Chapter
4
Author : pixel
Summary: answer to a challenge requesting some Xander/Jenny stories
Rated: R mostly, but
maybe some NC-17 later depends how it goes
Ship:
jenny/xander
Spoilers up to bewitched bothered and bewildered then mostly AU after that
Disclaimer: I own nothing, claim nothing just borrowing for a while
Authors Notes 1: Sorry this chap a bit delayed got kinda busy R/L work family and all that shit.
Thanks for the reviews and for those who emailed.
In answer to a couple of questions I got yes there will be romance but not just yet 'cos if they went too quickly from student/teacher to lovers it would just be icky.
And no the romance wouldn't be incest. I have no clue how Romany families really work but this is my little universe so for the purposes of this story they are divided into family tribes Lavelle Kalderesh and any others I come up with. Tribes join together to form clans. Jenny and Xander are the same clan but different tribes.
Authors Notes 2: Please make an author happy and review
Hours later Xander shifted his position on Miss Calender's couch before realising he was never going to be able to sleep. Not with his mind whirling away trying to process everything he'd learnt tonight. Looking around the room it was hard for him to equate this apartment with the modern and trendy computer science teacher he thought he knew. She had to leave her world behind to take up her job as Angel's guardian but here in this place she'd brought it with her. There were brightly covered throws and lace coverings everywhere he looked; a set of shelves held ancient books and scrolls to rival Giles' collection; figurines and statues surrounded a small Wiccan altar in one corner; and on every available surface were pictures; of her family, her life, her old world. Xander's gaze was once again drawn to a small silver frame near the window but he wasn't ready to look at it again. Miss Calender had insisted that he stay and said he should get some rest; but he just couldn't find peace.
"Oh yeah; not Miss Calender, Janna. Don't have to be formal with her, not with clan. Oh God I've got a family…..a real family…..I'm not Alexander Harris I'm Alexei Lavelle…..I'm Romany…..I have powers…..Ok don't focus on that…..me and the mojo don't mix…..I've got a grandfather, uncles and cousins…..family."
Settling back down on the couch Xander began to sort through the story that Janna had spent the evening telling him. Wandering all the time if he was going crazy or maybe he'd wake up to find it had all been a dream or another spell gone wrong. As a little kid he'd had fantasies of his real Dad showing up and taking him away to somewhere better but as he'd become older he'd grown out of those childhood dreams and resigned himself to the life he had.
Janna had told him that Victor, his real father, was the son of one of her clan's elders; he'd been bright and popular and loved. Everyone had expected him to marry the daughter of one of the other elders, perhaps even Janna's sister to help cement ties between the clans. However one day Victor had gone to his father, Anton, and told him that he had met someone and fallen in love; and despite the fact that she was not Romany he had every intention of marrying her. That woman was Jessica, Xander's mother. She was introduced to the clan and although some were wary of accepting an outsider, someone not of their blood, and others felt that at only 17 years old she was too young to make such a decision, most were won over by the obvious love the two shared. Gradually Jessica had become one of them and though she had few close friends all rejoiced with the couple when; 18 months after the marriage Alexei was born.
That had been when tragedy had struck. He'd been less than a week old when a fire had swept through the Lavelle compound and Victor was killed. The man had apparently died a hero, dashing back into the burning buildings time and again to rescue those who'd been trapped by the flames, but on his last trip failing to save himself. As Janna had told that part of the story she'd wept again and this time Xander joined her in her grief. Even though he had sensed her holding back in some parts of the story as though there were things she wanted to protect him from finding out; he knew this was not the time to press for answers she might not be willing to give.
When their tears had dried Janna had suggested they take a break from the revelations and so they ordered take out and whilst they ate talked of lighter things. Janna had tried to tell him more of life among the Romany and he had shared tales of growing up with Willow and Jesse; grateful when she hadn't questioned him about where Jesse was now.
After they cleared away the leftovers and settled back down in the living room, Janna had told him the rest of the story.
After the fire the clan had been in disarray, his was not the only life lost and in the midst of all the clan's grief and suffering Jessica had been left alone and things had then gone badly wrong.
As head of the Lavelles Anton had been the first to pull him-self together and start planning for the future. Unfortunately many of those plans had revolved around Alexei, who was now Anton's heir, and he never once consulted Jessica about these plans. They hadn't consciously excluded her but in times of crisis the clans held true to the old ways; when the elders decided what everyone should do; however they forgot that this young widow still knew little of their ways and didn't notice that she had become, once again, the outsider. No one realised exactly how isolated and withdrawn she'd become until the morning they discovered she'd gone. She'd left behind only a short note, saying that neither, she, or her child belonged with the clan, she'd lost her husband and wasn't just going to sit back and watch them take her son too.
Anton had gone crazy, the entire clan had searched everywhere for the missing woman and child, even using magic, but somehow Jessica had managed to stay hidden. She'd been smart enough not to contact her family or old friends and had found some way to shield herself from their magic. As the months of futile searching had stretched into years they'd all but given up hope of ever bringing their lost child home.
Xander had a hard time understanding why Jessica had gone to so much trouble to keep him, all his life he'd felt like he was an inconvenience to his parents and his mother had never shown him the kind of devoted love Janna had talked about. But then the Jessica Janna had described was nothing like the woman Xander knew now. Sighing in defeat, Xander crossed to the window and picked up the picture Janna had shown him just before they'd decided to stop talking for the night. She'd explained that the photo was taken the day before Victor died; the man was standing with his arms wrapped around a beautiful woman who cradled a baby in her arms.
Xander studied the picture trying to see his mother in the woman captured in the photo, this woman was young, beautiful and her eyes shone with love and laughter, the woman Xander knew today was worn down, tired and for as far back as he could remember her eyes had been dead and lifeless. He shifted his eyes to the man, trying to see himself in this stranger, they shared dark eyes and dark unruly hair but it was hard to see anything familiar in this wild and romantic figure.
Janna had been so excited about finding him that she'd wanted to contact his gradfather and her own family immediately but Xander wasn't even close to being ready to deal with that; so he'd managed to extract her promise that she'd wait, at least for now. Seeing the soft glow of dawn start to shine through the window Xander realised he wasn't going to sleep this night. Quietly gathering his things together, he left Janna a short note and headed for the door. Janna had insisted he stay the night rather then risk getting munched on by the nightlife as he walked home, but by now the vampires and monsters should be off the streets and Xander needed to be alone. He wanted so badly to talk to Willow about everything Janna had told him but was afraid she'd still be angry about what he'd said in the library and he wasn't sure he could cope with that right now. So he'd do the next best thing, head for Restfield cemetery and tell Jesse everything and, when he'd calmed down a little, go home and have a long overdue discussion with his mother. He just needed to ensure he didn't get there until after his father left for work.