Xander and Alex

Xander woke up and sensed something was off.  He felt different, Sadder.  He kept his eyes closed and searched.  Pain, The pain of Buffy's death was so strong, Anya's leaving him felt so much worse than it had when he had lain down.  He searched deeper.  The anger wasn't there.  It had been there since that morning when Buffy had left him.  It had exploded when Anya had packed her bags; he had been violent, as evidenced by his damaged apartment. He had let it die down and smolder, but it had always been there.  But it wasn't now.  Pain had replaced the void.  He opened his eyes to stare into chocolate brown eyes, the same ones he stared into every day…in the mirror.

He had tossed and turned himself in to a fitful sleep. Wounded by the pain, anger and loss.  Angry at Buffy. Angry at Anya.  Angry at the world. He wanted them back.  But even in his dreams, he couldn't have that... His dreams had been full of violence and pain. Blood and death. Horrible loss.  As he woke, slowly, he realized that something was off.  The pain was gone.   He didn't feel the pain any more, just the anger, coiling and rolling in his stomach. He grimaced and opened his eyes to...Himself.

Xander stared into the chocolate orbs, seeing the anger in them.  It was almost tangible.  He didn't like it.  Those eyes were too much like his father's, full of hate.  Anger leads to hate, hate leads to the darkside.  Great now I'm thinking in Star Wars terms.  He stared into his twin's unblinking orbs, it was just too weird.  Who knew what could happen.  If one Xander died would the other too? But what if I got a paper cut, would he feel the pain?  Oh or maybe we're telepathically linked and if I have an orgasm then he feels it?  Xander shuddered.  That's just too weird for words.  Xander looked away from his own eyes.

Xander grabbed his lookalike's chin as he went to look away.  "Warm.  This not a hallucination."  He sat up quickly and grabbed the other's arm and turned it, exposing the underside . And there it was, a long

white strip of gauze on the inner arm. He twisted his own arm the same  way revealing an identical bandage.  "We have the same wound...  Where the jackhammer bounced back..."

"And hit me this morning."  His twin finished the sentence for him.

Split second. They both looked at each other inperfect understanding.  ""Giles.""

Both Xanders swiftly went into action.  “Xander,” he hesitantly spoke up as they were leaving, having gathered the holy water and stakes required after dark on the Hellmouth.  The other Xander turned and grimaced, “Call me Alex.”

“What if they can't put us back together again?”  And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again, thought Xander.

 

Alex frowned at his twin, seeing the fear and the beginning of panic rise in his eyes.  His own eyes.  That was just so weird.  He shook his head.  "Worry about that later.  First, we get to Giles."  He smiled wanly.  "Whatever.  We'll deal."

The trip to Gile's front door flew by in silence.  Each of the twins wrapped in thought of this newest Hellmouth extra wrinkle in his/their lives.  

Leading the way to the door, Alex put his hand on his twin's shoulder and squeezed, trying to be reassuring.  He'd seen the panic return again and again to his, Xander's, eyes.  He pounded on the door loudly, shaking the wood with the force of his blows.  "Hey G-man!  We got a problem here!"

 

Giles forced his head up at the frantic pounding on his door.  "J-just a moment," he called out, working his way through the words slowly. Carefully, the ex-Watcher stood up and placed the tumbler and Scotch on the coffee table.  Just as cautiously, he made his way to the door.  

Giles opened it, not particularly caring if the person behind it were friendly or a newly-risen vampire.

When he saw who it was, he blinked, then blinked again.  "Xander.. E-either I'm very drunk or there are two of you today."  Giles swallowed carefully, feeling the thick tongue of drunkenness threaten to overtake him.  "Please, tell me I'm drunk."

He was suddenly very aware that he reeked of Scotch and that he was leaving the boys to stand on his threshold.   "I'm, I'm sorry.  Come in."

Rupert moved back from the door, allowing him/them entry.  //Gods, let me be very drunk right now..//

 

The smell of alcohol only got stronger as Alex guided Xan through the doorway ahead of him.  It hit him like a slap in the face.  ~Fuck!  This is so not good.  Couldn't you schedule your drunken binges a little better, Giles.~  He grimaced and frowned at the older man.  He knew that Buffy's death had hit the older man hard.  But dammit!  It had hit them all hard!  "Giles, I really hope your not that drunk.  We're..."  He gestured at his twin.  "havin’ a major problem right now. And need research guy on line."  He ticked points off on his fingers.  "First, how come we're splitsville again?  And second, can you reintegrate us.  And make it stick this time around!"

Xander felt a flood of adrenalin when he smelled Giles.  He was getting serious wiggins from the guy.  He body was screaming FEAR and RUN AWAY, but his mind was confused, Giles would never hurt him, so why should he run?  As he got closer he could tell that Giles had been drinking even more heavily then he had thought. “Jeez Giles,” Xander twitched nervously, “I can smell the scotch all over you, and it had to be at least 80 proof.  With the amount gone in the bottle on the table it’s amazing that you’re still standing and coherent.  This is not good”, Xander thought, “not good at all.” Alex glared his twin, Xander catches the glare and winches.  “I said that all out loud didn’t I?” Xander glanced around nervously checking the exits, to make sure that there was nothing blocking any of the possible escape routes.

Giles flushed, and looked away from twins.  His guts twisted at the thought of any of the Scoobies knowing how low he had sunk.

