Title: Didn’t See That Coming - Chapter 3 – Holding on and Letting Go
Author: Xanfan
Rating: Some parts might be R or NC-17
Pairing: surprise M/M
Summary: My take on the Xander as a baby thing. The Initiative did even more bad things than we knew.
Spoilers: Up to beginning of Season 5 of Buffy and for Replacement; Up through season 3 of NCIS
Warnings: Slash
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: Spike is slightly more part of the gang than he was in canon at this point.
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Last time:
Joyce and Riley were left alone in the room. “Can I do this?”
“Visit Cordelia?” Joyce asked.
“As scary as that idea is, what I mean is, can I do this, raise a baby, raise Xander?” Riley asked, the magnitude of what he was taking on hitting him for the first time.
“Xander pretty much raised himself the first time around, and he managed to turn into to a fine young man with a good heart. With your influence, I think he’ll be even more amazing,” Joyce said confidently.
“What about his other father? What will he think of all of this?” Riley asked, pulling the baby tighter against him, as if to protect him against possible harm from the unknown quantity that was Xander’s other father.
“Halfrek seemed quite certain that you should find him and she wouldn’t have made him Xander’s father if she didn’t think that he would love him as much as you do,” Joyce assured.
“Okay. Maybe I’ll have the tests done in L.A. while I’m there and then take the baby to Iowa to visit my parents. Not sure how I’m going to explain how they became grandparents, but I’m pretty sure they’ll adore him no matter what,” Riley said.
“Of course they will. And I can be an honorary grandmother, if you’d let me,” Joyce offered.
“We’d be honored. I think both Xanders would be very happy at the though of you being family,” Riley assured, reminded of Xander’s obvious admiration of the Summers matriarch.
Joyce smiled in pleasure. She took Xander to hold one last time and cuddled the dozing baby to her, placing soft kisses all over the adorable face. She knew that no matter how little sleep this precious angel let Riley have tonight, the two would be gone when she woke up in the morning. Riley wanted to make the separation as smooth as possible and they needed to get away from the Hellmouth at first light.
*********
Cordelia hung up the phone from her conversation with Dawn, tears running down her face. She ignored the two men gathered around her, asking her what was wrong. “Damn Willow, couldn’t she have learned her lesson before now?”
“Cordelia, what did Willow do?” Wesley asked.
“She tried to ‘fix’ Xander,” Cordy muttered.
“What do you mean ‘fix’ Xander?” Angel asked.
“There was some demon who split him into two Xanders and the only thing Willow had to do to put them back together was undo the spell. She undid it alright, except she undid a lot more than that.”
“What do you mean?” Wesley asked.
“She undid about 19 years of his life and made it permanent.”
“Surely she didn’t?” Wesley exclaimed, aghast at the implications.
“She sure did. He’s a baby now, about three weeks old. Apparently cute as can be.” Cordy muttered.
“What else?” Angel asked, knowing there was more from the Seer’s expression.
“Well, except for Joyce, Riley’s the only one who knows anything about taking care of kids, something to do with being raised in Iowa, I don’t know. Anyway, he’s really good at it, I guess, and they were trying to decide what to do about Xander, cause he couldn’t go to his parents because it would be like sending him to be raised by drunk wolves, and Dawn used the ‘W’ word and now Riley’s his mom!” Cordy shouted.
“What!” Angel yelled.
“Dawn wished Xander had good parents like Riley and so another Vengeance Demon, who is over lost childhoods, came and made Riley his parent and his other parent is a guy too because the Initiative was experimenting not only on demons, but on their soldiers too and they did some science thing and the Xander has two dads and Tara was the surrogate.”
“Tara?” Wesley asked.
“Willow’s girlfriend, real sweetheart, way too good for that spoiled brat of a witch,” Cordelia explained.
“So… Xander’s a baby and Riley’s his… dad?” Angel asked slowly, still bowled over by Cordelia’s explanation. He knew there had to be more to the story, but the former cheerleader wasn’t one for details.
“Yeah, oh, and he’s bringing the baby by tomorrow so that I can see him and say goodbye, because Xander can’t be raised on the Hellmouth again,” Cordy said.
“Here?” Angel asked, not sure if he could keep his temper around Buffy’s boyfriend.
“Oh yeah, and Buffy and Riley broke up because she’s not mommy material and can’t leave the Hellmouth and he won’t raise Xander on it,” Cordy added.
“Oh,” Angel said.
“Fascinating,” Wesley said. “When are they coming?”
“He’s leaving Sunnydale at first light, so I’m going to bed, you two try not and make a bigger mess.”
Angel and Wesley watched their Seer head towards her bedroom and then began to tidy up their makeshift office/Cordelia’s living room.
