NOTE: This chapter is rated FR15

Dating Harder

EDIT: I was informed that polls/suggestion boxes/author's notes cannot be separate chapters, so I put the latest one at the end of this chapter. I will probably put one at the end of each chapter from now on, but don't let a lack of one deter you from making suggestions/requesting a scene or circumstance.


Disclaimer: If you recognize a character or setting, it doesn't belong to me. The original premise for this was from a story called Chosen to Destroy by TDMaster on this website. The holy water handshake was borrowed from an author named echo. One scene in this chapter was heavily influenced and partially written by RemusCDLupin.

Author's Notes: Spike's entrance in this episode was so awesome that I couldn't write it so imagine it happened anyway. The second big change to canon occurs in this chapter: Drusilla is dead. She died in Prague at the hands of a mob.

This was betaed by babychick, but all mistakes are still my fault for not listening to her.





The Anointed one was holding court in his warehouse when a minion knelt in front of him, waiting to be recognized. Colin sneered at him, “Report.”

“There is no pattern to where the Hunter goes except the school and the Bronze. We are still looking for Angelus.”

“Send--” Colin is interrupted by the flick of a Zippo. Everyone turns toward the door and Colin asks, “Who are you?”

The intruder grins and answers, “They call me Spike. Heard you’ve been having trouble with a Hunter. What’ll ya give me for takin’ care of your problem?”

Colin contemplated for a moment, “What do you want?”

Spike answered, “Angelus.”

Colin looked at him for a moment then answered, “Done.”

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Wood walked into the library and spoke to Giles, “I need to ask your advice about Xander.”

“What about him?”

“His class participation is slipping and it’s starting to affect his grades. His test scores have improved greatly and I would hate to see his academic success impeded by the participation portion of the grades. One way to raise that grade is to do things for the school such as set up Parent-Teacher Night. I wanted your advice on how to ask him to do it without offending him.

Xander came into the library behind Wood. “You could just ask me. I don’t bite.”

Wood startled, turned around and nonchalantly said, “So, will you do it?”

Xander blinked and looked at him for a moment then answered, “Sure! Why not?”

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Xander was begging Willow for help with Parent-Teacher Night when a man bumped into Xander’s chair as he walked past. Xander looked after the guy until Willow asked, “Xan, what’s wrong?”

Xander looked at her blankly for a moment and said, “Vampire,” then stood up and followed the vampire through the crowd.

Spike looked at Xander sharply and discreetly followed him out to the alley to watch the fight from the shadows.

The vampire grabbed a girl that was standing by the door and dragged her out into the alley. He pushed her up against the wall, vamped out, and leaned in to bite her.

Xander stepped up behind him and staked him through the back without the vampire ever knowing he was there. He looked up and down the alley suspiciously, causing Spike to duck further into the shadows. Xander ushered the girl back into the Bronze while suggesting that she stay away from the door and maybe take some self-defense lessons.

Spike followed him back inside undetected, where Xander met up with Dean who was watching Willow and Sam dance out on the floor.

Spike approached the table, “Nice moves out there. Bastard never saw it coming. Name’s Spike.”

Xander nodded and eyed Spike, “Xander. This is Dean.” Xander gestured to Dean who was watching Spike suspiciously.

Dean lifted his hand from his lap and extended it toward Spike. “Always a pleasure to meet another hunter,” he grinned.

Spike had barely touched Dean’s hand when his own hand started to smoke. “Holy water?” Spike said disbelievingly as he backed away from the table.

Willow and Sam were passing Spike when Spike grabbed Willow by the throat and pulled her back against his chest while pushing Sam into the table. “Smart boys. I wonder if he knows that there’re two of you.”

Dean and Xander stepped toward him and he shook Willow and taunted them, “Ah ah, you don’t want to be planning her funeral tomorrow, do you?”

They froze while Spike got a little more distance then he threw Willow at them and turned, running out of the Bronze at top speed.

Xander caught Willow then looked at Dean and said, “Well, that was fun.”

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The next day, the gang minus Dean walked into the library and told Giles what happened at the Bronze the previous evening. Giles thought for a moment then went into his office and carried a leather-bound book out and began to flip through it.

“The description sounded familiar. Just a moment. Yes, a vampire of that description killed two Slayers, one in the 1970s by the name of Nikki Wood and the other in China during the Boxer Rebellion. This lists his name as William the Bloody however.”

