New York 36/??: The cavalry - Giles/Xander
New York
by Dr Squidlove
drsquidlove@@@livejournal.com
Summary: Xander is thirty-seven. Divorced. Two kids. 4000 miles from Sunnydale and his Hellmouth childhood. Also, straight. Only someone forgot to tell Giles. In fact... where the hell is Giles?
Rated R for sex.
Thanks to gloriana and antennapedia for incredibly helpful mid-construction betas, and lunabee for early chapters, and to huzzlewhat for final checking on the run. And gloriana again for major late-construction revisions.
The Buffy universe is the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Borrowed with all due love and respect.
Please ask before archiving.
Feedback ohgodyesplease.
Full headers are on chapter one.
Wordcount this part: 3154
Gyaahhh. I really had not anticipated sixty-hour work-weeks being part off the 'major revisions at the end' plan.
Previously, in chapter 35:
Xander brought Jen and Kate to the hospital, and then it was his turn for some comfort... in a bathroom stall. Wesley sent along the good news that Mary can be fixed, except it's going to require hunting down the villain. On the maybe-good-news front, Buffy is on her way. Mich continued to be unimpressed by the lack of information-sharing, but figured out Xander and Giles for herself. Xander took the girls home, and lay awake musing about Buffy.
New York
chapter 36: The cavalry
by Dr Squidlove
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He called work to get the day off, called Mary's work, got the girls to school, called their guidance offices to keep an eye on them and was at the hospital before nine, braced for Mich's interrogation.
But Mich just met his gaze as he walked in and shook her head, looking almost as delicate as Mary. She looked down again, tightening her grip on Mary's hand. They didn't talk at all.
He didn't need to ask if the doctor mentioned any changes. Mary looked the same.
He leaned against the wall and waited, watching the clock tick Buffy's arrival closer and closer. He shouldn't have rushed. There wasn't anything to do here except wonder what Buffy was going to say when she came. How he was going to look her in the eye.
The last time Xander set eyes on Buffy was as he climbed into his rental car after the funeral.
Dawn had been standing in the doorway of the funeral home, nursing her injured arm, trying to kill him with her glare and feign indifference all at the same time. Tara and Buffy had walked with him to the car and then he opened the door and they all stood there. It was weird and awkward because no one was saying anything, until Xander finally shook his keys and said, "I guess I should go," and then Tara stepped forward and hugged him hard, but Buffy just stood there, not looking at him, arms folded. She'd been hammered by yet another end of the world, and she was thinking Xander blamed her for letting Willow get out of control while Xander was thinking she blamed him for not being there, and maybe if he'd taken a chance and reached out then they'd have been in touch all these years.
He wouldn't have stayed. Even if they'd hugged then, it wouldn't have kept him in Sunnydale. He'd lost his confidence in happy endings when Buffy died. The second time. Before that every apocalypse had been averted and followed with a party. And then she died for real, and they yanked her out of heaven, and he ruined his wedding, and Willow died. It was the year he learned that sometimes, things couldn't be fixed.
And that he didn't want to be part of it anymore.
If she did this - after she did this - Xander couldn't walk away again. Thanks for saving my ass, see you next time I can use you? What would Giles think of him, then?
But how could he keep his girls safe if he threw himself back in?
Mich coughed and Xander was jerked back to the wires, the beeping monitors standing guard over the bed, and realised he was worrying more about Buffy than Mary.
"Xander."
Giles. Xander smiled. He was in the doorway, tipping his head towards the corridor, and Xander slipped out to meet him.
There was a woman standing- "Oh, wow." Xander stared. She looked so different. And the same. Her hair was darker, cut right up to her ears, and she was all grown up. "Hey."
"Hey."
He took a couple of shuffling steps forward and she met him in the middle. Buffy to his rescue. Buffy hugging him. He squeezed his eyes shut, not caring that it hurt his face.
She didn't hold on long. "Ouch. Look at you." She brushed her hand over his grazed cheek. "I heard it's a jungle down there, so I hope you don't mind that we called in jungle-expert reinforcements."
Xander nodded at the guy behind her and then registered the stance and the folded arms, and then finally the face. "Riley?"
"Didn't think you were going to recognise me."
