Yet More Chats

A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.

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June 3, L.A.

Fortunately for Xander's sense of well-being, Giles showed up early the next morning. By then, Xander and Willow (who had left after Xander fell asleep the night before, then returned first thing) had abandoned fretting over hyenas and dads for arguing (amiably) about pretty much anything and everything, as Xander was having a hard time concentrating on anything thanks to the drugs.

"Giles! Man! Good to see you again. Man, it has seriously been a wiggins-worthy day, I'll tell you what. I mean, what with finding new dads and seeing hyenas and really, it's been freaky with a side of weird and a topping of what the hell."

Giles' eyes went wide and he cleared his throat before grabbing his glasses to clean them. "I ... Xander ... that is ... " He shot Willow a look.

"Mr. Ellison is Xander's real dad, or at least he says he is." Willow explained. "Mrs. Harris showed up and they recognized each other and she told him but Xander was asleep so Xander found out later and while they were talking about it Xander said something about seeing a hyena and thinking he was asleep but he totally wasn't because I wouldn't have been dreaming the exact same thing he did except for seeing the hyena but maybe the hyena was the drugs?"

Giles just blinked at Willow a few moments, trying to parse and process the babble. "Mr. Ellison claims to be Xander's father?"

"No ... his mom said he was." Willow corrected, frowning. "Said Mr. Ellison'd left her with a present she really didn't want." From her tone, she was very, very not pleased about that comment, but that was hardly surprising. "And she said a lot of really mean things and then just left. She wasn't even going to try to take care of Xander, and Mr. Ellison said he'd take Xander with him until he healed up because he really can't be alone, and I don't want him to go all the way to Washington, but ... "

"Wills, slow down. Think you're baffling the G-man there." Xander said, sounding highly amused as he watched Giles try to polish his glasses into nonexistence.

"Oh. Sorry." Willow said, blushing a bit.

"I shall attempt to do what I can to ascertain Mr. Ellison's credentials." Giles reassured them both. "Now, what was this about a hyena? Xander, I thought ... "

"Giles, I kind of told Willow." Xander admitted. "She grumped at me a bit for lying about it, but she's not uber-freaked about me remembering." He grimaced. "We are both, however, rather a bit worried about the fact I saw a damn big hyena sprawled all over the foot of my bed staring at me like I was lunch."

Giles frowned, and finally put his glasses back on. "I see. That is worrying. I cannot do much about it at the moment, but as soon as we return to Sunnydale, I will see what I can find. It may be that it was, indeed, just the drugs, but it pays to be cautious, given past events."

"No kidding." Xander said fervently.

"Have you perceived any return of the mental state that accompanied the possession?" Giles wanted to know.

"Don't think so, no, but I'm also a bit drugged up at the moment, so that could be affecting it." Xander said. "I can at least say for sure the senses that came with the spirit aren't evident, or I'd be going nuts about now. Hospitals stink bad enough with a normal nose."

Giles gave a firm nod. "Well, that you're not being subjected to the same emotional state is an encouraging sign. However, if you perceive a return of that state ... "

"I will be booking it back to Sunnydale three seconds later, everything else be damned, so you can lock me up until you figure out what in hell's going on." Xander said firmly.

"Quite."

They chatted for a bit more, but then it was lunchtime, and they both got chased out, for which Xander was deeply relieved. He'd probably get a Willow-scold if he 'fessed up, but he really didn't want Giles, Willow, or Buffy seeing him having to be fed. Oh, he knew Willow would volunteer for the duty in a heartbeat, but he just ... yeah. No. A guy has to have some sort of pride and ego, right? So he was totally drawing the line at this. It was embarrassing as hell, and easier to deal with when it was a relative stranger doing it. By the time it was over, he was ready for bed, and slipped easily into sleep.

And dreamed.

He was loping easily across sun-baked grasslands. Wildebeest, zebra, antelopes of every description, giraffes and a myriad of smaller animals were scattered as far as the eye could see. In the distance, a lion roared, and he veered in another direction, not wanting to cross paths with the larger beast when alone.

And he was alone. That was not good. He needed ... he was searching for ... something. Something that kept tugging at him, pulling him gently. There was no sense of urgency or danger, just a desire to find that which he sought. But it was not here. Not yet. With the dogged patience of a long-distance hunter, he kept moving, knowing he would get there eventually, and find what he was looking for.

He blinked awake the next morning and gave a purely mental shake of his head. That did it. He was making them lower the drugs. He was so not needing to dream stuff like that. Seriously. Willow showed up shortly after breakfast with Blair in tow, and he greeted them both.

"Hey Wills. Mr. Sandburg."

"Just Blair, Xander. You're going to be seeing a lot of me. I ride along with Jim at work. Working on a dissertation about the 'thin blue line.'." Blair grinned. "That and last year my warehouse apartment blew up. Someone was cooking meth in the other half of the warehouse and boom. So Jim let me move in with him."

"Really? That was nice of him." Xander said.

"He headed back to Cascade this morning, to get stuff ready for when they let you out of here." Blair said. "He should be back sometime tomorrow."

"In the meantime, you can dish all the dirt on the Jim-man." Xander said with a grin, which got a laugh out of Blair.

"Oh man, dirt. Yeah, you could say I have some of that." Blair said with a grin.

The next couple hours had both Willow and Xander grinning and giggling as Blair tattled on Jim about some of his foibles and less-than-shining moments, though Blair was careful to never bring up anything directly related to the whole Sentinel gig. Xander might be one (or have the possibility of being one, since so far there wasn't any obvious signs of enhanced senses), and as Jim's kid he definitely had a right to know, but this wasn't the time or place for it, and besides, he and Jim hadn't actually talked about telling Xander so Blair didn't know if Jim would be ok with it.