Dean walked into the library in time to hear the last sentence and had to comment, “You mean the evil undead lied. The horror! I brought breakfast. Dig in.” He set a box of donuts and a bag of sodas on the table then tossed Xander a pack of Twinkies and a Mountain Dew.

Xander looked surprised for a moment then smiled at him shyly. Dean grinned back and winked at him. Sam watched the byplay suspiciously, internally vowing to drag Dean off for some grilling at the first opportunity.

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“How in the bleedin’ hell do you get anything done with such pathetic minions? Oh, that’s right, you don’t get anything done. As evidenced by the lack of bloody Angelus broken on the floor in front of me!”

“Watch your tongue, Spike, before I have it removed!” the boy vampire snarled.

Spike looked at Colin for a moment then removed a stake from his pocket and dusted the Anointed One with one motion. “Have that removed, brat,” was Spike’s final word on the subject. He turned to the minions that were standing there in shock and snarled, “New management, boys. You fail me, you get staked. No exceptions.”

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Willow put her books down on the table and asked Xander, “Is everything ready?”

“Veggie tray, check. Lemonade, check-”

“You did put sugar in that, didn’t you?” Sam asked quickly.

“-yes, I did. Banners are made, streamers are here, we just have to wait for school to end so we can put them up.” Xander finished.

Willow opened her mouth to speak when Wood escorted a brown-haired man into the library who froze upon becoming the focus of every eye in the room. Robin cleared his throat and explained, “This is Dr. Daniel Jackson. He’s asked to speak to Xander.”

Xander stood up and stepped forward, “I’m Xander. What did you need?”

Giles offered, “You can use my office if this discussion requires privacy?”

Daniel nodded and looked at Xander, “That might be best.”

Xander and Daniel entered Giles office and shut the door as Sam grabbed Dean’s arm and pulled him into the stacks.

Dean went along but pulled his arm out of Sam’s grip irritatedly, “Dude, get off me. What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Donuts alone aren’t good enough for Xander anymore?”

“If I wasn’t allowed to be nice, you should have told me. I could have told you what I really think about you weeks ago.”

Sam grinned hugely and started taunting Dean, “Dean’s got a boyfriend. Dean’s got a boyfriend. Dean and Xander sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes-”

Dean stopped Sam’s taunting by grabbing him in a headlock and giving him a noogie, then dragging him back down the stairs just as Xander and Daniel exited Giles office. Dean let go of Sam and went to Xander when he saw how upset Xander looked. “Dude, you okay?” Dean said, alternating between glaring at Daniel and looked concernedly at Xander.

“My step dad got killed last night and my mom is leaving town.”

Everyone stared at Xander in shock for a moment. Sam recovered first and asked, “Was it a… an animal attack?”

“No. He was driving drunk. Ran his car into a telephone pole.”

“That sucks. Dude, you know our couch is available, right?” Dean asked, putting his hand on Xander’s arm.

Giles put his hand on Xander’s other shoulder and added, “I also have a spare room if you need it.”

“Thanks, guys. Daniel is going to be staying with me for at least a couple weeks though. According to this letter from my mom, he’s my dad,” Xander looked at Daniel and smiled tentatively.

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The group was grilling Daniel and deflecting his questions when Wood came in ushering Cordelia and Harmony in front of him and locking the doors behind him. “We have party crashers, people,” he said as he went to the book cage and started gathering weapons.

Daniel stood and looked around confusedly as the group mobilized and started collecting weapons from Wood. “What? What’s going on?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Can you shoot a crossbow?” Xander answered.

Daniel nodded, “Yes. What should I shoot?”

“Anyone that has yellow eyes and fangs. Aim for the heart.”

Sam grabbed a crossbow and a handful of stakes before Dean said, “You’re staying here, Sammy.”

“The hell I am!”

“Need you to help Giles hold the library as a fallback point. Go block off that fire door in the stacks.”

“Fine!”

As Dean and Xander were walking out the door, Dean turned to Giles and warned, “Dude, I’m trusting you with my brother. He follows me out that door; I’m going to shoot you in the ass with a load of rock salt.”

Dean and Xander left the library, tapped their stakes together and parted company. Dean went after Wood; Xander went the other way down the hall. Neither of them noticed Daniel following Xander a few seconds later.

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Xander straightened from staking his third minion of the night to see Spike down the hall watching him fight. “Hey, Spike. Having fun?”