Alex could see the fear and panic escalating in his twin's eyes, babble and body language.  ~Crap!  Not now!  Do not freak now!~  He took a big breath, willing himself to be calm. To not be angry with Xan.  It wasn't Xan's fault.  None of this was his fault.  ~Okay.  Time to calm myself down.~   Ignoring Giles for the moment, he took his 'little brother' by the arm.  Smiling, he laid a gentle hand on his twin's cheek, rubbing his thumb across the cheek. He spoke softly, hoping it was soothing. "It's okay.  It's gonna be okay.  Why don't you go make Giles some coffee, or tea, or something?  Can you do that?"

Xander nodded hurriedly, and quickly backed into the kitchen, his eyes on Giles the whole time.  He mechanically began to make tea for Giles having done it a hundred times before.  He mulled over his reaction.  Now that he was no longer in the same room with Giles and the smell had faded to near non-existence, it was easier to think.. There was still an under current of fear, but he could think around it now.  “Why would I be afraid of Giles?  Okay, yeah he did the Ripper thing, but he hasn’t been that bad in awhile.”  Xander mumbled to himself as he made the tea.  “That smell, though, I can still smell the scotch, it’s so similar to Dad tha-”  That was it!  “It’s the alcohol!  The smell reminds me of Dad!”  

Watching as Xan nodded his head violently, Alex was almost worried that his twin might injure himself.  He watched worried as Alex backed out of the room, not turning his back on Giles.  When he turned to face Giles again, all the gentleness and calm he had summoned up for Xan evaporated.  His face settled into a harsh scowl.  He was furious. Giles was not either of his parents! Giles was smart!  How could he sit in a dark room and drink himself into a stupor.  And he had terrified Xan.  Alex had no doubt what had been going on in his other's mind.  It was written all over his face.  Moving quickly to within inches of him, Alex's voice was a low harsh growl.  "Pull yourself together!  I get enough of this crap from my lousy excuse for parents.  I don't need it from you!  And your terrifying Xander...And that is so not a good idea..." 

Rupert stepped back from this aspect of Xander.  He had never dreamed that such ferocity existed within the young man.  His mouth moved silently for a moment or two, then his brain kicked in.  //Gods.. I'm failing them all, aren't I.  Not just Buffy..//

That thought alone was enough to sober him up.  Tears rose to his eyes, brought on by his drunkeness and the enormity of his betrayal of Buffy's memory.  He blinked them away, praying that they hadn't been seen.  

"I'm going to go upstairs, and very quickly wash up.  Once that's done, I'll come and down and try to answer your questions."

Giles disappeared up the stairs, into the lavatory.  He splashed his face with cold water, hands shaking.  //Look at you, Rupert.  What happened to the man that handle the Hellmouth?//  

He stared into his reflection, stunned by the age he saw there.  Shortly, he felt that he was braced enough to face the Xanders..

Back in the living room, he put away the Scotch and took the tea offered by the shyer aspect.  "Thank you, Xan.. Er.. What should I call the two of you while you are separated?  I hardly think that Xander One and Two would be appropriate."

Discovering that the shyer one preferred Xander and the one who had nearly accosted him had chosen Alex, Giles nodded.  "All right then.  Um.. The two of you obviously woke up this way.  I have to admit to being somewhat of the loop, and the two of you know why," he said, gesturing to the cabinet where he'd put the offending bottle.

"What exactly has happened in the last week?"  

Alex took the lead, describing the pain of Buffy's death and Anya's departure.  

"Anya left??  Oh, gods.. I'm so sorry!  I-I should have been there for you."  Giles closed his eyes, mentally berating himself.

Still, his mind kept working.  "I would make a guess that the pain became too much for you to bear as an individual, so that the spell that Willow and Tara did to reintegrate you simply became unmade."  The words came slowly, and Giles cursed the thick tongue brought on by the scotch.

"As to how to put you two back together, I'll have to get a hold of Willow and Tara.  I need to know exactly what they did in order to rejoin the two halves of you."  He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.   

"I have to warn you both.  Whether or not I can rejoin you depends entirely on what they did to do so originally.  I'm honestly not really sure of what they referenced to create the spell.  I'll need to know that before I dare to attempt any solution."

Giles grabbed the phone and dialed the Magic Shoppe, knowing that one or the other of the witches would be there.  By sheer luck, Willow answered.  He detailed the situation and she promised to send Tara down with the notes they had taken during the construction of the original spell.  Giles thanked the gods that he'd finally been able to convince them of that particular necessity.  They'd made so many mistakes in their early exploration of witchcraft, mistakes left to Giles to clean up, that he'd demanded that they take concise notes of what they used as references, spell materials and chants.  

The three of them waited in tense silence for the blond to show up.  When she finally arrived, Giles was in such a mood that she simply handed the notes over and fled.  Not that it bothered him much.  Rupert knew that he was in no mood to coddle her shyness.

The next half hour or so was spent by the twins waiting for the ex-Watcher to read the notes.  Finally, he looked at them.

"I have bad news.  I can't rejoin you.  The spell they cobbled together states, in a rather obscure demon dialect, that you should remain together until such time that it is more beneficial for you to be separate entities once again.  Apparently, the Powers That Be feel that the two of you serve a better purpose or will function better as two separate people."