"Wow." He didn't look all that different; he was just... unexpected. A little heavier and going seriously grey.
"Super-secret military detachment at your service. I've got a team waiting on our go."
Big wow. "All the big guns." Xander looked between them. "How bad is this gate?"
Buffy glanced at Giles before turning to Xander. "For the world? Not much of a thing. But if the caster goes through, we won't be able to bring him back and wring him out."
"No antidote for Mary."
Riley stepped forward. "I've got people chasing down the yoga classmates, but it looks like there may have been more than one class. We can't be sure we'll find everyone."
Giles nodded. "We're going to have to assume they'll abduct another sacrifice."
Xander folded his arms as Mary's time squeezed and shortened around them. "So what's the plan?"
Buffy pushed up her sleeves. "The symbol's part of a portal-opening deal from the temple of a cult Nikki Wood broke back in the seventies. She wiped them out. Looks like someone's starting a revival. We don't know who this Next Gen crew is, but we're pretty sure vampires aren't the brains behind it. We do have a pretty good idea where they're based and we know exactly what they're trying. We need to stop the ritual, suck some blood out of the boss, and if we kill a few monsters on the way, then that's the frosting on the cupcake. Riley's team are going to keep the underground demon population occupied while Riley and I get us down there and Giles grabs what we need."
Of course Giles was planning on going down there, straight into scary central while Xander hung around up here, watching Mary breathe. "Who's covering Giles?"
Giles exchanged a look with Buffy. "I'll be fine."
"Then I guess it's me."
Buffy hesitated. "Are you sure?"
Giles touched his arm. "You don't have to-"
"Of course I do." Buffy, Giles, him. It was the old crew, what was left, and he couldn't trust anyone else with Giles' back. All Riley's soldiers may have had training and weapons and actual skills, but they didn't have Xander's desperation to keep Giles whole. Xander knew desperation counted for a lot. "Scoobies ride again."
His eyes met Giles' and held. He expected approval, a smile or a nod, but there was only worry and determination. Giles would have brought home Mary's cure even if Xander did stay behind.
Riley jerked his thumb behind him. "This is Sergeant Perez. She's going to keep an eye out here."
Xander glanced up at the woman waiting by the elevator. Jeans and a leather jacket didn't exactly make her look like a civillian. "I really wasn't looking to advertise my past to-"
Buffy's head jerked up. "Hi."
Damn. Xander turned, knowing who he'd see. Mich.
"Hello." She extended her hand. "I'm Xander's sister-in-law, Michiko Tanaka."
"I'm Buffy." No more.
"Riley."
Mich looked them over, measuring, taking mental notes for Mary. Good for her, but they didn't have time for it. Xander drew breath to push them for the exit.
"What branch?" Her question stopped everyone.
Riley didn't bother to misunderstand. "Army. Colonel Riley Finn."
She was impressed.
So was Xander, but he didn't have time for it. "Get your team ready. Buffy, Giles, I'll meet you downstairs."
They all headed for the elevator, leaving him with Mich. "Mich, I have to go out. If I don't call you before two-thirty, can you pick up the girls?"
"Where are you going?"
"Taking care of things."
"Who are they?"
Xander glanced up to where Buffy was watching from the elevator doors. Mich had no idea how big a question that was. "What do you want from me? They're helping."
"I want to know what's wrong with my sister. And why you're keeping it secret and since when can you give orders to fucking full-bird colonels?"
"Orders? I'm not- No, he's a friend. I'm sorry, okay, but you're going to have to trust me. I'm doing what I can."
He moved to leave but she grabbed his forearm, fingers sinking in. It took a moment before she said, "You just remember that they've already got one parent in hospital."
"Believe me, I know." It still got his skin crawling, to hear her say it. If they ended up with two, he'd never forgive himself. That still wasn't a good enough reason to stay behind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Giles and Wesley had pegged their destination as beneath the city way-uptown, off the 2,3 train near 116th. Riley's people had found an entrance through an underground parking garage and turned it into their own den of chaos. Giles had gotten a call from Wesley and he and Riley were poring over the blueprints on the back of an army truck.
Xander was standing between a mess of military vehicles, staring down a black, black hole.
