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. It was just a tactic to make Riley crazy. 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 4/? Xander fiddled with the radio in his car, searching for a station to help keep him awake on his drive home. Spike hadn't shown up at the site, so he didn't have anyone to talk to. Settling on Linkin Park, he sang along quietly as he drove. Work was going to slow down for the next few weeks as inspectors moved through the area, doubling checking that everything was up to code, so he was looking forward to the coming half-days. He was going to get some much needed sleep. Just not while he was driving. He turned up the volume. He had to stay awake; there was more work to do tonight. He and Spike needed to finish cleaning out the nest of fledges infesting the Quiet Rest Cemetery. They'd gotten some of them the night before, but Xander knew there were more, and he knew where they were hiding. They needed to get rid of them before they had a chance to multiply. He parked his car and walked up the stairs, hoping that Spike would be home. He liked coming home and having someone be there. He liked coming home and having *Spike* be there. He recognized that thought as dangerous, but he couldn't help it. Spike had become a friend, a good friend that Xander looked forward to seeing. The animosity between them had disappeared, its only lingering trace remaining in the bickering they engaged in as a matter of habit. The heat was gone from their words, though; the battle of words was now just a game. Over time, Xander had come to appreciate Spike's biting humor, his eagerness to join in a fight, his clear, blunt way of looking at situations, the way his black jeans hugged his ass... Xander shook his head. That thought went beyond dangerous. It was an unauthorized thought, one he didn't want to have, and it kept coming back again and again. He paused outside the door, taking a moment to gather himself before unlocking it and walking inside. He opened his mouth to speak, but didn't get the chance. "Save me the Ricky Ricardo bit," Spike called from the couch. "I hate that damn show." Xander closed his mouth and grinned. "But that's why it's so much fun to do." The blond man raised two fingers in an obscene gesture. Xander ignored him and dropped his tools by the door. He grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed for the bathroom, needing to take a shower and wash away the sweat and dirt from the day at work. He washed quickly, hoping that if they got out on the streets early, he'd be able to come back and get a little more sleep. Exiting the bathroom, he looked around the apartment for Spike. The vampire was in the kitchen, watching two pans he had on the stove. Xander wandered over. "Double helpings tonight?" "One of them's for you." Spike stirred one of them with a spoon. Xander watched in horrified fascination as the thick red liquid swirled around in the pan. "Please tell me you're using two spoons." The look Spike shot him was gleefully evil, and sexy as hell. Another unauthorized thought! Xander backed away from Spike and busied himself by rooting around in the fridge, searching for something to drink. This situation was bad and it was getting worse. Xander could get around lust. Lust, he was used to. He could still vividly remember being subject to the whims of his hormones when he was a teenager, when the sight of a girl's bare leg or a boy's muscled arm would send heat and embarrassment coursing through him in equal measure. He was a little more in control now, and had learned to live with the sudden rush of desire that he felt when he looked at Spike. He used to be able to control it by reminding himself what Spike was; it was hard to check out a guy when you were concentrating on not letting him kill you. Now that he had become a friend and the next best thing to a roommate, Xander found that it was more and more difficult to ignore the lust he felt toward the vampire. It was more and more difficult to ignore that lust growing into something deeper and even more frightening. Familiarity was supposed to breed contempt, but in Xander's case the exact opposite was happening. He couldn't do this. It was stupid and futile and dangerous. There was no way Spike could ever feel the same way. Xander was only going to get himself hurt and he'd probably end up destroying the friendship they'd begun to build between them. He had to figure out a way to stop this. He settled on a bottle of juice and straightened, turning in time to see Spike pour the contents of each pan into separate mugs: cream of something soup and blood. "You'd better have used separate spoons," Xander muttered, twisting the cap off his juice. Spike smirked as he handed him his mug. "Drink up." As Xander sipped at his soup he realized how much his life had changed. A month ago he never would have allowed Spike anywhere near his apartment, and certainly wouldn't have invited him to enter. Now he looked forward to having the vampire in the house; the other man's presence was warming him even more than the soup. Xander sipped at the soup, hiding his smile behind the rim of the mug. Spike wasn't an enemy any longer. Now he was a friend, practically living with Xander, and every day Xander feared him a little less and fell in love with him a little more. Xander choked on his soup. Bad brain! That thought was so unauthorized that his brain was now committing crimes as far as he was