The Offering 11

6 months later

Xander´s return to Sunnydale was as uneventful as his departure, but it didn´t go unheralded. He parked the car he had stolen for the drive–a little bit of irony in that, he thought–and got out. He looked around him, his eyes narrowed. It wouldn´t be long until they knew he was back. Xander strode around the car, across the sidewalk, and over the small strip of grass–his _expression resolute, his long, black coat billowing behind him, and nimbly jumped the fence surrounding Sunnydale´s most popular cemetery.

He walked among the gravestones, finally finding a tomb upon which to sit and wait for Angel and Buffy´s arrival. It wasn´t a long wait, but when Angel arrived he was alone.

"Xander? What are you doing here?" Angel asked.

Xander turned his head to watch Angel´s approach. "Where´s Buffy?" he asked.

"She´s not here," Angel replied. "Just me, I´m afraid."

Xander nodded. "Thought you and the Slayer would be out...slaying," he said. "But that´s all right, you´ll do."

"Where´s Spike?" Angel asked, looking around as if he thought he might spot the other vampire.

"Still in Albuquerque, I presume," Xander said. "He´s got a nice following there, set himself up as Master. Partly in thanks to yours truly," he added facetiously.

"Are you here for a visit?" Angel asked warily, obviously becoming suspicious at Xander´s strange mood.

"Not exactly," Xander said, heaving a deep sigh as he looked around. "I came to see you. Granddad." He locked eyes with Angel. "I figured I could thank you for everything you´ve done for me, and end it, where it all began," he said with overdone dramatic flair.

"End what?" Angel asked, confused.

"My miserable existence," Xander replied, hopping off the tomb. He spread his arms, exposing his chest. "Time for you to keep that promise you made Xander."

"Xander..."

"Don´t call me that!" Xander snapped, dropping his arms.

"Aren´t you Xander?" Angel asked.

"You know I´m not," Xander replied. "We all know I´m not. I´ve got his memories, but I´m just the demon that inhabits his body." He waited a beat. "Look," he said, "if you don´t have a stake on you, I´ve got one you can borrow." He pulled a stake out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Angel. "In fact," he said, "I made it special for this occasion. Even carved your name on it. You can keep it when we´re done. Kinda like a memento," he offered sarcastically.

"I´m not really looking forward to Spike´s reaction when he finds out I killed his only childe," Angel drawled as he studied the stake.

"Trust me, that won´t be an issue," Xander said.

Angel raised his eyebrows. "Not the impression I got six months ago," he responded.

Xander´s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Impressions can be deceiving. Spike doesn´t want me around," he growled, "because he *wants* the boy you killed."

Angel´s _expression turned to one of grief, and then he shook it away. "I´m sorry about that, Xander..."

Xander waved his concern away. "Not Xander, remember? At least, not that Xander. Not the right Xander." After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he asked, "Look, can we just get on with this?"

"Why do you think Spike doesn´t want you?" Angel asked. "You´re his childe, and the sire–childe bond is very strong..."

"Yeah, I know all about it. In theory, anyway. I read about it...well, Xander read about it. Haven´t seen it in practice so much," he added, biting his lip to keep from crying.

Damn him! This wasn´t supposed to be so difficult. All the bastard had to do was shove the damned stake through his chest! He gestured towards the stake Angel held. "You out of practice, or something? I mean, I could always visit the Slayer. Xander didn´t want her to have to do it, but I don´t care if she has to stake her best friend´s body and watch it disintegrate to..."

"That won´t be necessary," Angel said, his face tightening at the mention of Buffy´s name.

"Good," Xander said. "Trouble in paradise?" he couldn´t help asking.

"Buffy and I aren´t..."

"Seeing each other?"

"...friends, anymore," Angel finished.

"Wow," Xander said, raising his eyebrows. "What could have happened to break the two of you up?" he asked rhetorically, and then had a thought. "Don´t tell me she blamed you for this?" He pointed at himself.

"Not exactly," Angel replied.