Buffy slipped up beside him and punched his arm. "You ready?"
"Never."
He took a deep breath and started down the ladder, biting back the pained grunts as he worked all the tender places from yesterday's beating. He landed in a stale concrete tunnel, not thinking of the last time he was in one of these. He gripped his stake and his axe, trying to stop the fuzziness crowding in the edge of his vision from coming any closer. It was probably weird that standing here in a dank tunnel, hyperventilating, some part of him felt strangely at home. Buffy was going to save his world all over again.
Buffy dropped down beside him and slid her sword into her belt. "Well, I'm feeling right at home."
Xander spread his hands. "Life of a superhero. See the world."
"I prefer the exterior view."
Seventeen again, witty banter, good versus evil and everyone was invincible. Xander smiled grimly. If he survived the humiliation of wetting his pants. That feeling was familiar, too.
She gave him a push and they headed deeper in, giving Riley's team room to climb down and pass down equipment. "Like nothing's changed since the first time you and I went through the tunnels together, trying to stop the Harvest."
Xander tried to peer deeper into the darkness. "Funny, 'cos I was thinking about when everyone got turned into zombies by our egg baby projects and dug tunnels under the school."
"The sword-waving Eliminati guys cornered Faith and me in the sewers."
"The Initiative headquarters."
Buffy stepped in a puddle and screwed up her face. "Hunting the swim team."
Xander took a long breath. "Our childhood sucked."
She laughed and turned to face him, arms folded. "So you're dating my Watcher."
Xander wondered if this was why she pushed him down here ahead of everyone else. Would the soldiers over there step in if she started kicking him around? He leaned against the wall, going for the look of a man who was casual but prepared. That was probably a mistake. The bricks were sticky. "I don't know what it's called beyond left field, but I think that's where we are." A fist clenched inside Xander's stomach, waiting for the arm-waving indignation.
"Nah. Left field's way lefter than that."
The fist eased. Giles hadn't been kidding. "Why do I get the feeling I should never ask?" The shame-filled look that passed over her face made him even more sure of it. If she dated worse than Angel, he really didn't want to know.
"He's crazy about you, you know."
"Yeah, I got the memo." He couldn't help his grin. It was cool to hear it from an outside source, though.
She kept watching him, eyes bright in the gloom. "Did you really get it? I wasn't even surprised when he told me because I had a three-day lead-up of the best of Xander Harris, New York edition. Two hours non-stop about you before he confessed. Twenty minutes on the way you smile. I've never heard him talk about anything less than a thousand years old for twenty minutes."
"Really?"
"And defensive techniques. He can do a solid hour on those."
Xander looked back up the tunnel, expecting to see Giles strolling up to extoll the virtues of Xander Harris, but it was still just soldiers, catching the bags and weird-shaped packages that were being tossed down the hole. He wondered if she knew everything. About what a colossal asshole he'd been. If she was telling him this to boost his ego, or if it was her version of The Talk. "What about you?"
"I'm between disasters at the moment. Enjoying the single Buffy."
"Don't think..." Okay, this probably wasn't the time to start this, but it looked like he just had. The soldiers were busy dividing up equipment, not paying any attention to them, and Giles was probably checking and re-checking his sources up top. "Just because I'm over here, and I've broken all contact, that doesn't mean I don't miss you like crazy."
She bit her lip, and blinked. "And just because I let you go doesn't mean I don't miss you."
They smiled at each other, and everything was suddenly a hundred times easier.
Xander wanted to hug her, but he didn't. He wanted to tell her he was doing okay - okay with a side dish of awesome since Giles showed up and tripped his heterosexuality on its face. He wanted to tell her Willow wasn't her fault, but he didn't know how to start anything that big, when any minute they were going to be interrupted by-
Hurried footsteps turned them both towards the entrance, and there was Giles. Xander's Giles, who talked non-stop about him to Buffy. Behind him a dozen soldiers were waiting, as Riley and the Captain hammered out last-minute details.
"You're ready?"
Something in his voice made Xander's guts twist. "What's happened?"
"They haven't been able to track down some of Mary's classmates. There could be any number of reasons-"
"-and one of those reasons is that one of them's replacing Mary in the role of door key."