“Yeah, a bit. You?”

“It’d be more fun if these minions were any kind of challenge.”

“I aim to please. Care for a dance, boy?”

They traded punches for a while, neither getting the upper hand when Xander found his back against the wall. Spike punched straight at his head but Xander ducked and Spike’s fist went into the wall. Xander ducked under his arm and rabbit-punched his kidneys.

“That hurt,” Spike complained as he pulled his hand out of the wall along with a 2x4 stud and swung it at Xander’s head, knocking him down.

Spike advanced and reached down for Xander when a crossbow bolt was fired into his shoulder from the back. He turned around to see Daniel, already reloaded, pointing the crossbow at his chest.

“Get away from my son!” Daniel growled.

Spike hissed as the blessed crossbow bolt started burning then snarled as he ran away, having noticed that all his minions were dust or had run away.

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Daniel, Wood, Dean and Xander limped back into the library, Dean holding Xander up. Wood went to put the weapons away while Dean hustled Xander into Giles’ office saying, “I’ll patch Xander up. We need to talk. Giles, explain things to Daniel, would you?”

Dean pushed Xander into the chair and closed the door to Giles’ office. He turned to Xander and growled, “If you ever do something this stupid again, the demons won’t have to kill you. You were supposed to follow me. Then you wouldn’t have been alone with only the geek as backup.”

“If he’s ‘only a geek’, how did he know how to shoot a crossbow?”

“I’d say he didn’t since Spike is still alive.”

“Spike moved.”

“I don’t--”

Dean was interrupted by Xander’s lips pressing to his. He stood there shocked for a moment and Xander took that opportunity to reply. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have headed off on my own. I will never try to slay without you again if I can help it.”

Dean blinked and then kissed Xander breathless before pushing him back into the chair blustering, “Sit your ass back down before you bleed all over Giles’ office.” Then Dean opened the first aid kit and started patching up Xander’s cut.

Xander grinned and snarked, “I like you too, Dean.”

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When they came out, Giles was just finishing up telling the story of Buffy’s death and everyone else was waiting for Daniel’s reaction. Xander looked at him for a moment, then went into Giles’ office and came back out with Giles’ copy of Vampyr.

Daniel blinked then stared, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. He'd seen enough that he wasn't about to dismiss their claims right out of hand but by the same token he was having problems reconciling the fact that while Jack, Teal'c, Sam and he had been off saving the galaxy (and Earth by extension) there had been others who had been just as busy keeping the Earth there to be saved. Although to be truthful the greatest hurdle he was dealing with was the fact that there had been threats on par with the Goa’uld on earth itself the entire time, and he wasn't referring to Set. Just as he went to open his mouth again there was an exclamation of triumph from Xander and the distinctive scent of a very old book hit him.

"Here we go," Xander said as he reached Daniel's side. He reached over and held Daniel's hand palm up then slapped the book into his hand, "that should cover most of the generic big bads that we deal with on a regular basis. You can ask questions when you're done with it. We’re going home."

"You think that's a good idea?" Dean asked as they walked out.

"Oh yeah," Xander said, “That’ll keep him busy for a while. I think I’ll take you up on that couch, Dean.”

Xander had been correct. Before Dean even finished the question, Daniel had begun reading the book, ignoring them as everyone but Giles and Wood left the library in search of their beds.

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A few hours later, Giles tapped Daniel on the shoulder. “I am going home, Dr. Jackson. Xander is staying with Dean for the night; I would suggest that you stay in my spare room. Vampires can enter a hotel room without an invitation.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that. I hadn’t checked into a hotel as Jessica offered the use of her house if I got along with Xander. This is a lot to absorb. Can I ask questions in the morning instead of now?”

“Absolutely. You can follow me in your car. Carry this in case there are still stray vampires hanging about,” Giles handed him a blessed wooden cross and ushered him out the library door.





Poll/Suggestion Box

Hi, all! No, I haven't died. Also, I have not abandoned this fic. I'm sorry it's been so long, but real life and writer's block have conspired against me. Now, on to business.

This chapter's poll is:

How will the various father figures react to Dean and Xander's relationship? This includes Daniel, John Winchester, and Giles.



You may answer with how you think the character would react, or how you would like to see the character react. If you say how you think the character would react, please explain how you came to that conclusion.

On a side note, I am planning to have Giles/Ethan later in the story. It will never be explicit, because ew, but it will be acknowledged by the group.