(no subject)

[elgrey]

New All Over, Part Four

“Heya…”

Wesley looked up to see another pretty girl walk in. She was slight and dark-haired with lots of eye make up and wore shiny trousers that clung to her body and a red-coloured top that was cut quite low. She wore dark nail varnish too. When she walked it was as if she owned the whole room.

“So, you all just…hanging out…?” the newcomer enquired. She sounded casual but Wesley didn’t think anything she did was really casual, not given the way she was looking all round the room, noting where everyone was and what they were doing.

There was a muted murmur of greeting from the others. “Pretty much,” Oz said. Wesley noticed that Xander’s eye had started to twitch and Willow looked terse and unhappy. Wesley thought it was strange that this girl was acting as if they were all her friends but they weren’t responding to her the way they did to Buffy or even when Cordelia had walked in. Even though Xander had said rude things to Cordelia he had still made space for her as if he had done it so many times before he didn’t even notice he was doing it. But they were all acting as if they wanted this girl to go away and not come back.

“Anything up…?” the newcomer enquired.

“Nope,” Willow said in a way that seemed cheerful but somehow wasn’t. “Just…hanging out.”

That was when the girl saw Wesley and she stopped moving. “Who’s the kid?” she demanded, and there was an edge to her voice that made Wesley wonder if she really didn’t like children.

“Giles’ nephew,” Cordelia put in so smoothly it was as if she wasn’t even lying. “Another Wesley, would you believe? I guess they don’t go so much for Tom, Dick and Harry over there.”

“Well, what’s he doing here?” the girl demanded. “Isn’t it kind of…irresponsible, having a kid on the Hellmouth?”

Willow said: “His – his mom was sick and Giles was the only person who could take care of him while she was sick so – so that’s why he’s here even though it’s a Hellmouth.”

“He doesn’t have a dad?” The girl was still acting as if this was a really bad thing for Wesley to be here and he didn’t really understand why unless she was allergic to children, the way some people were allergic to bee stings.

Xander looked up and said, “Unfortunately, yes, but let’s just say there are good reasons why the kid doesn’t get left with him.”

Wesley saw the girl flinch and he wondered why, then she was turning away and he could almost see her thinking. When she turned back she had a big bright smile on her face that looked as if it had no business being there. “Well, why don’t I take Mini Giles here over to the park?”

“Because it’s dark…?” Xander returned. “And that would be a really dangerous thing to do…?”

“Hey, who’s he going to be safer with than me?”

“He’s fine where he is.” Cordelia looked up briefly as if this other girl wasn’t even worth bothering with. “Which is why he’s going to be staying where he is.”

The girl came right over to Wesley. “He looks like a brave kid to me. Don’t you want to come to the park with me…?”

“I’ve already been to the park with Mr – with Uncle Giles.” Wesley couldn’t help gazing at her. She was so pretty and yet somehow so – dangerous.

She gritted her teeth. “Well, let me take you out for some – take out. You can’t be in America and not get some fries.”

“I already had some in Mac-somewhere. They were very nice,” he added in a placatory tone. “But I don’t think I could eat any more just yet.”

Xander held up the empty chocolate wrappers. “We’ve been kind of pushing the sugar on the kid all afternoon, Faith.”

“Where’s B…?” Again there was that edge to her voice.

“She and Giles had to go and check out a crypt.” Xander’s voice was steady but his eye was still twitching. Wesley wondered if it did that when he lied.

“They didn’t call me first?”

“Small crypt,” Oz put in. “More of a closet really.”

“Well, what are they looking for?”

Cordelia shrugged. “Who listens when Giles goes into lecture mode? Some finger bone or magical kneecap or something. I don’t know.”

“To stop the ascension?” There was still that edge to her voice and she was still looking at Wesley as if she really didn’t like him being around.

Cordelia shrugged again. “I guess. Like I said – who listens?”

“Why don’t I take the kid back to my place where he can watch some TV with me?” she suggested. “It’s got to be past his bedtime anyway.”

“Never made you for the maternal type, Faith,” Xander said.

“He’s staying here.” Willow rose to her feet. “He’s staying here with us until Giles and Buffy get back.” There was an edge to her tone and her smile looked forced as she added: “But you’re welcome to stay here too, if you like.”

“I don’t need permission from a civilian,” Faith told her shortly, and then she was striding out of the room.

Her face had looked so pinched and unhappy that Wesley felt sorry for her and he ran after her. His socks were slippy on the floor but at least they didn’t make any noise and somehow running didn’t seem such a punishable thing to be doing when it was quiet. He slipped out through the doors after Faith – they were heavy but they had swung back so he could get through without needing to push them – but she was already talking into her mobile phone:

“Yeah, I know I said it was all systems go, boss, but there’s a kid in there. A little titchy kid. I tried to get him out but no go. We need to abort. Get Glinda another time...”

