The night was clear, the stars shone brightly, the moon beamed down and the wind swayed the trees gently. The night was peaceful save for the commotion coming from the old graveyard.
A man was running, dressed in a dirt covered new suit he tripped over broken headstones, nearly falling yet he still kept running every few seconds glancing desperately over his shoulder. The frantic style of the man's movements would have caused compassion to stir in anyone watching, until they knew the man was a vampire, born into the night only moments before.
Finally the man ducked behind a large statue of an angel and listened to the night, a few crickets chirped and an owl called but no other sounds came to his ears and he started to relax, wiping the dirt silently from his clothes.
A noise in front of him and the vamp looked up startled,
" Must suck, I mean you wake up in a coffin, crawl your way up six feet through mud and dirt and for what? " Xander asked and the vamp's face morphed, ridges forming on his forehead, fangs showing through artificially colored lips.
" For dinner." The vamp stated and charged, he made it a step before Xander killed him. The loud retort of the gun echoing in the stillness of the night, a weapon previously unsuccessful in vampire killing made possible by blessed bullets and a single drop of liquid silver in the core of a hollow point.
" Sucked to be you." Xander told the pile of ash before returning the gun to the waistband of his jeans, under a black leather jacket.
With the emergence of hundreds of Slayers, The creatures of the undead had upgraded weaponry in the battle for the night and while Slayers still didn't need to carry anything but a sharpened tent peg. Xander and many of the new watchers carried guns having been told of their success by Wesley a previous watcher now fighting the fight in L.A with Angel, for Xander buried instincts left over from a bizarre Halloween experience made the gun an extremely useful method of killing demons.
Xander was trying to go and see his brothers he really was but the thought had niggled in his head since leaving the hospital, where there was one vampire, there were usually others. A quick look in the paper and he had his answer, a young man had been killed by a rabid dog a few days ago. With no other reports of animal attacks or gangs on PCP Xander could probably safely assume that the vamp he had killed at the hospital had only been in town a few nights.
As Xander
walked through the night he tried to think of what he might say in
answer to the questions his brother might ask.
When Xander had
first found the memory of his past his first instinct had been to
call Willow and ask her advice but as she chatted to him on the phone
about South America, Xander found he didn't know how to tell her that
the Snoopy dance had been a lie, that the yellow crayon had been a
fabrication.
In the end he had turned to Giles who after much stammering had suggested that Xander tell the truth or at least a part of it to his family. That he grew up not knowing he had any other family. That nine years ago he had woken up in a hospital bed unable to remember who he was.
Of course that was easier said then done.
The light was on in Keith's garage and Xander watched from the open doorway as Keith clanged around an old Chevy, his actions frustrated and complete with a deep sigh every now and then. Finally obviously not being able to concentrate Keith flung the wrench he was using away into a wall of the garage, and hung his battered weary head and let out a deep shaky breath.
" Would it make you feel better if I said hi?" Xander asked from the doorway and Keith's head shot up and he stared at the stranger.
" Depends who the hell you are?"
Xander stepped forward into the garage smiling at the look Keith was giving him, he stopped halfway when he realized Keith didn't recognize him.
" You don't see it?" Xander asked and Keith frowned as Xander continued,
" Take away the eye patch, the band aid. Take away ten years." Xander instructed and Keith took a few steps forward still frowning,
" You can't be him. He died." Keith stated angrily and Xander shook his head,
" No I'm alive, "
The older man shook his head his mind telling him what he was seeing wasn't possible but his eyes showing him that it was.
" Jesus," Keith whispered and he closed the gap between Xander and himself, looking like he wanted to hug his little brother but not knowing how the man would take it.
" Give'us a hug kid?" He finally asked and Xander nodded at the same time Keith threw his arms around him.
They pulled two old chairs together and sat, Keith shaking his head every now and then a smile lighting up his face and then dying as he remembered real life.
" Where the hell have you been?" Keith asked as soon as the pair were settled and Xander gave him a small smile and explained the well rehearsed lie.
" For nine years I've had no idea who I was, where I came from. Then a couple of months ago I got into an accident and things, people started to come back. When it all fell into place I finally knew who I was. Where home was, so here I am." Xander stated that part being the absolute truth.
" What? Amnesia?" Keith snorted and Xander nodded,
" Yup, brought on by a blow to the head which I don't know how I got."
" So where have you been?" Keith asked
" You remember a town being sucked into the earth in California?" Xander asked and Keith nodded, it had been headline news for weeks. How town planners, governments anybody had failed to notice the huge fault line the town sat on.
" Sunnydale California, that's where I was, where I grew up."
" Jesus Christ Xander, you're grown up!" Keith exclaimed rubbing at his weary eyes.
Xander smiled,
" You look like shit Keith, " and Keith looked away,
" I nearly killed Lucas tonight, might of." Keith said softly looking away,
" It was an accident. Accidents happen, wasn't your fault and Lucas will be fine."
Keith looked back at his younger brother and reached out a hand towards his injured cheek but ended up pointing to the eye patch.
" That an accident?"
" That was a piece of debris from the earthquake," Xander lied his stomach turning as a sudden image of Caleb came to mind. Forcing the picture out of the way Xander looked towards the Chevy,
" So looks like you've done pretty good for yourself?" He asked and Keith nodded wearily
" Yup my very own struggling business, how about you? What do you do for work?"
" I'm a carpenter, was. "
The conversation flowed on until the sun came up, Keith filling Xander in on all the goss from the last nine years in One Tree Hill and Xander asking after the people he used to know here. Finally Xander let out his third big yawn in a row and Keith stood.
" You got a place to stay? Cause you're staying with me." Keith told Xander and grabbed his jacket off of a hook on the wall.
" I don't think I could sleep," Xander followed Keith out into the morning light and stopped dead in his tracks as a police car pulled up in front of the garage.
Keith looked over at his brother who was staring at the officers in the car and asked,
" These guys here for you?" Xander shrugged casually and walked forward as the officers exited their car.
" Morning Sirs, which one of you is Alexander Scott?" Xander raised his hand and the two officers turned there attention to him as Keith looked on concerned.
" Just need to get your statement about last night Sir. Ms Karen Roe said we'd probably find you here. You can come down to the station, it won't take long." One officer explained and Xander yawned again,
" Look guys I've been up all night and I don't know what more I could tell you, I mean the nurse probably got a better look at the guy then me, he took off pretty quick." Xander held out his hands and shrugged them in the air.
" Yeah? Cause the nurse said that you took the guy on, that you could give us a full description?" The officer challenged
" Umm leather pants, brown shirt, medium height, average build, dark hair, I mean I didn't really get that good a look at him."
The officer nodded after a beat and held out his hand which Xander took and shook,
" Thanks for your help."
" Yeah, sorry I couldn't do more." Xander said as the officers turned and walked back to their car, Keith waited for the patrol car to completely leave before he asked.
" What the hell was that about?"
" Nothing, I got into a fight with a guy hassling a nurse at the hospital last night, I guess the nurse called the cops." Xander shrugged and looked at Keith,
" You want me to drive?"
Keith raised his eyebrows and nodded his car nearly a write off from the accident,
" Drive? You're old enough to drive." He breathed in disbelief and Xander stepped towards him and jabbed Keith lightly in the stomach,
" I'm old enough to do everything."
Keith let out a laugh and Xander pointed to the old truck he'd driven down from Cleveland.
" That's a piece of shit car." Keith stated and Xander whacked him lightly across the stomach,
" Hey my car got sucked into a sink hole and that's all I could afford."
With that the two brothers headed off home, enjoying the familiar banter they once had shared and now shared again.
