Never Finished Fic: Unknown Relatives (Buffy)

[rsadelle]

I'm sad to admit that I'm never going to finish this fic. I really like it. I think it was eventually supposed to be Spike/Xander, although it's totally gen at this point.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Xander hurried down the stairs. "I'm coming," he called down to the front door.

He yanked the door open to find a dark-haired, nervous looking woman.

"Hi," he said with an uncertain smile.

"Hi," she half smiled back at him. "Um. I'm looking for Tony and Jessica Harris."

Xander stopped smiling. "I'm sorry," he said. "They died a month ago. I'm their son. Can I help you?"

She stopped smiling too. "Oh," she said. "Oh. I'm Alexandra. People call me Alex."

Xander frowned. "Do I know you?"

"I guess not." She pushed her hair back and squared her shoulders. "I'm your sister."

"My--" Xander frowned harder. "I don't have a sister."

"I was-- They put me up for adoption."

The sun was still out, so Xander opened the door all the way. "Maybe you'd better come in."

"Thanks." Alex came in with him and let herself be settled on the couch.

"I'm Xander, by the way," he said. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No, thank you." Alex made a little 'sit down' motion, and Xander settled onto a chair. "Is that short for Alexander?"

"Yeah." Xander shrugged. "I guess Mom didn't have much imagination."

"No, I guess not." Alex looked around the room.

"Look," Xander said. "This is kind of strange. I mean, I didn't even know I had a sister, and now here you are, and they've only been dead for a month."

"I know," Alex said. "I'm sorry to just show up like this. I--" She looked down at her hands. "I'm pregnant," she said softly. "My," she hesitated, "ex-boyfriend, now. When I told him, he almost threw me down the steps." She clasped her hands together. "I didn't know what else to do. My parents, my adoptive parents, I mean, are both dead. I don't have anyone else, and I don't even have any friends anymore."

She took a deep breath. "I had the adoption records opened. I never wanted to know before, not until I found out I was pregnant. Mom, my adoptive mother, told me that my birth mother was really young when she had me." Alex shook her head. "I didn't ever think about having a brother."

"You can stay here," Xander offered. "I mean, if you need somewhere to stay. I'm doing some work upstairs, but I'm mostly done with the guest room. We just have to move some furniture in there. You know, get to know each other, try being family."

She smiled shyly at him. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We're family, so, you know, stay a while." Xander hesitated. "Um. Sunnydale's a little freaky. Don't go outside by yourself at night, not even just to your car."

Alex frowned. "Okay."

"Oi, whelp!" Spike yelled at him as he came up the stairs from the basement. "You get more Weetabix?"

"No, Spike," Xander called back. "I didn't get to the store yet."

"What am I supposed to put in my--" Spike stopped when he reached the living room. "'Ello there," he said to Alex. And to Xander, "Didn't know you had company."

"Right. Spike, this is Alex. She's my sister." Xander managed to say it without hesitation. "Alex, this is Spike. He's my." He stopped. There wasn't really a good way to end that sentence. "He lives here."

Alex smiled. "Nice to meet you, Spike."

Spike peered at her suspiciously. "Yeah, whatever."

"Spike!" Xander admonished. "Be nice. Alex is going to be living here for a while."

Spike raised his eyebrows. "Is she? Well, that ought to be fun." His tone said otherwise. "Didn't bring much with you," he said, looking out the window at Alex's car. "Don't worry, ducks. Soon's the girls find out you're expecting, they'll fix you right up."

Alex paled. "I thought I wasn't showing yet."

"You're not," Xander assured her. "Spike's just," he glanced at Spike, "intuitive about these things." He glared at Spike.

"Right, mate," Spike said. "Whatever you say."

Xander smiled at Alex. "Excuse us for a minute." His smile dropped when he turned to Spike. "Kitchen. Now."

"What?" Spike asked in the kitchen. He tapped a cigarette out of a pack.

"No," Xander said, snatching the cigarette out of Spike's hands. "No more smoking in the house."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, honestly. You've said that before."

"And I mean it," Xander said. "She's pregnant." Spike looked at him blankly. "Cigarette smoke is not good for unborn babies," he elaborated.

"All right, all right." Spike took the cigarette back and put it back in the pack. "No smoking in the house."

"Right." Xander nodded. "And no being snarky British guy to Alex." He frowned. "I don't think she's very stable right now."

"Bollocks." Spike held up his hands in response to Xander's glare. "Not going to do anything to the bint, am I?" He opened the fridge and considered a bag of blood, then poked at a bag holding meat and marinade. "You doin' dinner tonight?"

Xander smacked his forehead. "Yes. Everyone's coming here. I forgot." He ducked out to the living room.

"I have friends coming over for dinner," he told Alex. "Are you going to be okay with that?"

She smiled at him. "Sure."

Xander grinned at her. "You'll like them, really. Um, are you okay here, or do you want to lie down?"

"I'd like to lie down, if that's okay," she said. "It's been a long day."

Xander nodded. "Sure. Spike and I'll go move some furniture into your room and then you can settle in."

He commandeered Spike, who complained the whole time, into helping him move a bed and dresser into what had been the guest room and he left Spike to make the bed while he went down to get Alex.

"When Buffy gets here, she and Spike can help you carry all your stuff in," Xander said to Alex on the way up the stairs. "And we'll get you a desk or table or something, too." To his relief, Spike had actually put the sheets on the bed and the pillowcases on the pillows. "I'm going to hop in the shower and then I'll be downstairs cooking." He hesitated. "Spike's around, but I don't know how much help he'll be."

Alex stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Xander," she said. "I'll be okay. I just want to lie down for a while."