Wesley had a sudden feeling that he should not be hearing this conversation and Faith would very angry indeed if she turned around and found him there. He also thought that Faith might be scary if she was angry.

“What do you mean it’s too late...?”

She sounded so agitated now that Wesley decided that nothing he said to her was going to make her anything except even more cross. The doors were still swinging and he darted back through them hastily straight into Oz who had obviously run after him and who immediately crouched down to his level to see if he was okay. Wesley put a hand across Oz’s mouth as he opened it to say something, and pointed back to the table. Oz carried him over there swiftly and silently and stood him on it.

“I think something’s wrong,” Wesley said breathlessly.

“Wrong how?” Willow asked.

“Wrong why?” Xander enquired.

“Faith sounded upset that I was here. She said she tried to get me out. She said that something shouldn’t happen and then she was cross because it couldn’t be stopped.” He looked up at Oz. “Doesn’t that sound as if…?”

“We should go.” Oz picked up Wesley’s jacket and held it up for him and Wesley wriggled into it quickly.

“Out through the stacks?” Xander suggested.

“Isn’t Faith a Slayer?” Cordelia enquired. “Isn’t she – you know – all on the side of good and right and so on…?”

“She killed a guy,” Xander said flatly. “And she – well, if hadn’t been for Angel she may have killed another one. Maybe it’s nothing, but as we’re responsible for Wesley now, I'm thinking we strategically withdraw like hell to Giles’s place and come back for our dignity later.”

Oz picked up Wesley’s shoulder bag and put Cuthbert and his shoulder bag into it then looped the bag over Wesley’s neck. Oz gave him a reassuring smile. “Okay?”

Wesley nodded. “Okay.”

That was when the doors burst open and he saw his first real life vampire. In fact he saw his first five.

“Take him!” Oz pushed Wesley into Willow’s arms and snatched up a sword. Xander was fumbling with a crossbow. Cordelia grabbed Willow and shoved her and Wesley under the table; she stroked Wesley’s hair and gave him a big safe reassuring smile even though her eyes were as scared as he felt when Daddy was cross with him, then Wesley heard the click click click of her heels as she ran away from them and he knew she was drawing the vampires away, even though it was dangerous and she was a girl, just because he was a child. He heard the clash of a sword, and snarling sounds that made his blood turn as cold as the ice cream he’d had earlier, but he couldn’t see anything because Willow had pulled him in against her chest and wrapped her jacket around him. He could hear her heartbeat and the way she was snatching little panicky breaths, but she kept whispering: “It’s okay, Wesley. It’s okay” all the time she was holding him.

Wesley knew it wasn’t okay. He heard crossbow bolts clattering and a scream from Cordelia that was cut off by what sounded like a slap, and something with an unearthly voice snarl: “Where’s the witch...?”

He heard Xander start to say something that Wesley just knew was rude and then the slap of something hitting him and Willow gave a little gasp of horror and then there were more horrible sounds of people being hurt and she said: “Oz...!” and started crying. And then the vampires were coming for them, Wesley wriggled around so he could look out and he saw their dirty boots getting closer and closer and Willow whispered urgently: “Stay here, Wesley, stay right here. I’ll be back soon...” But then she was scrambling out, and he heard her knock over a chair and he knew she had done it on purpose because she wasn’t coming back at all, she was leading them away from him so they wouldn’t hurt him. And he was crying silent tears of terror, thinking that he should have been big and a Watcher and then he could help them.

He heard Willow cry out and a horrible voice jeer: “Got you…” And then there was a crashing sound and a snarl that was much deeper and louder and angrier than all the others, it sounded like a lion before it tore out something’s throat, and then a voice that came from deep in someone’s chest and sounded as if it had to pass through far too many teeth said:

“Let her go!”

And then it was all chaos out there; things crashing and people grunting and snarling and horrible sounds like bone hitting the edge of a table and then a snap and a howl of pain and then the sound of bone crunching and then a sound like a very light rain falling.

As the snarling and crashing went on, Wesley peered out and saw Cordelia lying on the floor; she seemed to be unconscious but he could see her chest rising and falling, which meant she wasn’t dead. He wanted to run to her and wake her up and see if she was okay, but Willow had told him to stay where he was. He tried to see Xander but all he could see was a hand with some blood on it. He thought it was Xander’s hand and he hoped it was attached to an arm which was attached to the rest of his body and that his body was still alive but he couldn’t see anything except his fingers and they weren’t moving. He craned his neck and thought that if he saw Willow he was going to run to her whatever happened, but he couldn’t see her or Oz and he didn’t know what to do.

