Title: House Arrest 16/20 + Epilogue

Author: Forsaken2003

Pairing: William/Xander
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none, all belong to Joss Whedon
Comments: Always welcomed!
Summary: William is under house arrest after assaulting his teacher. When he starts people watching he notices something strange about his neighbour.
Warnings/Spoilers: Human Verse. Out of Character.

Note: (An S/X adaptation if the movie 'Disturbia'.) Uses actual dialogue from the movie Please don't sue!

Beta'd by: Whichclothes

Part Sixteen

"I can't believe you want me to break into this guy's car," Oz said over his phone as he dashed across from William, a red backpack hoisted onto his shoulders. He knew William phoning him at seven-thirty in the morning was never a good thing.

"We need to see what's in that blue bag. So get in the car and get that garage open," William ordered his friend.

"Are you sure I'm still in the clear?" Oz asked as he looked around nervously. He almost tripped over William's misshapen parameter.

William checked his other line where Xander was waiting for him. "Xan, where's Michaels now?"

Xander walked inconspicuously down one of the aisles at a hardware store. "He's shovel shopping," Xander told William as he walked past Michaels. "Visual coming your way," Xander told William as he started taking pictures of Michaels from behind a wooden podium.

Oz struggled to get over the fence. He had to use a lawn chair to get a little more height because he was too short to jump it on his own. "Are you sure I'm clear?"

William watched as the pictures Xander took popped up on his computer screen. "Yeah, you're golden, man. He's still in the store." He went back to looking out the window to see where Oz was.

"Okay, here we go." Oz struggled to get the backpack off once he was next to the silver Toyota. He ended up falling on his ass.

Xander now hid behind a paint sample stand, peeking over it to see Michaels. Michaels stood at the cash register with his purchase waiting to be served. Xander began taking more pictures.

The pictures came up on William's screen. He stared at it, watching as they popped up one by one. "Well, that's pretty cool."

"What are you talking about?" Oz asked from over the phone.

"Xander's got, like, a live feed going here," William told him as he continued to stare at the pictures.

Xander watched as Michaels set down his shovel and walked away. Xander once again started to follow him.

Oz was grunting as he used a coat hanger to try and unlock the drivers' side door. "This is a lot harder than it looks on the Internet," Oz complained.

"You're doing great, man. You're doing great." William used the binoculars to watch Oz.

Xander walked out from one of the aisles looking for Michaels. He wasn't sure which way he ended up going and knew he couldn't afford to lose him. He kept walking not really looking where he was going. As he walked past another aisle someone ran into him making him drop his phone.

"Xander!" It was Liam, who looked so excited to see Xander. "Hi!" Liam said with a smile on his face.

Xander bent down to retrieve his phone. "Call Canceled" was on his LCD screen. "Hi, Peaches," Xander said before he realized what he said. He looked up and saw Liam staring down at him.

"Where did you hear that name?" Liam asked looking extremely upset.

"Hello? Xander?" William said into the phone. "Hello? Xander?" When he got no reply he switched back to Oz.

"Son of a bitch. I'm in." Oz opened the door and slid into the driver's seat and began to look at the visor.

"There you go! Nice. All right, start looking around," William instructed Oz. What happened to Xander?

"Okay," Oz complied and began his search.

"Look under the seat, too." William watched as Oz wiggled around trying to look everywhere he could. "Inside compartments, glove box, the whole nine."

"It's not here, dawg," Oz told him as he continued to rustle papers and stuff.

"Nothing? All right." William bit his lip. His phone began to beep. "All right, keep looking. Hold on," He switched to his other line. "Yes?"

"Will, I lost Michaels," Xander said out of breath as he ran through the parking lot to get to his car. "I ran into Peaches," Xander explained as he keys rattled in his hands.

William's eyes widened. "You lost...When is the last time you saw him?"

"I don't know. About five minutes ago. His car's gone." Xander reached his car and unlocked the door.

"All right, hold on." William went back to Oz. He needed him to get out of there now! "Okay. Oz."

"Yo, yo, here, I found his opener!" Oz said triumphantly as he held the opener up in his hand.

"Okay, listen to me. Pop it open and give me the code right now!" William said frantically.

