Solid Ground - Part 10 - Driving
Title: Solid Ground - Part 10 - Driving
Author: Xanfan
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: eventually, X/A
Summary: SLASH - Xander is assaulted by his secret boyfriend and needs to get out of Sunnydale to heal. He and Tara go to L.A. to recover from their screwed up lives.
Spoilers: Up through most of season six of BtVS, goes AU at end of Entropy. Through season 4 of Angel, Okay, just pretty much anything from all seasons of both shows is fair game.
Warnings: SLASH M/M, violence, description of non-con.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Anya broke up with Xander after “Once More with Feeling” He began another relationship not long after that. Buffy never told Tara why she wanted to know if she ‘came back wrong’, so Tara doesn’t know about her and Spike. Tara doesn’t die, because she isn’t there to get back together with Willow. This takes place right after Xander & Buffy see Anya and Spike on video, courtesy of spy cams.
___________________________________________
It hadn’t taken long for Xander’s doctor to come and take a look at him. The doctor was familiar with Xander and knew of the young man’s dislike of hospitals, so he had no problem clearing him for release. Xander always seemed to get better faster outside of the hospital.
So here they were, all piled into Angel’s car and heading towards LA.
Angel looked sideways at his son sitting next to him in the front passenger seat. He had to admit that he was impressed with how Connor had handled everything. The usual open hostility that permeated Connor’s attitude towards him had been replaced by a wary watchfulness since their arrival at the hospital.
The vampire glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled sadly at the tableau. Xander laid across the back seat with his head on Tara’s lap and his feet on Cordy’s. There had been some gentle (for Cordy) teasing about not wanting to have his stinky feet touching her, but she had gracefully settled in and even given Xander a couple of tickles to the bottoms of his feet just to show she wasn’t serious.
It hadn’t taken long for Xander to nod off with Tara’s hand petting his hair and the motions of the moving vehicle rocking him to sleep, not to mention the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion that were weighing him down.
Every once in awhile a slight whimper would erupt and the girls would soothe him with a gentle touch and soft words of comfort.
If he hadn’t been driving, Angel would have loved to sketch the beautiful and loving picture they made.
*****
Connor looked sideways at the vampire sitting next to him in the driver’s seat.
He noticed that Angel repeatedly glanced in the rearview mirror. Connor knew it wasn’t to check out his reflection, so he must be looking at his friends.
Connor himself kept looking at Angel to search for glimpses of the monster that he had been raised to hate. While he had seen a glimpse of the demon in Angel’s eyes earlier, it had been in response to what had been done to Xander.
He noticed that happened a lot, the demon coming out in defense of a friend or the innocents Angel sought to protect. But, in the absence of danger or potential harm, the thing who called himself Connor’s dad seemed to be… .almost a man.
It made Connor think. He would need to watch some more, but it appeared that Holtz’s view of Angel had been a little skewed. Or not, it was so hard to tell what was real and what was not. Cordelia and the others trusted Angel and wanted him to trust Angel. Maybe he needed to form his own opinions instead of relying solely on the opinions of others. Not necessarily give Angel the benefit of the doubt, but at least set aside some of the hatred.
So, yes, he would wait and watch and see who or what this vampire with a soul really was.
*****
Tara absently brushed her hand across Xander’s dark hair. She took as much comfort in the action as she gave.
She let her mind wander a little, over the events of the past few months, over her feelings for this man, over her feelings for his childhood friend.
The timid looking witch could admit here in her own mind that she had been pretty close to folding. If she hadn’t had Xander to support her, she might have gone back to Willow awhile ago, out of loneliness if nothing else. But Xander had made sure Tara wasn’t alone, wasn’t starved for friendship or human touch. Sure, it hadn’t been sexual touch, but Xander-hugs made up for a whole lot. And honestly, what she had missed the most was casual affectionate touching.
Tara wondered what would have happened if she and Xander hadn’t been so close; something deep in her soul told her that it wouldn’t have been good.
So Tara once again prayed to her goddess, thanking her for Xander’s friendship and support and asking for his recovery and well-being.
Despite the drama of the past couple of days, Tara believed that things would be okay. That Xander would get better, that his mind and body would heal. He just had to, because where would she be if he didn’t?
*****
Cordelia absently brushed her hand across Xander’s lower leg and foot, skirting the edge of the ticklish spot just inside the arch of his foot, careful not to disturb his much needed rest. She took secret comfort in the feel of the flannel of the pajama bottoms they had dressed him in. She would never admit out loud that in some instances, flannel was better than silk. Well, at least the bottoms weren’t plaid, just a solid navy blue. And they went nicely with the grey t-shirt she had picked out for him to wear.
She was once again forced to wonder how this could have happened. Well, she knew how, but not why.
But she was pretty sure she knew who.
Cordy wasn’t stupid; she played the ditz on occasion, but she wasn’t stupid. She noticed things. Like what Xander had and hadn’t said over the last few months about life in Sunnydale and his love life. And a certain bleached menace.
No, not Buffy. The other one.
Xander’s tone of voice changed when they talked about Spike, softened even. She knew that tone of voice. She had heard it herself back in the day. The Cordelia-and-Xander days.
And Cordelia knew that Angel had picked up on something at the hospital that had enraged him. So she did the math, added two and two and came up with one chipped vampire.
She was pretty sure that Angel hadn’t found Spike on his little ‘packing’ excursion.
Good. Oh, not that she wanted Spike to survive. More like she wanted to be there and help with the torture before they dusted his pale ass. She was thinking she would make him listen to Angel singing Barry Manilow. Then, maybe Barney videos…..oh, the possibilities. Of course Angel would have already plucked out all his toenails and used hot pokers to hold him to the wall as a captive audience, that was pretty much a given.