Something heavy abruptly hurled through the air and he saw a vampire land on the floor and then spring up and then there were somebody’s feet and then there was dust. There was a sudden silence in which he could hear a faint groaning sound before he saw the feet begin to come towards him. He could see black boots and black trousers and he saw the edge of what looked like a long black coat. He fumbled in his bag – the one the grown up Wesley had packed – and took out a bottle of Holy Water and then remembered that Cordelia had given Cuthbert her compact. He dug it out from Cuthbert’s bag with shaking fingers and then held it up so it would reflect those black-booted feet. There was just floor. He looked again, twisting the mirror so he couldn’t make a mistake, but there were the feet getting closer and closer and there was the mirror not reflecting them.

Shaking all over, he unscrewed the top of the holy water and waited for the vampire to come close enough. He knew that he would only have once chance to burn it and then run away very quickly. Snatching a breath he saw the boots take a last step and then there were knees bending, legs coming into view as the vampire crouched down and then a hand –

Wesley splashed the holy water onto the outstretched hand – there was a surprised yell from the vampire and the smell of burning skin – and then dived between the black-clad legs, blinded momentarily by a flapping coat, and then was running for the door.

There was a snarl of fury from behind him and he couldn’t help looking back to see that the black-coated figure was even taller than he had feared, big and broad shouldered with dark hair that rose straight up like the fur of an angry cat, his eyes were yellow and his face was an ugly mask of pure rage. Wesley cried out in fear and turned to run for the door – only to cannon straight into the legs of someone else.

“A snack...!” A hand grabbed for him, and he darted a fearful glance up at another vampire with stringy fair hair.

Then the dark-haired vampire grabbed Wesley around the waist, snatched him out of the reach of the second vampire and stood him on the table. He said firmly: “Stay!” and then launched himself at the fair-haired vampire. Wesley could see the burn mark on the back of his hand where he’d splashed him with the holy water. Then he was onto the other vampire and they were snarling like animals as they rolled around on the floor. Wesley decided that this was one time when his father would not expect him to do as he was told and he looked around desperately for Willow, Oz, and Xander. Willow was crumpled against the book shelves, looking sickly white. He scrambled down from the table and ran across to her, throwing himself at her and grabbing her hand.

“Willow! Willow! We have to go...!” He tugged at her frantically. “Willow...!”

She groaned and said blearily, “Just five more minutes...”

“No! We have to go now! There are vampires...!”

And then there was a horrible bone-cracking sound and he turned to see that the dark-haired vampire had snapped the other one’s neck and then jammed a stake into his heart. The vampire turned to dust right in front of him.

Wesley tugged at Willow’s hand, crying with fear. “Willow! Willow, please wake up...! Please wake up...”

But the vampire was coming straight at him. It was so tall and broad-shouldered, and with its coat flapping behind it the resemblance to a huge bat was overwhelming. It looked exactly the way Dracula looked in his nightmares. It jumped up onto the table and as it did so its face changed so its eyes became brown and its face was normal and that was somehow even more scary, that something so terrifying could look so handsome and kind and as if it would never hurt Wesley in a month of Sundays. It jumped down from the table again, moving with such grace and quiet strength that it reminded Wesley of the black panthers in the nature films; but now it was coming right at them.

“Willow…!” Wesley wailed and then when she just slumped back against the stacks, he snatched another bottle of holy water out of his bag and brandished it at the vampire. “Get away from her!” he shouted. “I won’t let you hurt her!”

The vampire stopped, clearly debating for a moment, and then crouched down so that he was on a level with Wesley’s eye-line but about five feet away. He had looked so tall and scary a moment before, but now he looked young and handsome and as if he were really very good-natured. Wesley began to tremble because Oz wasn’t moving and Xander wasn’t waking up, and there was no one to help him and he didn’t know how to keep Willow safe.

The vampire said gently: “I’m not going to hurt Willow. I came here to help her and the others when I heard what the Mayor was planning.”

Wesley kept holding up his bottle of holy water. “You’re a vampire and I’m not listening to anything you say!”

“Okay.” The vampire backed up. “You take care of Willow and I’ll see how the others are doing.”

