Xander(us) Ten

Author: tohonomike <mstafford[at]pima.edu>

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners.. Joss/ME characters. The Star Gate characters belongs to Gekko Sci-Fiothers and is certainly not mine. I do not and cannot make money off of this, but for one of those bright shiny 'coins of the realm' mentioned by Ten Hawk, I might come up with something more/better.

Summary: This is the sequel to Other Xander(us) episodes found on the website a a posting of the last few minutes

Rating : PG-13 to PG-17; for general demonic horror content...


Chapter 1

SHS Library,
2:45 PM,
Thursday, December 18th

"No school until January!" Xander happily exclaimed, "At least that's one thing that's gone right today."

"Oh, what's wrong, Xan," Buffy asked, "I though you were Property Guy?"

"Ah, Property Guy? Yes. Cash-in-Bank Guy? No?" Xander sighed, "It turns out our favorites Ted-Bot just paid all his bills a year in advance and upgraded all his systems, so he had a net balance of $25.32 in his accounts. After incurring transfer charges, getting out of my lease, buying replacement parts for Ted, paying off John and some other stuff, *I* now have four dollars and the glad tidings of having already shopped everybody's Christmas gifts last week."

"What about Ted's paycheck?" Willow asked.

"That's including that already, and the Christmas bonus money paid the car insurance and filled out groceries for the next month,"

Xander admitted, "We're cash-poor, not hurting, but I'm not planning to hit any more nests for another week or so."

"Yeah, things *have* been kinda quiet lately," Buffy noted, "So a little rest is good."

"So, Xander?" Jenny asked as she entered the room, "You guys having a house-warming any time soon?" Xander looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

"Well, we were kinda thinking New Year's Eve and Day for a 'big event' but we could throw it in so you all could just 'super-size' your food contributions," he said with a big smile. They turned around as a woman not of the school entered the room and walked over to them.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Francis Doyle?" she asked. Xander stood up

"I'm Alexander, an?associate of his," Xander remarked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, I stopped by the mailing address I had for him, but he seems to have handed the keys in an hour ago," she replied, embarrassed, "I'm his wife Harriet Doyle." The girls looked surprised while Xander smiled widely.

"You're Harry?!" Xander happily exclaimed, shaking hands with, "Well, that's different. Doyle's one of my housemates. We just finished moving today. Did you cab over?" She nodded, "Here, give me a sec and I'll drive you over myself. Do you have any really bad news or anything?" She shook her head, "Good, then you'll stay at our place. We have plenty enough room." She headed out ot send the cab on its way.

"You moved already!" Willow and Buffy chorused, "You just got the place!"

"We didn't have that much to move," Xander remarked, "But no coming over until we've had a chance to impress you."

"So no coming over tonight?" Buffy asked.

"No, I'm taking Cordelia and Willow out for dinner and dancing again," Xander replied, "So tonight wouldn't work any way."

"I thought you didn't have any money left," Buffy replied, "How can you afford it?"

"I have a tab at Rossini's," Xander remarked, "I could even eat for free for saving his life, but made him settle for letting me run up a tab once and a while."

"You do that often?" Willow asked, "The tab thing?"

"Let's see," he considered for a moment, "Maybe twenty places around town, and another ten along the Coast. They also keep an eye and an ear open for information."

"So this big 'bat cave" of yours must be like hitting the jackpot?" Willow asked.

"Nah, coolness aside, by the time we liquidate everything else to upgrade some of the amenities and manage to outfit the kids in LA so they're safe, and build up our supplies and pre-pay more medical at the hospital, we'll have split off pretty much everything. And then we'll have to deal with the noise from the low-rent housing they're putting up; seems our nest-clearing has moved up the schedule for it getting underway by four or five months. So we'll be better off; but it's a lot of effort."

"I'm still wondering how if you're supposed to be my 'cover boyfriend' you're always taking Willow and sometimes her and Cordelia out to dinner but never me."

"It's the insatiable sex, they're animals," Xander deadpanned as he left the library and a deep-blushing zinged-again Willow.

