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Episode 43:

Episode 44:

Episode 45:

Episode 46:

Episode 47:

Episode 48:

Episode 49:

Episode 50:

Episode 51:

Episode 52:

Episode 53:

Episode 54:

Episode 55:

Episode 56:

Episode 57:

Episode 58:

Episode 59:

Episode 60:

Episode 61:

Episode 62:

Episode 63:

Episode 64:

Episode 65:

Episode 66:

Episode 67:

Episode 68:

Episode 69:

Episode 70:

Episode 43:

Micah walked into the lair, looking at the partially awake man lounging on the couch.  "I need a report on why you let your husband go bother the nice detectives and scare the crap out of them, and why he's not doing something more productive, like bouncing the cops into boredom by doing all their jobs.  Also, I need to know why Las Vegas's crime lab found mouse hairs in a room out there after a homicide."

Throttle looked up at him.  "He had to save the two cops.  Xander's in the gym with his discman, otherwise I'd warn him you were coming so he could run away again.  As for Vegas."  He sat up, putting his feet onto the floor.  "We stayed there for a day and a half so I could see the sights.  It was nice and bright and shiny, but really loud and not really my thing."

Micah sighed and sat down beside him.  "You guys stayed at a major resort?"

"Yeah, he wanted to see a certain show and planned it that way."  He shrugged. "It was his fun on the trip I guess."  He heard Xander start up the ramp, heard him sniff, then heard him take off running, hiding his smirk.

"I can hear you!" Micah yelled, getting up to chase after him. He saw him pulling away on a motorcycle and sighed, looking at the others.  They were all there.  He walked back up the ramp.  "Something good happen on Mars?"

"Well, we found some books to help him plug the open spot," Throttle admitted.  "He found a few older prototype bikes and managed to get the brain factory open."

"He was riding a bike and all yours are still here," Micah said plainly.  "He got his own?"

Throttle nodded, smirking at him.  "A very good bike.  Very strong, very masculine.  Anya wants one for herself."  He got comfortable.  "Spike adores his bike, kept trying to steal it."

Micah shook his head.  "You guys are insane."

"It was the war," Vinnie said as he came up the stairs.  "Xander?"  Throttle pointed a thumb at Micah. "Ah, running?"  Throttle nodded.  "Cool.  Maybe I'll go chase him."  He winked and headed to his bike, going to chase his little brother around the city.  He saw a car sitting outside the garage and stopped to look at the guy in it.  "Need Charley girl?  She's in the office.  All you gotta do is ring the bell."

"Yeah, but I'm tryin' ta decide if it's a good enough reason," he admitted dryly.

"Let her tell ya.  She's good at that."  He drove off, heading after where the tracking beacon showed Xander was playing.  He'd have to make sure Xander didn't know how to turn that off.  He saw another car ahead of him, clearly trailing Xander at the proper distance, and smirked, pulling around him and speeding up with a beep.  He pulled up along side Xander and beeped at him, giving him a grin.  "Where shall we escape to whilst the goin's good?"

"Don't care as long as there's no paperwork," Xander called back. He glanced in his mirror and waved back before speeding up and taking a corner at a fairly dangerous speed.  He wove through traffic, heading for the interstate, knowing where he wanted to go now.  He got on the onramp, heading up and through the sluggish mid-afternoon traffic, knowing Vinnie was confused, but would probably catch on soon.  If not, he'd soon realize this was one of his hiding spots.  He got off about three exits after he got on, heading down the ramp and pausing at the light.  He could hear Vinnie behind him and smirked, patting his bike.  "Okay, baby, let's go introduce you to one of Xander's favorite hiding spots."  His bike beeped quietly and he took off once the light was changed, heading for an outlying area.  He found the small farm and rode into it, smiling at the old falling down farm.  He parked his bike next to the old barn and got off, patting him.  "No more road and there's potholes.  I'm going to be about a quarter mile inland, toward those trees."  The bike beeped and found some shade to sit in.  Xander walked over to the paddock and hopped the fence, heading off at a trot toward the trees and what it held.   He heard Vinnie pull up and turned to grin at him, nodding him to follow.

Vinnie looked at the field, then at his and Xander's bikes.  "Is he sane?"  Xander's bike beeped, sounding sure of his answer.  "Fine.  Stay here, sweetheart."  He headed off after him, hopping the fence too.  He saw Xander take off again and followed, shaking his head. He didn't know where he was going but he was sure it'd be good.  He finally caught up to him in the trees, finding the younger mouse leaning against a tree.  He punched him on the arm.  "I didn't need a hike."  Xander pointed and he looked, staring at the scene.  It was a small brook.  A very small brook.  It had an old rope hanging from it and some rocks gathered around the edges like seats.  He looked at it, then at Xander.  "That's not your usual sort of place."

"Just wait."  Xander sat down and pulled him down beside him.  "Besides the fact that's a great place to sit and think, it's also got a few other things."  He nudged him with his shoulder.  "This is one of my thinking spots."  He smiled and pointed.  "Shh," he whispered, "don't disturb her."

Vinnie watched, seeing an old pony wandering up to the brook to drink.  He shook his head, still not understanding until he saw the smaller pony come wandering shyly after the older one.  "Baby?" he asked.  Xander grinned and nodded.  "Wow.  How old?"

"Maybe six months from what I've looked up online."  He pointed at the other side of the brook. "There's some kids who watch her too, nearly every day."

"That's cool.  Where did they belong?"

"Here.  To this old farm.  I'm guessing she either escaped and found a lot of friendly children to help her, or they released her before the farm died.  Either way she's a great old lady. Lets met pet her sometimes too.  The baby's dead shy but he occasionally lets the kids closer."  The mother looked up and he grinned.  "Yeah, it's me again and I brought my big brother."  She crossed the small brook carefully and wandered up to where he was sitting to snuffle his chest.  "Hey, gorgeous."  He stroked her mane and nose gently.  "This is Vinnie."

"Hey," Vinnie said, holding out his fist.  The pony shied away then sniffed him.  He got a few good pets too then her son came up and charged them.  "You're very fierce, just like a son should be," he complimented, letting him sniff his hand too.

"Flat out, Vinnie."

"Oh, okay."  He flattened his hand and the foal sniffed it then headbutted him in the chest.  "Sure."  He scratched his ears and neck, letting Xander hit one spot just above his shoulders.  "Feel good?"  The foal whinnied and backed off, his mother giving him a soft, soothing sound, but he still trotted off to the river and went back to his drink.  The mother stayed for a few more minutes of petting then she too went back to the brook.

A young girl stepped out on the other side, staring at the two adults.  "You're furry too," she stated.  "You're intelligent because you speak and ride a really neat motorcycle.  My brother likes them so he was watching you guys pull up."  She crossed the brook, coming to stand in front of them.  "You're so very obviously not human and not normal.  What are you?  By the tails I'd say something in the rat or mouse family."

"Mouse," Xander told her, taking off his helmet.  "Of course you know you can't tell anyone."

She snorted. "Like anyone would believe me. No one believes kids, and I'm guessing you know that."  Xander nodded.  "So, do you guys have horses wherever you're from?"

"I'm from California, but none in my town.  Vinnie?"

Vinnie took off his helmet and she sighed, reaching over to touch his mask. "You don't...."

"Shut up, dude.  It's obvious it's a battle injury, unless you were just really stupid when you were my age and catapulted yourself into a house or something," she said dryly.  "No horses?"

"No, nothing even remotely like a riding beast on Mars."

"Mars?"  She tipped her head a bit.  "Wow.  No wonder you guys don't tell anyone about yourselves.  Every teenage girl in the universe would be there within, like, five minutes to pet you guys."  Vinnie chuckled at that.  "That would be one way to get girls into science and to start the space race over again.  Every cooing bratty daughter would willingly take physics, chemistry, and calculus to come up and pet you guys."

"That would be a great incentive," Xander agreed.  "So, is she abandoned or an escapee?"

"Escapee.  Her owners died and she's been hanging out in these fields for a while now.  Mom used to take care of her when she was a teenager and showed her to me and the bratty little brother a few years back.  How did you find her?"

"Looking for some privacy.  At first I thought she was a unicorn coming to taunt me."

"And they say girls have good imaginations," she snorted.  "So, you mice got names?  I mean, you introduced the nice guy there."

"I'm Xander," he said, holding out a hand.  "That's Vinnie."

"I'm Vic."

"Victoria?" Vinnie asked.  "My son's a Vic, he's a Victor."

"No, actually, I'm a Victory," she sighed.  "Let's just say Daddy came home from the Gulf War."  Xander nodded, getting that.   "They have mice like you in California?  Toxic ooze?"

"Technically, magic," he admitted.  "But you can tell anyone who might find out that we're special, we appear human until we're twenty-four, then tested.  If we can cause enough destruction, mayhem, and chaos, then we're allowed to change to our true form and learn how to ride a motorcycle."

"You are so bad," Vinnie said, snickering and shaking his head.

"People would believe that before they would magic," Vic told him, looking serious.  "Works for me."  She reached over and petted Xander's head.  "You're very soft."  She looked at Vinnie, then petted his head.  "You're not quite as soft.  I guess it's being a newer mouse.  Yo, bratagious!" she called.

"Don't call me that!" he yelled back.  "I'm watching the bikes!"

"It's nearly dinner and you know Mom said we had to be back tonight since we had to start packing!"  She looked at them. "Unfortunately, we're moving to Utah.  I don't know why, but we are," she sighed, looking at the family of horses.  She looked at him again.  "You can't move up here, right?"  He shook his head.  "Pity.  We might have to report her and then they'd probably put her down and fix him."  She licked her lips. "Unless you can find a compromise?"

Xander pulled out his cellphone and called home.  "Honey, put Micah on."  He waited while the phone was handed to the person next to Throttle on the couch, still.  Apparently they were watching Spaceballs.  "Micah, it's me.  If I agree to come do boring paperwork for you, would you know someone who could adopt a foundling mare and colt pony pair?  No, they escaped and they're freeroaming but the kids taking care of them are moving to Utah.  Well, I know you know people and some of those people have farms and stuff.  I didn't know if you knew anyone who took in poor, defenseless creatures who were homeless and about to starve to death."

"Laying it on a bit thick, bro," Vinnie said, holding his fingers far apart.

Xander shrugged.  "Good cause."  He listened to Micah sigh and promise to call in a few minutes.  "Thanks."  He hung up. "He's calling someone to see if they can or if they know someone."

"That's cool.  We've got about an hour but I'm assuming it'll take that long to get my brother away from your bikes.  I'm hoping he isn't trying to take them apart again," he sighed.

"No, he got shocked pretty well last time," Xander reminded her.  "What did your mother say about that?"

"She wanted to complain about the electric fence," she said dryly, sitting down beside Vinnie since it was an open spot.  "You've got a kid?"  He pulled out a picture, making her grin.  "He's cute," she admitted, grinning up at him, then at Xander.  "Very, very cute.

"Mags!  Victory!" a woman yelled.

"Watching the horse, mom," she called.  She looked over, finding them gone, but Xander's phone still there.  She picked it up when it rang, answering it.  "Hi, this is Victory McGuiness.  Xander left his phone here.  No, I'm moving to Utah.  I have no idea why, but mom said we're moving to Utah.  Can it?"  She looked at the phone, then took pictures of them.  "They're pretty healthy, the foal was born in early January.  Second week if I remember right.  The mom's pretty old.  My mom used to take care of her as a teenager so I'm guessing he's her last no matter what."  She listened to the nice guy on the other end.  "That'd be pretty cool," she agreed, waving at her mother.  "No, no, I like that idea, sir.  Thank you for helping her.  She's a fairly special mare.  She's meant a lot to a lot of kids.  She's the sort that girls come to cry on."  She nodded. "I understand and I'll yell that at him.  Thank you, sir.  Hey, if you need me, I'm there.  You do know that Xander and Vinnie would encourage every single girl in the world to take physics and calculus so they could pet them?"  She grinned.  "I thought so.  Thank you again, sir."  She hung up and looked at her mother, who was crossing the brook.  "Remember I told you about that guy who comes out here to watch the mare too?"  Her mother grimaced but nodded.  "He's got a friend who runs a horse rescue and relocation service.  They can take both of them and find them a good place to call home and a lot of friendly little people to pet them hopefully."  She put the phone next to the tree she was beside.  "He left his phone."

"I see."  She looked around.  "Your brother?"

"He's looking at their bikes," she admitted.  "Like he did the last time."

"The fence?"

"His anti-theft system.  He's parked by the old barn."

"Oh."  She looked at her.  "Who are Xander and Vinnie?"

"The guys who were just here.  That's Xander's phone."  She grinned and stood up, dusting herself off.  "Xander has a skin condition that gives him a bit of fur.  He's sweet, nice, furry, and polite.  What teenage girl wouldn't adore him and try to fix such a tragic figure, mom?"

Her mother looked at her, then sighed.  "I don't want to know as long as they didn't try to touch you."

"No, Xander started off by calling someone honey.  I'm thinkin' he's taken, mom.  Mags!"  He came jogging up the trail, grinning broadly.  "Don't tell me you got an engine apart again."

"No, I just held a talk with one of them.  They're really cool bikes."

"Bikes?" the mother said, frowning at him.  "Dear, what's that guy's name?"

"Xander."

"Xander....."

Vic picked up the phone to look at it.  "Harris."  She looked at her mother.  "Know him?"

"One of the guys I work with does, he's okay," she admitted.

"Then can we stay so I have positive male role models?"

"Fat chance," she snorted, patting her on the back.  "You know we're going to be the CSU person out in that small town."

"But, mom," she whined.  "I'll hate Utah!  I'll never be a Mormon and I'm afraid they'll suck me in like a cult.  Then I'd have to ride a bicycle everywhere and dress in way too many clothes."  Xander's phone rang and she looked at it, then answered it.  "Xander's phone," she chirped, smiling at the female voice on the other end. "No, ma'am, Xander was staring at the mare and colt we have running loose around here but he's since disappeared into the trees so he wouldn't freak my mom out.  He was helping us find a home for her and her colt.  No, Vinnie was here.  I'm not sure which tree they're up.  Sure.  Of course.  Thank you, ma'am."  She hung up and looked up.  "Whoever Charley is said you can't bring them home, they'd shed on the rugs," she joked.  "She also said if you're going to be late for dinner, call so they won't pick you up anything."

"Sure," Vinnie called back.  "The wife.  She worries."

Vic laughed, putting the phone down again.  She grinned at her mother, then at her little brother.  "Mom, do we have to go to Utah?  Can't you get a job in the FBI lab or something?"

"I wish I could, but they've got procedural problems and I don't want to be associated with them, dear."  She looked up, spotting a bit of white...fur?  In one of the trees.  "Hmm."  She looked at the ponies.  "You've got one hour, kids.  Then you have to be back at the house, cleaned up, and ready for dinner.  We'll start working on your rooms tonight.  When is someone coming for them?"

"That guy said tomorrow afternoon.  There's a few local people here who help now and then with rescues."

"Sure."  She patted them on the back.  "Whoever you are, thank you," she called.  "That mare has soothed a lot of injuries and broken hearts over the years."

"I understand," Xander agreed from his tree.  "I have a cat like that."

"That's good."  She looked at her son.  "Don't take apart their bikes. You don't know what might come to attack them."  She walked off, heading back to their house, with a stop to pet the mare herself.  She'd miss her just as much.

Mags looked up at the trees.  "Whichever of you has the red bike, she's really sweet, sir.  I want one like her when I grow up."  He went back to the house now.  He didn't like horses like his sister did. They didn't come with engines or exhaust systems.

Vic looked around.  "It's safe."  They came down out of the tree and Xander put his phone up, making her smirk.  "So, how covert fed was he?  He was way too polite to work in the animal circles as a rancher."

"I can't tell you that," he admitted.  "Wish I could, but I can't."

She nodded. "I understand.  My birth was classified too.  My mom used to work for Omega," she whispered, grinning at them.

