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Xander groaned lightly and rolled onto his side. He was so tired. It had been almost a month since he had left Sunnydale behind and come to live at the hotel. It had been shocking for all of them to learn that Angel was now Angelus, but still fighting for the side of the light. The soul and the demon had merged; it was after a meeting with the Oracles that Angel learned that that was all it took to overcome the curse on his soul. Needless to say, he was a little pissed that they hadn't bothered to tell him that sooner.
Life in LA had taken some adjusting to; first of all he had to deal with being coddled more than he ever had with the Scoobies. Xander was barely allowed to shower by himself, l et alone go anywhere. He was close to staking Angelus and Spike just to get some time for himself. Thankfully for all of them, Cordy had stepped in and cowed the vampires into giving him a little space; of course now Gunn, Wes or one of the other members of the Fang Gang were always around him.
Xander sighed softly when he felt a cool hand ghost over his brow. Opening his eyes, he expected to see Spike or Angelus. Instead he saw Dru; with a strangled gasp he pulled back and looked at her in wide-eyed shock. She smiled at him with tenderness and stroked her hand down his cheek again.
"Hello Heart, Miss Edith and the stars told me that I had to come and protect you from all the bad ones. My sweet baby and my Daddy are being naughty and you keep wanting to run away, but Miss Edith says the nasty soldier toys would come and get you. So I had to keep them away. I ate the nasty pretender man and the slayer cried, but it's better this way. He wasn't a good doggie," Dru told him sweetly.
Xander blinked, and for a moment he just stared, then her words made sense and he sat up. Unsurprisingly, Dru helped him ease into a sitting position. "You killed Riley?" he asked, stunned.
"Yes, the bad doggie did something nasty to the slayer. She wasn't good to my Kitten and my Burning Tree. Took away the golden girl and made her all muddy. He was going to tell them bad things and the toy soldiers were going to come and take away my new Daddy. Now no one will take you away and the golden one will get golden instead of muddy," Dru told him with that same sweet tone.
Xander blinked a few times and nodded. He had understood her mental tangent and decided that he needed to go and get Angelus, before one of the other members of the fang gang showed up and tried to stake Dru. Dru crooned softly to him and helped him stand. She then wrapped an arm around him and steadied him as he walked out the door and toward the stairs.
In t he lobby, Spike and Angelus were arguing with Cordy about going upstairs and checking on Xander. "If you don't get your heads out of your asses, Xander's going to run right back to Sunnydale. Then where will you idiots be?" she growled.
Dru giggled. "I like her. Do you suppose Daddy will let me keep her?" Dru asked Xander. The dark haired youth started to laugh at the look of horror on Wes' face and the look of speculation on Cordy's.
"Cordelia!" Wes snapped as he saw the look on her face.
"What? Xander gets his own vampires, why can't I?" Cordy asked angrily.
Wes just shook his head and walked away. There was no way he was going to get into that with Cordelia. Besides, the more that he thought about it the more sense it made. Both females were extremely frightening. Both Doyle and Oz were grinning at him in amusement and Oz just shrugged.
"Ooo...hello, Wolfy," Dru purred to Oz. He gave her a wolfish smile and walked across the room to greet her . She shocked all of them by kissing him.
Xander snickered. Being drawn to vampires must be a Sunnydale thing, he thought. Cordy walked over to him and put her arm around his waist. "So, what are you doing here, Dru?" Doyle asked from his place on the sofa.
Dru smiled. "I've come to protect my new Daddy from the nasty toy soldiers. I ate the bad doggie and now the slaying one will be golden again, instead of all muddy," she told him serenely.
"So you killed Riley, huh? Too bad," Cordy said with fake sympathy. This had everyone blinking in surprise while Xander snickered.
"I'm confused," Wes said honestly.
"Get used to it," the two male vampires said as one. This set the three Sunnydalers off into peals of laughter. The three normally would have condemned such an action, maybe even staked the vampire responsible, but they all figured that the Powers had something to do with it. Just as they had something to do with Xander's pregnancy and wi th Faith's record suddenly being expunged. The Dark Slayer would be moving into the hotel tomorrow to help the team protect Xander and fight demons.
At first, everyone had been worried that Xander wouldn't accept Faith being apart of the group. Angelus, Wes and Cordy had long since made peace with the slayer, but Willow was the only one from Sunnydale that had forgiven Faith, or so they thought. They were all surprised at Xander's reaction when he found out. The young man had let out a whoop of happiness and had driven everyone to the point of exhaustion by making the group work to clean the suite nearest his. Now, from the looks of it, Dru would be staying as well.
“So Dru, did the Stars tell Miss E. anything else?” Xander asked as he allowed Cordy to lead him over to a chair and sit him down.
