TITLE: Fractured Images III

AUTHOR: Scorpio

ARCHIVE: The Nesting Place, BtVS Slash, CKoS, The Den, S/X WoF, Xander Extreme, WWOMB and anyone else - just ask.

FANDOM: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

PAIRING: Spike/Xander, Willow/Tara

RATING: PG

CATEGORY: Future Fic, drama

WARNING: Slavery

DISCLAIMER: Joss and Mutant Enemy own the Buffy boys and girls. Only the twisted plot is mine.

SUMMARY: Xander and the witches consider the future, the vampires contemplate Xander's past.

FRACTURED IMAGES III
by Scorpio

With a heavy sigh, Xander Harris sat down at his large oak desk in his air conditioned office and pushed his day planner aside in favor of the silver framed family portrait sitting slightly behind his videophone. A sad little small crossed his face as he realized that he couldn't continue to put off the call to Willow and Tara any longer. They had to know what had happened to Cordelia and how it would effect them all.

Reaching out, he picked up the photograph and ran one gentle finger over the beloved image. His family. Him and his girls.

He could still remember the utter shock and terrifying joy that had washed over him when Willow and Tara had come to him over eighteen years ago asking him to be the father of their children. The witches had already been married for three years at that point and they wanted a family. He had been their first choice as the father. It had only been Spike's steady presence that had kept him from bolting out of their apartment in a blind panic. Now, he couldn't image his life without his two daughters. Rose Ann Harris, who was Willow's daughter and the oldest, and Bethany Marie Harris, the youngest and Tara's daughter.

When he had first set up his will, he had been certain to specify that in the event of his death that Spike would be inherited by Willow. If at that time she was no longer alive or able to take him, than Spike would be inherited by Rose Ann, than Bethany. Now, he had to figure out what to do about Angel. This was not a conversation he wanted to have, but he had no choice. He couldn't just let it be until later because there might not be a later and if he didn't make arrangements then Angel would just end up on the block or with whoever Lilah Morgan was representing that was so interested in the vampire.

Putting the picture down, Xander punched a few buttons and codes into his videophone and smiled slightly at the monitor/camera on the corner of his desk. He listened while the machine beeped, hissed and pinged. Then he was connected. The screen flickered and the telecommunications company's logo flashed onto it while a prerecorded voice echoed through the room.

~Call connecting. Please hold for the party you are trying to reach. Thank you for using West Coast Communications.~

The logo flickered away and a call window opened up. A slightly harried looking Tara came into view. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a loose twist and her blue-green silk shirt was rolled up at the sleeves. She held several files in her hands and a pen was tucked behind one ear.

"Sunnydale Technology. Tara McCoy speaking. How can I help you?"

Xander smiled.

"Hello beautiful. Busy morning?"

For a second, Tara blinked at the monitor and then a slow smile spread across her features, melting the stress off of her face.

"Xander?"

Xander chuckled as he watched Tara drop her files and scrounge around on her desktop for a quick moment. Then she popped a pair of wire-framed glasses on her face and turned back to her videophone.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know it was you on the line."

Xander's smile grew even wider. Tara's eyes were steadily getting worse as the years rolled by and both he and Willow had often suggested having them repaired by the simple and painless surgical procedure available for her condition. She always refused, however, stating that the idea of surgery on her *eyes* gave her the wiggins.

"That's okay sweetie. I was just calling to see if you and Willow could get away from the office for lunch today. I...have some serious news and we will have to make some decisions, but I don't want to talk about it over an open line."

Tara paused for a moment frowning. Xander could see the questions hovering just behind her lips, but she didn't voice them. Instead, she reached over to her left and grabbed a thick green leather book and unsnapped it. She flipped through it until she came to the page she was searching for and then ran one finger down it briefly as she read.

"Um...I'm available from one o'clock until two-thirty. Does that work for you?"

Xander glanced over to the side where he had slid his own planner and frowned at it in thought. If he rescheduled his one-thirty to noon then he would be able to make it.

"Yes, that's fine. Is Willow going to be able to make that as well?"

Tara smiled.

"Let's find out."

