EPILOGUE
Author: Dampyria
Fandom: M7 / BtVS crossover
Summary: Buck gets hurt trying to help someone from the Watchers.
Rating: PG13
Paring: JD/Xander (slash)
Spoilers: BtVS (Post season 7 – Pre Comics season 8), M7 (ATF universe)
Disclaimer: I do not own Magnificent Seven or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I would like to thank all the people that left me feedback and gave me that extra push to write faster. Without you this story wouldn't have been finished this quickly, so thank you Kohanita, LdyGossamer, Lady FoxFire and of course Sfulton229.
Xander slowly woke up to a world of pain. His head was being assaulted by a platoon of tanks while someone had poured pure acid into his stomach, than a third party made sure that he couldn't move or talk by injecting him with a paralyzing thingy.
As his senses gradually returned he become aware of more and more things, like the fact that he wasn't lying on a concrete floor of an abandoned fabric anymore or that he couldn't hear the traffic in the distance.
He tried to move his head experimentally and got a warning twinge of nausea as a result. After a few minutes wait he felt brave enough to try and open his eye. Big mistake!
As soon as the sun rays hit his retina the nausea returned full force and this time there was no stopping it. He had only enough time to turn sideways before his lunch escaped from the same route that it came in.
Luckily someone must have sensed his distress because the moment he bent over, a container magically appeared in front of him and a gentle hand stroked his head as he emptied his stomach.
When he was sure that there was nothing left Xander set on the bed gratefully accepting the bottle of water that JD was offering him. "Thanks," he whispered not trusting his vocal cords to do their job. He rinsed his mouth and than took a couple gulps of water.
"How are you feeling?" asked JD, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking Xanders hand in his, holding it gently.
"Like we have been parting the entire night and drank a whole box of whiskey bottles, but I will live. How is Buck doing?"
"He is still in a coma, but his vital signs are good. He improved a lot in the last couple of days. They just say that because the poison was in his system longer it will take the antidote more time to kick in."
"Good…. Wait a minute! Did you just say days?"
"Yes, to be precise four days and nine hours."
"Well shit. How is Willow holding up? I'm surprised that she isn't here guarding me."
"They decided to take turns."
"They?" asked Xander dreading the answer.
"Yes they. Meaning Willow, Dawn, an alder English gentleman named Giles and Faith. Kennedy left soon after she brought you here."
"Faith? She knows the truth?" panicked Xander. JD looked at him strangely than nodded slowly.
"And I am still alive and in one piece?" wanted to know Xander running his hands over his body just to make sure. JD caught the wandering hands in an attempt to calm him down.
"At first even I thought that she was going to hack you into little pieces and threw you away but as the time went by the others were able to make her see the light. Now she only wants to make sure you are okay so she can yell at you," whispered JD bending down, his concentration focused on the pale lips in front of him.
"You don't know her. Faith isn't one to scream and rant, she acts. I don't believe that out reunion is going to be painless. Especially for me. She is going to hit me, you just watch! Uhmm JD? … JD? "
Through out the complaining JD watched the pale lips move and was suddenly overwhelmed by the desire to return a little color to that mouth.
His mouth traveled the remaining distance and as soon as it was in attacking range it struck out and engaged the other mouth in a fierce battle of lips, tongue and teeth. Pretty soon the kiss wasn't enough anymore and JD carefully, mindful of Xanders injuries, climbed on the bed and straddled Xanders hips.
Pretty soon only kissing wasn't enough and Xanders hands traveled to JD's bottom, grabbing it roughly and desperately pushed him toward his groin. At the intimate contact the two groaned and pushed their efforts to get closer into a higher gear.
That is, until a squeaky "Oh my Goddess!" coming from the door stopped them and compelled them to turn around and see a very exited looking teenage girl and a shocked Chris standing beside her.
There was a minute of stillness in the room then Dawn brought out her phone and snapped a picture of the bed. This action seemed to be some kind of signal for the others to wake up, because right after that, JD jumped out of the bed and Xander quickly adjusted the sheet on the bed to hide a very prominent bulge in his pants.
Dawn, in the meantime, was furiously typing on her phone, with an evil gleam in her eyes.
"Dawn what are you doing?" worriedly asked Xander. The girl didn't answer, just smirked at him. "Dawn put that phone down." No reaction.
"Dawn this is your last warning. Put that phone down."
The girl looked up from her cell, threw him a wicked look and typed the last key on the infernal machine before putting it back in her pocket. "As you wish."
"What did you just do? And please, please don't tell me that you posted the picture on the Council forum," sighed Xander massaging his temples.
"Okay I won't tell you that," come the smug reply.
"Dawn!"
"What? I did you a favor you know? The others were getting worried about you. Since Anya's death you have been all work and work and work. It's not healthy. The girls even started a whole project where they evaluated possible candidates and than threw them at you."
