Three Baby Harpers
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. Not Buffy, or Angel, ot Torchwood. I'll borrow Xander to to be my best friend, though.
The three boys couldn't have been more than 12 or 13. One was bleached-blond, with ice-blue eyes, dressed in black with a red button-down shirt; one was tall and broad-shoulders, dressed all in black, from head to foot; and one was tall and lightly goofy, with shaggy brown hair and one eye, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt that could have been used as cat's eyes on a dark road. They were having a very loud argument as Gwen, Jack and Owen approached.
"It is so your fault!" yelled the boy in the Hawaiian shirt.
"It ain't!" yelled the bleach-blond. "Angel did it!"
"I didn't!"
"Yes you did!"
"Gee, thanks, Deadboy!" snapped the Hawaiian shirt.
"And when did you two stop with the sunlight and spontaneous combustion?"
"We didn't." There was a moment of total silence.
"Bloody hell…" said the boy in black softly.
"That's my line!" whined the blond.
"Both of you, shut it! We have…" he turned to look at Tosh, Owen and Jack.
"Top secret government agency people?" he said, his face and tone showing that it was a wild stab in
the dark. Tosh smiled softly.
"Hello. I'm Toshiko. What's your name?"
"I'm Xander. This is Sp-" he was interrupted by the blond.
"Will." Xander glared at him, and then gestured at the other boy.
"And that is An-"
"Liam." Said the other, quickly covering up whatever he was going to say. Xander glared at him too.
"Were you boys playing a game? Pretending to be pirates?" Tosh asked kindly, tapping the top of Xander's eyepatch.
"What? No, no fake pirates. That's real." said Xander. He sniffed.
"Hey, Xan, It's ok. She's happy now. And look at what Red did!"
"Willow changed the world, Xan, and she died for that. She's probably counting money in heaven."
Liam said with a smile.
"You're both right. Ahn must be happy."
The other two boys breathed a soft sigh. Xander grinned up at Tosh, who looked horrified.
"You lost your eye? How?"
"Evil-Preacher poked it out. Said I saw too much. Spi – " he stopped himself, and changed what he was going to say. "Will, he saved my life." After he said this, he turned to Will.
"I never got a chance to say thank you, what with the burning up on you part."
"No problem."
Owen had pushed past Jack and dodged around Tosh at this point, and he herded the boys back to the SUV without a moment's pause. As he climbed into the back seat, ignoring the protests of the other two he snapped:
"I don't think anyone who thanks someone for saving his life when they are both 13 should be left on the streets. I'm taking then back to the hub, and they can pick who they want to stay with once we know for sure who they are and what happened to Xander's eye."
Ianto's list of impossible things had had a dramatic makeover since the time he joined Torchwood. But in the new revised version of that list, Owen Harper looking after three preteen boys was definitely up the top somewhere.
"Owen?" said Gwen, looking as confused as Ianto felt. "What the hell is going on?"
"The boys got sent through the rift. From what I can understand, they have a friend who does magic, and she sent them through by mistake. No, Xander's eye patch isn't fake, yes, I have checked, it was poked out with a blunt instrument, and yes, that correlates with his story."
Gwen looked to Jack for confirmation. He shook his head – Don't ask.
Owen was having a hell of a time organising the boys.
"Xander, get away from that! You don't know how to work it! Liam, Will, stop hitting each other! Liam, get away from that! Will, shut up! Xander, stop taunting them both!"
Ianto began to smile slowly. Finally, Owen had herded them all into the conference room, and sat the boys down.
"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" he asked them.
"Well…" Liam looked worried.
"I bags not doing it!" yelped Will, hands in the air.
"I'll say. I don't go a good Giles impersonation, so I'll do it my way."