Xander watched as she picked up an audio-only handset and he heard the low sounds of her pushing a couple buttons. She wiggled her eyebrows at him as they both waited for Willow to pick up on the other end. Xander chuckled again and marveled over the fact that this bright and lovely woman was once the painfully shy young girl he remembered from his youth. She was still soft spoken and preferred to "work behind the scenes", but now she was self-confident and sure of her place in life. Xander adored her.

"Hey, Wills? Can you get away from your desk at one so that we can meet Xander for lunch? I have him on video and he needs to meet with us as soon as possible."

Tara nodded and smiled.

"Great. Oh, okay. Uh-huh...sure honey. No, no, I'll drive. Okay. Okay. Yeah, he's on the line right now. Of course. Okay. Yeah, I love you too."

Tara disconnected with Willow and smiled at Xander over the videophone. He grinned right back. They both had plenty of experience of extracting themselves from the Willow-babble-zone and had gotten very good doing so quickly.

"She says that one o'clock is fine and I'm supposed to drive to wherever it is that we are meeting. Where *are* we meeting?"

Xander considered it. He wasn't *that* far away from them, but it would be easiest if he chose someplace that was equidistant between the two companies.

"How about The Water Garden?"

The Water Garden was a beautiful eatery that specialized in seafood. It also had a lovely indoor waterfall along one wall that spilled into a small indoor pond. The food was excellent, the service was quick and the atmosphere was cozy without being too busy or loud to conduct business.

"That would be fine. We'll see you there this afternoon although it might be a little passed one o'clock due to travel time."

Xander smiled and nodded.

"That's fine. I'll see you then."

*

Spike watched in mild irritation as Angel brooded silently in the corner. He had been silent and moody all afternoon and it was wearing thin on Spike's nerves. Angel had tried to settle down with a book once or twice, but he just ended up brooding some more while holding it uselessly in his hands. And as stoic as many people thought the dark vampire was, Spike could easily read him and all his minute changes in facial expression. Irritation, confusion and regret kept rolling through him and Spike had reached the limits of his patience.

"Bloody hell Peaches. What is your problem? You've been a moody git all damn day."

A wash of annoyance rose up in Angel's dark eyes and for a brief second Spike thought that a nasty retort was going to be his only answer, but then his Sire sighed and shook his head in confusion.

"It's Xander. That recording he left me. I...I guess I just didn't expect that. I remember him as this annoying jerk who hated me, was afraid of me and who would jump at any chance to tell me off, but this..."

Angel just shrugged, unsure how to explain the unsettled feeling that the recording had left him with.

"He's just so different, I guess. I mean, those rules. Don't make a mess? Behave? I'm not exactly a child. And I can't *believe* he wants to *pierce* me."

Spike's face reflected a subtle sadness and his eyes grew unfocused as if he was seeing something that wasn't in the room with them.

"He wasn't always like this, you know? He *has* changed, yes...but it wasn't all over night or anything like that. It's just...life, you know? He just slowly stopped being afraid, I guess."

Angel looked up sharply.

"What? Of me? Because of the chip?"

Spike shook his head slowly, his face introspective and thoughtful.

"No. Of anything. Of death. He's just...not afraid. I mean, bloody hell Angelus, the boy grew up in an abusive home on the Hellmouth. He spent his teen years fighting just to stay alive. And he *did*. He stopped being afraid to die. He faced that possibility *so many* times that it stopped having any sort of power over him. His two other big fears have been faced head on and he overcame *those* as well."

Angel frowned as he considered this.

"What...what do you mean? What other fears?"

It was Spike's turn to shrug.

"Simple really. If you think about it. He had been told by his old man that he was a failure, a mistake and that he'd *never* amount to anything worthwhile. He's proven the old man wrong. He *is* a success. He owns his own bloody company and thousands of humans are in his employ, counting on him for their livelihood. The other fear was of having a family. A *real* family. One that loved each other instead of trying to tear each other apart. He has that now. The witches each gave him a little girl. So...he has his business, his friends, his kids and his pets."

Angel's expression went from thoughtful to sour instantly.

"And we're the pets?"

Spike's face grew very sad and wistful.

"Yeah mate. We're the pets."

*

Xander gazed sadly over his shrimp and crab linguini alfredo at Willow. Her big green eyes were watery and he could see that she was trying not to break down and let the tears spill over in public. Tara was holding her hand and she just looked saddened and so very tired. Almost as if she had aged several years in the space of a few moments.