Wesley didn’t know what to do as the tall vampire strode over to where Cordelia was lying. He felt he should run after him and stake him before he touched her, but he didn’t see how he could stake him unless he obligingly got down onto floor level for him to be able to reach and then didn’t move while Wesley tried repeatedly to jam a piece of wood into him. The vampire examined her gently and then went into Giles’ office as if he knew where everything was kept and came out with a cloth and a bowl of water. He dabbed the cloth in the water and gently wiped Cordelia’s face until she started and began to come around. Then he went to Xander and slapped his face lightly a few times and said his name, and then grimaced at the sight of the cut on Oz’s head, and quickly wiped off the blood, then picked Oz up and carried him into Giles’s office.

He’s going to kill Oz, Wesley thought desperately, and he knew that even if Oz was a werewolf, he couldn’t bear it if that happened. He started to run towards him, but then the vampire came out of the office and he had to scamper back to guard Willow.

The vampire came up and held up the wet cloth and said, “Catch.”

Wesley dropped the bottle of holy water as he snatched at the cloth and stared at it in dismay as it ran all over the step.

The vampire said urgently: “Careful. Don’t move.” He wrapped a towel around his hand and pushed the pieces of broken glass to one side so there was nothing between him and Wesley and Willow. The towel fizzled as it touched the broken pieces of glass.

Wesley tugged at Willow’s arm desperately. He whimpered her name and she opened her eyes and said: “Wesley...?” And immediately put her arms around him and held him close. Then she looked at the vampire and Wesley tried to tell her that it was a vampire and not to be trusted, but she squinted at it and then said, “Hi, Angel, where’s Buffy...?” And then she sat bolt upright, clutched Wesley to her the way he clutched Cuthbert when he was locked under the stairs, and sprang to her feet, saying, “Oz!”

“He’s okay.” The vampire caught her by the shoulders. “Willow, he’s okay. He’s just knocked out. They’re all okay. But you’re going to pass out if you don’t take it easy.”

And then to Wesley’s horror, the vampire was scooping Willow up into his arms, and he was being carried by someone who was being carried by a vampire, straight into Giles’s office where Willow was put into a chair, and he found himself still clutched in her arms with a vampire gazing down at them curiously and saying: “Who’s the kid and why does he smell like Wesley...?”

“He is Wesley.” Willow sat up straighter and put a hand to her head. “There was a spell. I think Ethan was trying to get Giles to um…be like he used to be again or something. We’re not exactly sure what happened but Wesley woke up the next morning the way he is now.”

Wesley tugged at her sleeve desperately and she looked down at him and smiled in relief. “Oh sweetie, thank goodness, you’re okay.”

Wesley hissed: “He’s a vampire.”

“Oh.” Willow collected herself. “Yes, he is but he’s good. I mean he has a soul. His name is Angel.” She looked up at the vampire she had called ‘Angel’. “Wesley doesn’t remember anything except up to the age he is now.”

Angel put his head on one side. “Which would be… Six…?”

“I’m eight,” Wesley said reproachfully. “And there aren’t any good vampires.” He gazed up at Willow, very worried that she had been mesmerised by the vampire as he had read happened sometimes. “Buffy wouldn’t want us talking to vampires, Willow.”

“Are the others...?” Willow winced as she looked around.

“Just knocked out,” Angel assured her.

“Who died in my head...?” Cordelia demanded plaintively.

Angel hurried over to her and Wesley watched in horror as the vampire bent over her and she gave him a dazzling smile and then took his hand as if it was an every day thing to talk to vampires. As the one called Angel was helping her to her feet, Wesley heard her say: “Are the others okay...?”

And then there was another groan and Angel went to help Xander who was crawling onto his hands and knees and saying: “Kill me... kill me now...” Then he looked up at Angel and said: “Always got to make the grand entrance, haven’t you? Couldn’t get here five minutes earlier than needed and just get rid of the bad guys painlessly, oh no, it has to be the seventh vampire cavalry every damned time.”

Angel said: “You’re welcome. And – before you ask – Willow, Oz and Cordelia are fine.”

Xander spun around anxiously. “There was a little boy here...?”

“He’s fine. And sneaky.” Angel held out his hand so Xander could see the burn mark. “Does he have any shoes? There’s broken glass on the stacks and he’s in his socks.”

Xander clutched at Angel’s wrist to examine his hand and then shook his head. “God, I love that kid.”

Angel rolled his eyes but hauled Xander to his feet. “Where’s Buffy?”

“She and Giles are looking for Ethan.”

“Was it Willy who told you where he was?”

Xander nodded. “After I beat him up with fifty dollar bills he was very cooperative.”

“It was a set up. The mayor wanted Giles and Buffy out of the way so he could kill Willow. He knows she’s the one who’s been accessing his records.”

“Faith.” Xander hung onto Angel as he stood up a little shakily. “Wesley overheard her on the phone. She was trying to call it off.”