Xander looked at her.  "Really?"  She nodded. "That's kinda cool."  She beamed and got up, dusting off again.  "You gotta go?"

"Yeah, I was gonna say my goodbyes now since I probably won't be able to tomorrow.  You guys can stay.  I'm not going to get mushy and cry or anything."  She walked back down to where the mare was grazing, giving her a hug around the neck and whispering to her.  The mare twitched an ear so she went to pet the foal again, getting headbutted but loved on.  Then she waved at them and grinned, disappearing for home.

"Think they're being relocated?" Vinnie asked.

"Yup, sure do."  He called Micah again.  "Hey, me.  Did you know her mom used to work for Omega?  Yeah, Victory.  She said her birth was classified."  He smirked.  "Thought you might.  No, just an FYI and an interesting tidbit."  He hung up.  "Let's see."  They sat back to watch the foal, seeing how long it'd take someone to come up and get them to take them somewhere safe.

***

Micah hung up and pulled out his cellphone, calling the office.  "Max, patch me through to the grumpy, one-eyed bastard."  He listened while she made the connection for him.  "It's me," he greeted.  "One of mine just ran into one of yours.  Victory McGuiness?"  He listened to the brief description.  "No, there's a mare and foal she and her mother have been taking care of and they're going to be leaving soon...."  He smirked.  "No, she wanted them to be taken care of.  They're freerange beasts.  Sure.  That's what I thought.  So, got room to spare at your ranch?"  He smirked, chuckling a bit.  "I know.  That's okay, she said Xander was enough to make every girl want to take calculus and physics so they could go find his species and pet them."  He glanced at Throttle, who was now choking on his latest sip of rootbeer.  "No, that's Throttle.  I'm in Chicago.  Sure.  Tonight?  Decent.  No, but I'm sure they can track their own."  Throttle nodded, grimacing.  "Victory's a ten- year-old girl," he shared.  "Her mother used to bioengineer stuff for the government.  They've got a high enough rating to know about you."  He listened.  "Sure.  Meet ya there."  He hung up.  "So, where are they?"

"Dead," Throttle assured him.

"Their dad was a mechanical and weapons engineer.  Mom was a bioterrorism creator.  The kids come by it naturally, Throttle.  They're cool enough.  One Eye wouldn't be protecting them if they weren't.  They'd just have quietly disappeared into Witness Relocation.  Instead he's got their files sealed with his personal seal and is personally helping them move in a few days to Utah."  He stood up.  "Besides, he'll make sure that horse is taken care of.  Victory is his great-granddaughter and he'd hate to maker her hate him since he wants to recruit her someday."

Throttle stood up.  "Let's go find the boys.  Modo?"  Modo came up from downstairs.  "We're going to find Vinnie and Xander."

"My bike showed me a map out to a farm," he offered.  "She heard 'horse' and popped it up."

"Let's see it," Micah told him, following him down to copy the map.  "Only Xander could find a former spy associate who's moving and decide to help her," he muttered.  Modo looked at him.  "Don't ask.  It's a Xander thing."

"Do you have a whole list of Xander things so we can watch out for them?" Charley asked.  "Am I ordering for myself?"

"Quite possibly," Throttle admitted.  "Or get us stuff and we'll eat it later."  He kissed her on the cheek.  "Xander just found a way to restart the space program.  Tell all the little teenage girls that we're fuzzy, need petted, and are tragically in need of love."

Charley burst out in loud, serious laughs, leaning against the wall, kicking it a few times.  "I can just see the population of a Backstreet Boys concert landing on Mars and going 'oooh, let me pet you, darling' to Stoker."

Modo moaned.  "Momma would laugh her gray tail off," he admitted, but he was grinning and shaking his head.  "Cheese, that's a horrible thought but it's so funny."

"It would make space a hot commodity, especially if there were puppy and kitten races too," Micah admitted, going for his car once he had the map down.  "Coming, Modo?"

"No thanks.  I don't think I'd like horses that much."

Throttle got on his bike, stroking her.  "Let's go save Xander and Vinnie before they get us all petted and groomed bald."  He started her and took off, following the beacon and Micah to where his bros were.  Then he'd have to spank Xander and make sure he knew he was not to go off like that again.  That boy and trouble were twins some days.

Modo looked at his bike.  "Is it pretty there?"  She beeped.  "Remember the way so I can take Staff on a long ride soon."  She filed it away and moved so he could work on her engine.  She needed a slight tuneup and he was more than willing to help.   Modo hoped Micah got there first.  His momma needed a laugh or two but not that much.

***

Micah found his two lunatics by the brook, still watching the mother and foal.  He stared at them then sat down beside Vinnie, pinching him.  "Hurt your brother for me."  Vinnie swatted lightly at him.  "You just tangled up some massive strings, guys."

"She seemed pretty cool," Vinnie offered.  "She said no one would believe her anyway."

"Oh, they won't.  Not even her controllers.  Their agency and mine are old friends and not- so-close former rivals.  We get on well and he's got a personal interest in seeing Victory and Magnet happy."  He looked over at Xander.  "Are you hiding out here?"

"Thinking spot."

"I see.  It's a good one," he admitted.  "You do know that old barn is hiding something underground?"

"Yeah, the road's too well maintained," Xander admitted.  "If they touch my bike, it'll kill 'em."

"I just talked to a guard and she said she didn't mind you coming out here.  You never bothered them and you were listed as 'touch only in emergencies' in their records."

"NID?" Xander asked.

"No, and I'm not sure what it is."

"It would be a fuel and tech research station," Micah admitted quietly.  "Who did they get that from?"

"The guys coming to move the kids and the horse," Throttle told him, pulling Xander up and sitting under him, sitting him in his lap.  "They won't have to move, right?"

"Nope.  You guys have a pretty high clearance and Xander has as high as I do.  They're safe as long as IFU doesn't find them.  If they do, Hendrix will shit pink and blue snoballs."

Xander chuckled at that.  "Was he the dark haired guy I saw in my dream?"

"Most likely," he admitted, glancing down at him.  "He wanted to know how you knew he had a cat."

"Not a clue. I heard him mention it on the way back a few times."

"Dream?" Vinnie asked.

"Sometimes I get dreams that aren't prophetic, but they give me roadsigns to look at.  I got one right before we left for Thanksgiving because my security rating is second in Micah's people, right after him."  Vinnie looked confused. "It used to go by rating," he shared.

"Oohh," he said, shuddering greatly.  "I love you, little bro, but you'd be hell doing his job."

"Which was about the content of the dream.  That and prison worlds and you guys getting captured," Micah admitted dryly.

"I remember that part," Vinnie admitted.  "I didn't know about the other part.  You fixed that, right?"

"The changes officially take effect a week after Thanksgiving this year," he offered. "If we can hold off the bad things until then, it'd be great."

"I'll help with that," the three mice agreed in unison.  Then they chuckled.  Xander running ECHO was a horrible thought.  The world might work right for a while, but the politicians would never stand for it and have him eliminated within days.  They watched as some guys in suits came out with ropes to catch the horses.

"Guys, not the way you do that," Xander called.  "She's very gentle.  He'll headbutt you but she's very gentle."  He got up and walked over there, helping them put the harness around the mother's head. "She's still nursing."

"That's fine, sir. Thank you."

"I want to see your orders," Micah called, smirking at them.  "Unless you're with One Eye, you're not to be here."

"Um, sir, we are here to clear the grounds for the lab," he admitted.  An older man wearing an eye patch came out of the woods and held up a paper, making them all turn pale.  The one holding the halter turned it over and they all stepped off.  "Whatever you want, sir."

He nodded.  "I know, son.  Shoo."  They ran off.  He looked at Micah, then at Xander.  "Victory said she had met you and you were the cure to the space race."  He looked him over.  "I don't know why."

"Teenage girls."

"Huh?"

Xander picked up his hand and put it on his arm.  "Teenage girls.  They love furry things with a sad past.  They could pet, groom us bald, and coo over our war injuries."

"I see."  He shrugged. "I don't deal in teenagers except in computer things.  Micah.  Good seeing you again in person."

"You too, Director.  How's the wife and kids?"

"Fairly decent.  My daughter's getting a divorce next month.  I can't believe she married an artist."

"It's that mentality that would have every teenage girl on Mars within days," Xander said dryly.

"No wonder I don't understand," he sighed. "Mars?"

"Classified by ECHO," Micah noted.  "Xander."  He trotted back, coming to sit in Throttle's lap.  "That's Xander."

"Ahh.  I've seen his file. I'm wondering why he's rated 'hands off'."

"I'm a bit unpredictable but I'm the sort that'll do whatever's necessary at that moment," Xander said lightly, smirking at him. "Like with the Initiative base."

"Oh.  You were part of that?"

"No, we destroyed them," Xander told him.

"Ah, you were part of *that* group."  Xander smirked and nodded.  "Good work, son.  Want a job?"

"I do freelance for Micah."

"Pity.  I could use you."  He shrugged and looked at the mare and her son, who was staring at him.  "I've got a large box and a great big paddock with woods for you two.  Just so Victory won't fuss."  He looked at Xander.  "They'll be fine, son.  So will Victory and Mags."

"He tried to take apart Modo's bike," Xander offered.

"That's a good sign.  I like that.  Thank you.  By the way, you might not want to bother this lab, boys.  They've just changed leadership to Homeland and they're a bit more uptight."

"I was just told it was fine, sir," Throttle told him.

"Yeah, but I'm betting the General won't be happy in a few months.  So just keep it down and be quiet.  Come from the other direction."

"Is there anything I should watch out for out by that green mountain?"

"Green mountain?" Micah and the older guy asked in unison, then shuddered.  "Stay away from there."

"That's NID," Micah told him.

"Okay.  Can I blow them up?"

"No, Xander," Micah said patiently.  "No blowing them up.  They do serve a purpose."

"Yeah, but I don't want them that close to me or Faith, or Dawn and Rimfire or these guys."

"They're not that branch," the old guy told him.  Xander gave him a 'get real' look and he smirked.  "Don't believe me?"

"Not a bit.  They're all that branch.  Some are just mandated."

"You're a smart kid," the old guy noted.  "You sure you don't want a job, son?"  Xander pointed at Micah.  "Fine.  Where can we move them?"

"Um, the moon?"

"That would keep them out of my hair," Micah agreed, looking at the other guy.  "Think we could?"

"We don't have an airproof dome up there."

"Pity," Xander sighed.  "Then again, they could build one.  That way they could torture others in peace."

"They'd never be able to get the demons they're still working on up there," Micah said wisely.  "You know you're moving her next to one of their bases, right?"  One Eye shuddered.  "Yeah, I didn't think you did."

"How do you know so much about this stuff?" the other guy asked.

"When we all got reformatted the new director said 'take the smallest agency and have them do what that one singular group on the list does, they won't complain'," he said bitterly.  "Which is wrong, I do complain, a lot."

Xander nodded.  "He does.  He even comes to complain to us about being over us."

"Oh, you got moved there," he said sympathetically.  "I'm so sorry, Micah."

"Yeah, me too.  Lorne misses being a spy."

The old guy laughed.  "I'm sure he does.  The poor man must be horrified by his new status."  He looked at the animals around him. "They're be fine, boys.  I've got a nice spot for them and Victory will be able to come play all the time."

"G..grandfather?" Victory's mother asked, coming out of the shadows.  "Why are you here?"

"We're moving you somewhere safer, dear.  That spot in Utah is right in the middle of NID's base.  I don't want you there."

"NID?"

"Freako, torturing, bastards who like to taunt while they torture," Xander told her.

"Oh."  She looked at him.  "You're not a normal human, are you?"  He shook his head.  "I thought not.  You're him?  The one she was using the phone of?"  He nodded.  "Okay.  Hi, Mr. Simms."

"Hey, don't worry about these guys, they're mine."

"Sure."  She looked at her grandfather.  "You know I wanted *out* of the business, right?"  He nodded.  "Then why am I getting sucked in again?"

"You're not.  You're coming back to the family ranch to live.  You can find a job within seventeen counties around us.  The kids will have a good school and they can watch over these two and learn how to ride.  That way I know you're safe.  Besides, those guys of Micah said Mags likes to take apart engines."

"Victory's a pisser," Xander told her.  "Very smart.  She said I was the cure to getting the space race restarted."  The mother looked at him. "I am furry and cute."

"You are," she agreed dryly.

"Plus their people are just getting over a war against others trying to take them over," Micah told her.  "Cute, furry, tragic, and quite well muscled."

The mother groaned. "I can just see one of those stupid little pop stars like Brittney starting a crusade to help you guys by cooing over one of you and petting you over and over on tv, saying how they had to come up and save you guy from dying off.  Every girl in the US who looks up to her would be in science class the next day and NASA would get to be picky for a change."

The old guy shook his head.  "I still can't see it."

"Charley had visions of a Backstreet Boys concert," Throttle admitted.

"Ooh, yeah, squealing little girly girls in full on coo mode," Victory agreed as she joined them.  "They'd be invading your homeworld within days.  All of you would lose your remaining fur."  She looked at her great grandfather.  "I've only seen you a few times. You were at my second grade art show."

"I liked your work.  It was very new wave," he admitted.  "With just a hint of angst."

"Yeah, well, I was grounded," she admitted dryly, smirking at him.  "Who are you?"

"Your great-grandfather.  Unfortunately my kids seemed to want to breed young and so did your mother."

"Ah."  She nodded.  "We're taking care of her?"

"Actually, you're all coming to my ranch and your mother can find a job closer to DC," he admitted.  "The place in Utah is right next to NID territory."  She shuddered.  "Exactly."

"Actually, I have room in my budget but it'd be a research position with a lot of genetics.  These guys need meds and stuff and we've got to make sure ours work appropriately."

"We know a good deal of them," Throttle admitted.  "Just not the higher end stuff."

"That would be a handy place to start," she admitted. "Any other authorities?"

"I'm on my way to Vegas to confiscate a few samples and DNA tests done and we've got a doc down here under banishment," Micah offered.

"It's Vegas, they've probably seen worse and not wondered," Xander protested.

"You don't know this guy.  He's been driving himself nuts," Micah said dryly.  "They called in their old DNA tech and their guy who studies every other sample to work on your hairs. I'm sure they'll love you."

"You could explain us as pet mice," Throttle pointed out.

"Can't.  They already realize you're not pet mice.  The hairs were too long and someone wondered why, running a test to make sure it was a mouse hair.  Seems it came up a bit odd," he said sarcastically.  "Don't know *why*."

"How bad is it going to be?" Xander asked sheepishly.  "I'm sorry, I don't mean to cause trouble."

"You usually don't.  Most people don't realize you guys are furry beings. It's just that sometimes it shows at the wrong time.  How was Sturgis?"

"Great," Throttle said with a smirk.  "Most everyone who realized just stared for a minute, then shrugged and talked to me like I was a normal person.  My bike more than made up for my fur."

Micah nodded.  "I expected as much.  Bikers are usually pretty laid back about such things, at least the most dedicated of the lot.  A few probably freaked but they were probably warned first. How is Xander's biking skill?"

"Getting a lot better," Throttle admitted.  "We're going to take him out this weekend and start teaching him the games and train him in them.  Stoker's coming down soon."

"Sure," Micah agreed.  "I got Enamel's list and I'm working with people.  I want to be kept informed on his progress. We'll need it for his file."  He stood up.  "Let's go home, kids.  It's time to say goodbye to the nice horsies."

Xander got up and walked down there to pat the horse on the head, grinning at them.  "I'll miss you and if he doesn't treat you right, your friend Vic will call me to kick his butt, okay?"  Vic snickered at that.  "I mean it," he said seriously, grinning at her.  "You behave too, kiddo. You're pretty neat."  He patted the horses again then went back to Throttle's side, heading for the bikes.  He patted his bike on the gas tank.  "Too bad you're not furry now and then too.  A horse would be a nice treat now and then."