“No, but they will. They always do,” Dru said carelessly. She was walking in a circle around Cordy, purring as she brushed her body against the young woman’s. Cordy was grinning and at the last turn, grabbed the female vampire and pulled her in front of her. “I get a Queen and a Wolfy all of my own,” Dru sing songed.
Wes sighed and shook his head. There was no way he was saying a word. He had learned long ago that there was no way to stop any of the children from Sunnydale from doing whatever they wished to do. They were quick to love and quick to hate, and as with both emotions, it was hard to change their minds about them.
Angelus and Spike both smirked at one another when Wes said nothing. The boy was learning, though he had managed to catch on a whole hell of a lot quicker than they had. You would think that, after all the time both vampires had spent with the Sunnydale children, they would have learned as fast, but well, they were stubborn.
“So Cordy, how did you know that it was Riley that Dru was speaking of?” Wes asked suddenly.
“She said he was making the slaying one all muddy, therefore it had to be Riley,” Cordy said with a shrug. She was far more interested in Dru than she was in discussing the death of Captain Cardboard. She had known something was wrong when they were in Sunnyhell. "There was no way that Buffy would have acted the way that she had with Willow and Xander if something weren’t wrong with her. Add in the distrust and unease that both Willow and Xander were showing her and it showed that something was wrong with Buffy."
Wes nodded in agreement. He, too, had been worried about Buffy's odd behavior. It was completely out of character for the younger woman to imediately jump the gun and order the murder of Xander's unborn children. That, and she had yet to show true concern for Xander's welfare.
Spike was frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder if they weren't using a different kind of mind control on the slayer? It would explain why she'd be interested in that git in the first place. Let's face it, he's no Angel, and she likes them dark and sexy. One of the reasons she set me on edge was her lust for my whelp and my Sires," Spike stated calmly.
Everyone looked at him in shocked disbelief. "Huh?" Xander asked, confused. Angelus, though, did not. He agreed with Spike. He had known about Parker and had duly scared that little pissant into leaving town. No one was going to use his girl without paying for it.
"Maybe it really is a Sunnydale thing. You come to live in Sunnydale and suddenly you're lusting after the undead," Cordy mused. She, Xander and Oz shared a look.
"Nah, it's just the Scourge," they all said in unison. Wes chuckled at that and turned his attention back to the book he had been reading before Xander and Dru came downstairs. Doyle and Gunn shared a look, then shrugged. It's not like they didn't feel the pull; after all, the surviving members of the Scourge of Europe were all beautiful and dangerously appealing. There was just something about them that called to a person.
Neither of them could blame the teens for their preoccupation with the three. After all, it wasn't everyone who could claim that they had three vampires that were willing to main and kill someone just because their friend was acting out of character.
________________________________________________________________________________ ___
Xander was bouncing in his chair with impatience and excitement. Today was such a cool day. Faith was coming to stay at the hotel and his family was coming to visit. Almost as soon as they had settled down from the revelation that Riley was dead, Willow and Buffy had called. Dru had come to them nearly a week after killing Riley, and Buffy had finally begun to see how she had been behaving. They had talked for hours the night before and everyone had decided to come up to visit.
Even Joyce was coming. The Scoobies were all excited about a spell that had been sent to them in the mail a few days prior. It had cured Joyce of the tumor and any other health problems that she may have acquired while she had the cancer. It had taken every bit of Willow, Buffy and Cordy's resolve to keep Xander from rushing back to Sunnyhell to see Joyce. Finally, Joyce had simply taken the phone from Willow and calmly informed Xander that they would be there the next day and that he was to rest. The three girls had been put out by how easy it was for Joyce to calm Xander down, but they were just glad it worked.
Dru was humming softly as she watched her pretty Kitten waiting for the others to arrive. She giggled at the visions that the dark lights were showing her. Such fun they would have. Very soon the children would be born. They would be of light and love, but have the strength of the dark in them.
Soon the family would be complete and together. The liar would be coming soon, looking for the lovely light that was a part of her beloved Kitten and the mother of the hearts. Soon they would be battling to protect the little light, but the babies would be here by then and they would know how to keep the light safe.
the end for now
Story Notes:
Spoilers: Season 4
Thanks to Edi for the Feedback
Series/Sequel: 2nd in the Baby Makes 4 series.
AN: Yes I know that I seem to be obsessed with Dru being a part of Xander's life, but I think that they have a great deal in common and I love her. If there was one female character on the show, besides Willow, Anya and Faith, that in any way shape or form should have stood as the friend/love, it's Dru. This is not always a sexual thing, as you will see in this fic. Sometimes two people connect so deeply that they will do anything to protect one another; since Dru is soulless and more than a little insane, that is a lot of lengths.