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember Helena, Barbara, Sonya and Kaori? They all passed the final selection to be your new girlfriend. Well not really girlfriend since the project was named 'Find Xander a new orgasm friend'," she giggled while the other in the room blushed.
While the two IWC employees were talking shop the ATF agents were staring at each other. Chris was trying to ascertain how strong the connection between the two man was and if that could damage the young hackers loyalties to the team, while at the same time he tried to reconcile what he knew about his subordinate with this new information's.
JD's mind, on the other hand, was miles away from thoughts of team loyalties and strength of his relationship. The only thought that was resonating inside his skull was Chris reaction, his approval or his disgust.
He had been on this train more then once, with his college friends and even his relatives. Their hate and disgust had hurt him and made him feel dirty and alone but with the help of a few chosen people, he survived it and thanks to it become stronger.
But now, standing in front of Chris, the sole thought that this man that he respected and admired, might reject him made him feel desperate. Chris face was empty of any emotion that JD could read. There was no way of telling what the man was thinking.
Finally, after what seemed hours to JD and after Dawns last comment, Chris smirked. "You just wait till I tell this to Buck. All the effort and time that he put in setting you up with beautiful girls that he would have dated otherwise…"
JD let go of the breath he wasn't aware he was holding and smiled at his boss. Everything is going to be all right.
"What beautiful girls? What are you people talking about?" groaned Buck from his bed.
"Buck!" shouted JD, running toward the other bed in the room, closely followed by Chris.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like, I was hit by a fucking train. What the hell happened? Obviously I am not dead yet, otherwise Hell is a lot stranger that I have ever imagined it."
"You are okay, Xander found the antidote."
"Xander? You mean the other patient in the room whose hands were all over you just a couple of minutes ago? That Xander?"
"Hey I can hear you, you know?" protested Xander, while his face was turning into a lovely shade of red.
"Hey if it's true it's true. And JD, don't think I forgot all that lovely ladies that I passed up because I thought that you were interested in the gentler sex."
JD paled as all kinds of different retributions, for having kept Buck away from the ladies, shot through his mind. He was so dead!
"But I liked some of them. I really did," he tried to dig himself out of a hole only to fall into a bigger one.
"You did, didn't you?" came the irritated voice from the other end of the room.
"Yes, no… I mean… Xander why are you doing this to me?" whined JD.
"Cause I like watching you squirm. You do it so nicely," grinned Xander, making JD blush like a high school student and squirm some more.
The other occupants of the room smiled at the by play and it looked like another argument was about to broke up when Chris took the central stage and announced that it was late and that the patients needed time to sleep and recover their forces.
Dawn gave Xander a quick peck on the cheek and left the room without complaining, soon followed by JD. Chris remained in the room a little longer, studding the two patients with a stern look of a general, making the two feel like naughty school boys.
"Behave!" he barked out and left the room, before the smile that was building up inside of him had time to escape it's prison and brake free to his face.
Xander wondered what all that was about when Buck asked him in a very innocent and disinterested voice. "So you are dating my roommate?"
The Watcher froze on his bed. 'He was so dead!' he thought, unknowingly mirroring his lover's earlier thought.
The night came and went with neither Buck nor Xander getting any sleep. The more that the two talked, the more they found to have in common. Without them noticing the time passed and soon it was noon and time for visits.
The two were just joking about hospital food when the door burst open to let in a very beautiful and furious looking young woman.
"Well hello pretty lady…" started saying Buck but was completely ignored in favor of his temporally roommate.
The beauty marched toward Xanders bed and without pausing slapped him with full force, making Buck wince in sympathy. He had received his fair share of slaps in his life, but none of them sounded this painful.
"Shit Faith, let me explain…"
"Explain what? That you kept the fact that my boyfriend was savagely murdered hidden from me and that you made the others lie about it too?"
"Now wait a minute…"
"Who the hell do you think you are? I had the right to…."
"The right to what?!" shouted Xander and than continued before she had the time to interrupt him again. "The right to take revenge with your own hands? The right to risk your unborn daughters' life?"
"I would never…"
"Yes you would. You just found out that you were expecting, your hormones were flying high and you were very emotional. If you would have heard about Robins death then you would fling yourself on the first plane and not minding your condition tracked down the suspect and confronted him, with no regard to your safety."
"Unlike you?" she sneered at him. "Some fighter you are."
"I may not be the best fighter on the block but I'm not responsible for another innocent being. If I died I wouldn't drag with me an unborn baby!"
Faith stiffened like she was being slapped. Her eyes begun to gleam with tears and before she could break down in front of everyone she turned around and stormed out of the room, pushing past the ATF team and the Watchers that gathered there after her arrival.
Willow was about to go after her but Xander stopped her. "Don't go after her just yet, she wants to be alone for a while. Wait a couple of minutes so she can put herself back together and then go."