Angel blinked. “Attack of conscience?”

Xander nodded his head at the office. “I think even she baulked at having a little kid served up as a vampire appetizer.”

“Does she know who he is?”

“No. We told her he was Giles’ nephew.”

“Probably just as well.” Angel picked up Wesley’s shoes and carried them into the office.

Oz was just beginning to wake up. Willow put Wesley into the chair and slipped over to hold Oz’s hand. Wesley watched their fingers intertwine as Oz smiled at her blearily. As Angel came in carrying Wesley’s shoes, Angel nodded at Oz and said “Oz” and Oz nodded back and said “Angel”. Wesley waited for them to talk about the fact that Oz had been very brave and Angel had saved Oz’s life but that seemed to be all they were going to say and, bizarrely, it seemed to have covered everything.

Then Angel was crouching down in front of Wesley and looking up at him as if there was something amusing about him but he was trying not to show it. “Are you going to splash me with some more holy water if I put your shoes on?”

Wesley looked around at the way everyone was just talking to Angel as if he were the same as they were and then shook his head.

“Good.” Angel slipped one shoe on carefully and laced it up. “How did you know I was a vampire? The way you were positioned I wouldn’t have thought you could see anything except my feet.”

Wesley held out his hand with Cordelia’s compact in it. Angel nodded his head. “That was quick thinking. I can tell you’ve had Watcher training.”

Angel slipped the other shoe on and laced that one up. “So, am I the first vampire you’ve seen close up?”

Wesley nodded.

“What do you think?”

Wesley thought he was terrifying but doubted that was the sensible thing to say. Feeling suddenly very small and very unequal to the situation, he said: “I want Buffy.”

As if in answer to an incantation, there was the sound of the doors being flung open, and then running feet, before Buffy flung herself into the office, snatched Wesley up out of the chair and hugged him so tightly he could hardly breathe. “You’re safe, you’re safe...”

“There were vampires...” he whimpered.

“Angel saved us,” Willow said.

Buffy put her arm around Angel’s neck and suddenly Wesley was being smooshed right up against the black fabric of the vampire’s coat as Buffy hugged him while still holding Wesley. She sounded as if she was crying as she said: “Thank you.”

“Wesley got me.” Angel held out his hand and Buffy and Giles examined the burn mark.

Thinking of how much Buffy seemed to like Angel, Wesley was afraid he might be in trouble and looked up at her fearfully.

“You are so clever.” She hugged him again.

Giles also looked at the burn. “Yes, very well done, Wesley.”

“You know, I could throw holy water at Angel all the time, but would I get praise for it...?” Xander queried.

“You could be a little more grateful to the guy who enabled your pointless existence to continue to...exist,” Cordelia observed.

“Is everyone okay?” Giles looked around them anxiously. Oz and Willow were hugging, Oz looking pale and a little greenish but able to give a thumb’s up.

“Wesley defended Willow from me.” Angel was looking at Wesley with a disconcertingly kind expression. “He stood in front of her with a bottle of holy water and told me not to come any closer. Pretty brave for someone who’d just seen his first vampire.”

Wesley became aware of everyone looking at him, and blushed, burying his face in Buffy’s neck.

Giles said: “I really think, Buffy, that Wesley should come home with me tonight...”

Buffy said flatly: “If you think I’m letting him out of my sight even for a second after what happened tonight...”

“And if you take him home with you how are you proposing to explain him to your mother?”

Buffy looked at Giles narrowly and then said to Willow: “Will, I think my mother needs to think I’m staying with you, and, Giles, I think you need to make up your spare bedroom because I am taking care of Wesley tonight and anyone who tries to stop me dies a horrible painful death.”

“Willow was the target, Buffy,” Xander pointed out. “The Mayor was trying to kill her because she’s too scarily clever to allow to live.”

Buffy nodded. “Right, so Willow, Wesley, and I are staying at Giles’ tonight.”

“I want Oz to be there too…” Willow said plaintively.

“And no way am I going home alone,” Xander insisted.

Giles sighed. “Fine, everyone get your pyjamas and toothbrushes and take over my home as per usual.”

Cordelia looked a little wistful and Wesley said, “Cordelia drew the vampires away to try to save Willow and me.”

Everyone looked at Cordelia who muttered: “It was a moment of weakness. It won’t happen again.”

Giles looked at the bruise on her cheekbone and winced. “You don’t look too well. Is there someone at your house who can keep an eye on you tonight?”

Cordelia shook her head and Giles was abruptly brisk and fatherly. “Then I insist you come and stay with the others. You may be concussed.”

Angel said: “Do you want me to try to talk to Faith?”