Pacing the room, Alex's head snapped up.  "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!?!  How are we better like this!?!"  The anger, that had settled into a slow burn, twisted inside him, clawing at his guts.  He wanted to lash out.  ~God dammit Wills!  You said you fix this...~   He clenched his fists glaring at Giles.  "You're wrong.  You have to be...That or a different spell.  This has to be fixable."  Frowning, he tried to unclench his fists, and forced out desperately. "This isn't like the last time.  I didn’t feel like this last time."

Giles was about to apologize, to promise he'd do what he could to find an answer when Xander began laughing hysterically.  He watched Alex do what he could to comfort and calm Xander, feeling completely inept.

Two separate people!  Xander could feel the hysteria build.  I don't think I can function like this, this fear that almost tears at me.  He watched his brother? twin? other half? Rant at Giles.  He could see the anger in every taunt line of his body.  Xander stared at the bunched fists.  Flinching whenever Alex showed any inclination to move.  He could feel the panic try and over-take him, Alex's words drifted to his ears “…feel like this last time.”  Gods, he was so mad.  And the hysteria bubbled over, Xander giggled a bit insanely.

The hysterical laughter cut through his mind killing whatever else he was going to say to Giles.  His twin was shaking just like he was, but not from anger.  Fear and hysteria painted like a mask over his own features.  He could almost smell it, drifting off the other, his twin, like the predator he'd once been.  He held out his own shaking hand.   "Xan?"

Xander stared at trembling hand before him.  He looked up into his twin's eyes.  He could still see the anger in them, but he could also tell it wasn't directed at him.  He placed his own hand in his brother's.  He was almost afraid that if he didn't accept the unspoken command that his twin's anger would turn on him.  

The tentative grasp of his hand.  The hesitation of making eye contact.  ~He's afraid of ME!~ Alex's mouth fell open.  "Oh shit...Xan."  He pulled his twin into his shaking arms.  Gathered him close and stroked his hair.  He mumbled softly for his brother's ears only.  "M'sorry.  Not you.  Don't be scared. We'll figure something out.  Please don't be scared of me."  

Xander slowly relaxed into his twin's embrace.  The part of his mind that gibbered with fear moments before calming under brother's gentle hand.  He listened to his twins soothing words, and revealed in his touch.  He sighed.  “Don't worry, always forgive you.  Always.” Xander whispered back.

Alex shuddered at the absolute forgiveness in his twin's voice, and then smiled a little, as he realized Xan was in essence forgiving himself.  They were both Xander, or at least part of him.  ~If you can't forgive yourself... Oh, wow.  His hair is so soft...When did that happen?~  Still stroking Xan's hair, he twisted a little to look at Giles, the anger was still there only held in check by concern for his twin.  "G-man?  Little help here..."

Giles grimaced a little at the use of the nickname, but moved to the twins' side.  He put a hand each on Xander and Alex's shoulders.  

"I promise you..  I'll find a way to put this right.  Somehow or another, I won't fail you.  I promise, I won't fail you like I did Buffy," he said softly, unwittingly revealing the reason behind his drinking.

Carefully, he pulled the boys into a rough embrace, then released them.  He coughed to cover his moment of emotion as he pulled back.

Xander flinched slightly in the unexpected embrace, but returned it whole-heartily when his unconscious figured out that even though Giles smelled like Dad, he wasn’t actually him.  The corners of Xander’s mouth turned up at Giles British cough.  He didn’t know how Giles managed to cough British, but he had.

The rough embrace caught Alex off guard, and he tensed.  He could feel Xander relax into the hug.  Not wanting to upset his twin, he forced himself to relax and not pull away from Giles.  He wondered if they weren't all a little insane at the moment.  He'd always wanted Giles to hug him that way, show his some fatherly like support.  Not like what he'd gotten at home.  Not releasing his supportive hold on Xander, he listened carefully to Giles' promises to help.  That actually pulled a small sharp smile out of him.  "All we can ask for G-man."

"I'll go over the notes again, find out exactly what Willow and Tara did.  They used one demon dialect.  Maybe another race of demons had something to er...'cure' this sort of thing.  I can't promise immediate results, but I will do my best."

He offered the boys a half-hearted smile.  "Twinkies, anyone?"

“Giles, haven’t you learned anything about keeping secrets!  When were you going to tell us about your addiction to Hostessy Goodness?”  Xander exclaimed.   "What other deep dark snack food related secrets have you been keeping there, G-man?"  Alex snorted sarcastically.  He sighed.  "Yeah.  Twinkies of the good.  This is gonna take a while isn't it Giles?  What can we do Giles?  To help I mean."  Xander nods that he too wishes to help.

Giles smiled sadly, glad he'd been able to elicit smiles from them.  He moved to kitchen, answering Alex's question as he removed various Hostess boxes from several different cabinets.  

"Yes, this will take a while.  There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of demon races.  What spells have been recorded are often fragmented or deliberately confusing."

He set about a dozen types of sweet rolls, including a full box of Twinkies, on a tray and poured three glasses of milk.  He took these into the living room and deposited his offering on the coffee table.  

"As for what you can do.. Try to lead your lives as normally as possible for now.  Maybe simply finding peace for yourselves will allow you to rejoin."  His voice betrayed his doubt in that solution.  

