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http/ Pairing: Xander/Spike Rating: Mature Audiences – for content and themes Summary: It's a black day when humankind turns on the non humans.
Survival can be as simple as a commitment to each other.
Spoilers: Canon is Post S7 BtVS and S5 AtS.
Warnings: M/M – if you don't like boys together, don't play here!
Harsh circumstances and difficult start...
Part 21
The focus on the farm was a problem. A month later, two reporters doing the follow up feature for the mayor's story with Samuel (and of course celebrate his reelection in a landslide victory), headed to the 'respite centre' where Sam had rested when his 'ill'. They had been told by Kathleen that the reclusive carpenter, vet and writer that Samuel cared for apparently came from the same institution. The story was a fine public interest piece, particularly as Xander's beautiful furniture had just started to appear in the local gallery.
Thankfully with some intervention by the coven (mostly via Willow's hacking ability rather than magic), the director gave hazy accounts of Samuel's charges. Queried about the medico's apparent lack willingness to detail the illnesses of the three, privacy laws were quoted, instead the quick thinking director swung the conversation to one of the funding problems faced by their facility.
Apparently the 'farming out' of patients was system developed to cope with the sheer demand for the center's services, and to reintegrate patients gradually into society.
The farm's residents all breathed a sigh of relief and the segment garnered close to twenty thousand dollars in viewer donations for the centre. The director was delighted but later admitted to his PA that he really could not recall the individuals he had been queried about at all.
Three months on and Xander's pregnancy was at seventeen weeks. All seemed to be progressing well, Jon reporting to Daniel and Mikaela on a fortnightly basis, as neither witch had been able to visit yet.
Xander was over his dizzy spells and was definitely 'showing'. To the outside world, his face was slightly plumper and he was 'broader around the girth' as Spike liked to put it, but to date just felt fat and rather irritable rather than particularly pregnant. Shirts became looser and sweat pants one, then two sizes bigger. Spike bore his partner's moods stoically and never missed an opportunity to hug his 'blossoming' human.
Xander had been working on his latest 'series' the day they first felt it. At Kathleen's prompting and the encouragement of his own 'family', he had decided to try for the 'high end' market with his coffee tables and special pieces. He had started with a 'rocking car' for Eddie's three. To amuse himself he then tried his hand at two beautiful rocking horses, a rocking pig (which for some reason sold for three times the price he expected when a collector of 'pig art' in New Jersey saw it in the gallery).
Spike was becoming quite the dab hand at leather work, making quite authentic looking tiny saddles and bridles for the works. He claimed his expertise came from years of kinky sex and Angelus' lessons in skinning people. Xander wasn't fooled by the bravado. Of late, Spike seemed to find every excuse to spend time with his pregnant partner. It was nice.
He was currently working on a 'nautical' theme. The gallery owner had sent a message via Kathleen that a 'theme' was good. He had already crafted two beautiful corner units that had the casual appearance of hollowed out driftwood, but the finely polished and lacquered redwood shelves and perfectly fitted drawers and classic brass circle handles, made them a collector's piece. The current coffee table was a large piece of beech inlaid with blackwood 'eyes' and eight dark sectioned legs in recycled oak springing from the top and articulated as a crabs might be. Iron drawer handles in the shape of claws at the 'front' (forged by none other than Robbie!) would finish the effect - that of a very stylized, beautifully crafted 'crab' table.
As he slicked on the final coat of varnish, he felt an odd stir in his belly. He thought it wind again. His indigestion had been close to unbearable ever since impregnation, now apparently bubbles again wiggling through his system. He threw his hammer across the room in frustration. Yet another trip to the bathroom it seemed.
Spike heard the man stomping into the house for the third time that afternoon, muttering frustratedly about feeling like a leaking tap. He ceased bundling the herbs for market and waited until Xander had finished in the bathroom Xander opened the fridge and stared at the contents. Not hungry, just… looking.
Spike moved in behind and sliding his arms around the burgeoning waistline, he pulled the larger man back to him and began to stroke gently across the bump. He could hear three heartbeats one slow and two incredibly rapid. Xander relaxed back into his cool friend's caress, and they both felt it.
Spike's sensitive fingers and Xander's internal walls felt it. The stirring in his belly was most definitely movement of a little body inside, Spike whispered awestruck, "It's the children pet, I'm pretty sure I felt one of them move."
Another squirming sensation and Xander recognized it for what it was. He turned and kissed his partner. As he pulled away to breathe, a tearful brown eye met a sparkling blue pair. "It's wonderful pet… just wonderful." Daniel was contacted and a visit discussed, in the second half of the pregnancy, as the twins grew, the demands on Xander's system could become problematic. And there was the problem of concealing the pregnancy from prying eyes. It seemed their time on the farm might be limited.
The McPhersons eventually decided to move, but not before demanding a military search of Kathleen's property.
When interviewed by a local radio station (at the behest of an unnamed 'government official' who was concerned that all the fuss was damaging the 'efforts of the Initiative') they quoted civic duty and the need for citizens to be vigilant. Unfortunately for the lobbyists, governments and campaigners supporting the elimination of all magical individuals, sound grabs of the interview were used for months afterwards by groups working for the rights of demons and humans. In particular, Jock had heartily agreed with the interviewer that a 'final solution' was necessary and added a statement about 'hippies and lefties'.
