Title: Didn’t See That Coming - Chapter 4 – It’s Hard to Look Tough With a Baby Strapped to Your Chest.
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.
Note 2: I don’t know Riley’s parents names, so I am making them up. If his parents resemble Jonathan & Martha Kent, it’s not entirely intentional.
________________________________

Last time:

“Agent Finn?”

“Yes?”

“I have the results of the DNA test we ran on your son.”

“And?”

“Uh… have you heard of NCIS?”

*********

Mary Finn put the roast in the oven and went in search of her son and her new, completely adorable, grandson. A quick sweep of the house yielded no baby to cuddle; the only place left really was her son’s favorite thinking spot. As she approached the front door, she could hear the creaking of the porch swing through the screen. Mary made a quick detour for her camera and then went out on the front porch. She couldn’t help but smile at what she found. Her snoozing giant of a son (he definitely didn’t get the height from her) sat slouched on the porch swing, his feet up on the porch rail absently keeping the swing in gentle motion while his son, her grandson, dozed on his chest. She knew the new digital camera that she’d received from her children for her birthday would come in handy.

At the click of the shutter and her own pleased chuckle, Riley cracked open one eye. “Haven’t you filled up the memory card on that yet?”

Mary grinned. “Yesterday, at bath time. I downloaded those pictures and I started fresh this morning.”

Riley, who had since opened both eyes, proceeded to roll them at his mother.

“You can’t tell me there are pictures of the first weeks of his life. I have to make up for that to fill the baby book. Can’t have the boy thinking we didn’t document his every adorable little move,” Mary said as she took another picture of the cuteness that was her grandson.

Riley winced at the mention of Xander’s early weeks. He knew his mother wasn’t entirely convinced of his story about the baby’s origins, but she wasn’t asking him directly about it. She was doing the mom thing, which meant slight guilt trips and passive aggressive statements. His mother didn’t mean any harm and she wasn’t being difficult, she was just subtly letting him know that she was the mom and she would always be one step ahead of him.

Mary moved gingerly over to the swing and timed her seating so that she wouldn’t disturb the rocking motion that was keeping her darling grandbaby so content. She rested her head on her son’s broad shoulder and gazed adoringly at the baby, smiling when he rubbed his little clenched fist over his lips. “He’ll figure out the thumb soon enough,” she said quietly.

Riley nodded in agreement. His son was brilliant; of course he would find his thumb on his own soon.

“So, when do you leave to find little man’s other daddy?” Riley’s mom asked, her voice almost a whisper.

The former soldier sighed. “Friday. It’ll give me the weekend to recon him before I approach him at work on Monday.”

Mary smiled at her son’s very military approach to the situation. “They’ll just let you into the building, no questions asked?”

“I’ve still got my clearance. Even though I’m on permanent leave, I’m considered to be on active duty, so I’ll get paid and get my pension. They want to make sure I’ll have the means to support the child they created as well as not expose them to the press and public. So, it shouldn’t be a problem getting in,” Riley replied.

His mother snorted.  She had already made it clear what she thought of the military’s ‘bribe’ to keep quiet. A paycheck for the rest of his life, with cost of living raises, was still way less than her son deserved. Especially considering that they were drugging him and all the other soldiers all along.

Xander heard his grandmother’s noise and cracked an eye open to look at the woman who cuddled him and sang to him and laughed at his daddy when Xander had soaked him at bath time. He lifted his hand in greeting to his adoring fan and closed his eye to snuggle back into his father’s chest.

Riley and his mother shared a grin at his son’s antics.

“Do you think this man, this NCIS agent, will want to be a part of Xander’s life?” Mary asked.

“I’m not sure. My sources say that he should be a part of Xander’s life, that he would be good for him. I wasn’t sure if they meant that he would be good for Xander or if Xander would be good for him. I guess it doesn’t matter either way,” Riley said.

“Are you going to move to D.C. to be near him?” his mother asked.

“Maybe; it’s not like I have a job holding me anywhere. And if this guy needs to be a part of Xander’s life, then we should probably be close by.  Plus, I think it would be a good idea to be in D.C. and keep an ear to the ground to see if anyone wants to be stupid again and create another situation like Sunnydale.”

Mary reached a finger over and lightly traced the baby’s cheek. “No matter what other things they did, I can’t be sorry that we have this little angel to love.”

Riley smiled down at his son. “He’s the silver lining, Mom. The only one I can think of.”

“What about that girl you were seeing?”

“She… she’s complicated. As much as I cared about her, loved her… I don’t think she loved me. I was… peripheral.  Buffy is important, she has an important job, and I used to think that I could help her. But she didn’t really want my help. And now I have Xander and it feels like being his dad is way more important than being a warrior. I’m sorry that Buffy and I didn’t work out, but even without sudden daddyhood, I don’t think we would have been forever anyway. This was just quicker, and less… bloody, then it could have been,” Riley answered.

Mary decided to change the subject before things got depressing. “So, I’ve been wondering, why ‘Xander’ and not Alex or something?”

Riley smiled. “One of Buffy’s friends was named Xander. A really great guy, whom I admired. He had a good heart and helped out because he felt it was the right thing to do, not because he was supposed to or because it was required.”

“Had?” Mary questioned, catching her son’s use of the past tense.

“We lost him right before this little guy appeared,” Riley said, a touch of sadness in his voice. He watched his son stirring and smiled when the boy blinked up at him.