"There's always research..  But I know how much you hate that.."  He sighed and unwrapped a cupcake.  Biting into it, he mumbled something about chocolately goodness.

He threw them each a Twinkie.  "But for now, eat!"

Xander eagerly bit into a Twinkie, taking a moment to savor the flavor of one of his favorite treats.  He mumbled around his second bite, “I like researching.  Nothing bad happens, nothing evil attacks you, unless, Giles is there such a thing as a demonic book?  One that could bite you hand or something?  Saw something like that in a movie once.

Never mind I don’t want to know.  Ruin one of the few safe activates in Sunnydale that’s actually safe.”  Xander reached for another Twinkie.

Alex snapped his fingers and exclaimed. "Army of Darkness!  That was such a cool movie..." Alex smiled and watched as his twin happily snacked.  

Giles smiled at the movie reference.  He'd never admit it, but Army 

of Darkness, and the other movies in the series, were amongst his favorites.

Alex unwrapped a Twinkie slowly and bit into the moist treat. 

Frowning, he looked at the snack food.  It just didn't taste as good as he thought it should have.  ~Such is my life.  Thank you Hellmouth!  I can't even find solace in junk food... ~ He handed the treat to his twin and resumed his pacing of the room.  Not knowing what to do with himself.  "Xan.  It's getting late.  Maybe we should head home.  Gotta go to work tomorrow. Who's gonna go to work?  Me, I guess.  Can't really get into the book thing..."  

Xander turned and nodded to his twin.  “Giles I guess I’ll see ya at the Magic Box, bright and early tomorrow.”  Xander stood up and reached for several more treats, pocketing them about his person and heading for the door, “See ya later, G-man.”

"While I'm still not used to the idea of the words "bright and early"  being in your vocabulary, yes, I will see you at the store in the morning."

~Xan hasn't realized it yet, but you don't think you can solve this do yah, G-man?~  Alex stared heavily at Giles for a moment, then nodded and silently followed Xander out the door. Alex took a couple of running steps to bring himself abreast of fast walking twin.  "Jeez Xan, we don't have to run all the way home...  Might as well put a prey sign over our heads. 'Please eat us.'  Just slow it down a bit."

"Sorry," Xander muttered.  They walked in silence for several minutes.  Xander started to fidget.  He didn't mean to he was just nervous.  He kept wanting to walk faster. Why was he so nervous?  He was just walking down the street…cars were driving by, the shops were closing an-shit! He checked the sky, yep the sun was setting, 10 minutes of daylight left, time for all good construction workers to be in bed, or really more like in a safe place, preferably where vampires had to be invited in…but we're more then 10 minutes away from the apartment.  Must walk faster, he urged his legs.

Grabbing lightly for his twin's shoulder, Alex tried to keep his tone frustration free.  "Xan.  Your doin' it again.  Slow it down a little."  He had noticed the darkening sky and knew why his twin was nervous.  "We still got plenty of daylight.  Not like we haven't been out after dark before.  We can handle a walk home."  In all truth, Alex wouldn't have minded an undead or hellmouthy confrontation at the moment.  He felt like he had energy to burn, and wouldn't have minded an opportunity to work some of that angry off.  He wasn't 

gonna tell his twin that though.  He searched for something to take his nervous twin's mind off of things.  "Hey you remember the bit in the movie where Ashe botched the magic spell and tried to mumble his way through..."

Xander nodded and purposefully slowed his pace.  He listened to Alex ramble on about the movie.  Xander wasn't stupid, he knew that it was an attempt to distract him.  He also knew his twin, because he was him, in a way.  He remembered that part of him that craved the fight the action and he knew that he didn't feel that now, so Alex must have gotten the "fighter" gene.  He shuddered at the thought of Alex going out and picking a fight.  How could the PTB ever think that they were better like this?  Didn't they realize that both parts of Xander needed to balance each other?  

Alex let his voice die off as he realized that Xan wasn't really listening to him. He looked around and smiled.  "Hey, the icecream shop is still open.  Why don't we get a cone or something?  Come on... How bout some double chocolate chip?"

While Xander's instincts were screaming to get home, the rest of him was screaming CHOCOLATE.  And he couldn't resist the sirens call that was chocolate.  He happily began to babble about the goodness that was chocolate and all it's glory.

Nodding along with Xan's babble, Alex smiled and steered them off the sidewalk toward the ice-cream shop.  "Yes.  Chocolate is the staff of life. Yep, a true sign of at least one benevolent higher power.  Totally agreeing with you there.  Preaching to the converted, little brother..." Alex went silent as he realized what he'd just called 

Xander.  It has just slipped out.  ~When did I make that distinction?  And why does it feel right?~  He wondered if Xander had even noticed as keyed up as he was over the chocolate issue.  Opening the door, he smiled at his twin and waved him in.

 

Spike headed towards their table. "'Ere, Harris." He called. 

Xander jerked his head up from his cone at the familiar voice.  He groaned internally at the thought of Spike ruining this chocolaty goodness with his insults.

Xander watched with interest as Spike sniffed the air and stared at someone.  Xander followed his line of sight and spotted someone that looked like Giles, but younger.  His started to breath heavier.  Young Giles could only mean one thing: Ripper.