"Meg knows a place," Vinnie reminded him.  "She needed it for her gaming and Oz found a spot."

"Cool.  Maybe this weekend?" he offered.

Throttle looked at him.  "Only if you're good."  Xander gave him a sheepish grin.  "I meant good, Xander, not that sort of good, I've never had a complaint about that."

"Reports?" Micah asked.

"Already done, all they need is printed," Xander said with a smirk.  "I figured you'd want one."  He started his bike, smiling as he purred to life.  "It's okay, I like you anyway.  You can watch me fall off the horse this time too."  The bike snickered.  "I did.  The only one I've ever ridden was a bronco and it bucked me off after about ten seconds.  You're much better for me."  He stroked him again, then followed Throttle back to their home.

"It's a good thinking spot," Vinnie called as they rode.  "I liked it."

"Me too.  We'll have to find a new one that isn't covered in evil fed-like people."

Throttle's chuckle came over the radio.  "I'm sure we'll be able to find one, boys.  Let's get dinner."

"Call Charley first, make sure she didn't order for us," Vinnie offered over the radio.

"I can hear you and we didn't," Modo called back.  "You're responsible for your own dinners, guys.  Oh, tell Micah that Lorne called.  Someone wanted Xander's files from outside their group of fellow agencies and he refused them."

"Sure," Throttle called back.  "Thanks."  He pulled back beside Micah's car, looking over at him.  "Lorne called.  Said someone not on the approved list wanted Xan's file."

"Thanks. I'll call him," he promised, smiling as the guy caught up with the others again.  He plugged his phone into his hands-free-through-the-radio system and hit the button for Lorne.  "Me.  Who?"

"Naval research center for energy research."

"Why?" Micah asked patiently.

"Not a clue.  No reason given.  That's a second reason to turn them down.  Then I reported them to Hendrix so he could go talk to them.  Did you know he pulled Xander's file and is now wanting to test himself against him once he's fully trained?"

"Sure, not unlike him.  He has to make sure he's the top dog," Micah agreed, signaling and changing lanes.  He saw someone in his rearview mirror, flipping it so the headlights wouldn't blind him.  He looked at the signs for the upcoming exit, changing lanes so he was closer to the exit, just in case.  IFU weren't the only paranoid people.  The car changed.  "Lorne, I'm being tailed.  I'm going to duck off the interstate.  Keep the line open for now."  He took the exit quickly and at the last minute, and the car still followed.  "Who is this yahoo?" he complained, heading for a place to pull a standoff.  He found a parking lot and pulled in, spinning his car around to face the other one.  That one parked and someone got out.  Micah turned off his engine but he wasn't moving from the car.

"I'm not going to harm you, I just wanted to talk," the person called, sounding male.

Micah got out and leaned on the door.  "So talk."

"Who are you?"

"Classified."

The man chuckled and moved closer, showing himself to be a slightly older man, with gray just at his temples, and military by his uniform and how he was standing.  "I think you'll find I have a high enough clearance to know your name, young man."

"I sincerely doubt it," he assured him.  He stepped away from the car, but left the door open so he could get back into it.  "I'm sorry, sir, but my clearance is probably higher than yours is and my identity and reasons for being here are classified.  Your name is?"

"Peter McNichols."

Micah snorted.  "Lorne, McNichols, Peter?"

"Level alpha clearance, NID."

"Bite me," he told him.  "I have omega clearance, you have alpha.  Get in your little car and speed off."

"I will know what you know, young man."

Micah looked at him. "Bring it on if you think you've got game," he said dryly.

"Micah, he's a hand-to-hand expert," Lorne called.  "Jujitsu, Judo, and Karate.  You might not want to do that."

Micah looked at the guy and waved him on.  "Come on."  The man strolled closer and Micah watched him.  He pulled out a weapon and Micah pulled his gun, pointing it at him.  "Don't try it, kid."

"I'm not a kid, sir.  Your name?"

"Simms."

"I see.  Simms?" he repeated, seeming to purr it, smirking a bit.  "A fine, strong, American name.  How do you have Omega clearance so young?"

"Easy, I work in Intelligence."

"Ah. Then why are you in my territory?"

"Because I'm supposed to be here, unlike you."  He cocked the gun.  "I'd stop now."

The man raised his and a tentacle shot out, but Micah rolled and fired as he came up, hitting him in non-firing arm.  Then his bullet struck the weapon and a power explosion came out, knocking him back against the nearest building, across the street, sending his car after him.   The other guy was vaporized by the power of the explosion.

***

Lorne heard the explosion and dialed the other phone on his desk.  "Chicago PD?  I was just on the phone with my boss when I heard an explosion and his line went dead.  No, he was just getting off the first exit for the airport, coming from the west, when he was pulled over by someone.  Yeah, in that area as far as I can tell," he admitted, looking at the locator's last known position.  "He had GPS, I'm trying to track it now."  He hit a few keystrokes and came up with an answer.  "The Eastbridge shopping center?"  He nodded at the voice.  "No, an explosion, I'm pretty sure of it.  Sir, I'm in DC."  The cop spluttered.  "Yeah, there," he said, letting him believe he was in Homeland Security.  "Please, now.  Thank you."  He hung up and tried to dial Micah's phone again but got an out of service message.  He called the lair.  "It's Lorne," he greeted. "Micah was being followed and got into it with someone named McNichols.  There was a small explosion near the Eastbridge shopping center.  He's still there somewhere.  I don't know.  I just scrambled cops.  Sure, Charley, thanks."  He hung up and turned on the news feed they had for Chicago, leaning back to watch it.  Then he got smart and called Max.  "Micah was just hurt.  Tag, you're it."

He hung up, leaving her to come in on her night off and take control.  They would ignore the fact that the new rules hadn't taken effect yet.

***

Micah woke up in the hospital, looking up at a familiar face.  "How bad?" he moaned, trying to sit up, but the traction equipment around his leg wasn't going to let him.  So he settled on raising the head of the bed instead.  "Just my leg?"

"Cracked rib, small concussion," Throttle told him.  "What happened?"

"Some guy wanted to know why I was there in his territory.  I think the explosion of his weapon vaporized him."  He looked around. "Not even a card from Lorne and Max?" he joked.  "I feel dirty and used."

Throttle chuckled, a warm, fuzzy sounding laugh that made Micah shiver.  "They're a bit too busy but they said you need to call your boss as soon as you woke up."  He handed over Dawn's secondary, prepaid, phone.  "The number just changed since she forgot to put minutes on for too long."

"Thanks."  He dialed the White House from memory, getting the front office.  "It's Micah Simms.  I was told to call before I got drugs?"  The woman on the other end paused.  "Lady, I'm over ECHO.  I have a broken leg."  She said something soothing and passed him up to the president since she had a note saying he was to call.  "Yes, sir?" he sighed.  "No, sir, I haven't had drugs yet.  I haven't even seen a nurse yet."  Throttle handed him a sports drink and he smirked, nodding his thanks as he popped it open.  "No, sir, NID, and I want them far, far away from my people.  Them and his tentacle gun, which was what caused the explosion.  Yes, sir, tentacle gun.  I wasn't going to ask him more than his name, sir.  I'm not stupid nor do I have a death wish this month. I can't promise what I'll be like in a week when my leg starts to itch...."  He took a drink and listened.

"Yes, sir, NID is dangerous to my people and my agency.  Gee, because they're torturing the people I have to control and they'd definitely want my two new agents to torture and experiment on?  Sir, I'm not going to work with anyone who does things like experiment on people or creatures.  I don't care how important it is, I'm not going there.  Yes, and I know how they gained that information, sir.  They got it by torturing others for fun and then got off on it."  He took another drink.  "Yes, sir, I haven't had pain killers yet.  I also have a concussion.  I'm not changing my mind about this however.  I don't care how or why.  They need to go."  He glanced at Throttle.  "Sir, your wife met with my two newest hires, the ones who're in field training at this time while they're in college. Did she mention one of them was just as furry as Carbine is?  By the way, I don't want to see her being an experiment either, sir, and if I have to act to make sure of it, I will.  My agency is higher on the food chain than NID.

"Do I care if they're dealing with other alien menaces?  Fine.  Then give me more staff and a bigger budget, sir.  I'll gladly take that from the Pentagon.  Sure!  Let them keep their budget, let me have the NID budget in addition to mine and I can guarantee there won't be any torture.  Gee, sir, let's see.  Cutting things open and poking at them?  Putting chips in their brains to control their behavior?  Cutting off things and replacing them with inappropriate things.  Sir, on my desk is a picture of a creature named Fred that one of the alien experimenters made."  Throttle choked at that and he gave him a 'sorry' look.  "No, sir, omega level from the person with me.  No, sir, Xander's spouse.  Yes, him, sir.  Do I care, sir?"  He took another drink and sighed.  "Sir, if our best and brightest defenders are gay, and are being pissed on, what makes you think they're going to keep defending us?"

Micah smirked.  "Exactly, sir. Technically he is married by his people's standards.  All that he lacks is having it here and having those nifty rights, like the right for visitation when he's had his tail nearly killed defending the people of this country yet again.  Sir, half of the Marines I served with either were gay and we all knew it or they suddenly came out once they left," he said dryly.  "Probably a good twenty percent of your present military is gay, sir.  They're pissed at you too for the Defense of Marriage Act.  Yes, sir, concussion," he said with a grin.  "Broken leg.  Cracked rib.  Lots of pain and no pain killers.  No, not even tylenol yet, sir.  No nurses yet."

"There was a person who crashed earlier.  I'm assuming they're with them," Throttle offered.

Micah grinned at him.  "I wondered how you smuggled in gatorade."  He gulped the rest of it and tossed the bottle away, then got as comfortable as he could.  "No, I'm still here, sir.  How is your Chief of Staff today?  Sure, put 'em on too," he said dryly.  "General!" he said a bit too cheerfully.  "I'm going to kick your butt for sending an NID hitter after me.  Him and his little tentacle gun, that made quite a nice impression in the parking lot I'm sure.  No, I saw him be vaporized by the explosion.  Sure!" he agreed happily.  "Just so I can put all the freaks in jail and do legitimate research.  I don't consider torture a legitimate source of research material.  Yeah, well, so did the Nazis and no one likes to mention their trial and error program of organ transplant, but they did.  I'm not helping fund something that does the same thing.  I don't care if they're not human.  They're still thinking beings for the most part.  Yeah, well, that's *my* job, General, not yours.  Keep your little paler than a white mouse, kinky, torturing, masochistic, dateless, stupid little boys away from me and mine.  Those would be mine as well.  Yeah, well, my agency does aliens.  It's in our charter now.  I'm putting my foot down, General.  That's *my* job and *my* fun.  You don't like it?  Bite me.

"No, sir, still a concussion and it's the truth.  You wanted me to do this job, I can't do this job with NID on my tail torturing the people I'm supposed to be dealing with and protecting.  Nor will my people put up with it.  Really?  Ask your wife if she thinks Carbine and Rimfire will, sir.  Let's see what she says."  He heard him ask her and her hit him.  "Ma'am, I'm supposed to protest these things, but I'm only doing it as a formality," he said dryly.  He checked the minutes left on the phone and sighed.  "Sir, I have about another fifty minutes on this phone.  You can three-way with Director Ridge if you want, but I want NID off their present jobs.  They're on my agency's shit list and I'm not putting up with it.  I don't put up with it with other agencies and I'm not doing it for NID.  Well, I probably should be in Vegas at this moment, but I seem to be a bit tied down with a broken leg.  I'm in traction, sir.  I'm not flying anywhere for at least a week.  I'll send Dawn and possibly Rimfire with her."

He scowled as a new voice came on.  "You either get NID away from me and mine or else I'm going to go take them down," he said firmly.  "They're threatening my agents, they're threatening the people I'm supposed to be protecting and hiding.  Yay.  One of my outsourced guys locally helped take down one of their bases.  Sir, none of the people in this conference have that sort of authority.  Initiative?"  He smirked and Throttle handed over a YooHoo drink.  "From Xander?" he asked with a grin.  Throttle nodded, smirking back.  "Thanks, I need my daily caffeine fix."  He popped it then recapped it and shook it.  "No, Throttle's here with me.  No, Xander Harris's spouse.  Yeah, and he's still a bit pissed about that Defense of Marriage act too.  Hey, Martians don't care if you're gay or not.  Really?  Because most of the people they have left just won their war against the Plutarkians.  They're down to less than one percent of their original population because of those supposedly nice aliens the president wanted us to house and take care of. Why don't you tell their destroyed world that's having problems restarting crops that they were nice, sir.  They're bordering on starvation at the moment because of those things.  Good, hopefully they freeze to death in Siberia.  It'd serve them right," he sneered, taking another sip. He saw a nurse come in.  "Hi, my boss said I need drugs."

"I'm sure you do," she agreed, coming over to check on him.  "Can you hang that up for a few minutes?"  He shook his head.  "Not at all?"

"An unfortunate need for a conference call.  I'm in Intelligence."

"Ah."  She nodded, making notes on his chart.  "I see the doctor has authorized some medication.  Do you have any reactions to demerol?"

"No, but I'll probably try to kiss you when I can't feel the aches and pains anymore," he offered with a small grin.  "If your spouse wouldn't mind."

She blushed.  "I don't have one of those anymore.  I tossed the man out."

He beamed.  "Even better.  Thank you."

"You're welcome, Mr. Simms.  Give me ten minutes to get you something from the pharmacy."  She left, going to blush in private while she ordered that.

Micah listened to the other guys laugh.  "It's not like I get to flirt with people at home.  I don't want to know where they've been.  Do I care, General?" he sighed, taking another sip.  "Fine.  I still don't care.  And?  A military project is just fine with me.  I'm sure I can find someone competent to run the scientific side that doesn't believe in torture for fun and recreation.  Or for sexual pleasure in a few cases, like the guy who tried to jump me."  He finished off that bottle and Throttle took it before he could throw it and have it break.  "Thank you, Throttle."

"Welcome.  Xander's presently worrying about you.  Me being here means he's not bouncing around your room."

"Man, if I were gay, I'd kiss you for that alone," he offered.  The nurse blushed when she came back in. "He's keeping his husband from bouncing around the hospital."

"I remember his spouse from when he was injured," she admitted dryly.  "We'd all like to kiss you for that, sir."  She looked at Micah, then injected the drug into his IV, making him hiss, then sigh.  "There you go, Mr. Simms.  It should work in a few minutes."

Micah pulled her over and kissed her.  "Thank you.  You're wonderful."  She blushed bright red and hurried out.  He went back to listening.  "She didn't hit me for it and she said she's single.  If she didn't want it, she's more than capable of telling me off herself.  This is Chicago.  The women here are liberated and strong, they can easily bitch me out if they don't want my attention and flirting."  He listened to the people complain.  "I'd be cutting some spots but I'd keep any legitimate research.  How about I get their budget for one year in addition to mine and then we see how much I use?" he suggested.  "I can promise some cuts.  After all, I run ECHO on a shoestring.  Sure.  Thanks," he said dryly.  "So I can put out an executive order to close the NID facilities until one of mine can tour and fix?"  He smirked.  "Thank you, Mr. President.  I'm in traction, I doubt I'm moving for a while.  I'll be here in Chicago in the hospital.  You can deliver them to Harris.  He can bring them.  He's got Omega Seven."  He coughed.  "Sir, if we don't go by the *new* rules, then Xander has to take over ECHO.  As in an openly gay defender of the planet with a severe hatred and a desire to kill all the NID issued brats taking over my agency until I come back.  Who would you rather have, sir?  No, I'm calling Lorne and Max next.  Sure," he agreed fondly, smirking.  "Hey, have Hendrix bring them. You know nothing's going to happen to him and he's got the clearance.  Thank you, sir.  You too, Director Ridge.  Sure.  Have fun, sir.  Good night."