concerned. There was no way he was falling in love with Spike. He was had too much going on in his life to be making that colossal of a mistake. His head began to ache as his thoughts swirled in tightening circles of denial and confusion. He was grateful when the doorbell rang, eager for a distraction from his thoughts. He swallowed the rest of his soup and headed for the door. He had no idea who it could be. Willow and Tara should still be too worn out to even think about moving beyond the campus. It wouldn't be Buffy or Giles - they were still communicating solely by telephone, so focused on their task that nothing else could catch their attention. He peered through the peep hole, not willing to just open his door. He might be suicidally foolish when it came to his love life, but no way was he going to just open the door and wait for something to take his head off. Although that would certainly teach his brain a lesson. He swore as soon as he realized what he was seeing. "Spike, maybe you'd better head out the back way." "What is it?" "Riley. Riley Finn and he's got someone with him." Xander turned around and glared at Spike. "Why are you still here? I think the guy with him was a part of the Initiative." The vampire shook his head. "Why don't you open the door?" "Spike, what the hell is Riley doing back in town with the Initiative? They could be here for you." Xander fought down the panic he felt at the thought. "You need to get out of here." "I'm not going anywhere, pet." Spike's posture was one of complete nonchalance, but his fingers moved restlessly, telegraphing his readiness for action. He noticed Xander's hesitation and smiled. "It'll be all right." Xander knew it was crazy, but he believed him. He nodded and opened up the door. Riley's smile was definitely nervous. "Hey, Xander." "Riley." He didn't open the door all the way and blocked the view to his apartment with his body. He couldn't help it; as long as he was able, he was going to try to protect Spike. "Is there something I can help you with?" Riley nodded. "I think there's a way we can help each other. Can we come in?" "Sure." Xander stepped back to allow Riley and the man with him to enter. He hadn't known the other man well, but he'd come to like him. He wanted to think that he could trust Riley but he couldn't be sure. Riley had gone back to the Initiative, leaving Buffy and the rest of them behind. He watched Riley and the other man enter. Neither of them seemed especially surprised to see Spike. The vampire bared his teeth in a parody of smile and Riley nodded toward him. Xander used the opportunity presented by the two men looking around his apartment to study Riley's companion. He recognized the other man as a member of the Initiative and a friend of Riley, but he knew him from other places, too. The blue-eyed man had shown up at quite a few of the jobs Xander had held in the past year, ordering burgers and ice cream and nachos from him. Xander had noticed him because of his strong handsome features and intense blue eyes. He'd nursed a secret fantasy that the other man had come to all those places just to see him. It had been a nice dream to fall into and help pass the time during different mind-numbingly boring jobs, but he knew in reality that the guy was probably just addicted to junk food. He had to work out quite a bit in order to compensate...Xander felt the old rush of attraction, just as strong as ever, wash over him all over again. If he didn't gain control of his libido soon, he was going to have to call on Willow to do some sort of temporary neutering spell. "What are you doing back in town?" Xander asked as Riley and Graham finally settled down into the two chairs. He sat down on the arm of the couch and was conscious of Spike coming to stand beside and slightly behind him. To his credit, Riley answered immediately with no hint of deception. "We were told that the situation here had destabilized and that we were needed to restore order. By the time we got here, things were almost back to being under control and the mission changed to trying to figure out what had been done and how we could help to maintain order." Xander nodded. "Things were getting bad, but Willow and Tara cast a spell that helped a lot. Spike and I have been doing clean up ever since." "If you'll let us, we want to help with that." Riley hesitated. "What made the situation go bad?" Spike's hand pressed lightly against the center of Xander's back, a wordless gesture of support. Xander drew in a shuddering breath. "I don't know how much you've heard. A few months ago Joyce got sick. Buffy's mom," he added for the sake of Riley's friend. "She'd seem to get better for a little while and then things would get bad again. Just when we thought she was getting better, she died." His throat closed up and he couldn't speak for a moment. He could still feel the loss of Joyce ripping through him. To him, she'd represented home and family and love and stability; she was home, the kind of home he someday hoped to make for himself. When she died, a lot of that hope died as well. Spike's hand moved in soothing circles, a point of contact that helped Xander to focus on finishing the story. He cleared his throat, but his voice still came out rough. "After Joyce died, Buffy took over caring for Dawn. Her sister. It looked like we might be able to find a way to juggle everything so that things would come out right. Then Dawn got sick." "What's wrong with her?" Riley