*******
Riley checked the address on the house; it matched the one Dawn had left for him last night. He wasn’t nearly as tired as he thought he’d be. Xander had had a couple of nightmares last night, in addition to waking up for his feedings, but Riley had gotten him fed and soothed back to sleep fairly quickly and fallen back to sleep easily himself, so he wasn’t that tired. He got out of the car and opened the back door of his SUV to get Xander out of his car seat. He cradled the baby to his chest and grabbed the diaper bag, because you never know when a baby might need a change.
He made his way up the walk and to the front door, knocking softly, knowing it was quite early. Riley was surprised when the door was yanked open abruptly by an anxious brunette beauty.
“Riley? Come in, is that him? Can I hold him? I don’t change diapers,” Cordelia babbled.
“Is the babbling a Scooby thing or a Sunnydale thing?” Riley asked with a grin.
“Xander and Willow infected us all with the babble,” Cordelia admitted, liking the big man right away.
Riley stepped fully into the house and Cordelia shut the door behind him. He froze when he saw Angel sitting in the living room.
“Look, Angel promised to be on his best behavior, so you have to be too,” Cordy ordered.
Riley nodded reluctantly, then adjusted the baby so Cordelia could see his little face.
“It’s really him, isn’t it?” Cordy whispered.
“Yeah, it is,” Riley said.
The Seer reached a hesitant hand out to brush delicately at his cheek.
“Do you want to hold him?” Riley asked.
“Yes,” Cordelia answered as she reached for the baby and Riley gently placed Xander in her arms.
“Hey you,” Cordy said to the baby who stared up at her in awe.
“Angel, come look, isn’t he the cutest?” Cordelia said.
The vampire approached cautiously, but one look at the precious little face and he was a goner. “He’s adorable, he really is.”
Riley could have stayed standoffish towards Angel if only he hadn’t seen the rush of affection cross the vampire’s face at the sight of Xander.
“You can hold him too, if you want, assuming Cordelia is willing to give him up,” Riley offered.
Angel was shocked that this man he had fought in an alley with was willing to let him hold his child, let him hold Xander.
“Wait your turn, buddy, I’m not done with mine yet,” Cordy warned.
Angel and Riley chuckled at that.
After they had each had several turns holding the baby and after they had both refused to change him when he messed his diaper, Xander was gently handed back to his father.
“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” Cordelia asked, a bittersweet smile on her face as she stroked his cheek one last time. She leaned over and gently kissed his cheek, whispering, “Goodbye, my sweet prince, be happy.”
Angel wrapped an arm around her shoulder in comfort, reaching his other hand to brush back of lock of dark hair from the baby’s head. “Have a good life, White Knight. I know you’ll have a better guardian this time around. Riley, we’re always here if you ever need us, I hope you know that.”
“I do. I’m glad Dawn and Anya asked me to come. He really did love you, Cordelia.”
“Thank you,” Cordy said, walking them to the door.
As they watched Riley put the baby in the car and then drive off, Cordelia turned in Angel’s arms and sobbed. “I’m going to miss him.”
“I know. Believe it or not, I will too. But, it’s better this way. He wasn’t fully appreciated in his old life. That man really loves him and will be a good father to him. Xander deserves this second chance, deserves to have a happy childhood and to be loved and supported from day one. I can’t begrudge him that, can you?” Angel asked.
“No,” Cordy said between sniffles. “And, I actually feel like I can let him go now, you know? I couldn’t before, not really. But now, it’s like the little guy set me free.”
“I’m glad you got to say goodbye,” Angel said, wrapping her fully in his arms, knowing that she would be okay now.
********
“So you’ll run the DNA tests and if you find anything, you’ll call me?” Riley asked the technician.
“Yes sir, and we’ll keep our findings completely confidential. The General is waiting for you outside.”
Riley saluted the General with his free hand, the one that wasn’t holding the baby, as soon as he saw him.
“At ease, Agent Finn. I wanted to give you our deepest apologies. We had no idea that there was another… victim of that abhorrent experiment. You have my assurance that the U.S. Military will stay out of your lives from now on. You’re off limits to us. I’ve instructed the DNA tech to run the test privately and report only to you with the results. He won’t write anything down or print anything for the file,” the General assured, horrified that this soldier had been further violated by the Initiative’s experiments. The drugged ‘vitamins’ were bad enough, but this? It was just horrifying.
“Thank you sir. I’ve given him my cell phone number to call when he has the results. I appreciate your support and discretion in this matter,” Riley said formally, patting absently at Xander’s back, comforting them both after the trauma of Xander being stuck with a needle to draw blood. Riley had almost cried along with his boy.
********
“Agent Finn?”
“Yes?”
“I have the results of the DNA test we ran on your son.”
“And?”
“Uh… have you heard of NCIS?”
TBC