Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters

Chapter 8

A month after Andrew helped Marcie and her family leave Metropolis things were going great for him; his job had lessened in time as he needed to spend more time with Harry. He was outside teaching Harry how to build a snowman when Oliver came over, he had a bit of determined look on his face.

"Umm, hi Mr Queen," Andrew said as he looked at the frustrated look on Oliver's face.

"Andrew, I've been looking into the collapse of Sunnydale and I've hit what we shall call, 'roadblocks,'" Oliver said, "The government told me not to ask any more questions."

"Why are you here?" Andrew asked fearfully, "I mean I was only there."

"Because there was a small group of survivors and Dark Thursday didn't help, several files were deleted," Oliver said getting annoyed.

Andrew nodded, he remembered Dark Thursday, it was bad; he was in a slum neighbourhood looking for a slayer who had been discovered when Hell erupted, it was like every dark and nasty thing inside people had been released. He and his slayers had barely survived the night and from what he had heard it was worse in other places; whole cities burned as the people rioted.

"Hey!" Oliver said, snapping his fingers, "Can you at least help me fill in the blanks in my files?"

"Not really," Andrew said, "It was really too much of a traumatic time for me and my friends."

Oliver looked at his feet and said, "Sorry, I'm used to being able to find out what I need to know."

Harry looked at Oliver and remembered what Clark had taught him and formed a snowball in his hand and tossed into Oliver's side, he didn't like Oliver when he was angry.

Andrew looked pale and said, "Harry no, we don't throw snowballs at daddy's boss like ever!"

Oliver looked at Harry who looked back and smiled at him and tossed another snowball at Oliver and giggled when it hit him, Andrew just looked mortified and said, "Mr Queen, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," Oliver said as he brushed the snow off his jacket and looked at Harry and muttered, "You're lucky your cute kid."

Harry giggled and held his hands up towards Oliver and said, "Up."

"Umm," Oliver said, "Sure," as Andrew nodded, he held Harry up and stiffened in shock as Harry hugged him.

"Sorry," Andrew said, "He likes hugs," and shrugged, "So do I and I guess I spoiled him."

"It's alright, just not used to children giving me hugs," Oliver said as Harry gave him a bright smile.

As Andrew took Harry from Oliver he looked back at his boss and said, "The Kent's are out, if you want to stay for dinner you can, I was about to start to make it tonight."

Harry yelled, "Kraft Dinner?" while Andrew shook his head.

No Harry daddy's making something else Andrew said as Harry pouted

Oliver laughed and said, "Sure I'll join if only to see you cook dinner."

"Oh," Andrew said, "It's in the oven already, it's going to be ready in half an hour," and went inside followed by Oliver.

Harry looked at Andrew and said, "Daddy, can I have a story?"

"Alright," Andrew sighed, "You can have a story, if I can find where Clark hid the book."

"Yay!" Harry squealed as Andrew put him down and he got on the couch.

Oliver looked at Harry and said, "So, what's your favourite story?" And listed a few stories he remembered being read.

Harry shook his head and clapped when Andrew came downstairs holding a old leather bound book and sat down next to him and said, "Alright Harry, which story do you want to hear?"

"This one," Harry said happily as he pointed to one of the chapters.

Andrew frowned; it was one about Angelus and said, "No Harry, maybe when you're older."

"Ah," Andrew said, "Here's one."

"After Sineya's death the wise men created The Council of Watchers," Andrew said, "They began to guide and teach the Slayers and for a while things were good and the Slayers were well taught; they defended the weak and helpless against the evil dark creatures that hid in the shadowy nooks and corners of the world."

Oliver thought to himself, "What kind of story is this?"

"But," Andrew said, "Some of the men began to grow prideful and arrogant in how they taught their slayers; instead of teaching them to think for themselves they were taught to be obedient slaves to their handlers, if any of them did something wrong they were punished and sometimes killed."

Harry looked sad for the slayers that his dad mentioned, 'Why would they be killed?'

"For many years it was like that; the Slayers would fight and die," Andrew said, "But something happened that the Watchers hadn't counted on: one of their Slayers was born into the family of one of the mightiest Caesars of Rome and unlike some of the families they were used to dealing with the great Caesar refused to let his daughter die."

Andrew mimicked the voice of the Caesar and said in deep voice, "You have come to my land to take my daughter and make her fight in your wars? She will not die like this."

Oliver laughed a bit at Andrew's voice; it was kind of cute on how he was telling his story.

"Now the Watcher pleaded with the great Caesar to simply allow his daughter to come with him, after all he had three fine sons," Andrew said, "Why was he so protective of his daughter?"

"The Caesar smiled bitterly and said, as he led his daughter away, 'If you were a father you would understand,' and he had the Watcher exiled from Rome."

Before Andrew could finish he realized dinner was almost ready, he put Harry down and said, "Sorry, I got to get dinner out of the oven."

Harry looked upset but smiled; daddy would tell him the rest later and looked at Oliver, who had been engrossed by the story. Harry walked over and crawled next to him and tried to get him to read the rest of the story but Oliver was too busy watching Andrew prepare the food.