"Now you know ... " Blair started.

"I never heard any of it from you." Xander said with a grin, still snickering. It hurt more than a little to laugh, but it felt good to at the same time. Definitely good to get his mind off things for a bit.

The day just got better a little before dinner. There was a knock and then Buffy poked her head around the door. "Hey, Xander. You awake in here?"

"Yup. Just shooting the breeze with Willow and Blair." Xander said.

She came in and gave his hand a squeeze, which was about as good as anyone could do by way of a hug. "How you doing?" She wanted to know.

"Fair to middling. Being stuck flat on my back sucks, but they're talking about starting me getting sat up tomorrow, which ought to be loads of fun." Xander grimaced. He was very much not looking forward to that, even if he knew it was a completely necessary thing. "And a bit babbly with the whole pain meds thing, but then I tend to babble even at the best of times, so hey."

Buffy grinned at him. "Well, if you're babbling, it can't be too bad. I'll save the worry for a babble-less Xander."

Xander showed his great maturity by sticking his tongue out at her. "Hey ... I kinda need to tell you, unless Giles did?"

"Told me what?" Buffy asked. Well, that answered that question, didn't it?

"Umm ... turns out, the guy that saved my neck is my dad. Mom showed up and blabbed."

Buffy blinked. "Whoah. That's ... kinda freaky. I mean ... " She slid a look Blair's way, clearly wanting to say something else, but they had company.

"Yeah, I know. Definitely of the weird. Good news is, he's willing to let me schleb around his place while I'm stitching myself back into a fully Xander-shaped piece, so that's of the good. I was so not looking forward to trying to deal with my folks like this." That way lay much badness, no question about it.

"But ... but that's, like, Washington!" Buffy objected, sounding nearly as put out as Willow had been.

"It's just for the summer, Buffy. Just pretend it's a vacation, ok? I'll be back." Xander told her. And he would be, too, one way or another. He couldn't, wouldn't walk out on the fight. Not after Jesse, and for damn sure not after the whole Master mess. Someone had to watch Buffy's back. Angel for damn sure wasn't, even if Xander had trusted the backstabbing liar, and Giles seemed to waffle between watching her back and not.

Buffy bit at her lip, but then sighed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Ok. Just the summer, though, mister, because otherwise I will come to Washington and drag you back. And I'm pretty sure Willow will be only too glad to help!"

Xander grinned at that. "No worries, Buff. You ladies are my best friends. I'm not in a big hurry to leave that behind."

"Hey, where is Mister Muscles anyway? And if you tell him I called him that, you're dead meat!" Buffy wanted to know.

"Back in Cascade, evidently, arranging things so I can go there." Xander answered.

Blair just sat back and watched the whole thing. He was a people-watcher by trade. Anthropology was, at its heart, all about observation of detail. It helped that Xander, Buffy, and Willow seemed to have forgotten his presence entirely. There was so much going on here Blair didn't even know where to begin. Xander and his friends were more than a bit of a mystery. First, the faking not knowing what had happened, when according to what Jim had overheard, Xander knew at least some of it. Then there was the over-reaction to the hyena by Willow. Xander's reaction was at least a touch more understandable, as he could see it. Willow, however, hadn't been able to see it, but had reacted with very real fear when Xander mentioned it. And now this little chat, which was so full of undecipherable (to him) subtext it wasn't funny. He was dying to poke his nose in and start asking questions, but somehow he didn't think that would go over any too well, so he kept his mouth shut, consoling himself that he'd have all summer to work on Xander. He also made a mental note to tell Jim that Xander intended to return to Sunnydale. Blair didn't know what that was about, but he foresaw a rather spectacular argument at some point in the future when the subject came up. Jim would want Xander to stay in Cascade.

June 3, Cascade, Washington.

Jim survived the plane trip to Cascade, if only barely. He grimaced and shook his head to try to clear the racket from his senses as he headed for the loft.

It took all of about an hour to make sure the walkways were clear of Blair's usual detritus, but several more to find a futon he thought wouldn't kill Xander's back and that the kid would be able to get out of until the full move was accomplished. He then had to set the thing up and rearrange the front room to accommodate it. It'd be a tight fit, but livable.

Then he went and grabbed his paperwork on the building. If he remembered right, there were a couple of apartments not being rented at the moment. One of them might be big enough to hold the three of them. Fifteen minutes of flipping through papers found him his answer. There was one. Better, for Xander's sake anyway, it was on the ground floor, and had three bedrooms. Small ones, by the measurements listed (the biggest was 12 feet square), but they'd each have rooms to themselves, which was definitely a good thing for the longer term.

That done, he called Simon to let him know what all was going on. "Hey Simon."

"Jim. How's the kid."

"Hopped on painkillers and a little wigged about finding out his dad wasn't who he thought it was, but otherwise fine the last time I saw him. I'm kind of worried about what he and Blair will do, teaming up on me." Jim told Simon.

Simon snorted in amusement. "Bit of a brat then, is he?"

"Not so you'd notice, but he's definitely got a weird sense of humor on him, though that could easily be the drugs talking. Anyway, how're things going?"

"Fine here. Rafe and H wrapped their case earlier today. No sign of any new crazies for the moment, but knowing this town, that won't last long, so hurry and get your ass back here, you hear me?"

"Right. Will do, Simon. Hopefully Xander will be cut loose in a couple of days, though getting him here will be fun. Think I'm going to have to rent a van for the trip ... sitting up for most of the day when your stomach's been torn up and stitched back together just a week ago is not fun."

"Hmmm, true."

"Talk to you later, Simon." Jim hung up. He still had another couple hours until his return flight, so he started boxing a few things. Eventually, it was time to head for the airport, and he locked up the loft before heading out.