"I'm...I'm so sorry Wills. I know that you and Cordelia were in close contact with each other."

Willow nodded and took in a deep shaky breath.

"Now what?"

Xander frowned and looked down at his plate briefly, as if the pasta could tell him the best way to figure this whole thing out.

"I'm not sure. I want to adjust my will so that Angel is protected. I'm not sure if I should leave him to Bethany or not. It would be fair to the girls that way, one vampire each. But they've never met and I don't want to saddle Beth with Angel if she ends up not liking or trusting him."

The witches both nodded in agreement. Then Tara spoke up with a temporary solution.

"Um...I know Angel. Not *real* well, but well enough. Put my name down for now. It can always be changed again if Bethany decides that she'd be willing to take him."

Xander nodded. That was a good idea. He didn't want to burden his daughter with an unwanted responsibility of such magnitude, but he couldn't just leave Angel hanging without any security either.

"Thanks Tara. I'll do that. There's two other things that I'm worried about though."

They both looked over to him curiously and he grinned slightly at the warm fuzzy feeling that moved through him because of how easily they always seemed to make his world a nicer and more friendly place.

"One is Wes. He was in the car with Cordy during the accident. He's in a coma and so he couldn't claim his inheritance. He's at LA General Hospital right now, but I can't help but wonder about that. After all, LA General isn't exactly set up to care for coma patients...but maybe I'm just being paranoid. What's more, because I'm not a family member, I couldn't get any details on his condition and Angel is very upset over that."

Tara offered up a slight shrug and a half-grin.

"Um...if you want, I'll dig into it for you. Just because no one will answer your questions out loud that doesn't mean those answers aren't there. I'll see if I can't get passed the Hospital's computer passwords and hacking shields. I'm not as good as Wills here, but I've learned a trick or two over the years."

Xander's smile widened and his eyes gleamed conspiratorially.

"Thanks T."

She blushed and glanced at her lap before looking back up and grinning right back at him.

"The other thing is this lawyer lady. Lilah Morgan. She kept pushing and pushing me to sell Angel while offering to handle the details. Then she offered the same thing for Angel Investigations. I could be wrong, but I smell a rat there. I think that someone is very interested in either him *or* the firm's files. I don't know which. If that's the case, I'm thinking that maybe Cordy's accident wasn't an accident. With both Cordy and Wes out of the way, that only left *me* to get both Angel and the P.I. firm. Maybe there is something there worth killing for?"

Both girls got distant looks in their eyes as they considered his words. It was Willow who finally broke the silence.

"Possibly. I mean, it makes sense and I've seen stranger things happen, but there is no way to tell without more information. She *could* have just seen Angel as an easy high profit sale. But I don't think we can afford to take that chance. If it *was* a murder than you would be next on the list since you refused to sell him."

Xander grimaced slightly, but he didn't refute Willow's statement. The red-haired woman just looked off into space thoughtfully for a long moment. Finally, she reached a decision because she nodded her head decisively and flashed her most determined look.

"Let me dig into that end of things. I'll try and find out a list of Ms. Morgan's clients and close business associates. You talk to Angel and find out if he has any ideas. Maybe he can recall someone who expressed an interest in him or the firm to either Cordelia or Wes. Plus, he would have all the inside information on the cases they were handling at the time of Cordelia's death. We should probably get over to Angel Investigations and go through the files there too."

Xander agreed with her ideas and her assessment of the situation. In fact, he had already started on working towards that goal.

"The P.I. firm is currently being run by another associate of Cordelia's. A Mr. Gunn. In fact, Cordelia's will specifically named *him* as the one who would inherit all of Cordelia's weapons while Wes was to get her real-estate and jewelry. A stipulation of my inheriting Angel Investigations was that I could *never* fire Mr. Gunn from it's employ. Everyone else there wasn't even mentioned."

"Gunn? He's a great guy and one of the best demon hunters around. Have you ever met him?"

Xander shook his head.

"No, not in person. However, I *have* talked to him over videophone many times over the years. I *do* have an appointment with him for tomorrow, however."

"Good."


END: Fractured Images III
[next chapter... Angel gets his nipples pierced ::leers::]