Willow seemed uncertain for a while but then nodded and stepped closer to Xander's bed.
"Are you okay?" asked a concerned JD.
"I'm fine," replied Xander. "She will come around in a couple of weeks … or months. Actually that went much better than I anticipated. No broken bones or new bruises. By the way G-man, I saw that you didn't deny it when she said that the whole thing was my idea," he addressed the older man.
"Survival instinct my boy, survival instinct," sighed Giles. "Speaking of which…"
"Oh no…" whispered Xander. "This is going to get much worse than I anticipated."
Giles took his glasses and started cleaning them. "Really Xander what were you thinking? Why did you go in a potentially dangerous situation alone, and without back-up?"
"It was a long shot and we were running out of time," he tried to justify himself.
"Really?" asked Giles discreetly sliding the sword out of his coat. "And you couldn't tell Willow about it, seeing as she was on the other hand of a telephone at the time that you got this brilliant idea?"
"I had to make stop somewhere along the way and besides I knew that Willow was doing her location thingy as soon as I got of the phone."
"I see. This place where you had to stop … wouldn't that be that Morg fellow house?" inquired Giles making Xander go whiter.
"How did you… Look Giles I know that you don't trust his kind, but he is one of the good guys. You didn't …"
"A nice person that Morg," mused Giles. "He was considerate enough to come here to retrieve the car he rented to you. No additional charges as I understood."
"Yeah.." said Xander not really sure anymore if he was being praised or reprimanded.
Sighing Giles put his glasses back where they belonged and turned to Xander. "This time you were lucky, but the next time things may very well not go your way. You have to think before you act, dear boy. If you would have died, there would be a lot of people mourning your passing, a lot more that you might think.
In the time since you started working for the Council a lot of people came to rely on you. The girls, the younger Watchers that identify with you, even I would feel your loose in my professional and personal life."
"I … I don't know what to say," murmured Xander.
"A thank you would suffice. I am afraid that not always we treat you as an equivalent part of our extended family, nor we acknowledge the important part that you play in the group."
"Thank you, Giles. But I have to tell you that given the same situation with the same resources I would have made the same choices that I did today."
"Yes and I understand your position. That is why, before we left Scotland, I put forth the suggestion that you be given a team and a house in a city of your choice. The suggestion was accepted with a unanimous vote."
"What?" squeaked Xander.
"After you get better and take a month long vacation you will be given a team all yours."
"What?"
"Xander do close your mouth, or I might change my mind. Now I suggest you get better and enjoy your vacation to the fullest, because when you get back there will be a mountain of paperwork to fill out."
"Damn! I knew there was going to be a catch," protested the new team leader.
"And he is back," smirked Willow.
"Well with that out of the way I am afraid that I have to leave. My plane leaves in an hour and I don't want to be late. There is a flight attendant that gets downright scary if I am not on time."
Xander caught JD's eyes and then both of them bust out laughing. The other members in the room watched them confused, not really sure what was going on, which prompt the laughing fit to a whole new level.
"Ow, ow stop, stop. It hurts," Xander whizzed in a pause, before starting again.
"We are doomed," sighed Giles, leaving the room.
"I better go check on Faith now. She should feel better now," Willow excused herself.
As soon as she left Dawn skipped to Xanders bed and sat on it. "Oh Xander, your photo is going great."
This effectively killed any laughter left in Xander and JD. "What?" they asked at the same time.
"The photo I posted on the Watchers forum last night? It got more then a hundred replies and it has been only twelve hours from the posting. I think that it got a real shot to win this year award as the post with most replies. I am so gonna win."
"I am happy to help you attain your goals, even at the price of my sanity," he said sarcastically.
"Oh and that's not all. They are already talking about collecting money for a gift. If you add all the offers there is almost two hundred pounds here. If this goes on they will buy out the entire stock at the local sex shop," she smirked as making the entire room blush.
"Dawn!" he cried out, not really scandalized. Dawn had spent way to much time with Anya. The girl had no shame.
"JD, I'm sure that you and Xander will have a whole lot of fun with it," she winked at him before leaving the room.
"Why would JD enjoy the sex toys with Xander?" asked a very confused Nathan. When nobody answered him he looked at the two beforehand mentioned man and suddenly a bulb went on in his head. "Oh!"
The attention was at once centered on the lovers in the room.
"Damn Dawn, she is so going to pay for this," wowed Xander before trying to disappear under the covers.
- THE END -
p.s. I know I promised that Riley will make a short appearance, but I just couldn't find a spot where to put him in. My most humble apologies for all Riley lovers.
Also, there are a couple of open questions that I left unanswered. (like the sword, how he knew that the baby is a girl and so on) These questions will be addressed in the sequel Dinner Meeting 2, that will concentrate on Xanders vacation.
Sadly right now I have some other projects that I am working on so it's gonna take some time. Stay tuned.