Title:  Uncommon Distractions
Author:  Kay
Email:  kaygrr@hotmail.com
Feedback:  Please?  Because watching a grown girl cry is just pathetic.
Website:  ssfdu.tripod.com/kay/journal.htm (love for Sandy) Archive:  Just
let me know, eh? Fandom:  Buffy Pairing:  (Xander/Graham) + (Xander/Spike)
= Xander/Graham/Spike Rating:  PG-13 Disclaimer:  Mine?  What? *These*? 
No, they're Mutant Enemy's.  They just followed me home and wouldn't leave
until I played with them. Spoilers:  The last season of Buffy.  The
incident with Glory, and the ep "The Body".  (Look at me, trying to be
vague).  And that ugly rumor about Spike and a certain blond slayer? 
Never happened. Summery:  Graham and Riley are called back to Sunnydale
when the area destabilizes.  When they return, they discover there are new
factors in lives of the Scooby Gang, especially in Xander and Spike's.

Part 20/?

Spike sighed and shoved himself to his feet.  Bloody humans.  They
couldn't ever make anything easy, could they?  He headed for the kitchen. 
He needed a drink and he needed to eat if he was going to have to put up
with this.

"Spike?  What the hell is going on?"  Graham followed him into the
kitchen.  The soldier sounded utterly bewildered.

Pouring the contents of a blood packet into a mug, Spike turned to face
the other man.  "Think about it.  What did the Cynon tell us about
Xander's state of mind?"

Graham's expression grew solemn.  "It said that he was upset.  Suicidal. 
But he was so happy, just a little while ago."

"Going to the Cynon screws with Xander's emotions," Spike said quietly,
warming his blood in the microwave.  "He doesn't like to let it show but
if you pay attention you can see it.  It's been getting harder and harder
for him to push away what the demon makes him feel.  Yesterday he was
depressed enough to try to get himself killed.  He's not just going to
snap out of that."

Graham's attention immediately shifted to the bedroom door.  "You don't
think he's..."

"No!  No.  I don't think he's going to get that low again.  But he's not
going to just shrug it off, either.  He's been hurt, he's still hurting
and it's going to take time to heal."  Seeing the worry in Graham's eyes,
Spike reached out and touched his cheek.  "What's the saying?  Nothing
that's worthwhile is ever easy."  Xander was going to need them to
patient, would need them to be willing to wait and be there for him as
long as it took for him to regain his equilibrium.  Spike knew he could do
it.  It was an unexpected gift from his Dark Princess:  he'd learned
patience from her.  Not that Xander was anything like Dru.  He wasn't
crazy; he was just overwhelmed and in need of care.

Spike stepped close to Graham and pressed a gentle kiss to the other man's
lips.  "We're going to be here for him," he said quietly.

"And for each other," Graham added, before leaning down to return the
kiss.

Pleased, Spike drew out the kiss for several moments before stepping away.
 He quickly drank down the heated blood.  A chaser from his flask and he
was ready to go talk to Xander.  He opened the refrigerator and pulled out
a can of Coke.  He gestured toward the cupboard.  "Pull out one of those
plastic wrapped cakes for me, would you, pet?"

Graham rooted through the cabinet until he found the snackcakes.  "You
want dessert?"

"It's not for me," Spike said, irritated until he saw Graham's small
smile.  "Idiot," he said quietly, not meaning it.  Graham's sense of humor
was good; not only did Spike like it, but it would be good for Xander. 
Leading the way, he walked over to the bedroom door.  He knocked, but he
didn't wait for an answer.  He knew he wasn't going to be given permission
to come in, so what was the point?

Xander was in bed, covers wrapped tightly around himself and a pillow
tucked over his head.  A muffled voice emerged from beneath the bedding. 
"Wrong door.  The front door is to the right of the kitchen."

"We weren't looking for the door out, Xander.  We're not going anywhere." 
Graham's voice was gentle but determined.

A weary sigh, and then Xander was rolling over, shoving the pillow to the
floor.  "What do you want?" he asked.  His eyes were infinitely tired, but
there was confusion in them as well.

Spike knew that Xander didn't want them to leave; the Cynon's influence
was clouding his perceptions.  He walked over to the bed and held out the
can of soda.  "You need to get something more in your system, luv." 
Beside him, Graham held out the cake.

"I'm not hungry."  Xander's tongue crept out and swept across his bottom
lip.

"What a coincidence.  I'm not going anywhere."  Spike met Xander's glare
steadily.