Buffy was back to business. "Guess that makes it time to go. I hate interdimensional gates. Riley!"
Riley bounced up. "So let's see if I still know the right end of a stake." He tossed a stake up in a spinning arc and caught it with a grin. He looked to Buffy. "The two teams have their routes. They'll find us down there. Lead the way, boss."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Buffy led the way. Giles followed. Xander was probably too close to Giles, but he wasn't actually gripping onto his jacket so he figured he was doing okay. Riley brought up the rear. Riley had offered the best of the latest military toys, but except for their wrist flashlights, they'd - mostly - stuck with the classics: a sword for Giles, Xander with a stake in every pocket and an axe in his hand. Buffy had a sword and an arsenal of stakes, along with a few sheathed daggers. Soon they were out of reach of the army's base lamps, shadows bouncing crazily under their bobbing flashlights. Grey, rust-streaked walls were punctuated with red water pipes and yellow railings and years of graffiti. Some of the kids who left it probably never left the tunnels. From overhead there was rumbling traffic and muffled horns.
Xander remembered how it felt back in Sunnydale, the watery-kneed fear of dying, or of pain, which had been even scarier. He'd forgotten it had been a little bit fun, too. Exciting and heroic and twistedly comforting, because no matter what else was wrong, whatever other stupid teenage stuff was going on with him and Will and Buffy, when the demons were at the door he'd known they'd all defend each other with their lives.
It wasn't fun, now. Pain still scared him but it was nothing next to the paralysing terror that if this went wrong, Jen and Kate could be orphaned today. Or even if he just got injured... here he was walking towards fairytale monsters, and in the back of his mind he was calculating how far his health insurance could cover him, how long his savings would pay the rent, the school fees, the groceries. Or what if he got Giles or Buffy hurt, and all those problems rippled through their lives? What if Giles lost his job, or hospital bills drove him back to England? Xander stared at Giles' back, wishing he knew a few protection incantations.
What if they were too late, and Xander had to raise the girls alone?
Giles' flashlight shone up over the wall, over a big stylised red arrow aimed in the direction they were headed, to the word 'HELL', complete with horns and flames. Giles stopped. And fangs. Xander told his bladder to hold on as they started up again.
He peered into the side-tunnels they passed, half-expecting to see yellow eyes shining back like a Scooby Doo cartoon. There was nothing except his own brain straining to make shapes out of the blackness. His steps seemed louder than everyone else's, out of time. His breath seemed louder. It was hot and his mouth was dry. He was crazy for coming. Slayer, soldier, watcher, Xander. Xander was going to need saving again.
Something chittered and Xander grabbed for Giles and Giles yelped and Xander almost fell on his ass trying not to get staked, and they both clutched their chests, panting.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked.
"That was me making a fool of myself," gasped Giles.
Xander shrugged, wiping off his sweaty palm and getting a better grip on his axe. "Sorry."
"I meant the sound before that, the one straight off the Halloween foley archive."
Giles and Xander shared a look. "Those were the ones that came for us in the food bin," said Giles.
"That's good," said Riley, "'cause those sketches of yours weren't creepy enough."
Xander swept his flashlight around. "We're miles from where we got taken last time. What the hell are they doing all the way up here?" He shone it in Giles' face. "I thought you said this wasn't connected?"
Giles covered his eyes until Xander lowered the light. "It probably isn't. Those things seem to be all through the tunnel system. Nikki called them 'leptirica'."
"Great."
Buffy got moving, and they fell in behind her. "I'm sorry," Xander said again, just to Giles this time.
Giles squeezed his elbow. "I intensely dislike those creatures."
"Let's not get one as a pet."
The side of Giles' mouth lifted in a smile just for Xander. They hadn't had a moment alone since the bathroom yesterday, which had been a pretty good moment, as moments went, but it was yesterday. Xander wanted to tell him how glad he was Giles was here, to at least put an arm around him, show him something, but Giles was already following Buffy and Riley.
