Luke, I Am Your Father

A/N: There is no slash in this story. Jessica is just being a very catty B****. Disclaimer's in the first chapter.

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June 2, L.A., Hospital

Jim and Blair returned a little after lunch. They found Willow tucked in a chair next to Xander's bed, but Giles and Buffy were nowhere to be seen. Xander looked to be asleep, which really wasn't all that surprising. Jim knew from experience he'd be fading in and out a lot over the next couple days.

"Hey." Blair greeted Willow. "Where'd the others get to?"

"Buffy had to go back to her dad's. Giles is getting us a hotel room until Xander can go home." Willow said. She got to her feet and then surprised Jim by hugging not only Blair, but himself. "Thank you so much for saving him." Her voice wobbled dangerously, and there were tears in her eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if ... " She cut herself off, refusing to even name that fear.

Jim gave her a slightly awkward pat on the shoulder. "We're just glad we stumbled across him in time." Well, not stumble so much as 'got led to', but there was no way in hell he was telling her that. He was just glad Blair wasn't talking his ear off with theories yet. Looked like Blair was as stumped by this one as he was.

Blair of course was nowhere near as awkward, and returned the hug easily, grinning at Willow as she retreated. Willow went back to her chair. Jim and Blair were just about to leave again, seeing as Xander was sleeping, when a redheaded woman walked in. For half a second, Jim thought it was Willow's mother, but almost immediately dismissed the notion at Willow''s less than pleased reaction to her arrival. Besides, there was something vaguely familiar about her that Jim couldn't quite put a finger on.

"Mrs. Harris!" Willow said, frowning, sounding shocked and oddly ... wary, to Jim's ears. She sat forward and eyed the doorway for several long moments, before finally sitting back and watching Mrs. Harris warily. Jim cocked an eyebrow at her reaction, but the reason for it swiftly became evident.

"What'd he do to himself this time?" Mrs. Harris wanted to know, sounding rather aggravated and not much concerned. Then she spotted Jim over in the corner and her eyes narrowed as she stared at him for a long moment. "James? What are you doing here?" She sounded very suspicious.

Jim blinked. Clearly the woman recognized him, but while there was something familiar about her, he couldn't place her. "We're the ones that found him. Collapsed in the middle of an LA street, bleeding profusely from abdominal wounds." He added that last sentence rather pointedly.

"Rather convenient you were there." She sniped. Jim's confusion must have shown on his face, because she gave a harsh laugh. "Oh, this is rich. You don't even remember me, do you?"

"Vaguely. You look familiar." Jim admitted.

"Too many girls in too many places, hmm?" She sniped. Then she eyed Blair. "Or did you finally get bored and start batting for the other team?"

"Hey, no way." Blair blurted out. "That's totally uncalled for."

Jim's jaw was jumping with the effort it took to not verbally eviscerate the woman. "Leave him out of this." He snapped.

She snorted. "Fine, fine, I'll leave your little catamite alone for now. I suppose I'll just give you a hint. Seattle, 1979."

Weirdly, that's all it actually took. "Jessica." Jim said, finally placing her. He'd been stationed at Fort Lewis for a while, they'd met, had a fairly good relationship for several months, then he'd gotten shipped out. What he couldn't figure out at the moment was why she was sniping at him so viciously. They'd said goodbye on pretty good terms, as far as he could recall.

The answer came in a form he was very much not expecting. The hyena appeared, standing on Xander's bed. Unlike in the dream, the hyena looked to be in perfect health. It whooped, curled up at the foot of Xander's bed and stared first at Jessica, then at him. From the looks on Jessica and Willow's (who was looking highly uncomfortable) faces, neither one of them was seeing the hyena, much to Jim's relief. Seeing it himself was bad enough. Trying to explain it to Jessica and Willow would be so much worse.

Beside him, Blair suddenly inhaled sharply, and his heartrate picked up. "Ohmanohmanohman." He whispered, quiet enough that probably only Jim heard him.

Jim glanced down at Blair. Blair's eyes were wide and stunned, and edging towards the look he got on his face when someone dangled a particularly juicy bit of academia in front of him. "Chief?" Blair looked up at him and then shook his head, refusing to give voice to the sudden suspicion that popped into his head while people 'not in the know' were in the room.

And evidently, the hyena was as impatient with Jim's slowness in clueing in as the jaguar had been, because it jumped down from the bed, butted his leg, feeling surprisingly solid in the process, then turned and nudged at Xander's arm. Jim still wasn't getting it.

"Congratulations." Jessica told him, breaking into his attempts to figure out what the critter only he and Blair could see was up to. "I really did think you'd forgotten."

Jim snorted. "Why are you so angry? I thought we left on good terms."

"Oh, we did. But that was before I discovered you left me with a parting gift I really didn't want." Jessica sniped.

And that is when Jim finally clued in. He stared at Xander for a moment in stunned disbelief, then finally tore his eyes off the kid and looked at Jessica. "He's mine?" He'd always been careful, but no contraceptive method was foolproof ... and Xander being his son would explain why the jaguar (and wolf) had led him to the kid. Certainly, Jim hadn't been able to think of any other reason why the heck he'd be led to the kid.