Alex looked sharply up at the sound of Spike's voice.  ~What the hell is he doing here?  Not like he stops for ice-cream... Okay, there was that nasty incident in the basement of doom with the rocky road and bag of B negative... Okay, eww.~  Alex looked at his scoop of Blackforest chocolate ice-cream, or rather he looked at the cherries.  He muttered lowly to himself. "The blond menace strikes again. Thanks fangless, I WAS enjoying this."  He caught Xan's line of sight shift following Spike's and he turned to look himself.  "Oh, Shit..."  He could feel the cheap little table shift from his twin's distress.  Without even looking back, he sought out his twin's hand with his own. 

Xander felt the comfort of his twin’s hand in his own.  Whatever happened they were together and besides how many hellmouthy thing could possibly happen in one night?  Xander was naïve enough to think that the fates would actually cut them a break.  He forcefully calmed himself and a thought occurred to him, a truly evil thought.

The trembling from his twin's hand changed ...  Alex shifted his chair so he could look at Xan without losing site of Spike and newboy. ~Nope never let the enemy out of your line of fire. The 'I was a teenage

G-man clone' was the threat, not Spike.  Spike wasn't the enemy anymore.  Just annoying.  Like Anya was...  Though you gotta admit they both got the dead cow thing workin' for 'em.~ He looked his twin in the eye and noticed the mischievous glint there.  He answered with a wicked grin and raised eyebrow.  "Why Pinky are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

Xander gave his twin an even look and in his best Pinky’s Pondering voice said “I think so Brain, but is there enough alcohol in the world to get Spike drunk enough sing, besides where would we get the coconuts?"

Alex looked at Xander.  Xander looked at Alex.  In unison, they smiled identical smiles.  ""Nah. Probably not.""

They got up and flanked Spike, facing Ripper.  "So," Xander said.

"Spike" Alex nodded his head in Ripper’s direction. 

"Whose your friend?" Xander asked.

"Aren't you gonna introduce ""us""?" They said in unison on the last part.

Alex grinned evilly at Spike while Xander had a goofy smile and mischievous eyes.

Ripper leaned back in chair his slightly, aware that somehow the two delicious brunettes had determined him to be a threat.

"Why don't I introduce myself, since I've no bloody clue as to who any of you are?"

He stood up and crossed his arms, unobtrusively feeling for the stake tucked into his jacket.  The blond one was just pale enough to be dead..

"My name is Rupert Giles, but I prefer Ripper."  He pointed at the twins.  "You would be Pinky and Brain?"  He had over-heard the conversation, and recalled thinking that he would have shot his parents if they had named him that, dear gods! Rupert was bad enough!

He looked at the blonde.  "And you're Spike?"

Ripper waited, completely tense.  Something was rotten in Sunnydale, and it wasn't him!!

"Oh stone th' crows." Spike muttered. 

What could possibly happen now? 2 Xanders, 2 Gileses...er something like that. And the whelps were flanking him like some sort of RAF dogfight maneuver. If 2 Willows came in the door, he was out of there in a not-heartbeat. 

"Yeah, I'm Spike." He tucked his hands in his duster pockets and tried to get his 'undead cool' back. "Pinky and Brain here are Xander and Alex." 

Ripper filed the names away, and made a mental note to

figure out which one was Xander, and which was Alex.

<Way too creepy talking in unison. God, I hope the Ex-Watcher and Ripper don't start doing that. Bbrrr>

He shot a look to the Harris on his left. "As much as the old sod looked like he needed a rest, I think we *all* need to go see the Shopkeeper right about now."

<Can't wait to here how this happened. Didn't look to dammed bad as Ripper, Rupes. What happened?>

Ripper shot a look at the one called Spike.  "Who is this 'shopkeeper'?  And why would we need to see him?"

He was feeling quite belligerent now, and wanted nothing more than to get out of the ice cream parlor and away from these three.  He was getting shivers down his back, shivers that told him that the situation was way over his head.  The way he felt now was like what he'd felt when he'd first met Ethan Rayne..

Weirdness, which, on deeper reflection shouldn't bother him anymore, but it had reached overload levels in Spike. *This* was *not* the way he had planned his night going. He had just wanted to check on everyone, make sure that they were still breathing. See what had happened to Dawn, make sure the Witches were still alive, as well as the whelp.

He did not need a stubborn, freaked-out Ripper giving him shit.

"Listen, sunshine. The Shopkeeper is Rupert Giles. You, got it?" He snapped at Ripper. "So *we*..." He pointed at them all. "Go see him. Now. You wanted to know who brought you here? Well he's the man who could find that soddin' piece of information out."

Ripper stared open-mouthed at Spike for a moment.  //Rupert Giles?!?  

NO-it has to be a coincidence.  There's no way.. But, I have to know.//

Suddenly determined, he turned and picked up his bags.

He looked at the Xanders. "And you two. I know what happened and yer comin' back with us until I can get you home."

He glared at all three, daring someone to defy him.

Ripper slung the backpack on and transferred weight of the shopping bags to one hand.  He wanted to keep his stake hand free.  "Ready when you lot are."