Buffy stopped at the top of a stairwell. "This is our door." Their super-military flashlights didn't penetrate the hanging dust at all. The stairs were rickety woven aluminum, the sort that shook and rattled under Buffy's first couple of steps. She gave them a long look, and then started down into the black.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
end chapter 36
Dr Squidlove appreciates feedback. Tasty, tasty feedback.
by Dr Squidlove
drsquidlove@@@livejournal.com
Summary: Xander is thirty-seven. Divorced. Two kids. 4000 miles from Sunnydale and his Hellmouth childhood. Also, straight. Only someone forgot to tell Giles. In fact... where the hell is Giles?
Rated R for sex.
Thanks to gloriana and antennapedia for incredibly helpful mid-construction betas, and lunabee for early chapters, and to huzzlewhat for final checking on the run. And gloriana again for major late-construction revisions.
The Buffy universe is the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Borrowed with all due love and respect.
Please ask before archiving.
Feedback ohgodyesplease.
Full headers are on chapter one.
Wordcount this part: 3154
Gyaahhh. I really had not anticipated sixty-hour work-weeks being part off the 'major revisions at the end' plan.
Previously, in chapter 35:
Xander brought Jen and Kate to the hospital, and then it was his turn for some comfort... in a bathroom stall. Wesley sent along the good news that Mary can be fixed, except it's going to require hunting down the villain. On the maybe-good-news front, Buffy is on her way. Mich continued to be unimpressed by the lack of information-sharing, but figured out Xander and Giles for herself. Xander took the girls home, and lay awake musing about Buffy.
New York
chapter 36: The cavalry
by Dr Squidlove
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He called work to get the day off, called Mary's work, got the girls to school, called their guidance offices to keep an eye on them and was at the hospital before nine, braced for Mich's interrogation.
But Mich just met his gaze as he walked in and shook her head, looking almost as delicate as Mary. She looked down again, tightening her grip on Mary's hand. They didn't talk at all.
He didn't need to ask if the doctor mentioned any changes. Mary looked the same.
He leaned against the wall and waited, watching the clock tick Buffy's arrival closer and closer. He shouldn't have rushed. There wasn't anything to do here except wonder what Buffy was going to say when she came. How he was going to look her in the eye.
The last time Xander set eyes on Buffy was as he climbed into his rental car after the funeral.
Dawn had been standing in the doorway of the funeral home, nursing her injured arm, trying to kill him with her glare and feign indifference all at the same time. Tara and Buffy had walked with him to the car and then he opened the door and they all stood there. It was weird and awkward because no one was saying anything, until Xander finally shook his keys and said, "I guess I should go," and then Tara stepped forward and hugged him hard, but Buffy just stood there, not looking at him, arms folded. She'd been hammered by yet another end of the world, and she was thinking Xander blamed her for letting Willow get out of control while Xander was thinking she blamed him for not being there, and maybe if he'd taken a chance and reached out then they'd have been in touch all these years.
He wouldn't have stayed. Even if they'd hugged then, it wouldn't have kept him in Sunnydale. He'd lost his confidence in happy endings when Buffy died. The second time. Before that every apocalypse had been averted and followed with a party. And then she died for real, and they yanked her out of heaven, and he ruined his wedding, and Willow died. It was the year he learned that sometimes, things couldn't be fixed.
And that he didn't want to be part of it anymore.
If she did this - after she did this - Xander couldn't walk away again. Thanks for saving my ass, see you next time I can use you? What would Giles think of him, then?
But how could he keep his girls safe if he threw himself back in?
Mich coughed and Xander was jerked back to the wires, the beeping monitors standing guard over the bed, and realised he was worrying more about Buffy than Mary.
"Xander."
Giles. Xander smiled. He was in the doorway, tipping his head towards the corridor, and Xander slipped out to meet him.
There was a woman standing- "Oh, wow." Xander stared. She looked so different. And the same. Her hair was darker, cut right up to her ears, and she was all grown up. "Hey."
"Hey."
He took a couple of shuffling steps forward and she met him in the middle. Buffy to his rescue. Buffy hugging him. He squeezed his eyes shut, not caring that it hurt his face.
She didn't hold on long. "Ouch. Look at you." She brushed her hand over his grazed cheek. "I heard it's a jungle down there, so I hope you don't mind that we called in jungle-expert reinforcements."
Xander nodded at the guy behind her and then registered the stance and the folded arms, and then finally the face. "Riley?"
"Didn't think you were going to recognise me."