*****

The 'When Harry re-meets Doyle' scene went smoothly; he told her he was entirely human and fought against the evil demons. She asked if he was happy; he said yes and that he'd gotten certified to teach at the High School atop the Hell Mouth. She said if he was finally happy, then *she* was staying, and already had letters of acceptance at four nearby schools for teaching and accepted at U Sunnydale for finishing up her Sociology and Anthropology Doctorates over the next two years.

"So, Alexander," Harriet Doyle asked the young leader of the group, "Where do I sign up?" Xander looked up from the other room, where he'd heard but not actually been listening as he'd watched The Major get ready for an early dinner with Joyce.

"Hmm, oh, sign up in what capacity?" he asked, getting up and walking into the room, "What would you feel qualified in doing?"

"Well, I read and speak two common North American demon languages, am at least passing familiar with the ethno-demonological composition of this continent, read Latin, Ancient Greek, Spanish and Portuguese, and cook far better than Allan Francis Doyle."

[The latter is not hard to do, except that stew of his mother's with the little potatoes,] Xander replied slowly to test her ear for the languages she claimed, eyes briefly glazing over when describing the stew, [But the researching end of things will be a major boost. Welcome aboard.]

"Thank you, Alexander," she replied with a smile, "I can *read* it and if spoken slowly have the ability to understand some of the languages. It's interesting that you understand the aural connection. Also, I make a wonderful loaf of bread or sometimes even bead bowls for that stew." Xander's eyes glazed over again briefly.

"Good, Harry," Xander replied, "I'm thinking you'll start being our liaison with Mr. Giles and Mr. Zabuto at the High School library.

They belong to the Watcher's Council, who've been doing this longer but rarely get their hands dirty. Giles hasn't told any of his colleagues that he knows the identities of Los Infierneros, and I want to keep it that way, and working through you means less exposure to the others."

"Well, now that I'm 'in' as it were, where's our bedroom Francis?" Harriet asked her husband, "I'd like to unpack."

*****

Alas, the Christmas season proved not to be entirely a time of peace as had been hoped. Los Infierneros had loaded up for three nights of nest-raiding and vamp-hunting in Los Angeles when Knox and his allies had been overheard planning to finally deal with Gunn's bunch.

Staring with an ambush on Knox's own headquarters, they'd rotated around the clock, eight nests and four apartments, two warehouses and an evil-demon pawn shop later and Knox had gone out with a flaming whimper when Alonna had activated a big warehouse automatic door opener and the East-facing edifice was flooded with sunlight as it rose and eliminated Knox and two of his lieutenants.

*****

"So, uh, Lex, why'd ya call us to this old place?" Charles Gunn asked, his 'crew' and some of their families with them.

"This, my friends, as soon as we figure out how to get rid of the big nasty demon inside," Xander said, pausing, "Will become the Los Infierneros base in Los Angeles."

"Whoa, impressive, but why show us instead of just telling us?" Alonna asked, suspecting.

"Because I'm hoping to move in all of your people, eventually get things normal enough so we can get everybody under the age of sixteen back into school and into jobs," Xander quietly answered, smiling, "And after that, start getting your/our people into the stores and other businesses where they can earn a living *and* listen up for more demonic activity. But I have two conditions?"

"I knew there was a catch," Gunn sighed, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You and Alonna need at least your GEDs by two years from now as an example to the others," Xander stressed, "And *only* you two will become co-owners with us of the place so *no one* but you two can invite in vampires or such by accident."

"How much is this costing?" Gunn asked, "Having spent most of the crew share on hospital treatments and groceries plus a few jackets."

"Not much, but I'm expecting to slowly fix it up over time, the crew can put in the effort to make their rooms decent," Xander replied, "And money-wise you offered us eighty-twenty, and except for expenses and a thousand, all eighty-five thousand went into getting the place for taxes-only, and getting the permits to get utilities and other permits going again. So, deal?"

"Deal," Gunn said, shaking Xander's hand as Alonna ran in to hug both of them as the Hyperion Hotel began to be occupied over the next month by humans again.

TBC…