"Then what?" Xander asked with morbid curiosity.

Angel sighed. "Buffy didn´t take it too well when I took Dru in."

Xander grinned. "Drusilla is living with you?"

"Well, technically, I´m living with her," Angel said. "The apartment would have been too small for Dru and her tea parties, so I moved into the mansion to take care of her."

"Well," Xander said with a little laugh, "isn´t that special?"

"Can we get back to you now?" Angel asked, obviously uncomfortable with this line of questioning.

"Absolutely!" Xander said, standing up straight and holding his arms back out to his sides. "Try and hit the heart on the first attempt, ´kay?"

"You still haven´t convinced me that Spike won´t come seeking revenge," Angel said.

Xander slumped, and sighed dramatically. "Oh, for Hell´s sake! What? You want the whole tawdry story? Well, here it is, so listen close, ´cause I won´t be repeating it. I´m not Xander. Not the Xander he wants. You know, the warm, living, breathing version, not the undead demon version."

Angel started to interrupt, but Xander held his hand up to forestall him.

"I had all Xander´s memories, but none of his...goodness," Xander said. "I knew how much Xander´s death hurt Spike, because I could remember it, even though it wasn´t me who was really there. So I tried to be like him. I acted goofy and happy and wore bright shirts and baggy pants. I looked like a freak!" He looked down at himself dressed in black, and then over at Angel. "Hell, I´m still a freak," he muttered.

"Anyway," he continued, "that didn´t work. I gave it some thought, and realized that Spike had been corrupting Xander´s goodness, so I figured, maybe he didn´t want goody–Xander, but the Xander he was turning into. I fought harder and killed more than any minion in the clan, helping Spike consolidate his position as the Master of Albuquerque, but that didn´t work either."

"Xander..."

"Do you *smell* him on me?" Xander yelled.

Angel studied him, and then sniffed the air. "No," he said, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Don´t you think you should?" Xander asked. "You want to know how I know he won´t miss me? Because he hasn´t touched me since the night he turned me. Not for sex, not even a pat on the back, and most especially not to share sire´s blood." Xander angrily wiped a tear away. "Now. If you don´t mind, I´m on kind of a tight schedule here," he said. "I´d like to get this done before midnight."

"Why?" Angel asked.

"Because today is Xander´s birthday. Fitting, don´t you think?"

"Xander...," Angel tried again.

"Look," Xander said, holding his hand up. "I´ll make it easy for you." He flicked his wrist and a stake shot towards Angel, slicing his arm as the dark vampire lunged out of its path. "Kill me, or I´ll kill you," Xander said, plucking another stake out of his pocket and attacking.

Angel defended himself from Xander´s assault, but Xander could tell that he wasn´t putting all his effort into the fight.

"Kill me!" he yelled. "You promised! Hell, can´t you even do this right?" he taunted. "Damned vampires with souls," he muttered derisively, and redoubled his efforts. He flicked his wrist and sent a second stake hurtling through the air, and then reached into his boot and drew a knife that he threw at the other vampire, forcing Angel to go on the offensive. "There ya go!" Xander shouted encouragement.

Finally Angel had Xander pinned to a tree, his stake hovering over the younger vampire´s chest. "Do it!" Xander hissed.

"No! Angelus, don´t!" Spike yelled as he raced across the cemetery towards them.

"Kill me!" Xander yelled, attempting to free himself from Angel´s hold so he could impale himself on the stake.

"Xander, please...," Spike began.

"Don´t call me that!" Xander ground out, turning flashing eyes on Spike.

"Why not?" Spike asked.

"Because that´s not who you see when you look at me," Xander replied. "You see the demon that replaced your precious human boy." He turned to Angel. "Finish it!"

"No!" Spike countermanded.

Xander turned on him. "Why not?" he asked angrily. "Then you won´t have to look at me and wish I was him, and I won´t have to see the disappointment in your eyes...every..." He swallowed hard. "...single time–when it´s not." "That´s...Xander that´s not..."