"Wow." He didn't look all that different; he was just... unexpected. A little heavier and going seriously grey.
"Super-secret military detachment at your service. I've got a team waiting on our go."
Big wow. "All the big guns." Xander looked between them. "How bad is this gate?"
Buffy glanced at Giles before turning to Xander. "For the world? Not much of a thing. But if the caster goes through, we won't be able to bring him back and wring him out."
"No antidote for Mary."
Riley stepped forward. "I've got people chasing down the yoga classmates, but it looks like there may have been more than one class. We can't be sure we'll find everyone."
Giles nodded. "We're going to have to assume they'll abduct another sacrifice."
Xander folded his arms as Mary's time squeezed and shortened around them. "So what's the plan?"
Buffy pushed up her sleeves. "The symbol's part of a portal-opening deal from the temple of a cult Nikki Wood broke back in the seventies. She wiped them out. Looks like someone's starting a revival. We don't know who this Next Gen crew is, but we're pretty sure vampires aren't the brains behind it. We do have a pretty good idea where they're based and we know exactly what they're trying. We need to stop the ritual, suck some blood out of the boss, and if we kill a few monsters on the way, then that's the frosting on the cupcake. Riley's team are going to keep the underground demon population occupied while Riley and I get us down there and Giles grabs what we need."
Of course Giles was planning on going down there, straight into scary central while Xander hung around up here, watching Mary breathe. "Who's covering Giles?"
Giles exchanged a look with Buffy. "I'll be fine."
"Then I guess it's me."
Buffy hesitated. "Are you sure?"
Giles touched his arm. "You don't have to-"
"Of course I do." Buffy, Giles, him. It was the old crew, what was left, and he couldn't trust anyone else with Giles' back. All Riley's soldiers may have had training and weapons and actual skills, but they didn't have Xander's desperation to keep Giles whole. Xander knew desperation counted for a lot. "Scoobies ride again."
His eyes met Giles' and held. He expected approval, a smile or a nod, but there was only worry and determination. Giles would have brought home Mary's cure even if Xander did stay behind.
Riley jerked his thumb behind him. "This is Sergeant Perez. She's going to keep an eye out here."
Xander glanced up at the woman waiting by the elevator. Jeans and a leather jacket didn't exactly make her look like a civillian. "I really wasn't looking to advertise my past to-"
Buffy's head jerked up. "Hi."
Damn. Xander turned, knowing who he'd see. Mich.
"Hello." She extended her hand. "I'm Xander's sister-in-law, Michiko Tanaka."
"I'm Buffy." No more.
"Riley."
Mich looked them over, measuring, taking mental notes for Mary. Good for her, but they didn't have time for it. Xander drew breath to push them for the exit.
"What branch?" Her question stopped everyone.
Riley didn't bother to misunderstand. "Army. Colonel Riley Finn."
She was impressed.
So was Xander, but he didn't have time for it. "Get your team ready. Buffy, Giles, I'll meet you downstairs."
They all headed for the elevator, leaving him with Mich. "Mich, I have to go out. If I don't call you before two-thirty, can you pick up the girls?"
"Where are you going?"
"Taking care of things."
"Who are they?"
Xander glanced up to where Buffy was watching from the elevator doors. Mich had no idea how big a question that was. "What do you want from me? They're helping."
"I want to know what's wrong with my sister. And why you're keeping it secret and since when can you give orders to fucking full-bird colonels?"
"Orders? I'm not- No, he's a friend. I'm sorry, okay, but you're going to have to trust me. I'm doing what I can."
He moved to leave but she grabbed his forearm, fingers sinking in. It took a moment before she said, "You just remember that they've already got one parent in hospital."
"Believe me, I know." It still got his skin crawling, to hear her say it. If they ended up with two, he'd never forgive himself. That still wasn't a good enough reason to stay behind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Giles and Wesley had pegged their destination as beneath the city way-uptown, off the 2,3 train near 116th. Riley's people had found an entrance through an underground parking garage and turned it into their own den of chaos. Giles had gotten a call from Wesley and he and Riley were poring over the blueprints on the back of an army truck.
Xander was standing between a mess of military vehicles, staring down a black, black hole.