He hung up and leaned back, getting comfortable.  "I'm now over NID," he said with a smirk.  "With their budget."  He checked the minutes and called the office.  "Max," he said fondly, smirking at her groan.  "We are now over NID.  Yes, Max, those freaks and those who are Nazi-like.  Yes, we are," he said happily.  "Find me someone to look them over, redesign their labs, and make them into a legal, profitable, and reasonable research department.  Do it today.  No, I'm in traction.  Have Hendrix carry those files out to me.  No, there'll be something from the Pentagon.  I need them.  Also, either send Dawn or someone out to Vegas to handle that investigation into the mouse hairs.  Please.  Either's fine.  No, prepaid.  No, Throttle's here with me.  No, they saw sense in following the new rules since I'm not actually absent, just not in the office for a few weeks.  No, traction, Max.  Cracked rib, concussion too.  Oh, write up a note of apology for swearing at the president so I can send it in a few weeks.  Leave it somewhere in my desk so I'll find it."  He smirked.

"Felt good actually, Max.  He asked me a few times about my concussion too.  No, but his wife did hit him.  Sure.  Lorne, you, Dawn, someone, before they decide to publish it or something.  Have fun with it, it'll be Vegas and I'm sure you'll have to overnight.  Just don't marry Lorne while you're there."  He smirked.  "I know, but it'd do him good.  Do you good too.  No, I'm hitting on the pretty nurses.  She just came in to give me demerol and I kissed her while they were on the line.  No, they laughed and I pointed out that she was very nice and could rebuff me if she hadn't wanted it, including making me hurt worse.  Sure."  He snickered.  "Sure, you tell Lorne that.  However, just have Hendrix carry the Pentagon files out.  I'll send you and Lorne out to do that one if I'm not in any shape to do it.  Sure.  Have fun.  Remember to pay the electric bill too.  Of course I'll let you forget that, but it's about due.  Since we now have more budget...."  He heard her cheer.  "Most of it's still got to go to them, Max.  We'll integrate.  Have someone there help you find someone to transform them into a legit agency and research department.  No, I'll be here," he sighed.  "Sure, have fun, Max."  He hung up and handed it back.  "Thanks."

"Not a problem.  It keeps me from being bounced on too," he admitted.  He looked around. "You're really going to stop them?"  Micah nodded quickly.  "Thank you.  We had enough of that with Karbunkle.  I wish you a lot of luck and a hefty prison for the mad scientists."  He nodded at the door.  "Need anything else?"

"A wheelchair probably," he admitted.  "But I can get that through the hospital.  I may have to come crash for a few days, but I'll keep it short."

"Hey, you can work with Rimfire and Dawn.  It'll give them something to do other than cuddle and have sex."  He smiled at the nurse when she came back in.  "What would you do with two teenagers who are engaged but that's all they do?"

"Kick them out of the house and make them do other things for a few hours."

"We do have those season passes," he admitted, considering it.  "Xander needs a new job."  He smirked, patting her on the back.  "Thanks, citizen.  Ride free.  Micah, yell when you're ready for Xander."  He walked out, heading back to the lair.  He drove up into the library, looking at the trio of mice and Vinnie.  "Xander, take our passes and *chaperone* Dawn and Rimfire at Six Flags.  We'll go ourselves this weekend as the full group."

Dawn whooped and lunged over to hug him. "I love you!  You're a great dad!"  She ran off to change clothes and put on her bathing suit underneath.

Rimfire grinned at Throttle.  "Tired of him sitting around?"

"Micah can't be bounced into for another day."  He looked at Xander.  "Micah just got control of NID.  He said he's fixing it."  Xander smirked evilly.  "He's getting help to fix it."

"Cool.  Works for me."  He grinned and went to change.  "Rimfire, you'll die in jeans out there today."

"Sure, Xander."  He went down to talk to his bike first, then get changed.

Throttle shook his head.  It was a good plan.  "Subtle and smooth," he congratulated himself.

Vinnie pouted at him.  "We can't go today?"

"You wanted to chaperone Dawn and Rimfire?"

"No," he admitted.  "But I wanted to go play."

"Then go play," he offered.  "Just stay away from those three unless you're going to escort

Xander around."  Vinnie smirked and went to tell Charley he was disappearing then changed and met them at the bikes, holding the passes.  They were kept in her desk so they wouldn't get lost or damaged.

Throttle shook his head.  Two bored white mice, wonderful.  At least now they'd have something to do.

Episode 44:

Vinnie drug Xander up the ramp and presented him to his spouse.  "One white mouse, fully unbored and scared of women."

"Why?" Modo asked from his usual seat.  He opened his eye and looked at Xander.  "You're also a wet mouse."

"We hit the water park last and I didn't quite dry off on the ride home," Xander said sheepishly.

"You've been wet for over an hour?  How?"  Throttle asked.

"It's raining," Vinnie told him.  "Or at least it was up there.  He was doing a happy dance for the rain when the women decided to come up and bring him home with them because he *obviously* needed them.  Dawn and Rimfire were behind us but they were stopping to get themselves some dinner from Chef Andy.  We agreed they could hide in her room tonight and watch tv."

"She has a tv in her room?" Modo asked.

"She took the smaller one out of the library," Xander admitted.  "They've been watching movies."  He wandered into the bathroom, coming out with a towel and wearing less clothes. "I needed that."

"You did, but everyone on the face of the planet now thinks I'm a very tolerant and nice lover who let you drag me to the park," Vinnie said dryly.   "We weren't even together and they thought that," he said with a smirk for Throttle.  "Those three were on a ride already when I got there because I had to stop for gas.  I walked up to show my pass and the ticket girl asked if I was joining my spouse.  Then the ride operators all asked if we were together and a lot of women there cooed at us being together."

"It was like gay day at Six Flags, but not," Xander admitted as he sat down next to Throttle, curling up against his side. "We only got sneered at by one guy and he didn't like us because he thought we were odd.  He hated Rimfire more though.  He didn't like people not like him."

"Hmm.  He figure out you were fuzzy?" Modo asked with a small grin.

"Yup, sure did, and he hoped that any non-human comic book characters failed as well, even Superman.  If they're not human he wasn't interested and he told us so.  His son just gave this little sigh and the traditional 'dad, must you' before dragging him off and promising to check out Meg's comic book."

"Even his wife got tired of him and took the kids off to have fun without him, leaving him standing there miserably watching his family leave him.  Which he blamed on us too."

"The security guys were kinda cool about it too when the kids told them what had happened."

Vinnie nodded.  "They were."  They both grinned at Throttle.  "They also said that if we're not together, he's wondering how you leave us alone."

"I trust you both," Throttle reminded him dryly.

Xander burst out in giggles, hugging him.  "That's what I told him, he said you must either want Vinnie too or you like to watch us together."  He gave him a kiss on the cheek.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome.  Did you wipe your bike down?"  He nodded.  "How?"

"My shirt before I came up."

"Fine."  He gave him a gentle kiss.  "Behave, please?"

"I am."  He grinned at Modo.  "So, we get to take Staff for her first trip this weekend, right?"  Modo nodded.  "Good!"  He bounced a bit.  "She could use some fun and anti- stress too.  She's worrying too much about the bike factory going up."

"She wants to go back there," Modo admitted.  "I wouldn't mind working with her, but she wants to go back and work in the machine shop."  He stretched.  "Staff, Xander's back."

"I heard.  Yes, we can go Saturday and he's right, I could use some less worrying times."  She came out and kissed him on the cheek, handing him a soda since she had just been in the kitchen.  She and her sandwich sat down next to Modo's chair and he reached down to give her ponytail a little yank so she grinned up at him.  "What?" she asked innocently.  "I like sitting beside you."

"Around here, the tradition is more in his lap," Xander teased.

"Yes, but I'm a good girl, Xander, and he's a very good boy.  We only cuddle in private."  Throttle and Vinnie both snickered at that.  "You two don't have the right to laugh either with how you two go at it in public too."

"Hey, he only claimed me once," Xander defended.

"He...claimed you?" Staff asked, blushing bright red once again.  "In front of others?"

Throttle nodded, giving Xander a squeeze.  "Traditionally done after a night at the club.  Vinnie and Charley did too, but hers wasn't intentional, she just got too hot one night."

"Don't worry, my momma always thought that was a rude tradition.  You only have something like that in front of others if you wanna share."  He gave her hair another teasing yank.  "I'm many things, but sharing isn't one of them."  She beamed at that but ducked her head to take a bite of her sandwich so she'd quit blushing.

"I wanna go to the club tonight, see if it got fixed," Xander said, looking at Throttle.  "I know I'm banned by myself but I don't think the group is."

"They banned you for you getting jumped?"

"They thought it was safer if I wasn't there alone again, that way I had someone to protect me.  Like Dawn only wears the really trashy clothes when Rimfire goes armed."

"We could do that," Modo agreed.  "The kids are still grounded so they can watch the house.  Or would you like to go for a ride?" he asked Staff.

"Either's fine with me."  She grinned up at him.  "Or we could head to the biker bar."

"We did that last weekend," Vinnie reminded her.  "I doubt we can peel Vic from Charley tonight.  He's already down for a nap."

"We could go without you guys," Modo reminded him dryly.  "I don't need the backup, no one's gonna steal me.  I can guard my lady well enough so no one'll steal her too."

Throttle shrugged.  "Up to you, big guy.  We can tell you where we're going if we are banned."

"Oooh, oooh, the place where we got into that fight?  They seemed to like you guys," Xander offered.

"They did," he agreed.  "But I'm not in the mood for a fight tonight."  Vinnie nodded that he wasn't either.  "We'll see where we end up.  Go get changed, Xander."  Xander got up and went to put on real clothes, coming back a few minutes later in his green pants and his darker green muscle shirt.  Staff whistled and he beamed at her.  Throttle was just happy that he wasn't wearing his leathers or something tighter. The cargo pants looked good on him, even if he did have stuff in the pockets.  "Are you going armed?"

"Yeah.  With NID after Micah that way, hell yeah.  Oh, Modo, that farm houses a research lab that the military just took over and we just learned there's an NID lab around here too.  So be really careful out with her."

"Sure.  I thought Micah took them over."

"Doesn't mean they're listening yet," Xander said dryly.  "One last hurrah and all that."

"One for the road," Throttle agreed. "I can see them getting vindictive."  No wonder Xander was armed.  He stood up.  "Vinnie, Charley?"

"Said she's sleeping in since Vic just started to, but I'm coming."

"Good," Xander said with a grin.  "We'll awe people with our cuteness yet again."  He hauled Vinnie up.  "Am I riding behind you or on my own?"

"Ask your bike," Throttle reminded him.  He waved at Modo.  "See ya later.  We'll try to be at the usual place, but if not we'll call to tell you where."  He walked down the stairs and found Xander checking his bike over.  "He okay?"

"He says he's tired.  He wants a nap."  He stood up, looking down at him. "You sure?"  His bike let out a few patient beeps and shoved him toward Throttle.  "Okay, I'll ride with my man tonight.  Not like I mind, I just didn't want to insult you or anything."  He gave him one last pat then grabbed his helmet and sat on the back of Throttle's bike.  "Let's go."

Throttle got on, deciding to go a bit faster than usual.  Xander clearly needed more excitement since he was wiggling already.  He hoped he didn't get into a fight tonight, he and Vinnie didn't need that.  They needed a quiet weekend.  They pulled up outside their normal club and the bouncer gave them a look.  "He allowed back in?"

"Not by himself, but as long as one of you four is there with him, it's fine with me," he admitted.  "The boss said the work went really well and he mailed back the remainder of the check Xander sent to clear the damages.  We needed a new mirror anyway, the thing had a small crack."  He watched as they parked and got off, letting them inside.  The others behind the ropes groaned. "They're special.  The owner likes them."  They sold drinks when everyone watched them.  The owner *really* liked them for that, and the fact that they were polite.

Vinnie headed out onto the floor with Xander, dancing with him.  Throttle shook his head and got them a soda, heading out to reclaim his boy.  Vinnie could go dance with someone else for a bit.  Instead he found himself between the two white mice.  "Didn't we agree not to do this without Charley?"

"Yeah, but she's tired," Vinnie reminded him.  "Besides, I only dance with the studliest on the floor and that's you two tonight."  Throttle laughed and Xander blushed but continued as the song changed. Then suddenly the music stopped and they all looked to see where the fight was.  Two girls were struggling, pulling hair and screaming at each other.  Xander walked over there, picking them both up since they were both tiny, toothpick women, and handed them to the guard, who tossed them outside as a group.  Then he went back to Throttle's side, going to move with him again one the music had started.  A few girls tried to cut in and Vinnie got taken for a few minutes but he came back.

Throttle finally tail-swatted him.  "My mouse."

"Fine," he said with a grin.  He danced off again, leaving them to dance together.  A few girls instantly took pity on him and danced with him.  He was soon surrounded and was a happy, studly mouse.

Xander grinned at Throttle, moving a bit more seductively to try to turn his mate on.  "No wild rides tonight, Xander," Throttle warned.  "The only ride you're getting is at home."

"Sure," he agreed, moving even closer to brush them together.  "Love you even when it's only at home."  He stole a kiss and moved back a few inches, just enough to graze their bodies together.  A tail went around his waist and he looked back to find Enamel and Shell standing there.  "Hey!"

"Did you eat today?" Shell asked.

"I pigged out at Six Flags," he said proudly.  "I was a Dawnie chaperone."  He pulled her closer to dance with her, making her blush but move with him.

Enamel looked at Throttle.  "I'd offer but you'd kill me."

"Why?  You might as well be one of the group."  He shrugged and continued to dance, letting him join in.  Vinnie came back a few minutes later, joining in as well.  "He does good teaching her how to dance."

"She'll be blushing for days," Enamel offered.  "But I'll have fun."  Vinnie chuckled at that.  "What?  I enjoy her when she's shy."  He went to steal his girl back from Xander, dancing her off to one of the sides of the floor. "He's good."

"I don't see how he doesn't kill Throttle in bed," she called back.

Even Enamel blushed at that one.  He knew how the guy did it and kept Xander from bouncing him to death too.  "I'm sure he can handle him."

Shell kissed him gently, wrapping her arms around his neck as they danced.  "I prefer more quiet mice anyway," she offered, before kissing him again.

Enamel smirked.  "That's me, one quiet mouse."  They ended up in a bathroom before too much longer, but then came back out to go some more.  His girl was apparently in the mood and Xander was a wonderful aphrodisiac.

***

Faith wandered up the ramp, pouting at Modo.  "Does Xander not use his answering machine?"

"Not usually," he admitted.  "He ignores it unless he's recording a conversation or just when we get home."  He looked around. "I haven't seen his cellphone recently either."

"No wonder.  Boris wanted to meet with him tonight."

"He, Throttle, and Vinnie went clubbing."

"At the vampire club?" she asked hopefully.  He shook his head.  "Shoot, I'll never get into their usual place.  I'm way too hefty."

"Have Dawn go in and get them," Staff offered.  "It'll only take a few minutes."  She grinned at her. "How are you liking motherhood?"

"Not too bad so far, but I'm tired of missing bodyparts.  They'll come back in about a week but I'm still tired of it.  Anal sex is not my thing."  Both of them blushed. "Sorry.  Shared too much.  Can I borrow Dawnie?"

"Sure, go ahead," Modo agreed.  "She's in her room with Rimfire watching a movie."

"Cool.  Thanks, Modo."  She walked down there, tapping gently before sticking her head in.  "I need someone who can go in and get Xander out of the club.  Boris wants to talk to him."

"You can't go in why?" Rimfire asked.

"Because I'm fat, Rimfire.  I'm a hefty girl now and not the sort bouncers let inside."

"I'll go.  It'll only take a few minutes," Dawn sighed, stopping the movie and giving Rimfire a kiss as she climbed over him.  She looked down at her pajama pants and t-shirt, then shrugged and followed Faith out to her car, getting in to drive since she probably didn't know where the club was.  She parked, a bit up the street, and got out, heading to the door.