The conversation had started to bore Alex, that was until Spike presumed to start ordering Xan and him around.  "I don't think so, Bleached Wonder.   We aren't going anywhere with you and the junior G-man!  Especially not back to Giles'..."  He looked over the vampire's shoulder at his twin.  ~Not taking orders from Fangless!  Besides nothing for us there right now, but frustration.  No answers.  Why should I help him out!?!~  Harshly, he turned his gaze back to Spike and continued.  "You wanna wear the white hat, and rescue the poor little lost, then you go to Giles'.  Me?  I don't have time for this." His tone gentled as he looked at his brother again. "Xan?"

Xander felt torn.  He wanted to go with Spike.  Spike meant protection from demons, Giles meant safety, plus his curiosity was up.  ‘What happened?  Why was there another Giles running around, and several years younger to boot.’  He wanted to know, but curiosity killed the cat and he would follow Alex to hell and back.  They were blood.  He stood with his brother.  

Alex stepped away from Spike, ignoring the vampire, and held out his hand to his twin.  "Come on, little brother.  Five'll get you ten. It's a Wil's botch-a-rama.  You wanna finish your ice cream?"

Xander stared at Spike and Alex in their stand-off.  He knew it would make Spike mad, but he couldn’t turn his back on his twin.  The very thought of wandering the streets of Sunnydale without him was terrifying.  “Yeah, I’ll finish.” Xander stared at Spike and Alex in their stand-off.  He knew it would make Spike mad, but he couldn’t turn his back on his twin.  The very thought of wandering the streets of Sunnydale without him was terrifying.  “Yeah, I’ll finish it on the way.”  Xander took Alex’s hand and licked his cone.  Chocolate makes everything better.  

Spike stared back at... Alex...oh yeah.. he's gonna be trouble. He knew he was one second away from growling gameface at the challenge in the dark eyes. In fact, he was growling a bit. 

"Fine. Whatever. It's your life..." He looked at Xander, nearly cowering next to the other. "Lives. Do what ever ya want."

Ripper had watched the heated exchange between the twins and Spike, not saying a word.  //There's magic in the air,//he thought. //Too much magic.//  The twins positively reeked of it, but he couldn't tell why, yet.  So many questions, and no answers promised to make themselves known.

He motioned with his duster. "Ripper. Yer still with me. Let's go."

He stalked out of the ice cream shop trusting Ripper to follow him.

Xander savored the last bites of his ice-cream cone. He watched as Alex pulled out the keys and opened the door.  The keys to the apartment and the wallet hadn’t been spilt, which would have been cool, double the

money for nothing!  But now there was only one wallet with one drivers license and one set of keys, sometime soon they were gonna have to get doubles made.  <What in the world are we gonna tell people though?   ‘Hi this is my identical twin that was given up at birth and I just found out and tracked him down?’  Actually that might work!> He snickered at the thought.

Alex raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xan.  "What's so funny?  We're gonna have to get another set of keys, and what are gonna do about ID?"  Unlocking the door quickly,  Alex opened it and motioned for his twin to enter.  

Xander walked in closely followed by Alex.  “Well I was just thinking about what we were going to tell people, about us being twins and all.  I just well, that maybe one of us was given away at birth and was just found, or something that isn’t quite as Jerry Springerish as the truth.” 

Alex locked the door and flipped the deadbolt.  He shrugged at his twin's words.  "S'good. No stranger than a lot of the crap we hear around town."  He paused for a moment to throw his keys and wallet on

the counter.  "The paperwork... that's what's gonna be hard."  He frowned at the idea. 

“Well, we could ask An-”  Xander stops himself before the words are completely out of his mouth.  He can’t really think of why it would be bad, but he remembers a time when he would have rather died then ask Deadboy for help, so Alex must’ve gotten all the Deadboy hating thoughts.  He doesn’t want to see Alex get mad again.

The frown mutated into a full scowl.  "We are sooo not asking Deadboy!"  He struggled a moment to reign in his temper.  He wasn't angry with his twin, but he hated that vampire!  ~Angel faced traitor!  We never needed his help... I don't need his help!~  He looked back at his twin.  "No. No Deadboy."  A thought occurred to him and he smiled.  "But maybe Deadboy Jr.?"

~Spike.  Now, Spike he could deal with.  He didn't pretend to be anything but what he was, a vampire, and proud of it.  It didn't hurt that he had a razor wit, cheekbones to kill for and a wicked ass.~  Without realizing it, his smile took on a lecherous tilt.

Xander completely oblivious to Alex’s internal ramblings pondered the idea of the Bleach Menace.  “I suppose that would work, Spike probably has all kinds of underworld and shady contacts.  I wonder what kind of bribe we’d have to give him?  He does owe us one for that time we saved him from the mucus Bru-“  Xander noticed Alex’s slightly glazed eyes and lecherous grin.  “You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying have you?”

"W-what? Yeah I have.  Underworld.  Shady contacts.  Bribe Spike."  Alex smiled and thought of their battle with the Bru- demon.  Spike had been deadly in both wit and attack.  ~Though he didn't have to say it reminded him of one of my shirts... Come on purple with pink polka dots!?!~  The nasty thing was the demon could excrete acid out of those clashy little dots. If I hadn't taken its head with an ax, it would have been crispy critter time for Spikey.~  He shook off his daze and smiled brilliantly at his brother.  "Yeah, he owes us.  And I'm sure we can get the cash for a bribe if it comes down to it..."  He ticked names of his fingers.  "Willow.  Tara. Giles.  They owe some help to, especially since Willow got us into this...  And we wouldn't have split at all if we weren't helping out."  ~Yeah.  Make guilt work for us this time.~

Xander looked suspiciously at his twin.  He knew what that look on Alex's face was, a look of lust.  Alex was totally lusting after Spike!  He giggled.  He had to admit, Spike was pretty yummy.  <Huh, I wonder why I'm not more freaked.  I just admitted that I think guys are attractive.  Alex totally isn't freaked, I wonder if the gay freaking thing is a combination of both of our halves of our personality together?>  Xander was brought out of his ponder when someone knocked on the door.