Giles met his gaze and sighed. “I think it’s too late for that, Angel. I really think that for the greater good we now have to treat Faith as the enemy within…”

There was more conversation happening over his head, but now he was in Buffy’s arms again Wesley felt as if he could perhaps just let it all slip away and go to a nice quiet place in his mind where there were no good werewolves and good vampires or bad vampires or people he cared about being hurt; there were just plastic Playmobil castles and books to be read for fun and glass after glass of chocolate milk…

The last thing he heard as he drifted off to sleep was Buffy whispering: “Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise…”

***

Giles wondered if there was some kind of mathematical formula already proven that dictated that however much room one had one would automatically have more teenagers invite themselves to stay with you than it could comfortable accommodate. He just knew this evening was going to be chaos – which was fitting, perhaps – given that this entire situation had been engineered by someone who had sold his soul to chaos.

Oz and Willow had taken his van to go and collect night attire before heading back to Giles’ house, and Xander and Cordelia had said they were going to tidy up in the library and then follow in Cordelia’s car, stopping off for ‘jammies’ on the way, which left him with Buffy, Angel, and Wesley to transport. Buffy automatically handed Wesley to Angel as she got into the car and the little boy woke up from his nap and gazed up at the vampire in shock.

Angel said gently: “I’m really not a bad vampire, Wesley.”

Wesley still looked petrified but said: “I’m sorry I burnt your hand, Mr Angel.”

“It’s just ‘Angel’,” Buffy pointed out.

“Actually it was very quick thinking to burn my hand,” Angel told him. “It gave you enough time to get away. If you hadn’t stayed to protect Willow you could have escaped.”

“I couldn’t leave Willow!” Wesley looked shocked at the idea.

Angel got into the car, still carrying Wesley, who looked longingly at Buffy in the front seat. As Giles and Buffy both looked at him, Angel said, “It’s safer for him in the back.”

Buffy looked unconvinced. “But…”

“It’s safer,” Angel insisted, doing up his seatbelt pointedly.

“Be careful with him,” Buffy said.

“I will be.”

Wesley continued to gaze up at Angel out of huge eyes as Giles drove them home.

“Don’t you have any questions you want to ask me?” Angel prompted.

Wesley gazed up at him fearfully. “What sort of questions?”

“Helping you kill vampires when you’re grown up questions?”

Wesley bit his lip, clearly casting around for something to ask. “Um – do you like being a vampire?”

“Not really, I’d rather be human. I miss the sunlight and I am sorry for the things I did before I had my soul. But it does mean I have a lot of strength to fight other vampires, which is useful.”

“What was it like being turned into a vampire…?”

“At the time, it wasn’t so bad. But, waking up is odd, you feel very disorientated, and, of course, you’re in a coffin under six feet of soil.”

Wesley shuddered. “That must be horrible.”

“It’s horrible until you realize you don’t have to breathe so being under the soil doesn’t matter – and you’re strong enough to dig your way out.”

“Do you have other vampire friends?”

“Not any more. Not since I had my soul restored.”

“Don’t you get lonely?”

“I did until I met Buffy.”

Giles listened to the question and answer as he drove, thinking that Angel had been surprisingly canny at getting Wesley to talk to him. Wesley was so used to being the one having to answer the difficult questions that it was probably a nice change for him to get to be the one asking them.

“How old are you?”

“I’m two hundred and forty-two.”

Fibber, Giles thought. You’re two hundred and forty five if you’re a day. And that’s not counting your human years.

“That’s not that old really, for a vampire. I thought that vampires were older than that. Have you seen anything really interesting? Like Nelson dying or Wellington? Did you ever meet Queen Victoria...?

Giles and Buffy exchanged a look as Wesley suddenly realized the possibilities of asking someone who had been around for two and a half centuries all the questions he had ever been set in his History lessons and the questions began to pour out of him. Angel worked hard at not smirking and tried to answer each one sensibly.

“…and did you fight in any of the wars? I wish Sherlock Holmes was real because then you might have met him and you could tell me what he was like…”

Angel looked smug at having succeeding in unlocking the floodgates to get Wesley to talk to him.

“Have you always lived in America?”

“No, I was born in Ireland and I travelled through Europe a lot until I came to America.”

“Do you know Hampshire? That’s where I live.”

Giles saw Angel bite his lip because Wesley looked so eager at the prospect of Angel having visited his home county and yet when Angel had last been that way he had been eating pretty much everyone he encountered. Angel nodded however, “Yes, but I haven’t been there for more than a hundred years. I remember it was very pretty.”

“Did you eat a lot of people before you were a good vampire?”