Xander nodded. "Right. I'll wake you up before dinner."

After a quick shower, Xander felt ready to tackle the preparations for dinner for eight. He fired up the grill, taking the chance it presented for a little friendly Spike torture, Spike having retreated to the shaded part of the back porch to smoke.

While the grill was heating--and while Spike was retreating to the basement for a while--he started in on the rest of the meal. Salad, of course, for those needing something with their meat and those fond of rabbit food. Garlic bread, because it goes with every meal. Plain bread for the people food-eating garlic-allergic. And potato salad for that extra starchy goodness. There was cake in the fridge, and ice cream in the freezer. Store-bought cake, but still, dessert.

He'd just put the chicken on the grill when everyone arrived, all in a rush. Tara and Willow brought wine, Buffy profferred soda, and Dawn disappeared into his kitchen to find a vase for the flowers she'd picked out herself. Giles and Anya arrived together with both beer and wine.

"I know you like this kind," Anya said, putting the beer in the fridge next to the cake. "You always said it's polite to bring a gift to a dinner party."

Xander smiled fondly at her. "It is. Thank you, Anya." He looked up from his nearly finished potato salad and saw Alex just on the edge of the room. He wiped his hands on a dishtowel and went to draw her in to the room.

"Everyone," he said. "This is Alex. She's, uh, my sister." He took in the varying degrees of astonishment. "Mom put her up for adoption," he explained. "Alex, this is everyone." He waved around the kitchen. "Willow, Tara, Buffy, Giles, Anya, and Dawn's the one with the flowers."

There was a chorus of hellos and nice to meet yous.

"Hey, Buffster," Xander started with his best cajole-the-Slayer tone. "Would you be a pal and take Spike to help you get Alex's stuff out of her car?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, but she agreed and took Spike to help and Alex to supervise.

Willow turned on him. "Your sister?"

He held up his hands in defense. "I swear, Wills. I didn't know. Not until today. She just kind of showed up."

"Hmm." She frowned.

"It sounds like she's had a hard time."

"A, um, Hellmouthy kind of hard time?" Giles asked.

"No," Xander said in a rush. "No, just a normal kind of hard time."

"All right," Willow said. "Okay. Um. Is she nice?"

"I think so," Xander said. "I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her yet."

"Oh," she said. "Oh, you shouldn't have had us over. We could have done this another night."

"No," he said. "I'm glad you're here." He went back out to the grill to flip the chicken.

Spike was scooping pieces out of the potato salad when he came back into the kitchen. Xander caught him across the back of the hand with a spoon.

"Stay out of that, you undead menace."

"Oi. Just tryin' to get myself a snack," Spike protested.

"It's only a few minutes more," Xander told him unsympathetically. He shoved a stack of plates into Spike's hands. "Help Dawn set the table." He delegated the rest of the jobs, and went out to the grill to retrieve the chicken.

"Dinner is served," he said, putting the last dish on the table with a flourish.

They passed the plates around and there was silence for a few minutes while they all dug into their food.

Alex abruptly turned pale and dropped her fork.

Xander frowned. "Alex, are you--" He couldn't finish his sentence before she was moving, away from the table and down the hall.

Xander exchanged bewildered looks with the rest of the Scoobies and followed Alex.

"You okay?" Xander offered her a hand up.

"Yeah, I think so." She leaned over the sink and scooped water into her mouth. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Xander rubbed circles on her back.

Alex managed a shaky smile in the mirror. "Go on. I'll be back in a minute. I just want to run upstairs and brush my teeth."

Xander went back to the table. "She'll be fine," he assured everyone.

"Sure she will," Spike said. He got up and went to the kitchen.

"But I don't understand," Anya said. "What's wrong with her?"

Xander hesitated. "It's not really my story to tell," he hedged.

"Xander," Anya said sternly, "we're no longer dating, but we are friends, and friends are supposed to tell each other things."

"Things, yes," Willow said, "but not everything." She glanced at Tara and giggled.

"Sorry," Alex apologized as she slid back into her chair.

"'S alright, luv," Spike said, coming back in as well. "Just a bit of morning sickness. It'll pass in time." He took her plate away and replaced it with a box of saltines and a can of club soda.

"You're pregnant?" Willow asked. "Xander, you're going to be an uncle!"

Xander blinked. He hadn't thought about it in those terms. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Ooh!" Everyone turned to look at Dawn. "Baby clothes! You're going to need baby clothes. They're so *cute*."

"They are," Buffy agreed. "Don't worry. We'll make sure Xander's little niece or nephew has everything it needs." She beamed at Alex.

Alex flushed and looked down at where her hands were toying with the club soda. "Uh, thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"Here, now," Spike said, "none of that. Nothing'd make them happier than buyin' up things for your little one."

"Spending money will help the economy," declared Anya, who'd been carefully watching the whole proceeding. "I'm glad we always used protection, Xander. I wouldn't want to have morning sickness and get fat."

There was the moment of awkward silence that always followed such Anya pronouncements.

"Anyone want more bread?" Xander asked with determined cheerfulness. He picked up the basket with the bread, took another piece for himself, and tried to pass it around.

"Wait," Alex said. "You and Anya?"

"Yes," Anya answered for them both. "Xander and I were orgasm friends for two years."

"But I thought you and Spike," Alex said, with a little hand motion. The usual moment of awkward silence fell after Alex's almost question.

"Uh, no," Xander said. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you said he lives here."

"Yeah," Spike said, "in the soddin' basement. Not in the boy's bed."

"I'm sorry," Alex said. "Really, I didn't mean anything by it."