Xander turned his face away, ignoring Spike´s entreaty. Spike angrily shoved Angel away from him, and Xander took the opportunity to leap towards the stake Angel still held. Spike growled and batted the stake away, and then slammed Xander back into the tree. "I don´t hate you," Spike snarled. "I hate...I hate that I *do* want you, even though you´re not... It feels like I´m betraying him," he explained haltingly.

Xander snorted. "I don´t believe you," he said.

Spike backhanded him. "Don´t disrespect me, Childe," he said.

Xander licked the blood off his split lip, and grinned bitterly. "That word is meaningless for us," he said. "I´m nothing more than a meal you decided to pick up one night, then turned into a minion and discarded."

Spike slammed him into the tree again. "He wasn´t just a meal!"

Xander looked at him knowingly. "And he´s not me. Why don´t you just let Angel finish what you´ve always wanted to do, but didn´t have the guts for?" he asked.

Spike looked at him incredulously. "You think I wanted to dust you?" he asked.

"You couldn´t even bring yourself to look at me half the time, much less touch me. You didn´t even want to...bite me," Xander responded angrily to cover the hurt he felt. "What was I supposed to think?"

Spike pushed Xander into the tree with his body, grabbed his face with both hands, and forced his head to the side. He pressed his mouth against Xander´s ear and hissed, "You thought wrong, Xander."

The blond vampire lowered his lips to Xander´s neck. He licked and sucked at the old bite mark that hadn´t been touched by him since the night he´d turned the boy, and Xander shivered at the contact. He morphed, and rubbed his ridges over the bite. Xander groaned. Spike lifted his head and looked into Xander´s brown eyes–turned–amber.

"Never should´ve waited," he whispered, and then lowered his mouth to Xander´s neck. "My Childe," he stated, just before sinking his fangs into his childe´s flesh and drinking. As he drew on Xander´s blood, the boy whimpered. He sucked until Xander was too weak to stand without his help, and then pulled back and offered his own neck. Xander morphed and stared at him hungrily, but didn´t make a move towards him.

"Drink from me, Childe," Spike said. "Taste my blood. Take me into yourself as I have taken you into me..."

At those words, Xander dove for Spike´s neck with a strangled, "Sire!" Spike moaned, and ground his groin into Xander´s as his childe drank from him.

When he felt that Xander had taken enough, he commanded, "Enough." Xander pulled back and looked at him, eyes glassy, high off the taste of sire´s blood. Spike couldn´t resist leaning in and licking a drop of blood off Xander´s lip, and then kissing him. Xander groaned into his mouth and kissed Spike back as his arms went around the older vampire. Both were moaning and grunting as they thrust their hips together.

"Maybe you should finish this somewhere else," Angel suggested, breaking the mood.

"Sod off!" Spike pulled back long enough to say, and then latched his lips back on to Xander´s.

"There´s plenty of room back at the mansion for this," Angel continued. "Besides, it´ll really be a mood–killer if Buffy comes along and finds you. She´s still a little pissed about you stealing Xander from the hospital."

Spike reluctantly pulled back. "We´ll head back to Albuquerque," he told Xander. "Find a nice spot along the way to finish this," he added in a promising tone. Xander just nodded compliantly.

"No way!" Angel said. "There is no way I´m letting you leave Sunnydale without seeing Dru!"

"Dru´s still here?" Spike asked mockingly. "Thought she´d have left town when she couldn´t find her ´Daddy´."

Xander snickered. "Angel´s living in the mansion with Dru," he informed Spike.

"´S that right?" Spike asked, amused, and turned to look at Angel. "You taking good care of Dru, Angelus?" he asked mockingly. "Or should I ask if Dru´s taking good care of you?"

"Shut up, Spike," Angel said, "and let´s go." He turned to begin the walk back to the mansion.

"I´ll drive," Spike said.

"Oh, God," Angel groaned, and then gave in ungraciously. "Fine."