Buffy slipped up beside him and punched his arm. "You ready?"
"Never."
He took a deep breath and started down the ladder, biting back the pained grunts as he worked all the tender places from yesterday's beating. He landed in a stale concrete tunnel, not thinking of the last time he was in one of these. He gripped his stake and his axe, trying to stop the fuzziness crowding in the edge of his vision from coming any closer. It was probably weird that standing here in a dank tunnel, hyperventilating, some part of him felt strangely at home. Buffy was going to save his world all over again.
Buffy dropped down beside him and slid her sword into her belt. "Well, I'm feeling right at home."
Xander spread his hands. "Life of a superhero. See the world."
"I prefer the exterior view."
Seventeen again, witty banter, good versus evil and everyone was invincible. Xander smiled grimly. If he survived the humiliation of wetting his pants. That feeling was familiar, too.
She gave him a push and they headed deeper in, giving Riley's team room to climb down and pass down equipment. "Like nothing's changed since the first time you and I went through the tunnels together, trying to stop the Harvest."
Xander tried to peer deeper into the darkness. "Funny, 'cos I was thinking about when everyone got turned into zombies by our egg baby projects and dug tunnels under the school."
"The sword-waving Eliminati guys cornered Faith and me in the sewers."
"The Initiative headquarters."
Buffy stepped in a puddle and screwed up her face. "Hunting the swim team."
Xander took a long breath. "Our childhood sucked."
She laughed and turned to face him, arms folded. "So you're dating my Watcher."
Xander wondered if this was why she pushed him down here ahead of everyone else. Would the soldiers over there step in if she started kicking him around? He leaned against the wall, going for the look of a man who was casual but prepared. That was probably a mistake. The bricks were sticky. "I don't know what it's called beyond left field, but I think that's where we are." A fist clenched inside Xander's stomach, waiting for the arm-waving indignation.
"Nah. Left field's way lefter than that."
The fist eased. Giles hadn't been kidding. "Why do I get the feeling I should never ask?" The shame-filled look that passed over her face made him even more sure of it. If she dated worse than Angel, he really didn't want to know.
"He's crazy about you, you know."
"Yeah, I got the memo." He couldn't help his grin. It was cool to hear it from an outside source, though.
She kept watching him, eyes bright in the gloom. "Did you really get it? I wasn't even surprised when he told me because I had a three-day lead-up of the best of Xander Harris, New York edition. Two hours non-stop about you before he confessed. Twenty minutes on the way you smile. I've never heard him talk about anything less than a thousand years old for twenty minutes."
"Really?"
"And defensive techniques. He can do a solid hour on those."
Xander looked back up the tunnel, expecting to see Giles strolling up to extoll the virtues of Xander Harris, but it was still just soldiers, catching the bags and weird-shaped packages that were being tossed down the hole. He wondered if she knew everything. About what a colossal asshole he'd been. If she was telling him this to boost his ego, or if it was her version of The Talk. "What about you?"
"I'm between disasters at the moment. Enjoying the single Buffy."
"Don't think..." Okay, this probably wasn't the time to start this, but it looked like he just had. The soldiers were busy dividing up equipment, not paying any attention to them, and Giles was probably checking and re-checking his sources up top. "Just because I'm over here, and I've broken all contact, that doesn't mean I don't miss you like crazy."
She bit her lip, and blinked. "And just because I let you go doesn't mean I don't miss you."
They smiled at each other, and everything was suddenly a hundred times easier.
Xander wanted to hug her, but he didn't. He wanted to tell her he was doing okay - okay with a side dish of awesome since Giles showed up and tripped his heterosexuality on its face. He wanted to tell her Willow wasn't her fault, but he didn't know how to start anything that big, when any minute they were going to be interrupted by-
Hurried footsteps turned them both towards the entrance, and there was Giles. Xander's Giles, who talked non-stop about him to Buffy. Behind him a dozen soldiers were waiting, as Riley and the Captain hammered out last-minute details.
"You're ready?"
Something in his voice made Xander's guts twist. "What's happened?"
"They haven't been able to track down some of Mary's classmates. There could be any number of reasons-"
"-and one of those reasons is that one of them's replacing Mary in the role of door key."
