Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Xander grimaced again as he carefully stepped around the filth that coated the ground near the portkey point in Sunnydale. While the non-magical side of the town was pristine and by all appearances a perfect suburb sort of place, the magical side showed it's dark side. It didn't look like anyone took care of the alley that served the few witches and wizards that made their home in the area.

Xander dodged a couple of the less savory locals and let himself out through Willy's alibi room, nodded to the short man behind the bar as he did. Once out in the clear air beyond, though, Xander stood for a moment in the sun and closed his eyes as he smiled.

California had its perks.

After a few moments of soaking in the rays, Xander slung his collapsed door over his shoulder and picked up the end of his trunk as he started to make his way home. He only made it a half a block before an old Chevy pulled up beside him and blew the horn, almost scaring him out of his skin.

"Rory?" Xander frowned, peering in through the side door.

"Hey kid," Sam 'Rory' Axe nodded in his direction, "Your folks sent me to pick you up."

"Why? I can walk it?" Xander shrugged, half grinning, "I'm not that out of shape from the winter."

"Better not be, kid, or I'll make you pay," Sam grinned, "but that's not it. Folks closed escrow on a new house last week, old place is already sold. All your stuff is at the junkyard, but I figured you'd want to go see your folks before heading over there."

Xander tossed his trunk and door in the backseat and hopped into the front, "Why's my stuff at the junkyard, Dad finally kicking me out?"

Sam glanced at him, noting the tone of concern below the false lightness Xander was pushing forward.

"Nothing like that, kid. Just figured that you'd want stay there, what since you've got your own apartment and shop there." Sam said, "especially with the noise at home."

Xander winced, "Are they fighting again?"

Sam shook his head, grinning, "Kid you've been away a long time."

"It's been less than ten months!" Xander objected.

"Sometimes you only need nine, kid."

Xander stared at his uncle for a long moment, frowning, "Are you drinking again, Unc? Cause I don't want to be killed in a car accident of all things…"

Sam just laughed at him, taking the road out and away from the high school to the more well to do section of town. Xander was surprised when he pulled into a long driveway, the place was more than he thought his dad would have gone for. It wasn't as posh as the Chase residence, the place was too far out of town for that, but it was a nice lot with a sea view and Xander could feel the tingle of the wards as they drove up.

"Dad bought this place?"

"He and your mom, really." Sam said, killing the engine, "Don't worry, it didn't come from your money."

"That's not what I was thinking about, but how'd they manage without it?" Xander asked, hopping out and reaching back in for his stuff.

"Leave it," Sam said, "until you decide where you're staying anyway."

"Right." Xander shrugged, slamming the door of the beaten up old Chevy. "Whatever."

The first thing that assaulted him as they walked in the door was an unholy howling that had him clapping his hands over his ears, "Gah!"

Xander turned to sprint back out, heading for the car, only to be caught up by Sam.

"Whoa, where are you going, kid?"

"Are you kidding? There has to be a full grown mandrake in there! I need my ear plugs!"

Sam looked at him, astonished for a moment, and then the former SEAL started to laugh. He grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and turned him around, pushing him ahead into the house.

"Relax kid, you won't need magical ear protection here." Sam grinned.

"I wouldn't say that," Jessica's voice rose tiredly over the crying.

"Kid," Sam shoved Xander ahead of him into the living area, "Meet your little sister."

Xander stumbled in shock, eyes falling on the infant in his mother's arms as she sat rocking by the window.

"I think he's taking this well, don't you?"

Jessica rolled her eyes at Sam's comment, choosing to ignore Xander's slack jaw for the moment. "Sit down, Sam. Tony will be home soon. And you, Alex, shut your mouth. Really, there's no cause for that."

"Buh… wha? I left," Xander said, looking back out the way he came in, "Then I came back and… guh?"

"You did leave for almost a year, Alex." She said, amused by his distinct lack of vocabulary. "Come say hello to your sister."

He stepped closer awkwardly, eyes glued to the small person in his mother's arms. "Umm, what's her..?"

"This is Naomi Lavelle, Alex." Jessica said with a soft smile.

"Lavelle?" Xander looked up to his mother, confused.

"The family asked us to consider having another child," Jessica looked proudly at her son, "You impressed them a great deal."

"Whoa." Xander shook his head, then slowly reached out to gently nudge the little girl's chin. The infant stopped crying to look at him for a moment. "Hello Naomi."

He smiled as the child cooed at him, "I'm your brother. It's good to meet you…"

Xander scowled humorously at his mother, "Even if it's a little late."

He frowned for a moment, then looked up again, "Is she…?"

"Magical?" Jessica asked with a half-smile as she looked down at her daughter.

"Yeah." Xander sighed. He hated that fact that it even occurred to him to ask, but it was so important to the world he lived in now.