And the members of Torchwood three had the world move while they listened. Between Xander, Liam and Will, the three boys told them a tale of demons, vampires with and without souls called Angelus, or Angel and William the Bloody, or Spike, and of the one girl chosen to fight them, and her friends, and the potentials and the first evil and how the Red Goddess changed the world by calling them all, and how when the Bringers made a second attack on a place in LA where they were all staying, the three boys, who had been older at the time, had agreed to hold them off so the others could escape. And as they were on the verge of death, the Red Goddess had opened a portal to save them, and healed them, and then they had ended up in an alleyway in Cardiff. Jack opened his mouth to say something, and was interrupted by a demon with bad dress sense appearing in the middle of the room.
"WHISTLER!" yelled all three boys.
"If you don't tell us what is going on right now, I will, so help me Buffy, tear out your ribcage and wear it as a hat." snapped Liam. The being went white and quickly began to explain the issue.
"Well, the Powers saw you were dying, and they didn't want to lose their Champions, so they sent
you here. The balance wouldn't let them leave you as adults, because of the formidable front of Champions here, so they de-aged you all. They will allow you to contact your friends once a year through the Key, but that is all."
"So it's all true? The stuff they said?" Ianto finally managed to splutter out.
"Yes. Good luck with keeping them safe. Oh, Spike? Angel? You got to keep your vampiric abilities. Just, not the sunshine thing."
He vanished.
"Bloody Powers." muttered Will.
Owen rolled his eyes.
"Will Harper, watch your language!"
"Bloody hell, man. I'm 200 years old! I can swear if I want!"
The entire Torchwood team stared at him in shock.
"Way to go, Spike. Ruin the whole 'let's pretend you two weren't evil mass murderers' ting we had going." snapped Xander.
"For once, I agree with the boy." sighed Liam. Or was that Angel?
Ianto appeared to be going into shock.
"You two are Spike and Angel?" stuttered Gwen. "but Angelus…"
Spike smirked. Angel hit him. Xander grinned. Spike hit him. Angel smirked. Xander hit him. Spike smir-.
Owen pulled Angel to the other end of the table, and then sat in between Spike and Xander.
"Well, we get extra colleagues with superpowers once they are older, but for now, they are just three 13 year old boys, like Whistler said."
As he mentioned the demon's name, all three boys scowled.
"So they need to at least partially act like that is their actual age. Which means, less swearing, and possibly, school."
"NO!" came the assortment of three voices, sounding incredibly frustrated. Owen sighed and sat down next to the door to the conference room.
"Boys, you have to go to school."
"NO! LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED THERE WAS A GIANT SNAKE!" yelled Xander.
"AND EVIL VAMPIRES AND I ALMOST ATE THE PRINCIPAL!"
"You almost ate the principal? I want that complete story later. But for now, school."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Finally, Jack picked the lock, and the team re-entered the room, dodging around thrown pillows that the boys had somehow gotten their hands on.
On Monday, three very annoyed boys were sitting in the school yard.
When one of their new classmates asked what their Dad did, there only answer came in a very frosty voice from the boy who called himself Will.
"My 'Daddy' is Dr Owen Harper. Beat that!"
Three years later, Owen Harper ran his fingers through his hair while he listened to Xander and Liam yell at each other, as Will attempted to mediate and got caught up in the argument anyway, yelling as loudly as the other two. Ariana, the 18 year old punk-rocker Slayer in this universe, watched the three boys as they argued between themselves. Ianto strolled into the room and leant against the wall next to Owen.
"How long do you give it before Will starts snogging Xan?" said the Welshman with a smile.
"I'd say about 15 seconds, now." replied Owen. He sighed. "And now," he continued as the prediction came true, "About 5 until Liam yells 'get a room'."
"GET A ROOM!" yelled Liam.
"And 3 until Will swears at him."
Will swore.
"And 5 before Arianna asks Liam to train with her to get him out of the room."
"Lee, wanna come spar with me?" asked Arianna.
"And now anywhere between a minute and three before Will and Xan notice."
Ianto smiled at his friend.
"You know them pretty well."
"They're my kids."
The two men turned and walked back up towards the centre of the hub, Xander's confused voice
echoing behind them.
"Where did Deadboy go?"
Ianto laughed as Owen pinched the bridge of his nose.