Andrew asked Oliver to bring Harry over and Andrew put him in his high chair and he started to feed Harry while telling Oliver to help himself as he fed Harry.

Oliver bit into the roast and groaned as it was delicious and perfectly cooked, he looked at Harry who was eating happily, 'This is incredible,' he looked at Andrew and said, "Good food."

"Thanks Mr Queen, it's one of my few talents," Andrew said, 'That I'm proud of,' he thought.

"Hmm," Oliver said as he grabbed another couple of slices of beef and groaned, "Where did you learn to cook like this?"

Andrew smiled and said, "It's because I was left on my own a lot, my parents spent more time with Tucker as they liked him more than they liked me and they told that to my face."

"Oh come on!" Oliver said, "No parent would do that."

"You'd be surprised, I mean," Andrew said, "One Christmas I got maybe five presents while Tucker got twenty two and he counted them out to me to be smug."

Oliver looked at him and said, "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Andrew said, "And hey; I got accepted into several schools but what did mom and dad tell me? 'Sorry Andrew, we can only afford to send one child to school and Tucker has a better chance than you do.'"

"Whoa!" Oliver said, "They told you this to your face?"

"Yep," Andrew said, "And that's why I'm giving Harry as much love as I can give him so he never feels unloved."

Harry looked at Andrew and hugged him saying, "Daddy, I love you."

"Awww Harry," Andrew said as he wiped Harry's face off, "I love you too little guy."

Oliver was starting to feel a bit off and said, "Umm Andrew, I gotta get going, I'll see you later," and ran out the door.

Andrew looked at Harry and said, "I think we broke him," as he heard Oliver's car rev up and drive off.

Harry looked at Andrew and hugged him again, Andrew picked Harry up and held him while he turned on the TV and began to think about the past. He actually found himself missing some people but not Warren, never Warren but he missed Dawn trying to get him to come out and meet new people, the late nights arguing with Xander about Star Wars movies and Faith telling him to stop dressing like a mini Giles.

'Hmm,' Andrew thought, 'It's been awhile,' and remembered Faith's number; he grabbed his Cell phone and called Faith.

As he listened to the phone ring he was genuinely surprised when she picked it up, he said, "Faith, how have you been?"

"Geek boy?" Faith said, "Jeez, it's been awhile, where have you been?"

"Kansas," Andrew said happily, "What about you? Are you still with Robin?"

"God no," Faith groaned, "He was becoming a bastard to people and he was getting angry at B for letting Spike live."

As the two shared information Faith was concerned by what Andrew had told her about Marcie and thought there was some bastard hunting Slayers, there were reports they were getting about that but most of the time everyone assumed they were demons.

"Shit!" Faith said, "Are you sure she said they were humans?"

"Yeah, that's what Marcie told me," Andrew said, "So I helped her family leave town so they wouldn't get hurt again."

"Don't suppose she gave you anymore details?" Faith said hopefully.

"She was covered in blood and cut marks," Andrew said, "I'm just surprised that she was still alive."

Faith groaned and said, "We'll have to look into it but now that you've filled up with the local gossip here, what are you doing?"

"Oh," Andrew said happily, "I'm working for Queen Industries; I'm Mr Queen's personal assistant."

"Cool," Faith said, "So any lucky guy in your life right now?" and laughed as Andrew stammered a bit.

"No," Andrew said, "No one special in my life right now, at least not in that way but hey, I'll get going now."

Faith smiled and said, "Hey, mind if I come down to ask you more about these assholes kidnapping Slayers? I'll probably be coming with B, alright?"

Before Andrew could say anything Faith said, "Don't worry Andrew, we'll meet you in Metropolis in about a week, how about that?"

"I guess so," Andrew said surprised.

As he shut his phone off he looked down at Harry, who was still rolling around on his lap and said, "Maybe I can ask Buffy for a favour."

Harry reached up and hugged Andrew and giggled.

The next week was going alright though he noticed Mr Queen seemed a bit distant, he supposed he creped him out with his baby talk and how he was so soft towards Harry.

On Friday night he got a call from Faith telling him to meet them tomorrow in Metropolis at noon, Andrew asked Clark for a ride and decided to ask Chloe to come with him so she could tell them what Mick told her about Marcie's disappearance.

Chloe sounded a bit odd on the phone and said, "Are you sure these girls can help us figure out what's happening to these families?"

"Yeah," Andrew said, "They're good people, and I trust them."

"Alright, how about I give you the ride instead, that way we don't have to bother Clark as Oliver wanted to discuss something with him tomorrow."

The next day Andrew woke up early and picked Harry up from his small bed and started to bathe him, Harry was doing his best to splash him and trying to get soap on him. Andrew smiled and said, "You're going to meet some friends of mine."

As he walked while holding Harry he saw Chloe with Clark, talking about something and Clark had a smile on his face and nodded.

Clark ran up to Andrew and said, "Could you meet me after you finish with your old friends? I want to talk to you personally about something."

TBC

Poll questions: What do you think Faith and Buffy want to talk to Andrew about? Or do they just want to catch up on old times? What did Clark want to talk to Andrew about?

A/N: Dark Thursday was the Smallville season five finale in which the world was thrown into chaos by a computer virus created by Brainiac.

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