"And welcome to him. If I'd been able to find you, I'd have dropped him on your doorstep after he was born. He's been nothing but trouble."

Jim's eyes narrowed as he pinned her with a lethal glare. He sincerely doubted that Xander had actually been trouble. From the sounds of things, she'd taken out her frustrations on the poor kid. It left an acid taste in his mouth, remembering how acrimonious his own childhood had been with a father that really hadn't wanted anything to do with him. "I seriously doubt Xander was actually the one at fault, Jessica." Jim growled.

Jessica just barked another laugh. "Whatever. And now he's caused even more trouble than ever. What we're going to do with him in this state, I don't know. I don't have the time to babysit him."

And she clearly hadn't from day one, evidently. Jim looked at Xander, the hyena sitting on the floor, staring at him, waiting. Mentally, Jim scrambled. His loft was just barely big enough for two people as it was ... shit. They'd manage. He could find an actual house or a bigger apartment later. Like hell he was leaving Xander to dangle in the wind, even if the kid wasn't his. Poor kid couldn't even feed himself at this point, with his arms as messed up as they were, and he'd need months of physical therapy to recover from the attack. And if Xander really was his ... well, there was no way he was going to be the asshole his own father had been. "I'll take it from here, then." He fairly growled at Jessica.

She laughed. "Like I said, you're welcome to him. Good riddance." And she flounced out.

Jim was deeply tempted to go after her and do something he normally didn't do with women (unless they were perps, of course) ... flatten her. He took a couple deep breaths to try to get his frayed temper back under control.

Willow had gone from looking highly uncomfortable to out-and-out crying. Blair headed over to her and crouched down. "Hey. It'll be ok." He told her.

"N-n-n-o it w-w-w-on't." Willow sniffled. "Y-y-y-ou t-t-t-two live in W-w-w-w-w-ash *hic* ington!"

Jim snorted. "Yeah we do, but that doesn't mean you'll never see or hear from Xander again, kid. Actually, he's probably going to need you around more than ever. We'll figure something out."

Willow looked up at him with wide, wounded eyes. "You p-promise?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah, I promise, Willow. I've been getting the feeling you're pretty much the only one who's cared if Xander lived or died for quite a while. I'm not about to yank that away from him." He rubbed at his face. "I'm just glad he was asleep for that." Nobody needed to hear their own parent say stuff like that and then walk out without a backwards glance. It was a seriously shitty thing to do. The sort of thing he'd expect his own father to pull, honestly, though with a bit more knife-twisting added in for flavor.

Oh hell. His father. When word got out he'd procreated, all hell was going to break loose. Jim snorted, almost relishing the chance to deal with his father once and for all, one way or the other. God knew that William Ellison wasn't going to get his hands on Xander to ruin the kid completely.

"You'd better go catch up with her, man, and make sure the hospital knows you can take Xander with you." Blair pointed out.

Jim cursed and hustled out of the room. Fortunately, he managed to catch Jessica at the elevator.

"Now what do you want?" She demanded.

"Your signature saying I can take Xander out of here when he's released." Jim growled at her. "They won't take my word for it I'm his father, you know."

Jessica snarled. "Damnit, that kid's trouble even when I manage to get rid of him. Fine. Let's go. I'll mail you his shit later." She veered off towards the nurse's station.

Jim ground his teeth in an effort to keep from slapping the woman. She'd been rather pleasant, all those years ago. Not the love of his life, certainly, but nothing like the vicious-tongued harpy she was now. He vaguely wondered what had happened to her to turn her so nasty, or if she'd been like this all along and had just hid it from him. Certainly, they hadn't been together for a great enough length of time for her to 'slip up' and reveal her true self, if that was the case.

The next hour or so were rather interesting, between getting the appropriate papers signed and (privately) commiserating with the rather horrified hospital officials who were having to deal with them both. Jim was not exactly at his happiest at the moment, and Jessica was being a bitch. Finally, they got all the hooplah dealt with and Jim could return to the ... his son's hospital room.

Damn, that was going to take some getting used to. He'd have to arrange for a paternity test to be sure, of course, but ... well, even if the kid wasn't his, something was going on here, and the kid needed help, and the good knew Jim could afford to host the kid for a while, thanks to blood money he'd gotten from the Army over the whole Peru mission mess.

Just outside the door, he heard Xander's voice and stopped dead in his tracks, half afraid to go in. Then Xander's heatrate went through the roof and he really didn't have a choice. He hurried in.

Xander was staring at the foot of his bed (and the hyena, which had returned there sometime after Jim had left), his entire body rigid. He reeked of horrified terror , but weirdly, the emotion didn't seem to be making it to his face.

"So what'd I miss during my nap?" Xander wanted to know, his voice a little high and a little tight, but that would be easy to explain away as him being in pain still. "'cause my Willow-girl's all sniffly and that's never a good thing, and Blair's all with the googly eyes and I'm thinking that means something happened so please tell me, because if you don't I'm going to start thinking I'm dying or something here."