The hub was full of noise and laughter. Liam came running up from the room the boys did alien studies in, with Will's glasses clutched in his hand, followed closely by Will himself, while Xander came up moments later, yelling at both of them. Gwen was laughing with Rhys while she watched their two children, Arwen and Rhiannon, run around Tosh's workstation. Tosh herself carried baby Suzie through the main hall while she bounced the tiny girl. Jack sat in his office, talking with Martha over the videophone. The life in the underground base was practically tangible.
Of course, that whole standpoint went ka-boom when Whistler turned up.
"Hi guys."
There were three guns and a scythe pointed at his head before he could blink.
"Look, just showed to say that Xander, Spike and Angel can head home now."
He waved his hand and a portal opened.
Will, Liam and Xan stared at him in shock.
"Well?" said Whistler. "They want you home. The other champions need you."
"Oh, yeah." muttered Xan. "Play the guilt card."
"Come on."
"Umm, let me think." snapped Liam, folding his arms. "Yeah. NO!"
"We can't just leave our family!" said Will, running to stand next to Owen, while Xander hauled Tosh
over as well. The three boys stood between their family and the demon, and all put on almost identical stubborn faces. The portal expanded to show a young woman with red hair standing behind it.
"Please, Xander. Come home!" she said, tears pouring down her face.
"Spike, come back. Please?" That was a teenage girl with long, straight brown hair and blue eyes.
"Angel…" said a short blonde woman.
The three boys stayed in between their family and the portal.
"Only if they come too." said Liam finally.
Whistler tilted his head, listening to something only he could hear.
"Fine." He snapped, and the world went black.
Dawn Summers was, to put it lightly, freaked.
Her sister's best friend, the vampire she considered to be her big brother, and her sister's ex had all just been dropped through a portal by Whistler, explaining that the Powers had decided they needed to be returned to their home dimension after a gap of six onths, which had been three years for the boys. They had all been de-aged, to allow them to remain alive, so that they now all appeared 16, and the people who had looked after them, their new family, had been sent back with them, as it was a condition the boys had but in place when they were asked to come home.
Yeah. To say Dawn Summers was freaked was definitely in the running for understatement of the year. She remembered 16 year old Xander, but 16 year old Spike and Angel? Calling themselves Liam and Will? And they had a Dad. His name was Owen. He was a Doctor. And he had another daughter, called Suzie, and a wife who was a computer genius named Tosh, and a boss who was an alien. And a friend who was the Slayer in their universe, called Arianna, adopted by aforementioned boss and his boyfriend, who – according to Xander – was the God of Coffee. She could hear the capitals. And the second in command to the alien boss was an ex-policewoman with a husband who was a trucker, and they had two daughters, one of whom may or may not be the Key to Time and Space like Dawn was the Key to dimensional walls.
To say Dawn Summers was freaked could be in the running for the understatement of the century.
And she hadn't even gotten started on Buffy and Willow's reaction.
Willow was frantically checking over the three men – boys – men (Dawn couldn't decide which one to use) with every spell she could lay her hands on, while Buffy was threatening anyone who came in range, including Angel, Spike and Xander. Giles bustled around trying to come up with any reason the Powers could have got away with sending the boy's (Dawn finally settled on this term. They were 16, after all) new family through as well. Angel (no, Liam, she corrected herself), was sitting with the Slayer, Arianna, and talking to his 'Mom', Tosh. Xander and Spike (no, Will. This was going to take some getting used to) were sitting with their little sister, Suzie, and their Dad, looking incredibly uncomfortable, and the Coffee God, the Alien boss, the trucker and the ex-policewoman second in command were talking nervously in a corner.
Dawn finally sucked up the courage to go talk to Will (not Spike. Not anymore) and Xander.
"Hey."
Will looked up.
"Hey, Niblet."
At the sound of her old nickname in that familiar accent, Dawn's heart broke. She flung herself at him, already beginning to cry. Owen Harper smiled as he watched the beginnings of a reunion between his sons and their old family take place.
"Don't I get a hug, Dawn-patrol?" said Xander, grinning. Dawn started sobbing even harder, and flung herself into her friend's arms.