The three vampires walked out of the cemetery and over to Spike´s car, which was parked haphazardly in the road. Spike opened the driver´s side door and Xander slid in. Spike got in after him, and Angel climbed in the passenger side so that the three of them were squeezed into the front seat.

"What about Xander´s car?" Angel asked.

"Xander doesn´t have a car," Spike replied absently.

Angel waited a beat. "Then how did he get here?" he asked.

Xander glanced at Spike guiltily. "I stole a car," he replied.

Spike grinned. "Good boy! What about the owner?"

Xander paused again. "I was hungry," he admitted.

"Oh, shit," Angel swore. "I hope you at least dropped the body wherever you killed him and weren´t stupid enough to stick him in the trunk and bring him to Sunnydale."

Xander looked guiltier. "It´s not like I planned on staying long," he softly reminded Angel.

"Did you at least remember to clean out his wallet?" Spike asked.

"Spike!" Angel groaned, and then grabbed for purchase as Spike pulled away.

A couple minutes later, Xander whispered to Spike, "I´m hungry."

"I thought you ate?" Spike asked, and then took in the hopeful look on Xander´s face. "In the back," he said. "Angel, reach back there and grab Xander something to eat."

Angel twisted around and looked into the backseat. "Where?" he asked, taking in the debris filling the back seat.

"Paper bag on the seat," Spike replied.

"Just tell me it´s not body parts," Angel muttered as he stretched to reach the bag. He turned back around and set the bag on his lap, then opened it and peered in. "You have got to be kidding me!" he said.

"What?" Xander asked as he reached into the bag and pulled out a Twinkie™. "Good stuff," he said, waving the sponge cake at Angel, and then opening the package and taking a big bite. "Mmm, thanks, Spike," he said with his mouth full.

"Welcome, pup," Spike said, placing his hand on Xander´s knee and rubbing it. "Don´t talk with your mouth full," he added automatically.

"Don´t call me ´pup´," Xander retorted.

What a fool he´d been all these months, Spike thought. He had turned Xander so he wouldn´t lose him, and had nearly lost him anyway, due to his own stupidity. What had he been thinking? Making Xander strong enough to be a childe, and then not claiming him had been beyond lunacy. He had seen how hard Xander was trying to be what he thought Spike wanted. How could the boy have known he already was exactly what Spike had always wanted, a childe of his own?

He couldn´t have, and Spike hadn´t told him, showed him, because he feared that it would be a betrayal of the relationship he was forming with the human boy whom he had intended to claim as his own. Well, that ended tonight. This Xander was his, in every way, and he would make sure the boy knew it. Spike tuned back into the conversation to hear Xander telling Angel, "They´re good, you should try one," as he opened another Twinkie™ and shoved it into his mouth.

When Spike parked the car in the driveway outside the mansion, Xander was licking the cream off his lips. Spike grabbed his head and pulled him close, then licked the remaining cream off for him. "Mmm, you´re right," he said. "That was good." Xander just stared back at him with a dazed _expression. Spike laughed happily and got out of the car. "Come on, pup. Let´s go see Dru."

Spike and Xander followed Angel into the mansion, where Drusilla was waiting for them.

"Spike!" she cried, and flew into his arms. Spike swung her around and she giggled. When he put her down, she turned to Xander. "Hello, puppy," she said, placing a formal kiss on his cheek. "The stars told me you were coming. I told you everything would work out for the best." Dru stepped back and clapped her hands. "Your room is ready," she said. "And I´ve got tea..."

"We´d love to, Dru," Spike interrupted, "but I´ve got a boy needs more instruction on the sire–childe relationship." He smirked as Xander´s eyes widened. "Maybe we can do tea tomorrow, yeah?"

"All right, Spike. Daddy and I will have tea," she said agreeably, and Angel groaned.

"Come on, pup," Spike said as he turned away and headed towards the staircase.

Xander looked like he was going to argue Spike´s use of the nickname, then changed his mind and raced after him.

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