Buffy was back to business. "Guess that makes it time to go. I hate interdimensional gates. Riley!"
Riley bounced up. "So let's see if I still know the right end of a stake." He tossed a stake up in a spinning arc and caught it with a grin. He looked to Buffy. "The two teams have their routes. They'll find us down there. Lead the way, boss."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Buffy led the way. Giles followed. Xander was probably too close to Giles, but he wasn't actually gripping onto his jacket so he figured he was doing okay. Riley brought up the rear. Riley had offered the best of the latest military toys, but except for their wrist flashlights, they'd - mostly - stuck with the classics: a sword for Giles, Xander with a stake in every pocket and an axe in his hand. Buffy had a sword and an arsenal of stakes, along with a few sheathed daggers. Soon they were out of reach of the army's base lamps, shadows bouncing crazily under their bobbing flashlights. Grey, rust-streaked walls were punctuated with red water pipes and yellow railings and years of graffiti. Some of the kids who left it probably never left the tunnels. From overhead there was rumbling traffic and muffled horns.
Xander remembered how it felt back in Sunnydale, the watery-kneed fear of dying, or of pain, which had been even scarier. He'd forgotten it had been a little bit fun, too. Exciting and heroic and twistedly comforting, because no matter what else was wrong, whatever other stupid teenage stuff was going on with him and Will and Buffy, when the demons were at the door he'd known they'd all defend each other with their lives.
It wasn't fun, now. Pain still scared him but it was nothing next to the paralysing terror that if this went wrong, Jen and Kate could be orphaned today. Or even if he just got injured... here he was walking towards fairytale monsters, and in the back of his mind he was calculating how far his health insurance could cover him, how long his savings would pay the rent, the school fees, the groceries. Or what if he got Giles or Buffy hurt, and all those problems rippled through their lives? What if Giles lost his job, or hospital bills drove him back to England? Xander stared at Giles' back, wishing he knew a few protection incantations.
What if they were too late, and Xander had to raise the girls alone?
Giles' flashlight shone up over the wall, over a big stylised red arrow aimed in the direction they were headed, to the word 'HELL', complete with horns and flames. Giles stopped. And fangs. Xander told his bladder to hold on as they started up again.
He peered into the side-tunnels they passed, half-expecting to see yellow eyes shining back like a Scooby Doo cartoon. There was nothing except his own brain straining to make shapes out of the blackness. His steps seemed louder than everyone else's, out of time. His breath seemed louder. It was hot and his mouth was dry. He was crazy for coming. Slayer, soldier, watcher, Xander. Xander was going to need saving again.
Something chittered and Xander grabbed for Giles and Giles yelped and Xander almost fell on his ass trying not to get staked, and they both clutched their chests, panting.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked.
"That was me making a fool of myself," gasped Giles.
Xander shrugged, wiping off his sweaty palm and getting a better grip on his axe. "Sorry."
"I meant the sound before that, the one straight off the Halloween foley archive."
Giles and Xander shared a look. "Those were the ones that came for us in the food bin," said Giles.
"That's good," said Riley, "'cause those sketches of yours weren't creepy enough."
Xander swept his flashlight around. "We're miles from where we got taken last time. What the hell are they doing all the way up here?" He shone it in Giles' face. "I thought you said this wasn't connected?"
Giles covered his eyes until Xander lowered the light. "It probably isn't. Those things seem to be all through the tunnel system. Nikki called them 'leptirica'."
"Great."
Buffy got moving, and they fell in behind her. "I'm sorry," Xander said again, just to Giles this time.
Giles squeezed his elbow. "I intensely dislike those creatures."
"Let's not get one as a pet."
The side of Giles' mouth lifted in a smile just for Xander. They hadn't had a moment alone since the bathroom yesterday, which had been a pretty good moment, as moments went, but it was yesterday. Xander wanted to tell him how glad he was Giles was here, to at least put an arm around him, show him something, but Giles was already following Buffy and Riley.
Buffy stopped at the top of a stairwell. "This is our door." Their super-military flashlights didn't penetrate the hanging dust at all. The stairs were rickety woven aluminum, the sort that shook and rattled under Buffy's first couple of steps. She gave them a long look, and then started down into the black.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
end chapter 36
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