Rona, Vi, Kennedy and Shannon had gone over to talk to Arianna, the new Slayer.
"Hi! I'm Arianna Morrigan Harkness-Jones. What's your name?" said the girl chipperly. Vi grinned, and the two girls were talking faster than Willow on caffeine in seconds. The family of the boys could be helpful to know. They had experience and understanding, and good weapons and training. It was then that Whistler shrunk into the corner and made a whimpering noise, while the portal flared into existence and dropped another figure into the centre of the room.
"Ow!" he said indignantly.
"John?" said Jack.
Will hid behind Xander, who glared at the man. Ianto pulled out his gun.
"Gorram it! Just when it was going so well." Sighed Liam.
"Hello, team." said Captain John Hart with a smile.
"Oh, look! It's my mini-me."
Xander puffed up in the chest and pulled the Webley revolver out of the pocket of his leather jacket.
"He's hardly yours, Hart."
"So he's yours, then?" enquired the agent, grinning evilly. Xander cocked his head to one side – acceptance.
"Finally!" Jack crowed from the back corner.
"Shut up, Jack." sighed Owen.
"Back off, Hart." growled Liam, shoving the Slayers out of his way as he stalks over to his brothers.
"Hey, I didn't send myself here. That's all his fault!"
As one man, the whole Torchwood team turned and started yelling at Whistler.
Willow, Dawn, Buffy and Giles were left staring in shock at where Xander and Spike stood with their arms around each other, Xander whispering something to the other boy, while Owen, John, Tosh and Jack yelled at Whistler.
"What…How…What?" stammered Buffy.
"Long story." sighed Xander, drawing out the 'o'.
"It really is." murmured Will, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Well," said Dawn, as she watched Giles join in with the other members of the Torchwood team as
they harassed Whistler, "It looks like we have tonnes of time!"
It had started with Martha arriving. Martha arriving, and Owen almost getting shot. Well, really, Owen almost getting shot, and Will shoving him out of the way, because his Vampire endurance had stayed with him and he could survive it. Only at that point in time, they didn't know that. "Hey, Will." Xander had said. "Spike, whatever. I really need you to wake up." Xander looked around almost nervously. "I need you to wake up. Cause if you don't, I'm really gonna miss you. Like, hugely. Really, really. Cause … cause…" Xander's voice cracked and he started to cry again. "Cause I love you." He said to the opposite wall. "Really?" said a soft, barely noticeable voice from the bed in front of him. Well, barely noticeable if the person listening had not spent all night praying silently to anyone who might be out there that the owner of the aforementioned voice was alright. Xander looked down at Will's wide open eyes and broke down sobbing in pure, unmitigated relief. "Really, Will. I really do."
Will had looked dead. He had seemed dead. But then again, it was always like that with him and Liam. Owen and Tosh had spent all night trying to stop Liam from charging right back to have a go at beating up that bloody doctor. And when they bought him back to the Hub, and he saw the broken look on Xander's face as he sat by the bed that Will's body lay on, he turned around and promptly had to be sedated by Owen to stop him going back to kill the doctor, as Tosh held Xander while he cried. Tosh had gone for coffee for the three of them, and one for Liam when he woke up, leaving Xander alone with Will.
Will and Xander slid a little closer together, and smiled at each other. Willow grinned, and bounced up and down on the spot, happy that her friend was happy, while Buffy and Dawn just sat and tried to figure out what was going on. Xander smiled at their reactions. Of course, Willow wouldn't care. She'd love that he was happy. Buffy and Dawn would take some more time to come around. And now, he could see that his Torchwood family had given up on a very bashful looking Whistler, and were yelling at each other, and Giles was bowing out of that while Arianna and Liam laughed and spun Suzie around, and Tosh tried to calm Owen down, and Ianto told Jack and John to get over it and kiss each other already and everyone laughed and it was just like in the Hub.
Xander smiled, because now he had a family who loved him, a boyfriend, and the closest friends he'd ever have.
It was like all his Christmases had come at once.
It was a beginning.