Amnesty Is Granted

Fork in the Road


Xander looked at the amount in his meager bank account and knew he had a decision to make. He could fix his car up enough to get him back to the Hellmouth, find a job and go back to the way things had been Before Faith.

Go back to a life of being the doughnut boy and fetching things for spells for Giles and Willow and being saved by but never treated as an equal by Buffy. There would be more awkward conversations with Oz and if he was lucky he could get yet another menial job like the one he had in Oxnard.

What fun.

Or he could say screw the car. Save up what cash he could, get on a bus and go. He wouldn’t have to pay for repairs on a bus, or gas or insurance. And it was better for the environment, or at least that was what those Planeteers would say.

In the privacy of his rented room, Xander allowed himself to laugh at that. It was bitter and slightly twisted. He knew he was just trying to fool himself.

He had left Sunnydale in mid-June. He had waited until the last of the Senior Class that had died under his command was buried. The parents that had a slight inkling about the real face of Sunnydale, he had visited himself. He had held Larry’s Mother as she cried and had even talked to Micah’s older brother.

And while Buffy had gone on a trip with her Mom and Oz and Willow did a summer tour thing with the Dingoes, Xander had waited to leave until the last of his class were given final rest, even though that meant he haunted the cemeteries for a week. He’d been shocked to find Harmony Kendall clawing out of her grave. She had been the last and after the dust settled he’d gone back home, back to the mansion and cried until he’d puked.

He’d left town the next morning.

Getting stuck in Oxnard just furthered his depression. He’d saved up for that car and it was a piece of shit. He bet the garage he had taken it to make sure it would run okay was in on it too. Added to that, most of the places in Oxnard seemed to have a hiring freeze going on, or at least they did once they learned he was from Sunnydale.

Seems the fine folks of Oxnard knew that Sunnydale brought people nothing but trouble.

He ended up at the Fabulous Ladies Nightclub. Problem was, it wasn’t that fabulous. It was greasy and icky and, while all the dancers were men, not all of the audience were ladies. He didn’t mind that, really, but he could do without having to go and wipe down the chairs every night after closing.

His boss had been flirting with him and trying to make him strip too, and whenever he emerged from the back to pick up dirty glasses to wash he would be ogled, felt up, propositioned and groped. It should have made him feel good, all the women and some of the men wanting to touch him or see him naked.

It just made him feel worse. At least he'd known Faith a bit before she used him.

It had taken him longer than he had wanted but he finally had enough money to fix his car. He could be out of there in a week, pack up and go back to Sunnydale with his tail tucked in-between his legs. By now the girls and Oz would be in college and he could…

Do the same things he’d been doing in Oxnard, only with people he knew there to watch his descent into lackeydom.

Or he could do what he’d been wanting to do all fucking summer. Give into the fact that after a few short weeks he felt safer and more comfortable with the man he used to hate with all of his heart. Xander knew how fast things could change; Angel might not want to even see him. He’d hate it if the one person he really wanted to see thought he was a pain.

Then again, Angel had asked him to come and visit…

Xander knew he had a choice to make, and whatever he decided could make a difference as to what he did with his life from now on.