"Please," Graham added.

Xander sat up and held out his hand.  "Fine."  He took the soda and cake. 
His indifference was belied by the haste with which he tore away the
plastic wrap and consumed the small dessert.  It only took him a little
less time to drain the soda.  When both the treats were gone, he stared
levelly at both men.  "So what do you want?"

Graham reached out toward Xander but stopped just shy of touching him. 
"Xander, what's wrong?  Please, please let us help."

"The only way you can help is by leaving."  Xander shook his head.  "I'm
sorry.  I don't know what I was thinking earlier.  This is all happening
too fast.  It's insane.  You have to know that this can't work."  He held
up his hand to stop Graham or Spike from saying anything.  "This isn't
real.  It's a lovely dream and one that I wish could be real, but it
isn't.  This is going to go bad and fall apart," he swallowed hard, "and I
don't know if I can handle that.  I don't know if I can take losing
everything.  I want to believe, but I can't.  I can't risk it."

Graham sat down on the edge of the bed.  "Xander, I want you to think
about something for me.  Could you do that?"

Xander sighed but nodded.  "Will you leave, after?"  The weariness in his
voice made Spike want to hunt the Cynon down and carry out all the threats
he'd made against it.

"We'll talk about it again after we're done," Graham promised.  "Do you
remember how you felt the first time you talked to the blue demon?  The
Cynon?"

"Tired," Xander admitted.  "And my head hurt a little."

"What about the second time you went?"

"I was tired again, and my head hurt worse."

"So every time you went to go see it, you'd get more exhausted and the
headaches would get worse.  How about the way you felt?"

Spike began to see where Graham was going with his questions and he 
approved.  It was a better way of getting Xander to see reason than tying
him to the bed and refusing to let him up until he started to believe
them.

He was still holding that plan in reserve, though.  Just in case.

Xander frowned a little.  "I already told you how I felt.  My head hurt
and I was tired."

"No, beyond that.  I meant your emotions.  How were those after you'd gone
to the Cynon?"  Graham moved a little closer to Xander.

The brown-eyed man squinted suspiciously at him.  "They began to get a
little strange," he admitted.  "It was like they started to linger after
it dredged them up, or something.  Some times it would take me a few days
to shake them off, but I always got back to normal.  It wasn't anything
that I can't handle."

"What was the last emotion that the Cynon wanted from you?"

"Rejection.  It was pretty bad," Xander admitted.

"And you only went to the demon yesterday."

"Yesterday...god, it seems like longer.  Yeah."  Xander blinked.  "Wait. 
You think that it's the Cynon that's making me tell you to go?"

"Kinda, yeah.  I think that the emotions the Cynon made you feel are
effecting how you're thinking.  I think that the rejection you remember is
making you doubt everything you're feeling now."  Graham traced the back
of his hand over Xander's cheek.  "I love you, Xan.  I know that, and I
don't want to lose you to a demon's manipulations."

Xander's gaze flicked over to Spike.  The vampire was ready for that. 
"Me, too, luv.  I'm not letting that blue bastard ruin this."  He leaned
down and carefully kissed Xander, not wanting to push too hard.  When he
felt Xander respond, he finally began to relax.  He stood back up and
waited for Xander's decision.

Fingertips brushing over his lips, Xander glanced back and forth between
Graham and Spike.  "Um, maybe I should give the decision a few days, then?
 Just in case it is the Cynon giving me the wiggins."

Spike barely restrained a whoop of triumph.  They had him.  They were
going to be able to convince him to stay with them.  "So we can stay,
then?" he asked, once he got himself under control.

"You can stay."  Xander hesitated, then added, "Please stay."

Graham leaned forward and kissed him.  "Of course we will.  Now, were you
really tired, or was that a ply to get us to leave?"

"It stared out as a ploy, but now I'm actually sleepy.  The Coke isn't
even enough to perk me back up."  Xander mangled his last few words with a
yawn.

Spike stripped off his jeans even as Graham stood up and worked at the
fastenings of his own.  Spike moved over to the other side of the bed and
got in as Graham persuaded Xander to scoot over toward the middle of the
bed.  Spike spared a grateful thought for Anya's demands that Xander get a
large bed for them to play in.  He watched as Xander got settled on the
bed, and then nodded approvingly as Graham spooned up behind him.  Spike
then moved to wrap his arm over Xander's waist and link his fingers with
Graham at the small of Xander's back.

Maybe there was hope for them yet.

*****