Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters

Chapter 4

Xander was getting ready for his first day at Forks High, Lorne said, "Let me take a look at you," as Xander came down in the clothes he had bought with Charlie yesterday, Lorne gushed out, "Cupcake let me take a picture."

"You take pictures with Mom when she gets here tonight," Xander said, "right now I gotta head to school."

"Oh, okay," Lorne fake pouted as he handed Xander a bag lunch.

"Thanks Lorne," Xander said, "I really have no idea what the cafeteria serves there so this should help."

"You have fun," Lorne said, "and be careful," as he rushed Xander out of the house, "oh and thank Charlie for letting me use the other bedroom."

"You thanked him enough last night Lorne," Xander replied as he looked out at the cloud filled sky.

"Yes but it never hurts to show gratitude Xander," Lorne said happily.

Charlie saw Xander come out of the house and felt his heart tighten, this was what he missed but he didn't know if Renee wanted Xander to come with her but he hoped Xander would stay with him.

"So," Xander said as they drove through town, "I guess I'm like the only kid here who is going to be dropped off in a police cruiser? That's going to do wonders for my reputation here," he laughed.

Charlie thought it over and said, "If you want we can try to get you a truck or something?"

Xander stammered out, "No, no, that's fine, don't really need a vehicle. Hell, once I know where it is I can walk."

Charlie said, "Don't know where you lived before but you do need a car to get around here. I'll ask Billy about it, he had a truck that I was thinking of getting for Bella."

Xander sighed, he wasn't ever going to get used to a caring father, though now his thoughts turned back to his friends in Sunnydale for the first time in two days. Did they notice he was gone? Did Tony and Jessica? He wondered if he should call Buffy or Willow and let them know what happened, minus the major weirdness of course, would they insist he come back or would they want him to stay there. He found himself not actually missing Sunnydale; he doubted he would ever go back.

Charlie was also deep in thought, from Xander's behaviour it was obvious that he was abused and neglected and he hoped that Xander would trust him, eventually, to tell him the truth, then that way he could help him press charges against his so-called parents.

"Well, here we are," Charlie said pointing at the school, he looked at Xander and said, "I'll be here to pick you up at 3 30 exactly."

Xander looked up and saw the school, he thought, 'Wow, actually looks nice,' as he got out and waved good bye to his dad.

He walked up the stairs and was walking, lost in thought, when another guy his age stopped him and said, "You're Xander Swan aren't you?"

"Last time I checked," Xander replied.

"Oh cool, I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place, so if you need a tour guide or anything just let me know."

Xander smiled and said, "I might just do that, thanks."

Eric looked at Xander and said, "You should also know that almost everyone is talking about you, in a good way though."

"Why are they talking about me?" Xander asked in a surprised tone.

"Because boy," Eric said, "you are news, the word is 'wow,' no one knows anything about you other than the fact that you're Charlie Swan's long lost son."

"Oh," Xander said, 'and that is the way I like it,' he thought darkly. He really didn't like being gossiped about, he wondered vaguely if this is what Buffy went through when she first came to Sunnydale.

"Chill," Eric said, "I just want to make friends; I wasn't planning on writing an expose about you, though I was considering writing an article about you in the school paper."

"Sorry," Xander apologised, "it's just been a couple of weird days for me and please tell me you're kidding about the article?"

"No problem," Eric said, "so do you need my help with anything? And I promise no article without your permission."

"No thank you," Xander grinned, "I gotta do some things on my own," and walked to find the office so he could get his school records transferred over from Sunnydale, as he walked down he saw a group of really pale kids walking down the hallway, he noticed that they were all pretty much handsome, in a classical way. As he walked past them he swore one of them, the bronze haired one, sniffed the air and stared at him with pure black eyes.

Edward's P.O.V

That smell that's been taunting me with its cloy scent of sunshine, happiness and with taint of something dark and twisted, it's coming from the dark haired boy in front of me. It is all that I can do not to sink my teeth into his neck and drain him dry, he doesn't even seem to be aware of how much danger he is in right now.

Alice is nudging me and saying my eyes are pure black and is telling me I better go see Carlisle after school, maybe I can go on a hunt to help satiate my thirst I look back at the boy and keep from growling out 'mine,' perhaps I can get him out of mind if we don't share any classes, I allow myself one last look and realize he's noticed my black eyes.

Normal P.O.V

Xander sighed and thought, 'Wow that was weird maybe its contacts or something like that, hate to think that I attracted the local demons already, no way I can be that unlucky,' and continued on his way to the principal's office.

