Title:  Written In The Stars, Part 22 – Healing and Planning
Author: Xanfan
Rating:  R/NC-17 for future chapters
Pairing: m/m
Summary: SLASH. Xander and Spike become friends after Spike gets the chip, they are both hurt and Dru rescues them and brings them to Angel to heal.
Spoilers: BtVS up through season 4 and Ats 1st season. I may however take some liberties with the exact timeline, so, any season from either show is fair game.
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.

Original Challenge:  Spike has been chipped and taken in by the Scoobies. Just as he and
Xander are beginning to become friends something their both hurt and it’s up
to Angel to save and care for them. The twist is its Dru that saves them
and brings them to Daddy.

A/N: I may make take some liberties with timelines from both shows. And Anya was just a onetime thing. Also, Cordy has a spare room. And the Hyperion thing happened earlier than the blowing up thing, because I need a place to house all these people, so I can pull them out to play with them at my will.
_________________________________________

Last Time:

“I want him here. And I want him, period. I’ll do my best not to hurt him. I can’t make promises any more than you can, but if he does get hurt, it won’t be because I neglected and ignored him or didn’t love him,” Angel said earnestly.

Giles stared at Angel, trying to gauge his veracity. “If anything happens to him,  you’ll have to answer to all of us.  I’ll not hesitate to sic Joyce, Dawn and Willow on you.”

Angel shivered, even as he smiled. “I’ll hold you to that.”

The two men nodded in agreement and sat down to plan how to tell the others, not to mention Xander, that he had been drafted by the Powers That Be. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

*****

They had decided to delay telling Xander and the others about his destiny. Although it had taken some pretty hefty bribing to placate Cordelia into not spilling her guts, especially after the brain melting vision. Angel swore that his gold card had whimpered in pain when the Seer had finally returned it.

The circle of people who knew about the Power That Be’s plans for Xander was grew to include Spike from necessity because of the vampire’s blatant nosiness and eavesdropping

Xander had been in the hospital for over two weeks in total, healing from his injuries and surgery. It had not been easy for any of them to withstand a bored Xander and his constant pleading to get out of the hospital with full on puppy dog eyes and pouts of doom. Right away, Joyce had sent some of the Sunnydale crew home, arranging for everyone in the group to come back in shifts every few days to help keep Xander company and occupied, with her and Dawn taking the first few days. By the time Graham and Riley had come back to L.A., Dawn had been begging her mother to sneak Xander out from under the nurses’ eagle eyes. And Joyce had been minutes away from giving in to the twin sets of sad eyes. Luckily, the boys had relieved her so that she could go home and build back up her resistance to the Xander-pout.

Angel found himself greatly enjoying his night shifts of Xander watching. The boy would listen intently to his stories, usually of whatever demon fighting the vampire had done earlier in the evening. The young man’s teasing commentary and questions weren’t annoying; on the contrary, Angel loved the repartee. The conversations would turn to history, Angel having lived through much of it and studied what he hadn’t experienced first hand. He was surprised to find that Xander had a thirst for knowledge about the past and how it affected the present and future. The young man was a firm believer in learning from our own mistakes and not repeating them. Angel had laughed when Xander grudgingly admitted to not always practicing that preaching. It was something they both had in common. There was also a mutual subtle flirtation thing going on between them.
 
Xander was apparently starting to realize that Angel’s attentions were more than just platonic, one fighter-of-evil to another camaraderie. Not that anything could be done about it while Xander was healing, but the sparks were definitely there and neither of them was denying it; not exactly acknowledging, but they weren’t denying. Which was something, Angel thought. They had even made plans to go to the movies once Xander was feeling up to it. They hadn’t classified it as a date, but it had all the makings of turning into one if cards were played correctly.

When Xander was finally released from the hospital, he went ‘home’ to Angel’s new home, the Hyperion Hotel. A great deal of time and money had gone into making the place livable and workable by Cordelia’s exacting standards. Angel took great pride in the entertainment room that he had decked out with a big screen T.V. and an Xbox, complete with games Spike, Riley and Graham had assured him that Xander would enjoy.

Those not ‘in the know’ about the PTB’s intentions for Xander seemed to think Angel’s actions were a simple and obvious attempt to bribe Xander into staying in L.A. and into Angel’s bed. The winking and the nudging that met his interest in Xander’s comfort in the vampire’s home had grown steadily more annoying to Angel as time passed, and he was sure that some people had developed tics from too much eyelash twitching and bruises in their sides from the constant elbows connection.

Except for Buffy and Willow, of course, who enjoyed their delusions that Xander was straight and vampires were heterosexual. The others weren’t in a big hurry to bring the girls back to reality, as life was a lot easier when they were humored. No screeching blondes wailing about the unfairness of life or ‘well intentioned’ spells that would inevitably cause havoc in an effort to ‘fix’ things (Xander). And everyone knew that the girls couldn’t keep it a secret once they found out.

When he was released from the hospital, Xander was delighted with his new accommodations. His concern about staying in L.A. was placated by Spike’s assurance that Angel had offered them both jobs and wanted them both to stay.  That and finding boxed DVD sets of every season of Babylon 5 waiting for him in the entertainment room. There had even been a bow and a card with his name on it from Angel, welcoming him home.

So Xander lulled them into a false sense of security, confident in their schemes and subterfuge.  Angel, Giles and Cordelia never knew what hit them when Xander finally asked, “So what are you guys all secretive about? Is it a prophesy? Are you fattening me up for a sacrifice? Why are you keeping me from going back to Sunnydale?”