"Not exactly within dresscode," the bouncer said dryly.  "And you know you're not allowed in alone either, Dawn."

"I'm not here for that.  I have to give Xander a message and drag him out here.  Of course, I can get the pregnant woman and have her come in with me if it soothes your soul," she offered with a grin.

The bouncer looked at Faith, who had gotten out, then at her.  Then he sighed.  "Give me a minute to have someone get him."

"Thanks.  We'll be by the car."  She went back there, going to lean against it with Faith.  "They'll get him."

"Didn't think they'd let you in like that."

"No, they had a pajama themed night.  I smoked in mine," she said happily, grinning at her.  "Shortie shorts and a tank-top.  That was while Rimfire was grounded though so I took Vinnie instead."  They looked over as the bouncer walked Xander over to them.  "When's the next pajama themed night?"

"The boss is really wary after some of those girls wore nothing but some glitter."  He handed over Xander.  "For you."

"Thanks."  Faith looked him over.  "You're cute in that.  Boris wanted to see you.  He wants to offer you your old job back.  He said he's got four sites that are falling behind and he needs you back.  He left a tear-jerking message on your machine and you ignored it."

"I...um, huh."  He looked behind him at where Throttle and Vinnie were.  "Boris wants a confab."

"You could use something to do all day," Throttle pointed out dryly.

"Yeah, a bored Xander is a dangerous Xander on this city," Dawn agreed, nodding quickly.

"You mean he hasn't been working?" the guard asked.  "Independently wealthy?"  Xander nodded, holding his fingers close together.  "Hey, all the better. No wonder you come in all the time."

"Sometimes I get bored," he admitted.  Throttle and Vinnie nodded, cracking the girls up.  "When did he want to have this meeting?"

"Tonight sometime.  You know he's going to be up," she said dryly.  "It was supposed to be yesterday but you didn't check your machine."

Throttle nodded at them.  "I'll make sure he gets there."

"Thanks, boys," Faith said, getting up with a groan.  "I'm not liking this extra weight stuff."

"Have one of the fathers wander around after you like a bodyguard," Dawn snorted.

"They already do," Xander assured her, pointing at someone across the street.  "I'm not touching her," he called. "She's just dropping off a message for Boris."  He waved.  "We're going back inside.  You girls behave.  Take Dawnie home."  He kissed her on the cheek, then patted Dawn on the hair.  "You've got knots."  Then he jogged back inside, going to have some more fun before the serious stuff.

"Who's this Boris?" the bouncer asked.

"His former boss.  He owns a construction company," Throttle said.  "He's a nice guy but wants in Xander's jeans too."  He walked back inside with Vinnie.  "You coming with us then too?"

"Probably should, just in case he tries to steal him or something.  I wouldn't like Xander nearly as much as a vampire mouse.  Though, Spike would probably enjoy it."

"Spike needs to finish making new memories," Throttle said dryly.  "Stoker won't put up with the rampaging wrenchead he was."  He grabbed his boy and pulled him away from Enamel, dancing him off again.  "We're both coming with you, just in case."

"Probably not necessary."

"Do I care?" he asked.

"No," Xander admitted, grinning at him. "Thanks."

"Welcome."  They watched as some guy took a swing at Vinnie, who ducked and tripped him with his tail.  "I wonder what that's about?"

"Oh, that's the guy with the girlfriend who goes out to tease so he can get into brawls.  Vin, man!"  He waved him over.  "They're doing it on purpose."

"I know," he said with a grin, getting behind Xander to dance with him there.  Throttle gave him a look so he gave him a smug look in return.  "He offered."

"My mouse," he growled.

"Not sayin' he's not, bro," Vinnie agreed cheerfully.  "He'll be wearing you out for ages!"  Xander slipped off, leaving them to be together, and found someone new to dance with.  Vinnie moved closer to cover the gap.  "He knows I'm not stealing you from him."

"We were over long ago, bro.  He doesn't have to worry about that."

"Yeah, well, you worry too much about what's not happenin',' Vinnie reminded him.  "I've got my girl. You've got your boy.  If the four of us ever fall into bed together, it'll be an end of the world moment."  He beamed.  "After all, we were in the same bed and nothing happened."

"Point," he admitted, looking around.  He saw where Xander was and growled at the girls he was dancing with.

"Chill, bro, he likes and needs to be admired.  He knows where home is and he's fixed.  He's not going to go out and tomcat the neighborhood."  He gave him a gentle kiss.  "It'll be okay.  Loosen up.  This was what broke us up too, remember?"  He went to steal Xander, putting on a show for Throttle's benefit.

Throttle kept himself from going over there to steal him back for about ten minutes, then a girl tried to get between them and that was all he needed.   He walked over there, stealing his Xander back to kiss and glared at the girl, who got the hint and went to try to hit on Enamel instead.  He took his rightful place between them, letting Vinnie get his back.  Xander grinned and moved closer, pressing him between them.  It was a great place to be.

***

Xander got off the back of Throttle's bike at the vampire club later that night, taking off his helmet and shaking out his short hair.  "I can go in."

"Fat chance," Vinnie snorted.  "He might try to steal you from Throttle, then we'd have to take him down."  He followed the couple inside, going to sit down at the table while those two got a soda from the bar.  "Hey."

Boris looked at him.  "He needed an escort?"

"Of course.  Otherwise people might try to steal him."  He smiled and took some of the pretzels out of the bowl on the table.  "They feed you guys here?"

"I got it for your little brother."  He smiled as the couple came over.  "He's a very fierce guard mouse."

"He is," Xander agreed, sitting next to Vinnie so his man could have his other side.  "So, you wanted a conference?"

"No, I want you back," he said honestly, pushing over a contact.  "I've got six sites that are so far behind they may never catch up.  I've tried every incentive and I don't know what's going on.  Merle's actually fired some of his guys for slacking, none of your former crew, but they all got moved to the job that is now the furthest behind.  We need you back, Xander.  I'll pay you what you were making as crew lead, I'll let you pick which job you want to go to.  We've got one massive job once Merle gets finished that's going to end up him and Chloe, but I'll gladly switch it to Trisha for you.  You'd have a double crew under you but I know you can handle it.  We've *got* to get that one done on time and perfectly.  The others just need a foot up their asses, but I know you can get those other ones done in time.  I think we've got sabotage going on but I can't prove it."  He patted the contract.  "All the details and the perks.  I'm desperate and I need you, Xander."

"As long as you only need him for that," Throttle said dryly, taking the contract to look over.  Xander gave him a look as he took it from him.  "Sorry," he said with a grin.

"You're just wondering about my salary," he teased. He read it carefully, then looked at him.  "You need me on this new site when?  I'm not an investigator, I'm a handler."

"I need an investigator on the other sites," he admitted.

"Have you asked the cops?" Vinnie asked patiently.

"They don't handle this sort of stuff," Boris sighed, looking defeated.  "I have gotten a few cops' relatives on some of the sites.  They're the ones thinking it's sabotage."

"Wolfram and Hart?" Throttle asked.

"Can't prove it, but it's a possibility," he admitted.  "They're a bit pissed at us since I wouldn't sell out to them and I had the contract to do some renovations changed to take out the soul clause. Oh, you were part of their contract.  They wanted us to hand you over to them.  I took that out too."

"Thanks," Xander agreed.  He went back to reading.  Then he put it down and looked at him.  "If it's Wolfram and Hart, they've hired mostly the demonic.  Maybe human looking ones, but they're pretty muchly demonic in origin. They don't like to hire humans because we're unpredictable."  Boris nodded.  "Have the halfies checked."

"I have.  Those sites are demonic free.  I had a sorcerer come in to check and make sure."

"That's just odd," Vinnie decided.  "They can do that?"  Xander nodded.  "Wow."  He took another pretzel and the shared drink to sip.  Then he handed it back at Throttle's look.  "What?  We shared while we were on Mars."

"You got to go?" Boris asked, grinning at Xander.  "How was it?"

"Hot.  Dusty.  I got my own bike now," he said proudly.  "I got to do a lot of sightseeing.  I got to nearly kill everyone by making chili out of an animal I caught in the desert.  We found some books to plug my gaping opening for spirits."  He sipped the drink and let Throttle have it.  Then he took it back to sip it again, frowning at it, then the bartender.  "Did we need the liquor?" he called.

"Sorry, Xander.  I forgot you don't drink," she called back, bringing over a clean one while she took that one back.  "At least I made it light on the booze."

"You did."  He kissed her on the cheek.  "Know who's sabotaging his sites?"

She nodded.  "Wolfram and Hart.  They hate them and they hate you.  This way they get you back and when you come back they can get all of you at once."

"Cool," Xander agreed.  "Thanks."

"Who's sabotaging?"

"You know that gang you've hired the majority of?" she asked dryly.  "Them."

"Bring them here, I'm sure they can be scared straight," Xander said sweetly. "Or turn them and then scare them straight."

"We've turned most of them," Boris admitted. "It's still happening."  Throttle gave him a cool look.  "They rumbled with some of the younger sets and the younger set decided to snack on them after the fight," he admitted.  "The winners basically had a snack.  Things got slower after that."

The bartender looked at him, then snorted.  "You've got bigger problems.  Have a hacker hit them."

"We know a few of those," Xander admitted.  He looked around.  "Can I have the phone?"

"It's three am, Xander," Throttle complained.  "Meg should be asleep."

"Oz isn't, it's the full moon."  He dialed Boris' phone, getting Oz on the first ring.  "We've got another W&H situation," he said quietly.  "They're going after my former boss and he wants me back.  That means I'm about to be attacked again.  We need to know who they've got in their employ and which way they're moving.  Do you know a hacker who could do that?"  He grinned.  "Micah's still in the hospital.  No, General.  Sure, let me know.  Please."  He hung up and handed it back.  "He's meditating on how much trouble that could get him into.  He'll call tomorrow after he asks his morality monitor, Meg."

"Meg?" Boris snickered.  "Morality monitor?  The last time I saw her she was wearing chainmail."

"Last time I saw her she was wearing a nightie that was see through because she was working on something about nymphs."

"Have we met this girl?" the bartender asked.

"Meg?  The one I used to date.  She's Oz's girl now," Xander said with a grin.  "Got anything else?"

"Sure.  Look at that other group, Boris.  The one on Trisha's site."  She strolled off.  "Try it tomorrow actually."

"Please," Boris begged Xander.

"I'll go guard Trisha.  I'll talk to the others tomorrow about the contract."  Throttle handed him a pen.  "You're sure?"

"You need something to do, or else you'll be a bored mouse all the time."

"Yeah, I'm amusing but not that amusing," Vinnie agreed dryly, taking another sip of the drink.  "Much more normal this time."  The bartender smiled and walked off.  He handed Xander the drink.  "Sign."

"Signing," he sighed, signing the contract.  "When does the new one start?"

"Two weeks."  He grinned at him.  "I've still got everything else of yours.  I'll try to get hold of Trisha tonight and tell her you're coming but I can't promise.  She's had her cell turned off again."  He stood up.  "I'll send the stuff on the new site to you.  I've already done the ordering and everything.  Anything else?"

"Where's Brad?"

"Working as second in command under Merle."

"Good," Xander agreed.  "He's good at it."  He looked at him.  "Two weeks?"

"Two weeks.  I'll have the profiles sent to you.  You'll get full indoor crew choice.  Merle will be crew lead, but you'll be interior again."  Xander nodded at that.  "You're sure?"

"Yeah, where's the site?"

"East Third."  Xander nodded.  "Thank you, Xander.  We'll renegotiate after this new job."  He walked off.

Xander looked at the other two.  "We need to spin by there, check it out."

"Sure," Throttle agreed.  "Finish the drink and let's go."

Xander finished the drink and took a handful of pretzels, following his man out.  They got on the bike and headed for the new site.  Xander got off and walked up to the guard, popping another pretzel as he watched the guy nap.  He coughed between bites, looking at him.  The guard stood up and stared.  "Hey, Carlos."

"Xander," he said in awe.  "Are you back?"

"Actually, I'm here to handle the sabotage.  Anything going on tonight?"

"No, sir, I'd have woken up," he admitted.

Xander grinned.  "Good."  He ate another pretzel.  "Can I?"

"Sure."  He watched as he walked onto the site, looking around.  "Um, those beams weren't down before."

"Cool.  Get Trisha up."  He looked scared so Xander headed for the trailer, going to bother whoever was in there with the lights on. He opened the door and threw one out, making him scream.  The other just saw him and screamed in horror.  "Morning.  Carlos, stop him," he called.

Vinnie looked at the guy trying to run, cracking his knuckles.  "I've got him."  He headed after him, pulling up alongside the running man.  "Going for a jog?" he asked, catching him with his tail.  He hung him upside down on the way back, handing him to Throttle, who knocked him out.  "Nice shot."  He looked at the one Xander was dragging out by the ankle.  "Need help with him?"

"No.  He'll be good."  He looked over as cop cars screamed up to the site.  "Hey, guys.  I'm one of the crew chiefs for the same company.  I was asked to check on the site tonight.  I found them in the office."

The cops stared at him, then at the guard.  "I was napping, I admit it," he told them.  "There's some damage and Xander found them in the office.  I've worked on sites with him before."

"Call Trisha," Xander repeated.  He nodded, going to the office to do that.  Xander looked at the guys and shrugged.  "The boss said someone's been sabotaging the site.  There's a ton of damage going on but the exterior chief should be here within minutes.  She lives about six blocks away."

"I can't get her," Carlos called.

Xander whispered in Vinnie's ear.  "Go there, get her up.  She'll be cranky."  He nodded, spinning his bike and heading off.

"Who are you?" one of the cops asked.

"Xander Harris.  I had problems worse than this on an abuse shelter site."  He handed over the one he was dragging, then the other guy was picked up and held out.  "They were in the office, which is firmly off limits, even during the day."  The cops only nodded, continuing to stare at him until Vinnie got back with Trisha.

"GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING HELL, WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT IS GOING ON!" Trisha yelled as she got off the back of the bike.

"Ow, sweetheart, I have very sensitive ears," Vinnie complained lightly.

"I figured that's why you've got white fur," she said, giving him a pat on the arm.  Xander pointed at the back of the cop car.  She stared and opened one, pulling him out to beat him herself.  She actually got a few blows in before the cop stopped her.  "He trashed my damn site, he needs to be beaten to death!"  The cops pulled her off, handing her to Xander.

"Not really my flavor sensation," Xander joked, grinning at her.  "So, I hear you, I, and Merle are working on one together in about two weeks."

"We are?"  She got out of his arms, looking at him.  "Why are you here?"

"I got begged and pleaded to death to come see what was going on."  He shrugged.  "Then I agreed to take interior on the new job coming up in two weeks.  Boris said it had be done on time.  So I'm getting you, Merle, and me."

"Sure," she agreed, going to look at the site.  "Get your asses in here!" she shouted at the cops.  "They caused property damage too!"  The cops trudged after her.  "Xander, I'll pop around tomorrow afternoon.  We'll be too busy tomorrow to do much damage," she said grimly.

"Sure."  He got back onto the bike, grinning at the cop looking out.  "Needed me?"

"No, sir, I'm not sure what's going on but the vampire wannabe is probably a bit more knowledgeable than you at the moment.  I don't want to have to describe you to a jury some day."

Xander beamed.  "Sure.  Have fun, guys, good night."  He put on his helmet and Throttle took off, Vinnie behind them.  Xander snuggled up behind Throttle, teasing his stomach with a grin. Throttle swatted his hand but he knew he was grinning stupidly.  They made it into the garage and Xander jumped him there.  "Hi," he purred once their helmets were off.

"Bed," Throttle groaned, leaning back since Xander pulled him back so he could nibble on his ear.  "Bed," he repeated when Vinnie came in and got off his bike, heading back to the garage to crawl in with Charley, grinning the whole way.  "Xander."