As he got there he saw the principal look up from his desk and say, "Hello Mr Swan, how are you finding our school?"

Xander said, "It's, uhh, interesting."

The Principal smiled and said, "I just got off the phone with your old Principal, Snyder I believe his name was?"

'Uh oh!!' Xander thought, 'most likely decided to tell him what a slacker loser I am.'

The Principal's smile grew wider and he said, "I found him to be a most unpleasant man, I wonder how you put up with him?"

Xander sighed with relief and said, "I closed my eyes and pretended it was all a bad dream."

The Principal laughed deeply and said, "I believe in second chances here Mr Swan so don't worry, I won't be harassing you because of what some man who shouldn't have even been a teacher says, you have a clean slate here so don't ruin it."

"Thank you sir," Xander said, sighing with both relief and happiness.

"I want you to feel welcome here Mr Swan, so welcome to Forks High and you should hurry to get to your first class," the Principal said in a happy sounding voice.

Xander rushed off to get to class, awestruck by finding competent teachers and professionals, maybe Sunnydale also drew in the assholes of the world along with the demons.

As he got to his first class he saw it was full up, the teacher smiled and said, "Hello Mr Swan, please sit over there."

Xander looked at where the Teacher had asked him to sit, he saw the copper haired boy that he had seen before he saw the principal. That was where the only seat was, he sighed and sat next to him, he saw Edward fidget in his seat trying to avoid contact with him.

'Wow,' Xander thought, 'why's he such a jerk, I'm not diseased or smell bad, at least I don't think I do."

Edward's P.O.V

He's sitting next to me!! His wonderful scent filling the air, I wonder what kind of sounds he would make if he found out I was a vampire that wanted nothing more to sink my teeth into his throat to taste his hot sweet blood?

Normal P.O.V

Xander groaned, 'School was a lot less fun if they weren't researching something about demons or how to stop apocalypses, how messed up was that?' he thought with bitterness as he walked out of the classroom, he looked at his text book and began to read it and he found he could understand a lot of what the text was saying, it was starting to blow his mind, he could never really understand what he read before it was like wool had been pulled from his brain and his mind was greedily sucking in the knowledge it wanted.

He was at the lunch table when he saw that kid from before join him and some girls who looked at him with eager eyes, "Hi," one said, "I'm Jessica, how are you?"

Xander said, "Uhh, I'm fine."

She giggled and said, "That's great," as she introduced her friends, "and oh I think you met Mike yesterday."

"Uhh, hi," Xander waved at Mike.

"Cool, you remember me," Mike said as he sat down next to Xander.

"It was just yesterday," Xander said, a little surprised. When Xander saw some kids come in and asked, "Who are they?"

"Oh them?" Jessica said, "They're Dr and Mrs Cullen's kids, they moved from Alaska a while back and they're all adopted."

Xander watched them, the first two that came in looked at everyone and Xander heard one of the girls say, "They're all together, like together, together."

"You mean," Xander said, "like romantically? A bit odd but if they found love who're we to judge."

"Yeah but they keep to themselves," Angela said, "So no one knows a lot about them."

Jessica told Xander which one was which, "Okay, you see the big guy, that's Emmett and that's Rosalie, the short one, that's Alice and the guy beside her is Jasper and finally that's Edward, he's the only single one of the group."

"Wow," Xander said as he looked at them, "They're, uhh…" he trailed off.

Mike grinned, "What, pretty?"

Xander thought it over and noticed that they did seem rather attractive; he also noticed the little one was staring at him intently with a mysterious look on her face. 'Hmm,' Xander thought, 'if she calls me kitten I am SO out of here."

Alice's P.O.V

I looked at the young man who seemed to have attracted Edward's attention and smiled, he seemed polite and friendly. I decided to make the effort to get to know him better away from Edward and the others, something about him seemed interesting to me.

Normal P.O.V

Xander looked at the clock and said, "Thank you god, its quittin time," as he grabbed his books and homework, he saw the little pixie girl look at him and smile, "Uh, hello miss?"

She looked and said, "My name is Alice," as she held out her hand and allowed Xander shake it.

"Nice to meet you Alice," Xander said, "and, oh, your hand is cold."

"Sorry about that Xander," Alice said as she followed Xander out to the parking lot and asked, "Where do you come from?"

'Uhh,' Xander thought, 'what can I tell her that won't send her screaming into the woods?'

"It's a town down south called Sunnydale," Xander replied.