A quite ill advised, off the cuff comment by the Vice President endorsing the 'final solution' had the 'spin doctors' in the capital scrambling to 'put out the fires' but not before the senate spokesman for the committee in charge of the Initiative in the US was approached, and went on record endorsing the need for civil compliance and added that no one was exempt from investigation. Recordings of the 'communist' trials, and of Adolf Hitler and other members of the third Reich using almost exactly the same terminology were spliced into the piece, along with images from those times and other genocidal periods in history.
It began a public uproar that simply would not be silenced with civil rights activists and lobbyists beginning to demand 'transparency' in the Initiative's actions and the right to visit facilities and view files.
The government refused the latter. But the battle was not over by any means.
Jock's public accusation damning Kathleen saw the little community rally to her side. They were ready and waiting when the army Initiative officers arrived at Kathleen's two days after the report. The church ladies, the local police and the national press were all waiting at the front door to observe the goings on, and if necessary, step in. The soldiers had never been under such public scrutiny before, and were certainly not expecting such a welcoming committee at almost ten at night.
The search was initiated with cameras rolling and the continued to roll as the press were forcibly removed from the building. Pictures of Kathleen, a sobbing Davina, and supportive friend Rhonda (the local police captain's wife) being rough handled out of the home and pushed to the ground at gun point, were beamed across the nation via the local television station (who reveled in the flow on profit from syndication!).
Images of beds being upended, and drawers emptied were filmed through open windows until the blinds were pulled, but the sound of smashing items and the continued restraining of the house's occupants and friend were shocking.
Since nothing was found to even suggest Kathleen or the family was in any way harboring hostiles, and since both Samuel and Robbie had also been vindicated after reports from the same source, the whole debacle became highly embarrassing for the government.
The reaction was extraordinary and spanned the country. The violation of privacy by the military, (on no better basis than 'bad grape's and heresy), the lack of respect for the residents being investigated and the threats made to others in attendance, all smacked of paranoia and persecution and a government body that was out of control.
Kathleen reveled in the publicity, as did the local mayor. The notoriety of Sam's farm, the church, and the community benefited every market day, as people from all over the state came to seek out the 'gutsy' little town. And when Kathleen's truck was torched and hateful slogans painted on their barn by 'out of town vandals' three months later, further support was garnered for the 'brave farmer's wife and her band of humanitarian ladies' and a new pickup donated by the local Dodge dealer (with the Dodge state manager present and full coverage by the press of course).
Eddie's children were approaching a year old, walking confidently and speaking a few short sentences. The attention on Samuel and the town was becoming difficult to manage. If there was a full raid, the children would soon be discovered. Samuel contacted the coven that had recently shifted again, this time to the tolerant community of Gotenburg in Sweden.
Putting a glamour on the children and Eddie was one possibility for emergencies like meeting locals, but could not be a long term thing. And if they were investigated by the Initiative again, the magical traces would be immediately detected.
Jon began by suggesting they contemplate purchasing another farm somewhere in the region, but a little more remote than their current abode. Samuel interpreted the statement as one of him being left behind. His obvious distress at the thought of losing his boys, and especially the 'grandchildren' almost halted the conversation before it started, with much hugging and reassurances needed. Leaving Samuel was out of the question but things were becoming critical.
There was now close to seventy thousand dollars in the 'jar', long since relinquished in preference to a real bank account in Samuel's name and designated 'Farm Fund'. Samuel dutifully paid tax on it, and invested some of it with the boy's advice. Many townsfolk now knew the farm produced the woodwork and was doing 'well'. The last thing they needed was to fall foul of the Internal Revenue Service!
Two days later they began their search for a 'new place'. By the end of the week Samuel had put his farm on the market. By Monday the whole county knew he was leaving.
Few could blame him but Robbie and Mavis were tearful when arrived that afternoon to confirm the rumor. In a private moment, while Xander gave Mavis a 'sneak peak' at the classic sideboard he was restoring for her as a special favor, Robbie quietly requested that he might rejoin the family at some later time. He would not leave his mother in her declining years but… Samuel hugged is bear of a neighbor and promised. Rambo would always be welcome.
Kathleen was devastated but also understood. It would still be a month or three before they moved, but after her little run in with the Initiative… she understood. She began her own campaign to garner interest in the modest little farm. It was the model of good management and looked near perfect thanks to the combined skills of all residents.
Samuel heard from a wiccan group in Washington State. They were reluctant to recommend areas around Seattle. If Gaia was provoked again, Mt Rainier could certainly be a risk, but the countryside around Pendleton Oregon they suggested as a location for the family, was far enough away, very pretty and the farming community 'familiar'. There were two large properties on offer. One had what looked like (from the photographs) a perfect home. It was run down, but an enormous old house, established (though badly tended) market garden and existing stock was to be sold with the property. Eddie took one look at the photograph of the enormous oak sporting a swing and a tree house, and fell in love. Samuel was hardly one to argue.
The fame of Samuel's farm in the county helped his own opportunities for a sale, and several prospective buyers were ushered through the farm within days of its availablility. Impressed by the productivity and immaculate presentation, two offers were made simultaneously, and the highest accepted. Two weeks later, on the advice of their friends in that area, Samuel took out another small loan to 'find the difference' between sale price and his buying price for their new home, signed the papers, and became the proud owner of an Oregon 'estate'.
That night Xander cried in pain as he was assaulted for the fourth night in a row with painful leg cramps. Spike massaged the limbs, then rubbed the increasingly taut skin of the swollen torso. They began to contemplate the move and as the third trimester approached, the delivery of their children. Daniel was to arrive in the morning. It would be his first and last visit before they left Alabama.