“I miss him; he was sarcastic and funny, and he had a good head on his shoulders. Sometimes I look into my Xander’s eyes and I swear he has the same mischievous sparkle that the other Xander had. My boy is definitely going to be a handful,” Riley said as he lifted his son up to rub noses with him.

 “Like he isn’t already?” Mary said, reaching for the now wide awake baby to get her snuggle time. She stood and headed inside. “I’ll go change his diaper while you fix a bottle.”

Riley grinned. His mother had taken one look at Xander and fallen head over heels in love with her first grandchild. Over the past few days, she had taken every opportunity to steal the baby for snuggles and kisses. Riley heard the sound of a truck behind him and turned to see his dad pull up.  His dad jumped from the truck, his long legs making quick work of the space between him and the front porch.

“She stole the baby again didn’t she? Dammit, you were supposed to hold onto him so that I could have a chance to hold him,” His dad accused.

“Not like she, or I, would let you have him until you’d taken a shower and gotten all the dust off you first, Dad. If you hurry, you can time it so you get to feed him his bottle when it’s ready,” Riley teased.

John Finn nodded seriously and started untucking his shirt as he headed into the house, tossing over his shoulder, “Here’s the plan, son: you stall her, act like you’re gonna feed Xander yourself, then I’ll swoop in and get him durin’ the exchange.”

Riley waited until he was sure his dad was out of hearing range before bursting into laughter. His parents had taken to grandparenthood like ducks to water. Over the past couple of days they had become stiff competitors in the ‘who gets to hold Xander more’ Olympics. Riley thought it wasn’t quite fair that his mother was home most of the day while his dad was out managing the farm. He tried to even up the odds by claiming plenty of baby-time himself during the day, but once quitting time came, it was all he could do to claim bath-time for himself.

Shaking his head, Riley headed in to make the baby’s bottle and figure out how to avoid getting his butt kicked by his mom for letting his dad outmaneuver her. Assuming of course that they were successful; Mary Finn was no fool, and it was entirely possible she had her own plan of action for feeding time.

**********

Riley took a deep breath, accepted his visitor’s pass from the security guard and headed towards the elevator. He thanked goodness he’d chosen to come later in the morning, so that he didn’t have to be in the middle of the arriving-for-work crowd. He had the elevator compartment to himself, luckily, because Xander was asleep in his Snuggli and considering that if you didn’t let the boy wake up on his own, you had a very unhappy Xander on your hands, that was a good thing. Riley would have to beat down anyone made his son cry by jostling him awake.

Riley stepped out of the elevator to a room full of cubicles and the hum of computers and people working. He noticed a redhead going up the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief; he knew from his contacts that it probably would not be good if the Director was around for the discussion that was about to take place.

He headed in the direction of the cubicles and asked the first person he saw for help, who happened to be a goth girl in a lab coat. “Excuse me ma’am, I’m looking for Special Agent Gibbs’ team, could you point me in their direction?”

“Aren’t you two the cutest thing ever? And don’t call me ma’am. They’re right over here,” the young woman said in one breath.

Riley smiled slightly.  It was almost as good as Scooby-babble, but not quite as fast. Although the bouncing did help.

He followed her towards an aisle with the desks all facing each other.  The group of people there were attempting to look busy while they were glared at by an older man who was obviously the team lead.

“Gibbs, this guy was looking for you. Isn’t the baby so cute all bundled in his Snuggli?”

“Snuggli?” the female agent asked with a slight accent.

“It’s the carrying thing the baby’s in,” the youngest, slightly geeky looking member of the team supplied.

The man who was Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs eyed Riley and the sleeping baby suspiciously, a hint of recognition on his face. “Have we met before?”

Riley grimaced. “Unfortunately, we have met, sir.”

“Is there something you need?” Gibbs asked tersely, still trying to place where he had met the large man in front of him with the tiny baby strapped to his chest. “And don’t call me sir, I work for a living.”

Riley struggled not to salute and stand at attention before Gibbs. “Actually si… Agent Gibbs, I was looking for your team, or more specifically, a member of your team… Tony DiNozzo.”

“That would be me,” said the smartly dressed NCIS agent to Riley’s right. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to speak with you, in private, preferably where we won’t be overheard,” Riley said, looking at the man up close for the first time.

“You don’t talk to one of my agents without me present,” Gibbs ordered.

Riley shrugged lightly, careful not to disturb the sleeping baby on his chest. “If he doesn’t mind, Agent Gibbs, you might actually be able to convince him I’m telling the truth.”

Gibbs’ brow wrinkled in confusion for a moment before he realized where he had seen this young man before. “You were part of that debacle in California.”

“Yes,” Riley answered simply, having recognized Gibbs as one of several investigators sent to find out what had happened when the Initiative fell.

Tony was very confused. He knew Gibbs had gone on a special assignment several months ago that had been so classified that even people with some of the highest security clearance available hadn’t been able to access the files. He knew because he’d had them try. Gibbs had come back from that investigation looking pale and angry. Tony wondered what the young man who was obviously military had to do with it.

Gibbs stared at Riley for a few minutes, not allowing himself to be impressed when the young man held his gaze unflinchingly. The team leader allowed his gaze to travel to the baby in the carrier on the man’s chest and suddenly comprehension dawned. Riley saw the moment when Gibbs realized what was going on.

“You’re looking for DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

“Yes, I am,” Riley answered, knowing he was answering another question as well.

“Well shit,” Gibbs muttered before dragging them both into his conference room-slash-elevator.

 

 

TBC

 

 

Part 5

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