"Yes." His mother said, not looking up. "She's marvelously magical, aren't you Naomi?"

Xander let out a breath, "Really? So the family is satisfied?"

Jessica smiled at her son, nodding. "Very much so. They've offered to pay for the care of another child, if we wish."

Xander's eyes widened, "A… are you?"

"We haven't decided yet," She said, shifting Naomi around. "I think we'll give Naomi a little while to grow before we think about another little one."

Xander shook his head, "Whew. I got to say, I'm blown away. Never expected to come home to this."

"Is it a bad thing?"

"Does she cry like that a lot?"

Jessica nodded wearily.

"Well I guess it's good that Sam said my stuff is at the junkyard." Xander grinned.

"Boys." She rolled her eyes, "Your father is the same, the man suddenly developed a work ethic. Amazing."

Xander suddenly noticed how tired his mother looked and frowned, "If you need some time, mom, you can bring her by the yard. I'll babysit."

Jessica's eyes danced with amusement, "I hope you know what you're in for."

"What? It can't be that bad, right?"

"Right?"

Head still swimming, frankly, from the reception he'd received at home, Xander was pretty happy to drop his trunk and kit off in the small apartment overlooking the junkyard he now owned and just flopped into the old beat up couch that was against the wall.

"Not what you expected, huh kid?" Sam asked, chuckling at him.

Xander shook his head, his jaw a little loose even now as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that he had a baby sister.

"Your parents have been alternately over the moon and cursing the family for this one, let me tell you." Sam laughed openly, "was never stupid enough to have any kids myself."

"It's just… whoa." Xander said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I get that. Still, you've got things to do, kid, shake it off."

"Oh come on," Xander whined, "I just got home! I so don't want to start your insano training crap already!"

Sam eyed him evilly, "We'll get to my insano training crap soon enough, but not today. Relax, this is a good thing."

"Oh? Is Willow over?"

"Naw, she'll be by later today. School runs a little later here than over there, she's got an exam today." Sam gestured to the door, "The boys downstairs have a present for you."

"For me? Why?"

"You got them jobs, for one." Sam shrugged, "Steady employment can be tough for some of the folks Robert dug up for you."

"How come?" Xander asked, not that he was really overly concerned about it. He'd really only asked that Robert find him some guys who knew enough about mechanics to do the job, beyond that he didn't really care.

"Well, two of the guys are a little wolfy by times," Sam explained, "And another got himself into some trouble with the law when he got caught in the crossfire between some magical constables and a few dark types. He wasn't involved, but the Feds didn't take a shine to the fact that he woke up in the middle of a blown out building. They never convicted, but the domestic terrorist flag has been floating over his head for a while. Damn magicals never bother to clean up their mess, just toss a couple Obliviates and leave the rest to normal folk to work out."

Xander winced, both at the fact that his uncle was basically cursing him along with every other magical and at the idea of leaving those sorts of loose ends lying around. While he was no fan of Obliviation as a rule, it seemed a little too much like a really personal violation, it was even worse to do a half assed job. Ruining someone's life just because they happened to be caught in the crossfire of something they didn't understand sucked, doing it because you can't be bothered to do your job properly was flat out evil.

"Anyway," Sam went on, "They got together with Black, nice guy by the way, my kind of sense of humor… with his help they fixed something up for you."

Ok, Xander had to admit, he didn't know now whether to be excited or nervous. Black was a consummate practical joker, and anything he was involved in had to be treated with extreme caution at the very least.

"They had to dig out some parts and order a few others, but they got it all together for you anyway." Sam went on, either not noticing or simply ignoring Xander's sudden apprehension as he led them down from the apartment to the sizeable garage it was built over.

Xander was impressed when he saw it, they'd done a lot of work from the last time he'd been inside. It was cleaner, for one, which alone meant that either they'd done a hell of a lot of work… or, more likely, Sirius had traded some cleaning spells for whatever he needed from the yard. Either way, Xander liked the look of the place a lot more. They'd refitted the hydraulic lifts that had been rusting out when he bought the place, and the tool cases were still a little beat up but now looked usable instead of like scrap.

"Everyone," Sam said, waving to three guys who were working across the garage. "I'd like to introduce you to the owner, Alexander Harris."

"Umm, hi." Xander waved with an uncomfortable smile as they wandered over. Two of them were thin men, and had a wary look in their eye as they checked him out. The third was a little overweight and towered over the other two. They all were in coveralls, dirty and obviously worn from heavy use. "Call me Xander."

"This is Craig Osbourne, local Sunnydalian." Sam said, nodding to one of the thin men. "You may have seen him around town."

"Hey there, Mr. Harris. I want to thank you for the opportunity…"

"Xander, please, really." Xander cut him off, "And don't worry about it. I needed some people to make this run as a business, so I need to thank you guys for working here. Without you I couldn't have convinced by dad to sign off on spending this much money, and I really need the yard space for some studies and experiments."

