7?

AN: Sorry for the delay – been working on other things; know that this story will end in a few chapters, and probably not in a way that will make a lot of people happy (yes, Xander will still be alive, as will Buffy, but that's all I'm sure of for now).

(Two days later –Sunnydale Armory)

The woman, Candy, as Alex had introduced her to them, was sitting at attention even as his son lounged back into a chair and had one foot up on the table – Adam could see the pure contempt in his son's eyes as his CO droned on and on about patriotism and such and finally got to the point, "We want to buy your patent from you, son."

"Tack on two hundred percent to the highest bid for the system and you have a deal." Adam's mind brought up the figure in a few seconds and his mind boggled at the number – neither his son, nor Candy, would ever have to work again, ever, if the military agreed to that price.

General Walsh snorted at the notion, "You can't be serious!"

Alex gave the general a death's head grin, "Oh, I'm very serious, General – business, after all, is business."

General Walsh looked over at him, "He's your son, Adam – can't you talk him into giving us the patent?"

"No, sir, I've already tried – Alex is a shrewd business man and has assured that we cannot … acquire it … as we normally would, sir." It made Adam want to vomit with the way that his government often did business with its own citizens, undercutting them so much and outright stealing from them, but Alex, somehow, had taken all of that out of play. "A suggestion, sir, would be for us to take this discussion back to Benning, at a later date – maybe there we can talk this out?"

Major General David Walsh grunted at his subordinate's suggestion, "If he ever enlists, I'm going to put him into the worst shit-hole I can find, Colonel – that's a promise."

Xander just gave the old man a grin, "Then I'll make sure to go Marine or Air Force then, sir." With no other words, he stood and walked out of the room they had temporarily commandeered, as the General refused to 'talk business' in the school library, and soon he heard Candy's footsteps behind him.

"Jesus, Xand," she breathed in his ear even as they made their way out of the hallway and towards the exit, "do you KNOW how pissed off he is? He's a friggin' GENERAL for God's sakes, and you just told him to go screw himself!"

He looked over at her, "And your thong is in a knot WHY? After all, he's a General – I thought you only respected Admirals?"

She shot him a glare and, for a second, he felt a thrill of pure terror run through his body, "I do, Xander, but that's not the point! I … I don't want this guy looking too deep into my past, okay? I've done a lot of things and sold to a lot of people, and I'm not proud of what some of what's happened because of it."

He sighed as they went out the door and into the blazing southern California sun, "Okay, Candy, I promise I'll try and be nicer when I go to Benning with them, okay?" She nodded at this as they approached her car, "So, can we stop by my place first? I want to show you this mag I got that has some cool ink in it."

Once they were in the car she smiled at him, "Considering my offer?" She turned the key and the 1968 Ford Mustang roared to life, "I think you'd look good with a dragon tat, kid."

He gave her chest, which was covered in a dark blue blouse that had long sleeves, envisioning the spiraling tattoo that was there, and then looked up into her eyes, "I would think your opinion on dragons is somewhat biased, Candy, and I was thinking tribal art."

She smiled at him as they pulled out of the Armory parking lot, "Trust me, kid, dragons are the way to go…"

(Later – Sunnydale High Library)

Adam watched as his son slowly continued to run through reps of elevated pushups even while Mr. Giles helped train Miss Summers – it still boggled his mind that one little girl had that much power … that much responsibility …

"Xander?" Willow's voice was on edge as his son looked up at her, his eyes curious as she went on, "Where did you get that tattoo?" Willow pointed at Xander's upper right arm, around his upper bicep, and there Adam could see what appeared to be a tribal design, or at least the beginnings of one, there.

Alex, for his part, only went back to doing pushups, "At a tattoo parlor?"

Willow growled and, for an instant, she reminded him of his ex-wife even as she stormed over and grabbed his son by the ear, yanking him up into a standing position, "You can't have a tattoo, Xander! You're not old enough."

He pulled away from his enraged Jewish friend even as he saw his father mask an amused look, "Jesus, Willow, don't do that – I like my ears where they are." Massaging the offended bit of flesh, he went on, "And yes, Willow, I can – it's not like any of those nitwits that call themselves cops are going to arrest me."

"But you still have to deal with your mother," Adam chipped in from the cheap seats, much to Xander's ire.

"The point is, is that I have it, I'm keeping it, and the discussion is over." It was funny, really, how lame that sounded coming out of his mouth, knowing that the issue had just been turned into top-priority. Either way, though, he got off out of the immediate area and went back to doing pushups, at which point his father came over, "What?"

"I want to talk." His son looked up at him and gave him a 'what do you think you're doing now' look, so Adam went on, "You were somewhat rough with the General earlier, son – he's not used to being told to put up or shut up."

"Which is why I think ALL officers should be grunts first," Alex grunted at him as he went about doing his pushups, "it gives them a good perspective of how to deal with people."

"A suggestion is to stow that kind of attitude once you get to Benning, Alex," Adam offered his son, who paused and looked up at him. "Rangers-in-training are bad enough, but mouthy teenagers who have come up with nice weapon systems aren't exactly going to win you many friends."

"I'm not going there to make friends, Adam, I'm going to make sure that nobody is going to do something stupid," Alex ground out. "You implied that the Brass, or at least some of them, know about demons, hell, you told me, but what I am going for is to make sure nobody is going to do something stupid, okay?"

Adam nodded as his son got up again, "Alright, Alex – once this school year is over, we're going down to Georgia, and no, there is no devil there who plays a fiddle."

Xander winced, "That's bad, dad, really bad."

Adam shrugged, "Hey, best I could do on short notice. Oh, and one more thing," Adam told him as he walked away, "you get to tell your mother about the tattoo."

It was official – his biological father is where he got his sense of sadism from.

AN: Short chapter, mercifully short, and I hope to finish this chapter up soon – reviews, please.