Part Twenty-One A

Xander gives him a blank look.

"Huh?"

"Cream, luv, haven’t done it yet," Spike explains.

"Oh... Um, well, maybe later? I’m not feeling very good right now," Xander fibs.

"Sick, whelp? Better check," Spike says with a frown and heads into the downstairs bathroom.

Xander waits until the vampire is gone then flops on Giles’ sofa with a grin. He picks up the remote, puts the TV on Cartoon Network, and lays back. Spike’s words suddenly register with Xander.

"Check what?" he asks himself.

Spike is in the bathroom muttering angrily as he rummages for the object he seeks.

"Should know better. Still an evil vampire. Where the soddin’ Hell does the Watcher keep it?! Tell me he’s sick. Going to show him sick. Knows I can smell ‘im lyin’!" and more words that are just repeats along the same vein along with some snarling and growling.

Finally he finds what he’s looking for and stalks out of the bathroom with a triumphant smirk.

"Found it, Xander," he states as he prowls over to the couch. His grin can definitely be classified as evil.

Xander shrinks back a little.

"Oh, good. It is good, right? Er, found what? Spike?" Xander says with trepidation.

"Thermometer, whelp. If yer sick you should have a fever. Open up, luv," Spike grins.

Xander gulps but obediently opens his mouth and lets the vampire put it under his tongue.

"Ruffer Wumple Nargot," Xander says. If he didn’t have a thermometer sticking out of this mouth he would have been saying this really wasn’t necessary.

"Shut yer gob, Pet, or I shove it up yer arse. Gonna act like a child I’ll treat ya like one," Spike snarls.

Xander hangs his head as Spike removes the thermometer.

"No fever, luv, fancy that," the vampire says sarcastically.

"Sorry Spike," Xander mumbles.

Spike lifts his Mate’s chin and forces him to look up.

"Mad at you, but I do love you. Not gonna stop that cause you lie," Spike tells him earnestly, "Gonna go upstairs and get it over with."

"O-Okay, Spike... Love me? Really?"

"Course, you git. Still in trouble," Spike growls.

"Eep," is Xander’s coherent response. He silently follows the vampire up the stairs. Spike didn’t even raise his voice and Xander feels guilty.

Spike enters the room and motions to the bed without saying a word. He watches approvingly as his Mate lies down without even a grumble. He does wonder where the Watcher went. He thought Rupes came up here after that strange incident. He shrugs off the thought for now and turns back to his boy. He’s lying on the bed shivering. He walks quickly over and sits down on the bed by Xander. He strokes gently down the teen’s back.

"S’okay, luv, not mad now. No shivers. Love you, Xander. Just want you better an’ this is part of it. C’mere," Spike says and he pulls Xander into his lap.

"Tired of being touched when I don’t wanna be," Xander says softly. He leans into the vampire in his misery.

"I know, Pet. Not for long, hang in there for me?" Spike asks.

"K," his Mate says and lies back down with a sob.

"No, luv, back up here," Spike gathers Xander back up. He grabs the tube of cream off the nightstand and flips the top, laying it on the bed. He lifts the youth enough to pull the robe away from Xander’s butt. His Mate sobs as his tender anus is exposed.

"Shh, Pet, Spike’s here. No tears. Shh," the vampire soothes as he picks Xander up off his lap, squeezes a dollop of medicine on one finger, then carefully applies the cream. The sobs increase as he touches his Mate . He wipes the excess on the sheet, pulls the robe back down, and rocks his human.

"I so hate that!" says Xander with a yell.

"Shh, all done," Spike says as he pets the boy’s hair.

In the next room, Giles hears the scene unfold and fights the urge to run to his son’s aid. Spike won’t hurt him and he has a problem of his own. He rummages in a drawer for his address book as the sobs die down. He finds the number and dials.

"Alex? This is Rupert Giles. It has begun again."

Part Twenty-One B

"Okay, Uncle Alex. Do you need Daddy too?" she asks.