"Yes, I am," he said smugly, going back to nibbling on his sensitive ear.  "It's me."

Throttle got free and stood up, pulling his mate with him.  He walked them into their room, slamming the door behind his mate's tail so they could have some privacy.  Xander had teased all night.  It was time for him to pay up.

***

Throttle came up for breakfast the next morning, smirking at the gathered family.  "Xander is now reemployed," he announced.  "He starts in two weeks but he's playing muscle before then."

Modo clapped and cheered.  "He need help?"

"He might," Throttle admitted, sitting down.  "From what we think we know, Wolfram and Hart are trying to sabotage the company.  They'll be trying more when he starts to work on a project with Trisha and Merle."

"Sure, can we get a hacker to find a list of their employees?" Dawn asked.

"He asked Oz, he's thinking about it."  He took the bowl of eggs.  "You were busy this morning."

"I was bored," she defended.  "Someone needs to go grocery shopping.  We're out of everything but pepper, salt, and jalepenos."

"Then Xander can do something today," Vinnie said smugly.  "Have fun last night, bro?"

"A lot."  He dug into his eggs, sipping his milk, which was about to go bad.  He put it down and went to look for something else to drink, coming out with water.  "Milk tastes bad."

"Sorry," Dawn offered.  "I tried."

"You try very well," Modo promised, patting her on the arm.  "Where's Rimfire?"

"Doing a parts run for me," Charley told him.  "He already ate.  I could use some groceries too."

"Not a problem," Throttle offered.  "Xander still has his car."

"I'm not sure he can do a rootbeer run in the car," Modo said.

"Then he can always go rent one," Vinnie joked.

Dawn yawned and stretched.  "I'll ride with him if he has to."

"Maybe you should go back to bed," Throttle told her.

"I can't.  It's noisy."  She looked at Charley.  "Where was that explosion?"

"Next block over.  They were taking down one of the wrecks."

"Xander's been doing that with some of the wrecks we own," Dawn admitted. "He's been doing the insides.  That way if we have to hide a lot of family, we can do that."

"Sounds good to me," Throttle agreed.  "Keeps him out of trouble."

"Yeah," Vinnie agreed.  "Explosions?"

"Not really," Dawn told him.  "More crashing the things that are half crashed anyway."  She yawned again.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem," Charley agreed, yawning herself. "I can't believe they blew that building at six am."

"I can't believe they used that much explosives.  What was that, the wild west?" Xander complained as he came up the ramp.  "I know TNT is cheap, but spend a few cents more so you use less."  He flopped down in his chair.  "I swear, I don't know who that crew belongs to but I want to hurt them today."  He yawned.  "What am I doing today?"

"Going grocery shopping," Vinnie told him.  "Both places need it."

"Sure, give me a list."

"Get the usual stuff," Charley told him.  "I'm not looking for anything special this time. Mostly lunch."

"Formula?"

"Could use a new can," she admitted.   She dug into her breakfast.  "Think your car can handle it?"

"Hopefully.  I've got a decent trunk.  If not, I guess I'm renting another SUV for the day."  He shrugged and looked over as Modo's bike came up the ramp.  "Needed help, Lil' Hoss, or just spoiled?"

She beeped and went to nudge her rider.

"I think she's bored too," Modo offered.  "We'll go for a long ride today."  Lil' Hoss beeped.   "Staff asleep in the garage again?" he guessed.  The bike beeped, sounding like she was laughing.  "Other problems?"  That got a few rapid beeps.  "Okay."  He walked down, going to stop Rimfire's bike this time.  It was nudging Dawn's bike but not attacking her yet.  "Stop it," he warned. The bike let out a pitiful beep.  "I know, but she loves you just as much. Where's your rider?"  Rimfire's bike shined a light up the hall.  "Bed?"  The bike beeped.  "Think you can behave?"  The bike beeped and nudged her bike again.  "No, girl, she's not alive.  She's a human bike, not an AI like you."  He stroked her handlebars.  "She's just a bike, not smart."

The bike nudged her again, then went back to hang with the other girls and Xander's bike, leaning next to Xander's sleeping bike.  Xander's bike nudged it back but let it cuddle up.  Xander came down and grinned.  "Are you lovin' the Rimfire's bike?" he teased.  His bike snorted.  Rimfire's nudged him then revved for a moment before getting comfortable again.  "Well, at least you're not attacking Dawn's today.  Listen, I've got to hit the grocery store so I've got to take the car.  Are you going to get jealous?"  His bike snorted and turned to look at him.  "Rimfire's got mad at her riding in my car.  I'm just making sure."  His bike snorted again and went back to his nap.  "Thanks, babe.  Be back in a few minutes.  Gotta hit the bank first too."  He headed for his car, finding his wallet and cards where he had left them.  He started the car and sped off, heading for the bank, where the women at the drivethu gave him a very happy smile once she saw his balance.  She wrote it down for him and he winced at the level.  He should have more but he guessed he had fees, plus that stupid repair of the club.  He'd have to take it easy on his debit card.  He wrote another check and recorded the new balance and sent it through as well, shrugging a bit.  "So I don't have to hit the ATM."

"Of course," she sent back.  "In any denominations?"

"At least two hundred in twenties.  The rest can be fifties for now."  She nodded.  It came back to him and he grinned, waving before he took off.  He headed for the store, finding two kids outside begging for money.  He tucked the money into his wallet, keeping out about two hundred in his pocket.  Then he got out and locked the car.  "Hey, guys, you that desperate?"  They nodded.  "Okay.  I've got to shop for two houses, I'll pay you guys twenty bucks to push the other cart and follow me around."  They looked at each other then nodded and followed him inside, getting a second cart.  He handed back the twenty, and walked on, going to the canned good section first.  They needed some supplies.  A few things went into Charley's cart once they got to the baby food aisle, then they went to the meat area.  He looked and sighed, then looked at the guy behind the meat counter.  "I'm buying for Charley and us."  The guy smiled at him.  "Last Chance Garage?" he tried.  The guy nodded and went back to grab the big boxes of hotdogs.  "Not tofu, right?  I nearly got lynched last night."

"No, not tofu," he admitted, handing over the boxes.  "How many you need?"

"Two boxes each house."  He got another set and put them in his cart.  "Thanks, man."  He went to look at the other stuff, finding some chicken, some steaks, some pork chops.  Then more pork chops.  He really wanted pork chops for some reason.  He tossed in another pack and headed down the line.  Two packages of american cheese and a brick of real cheese were put into his cart, then the bread, milk of both kinds, and the juice were added.  Then he drug them through frozen foods.  Their cart got pizzas that were on sale.  Charley's got a few too.  At the end, he looked at the carts, he sighed and headed for the soda aisle.  "Last stop, guys, and it'll get heavy."  He looked at the cases of rootbeer, then started to load up both carts.  The kids groaned as he emptied the rootbeer display and went for the bottled stuff, adding in some diet by accident.  He pushed his cart with a groan, heading up to the regular checkout.  The woman behind the register gave him a look as she finished with the guy in front of him, shaking her head.  "Two houses."

"Do you guys drink anything but soda?"

"Rarely," he admitted, starting with those.  He handed over his savings card and kept going.  "We need to keep the two carts separate."

"Sure, whatever you want," she agreed, watching as he finished dropping everything onto her conveyor and he pushed that one ahead.  He separated them out with the plastic bar and started to unload the other one with the kids' help.  She smiled at them but continued to go.  "All on one bill?"  He nodded.  "Separate houses?"

"Yeah, Charley can't get out to get her own today."  He lifted the last pack of diapers and looked, finding something wedged down in there.  "Nail clippers.  Okay."  He put them on the belt, not sure if they were his or not.  They probably needed them anyway.  He decided to toss those onto his pile, which was nearly done, then he grinned, moving that cart forward.  "Just out to the car, guys?" he asked when they disappeared.

"I can have one of the guys do it for you," she promised.  He loaded his cart, patting himself down.  "Wallet?"

"Missing," he said dryly.  "Had about a grand in it," he said bitterly.

She called out over the radio.  "I have a customer who just lost his wallet.  It's brown?" she asked.

"Leather, men's wallet."

"It's a brown leather man's wallet.  If found, please bring it to register eight."  A kid trotted up with it a few minutes later, so Xander checked it and tipped him a twenty, making him beam and run off.  She smiled at him.  "That was nice."

"I try to be nice," he admitted, putting it in his front pocket this time.  Then he had to pull out the cash to pay the bill and finish loading everything.  She waved over one of the bag boys, who grinned.  "Thanks," he said, taking the receipt and the bit of change.  "Have a nice day."  He pushed the heavier one out, it was going in the trunk.  He popped the door open, tipping the front seat down.  "There's some space back there.  Start the soda there and move anything fragile up front."  The guy nodded and went to work helping him load.  Xander got everything into the trunk, barely, and closed it, then handed off the cart and helped the guy load the front seat and footwell.  "Thanks, man," he said, tipping him a few bucks.  Then he slammed the door and walked over to get in and drive.  He had to shift a gallon of milk out of his way, but that was fine.  On the way home, he made a stop at a really good magazine store, going inside to pick up the monthly subscriptions.  He carried the stack up, putting them on the counter.  The register girl smiled at him and let him pay for it, bagging it up for him.  Then he went to move that gallon of milk again and head to one last stop.  He wasn't cooking after this.  He pulled into Chef Andy's, getting out to walk inside.  "I'm tired of food.  I just got done grocery shopping," he said with a grin.  He noticed two punks in there and coughed.  "Chef Andy, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Xander.  They're no trouble today."

Xander looked at them and one sneered so he popped him in the nose, then looked at the other one.  "There's a lot of bikers in this city who would be *very* upset if something happened to Andy.  Starting with me.  Remember that, kid.  Before I have to get upset and wear out my boredom on you."

"What, outta work?" the boy on the ground taunted.

"No, just bored.  Now, unless you wanna get your tail kicked by this gay man, I'd leave."  The guy on the ground looked horrified.  "Really."  They got up and ran out.  "You tell me if they come back!" he demanded.  "I don't care who these punks belong to, if they're bothering you, I wanna know."

"They're mostly good kids, Xander.  They were actually getting lunch."

"Then I'll pay for theirs too and you can have them come back to pick it up.  But I'm serious.  If someone bothers you, then they'll be getting what they deserve.  Besides, that one kid sneered at me.  I'm not putting up with it."

"Sure," he said with a small grin, making the usual for them.  "Grocery shopping?"

"For us and Charley," he sighed.  "Car's full of food and I'm too tired and lazy to cook."

Andy chuckled and handed over the bag, accepting the fifty from Xander.  "It's not near that.  Let me get you some change."  He turned but Xander was already outside and pulling out.  "That boy," he sighed, smiling at his car as it pulled onto the street.  He called up to the boys' house.  "He's gone.  He's just very protective over me.  He paid for your lunch though.  Come back and pick it up.  It's ready."  He hung up and finished fixing their sandwiches, smiling at the mother who came in.  "Xander thought they were threatenin' me, ma'am."

"He still hit my son."

"Your son sneered at him.  He could have done a lot worse.  He only knocked him down.  He did say to apologize to him."  He handed over the bag, waving off the money.  "He paid for it too."

"He's sorry he did it?"  He nodded. "Why did he do it?"

"The boy with the bloody nose sneered at him when he asked if I was havin' troubles.  Xander's a big guy with a good heart.  Thinks he's Batman now and then," he admitted with a grin, "but he's a good guy who was tryin' ta protect me."

"Fine.  I'll let it go this time.  He better not try it again.  I will talk to the boys about not looking like thugs though."  She walked off, going to yell at her son about taking on seriously deranged people in public.

Xander pulled up into Charley's garage, getting out and looking at her and Vinnie.  "Front seat, back seat.  The rest goes next door."  Vinnie grinned and came over to unload with her, while Xander handed Charley lunch.  "I ended up hitting a kid who was in there being menacing."

"You bought lunch after buying groceries?" Throttle asked as he came to help.

"I'm too tired to cook," he defended. "The trunk is ours and it'll explode."  Vinnie got the last bag out and checked the backseat, lifting out the sodas to put on the floor for now.  Then he closed the door and patted it.  "Gee, thanks."  Xander slid back in and drove around to park behind the garage.  "Come help me unload or I'm never feeding anyone ever again!" he yelled, popping the trunk from inside.  He grabbed the magazines and put them on the workbench before going back to start on the groceries.  "I mean it!"

Modo and Staff came out with Rimfire behind them. "You're loud, bro.  Some of us had to put on shoes," Modo complained.

"Yay," he said blandly.  "I got to make sure no one's going to try to rough up Chef Andy this year.  He said they weren't after they ran."

"Poor kids.  Did you hit one?" Staff asked.  He held up a finger. "Xander!"  She swatted at him. "Bad!  Naughty!"

"He was a thug and he sneered at me," he defended, grabbing some bags.  Throttle came over to help with these, shaking his head at all the food.  "Yes, and there's three things of cheese in there for me too.  By the way, we're having pork chops for dinner.  If pigs offend you, I'm sorry.  Tough, but I'm sorry."  He carried some of them up to the kitchen.

"I take it it's his turn?" Modo asked.

Throttle nodded. "Apparently he's craving pork chops by how many he bought."  He carried up his double handful of bags.  Modo got most of the sodas with Staff's help, leaving the last few for Vinnie when he joined them.  Charley checked the car, then closed and locked it, going to put Xander's wallet and keys on the workbench with the magazine bag.  She found hers and carried the rest up to the lounge area, laying them out by whose they were. "Staff, you've got a bunch of new magazines," Throttle called when he found his stack.  He sat down to read them, grinning at the biker mag and the pictures of Sturgis.  "Hey, they caught my side," he said, leaning over to point at his thigh and tail in the picture.

Charley nudged him by shoving on his head.  "Naughty mouse," she teased.  "Lunch?"

"Coming," Modo called, bringing the bag out.  He found his few magazines.  "Thanks, Xander."

"Welcome."  He came out to get his lunch, going back to putting things up.  "Charley, I got you diapers, some cereal, some food, and other baby stuff too."

"I saw.  Thanks, Xander.  He's not old enough yet, but it's good to stock up."  She grinned at Vinnie as he sat down beside her, grabbing his Mad magazine and the other comics.  "Got them all?"

"Not all, but the last one won't be out for two weeks," he admitted, settling in to read.

Staff came out and brought the food over, sitting down to share the ones with Charley, then she got handed her stack by Modo, making her grin.  "Thanks, Xander."

"Welcome, Staff.  This way you and Charley can compare techniques."  He came out with one last bag.  "It's full."

"So's mine," she admitted.  "Frozen stuff?"  He nodded, looking unhappy.  "Can it be dinner?"

"No, we're having pork chops for dinner.  I'm craving pork chops and we're having pork chops."  Everyone nodded at that, Xander did that to them still.  "It's two pizzas and the butter."

"I call the pizzas, popcorn, and some movies," Staff offered.

"Sure," Xander agreed.  "Movies?"

"We've got a few in our room," Dawn admitted as she came up the stairs.  She got her languages, her Renaissance magazine, and her beauty magazines.  "Thanks, Xander."  She sat down to flip through them.  "Rimfire, aren't you hungry?"

"I'm checking on my bike," he called, bringing up Xander's keys and wallet.  "Went big spender?" he asked with a grin.

"Yup.  I'm tired of ATM fees.  They're breaking me."  He tossed it onto the coffeetable and settled in to look at his Guns and Ammo.

"Can I have your Harper's when you're done?" Charley asked Dawn.

"Sure."  She finished flipping through the ads and handed it over.  "I'll get the articles later."  Charley grinned and she held up her new 'leather gear' catalog. "I'm guessing someone thinks I need a third jacket?"

"It was with the beauty magazines.  I thought you might not mind," Xander admitted.  "You need new leather pants."

"Sure," she agreed, settling in against Rimfire's arm to browse, letting him see.  He grinned at one and she shook her head. "Won't look good on me."  He sighed and she picked out something else and he leered so it was good with him apparently.