"Sounds like a nice place," Alice grinned at Xander, she did like him, she would help Edward keep his bloodlust under control. "So Xander," she said, "I was wondering what are you doing tonight?"

"Uhh," Xander said, "Meeting my sister and mom for the first time, in fact there's my dad now," he said pointing to Charlie's cruiser as it pulled up next to the stairs.

Alice frowned a bit and said, "Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow then," as she walked away.

'Wow,' Xander thought, 'at least she didn't call me kitten,' as he watched Alice walk away.

Edward's P.O.V

I looked at Alice and asked what she was thinking trying to get close to Xander? She smiled and said, "I wanted to know him better and you can't stop me from getting to know him."

I say, "But he's mine." and the words escape my mouth before I realized I said them.

Rosalie sighs with frustration and says, "Maybe you should go hunting, I mean you do look pretty thirsty, maybe this fixation on him will end when you feed?"

'She's right,' I think, 'perhaps if I feed I can look at Xander without feeling the urge to drain his body dry and maybe I can find out why his scent drives me mad.' "Very well," I said, "I'll arrange it with Carlisle when we get home."

Meanwhile as Xander looked at Charlie as they drove to the Seattle Airport to pick up Renee and Bella, he noted that Charlie looked really happy and he thought, 'That was cool and hey,' Xander thought, 'I get to meet my mom and sister.'

Charlie looked at Xander and prayed that Renee would at least know that it was in Xander's best interest to stay in Forks with him.

"So dad," Xander said, "when are mom and Bella coming in?"

"Well they'll be here soon enough, also you might have to give another sample, I think Renee wants to prove to herself that you're ours," Charlie said, "oh and she might bring Phil."

"Who's Phil?" Xander asked.

"Her new husband," Charlie said with a lost look on his face.

"You still have feelings for mom?" Xander asked looking more curiously at his father.

"No," Charlie said, "I just hope she realizes that you have to live with me."

Xander thought to himself, 'WOW, parents that actually care? I guess I know how Buffy feels like all the time,' as they passed into the airport. Xander shoved his hands into pocket and pulled out the card that Lindsey had given him, he thought to himself, 'What if the PTBs do come after me and my family just to make sure their plans continued would I go with them? Could I go with them? Could I become Xander Harris again? Or could I possibly count on these Senior Partners for aid like Lorne said they could be our best hope to deal with the PTBs?'

Xander was still lost in his thoughts when he heard a voice scream out, "DAD!!" Xander looked up and saw a brown haired girl run up to hug Charlie.

"Hey Isabella," Charlie said, "Where's your mom?"

"Oh, she's right behind me," Bella pointed to a woman walking down the stairs from the incoming arrivals she looked at Xander.

Renee looked at the dark haired boy and gasped, 'He looked so much like Charlie but he has my father's eyes, he could only be my son,' she thought as she ran to Xander and hugged him close, tears coming from her eyes whispering, "It is you Alec."

Bella looked at Xander and smiled, "Hi there, I guess I'm your sister."

Xander nodded and tried to break away from Renee's grip, she was crushing him with her hug, "Ach, mom, you're crushing me."

"Oh sorry," Renee said as she let Xander go, she regarded Xander happily, he had a mix of Charlie's and her hair, he wasn't quite as dark as Charlie nor was he as light as Bella is.

"So," Charlie said, "I thought Phil was coming with you y'all."

"Oh," Renee said, "he couldn't make it but I hope Xander can meet him soon enough."

Charlie nodded and added, "Xander started school today in Forks, I'm hoping he can at least finish it there."

Renee nodded but said, "I get him for Christmas but I think for the first Christmas Bella and I will spend it up here with you two."

Xander thought, 'What the hell!!? She was planning Christmas already? Halloween hadn't even begun yet,' he looked at Renee and asked; "Don't you want to the blood test?"

Renee looked at Xander and said, "I think we'll do it anyways, just to confirm what I know now."

'Okay,' Xander thought, 'Charlie needed a bit of convincing, that's why Rory gave me the letter to give to him and she just needed to see me to confirm? Maybe that's Mothers intuition."

Bella looked at her brother and felt happy that she met him; she dug into her bag and pulled out a cactus for him. Xander looked at it and she said, "I dug it up for you in Phoenix when I first heard about you from mom."

Xander looked at the stubby spiny little plant and said, "Thanks Bella."

"I guess, welcome home Xander," Bella said as they followed their parents to the car to head to Forks.

TBC

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