asked. "We don't know. Buffy and Giles are concentrating on trying to find out." "That's why she hasn't been patrolling." "The rest of us have been trying to take up the slack." "What's he doing here?" Riley asked, nodding toward Spike. Xander didn't have to look at Spike to know the gesture he was making was obscene. "Spike's helping. Without him, Sunnydale might have been a smoking crater by the time you got here instead of its lovely demon-infested self." He jerked his chin toward Riley's friend. "What's he doing here?" "He's here to help, too. Xander, this is Graham Miller. I worked with him in the Initiative. He's a good friend." Graham. Xander now had a name to go with his fantasies. He stood up at the same time as Graham and reached out to shake his hand. The other man's hand was warm, his grip firm. Xander wanted to pretend that it lingered, but he knew that was a combination of his own doing and wishful thinking instead of reality. "So now what?" Xander asked. "We want to help, if you'll let us," Graham said. Xander hesitated. He and Spike could used some help. Even with reduced hours coming up he wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace of patrolling and work for much longer. It was risky; he wasn't certain that he could trust them completely. He looked at Spike and read concern in the other man's blue eyes. If he and Spike were careful, they could keep the secret of Dawn's nature hidden. With a little more effort, they could probably hide the arrangement Xander had made as well. "I'd be glad of help. Can we all agree to bury the hatchet and work together?" Graham and Riley nodded. Spike shifted restlessly. "Just so long as it's understood that the first time you two make a wrong step, I'll find a way to bury that hatchet in your heads." Riley flushed and rose to his feet. Xander held up a hand to forestall his reply. "We can take the bickering on the road. We've got a nest of fledges to clear out tonight, so I don't want to waste any more time." Xander waited for everyone's acknowledgement and geared up before leading the way out of the apartment. As they walked toward the cemetery, Spike stayed closed to him. "The fledges are going to be in the same place we found them last night," the vampire said. Xander shot him a grateful look. Spike was making it seem as though he were the one that knew where to find the demons they hunted night after night. He was protecting Xander's secret. Xander gave in to the warmth that filled him and smiled his thanks at the vampire. He received a smile back in return, and Spike moved even closer to him. The vampire's presence made it difficult to talk to Riley or Graham; Spike was always right there, between him and the other men, blocking his view of them. It was a little awkward, but Xander liked having him close. If nothing else, it was stopping him from looking like an idiot in front Graham by babbling at him. Once in the cemetery, Xander and Spike led the way to the place where they'd encountered the new-made vampires the night before. Predictable creatures, those that remained were in the same area. The temptation of three humans proved to be too much for them and the remaining members of the nest soon converged on the four of them. Xander concentrated on keeping fangs out of his neck as he fended off the vampires that had chosen to focus on him. He knew Riley could take care of himself and he figured Graham could do the same. He trusted that Spike would be watching his back; the vampire had kept him alive over the past weeks, never once abandoning Xander to the demons they'd faced. He staked an overconfident fledge first thing, and then nailed its indignant buddy. He ducked quickly as a third ran at him snarling, bringing one of his stakes up sharply and spearing it squarely through the chest. As ash showered down upon him, he looked around quickly. Riley and Graham were each finishing up their last opponents and Spike was watching him with worried eyes. "Are you all right?" The vampire reached out as thought to touch him, then aborted the movement and lit a cigarette. Xander shook his head. What was he thinking? Why would Spike want to touch him? "I'm fine." He watched Graham kick his fledge in the face and follow through with a smooth thrust with his stake. His eyes caught every ripple of muscle, every graceful, deadly twist. He jerked his gaze away as soon as he realized he was staring. The last thing he needed to do was alienate Graham. As Graham and Riley checked on each other, Spike leaned in and asked, "Where to next, pet?" His lips almost brushed Xander's ear as he spoke. Repressing a delighted shudder, Xander shook his head. "Nowhere." He tapped his head. "I'm empty. We're going to have to go visit him again." Spike scowled, his jaw tight with tension. "Tomorrow," he said firmly. Xander acquiesced easily. He wasn't all that eager to pay the visit, but it had to be done. "You'll come with me?" Spike blinked. "Of course." He sounded surprised that Xander had even asked. Xander resisted the urge to smack himself upside the head. He really needed to talk to Willow about that hormone-suppressant spell. He was really beginning to imagine things. He watched Riley and Graham walk over to join them. Now he just needed to get home without looking like a complete idiot in front of Spike or Graham. Watching Graham's confident walk and small half-smile and feeling Spike's leather-clad shoulder brush against his, he knew he was in trouble. *****