Xander is sitting in the library leaning back in his chair waiting for the gang to show up. His black sneakers are propped up on the table as he stares up at the ceiling zoning out. He's wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, with a short sleeved, unbuttoned neon green shirt over it. He has a black eye, a cut on his bottom lip and on his left forearm is a bruise that looks like someone had grabbed a hold of him.

Buffy walks in the library along with Willow talking about how boring their previous class was among other things.

Meanwhile Xander is deep in thought about his relationship with his father, the bad memories overshadowing the good memories, if there were any. He couldn't think of a single good time at the moment. His mind went back to two weeks after his 5th birthday; he was getting some milk out of the fridge for his cereal. His mother had left a few hours prior to him getting up. His father sat in the living room drinking Jack Daniels, little Xander didn't think anything of his father drinking at 8 in the morning because this was normal. Xander was a small child at the age of 5 he couldn't have been 3feet tall, and he was skinny but that didn't bother him as long as he had his willow. Young Xander had opened the fridge and grabbed the big gallon of milk but he didn't have a good grip on it and it slipped out of his little hands and exploded all over the floor. He just stood there frozen with fright. He heard his father slam the bottle down and get up. By now little Xanders heart was in his throat and he was trembling with fear.

His father was a big man, 6'6", 230lbs, His father stood in the doorway his bloodshot eyes stared at the trembling child. "What the hell is wrong with you boy?!" he yelled harshly at the frightened 5 year old in milk soaked under-roos. "Answer me boy!"

 "I-I-I..." he began to stutter which is the worst thing he could have done in this situation because when he stutters that just makes his father even angrier. He kept his eyes downcast towards the ground. His father raises his massive hand and back-hands the poor defenseless 5 years old.

Buffy and willow walk over to the day dreaming Xander not noticing his injuries and looked at each other with a grin. Buffy drops and large stack of books on the table making a loud slamming noise. Xander snaps out of his daze and jumps slightly, startled and falls out of his chair.

"Ow" he said as he got up off of the floor to regain his seat "when did you guys get here?"

"Just a few...oh my god Xander what happened?" Willow asked with a worried tone of voice.

"Yeah what happened Xand?" asked Buffy.

"Well I appear to have fallen out of my seat then got up and got back into my chair."

"No your eye" said willow

"Oh that, I um....fell" said Xander

"Into what a doorknob?" asked Buffy.

"Maybe, hey you guys know my track record" replied Xander

"Xander tell me the truth" said Willow sternly

"Nothing happened" said Xander

"This nothing sure looks like a something" said Buffy

Willow noticed the bruise on his arm "Xander who did this to you"

"Listen I don't want you guys to get involved this is my issue and I can work it out myself, plus I don't want him to hurt you guys"

"Uh hello slayer here. Who is this guy anyway or what is he? Was he a vampire?" asked Buffy

"No" replied Xander

"Demon?" asked willow

"Do you guys honestly think I'm gonna take on a vampire or a demon without telling you?"

"Well you are a guy and there's always the occasional overdose of testosterone most guys get when they decide they must show that they are the alpha male" said willow

Xander stares at willow with a quirked eyebrow

"Or not" said willow

"Listen this is nothing I can't handle myself" said Xander

"Ok Mr. Macho but you obviously didn't handle it well last time"

"Well that's because I couldn't bring myself to hit him back but if he pulls what he did last night I'm gonna be forced to deal with him, the drunken bastard."

"Your father?" willow asks solemnly

Xander looks down at the ground.

"Your father did this to you Xand?" asked Buffy

"Yeah but he wasn't aiming for me at first"

"What do you mean Xander?" Asked willow

He sighs; "He went after my mom, and I couldn't bear to sit back and do nothing anymore so I got between them."

"Oh my god Xander." Said both willow and Buffy at the same time

"He threatened to go after my mother tonight, so I'm gonna have to leave early this evening"

"Ok Xand you take care of what you need to. Can we do anything?"

"Hope I don't kill him"

"Do you want us to come?"

"If you want, but I'm warning you ahead of time its not gonna be pretty, I mean I might go off on him, I mean there's a lot of repressed anger over here"

"It's ok Xand we're here for you"

Xander smiles, "Thanks guys"

Later that evening just as the sun was setting Xander, Buffy, and Willow were headed down Xanders street to his house. Xander had his hands in his pockets and was looking down at the ground. He looked up as he heard a car, it was his father pulling into the driveway just coming from the bar.

Xander takes a deep breath; "I guess its time to not be afraid anymore" he said and walked across the street, Buffy and Willow followed a couple meters behind. Xander watched his father enter the house, Xander followed not to far behind, just as Xander walked through the front door he sees his father slap his mother across the face. Xander quickly pushed his father away from his mother, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Xander shouted at his drunken father. His father back hands him much as he did when he was a child, that same fear and anger that had been festering in the pit of his stomach since he was a child was emerging as he stumbles back. Xander regains his footing and pulls back his fist and punches his father in the face.

His father threatens, "Oh you better back down while you still can boy"

Xander replies, "NO! I'm not afraid of you anymore and I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone else that I love and care about."

His father hits him again, "You are a worthless mistake, Just the product of a broken condom, you could never do anything right. All you ever were was a burden"

Xanders eyes filled with hate and anger as he slammed his father against the wall and punches him in the face.

Buffy was the first to enter the house and saw Xander pouncing on his father. Then Xanders father pushed Xander away from him and looked at Buffy, a girl who he had never met and if he did he didn't remember, "Who's that? Some slut from school"

Xander finally snapped and rammed his father into the wall once more but ever harder and punched him repeatedly in the face, tears of anger welling up in his eyes, "DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK OF HER LIKE THAT!! If it wasn't for her you'd probably be dead right now, so you owe your god damn life to her!" Buffy seeing this quickly ran up to Xander pulling him away from his father. His fists were still clenched tightly. Buffy had never seen this side of Xander so angered and hurt.

Xanders father almost chuckles as he regains his balance, "since when did you have any balls boy?"

"You know what I'm not worthless, you are! You're the one who can't deal with life and has to drink it all away,all you do is push the people who once cared for you away, you're weak..."

"Look in the mirror son, this'll be you in 20 years." says his father

"I'd sooner kill myself before i became you."

"You can't say that to me I'm your dad"

"No you're not! you're my father, you were never a dad to me, and you were never a husband to mom. Get out!"

"What did you say to me?"

"Get out! And don't come back, because if you do I can't guarantee that Buffy's going to be here to prevent me from killing you."

Xanders father stumbles to the door to walk out as willow walks in, he turns to Xander and says "You're day'll come Xander, you're day'll come"

Willow looks at the drunken washed up shell of a man and says, "Yeah, after he's lived a long happy fulfilled life"

His father leaves.
The End