Frowning, Alex turned and stared at the door.  "Who the hell..."  His face went blank as he considered the options.  ~'Kay, Willow or Giles would call first.  Oh god... Anya?  She come back?  And why doesn't that exactly fill me with joy? Huh, ponder later.  Answer door now.~  Alex shot his twin and concerned look, more upset by how he thought Xander would react if it was indeed Anya.  Idly, he speculated that his little brother got the brunt of their love for the ex-demoness, because he certainly wasn't feeling it right now.  He took a few steps toward the door.

<Huh, I wonder why Alex is unhappy, it's not like people are all about hanging out at the Xand-man's place.  Oh.  Please, maybe it's Anya.  Maybe she decided that it was a terrible mistake, that she loves us and wants us back.>  Xander knew he couldn't let his hopes get up, but he desperately wanted this to be true.  

Alex smiled what he was hoped was reassuringly at Xander.  Grasping the knob, he turned and jerked the door open.  ~Speak of the devil and he shall appear.  Could be good... Could be bad. Well, at least it's not Anya.~  

He twisted his lips into a parody of a smile, filled with equal amounts of annoyance, interest, and lots of teeth.  "Oh looky.  Looky."  He stepped to the side letting Xander get a clear view.  "It's Fangless and the junior G-man.  In the neighborhood boys?  Not enough traffic to play in?"

"Spike?  Ripper?  What are you doing here?  Why aren't you at Giles, figuring out how to get Ripper home?”  <Why are they here?  What could they want from us?  Why isn't Anya?  Why can't the stupid Hellmouth leave us alone for five minutes?>  Xander didn't think he was up for another head trip ala Spike tonight, especially after having his hopes dashed.  Life just wasn't fair sometimes.

Xander glanced at Alex, his twin almost seemed relieved that it was Spike and Ripper, he couldn't be happy that it wasn't Anya, could he?  Hadn't he loved Anya with all his soul?  This was something that needed to put aside and dealt with later.  Right now he had to deal with Ripper and Spike.

Spike grinned at Alex, showing just as many teeth and just as much insincerity. "Plenty of traffic here." He smirked.

He indicated Ripper. "As for why we aren't drinkin' tea with Old Rupes, Wolfboy is back in town. Seemed to come over all funny when I brought Ripper over. Thought I'd done this and was hurting Giles. Bit of nastyness and it upset Ripper here." 

<There is no way I am tellin the Whelps about just what upset Ripper. His story. And doesn't Alex look all fangs and fur himself. Nice.>

"Giles dunno anymore about how Ripper got here than what to do with 

you lot. And seein' as he and Wolfboy were getting snuggly, we hit the road. Came to see old friends." He grinned at Alex again. "An' introduce Ripper 'round proper, in case he stays on. You gonna let me in or what?"

Ripper spoke up.  "Not that I'm really sure I want to go home anytime soon..  London was great for getting me fucked over.  Don't think I can stomach too much more of that."

He stood back, a little behind Spike, eager for a little trouble, but not wanting to rain on Spike's parade.

<Nope, no Anya. Interesting. Let me in Whlep, so I can get a better look.>

Xander watched as his twin and Spike exchanged, well it wasn't pleasant but at least civil conversation.  He could tell from the way that Ripper and Spike talked that more had been going on then a walk to Giles.  They obviously had made a connection, plus vague mentions of Ripper's past were made and Spike didn't seem the least surprised.

"Oz and Giles... Snuggly?"  Alex chuckled to himself.  "Bizarro world.  Though,  both got 'have experiment with our sexuality' pretty much stamped on their foreheads, but the two of them together? "  He snorted.  ~Huh, wonder if Oz does it doggy style... ~  He shook that image from his brain, and looked at his twin with a raised eyebrow.  ~Well?~

Xander met his twin's eyes and gave a slight nod.  He knew exactly what his brother was about to pull.  He could really get into this having a twin stuff.

With a smile and a wink, Alex turned back to the hallway duo.  "Gonna camp on the ...."

Xander finished the question. "Doorstep all night or what?  Can you hear..."

"The property value plumment?  Yes, I can."  Alex finished without looking at his brother.

Alex motion to Spike and Ripper to enter as the twins spoke in unison.

""Get in here. You’re invited.  Enter Casa de Harris.""

Spike strode in. " *That's* bizarro world." He said indicating the twins tag-team/simultaneous speak. 

He flopped on the couch, no way was he ever sitting in an armchair around a Harris again. "An' I wouldn't say snuggly. More like feral 'My Giles, hurt him an' I'll rip yer lungs out' thing. Little pup actually though he was gonner attack me." He shrugged.

Ripper followed Spike in after a moment of thought.  He hovered near the door though, not entirely sure of HIS welcome.  