“Yes, hundreds.”

Wesley looked at him sideways. “Were any of them little boys?”

“Some of them, yes.”

“But you don’t still eat little boys?”

“Not any more, no.”

By the time they had reached his house, Wesley seemed a lot more at ease with the vampire and only looked a little bit wistful when it was Angel who carried him out of the car. Buffy was clearly itching to snatch him back, but Angel had the little boy held very comfortably and safely and she was forced to let the vampire keep him a little longer.

They were barely through the front door before Cordelia and Xander arrived – arguing, of course – but with a boot full of Playmobil people.

Wesley’s face lit up when he saw Cordelia carrying in his castle. “You saved them!”

“Of course.” She beamed at him; the real thousand watt smile that she certainly hadn’t squandered on any of the rest of them in a long time. “As soon as we wiped a bit of vampire dust off them they were fine. Well, mostly. I think one of the towers got crushed, but the rest of it looks okay.”

“Let me take him now...” Buffy held her hands out to Angel.

He hung onto the little boy, grinning at her. “Make me.”

“Don’t think I won’t...” she warned him, narrowing her eyes.

“Ooh, scary face.” Angel held Wesley up. “Do you really want to go to the Scary Slayer, Wesley?”

Wesley held out his arms to Buffy. “Yes!”

She snatched him from Angel at once and he wrapped his legs around her and burrowed in against her neck with a contented little sigh. She tilted her head so he could fit in against her perfectly, rocking him automatically.

Cordelia shook her head. “You are so laying up trouble for yourself.”

“Am not,” Buffy retorted. She frowned. “How am I?”

“You know how.” Cordelia straightened Wesley’s collar for him. “You can play with these toys tomorrow, okay? Tonight you need to go to bed and get some sleep.”

“Yes, Cordelia,” he said drowsily, his thumb slipping into his mouth before he noticed.

Cordelia sighed. “You are so adorable.”

Xander put an armful of Playmobil parts onto Giles’s dining room table. “So glad you’re not laying up trouble for yourself, Queen C.”

Wearily, Giles set about allocating people somewhere to sleep. It was difficult not to be distracted by Angel, of all people, entirely forgetting to be preternaturally cool as he tickled Wesley’s tummy – Wesley giggled helplessly at that –, by Buffy cooing over Wesley, Cordelia looking at him all misty-eyed, and Xander handing him his teddy bear.

“Perhaps if you got him into his pyjamas and encouraged him to brush his teeth, Buffy...?” Giles suggested.

“He’s too tired to brush his teeth...” Buffy began but as she carried him into the bathroom, Wesley’s sleepy eyes opened and he automatically reached for his toothbrush with the hand with which he was not holding onto Cuthbert’s paw. Giles watched from the doorway as Wesley stumbled through cleaning his teeth – neatly rinsing and spitting when Buffy offered him the beaker – peeing groggily but accurately into the porcelain, dutifully washing his hands very thoroughly, before he was swept up by Buffy to be carried off to Giles’ bedroom, Giles having realized that the only way to accommodate so many people was for him to give up his room to Buffy, Willow, and Wesley, let Cordelia have the spare room, grab the couch for himself and allocate the floor to Xander, Oz and Angel. That also sidestepped the problem of any – hanky-panky going on for which he would feel morally responsible and for which Buffy, Willow and Cordelia’s mother might blame him.

Oz and Willow arrived in time for Willow to squeal helplessly at the sight of Wesley in his pyjamas, earning a sleepy ‘Willow…!’ and arms held out to her. He was then thoroughly kissed and cuddled by Willow while Oz looked on, smiling, and then carried around by Buffy for goodnight hugs from everyone else.

Knowing how much it would irk the miserable old bugger, Giles did take a rather bitter satisfaction in the fact that the son of Roger Wyndam-Pryce had just received goodnight cuddles from a werewolf and a vampire. Cordelia rebuttoned Wesley’s pyjama jacket for him, straightened out the creases, and then promptly put the creases back in again by swooping him into a hug. Giles couldn’t help noticing that everyone seemed rather reluctant to hand him back after their ‘goodnight’ and that Buffy hovered anxiously the whole time as if only she could hold a little boy without dropping him.

Giles didn’t even attempt getting the now very sleepy little boy out of Buffy’s arms, but just bade him ‘Goodnight’ and reminded Buffy not to trip over anyone if she had to take him to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Then there was the whole crush of people all trying to use the bathroom before they went to sleep, while Xander complained about how long Cordelia took, and Giles quietly handed Oz some aspirin to deal with his obviously thumping head.

