Part 12 – The Real World, D.C.

Title: Open Doors – Part 12 – The Real World, D.C.
Author: Xanfan
Fandom: Buffy/NCIS crossover
Rating: Potentially R/Mature
Pairing: eventually Tony/Xander
Summary: SLASH - When some doors slam shut, others open. Two men with a history of being pushed aside learn that it’s the small moments that can change everything.
Spoilers: up to Boxed In, season 3 of NCIS, All of Buffy, post Chosen
Warnings: Slash M/M
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.
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Last Time:

“Uh-huh. Now let’s get to my car. We’ve had enough life changing conversations in dark alleys for the night.”

“Works for me. I’m guessing the naughty fun touching mood has been broken by the unfortunate intrusion and shortened existence of that bloodsucker, huh?” Xander questioned.

“Pretty much,” Tony agreed.

As they settled into his car, as Xander was buckling his seatbelt, Tony asked, “So what’s up with Angel and Spike?”

**************

Xander let his head fall back against the seat with a thump. Trust Tony to ask the hard questions. "You know how I said that vampires are soulless demons?"

"Uh-huh," Tony said.

"And you know how they say there are exceptions to every rule?" Xander asked.

"Uh-huh, Tony said, not exactly sure where this was going.

"Well, Spike and Angel are vampires, but they have souls," Xander said simply.

Tony turned in his seat to look at him, noticing Xander was looking down at his lap.

"You're going to have to go into a little more detail on that one," Tony said.

"Uh, well, they have souls. Now, at least. Originally they didn’t. Angel was cursed with his by gypsies a century or so ago ‘cause they were torqued at him for eating their princess and Spike got given his by a demon after going through trials and stuff. They're still demons, but now they have guilt and emotions other than bloodlust. Angel's used to slip away now and again, but he got it fixed on tight by the Powers when he survived a big apocalypse in L.A. a few years back," Xander said in one breath.

"I'm pretty sure that made sense, in your head, but I still have no idea what that means. But, you live with them and let them baby-sit the girls, so I'm figuring you trust them. Hopefully they'll have a better explanation when I ask them," Tony said.

"Ask them?" Xander questioned nervously.

"I'm driving you home from our date, Xander, you can't tell me someone won't be waiting up for you to get all the good dirt," Tony said as he pulled out from the parking spot and into traffic.

Xander blushed. That was probably true, although Spike had told him, with a rather lewd leer and nudge, that he didn't have to come home tonight… but he wasn't quite ready for overnights yet.

Tony just smirked at him.

*********

"They're back!" Rona yelled from her perch near the front door. She was pretty pleased that she had been assigned this hour of Xander lookout duty before her patrol and that she hadn’t missed the after-date recap.

There was a trampling of feet and rushing around as several people appeared in the living room off the entryway and proceeded to drape themselves around the living room in a rather pathetic display of casualness.

When Xander opened the door and let himself and Tony in, everyone pretended to ignore them. Xander just rolled his eyes at the obvious set-up and looked over at Tony who smirked back at him.

“So, can anyone tell me why Xander stabbed someone in the chest with a stick and the guy exploded into dust?” Tony asked to break the silence. Xander groaned and covered his face with his hand.

“What?” was yelled, as was, “Bloody Hell!” and “Good Lord!”

These exclamations were followed by, “Way to be subtle Xander, why don’t you take him to Caritas Seven while you’re at it and introduce him to Lorne?”

Xander peeked out from between his fingers. “Totally not my fault, see, there was this shout and…”

“Had to play the hero, didn’t ya? Had to be a bleedin’ White Hat?” Spike muttered in half-hearted disgust. He’d learned long ago that the whelp couldn’t stop himself from jumping in; it was ingrained in the boy’s nature to help when someone needed it, no matter the consequences.

“Back off, Spike,” Angel said, a hint of warning in his voice. Spike just sneered at him, but gave Xander a half-shrug in lieu of apology.

“So, you gonna cop out now? Drop our boy ‘cause you can’t handle the bumps in the night?” Gunn asked accusingly of Tony.

“One of my closest friends is a goth lab rat who sleeps in a coffin, I can handle a little weirdness,” Tony defended.

“Sleeps in a coffin? That’s just….gross and creepy,” Angel said.

Xander started giggling, which turned into laughter and then turned into full out guffaws. The tension broke and everybody got the joke, even Tony.

“You’re one to talk about being all creepy,” Tony said.

Angel just looked at him, then at Xander.

The eye-patched man just put up his hands, palm out. “Don’t look at me, he figured it out by himself. Apparently you and Spike gave a lot of clues.”

The dark-haired vampire nodded slowly. Spike snorted in derision.

“Back to the question, knowing about weird stuff in theory is one thing, facing it is another. Are you sure that this is something you can handle?” Angel asked quietly, then slid into game face to emphasize the point: vampires were real, it was all real.

Tony looked at him, studied the ridges and yellowed eyes. His gaze slid to Spike, who was also sporting his vampire visage. The NCIS agent glanced around the room, looking at all the occupants, the warriors, the little girls, who were all looking back at him expectantly and were not at all put off by Angel and Spike’s demon faces, and he got it, really understood. This was reality to them, this was everyday. This demon and vampire thing was their lives, something fought and faced routinely.

Humbled by the realization, Tony really thought about what this would mean for him, for him and Xander. He cleared his throat. “I’m not going to be able to pretend that all of this doesn’t exist anymore, am I?”

Xander shook his head sadly. “A lot of people do, they go into denial. That woman tonight, the one that I saved? Tomorrow, she’ll tell people that she was mugged and that his weapon of choice was a barbecue fork that he managed to get her in the neck with, and that he might have been wearing a creepy mask. But she won’t remember that he was a vampire, that he bit her or that he exploded into dust. You could do that, you know? I wouldn’t really blame you if you did.”

“Really? Because I would blame me,” Tony said, “I just can’t walk away. Not from this and not from you, got it? You’re pretty much stuck with me.”

Xander broke into a relieved grin, as did a few others in the room. They all really wanted this to work for their friend, glad that he had finally found a keeper.

Tony grabbed Xander’s hand and squeezed it. “Why don’t you go make sure the little ones got to bed and Spike and Angel and I will talk about this whole ‘soul’ thing, and why it makes them off limits for going ‘poof’ in the wind.”

Angel and Spike looked at each other in trepidation, while Xander just grinned and headed for the stairs.