Jim blinked. Well, the kid could definitely babble, even when he wasn't hopped up on pain meds as he'd been earlier this morning. "You're not dying." He said. "Your mother showed up."

"Oh god. Don't tell me. She insulted the doctor or something," Xander said in a long-suffering voice.

"Something a bit more than that, actually." Jim said, then sighed. God, he really wanted to hurt Jessica about now. "Your mom and I knew each other a long time ago."

"And she yelled at you or something?" Xander asked. Willow reached over and curled her fingers around his.

"Well, that too." Jim said. Which had Blair huffing in amusement. "She ... well, let it be known that Tony wasn't actually your father." Shit, he was such a coward, but really, how in hell did you tell someone something like this?

Xander blinked, blinked again, then gave a shaky laugh. "Ok. Wake up anytime, Xander. It's nice to be away from the owwies for a while, but really. Dreaming the guy that saved your ass is telling you Tony's not your father while a damn hyena's sitting on your bed staring at you is just a little on the wiggy side of life."

Willow's eyes went huge, and her heartrate abruptly skyrocketed. "Xander?" She asked in a small, worried-sounding voice. "You see ... you're not asleep, Xander." Her gaze darted to the end of the bed, skating over the hyena without actually seeing it. "I think maybe they need to turn the meds down." She finally told Jim. "'cause he's hallucinating a little or something."

"I'm not ... oh god. Damnit. Yeah. I really am high as a kite, aren't I?" Xander said, his voice shaking.

Jim eyed Blair, who was looking between the two kids. Snickering at Xander for 'seeing' something when he was apparently high as a kite, he could understand from Willow, but she was edging towards panic and outright fear, and Xander was already there. Had been since he'd first spotted the thing, despite not exactly looking scared. Something odd was definitely going on here.

As if it sensed its presence was not helping matters, the hyena blinked out of existence. Xander's entire body relaxed and he closed his eyes in relief. "'sgone, Wills." He muttered.

Willow looked immensely relieved, and rallied. "You're awake though, and I'm here to totally back Mr. Ellison up on the whole 'your mom saying Tony's not your dad' thing. Except she kinda also said Jim was your dad. They met in Seattle or something."

Well, that was one way to break the news.

Xander blinked at his best friend. Eyed the end of the bed again, then looked at Willow. "Run that by me again?" He asked.

"Mr. Ellison's your dad." Willow repeated.

Xander dearly wished he could ... well, something. Pace, move, run away, anything rather than being stuck in this damn bed right about now. Christ. He'd wished practically all his life ... He closed his eyes, jaw clenched. He wasn't going to ask the obvious question. He didn't need to find out that Jim knew and hadn't given a shit. Xander Lavelle Harris didn't get happily ever afters. He just didn't, and he really, really didn't need another kick while he was down.

"If I'd known, I'd have been there." Jim's voice rumbled. "I was in the Army at the time. Your mom and I met, had a good time for several months, then I got shipped out. She apparently found out she was pregnant sometime after I left, and either didn't try to contact me or tried but couldn't get a hold of me. Either way, I didn't know."

Xander's heart twisted painfully and he took several deep, shaky breaths trying to keep from crying. Stupid meds. After several long moments, he opened his eyes. "So now what?"

"Now? Now, you're coming to Cascade with me. At least for the summer. It'll take you that long to heal up completely." Jim said. "After that, well, we'll work that out when we come to it." Jim motioned towards Willow. "Already told your best friend here she's more than welcome to call, write, and even show up at our door whenever she wants to see you." And he'd pay for the plane or bus fare, if it came to that.

That seemed to be the final reassurance Xander needed, because he sagged even further into the bed. "Ok." Then he sighed. "I'm getting kind of tired again."

Which was a rather blatant lie, but Jim was willing to let it stand. "Yeah, we'll head out for a while, come back later tonight or tomorrow."

He practically had to drag Blair out of the room. Once they were in the elevator, Blair started to bounce hard enough to jostle the elevator. "He saw the hyena, Jim. I wonder why he was so freaked out? I mean, I'd be a bit freaked at seeing an animal like that but he was like, way stressed. More than made sense, you know?"

"Yeah. And Willow nearly went off the scale when he mentioned a hyena, too." Jim said. "So I'm wondering what the heck the deal is there."

"Jim, man ... you think maybe ... I mean, he's your kid."

"Noticed that, Chief." Jim said, not quite understanding what Blair was getting at.

"Jim, what if he's a Sentinel too?"

"Fuck. I hope not." Was Jim's heartfelt response. "I wouldn't wish this shit on a dog, and they already have better senses than people do." He rubbed his face with one hand. "But if that's what's going on, I'll try to help him with it." He couldn't do any less. At least Xander was young. Maybe, without a dick for a father forcing him to bury and deny the senses, he'd adapt to them better. Jim certainly hoped that would be the case, if Xander turned out to be a Sentinel.