He had thought that he would never be able to sleep on the uncomfortable couch, especially with Xander snoring on the floor a few feet away, and Angel staying in his house – because, however much he tried to overcome it, it was difficult to be in this place with the vampire and not think about what Angelus had left for him in the bedroom – but the strain of the day had the benefit of leaving him too exhausted to even notice the way the couch springs were digging into his hip, before he was fast asleep and dreaming, oddly enough, about pilchards.


He was woken in the night by Buffy hissing at Angel. Blinking blearily, Giles reached for his glasses and put them on to see Buffy in striped pyjamas, standing over a sleeping Xander and whispering urgently to a now no-longer-sleeping Angel: “...so can you tell if someone has a fever just by smelling them...?”

“I doubt he has a fever, Buffy,” Angel sighed.

“Well, he seems really hot to me, and Willow thinks so too.”

Sighing as wearily as Angel, Giles reached for his dressing gown. “Would you like me to...?”

“Oh yes, please…” As Giles got up, Buffy blinked at him. “You have the same PJs as Wesley – big Wesley, I mean – are they like – Council issue?”

Giles refused to dignify that with an answer, just reaching for his dressing gown and then stepping over Xander, who grunted and turned over in his sleeping bag, before following Buffy up the stairs to his bedroom.

He found Willow there, also in her pyjamas, anxiously feeling Wesley’s forehead. The little boy was still fast asleep, curled up with Cuthbert under one arm and his thumb in his mouth. He looked – Giles had to admit if only in the privacy of his head – absolutely adorable. He had clearly been sleeping in between Willow and Buffy. Giles and Angel exchanged a glance of amusement.

“Have you been er...cuddling him?” Giles enquired.

“Both of you?” Angel added.

“Well, yes...” Buffy looked nonplussed. “We thought he might have nightmares.”

“We wanted him to feel safe,” Willow explained.

Giles put a hand on the little boy’s forehead and then smirked at Angel. “Given the fact he’s been sandwiched between two over protective warm bodies under a duvet while wearing brushed cotton pyjamas, I’d say he was pretty much the temperature one would expect.”

“You’re going to smother him, Buffy,” Angel added kindly. “He isn’t me – he needs to breathe.” He also felt Wesley’s forehead and then nodded at Giles. “That’s definitely ambient heat, not fever.”

Willow looked dismayed: “Are you saying we can’t...snuggle him?”

“I think some moderate cuddling is probably acceptable but try not to suffocate him with kindness.”

Buffy looked pouty but climbed back under the covers, Wesley immediately sliding contentedly into the dip between the two girls. She automatically went to cuddle him against her chest and then pouted again. “Okay, no smothering.” But she and Willow were both instinctively curling themselves around the child and he seemed perfectly contented that they should do so. Giles and Angel exchanged another smirk.

Giles said, “Do try not to have another irrational panic before morning if you can manage it, Buffy. I would really like to get a few hours sleep tonight.”

Angel said, “I’d better head off before daylight.”

Buffy looked up. “No, because there could be another attack from the Mayor. And, anyway, you haven’t got to play with any of the toys yet.”

“We could keep the curtains across tomorrow,” Giles shrugged.

“Okay.” Angel flashed Buffy an unexpectedly dorky grin.

Giles said a firm: “Goodnight, Buffy, Willow…” and left them to their Wesley-cuddling, glancing sideways at Angel as he closed the door behind them. “Vampires play with toys...?”

Angel looked sheepish. “Sometimes.”

Giles looked at Angel’s ubercool black clothes, perfectly gelled hair, and stylish swish of long black coat. “You want to build Playmobil castles and besiege fairy bowers?”

“Xander said there was a Viking ship,” Angel muttered defensively. “I was thinking it could attack the castle from the sea. Sea isn’t difficult to make.”

Giles narrowed his eyes. “I have to live here. I draw the line at papier-maché landscaping.”

“We only need a few feet of coastline. Maybe some baking foil? Or that shiny Christmas wrapping... You didn’t think of getting the Pirate ship as well...? That way we could have a sea battle.”

Giles remembered that the Pirate ship had looked rather splendid as well. Trying not to concede anything, he shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t break the bank to get a few more odds and ends.”

“That siege tower did get broken.”

As Giles stepped carefully over Oz and Xander to get back under his sleeping bag on the sofa, he wondered why he was not more surprised that Angel, a two hundred and forty-five year old vampire, wanted to spend the day hanging around with a bunch of teenagers playing with an eight year old boy. As he drifted off to sleep, it occurred to Giles that perhaps his lack of surprise came from that fact that he, a forty-two year old Watcher, wanted to do exactly the same thing.

***