"Nothing trashy or Xander will have to confiscate it," Vinnie reminded her.  She held up that picture and he looked.  "The top, not the skirt."

"Sure," Rimfire agreed.  "Works for me."  He grabbed the phone when it rang.  "Harris House of Insanity."  He grinned.  "Hey, Micah, you ready to come lounge for a few days?"  He listened.  "Sure, when and if he stops here.  Sure.  You need anything?  No, you'll have magazines when you get out in a few days."

"When?" Xander asked.

"Two days," Rimfire reported.  He listened some more.  "Sure, I'll tell 'im.  Have fun hitting on the nurses."  He hung up.  "There's an uptight guy coming with files.  You're not to read them, you're only to bring the guy to the hospital if he shows up here. You're not to beat him up and you're not to pick on him," he repeated. "Just drive him over, drop him off, and only grunt at him."

"Sure, if that's what Micah wants," he agreed. "When is he due in?"

"Any hour now."

"Sure.  Someone go get the movies, the pizzas can thaw.  I'll cook 'em in a few minutes."  Everyone nodded, finishing their lunches and a few going to do something for a few minutes.  It was halfway through the first movie when the guy showed up, walking up the ramp.  "Hey," Xander said, nodding at him.  "Here for Micah?"

"Yes, and there was no answer next door."

"I put up the sign," Charley said, "on the garage doors."

"Oh. I didn't see it.  I'm sorry."

"Not a problem," she admitted, getting up to check on those.

Xander looked at him.  "You wanna wait an hour or do you wanna go now?  Micah said I'm to drive you, only grunt at you, and not pick on you."

"Who are you?" he asked, staring at Dawn. "I still remember you and your boyfriend."

"Fiance," she corrected blandly, "and he started it."

"Dawn, enough," Throttle said coolly. "You too, Xander."

"Yes, dear."

"Oh, you're him," Hendrix said, looking him over.  "You're not the typical agent."

"No, I'm a construction worker," he joked.  "Save my spot.  I'll go drop him off."  He got up with a groan and Rimfire stopped the tape.  He nodded, leading him down to the car, then coming back up to get his keys and wallet.  Then he went to drive the guy, only grunting at him as ordered.

Hendrix, head of the Investigative Federal Unit, just watched him.  He got out at the hospital, bringing the briefcase locked to his wrist up to the nice, private room.  "He's an odd choice for agent, and for someone who has Omega Seven.  But he did follow orders and only grunted after greeting me."

"He thought it'd annoy you more," Micah said blandly, taking the handcuffs from him.  "Thanks.  Any problems so far?"

"Not yet.  I'm doing a security review of the NID since it's about to change gears."

"Please do.  Please give me a list of all the torturing bastards so I can toss their asses in jail and laugh."

Hendrix looked at him.  "Torturing?"

"Remember a cross-referenced file in Xander's on something called the Initiative?"  He nodded.  "That and worse."

"Fine."  He looked at the files.  "The Pentagon liaison wanted to know when you wanted to interview him."

"I want to keep him in that job," he admitted.  "They know him and they'll work best with him."  He looked at him. "Know anything about that project?"  He shook his head quickly.  "Wonderful. More aliens."  He went back to his browsing.  "Anything else happen?"

"Max paid all the bills for the rest of the year in advance."

"Needed to be done," Micah admitted. "Since they're part of us anyway.  I'm also going to be consolidating and things.  How did the search for someone to head the labs go?"

"No one yet.  Max said she's got some, but they're not qualified and can't pass security."

"Hand me the cell," he ordered, pointing at the one the nurse had moved on him.  It was handed over and he dialed Cleveland.  "Fred?  I'm now over the NID, I need someone who can pass a security check and who can straighten the bastards out."  He listened to her squeal.  "Yeah, fully.  As in they'll be going back to research instead of torture, and I need them this week."  He listened to her say something about one of her teachers and his ethical values.  "Would he take the job?"  He snorted.  "Of course not, people with ethics wouldn't.  Can you get him to send me a list of names today?"  He nodded.  "Thanks.  No, broken leg.  Max and Lorne are in charge.  Yeah, thanks, Fred."  He hung up and dropped the phone beside him.  "She'll have a list by tonight."  He looked at him.  "Fred's got a teacher who has high ethics in research, but he's too ethical to work for the government."

"That's the way it usually works," he agreed.  He looked at the contraption holding Micah's leg up.  "You're going to need a wheelchair."

"I know.  I've already got one waiting on me when I'm released.  I'll be spending the rest of the week with Xander, then coming home.  If I have to fly, I'll rent a new one once I get home.  If I can use their teleporter, I'll pop into the office."  He pulled out a pen and started to underline things.  "I hate these things."  He called Max.  "Have the liaison waiting on me when I get back in about a week," he ordered through the pencap.  "Yes, Max," he said, taking the pencap out of his mouth.  "It's me.  Two days here, then a week at Xander's working with Dawn and Rimfire."  He snorted. "Fine, send them today.  No, he can stay there if he wants, but I want to keep him. You can call him and tell him that, but I want briefed by the end of my first day back."  He listened to her.  "Good."  He hung up and looked at Hendrix.  "Going well.  She forgot to send someone to Vegas to confiscate the mouse hair samples."

"Why?"

"Xander's a mouse.  They spent an overnight in Vegas on their roadtrip and then there was a crime about a month later.  The crime lab out there found some hairs and is getting inquisitive."

"I can do that."

"You'd scare them," Micah reminded him, staring him down.  "I'll send Dawn and Rimfire.  They're bored and able to do minor field things, plus she can make up a good lie on the spot."  He smirked and went back to his files.  "So, what did you think of Xander?"

"He's not the usual sort of agent.  He's a bit loud and odd."

"Yeah, but he's a problem solver.  He's a leader and he's a good strategist for small group combat," Micah admitted.  "Remember, if you push the standing rules before Thanksgiving, ECHO goes to him."

"The rule change was to take him out of succession?"

"No, to move him down the list.  He was supposed to be my second in command with his clearance.  Did Lorne's raise come through?"  He nodded quickly. "Good. That helps some things.  Anything else?"

"Not as far as I was told.  Lorne said to tell you everyone there was bored but looking forward to NID coming in. He said everything else was normal."

"Good."  Micah looked at him.  "Got a ride back to the airport?"

"Not really," he admitted dryly.  "You're sure that's Harris?  His file has him being a normal human."

"He changed when he and Throttle got together due to Willow Rosenburg's interference.  She wanted him to be happy with whoever he ended up with. In this case it made him about ninety percent mouse.  I haven't heard about any problems when he was recently on Mars so I'm assuming he didn't have any.  I know Throttle's and Modo's families both adore him already.  Speaking of, any news on when the next diplomat's coming?"

"Not that I heard."

"Good."  He grinned at him.  "Aren't you glad it wasn't *your* agency?"

"Definitely," he said grimly.  "I'm just glad I didn't get sucked into Homeland.  Our two agencies and Omega are very lucky."

"Yeah, well, we've got to work outside the system too often," Micah reminded him.  "You'd have been hindered in investigations and I'd never get anything done filling out the paperwork.  One Eye feels the same. I saw him the night I got hurt.  Xander had met his great-granddaughter and the horse she was protecting."

"We wondered why you were calling around about a horse."

"One Eye took them in with the family.  They were going to move to Utah, next to an NID base.  I didn't like that idea any more than he did.  Speaking of, anything on the guy who tried to get me?"

"No.  I pulled his files and his research.  I'm not sure why he was tracking you that night."  He grimaced.  "He was working on the alien/demon thing however.  Maybe it was because he had seen Xander?"

"Possibly," Micah admitted. "Victory thought Xander and Vinnie were the perfect thing to restart the space race and get girls involved."

Hendrix snorted.  "I'm sure they would.  Overly muscled furry people would appeal to every teenager out there."  He crossed his arms over his chest.  "Need me?"

"Not really.  You can watch over Dawn and Rimfire if you want but I doubt they're going to have any problems."

"Sure.  I don't have anything to do today.  My agency is pretty much bored.  The next conference has been cleared and everything has been set up for the annual CIA/KGB golf match next month.  Did you want to caddy this year?"  Micah shook his head.  "They're sending over your former counterpart."

"Let her deal with One Eye.  I'm not doing it anymore.  Lorne's brother?"

"The traitor?"  Micah gave him a stare.  "Yeah, I know, he wasn't really, it was a ruse, but it still sucks.  When is he coming back?"

"Next year sometime.  We got that ready?"  Hendrix nodded.  "Thanks for the help on that.  Anything else?"

"The president is still offended that our best defenders are gay."

"Yay," Micah said bitterly.  "Not my fault.  Personally, I think his stance would make more of them shout and become more visible."  He smirked at him.  "His fault.  I like Xander dating Throttle.  His former girlfriends were all evil and tried to end the world a few times."

"Really?"

"Yeah.  Lots and lots of evil demons and part demons in his past."  He smirked at him. "Think about that security nightmare."

"No, I like him being with his man.  Much easier on the paperwork.  What about the others?"

"Vinnie and Modo were fellow Freedom Fighters."  He saw the light go on beside the door.  "Nurse coming."  Hendrix moved away from the door and Micah closed the files in the briefcase again.  The nurse knocked and came in.  "We're good."  She smiled and came in to check on him, giving him more pain killer.  "Thank you, dear."

"You're welcome, Mr. Simms."  She smiled at the other man.  "Your family?"

"Coworker.  He brought me some files."

"Oh, that's so nice of him," she said sarcastically.  She patted him on the head. "You still need to rest."  She walked out, closing the door behind her.

"She's pretty.  She the one you kissed?"

Micah smirked and nodded.  "Yup. She's single too."  He looked at the light once it went out.  "I'll probably try to hit her up for a real date once I'm out of here."  He looked at him again.  "They've got equal clearance and Xander usually gets their help.  They're a team.  Charley too."

"She passed the clearance," he admitted.  "One arrest for protesting something.  Nothing too major.  Who bought her mortgage last year?"

"Xander."

"That's fine, we were wondering.  I'll put her in the alpha levels, just in case something happens.  I know she's highly involved with them.  Her child is a son?"  Micah nodded.  "Good.  Just making sure we had our facts correct. I'll finish those tonight and send them to Cash or London.  Anything else you need done?"

"Check the liaison's status.  I don't want to have to fight over that."

"Done, he's Omega blue.  Lowest level."

"Fine. Good even.  Less work for me to worry about.  Any other problems you're seeing?"

"One.  NID has a lot of small bases spread around."

"Probably not for much longer," Micah admitted.  "Maybe some home workers, but some of those projects are going to be shut.  We might get to fully congeal them into a few places."

"Sure.  How much do you think you'll be cutting from their budget?"

"Probably at least ten percent.  Depending on how long your list of torturing neo-nazis is."

"Sure.  I'll get started on that tonight, after I make sure Dawn doesn't out ECHO or the projects."  He nodded politely and left, going to catch a cab to the airport.

Micah sighed and shifted, trying to get more comfortable as he went back to his self- briefings.  At least these guys were set up and running smoothly.

***

Dawn answered the house phone this time.  "Yeah?"  She grinned. "Hey, Max.  What's going on?"  She listened and nodded. "Sure.  Make my reservations, I can be there in about an hour and a half.  I've got to change and shower still."  She hung up and looked back at Throttle, then at Modo. "Rimfire and I are going to Vegas to pick up some suspicious samples from the crime lab and make some bullshit explanations.  I'm for a shower.  Make sure these get back today."  She stood up and walked downstairs to shower. Rimfire jogged down a few minutes later to take his own shower and find some clothes of his own.  He was wearing a cutoff t-shirt with the arms torn off and a pair of cutoff jeans shorts.  They'd have to look a bit more professional.

***

Dawn walked up to the front desk and smiled at the receptionist.  "I was sent from Washington DC to pick up some suspicious samples from the Crime Lab.  Can you please call the manager or whoever out?"  She held up the badge that had been at the airport here to meet them.  The paper that had been with them was in her purse.  The receptionist smiled and called back there.  She smiled sweetly as a slimy looking man wearing glasses came out.  "Hi, Dawn Summers.  I was sent from DC for some samples."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he admitted with a small grin, taking her hand to shake and then her arm to lead her off.  "But let's go to my office to discuss it."

She looked at the paper.  "I'm told I need to speak to Gil Grissom and a Greg Sanders?" she suggested, looking at him.  She smiled sweetly.  "My partner is outside waiting on me."

"They're graveyard, they're not in yet," he admitted.  "What sort of samples?"

"Classified," she said immediately.  He smiled at that.  "If you're not already aware I'm not allowed to disclose that information, I'm sorry, sir.  Your name is?"

"Ecklie.  I run the labs."

"Oh, good," she agreed, mentally making a note of that name.  "When are they due in?"

"I'm sure I can find them for you.  If not, there's probably someone who can and he should be in.  Hodges!" he yelled from his doorway.  "My office, now!"  He smiled sweetly.

A middle aged guy who was just starting to have a receding hairline walked in a few minutes later.  "You wanted to see me?"

"He thinks you might know about some samples I'm here to pick up from a Greg Sanders or a Gil Grissom?" she said, standing up and shaking his hand.  "Dawn Summers."

"Hi."  He shook her hand.  "Hodges, I do sample identification and classification.  Mouse samples?"  She smiled.  "Right this way, ma'am, and I'll call Greg or Gil in.  They said they thought someone would be here sooner."

"They were due out a few days ago but he got into it with NID and his leg ended up broken.  He's in the hospital."  He gave her an odd look.  She just smiled.  "They were in the wrong.  They've been handled," she assured him smugly, winking at him.  He grinned at her.  "So, samples?  Like carpet, or like body fluids?"

"Non human samples mostly," he admitted.  "Paint, animal hair, carpet, and things."  He let her into his lab.  "Let me call them.  I've got them on speed dial."

"Sure," she agreed, looking around.  "Can I sit on the stool or is it too close?"

"No, go ahead," he offered, watching as she sat.  Then he called his boss in.  "Gil, it's Hodges.  There's someone here from DC for those samples.  Ecklie was giving her tasty looks.  No, a Dawn Summers?"  She nodded, handing him the summons.  "She's got official paperwork as well."  He read it over.  "Yeah, it's official.  Sure.  She's in here with me.  I rescued her from Ecklie.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "Just a few minutes.  He doesn't live that far away and I'm sure he'll be calling Greg in as well."  He looked at the paper and lifted off a hair, holding it up.  "I take it you know where these come from?"

She grinned.  "Yes, but if I told you, I'd have to have someone kill you.  Blood is so messy," she quipped. "It'd ruin my nails."

He chuckled.  "It is.  We find a lot of that around here.  Especially after people think they've gotten rid of it.  Are you interested in Forensic Science?"

"No, I'm just on the injured list.  Technically I'm a training agent for field training.  Me and my partner."

"Oh, that's interesting. You train others?"

"A bit of both," she admitted. "I'm doing my languages degrees.  My partner is experienced and we're all kinda learning from each other. I'm a short-term veteran of small group combat situations in survival training. My partner's an experienced intelligence and combat veteran, just not for very long.  We transferred."  She looked over as an older guy drug Rimfire in.  "'Scuse me."  She got up and opened the door. "Would you mind letting go of my partner, who is a federal agent," she snapped.  The guy let him go and turned to stare at her.  "Thank you."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Here for samples.  I've got our badge and papers if you need them."

"No, that's okay," he said, staring her down.  "He's your partner?"

"Yes, he is," she said firmly.  "Rimfire, back to the car."  He nodded, shrugging and heading out the nearest exit.  She glared at him.  "There's a reason I had him out there."  She walked back in and closed the door.  "I hate people who get pushy.  I'm trying to be and stay nice."

"You're doing an excellent job of it," Hodges agreed, waving Gil Grissom in when he walked past.  He handed the paper to him.  "She and Brass just had words."