"No, no, it’s okay. Just when you see Rupert Giles send him on in," Alex replies distractedly.

"Oh no, not that sweet kid again. When is he gonna get a break?" Sandy says with tears in her eyes.

"Its not young Alexander, honey. Just send him on through," Alex replies as he heads back to his office with the dusty file.

Sandy looks after him, shakes her head in confusion and goes back to her filing. Why was Uncle Alex in the closed files?

Alex enters the office, closing then locking the door. He thumbs on the upstairs intercom.

"David, you alone?"

"Yeah, my last patient just left. He didn’t need to see you this time," David replies with a smile in his voice.

"I’m glad Oz is doing so much better. Damned Initiative. We have a new crisis," Alex pauses, "Daniel... Ripper’s back," and there is dead silence on the other end.

"I see... I’ll be standing by if you need me brother," and Daniel clicks off.

Alex sits down at his desk, cracks the file and begins to read.

The scene is familiar. Groups of robed chanting fanatics surrounding a pentagram. One group is not so familiar. A group of teenagers with bandannas in their hair, packs of fags tucked in a sleeve of plain white t-shirts, jeans with holes in the knees and scuffed black Doc Martens. The youths were chanting as well but their words were frequently broken by laughter. This was larking (cool word, thanks zus!) about for them. It was more about making fun of the robed gits than about summoning some deep dark evil. The laughter stopped abruptly as the boys realized the chanting had ceased. In the center of the pentagram was a sickly greenish glow. The leader of the wanna be gang stepped forward for a better look then stood stunned as the glow grew to encompass every person there.

"Soddin’ Hell, run!" and Rupert Giles led the teens with his best friend Ethan Rayne right beside him. At first they thought they were safe, they’d escaped before anything happened after all.

For a long time they were right. The group grew up and went their separate ways. It was little things at first. Rupert Giles would wake up in some strange location, unaware of why he was there, without having touched a drop of liquor. No crimes were reported unsolved at the time so the man didn’t worry overmuch. Later in life he went to America. He lost track of the old gang over time and made new friends. As a Watcher he was assigned in several places. The blackouts continued with no witnesses. He made his last move to Sunnydale, California. There he met Alex and Daniel. Finally it happened. The three men went out for drinks and Ripper made his first appearance to another person.

"Rupert, want a refill?" Daniel asks.

"Name’s Ripper, mate. Don’t appear to know ya," Ripper says with a smirk.

"I didn’t know you had a sense of humor, Rupert," laughs Alex.

As the evening wore, on it became apparent he wasn’t joking. Alex and Daniel talked him into crashing on their couch at the dorm. Daniel was getting his MD and Alex was training to be a psychiatrist. Older than his brother, Alex already had his MD. Ripper follows the two men. In the morning Rupert is back and the questions begin. Giles gives Alex copies of the journals he’s been keeping. After a lot of fruitless tests Alex has no answers. He finally hypothesizes that the greenish light somehow froze Rupert’s teenage personality. It seemed to be the first demonically influenced personality split any of them had ever run across. This particular case would govern the rest of the brothers’ lives. Ripper disappeared for awhile and all three men assumed he was gone.

"In ta naked couches, luv?" Spike asks with a raised eyebrow.

Xander blushes," Not what I meant, Fang."

"Fang?" teases the vampire.

"Well yeah... You can bite again so Fangless so doesn’t fit. Fang seems to um, suit you."

"Like it, Pet, let’s go find a naked couch," Spike smirks.

Giles hesitates at the door then knocks gently.

"Come in, Rupes, not decent."

"Spike!"

"It’s quite all right, Xander. I was just informing you I shall be gone for a bit."

"Okay, Watcher, we won’t wait up," Spike snickers as Xander glares.

"Quite... I shall be back," Giles says as he starts down the stairs.

Spike and Xander stare after Giles. He didn’t even yell at Spike!