"Well just the same, I think I can speak for all of us here when I say thank you… Xander." The second thin man said, extending his hand. "I'm Brian Hunt."

Xander took his hand, shaking it easily, "Good to meet you, and you Craig."

He looked over to the big guy, extending a hand in his direction.

"Patrick Kruse." The man offered, shaking his hand. "And it's good to meet you… Xander."

Xander smiled, nodding to all three.

"Alright, where's Black anyway?" Sam asked, "He said he'd be by to help Xander with the present."

"He's in the next building, where we figured Xander would like to setup his workshop." Craig explained.

"Ah, great, let's all head over there."

"We've got work left here," Craig equivocated.

Neither Xander, nor Sam, were having any of it.

"Take a break, you all helped set this up."

"He's right," Xander agreed. "Come on, don't worry about the work for now."

The three men were agreeable to that and the group left the large garage and headed over to a somewhat smaller building with a single garage bay door. Sam led them in and they found Sirius Black standing near a lump of tarp sitting in the center of the room.

"Black, you reprobate, is it ready?" Sam asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Coming from you that's real funny, Axe. And yes, it's all done. We were cutting it close on the charms, but I made it on time."

"Probably for the first time in your life." Sam rolled his eyes.

"My mother and my teachers at Hogwarts would agree with you." Sirius grinned unrepentantly.

"Uh, not to interrupt the mutual admiration and all," Xander cut in, "but what is it?"

Sirius' eyes gleamed as he stepped back from the tarp and flicked his wand in its direction. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The tarp floated clear, leaving Xander to stare in shock as his jaw dropped. Beneath it was a motorcycle, a big one that had a matte black paintjob marked only by a white star on either side of the gas tank. It was an older design, something he'd only seen in world war two movies, but it looked awesome all the same.

"This is… mine?" He asked, not quite believing it.

"All yours, kid." Sam nodded. "The boys here got the idea from Black working on his own, and they scrounged up the parts and rebuilt her. Black did the charm and rune work, so he'll have to let you in on how it runs."

"It's a classic Indian Chief," Craig Osbourne said, "When we found her she wasn't in the best of shape, but we decided that she deserved better than to rust out in the yard. This one is a military model, left hand throttle so you could shoot with the right if you had to. Restoring it was a privilege. We never would have thought of it, except for Sirius though."

Sirius shrugged, "I figured you could use a way to get around. I built my first bike so I could portkey safely around Britain during the first war."

Xander frowned, "Wait… how does that work?"

"You ever hear how portkeys work?"

"Yeah," Xander said, "They travel in an arc, right?"

"Right, and if they encounter a ward while they travel it can be really bad." Sirius said, "fatal bad, alright?"

"I was informed about that," Xander nodded.

"ok, but you can control the arc if you control where you start from," Sirius said, "I used to fly up way up in the sky before I portkeyed, it kept the travel arc clear of wards and, as a bonus, the ministry detection grid is focused on ground level, plus a few hundred feet. Even when death eaters bribed officials in the ministry, I was pretty much undetectable."

"Cool." Xander said, "How high can you go?"

Sirius shrugged, "I never took it up past a few thousand feet, to be honest. This one I rigged with the charms that conjure a surface under the tires as you fly, so in theory you should be able to go up as high as you want. Gets kinda hard to breath up there, though, so don't forget a bubblehead charm if you do, ok?"

Xander nodded, "Thanks… All of you, thanks so much."

He ran his hands over the bike as he stepped around it, then looked up to the others as if asking permission.

Sam got it quickly and just waved, "Get on, kid. See how it fits."

Xander grinned and swung himself over the bike to drop into the saddle. The springs creaked just slightly as it gave under his weight, and he found it surprisingly comfortable for the look of it.

"Comfort charms," Sirius grinned, seeing his expression. "I spared nothing for this, kid. You've got the deluxe model here."

"So cool." Xander grinned, hands on the grips.

"Remember, throttle is over on the left on this model." Sam said, "We put a wand holster on the tank, right side."

Xander looked down to see the holster strapped into place and produced his Ollivander wand to slide into place. It fit nicely, reminding him actually that he had to put together a replacement for the wand he'd given Harry.

Another project for the summer.

As if he didn't have enough to do already.

Still, he had to admit, the summer was now starting off better than anything else he'd ever experienced.

"Guys, thanks. Seriously, this is too cool."

"It was our pleasure, boss." Craig said easily, "Enjoy it, just don't wreck it. Finding parts for an old Indian is a pain."

"Don't worry," Sirius said, "I'll teach him everything I know about driving a bike."

"Yeah, kid," Craig said dryly. "Get lessons."

"Hey!" Sirius objected.

Xander snorted, but quickly turned his focus back on the bike.

"So Cool."