Angel's Bunny for ladyvirgo1956 You've Got A Friend

[jasonsnene]

Title: You’ve Got A Friend

Author: Jasonsnene

Rating: PG13

Warnings: Violence, mentions of character death (canon)

Pairing: Angel/Xander (friendship/pre-slash)

 

 

Written for ladyvirgo1956for the Angel's Bunny challenge at strip_off_angel

 

The bunny:  
Angel is tired of fighting W&H from the outside and takes the fight to them thus taking over the firm. The only one to accept this is Xander and supports Angel secretly in the fight. When the showdown happens Xander along with a group of slayers handpicked by Xander join in the fight.

Pairing: Angel/Xander
Rating: Any

 

 

If you had asked Angel several years ago if he would be waiting by the phone right now, he’d have laughed at you. If you told him who he’d be waiting for a call from, he would probably have staked you, assuming you were evil and delusional.

 

But here he was, sitting by the phone waiting for Xander Harris to call him. His fingers tapped the desk impatiently. He was late. It was 7:01. Xander was supposed to call at 7. Of course, in London it was midnight. Xander thought it was hysterical to call him at midnight. 

 

Angel didn’t get the humor, but let Xander continue to arrange the times they spoke. They had to be careful. No one but Xander supported him after his decision to take over Wolfram and Hart. It surprised the hell out of him. But of them all, Xander could see that sometimes to defeat the darkness, you had to get right in the middle of it. 

 

He hadn’t been that way before. Before he’d watched the town he’d grown up in disappear in a cloud of dust. Before he’d lost friends and lovers to the Hellmouth. Before. Just before.

 

Now though, Xander got it. He didn’t necessarily agree. But he got it. And now he spoke to Angel briefly each week, catching up on the demons they were hunting and letting Angel know how they were doing gathering the new slayers.

 

Buffy would be pissed if she knew. Giles would blow a gasket. Willow, well, Willow probably wouldn’t care except that Buffy and Giles cared so she automatically did. Xander had grown up, though, and realized that his friends and mentor weren’t always right. 

 

7:03. Xander was really late. Angel tried not to worry. He knew Xander had to slip out of the house and find a payphone to make his mysterious calls. He knew that sometimes he couldn’t get away. There were demons and slayers that didn’t care if he had plans. If they needed Xander, he was there.

 

Just like he’d been there when Angel needed him. Angel hoped that it held true after Angel told Xander of his plans. He wasn’t sure. Xander still thought of things as black and white. He was open to shades of grey, hence their weekly conversations, but there were still lines that he wouldn’t cross. Angel was about to cross most of them. But for some reason, he had to tell Xander. He didn’t have anyone else. 

 

7:05. He probably wasn’t going to call. Something must be going on over there. Angel jumped when the phone rang and snatched it up before it had finished its first shrill sound. 

 

“Hello.”

 

“Hey, Deadboy.”

 

Silence.

 

“Aw, come on. I know I’m a little late. Buffy was going on about her nailpolish of the week. Do you know how hard it is for me to tell the difference between peach and apricot? One eye here. Hell, who am I fooling? They looked the same when I had two eyes.”

 

“Peach and apricot?”

 

“Yeah, I know, right?”

 

“I’m glad you called.”

 

“Glad you waited.”

 

Angel smiled. He always waited. Xander knew that even though they never really discussed it. It would just give Xander more ammunition to use in his little barbs. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

 

“Sounds serious.”

 

“It is.”

 

“Well, go ahead. And don’t take all night. You know, its dangerous standing out on a street corner in the middle of the night.”

 

Angel chuckled. “I’d hunt down anyone who dared.”

 

“I know. Right back at ya.”

 

Angel took a deep breath, even though he didn’t need to. Then he started talking. He told Xander everything. All about the Black Thorn, what he’d done, what he had to do, and what the consequences were. He didn’t leave anything out. He even told him about Connor. 

 

Xander was quiet for several moments. “Are you sure about this Angel? There’s no going back after this.”

 

“I’ve got to try. I have to fight. I’m tired of taking them out one and two at a time. I need to make a dent.”

 

“No, Angel, you don’t. You don’t have anything to prove. There’s nothing wrong with taking out one or two bad guys at a time. That’s one or two less bad guys the rest of the world has to deal with. Cleaning up the world isn’t up to you alone, you know.”

 

This is why he talked to him. “I’m tired, Xander. Tired of fighting. I just want to go out with a bang.”

 

Xander sighed into the phone. “I trust you Angel. Just…be careful. And Angel? Don’t make the team go in blind. You need to tell them. Give them a choice. It’s important.”

 

*********************

 

Angel remembered that phone call as clearly as if it were yesterday. It was the last time he’d heard Xander’s voice. Now, he was standing in an alley, watching the portal open and demons spill through. He regretted not saying goodbye one last time. 

 

As the fight waged on around him, he turned when he heard a strange yell. The voice, that voice. It was him. Angel killed the demon he was fighting and turned to see Xander storming into the alley, slayers surrounding him as he directed their assault. 

 

The girls were well trained. Xander would have made sure of that before he brought them here. Their bodies were honed by more than the slayer instincts. He could see the training Xander had obviously given them. Angel turned back to the fight, rejuvenated and hoping for one last chance to talk to him.

 

It was the inspiration he needed. He cut a path through the demons even as Xander and his slayers reached his side and they formed a line that drove the demons back where they came from. 

 

When the dragon appeared, the girls all hooped and hollered and bragged about which one of them would take it down. They were all surprised when Xander whipped out a crossbow and with one shot, struck the dragon right between the eyes.

 

Angel’s eyes widened in admiration before he was again caught up in the fight. The demons were forced back through the portal and Angel finally collapsed onto the ground of the alley, exhausted in mind and body.

 

Xander knelt by his side and Angel leaned into him. He’d lost so much that night. Friends and enemies. Spike was still there, limping and bloody. Illyria, too. They were huddled over Gunn, who appeared to be hurt pretty badly.

 

But Wesley. Cordy. Lindsey. Hell, he’d even lost Lorne. It was a high price to pay and yet he was still there. He’d survived his last stand. He wasn’t supposed to survive them. Not again.

 

Xander pulled him close and Angel listened to his heartbeat while he mourned. “Angel, come on. Let’s go check on your friends.”

 

“I’m glad you came.”

 

“Wouldn’t have missed it.”

 

Angel stood shakily and crossed the alley to Gunn, with Xander at his side. He was hurt badly, but Angel thought he might make it. They all might make it. The slayers all surrounded Xander and he checked them all over, tsking over wounds and praising jobs well done.

 

Angel watched him and felt a bit of peace. Yeah, he wouldn’t have missed this either. Not even to save the world.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[mendenbar01.livejournal.com]

I know it's a one-shot, but do you think that you could, maybe, perhaps, just on a whim, you know, write another 10 or 15 chapters that follow this?

[jasonsnene.livejournal.com]

You don't ask for much, do ya? LOL...I have no plans to continue this one right now. I'm working on some other yummy Xander stuff though. I'll try to add another xangel next month. :D