Chapter 1: Apology and Discussion

"You owe him this apology, whelp," Ripper heard as he approached the door. "You had no right to go through his things and don't try to blame it all on the girls. Much as I know they had a lot to do with it, you went into the closet too and you wanted to go through his things just as much."

"I know, Spike," Xander said. "It's just Giles is Giles and---."

"And what? He ain't entitled to a private life? Right, Cods Wallop. He's a person, same as you and your friends. Like any person he has things he wishes to keep private. Now, you will apologize because you know you did wrong and I know you are sorry. If you want to keep him as a friend, you'd better apologize to him and offer to help with whatever set him off on you all last night."

Ripper opened the door as Spike was about to knock again and he found Xander there looking down at the toes of his sneakers.

"What?" he barked at the youth and the vampire. He saw the look on Xander's face when he saw how Ripper was dressed and he couldn't help his smirk.

"I'm sorry, Giles," Xander said. "I didn't think and I know that isn't an excuse but I mean I was curious and when Willow and Buffy suggested it---."

"You let your curiosity think for you?" Ripper finished. He sighed and nodded. "I was young once. Did a lot of stupid things. Apology accepted. Come in, both of you. Maybe you can help me with a problem I've just discovered."

"Sure, G-Ma...."Giles," Xander said.

"G-man, Giles or Ripper, I no longer care which you call me. Got more things to worry about."

"Like what?" Xander asked at the same time Spike looked down at he photo and then snarled, going game face.

"Who is this?" he asked as he gestured to the picture.

"That's Randall," Ripper said. "You can feel it too then?"

"Yeah, I can. Gotta say, for a dead man, I sure feel a lot of life on this picture. This guy ain't dead."

"He has Ethan," Ripper said. "He's had him for 20 years. I do not want to know what my Eth has lived through at his hands."

"Your Eth? I didn't know were still with Ethan?" Xander said.

"Never stopped loving him," Ripper said. "May have forgotten but I never really stopped."

"We may need Peaches to help," Spike said. "Not sure we can do all this on our own."

"Fine," Ripper said. "Just make sure to get him here in a way Buffy wont bug us. This isn't for her to help with. This is between me and Randall."

"And us," Spike said. "You ain't doing this alone. You ain't facing the darkness alone. That's what family is for."

"Family," Ripper said quietly as Xander nodded firmly.

"Family."

Unknown location

"God dammit, Ethan!" The voice yelled.

He cringed inwardly. What had he done this time?

"I told you, Ethan. I warned you about your games. What the hell were you thinking? Dammit, now I have to punish you. I told you no games this time."

"Randall, please---." He began.

The crack across his face knocked him into the wall of the bedroom.

"What did you call me, Ethan?" He demanded. "I told you not to call me that. You call me Master, Ethan. That is all you call me."

"But I---." Ethan screamed as the glowing hand touched his chest.

"Don't argue with me, Ethan. Never argue with me. God, why do you make me do this to you? I love you. I don't like punishing you. There now, that's better. Shhh, You're mine Ethan. Why wont you see that?"

Ethan lay still shaking from the reaction of having black energy forced into him. He was incapable of moving at this point. Randall began to touch him and he shivered. He didn't want this. He did not want Randall.

The room seemed to get darker as Randall leaned over to kiss him. He fought but he wasn't strong enough.

"NO!!" Echoed through his mind in powerful denial. "NO!"

Chapter 2: Ownership---Void

Ripper was sleeping when the images came to him. Always sleeping but this night he was looking for it. He had a feeling he knew where to look. Follow the spark he knew to be labeled Ethan in his mind. The room came into sharp focus as he grabbed the spark and he stared around.

"Come on, Ethan," he heard. "Come on my pet. You know you want this."

Ripper followed the noise and froze at what he saw. Oh, Randall was so going to die.

Ethan was lying chained to a bed stripped to the waist. Randall was standing over him, drawing symbols on his chest. But what really pissed Ripper off was the collar and leash on Ethan's neck. Ethan was not a thing. He was not a possession. Dammit, Randall was going to Die or this.

"Move, Ethan," Randall said as he drew the last symbol.

Ripper watched as Ethan began to writhe in pain and then scream as whatever was being called came through him. The collar that he wore glittered in the candlelight and Ripper was over come with rage when he saw it. Saw it choking Ethan and weighing him down. He stared at it; the ugly thing that was trapping his beloved and he hurled his rage at it. He heard more than saw it crack and fall from Ethan's shoulders. He saw the look on Randall's face when he saw the jeweled monstrosity hit the floor in pieces and then, he focused his will.

"MINE!!!!" he bellowed though the air in the room. Hs voce startled Randall who began to look afraid.

"R-Ripper?" he whispered fearfully. Of course, Randall had always feared Ripper. Ripper scared him. Rupert may not have been a threat but Ripper terrified him.

"Mine!" he screamed again as he took on his astral form. He knelt on the bed wrapping his ghostly arms around Ethan. His eyes, when he looked up at Randall, burned with a fiery Hatred that ahd the other man scrambling backwards.

"Come to me, Ethan," he whispered as he kissed the temple of the man lying weakly on the bed. "Come to me."

"No," Randall screamed. "No, he's mine! You can't take him away from me. I love him!"

"No, you do not," a new voice said.

Giles' head snapped around and he stared. Spike? Xander? How in the hell had they gotten here?

"You would cage him and keep him here against his will," Spike said.

"That is not love. If you loved him, you would let him go," Xander finished the thought.

"But no one else loves him like I do," Randall said angrily. "Ripper used o beat him. Try to destroy his beauty and Ethan---Ethan is so beautiful."

"He's not an ornament," Giles growled. "Hell, I'll admit I didn't take the best care of him at times but I also knew when to let him go. You don't. Ethan, Come to me if you can. If you can't don't worry. I WILL find you."

The man on the bed nodded weakly and Giles watched as he began to glow.

"No, Ethan!" Randall screamed. "You can't leave me. I won't let you. You're mine, do you hear? Mine!"

Randall reached for Ethan and was suddenly blown backwards.

Ripper had been roused to rage. "You cannot own a person!" Ripper screamed as Ethan vanished from the bed. "You cannot own him. I will not allow you to hurt him trying!"

Randall was thrown across the room and Ripper was yanked back to his body by the presence appearing on his living room floor. Spike and Xander were already awake and waiting and as soon as Ethan materialized, they had him wrapped in a blanket and carried him to the bathroom where Ripper prepared a bath.

"Give him to me," Ripper said as he lit herbs to burn and purify the air. "I have to cleanse him. Then, we need to pack and get the hell out of Sunnydale. Randall will be coming."

"I'll call Peaches," Spike said. He knew the only place they could go was to his Sire. Oh, Buggering Joy.