"No, no, but it looks like I can just open the garage right now," Oz pointed to the garage that was only a few feet away from him.

"No, Oz, don't do that. Don't do that, Oz." William rushed to his desk and grabbed a pencil and notebook. "Just give me the code, okay?" He struggled to open the notebook as his hands trembled.

"Why do you sound so agitated?" Oz asked as he became agitated himself. The opener shook in his hand.

"Okay, listen. Xander just lost Michaels, who's coming home right now. That's why I'm bloody agitated. I need you to read me the code. Okay? So, pop it open and give it to me." William used the binoculars to check out the roads to see if Michaels was anywhere close.

"What? Oh, no, no, no. Operation Stupid is officially over." Oz put the opener back, got out of the car and began to close the door behind him.

"No! Oz, no! Listen to me." William tried to control the situation. They were too close to back away now. "Stop right there, turn around and give me the code." He heard Oz let out an annoyed grunt and watched him get back into the car. "Pop it open and give me the code! You're right there! Pop it open and go. Pop it open and give it to me, Oz.".

Oz grabbed up the opener once again and tried to open it. "I can't get this... I can't... It's not opening, okay?" Oz stated as he continued to pull and tug on the cover.

William's phone beeped again. "Okay, keep trying. Hold on." He switched back to Xander. "Hello?"

Xander turned on his car and pushed down on the gas, the tired squealed as he made a hard left hand turn. "Will, you've gotta get Oz out of there. Now!"

"Yeah, I know, I know. He's got the code. He's giving it to me right now," William informed Xander. His heart was about to pump right out of his chest.

"Well, tell him to hurry. Shit!" Xander hit the brakes hard making the tires squeal again. Michaels stood only a few feet in front of his car.

William didn't hear Xander's startled cry. "Okay, okay, okay." He disconnected from Xander and went back to Oz. "Hello? Oz, go."

Oz was panting on his end of the line. "Are you ready? It's one down."

"Mr. Harris." Michaels tilted his head to the left before walking to the passenger's side of the car.

"Will?" Xander whispered into his phone.

"Three up, four up. No, no, no. Sorry, I screwed that up." Oz said over the phone as William wrote the numbers down furiously.

William scribbled it out and took a deep breath. "Okay. Up?"

"Four down." Oz corrected.

"Will?" Xander whispered louder. His eyes were glued to Michaels. He breathed loudly as Michaels's leaned against his open window.

"Hi. I'm Fred Michaels." Michaels said with a smile. "I live behind you."

"Oh, yeah." Xander tried to smile but failed.

Michaels suddenly reached through the car window and grabbed the car keys from the ignition before Xander could stop him. He then climbed in and before Xander could open his door Michaels locked them both in. "Would you mind? It's just a little rude." Michaels made Xander turn off his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Xander asked looking directly at Michaels and trying to appear as if he wasn't scared out of his mind.

Michaels looked out the front window before looking back at Xander. "Well, I'm officially welcoming you to the neighborhood." He paused and stared back at Xander." I know that you've been following me." Xander opened his mouth to deny it. "Don't. No, don't. Don't deny it. I'm not upset. And, quite frankly, I don't even want to know why. I just would like you to know that I'm a little on the shy side. So unless all this sneaking around is some kind of hip, new-aged way of coming on to a somewhat older man-" Michaels looked Xander up and down. "And yes, I am aware of your sexual orientation. I really feel obliged to tell you that I rather enjoy my privacy. You see, the world is..." Michaels looked around again, Xander wasn't sure if he was making sure they were still alone or what. "It's in a heightened state of paranoia. And I tend to think that someone as intelligent and attractive as you doesn't need to be wasting his time stoking the fire."

"I..." Xander didn't know what to say.

Michaels smiled again and shrugged a little. "So, now you know. You're not the only one who's watching." Michaels leaned towards Xander making him gasp and push further against the car door. Michaels put the key back into the ignition and turned the car back on. "So, feel free to pass that along if you'd like. Cool?" When Xander didn't answer him he repeated himself. "Are we cool?"

Xander nodded and stammered, "Cool. Cool."

"Cool." Michaels put the key back in the ignition, opened his door and slid out.

Xander sat there and watched him walk away.