The way the dominant twin, Alex he thought, was looking at Spike definitely affirmed the vampire's welcome here.  He, himself, was an entirely different matter.

Spike, continuing to look at Alex, waved a hand to Ripper. "C'mon in. S'oright."

Ripper stepped further into the room, hands tucked deep into his 

pockets.  Very slowly, he moved to the couch and perched on the edge 

of a cushion.

He would have died if he'd known how reminiscent of the older Rupert 

Giles that was.

He took a subtle deep breath. Anya's smell was fainter than he 

thought it should be. <Figure that out in a bit.> He grinned more at 

Alex  <My my, think you're the next Big Bad don't you pet? Growl at 

me again, an' I'll show yer.>

Ripper turned his thoughts from that uncomfortable area, and allowed his eyes to rest on the twins.  //Definitely creepy, that twin-speak thing.  Do all twins do that, or is that a result of they're having been a single entity not too long ago?//

He looked both twins up and down. The same. Hair, face, body. Just the look in the dark eyes was different. Xander's had the air of bolting anytime now, thanks. Alex's held brash challenges. Either one was a tasty thing. 

He winced. <Forgotten your declarations of love to Buffy already? My my she must have made quite an impression. Sod it you. A bit of fun isn't a bad thing.> He was afraid, however, that the hardly ever spoken William brain-voice may be right. Too soon maybe.

Then he looked at Alex again. <Maybe not. Fun's fun after all. Not 

plannin' on pickin' out curtains here. Not even plannin' on the nasty right now. Unsettle maybe. That Whelp, version 2.0, needs it.>

He grinned at Alex, showing lots of teeth. 

Just one question left.... where was Anya?

Spike rubbed his chin. "So, wot th' hell happened to you lot tonight?I mean, 2 of you, now Ripper 'ere..." He grinned. "Sounds like somethings comin' up eh?"

<Anya Anya Anya..were's the Anya? An' damn! Do they have to smell so good? All bloody 3 of them?>

Ripper looked around, terribly curious about the person the twins had been.  He was a little surprised that the place didn't show more of it's other occupant, the girlfriend.  This late at night, he would have expected her to be home.  //And having hysterics at her boyfriend being split in two..  Or maybe enjoying that.  I know I would be.//

Speaking softly, he said, "Spike said you have a girlfriend.  Is she at work?"

Alex growled.  Literally.  Xander watched his twin freak.  He could feel the pain building in his own chest just at the mention of her name.  But Xander was well acquainted with pain.  Sure it felt a lot stronger now, without that hint of anger to temper it, but that just meant that he and Alex needed to balance each other.  He reached out and stroked soothingly down his twins arm.

Ripper jumped in startlement at the growl.  He blinked at the twins, trying to process this reaction.  "I'm sorry.. Did I say something wrong?  I didn't mean to offend.."

Alex started at the feel of Xander’s hand on his arm.  He hadn’t even realized that he was growling, he had been in his own little world or hate.  *God, I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near any kind of alcohol ever!  I need to talk about this later with Xander.  But right now I feel like going out and pounding something evil.  I wonder if Spike’d be interested in going out on a little jaunt?*

Spike, already watching Alex, nearly growled back. He knew his eyes flicked yellow for a split second. He put a hand out and on Ripper's arm. Anger from one, pain from the other. Strong on both counts.

 “Anya left.  She’s gone.”  Xander could hear the whimper in his voice.  *Gods above!  When am I ever gonna be able to get these emotions under control!  I feel like a hormonal woman!  Crap!  There’s no way I’m pregnant, is there?  Weirder things have happened, but I can’t deal with this, we’ll just assume not unless further evidence presents itself.*  Xander decided that he needed some comfort and that his twin needed something to do to forget, so he dove (practically) into his twin’s arms for a hug.

"Oh.."  Ripper breathed in sudden understanding.  "I'm sorry.  I know it won't help much, but I'm sorry."

"She wot!?! Why?" The force of the near shout and the feeling of confused anger took Spike by surprise. "Left? Just like that then?" 

He shook his head and realized he'd stood up. 

~Grip, Spike, get one. NOW. Must be the twins, getting to you.~

No, no it wasn't. It was the looks on their faces, yes. But it was 

also the strange sense of betrayal as well. Hadn't they all dealt with enough with Bu... The Slayer dieing and Dawn being gone?

"Stupid bint. Treated her like bloody royalty you did." He said to the twins. He could feel a growl starting in his own chest and tamped it down. "yeah, sorry as well."  He finally said, echoing Ripper.

Xander turned and looked Spike in the eye, still wrapped in his brother’s arms.  He could see the sincerity in his eyes.  “Thank you.”  He mumbled, so quietly that he doubted that anyone heard him.

~And now, yers truly wants to fucking kill something. Worry about why later. Fuck, I need a fag.~ He pulled out his cigarettes and ... didn't light one. Harris hadn't been to keen on him smoking in the basement days.

Alex grinned at his little brother.  He felt his anger dissipate, or at least become buried as he concentrated on his twin.  He noticed Spike taking out a cigarette, and was about to say something about him smoking in his apartment, and how he should know that they hate it when he stopped.  Spike didn’t reach for his lighter.  The angry comment died an early death, what did come out rather surprised him.  “Ya can smoke out on the patio.”  He nodded his head in indication of the glass doors that led to the outside.