Previous Chapters
Author: Xanfan
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: eventually, X/A
Summary: SLASH - Xander is assaulted by his secret boyfriend and needs to get out of Sunnydale to heal. He and Tara go to L.A. to recover from their screwed up lives.
Spoilers: Up through most of season six of BtVS, goes AU at end of Entropy. Through season 4 of Angel, Okay, just pretty much anything from all seasons of both shows is fair game.
Warnings: SLASH M/M, violence, description of non-con.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Anya broke up with Xander after “Once More with Feeling” He began another relationship not long after that. Buffy never told Tara why she wanted to know if she ‘came back wrong’, so Tara doesn’t know about her and Spike. Tara doesn’t die, because she isn’t there to get back together with Willow. This takes place right after Xander & Buffy see Anya and Spike on video, courtesy of spy cams.
___________________________________________
It hadn’t taken long for Xander’s doctor to come and take a look at him. The doctor was familiar with Xander and knew of the young man’s dislike of hospitals, so he had no problem clearing him for release. Xander always seemed to get better faster outside of the hospital.
So here they were, all piled into Angel’s car and heading towards LA.
Angel looked sideways at his son sitting next to him in the front passenger seat. He had to admit that he was impressed with how Connor had handled everything. The usual open hostility that permeated Connor’s attitude towards him had been replaced by a wary watchfulness since their arrival at the hospital.
The vampire glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled sadly at the tableau. Xander laid across the back seat with his head on Tara’s lap and his feet on Cordy’s. There had been some gentle (for Cordy) teasing about not wanting to have his stinky feet touching her, but she had gracefully settled in and even given Xander a couple of tickles to the bottoms of his feet just to show she wasn’t serious.
It hadn’t taken long for Xander to nod off with Tara’s hand petting his hair and the motions of the moving vehicle rocking him to sleep, not to mention the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion that were weighing him down.
Every once in awhile a slight whimper would erupt and the girls would soothe him with a gentle touch and soft words of comfort.
If he hadn’t been driving, Angel would have loved to sketch the beautiful and loving picture they made.
*****
Connor looked sideways at the vampire sitting next to him in the driver’s seat.
He noticed that Angel repeatedly glanced in the rearview mirror. Connor knew it wasn’t to check out his reflection, so he must be looking at his friends.
Connor himself kept looking at Angel to search for glimpses of the monster that he had been raised to hate. While he had seen a glimpse of the demon in Angel’s eyes earlier, it had been in response to what had been done to Xander.
He noticed that happened a lot, the demon coming out in defense of a friend or the innocents Angel sought to protect. But, in the absence of danger or potential harm, the thing who called himself Connor’s dad seemed to be… .almost a man.
It made Connor think. He would need to watch some more, but it appeared that Holtz’s view of Angel had been a little skewed. Or not, it was so hard to tell what was real and what was not. Cordelia and the others trusted Angel and wanted him to trust Angel. Maybe he needed to form his own opinions instead of relying solely on the opinions of others. Not necessarily give Angel the benefit of the doubt, but at least set aside some of the hatred.
So, yes, he would wait and watch and see who or what this vampire with a soul really was.
*****
Tara absently brushed her hand across Xander’s dark hair. She took as much comfort in the action as she gave.
She let her mind wander a little, over the events of the past few months, over her feelings for this man, over her feelings for his childhood friend.
The timid looking witch could admit here in her own mind that she had been pretty close to folding. If she hadn’t had Xander to support her, she might have gone back to Willow awhile ago, out of loneliness if nothing else. But Xander had made sure Tara wasn’t alone, wasn’t starved for friendship or human touch. Sure, it hadn’t been sexual touch, but Xander-hugs made up for a whole lot. And honestly, what she had missed the most was casual affectionate touching.
Tara wondered what would have happened if she and Xander hadn’t been so close; something deep in her soul told her that it wouldn’t have been good.
So Tara once again prayed to her goddess, thanking her for Xander’s friendship and support and asking for his recovery and well-being.
Despite the drama of the past couple of days, Tara believed that things would be okay. That Xander would get better, that his mind and body would heal. He just had to, because where would she be if he didn’t?
*****
Cordelia absently brushed her hand across Xander’s lower leg and foot, skirting the edge of the ticklish spot just inside the arch of his foot, careful not to disturb his much needed rest. She took secret comfort in the feel of the flannel of the pajama bottoms they had dressed him in. She would never admit out loud that in some instances, flannel was better than silk. Well, at least the bottoms weren’t plaid, just a solid navy blue. And they went nicely with the grey t-shirt she had picked out for him to wear.
She was once again forced to wonder how this could have happened. Well, she knew how, but not why.
But she was pretty sure she knew who.
Cordy wasn’t stupid; she played the ditz on occasion, but she wasn’t stupid. She noticed things. Like what Xander had and hadn’t said over the last few months about life in Sunnydale and his love life. And a certain bleached menace.
No, not Buffy. The other one.
Xander’s tone of voice changed when they talked about Spike, softened even. She knew that tone of voice. She had heard it herself back in the day. The Cordelia-and-Xander days.
And Cordelia knew that Angel had picked up on something at the hospital that had enraged him. So she did the math, added two and two and came up with one chipped vampire.
She was pretty sure that Angel hadn’t found Spike on his little ‘packing’ excursion.
Good. Oh, not that she wanted Spike to survive. More like she wanted to be there and help with the torture before they dusted his pale ass. She was thinking she would make him listen to Angel singing Barry Manilow. Then, maybe Barney videos…..oh, the possibilities. Of course Angel would have already plucked out all his toenails and used hot pokers to hold him to the wall as a captive audience, that was pretty much a given.
Previous Chapters