xander said offhandedly as he looked down at the now cooing Holly and
reluctantly shifted her into Angel's arms, who gave him a questioning
look.


"You need to sit down," he
said, turning to his parents with a grim face.


"Yes demons and things like that
do exist; does exist, especially in Sunnydale. There was a demon
running around Sunnydale almost a year ago, he wanted to hurt Buffy
and everyone else; he came very close to destroying the world,"
he admitted huskily.


They caught their breaths, "How
close," Jack whispered.


"Dad believe me, you really,
really don't want to know," Xander said quietly. "This
vampire was the one that killed Ms. Calendar; my broken arm...
pe
people caused; Giles and Willow's hospital stay....his doing. He
wanted Buffy distracted so he began terrorizing her friends,"
here Xander paused, looking uncertainly at Angel, who nodded
slightly, they needed to hear the whole truth.


"So he captured me and...and...,"
Xander looked down, "And he raped me." He heard the
exclamations of shock and horror from his parents. He really hoped
that they wouldn't make the connections.


Jack's eyes narrowed, looking at Angel,
looking at his son; remembering all the telltale little gestures or
the lack of contact between the two. How Xander always seem to kept
some distance between him and the...the vampire.


"And yet you entrust your child to
a vampire," he said quietly, a terrible truth taking shape in
his mind.


And Xander met his eyes slowly, "It's
his child too," he said quietly, shaking under the stress, the
memories.


"You raped my son," Jack
growled to the coldly composed Angel.


"Not him, Dad, Angelus,"
Xander whispered softly, feeling his nausea rising.


"Angelus, Angel, what's the
fucking different," Jack roared.


At that, Angel smiled coldly, "If
you ever met Angelus, you would know the 'fucking' difference."


"You'll be dead is the
difference," Xander added quietly and ran to the bathroom,
heaving his guts out.


Jack was shaken, seeing the truth in
both of their eyes. He sat down, shocked that his son had been going
through this...nightlife all this time and they, he never noticed?!
What kind of parents are we, he thought in despair, holding his head.


Angel looked coolly down at the
distraught man before making a decision. He gently handed Holly to
the shaken Macy.


"One of the reasons why I, why
*we* asked you here was for several reasons: Xander wanted you away
from Sunnydale; two, we obviously don't know how to raise a baby and
you two have done a fine job of raising Xander; and three, Xander is
alone in this city and he needs encouragement to get out and he needs
someone to talk to. Right now he needs a sense of stability, of
normalcy. With you here, you can pretend to be a happy family, do
things in the daytime. I've persuasion to get him to go out, but he
always comes up with some flimsy excuse, or has a panic attack every
time he's forced to leave the apartment. I was hoping that you would
help and possibly stay here with him," he ended quietly.


They were stunned! Live with a
vampire?! They were taking their son and grandchild HOME!


Angel smiled inwardly at the look of
horror on their faces, "I'm normally not here other than every
other week for only about two days. This is the longest I've stayed
since we came up here, Xander wasn't up to doing too much after
having Holly."


They exchanged glances, "Does
Alexander know that you've asked us to stay," Macy said
tentatively, glancing down into Holly's face.


Angel hesitated, "He knows that we
need help, he doesn't know about the other reason. Mr. and Mrs.
Harris, the Xander I knew last year is a far cry from the young man
he is now. He needs help that I can't give him; despite everything
that Angelus did to him, it's a miracle that he can stand to be in
the same room with me."

"Jack, we're staying," Macy
said turning fiercely to her husband, staring him down.


"But my job," he sputtered
before swiftly caving in at the look from his wife.


"Excellent. Perhaps Mr. Harris I
can help you bring your luggage up," Angel offered coolly, he
needed to talk to the man


Jack took a deep breath, well if we're
staying I guess I gotta get used to him sometime.


"Sure,t; ht; he said with false
enthusiasm.


They left the apartment and went down
to the garage, making idle conversation.

Angel halted the man, slamming him up
against the wall, "Mr. Harris, before we go on I would like to
make one thing clear," his polite words at odds with visible
menace in his face.


Jack looked up in fear, what in the
hell, seeine dee demonic face shift Angel's features.


"You may have fooled your wife
into thinking that you are clean and sober, that you have stopped
drinking but you have NOT fooled me! If you ever so much as touch a
drink while in MY home, I will bounce your sorry miserable ass out of
my home and if you ever, ever so much as raise a hand to Xander, I
will KILL you," he hissed quietly, his eyes a glowing hot gold.


"I'm sober! I haven taken a drink
in months, I swear. I'm clean, I tell ya," Jack cried in panic,
his heart racing with fear.


"Please, Mr. Harris do not insult
both of us with your lies! I can smell the stench of alcohol on your
breath and body. Vampires are extremely sensitive in smell,"
Angel bit out with a snarl.


He knew! Jack thought in panic, he
couldn't his his family, not when he just reconnected with them. He
hadn't dared told Macy that he had stopped going to AA or she would
suspect he had started drinking again. He couldn't lose them again!
He just couldn't! He moaned softly in his throat.


Angel looked down into the wet eyes of
the mortal and sighed, this was Xander's family and he would try his
best to help them, "Mr. Harris, I know someone in the city that
can help you, however, I will keep tabs on you," he warned the
shaking man softly, "And if when I come up the next time and I
find that you're drinking....," he left the threat unsaid.


"Anything, I'll do anything,"
Jack promised shakily, "I don't want to lose my family again
over this, I can't."


Angel eyed the man coldly, "I will
not allow you to bring harm to my daughter or while Xander remains
under my protection. A drunken fool is something that I will not
tolerate in my home."


"You obviously care a great deal
about my son," Jack said quietly as the made their way to his
car.


Angel slanted a look at the man and
remarked dryly, "Not quite in the way you imagine. Vampires are
highly possessive when it comes to mates and their Childer. Xander
falls somewhere between a mate and a Childe. He is not a 'mate' in
the traditional sense, however, he IS the father of my child, which
makes him...mine in a way that I don't believe you can understand
yet." He shrugged, "Besides, your son is strictly
heterosexual, his fondness for females usually gets him into trouble
all the time."


"And what are you," Jack
asked quietly, grabbing a suitcase, casting a look at the other.


"What am I," Angel repeated,
he turned and looked at the man, eyes turning gold, "I'm a
demon."


And Jack let the conversation lapse,
instinctively knowing better than to go further, returning
thoughtfully up to the apartment.


Xander looked warily at the two men
returning, with Angel meeting his eyes with a bland expression and a
arched brow. Hmmm, I know he's up to something, Xander thought
suspiciously, I just know it!


It was during dinner that he found out
what was going on, his parents were moving in!

His head jerked to Angel, his mouth
opening in protest as Angel said quickly, "Xander, think about
this for a minute. You need help that I can't give you in the daytime
and also with Holly. Your parents are perfect, you'll have built-in
babysitters and someone to help you with Holly....your mother to
teach us all the things we need to know about raising a baby."


Xander slowly closed his mouth and
looked at the hopeful gleam in his parents eyes and sighed, "You're
right, I guess. I hate you," he muttered with little heat.


"Alexander LaValle Harris,"
his mother exclaimed.


Angel smiled, oh I'nna nna love this!




They all settled in a comfortable
routine, before Xander sent him back to Sunnydale, back to Buffy.