Dawn smiled and wiggled her fingers.  "He didn't like my partner."

"Who was furry," Hodges said.

She looked at him.  "You know, saying such things tends to get people in trouble."

"Oh, I don't want trouble," he admitted, smiling at her.  "Just noting it for future reference."

Grissom looked at her.  "You are?"

"Dawn Summers," she said, holding out a hand for him to shake.  "Sent from DC."

"By which agency?"

She sighed and pointed it out on the forms.  "Highly classified."

"Ah."  He nodded. "Come to my office. You too, Hodges. Bring a chair.  Greg's on his way in too."  He led her off, going to gather the samples for her.  Once Greg had come in with his coffee, he locked his office door.  "Did you tell Ecklie anything?"

"I told him if he didn't know I couldn't disclose that," she admitted. "I'm sorry if he nibbles your tail about this."

"No, he shouldn't," he admitted, staring at her for totally different reasons than Greg was.

"You've, um, got a hair," Greg said, picking it off and handing it to her.  She tucked it in her purse.  "The hairy guy outside looking at his tail is with you?"

"He's my partner."  She looked at him.  "Technically, this is a classified matter, gentlemen.  The source of those samples were in town overnight right before the Sturgis rally.  It's a horribly complicated genetic defect."

"To be mice?" Hodges asked.  She gave him a look.  So he snickered.  "You're really new to this."

"Hey, it was me or IFU, who would have come in and 'convinced' you to forget about it.  I'm the nicer one.  Rimfire would have just growled and made threats.  We do ask that you forget about it."

"I would, but I got an answer back from Chicago's CSU unit," Greg admitted, handing it over.  "They know about this stuff apparently."

"We know they know and we know they're going to keep it quiet except in official cases.  The boss already had a talk with them."  She grinned at him.  "I know, it's a big pain in the ass to forget about these things, but they weren't here during the critical time for your crime."

"If you're correct about when they were here, they weren't," Grissom admitted. "Are you sure about the time frame, Miss Summers?"

"I am actually.  The two were on their way from San Francisco to Sturgis on a road trip and spent the night over because one of them wanted to see a show.  I debriefed him about it before getting on the plane to make sure."

"We have a third set of samples," Greg told her.  "Which is problematic.  This one's gray?"

"Gray.  There's so few of those," she admitted dryly.  "Do we have a genetic workup?  Or can I give you one and you test it against it?"

"Sure," Greg agreed.  She took out a few baggies and handed them over.  "Which one?"

She looked and found the three most probable.  "Here.  Should have been one of them."  He nodded, going to do that.

Grissom looked at her.  "You're very young."

"I'm partially trained and I'm working on my languages degree."

"Where are they from?" Hogdes asked.  "There's chemicals in those samples that defy earth chemicals."

"Probably all the hotdogs they eat," she quipped with a smile.  "What makes you think they're not from Earth?"

"An organic sample would carry some of the substances from the environment.  That's why trees from here are different than trees from California."  He grinned. "I'm guessing by your accent."

"Used to be."  She got comfortable.  "I can't really tell you anything more, guys.  I wish I could."

"No, we do understand," Grissom told her.  "As long as they're ruled out."

"Depending on which sample comes up as a match, I can call and ask."

"That's fine," he agreed.  "Your partner could come in."

"I doubt Rimfire would want to come in here and wait. He gets...restless easily."

"Your partner is experienced, or so you said, and he has no patience?"

"It's been a few years, and yeah, he's not that calm and quiet at times.  None of his family are.  Polite, but not calm.   We're talking people who believe in bodychecking during basketball games with guns."  Hodges chuckled at that.  "No kidding.  My former guardian is one of them."

"So, they're mice," Grissom asked.  Dawn gave him a look.  "We knew that much."

"They are," she admitted.  "But again, I can't give you information."

Someone knocked on the door and opened it.  "Her partner is presently arguing with the hookers who thought he was a cute and polite boy."

She got up and followed him, going to beat the snot out of the creatures trying for her man.  She grabbed one and turned her around, hitting her.  "My man, bitch.  Back the fuck off before I shove my fist up your twat and finish stretching it out.   No one touches my man!"  The others backed off at her glare and that one crawled away far enough to get up and run off.  Her friends followed.  Dawn blew on her knuckles and looked at him. "Can't you behave?" she teased.

"She asked me what time it was and if I was here with someone."

She sighed. "Rimfire, those were hookers, honey.  They're prostitutes."  He blushed and groaned, ducking his head.  "Do you want to come inside?"

"Please," he agreed.  "Benefits outweigh the risks this time."  He got out and locked the door, then looked at the keys.  She sighed and walked over to open the other door and take the keys.  "I don't deal with those," he defended.

"Rimfire, behave and think about how you're helping me celebrate my birthday tonight."

"Sure," he agreed, following her.  "What's the holdup?"

"They found a third sample.  I'm making sure it's one of the group's so we can rule them out."

"Sure."  He walked into the office after her, nodding politely.  "Sir.  Other sir," he greeted Hodges.

"Welcome," he said, taking his hat off.  "You are a mouse."  He looked at her, then at him.  "Are you from Earth?"

"Classified, sir."  He sat down beside his girl, kissing her on the cheek.  "Thank you for beating up on the woman for me."

"Welcome."  She patted him on the knee.  She looked over as Greg came back. "One of them?"

"Yup, this one," he said, showing it to her.

"I know her."  She pulled out her phone and dialed Enamel's.  "Hey, doc, where's your lady?  Because her hair showed up in Vegas and I've got to know when she was here."  She listened as he brought the phone to her.  "Hey, Shell.  Need to know when you were in Vegas.  Yeah, it's important."  She listened to her recounting her trip.  "Thanks.  No, small issue."  She hung up.  "She was here about two weeks after the first couple was."

"That's about a week before our crime," Greg admitted, handing her back the samples and everything else they had in the file and all the samples they had.  "That's all we gathered."  He looked at Rimfire and closed the door again, he could hear someone whistling.  "You're not human."

Rimfire looked at him.  "That's still classified."

"I get that," he agreed happily. "Can we at least know?  You're talking to a roomful of curious people."

Dawn dialed another number and handed the phone to Grissom.  "My boss."

"Hello?" he asked, sounding pleased.  "Actually, yes, she is, but her partner was found in the parking lot and invited in after some local working girls tried to hit on him. No, we just wanted some information for our own curiosity and she said she can't and won't.  She has managed to exclude all three samples we had from the crime.  No, sir, thank you," he agreed happily.  "Sure, I agree fully and we only wanted to know for our own benefit.  Thank you."  He handed the phone back.

Dawn took it, listening.  "All of them, Micah.  Sure.  No, we're heading out to celebrate my birthday a week early."  She grinned.  "Thanks, Micah.  No, they wanted to know to satisfy their curiosity.  No, I told him if he didn't know I couldn't disclose it.  Sure.  Thanks."  She hung up.  "I may tell you some things but it is extremely classified so I can't tell you anything where others could hear.  I'll leave it up to you."

"I wanna know," Greg admitted.  "If you're staying tonight, you can use your room.  We'll follow."

She looked at Rimfire, who shrugged and nodded.  "Works for me," he admitted.  "Micah said they cleared?"

"No, he said that there's a family who's moving here.  They said it was safer than having everyone in one city and the new diplomat wanted to be here."

"New diplomat?" Grissom asked.

"Very quietly and yes.  We're in the Palms in a junior suite.  I'm not sure which room yet."  They nodded.  "We'll head there now.  I'll leave you to police your people and make sure this information doesn't get out."

"I'll come alone," he offered.  "That way no one else can let it out."  She nodded and stood up, shaking his hand.  "Thank you as well," he said, shaking Rimfire's.  He waited until they were gone to look at his people.  "It's interesting, but I'm guessing there's a national security issue coming our way.  I'm hoping that's why they're telling us."

"Someone has to know locally," Hodges pointed out.  "Especially here in case it comes up again."

"Yeah, if we've got some moving here, then they're going to be spotted again," Greg pointed out.  "There's going to be others who'll notice."

"Yes, but Vegas is the place to hide strange things," Hodges told him.  "I doubt anyone here would look twice at a six-foot-something mouse.  They'd think they were in a show."

"Probably," Grissom agreed.  "Whereas putting them in DC would draw a lot of attention from the media hogs."  He stood up.  "Go back to work.  Make sure everything was handed over.  If not, I'll try to get a contact address to send anything else to."  They nodded, going back to their spots.  Grissom got up to head over to the Palms resort.  He wanted to know what was going on.  It was going to drive him insane if he didn't.  He got there and they were called, and he was allowed up once they verified it was him.  Once up in the suite he found a dark haired man in there with them.  "You are?" he asked, holding out a hand.

"Hendrix, IFU."

"I see," he said.  "I've always wondered if the acronym in that agency's case had another meaning."

Dawn snickered.  "I like you.  Tailpipe will too."  She looked at Hendrix.  "You heard what I told him."

"I did, and you did good, but you're not used to dealing with scientists.  They're harder to drive off the truth."  He looked at Grissom, then at Rimfire.  "You're sure?"

"I called Tailpipe, he said it was fine.  He said it'd be a good idea to have someone in the local department to know something."  He got comfortable.  "What do you really want to know."

"Where are you from?"

"Mars," Dawn told him.  "I'm from Sunnydale originally."

He looked at her.  "I heard of that town.  What happened there?"

"Demons."

"They're real?  I always took them as a metaphor."

"No, they're real, but you don't have many here.  There's a resort around here somewhere but they mostly keep to themselves."  Grissom nodded at that.  "What else did you need to know?"

"Are you doing a mass migration?  How many are going to be here?  Are we going to be running into them?  What do I need to know to protect them?  How often should we have to worry about these hairs?"

"The helpful file," Dawn said, handing it to him.  "Charley faxed it over with Xander's permission.  Common drug allergies and things.  You'll need to hand that to Tailpipe.  He'll be landing tonight, or we hope he'll land.  He might crash.  Male mice seem to do that a lot."

"Gee thanks, Dawn," Rimfire said dryly.

"I love you even though you do crash," Dawn said with a grin.  She grinned at Grissom again.  "Yes, we're compatible.  Actually, we go *though* birth control.  Even hormonal methods and condoms get burned through, which will burn their partner. In there is also our home number and the garage's number as a second contact.  If you can't get Tailpipe and have to deal with a mouse, you call us.  We'll let Micah know, but we'll probably know them.  There was just a revolution on their world against the people trying to destroy them.  Rimfire and others were Freedom Fighters against them.  We know most of the ones left."

Grissom nodded, flipping through the file.  "I see we've got typical problems as well.  Do we have a doctor?"

"That would be Enamel."  He nodded, finding that number.  "He's a doc who's banished but he was trying to help and got caught.  He's not a bad guy, just fairly arrogant now and then."

"That's fine," Grissom agreed, flipping to the last page.  "All right, there's a FAQ sheet here."  He smiled at her.  "You're engaged?"  She nodded.  "How long have you worked for this agency?"

"Within the last year.  I volunteered to work with Micah.  I like Micah, I respect him.  He can still kick everyone's butt and most of his people would do it with him. By the way, he's also over NID now, so if you see any of them around Tailpipe or his two kids, we need to know immediately."

"Kids?"

"Yeah, Tailpipe's a single father. His wife died during the war of a fever.  I've seen pictures of one with Stoker, who is Micah's usual contact."

"Sure," he agreed.  "I'll keep that in mind.  How much of this is common knowledge?"

"None of it," Hendrix told him.

He nodded. "Then I'll tell my two employees the barest of bare facts.  Should I alert anyone else that this Tailpipe will be here soon?"

"You can mention that something strange will be going on," Hendrix admitted, handing over a slip of paper.  "They'll be living here."

He looked at it, then at him.  "That's not the best neighborhood."

"They'll be moving in about a month, once we've got something else set up," he admitted. "That's temporary."

"Sure."  He tucked it inside the folder. "I'll let the detective we work with know.  He's a good guy, very reliable, and he'll understand.  He was trying to bring Rimfire in earlier from what I understand."  Rimfire groaned and nodded.  "Just for sitting there?"

"For not talking to him when he came up to ask me why I was there.  Dawn snapped at him."

"I'm sure it surprised him.  Anything else?"  Hendrix shook his head.  "Then you can count on me if something happens.  I run graveyard CSI."  He shook hands all around and went back to the office, getting followed once he walked down the halls by a few people.  "Ecklie, it's still classified.  I made sure they had all the samples once they cleared the reason for the hairs being here during the crime.  Greg, Hodges, my office.  Greg, find Brass as well."  He stopped, turning to look at the sheriff and his boss.  "Did you need to know anything else?"

"She was a Fed?" the Sheriff asked.

Grissom nodded. "She was.  I also talked with someone from the Investigative Federal Unit as well.  We exchanged minimal information so I could make sure they were cleared of the crime.  They weren't here during it.  Anything else?"  They both glared.  "Thank you.  All those suspicious samples were handed over."  He went into his office and closed the door, locking it.  Greg looked at it, then kicked it suddenly, making someone yelp. "Thank you."  He pulled out the FAQ sheet and handed it to Hodges, but it was stolen by Greg.  "We're getting an ambassador soon," he said quietly, staring at Brass until he shrugged.  "A very unusual one."

"Unusual like those hairs?"  He nodded.  "Where were they from?"

"A few people who were in town over a week before the homicide."  He pointed at the sheet.  "If it matters, I have a contact number, common allergies, and the name of their doctor if the new ambassador or his children need it."  He sat down behind his desk.  "I also have where they're going to be living in case it becomes necessary."  He nodded at the door and Brass kicked it this time, smirking at the new yelp.  "So, we had a good reason to have them in that room."

"They're from Mars?" Hodges hissed.  "How?"

"Apparently the destruction we see was caused by a war, against which they were fighting.  Someone was trying to take it, they fought back.  They're Freedom Fighters who're left. The ambassador has two kids who're coming with him."

Greg looked at him.  "Schooling?"

"I'm hoping they'll be home schooled," he admitted.  "So if we run into this again, I have the contact number for Miss Summers and her fiance."

"I thought it was her partner."

"Both.  They're apparently working together.  Do we have any other questions?"  Hodges shook his head and handed Brass the FAQ sheet.  They walked out together.

Brass read it over, then handed it over. "I'll keep my ear open for it.  Just watch and listen for them?"

"As far as I know.  They said someone had to know locally."

"Sure.  I'll keep it in mind," he agreed, heading off to go back to work.  He didn't want to know, but he'd shove it to the back of his mind in case something popped up again.

***

Dawn smiled at Rimfire as he toasted her.  "Thanks, babe."

"Anything for you," he promised, kissing her across the back of the limo.  They didn't want to deal with things tonight and were going out to dinner.  He looked around, spotting a lot of chapels.  "Is this a religious center?"

"No, this is the home of the quickie wedding," she said with a smile.  "You can fly in, go register for a license, get married, and go home within eight hours."  He looked stunned.  "Or less."

"I've seen one that was about three hours total," the driver offered.  "There wasn't a line at the office that day.  They did a drivethru wedding."

Dawn shook her head.  "Weddings should take longer than it does to get a burger.  I'm all for quick marriages, but that's a bit too fast for me."

The driver snickered.  "This is the place, right?"

"Yeah, this is the place," Rimfire agreed.  "Thanks, man."

"Not a problem.  That's what I do."  He parked and got out, letting them out of the back of the car.  Rimfire paid him and tipped him gently, then walked his girl inside.  He went to pick up another fare, sure those two would be calling back later to see if he was free. If not, they'd be too involved and just go back to their room and have a lot of sex.  They seemed to be that way.

Episode 45:

Xander walked onto his first day on the new site, looking around.  He looked at Merle, nodding at him.  Looked at Trisha, nodding at her.  Then he looked at the gathered crew.  "Guys," he greeted.  "As some of you know, Boris had to beg and plead for me to come back.  He did so because this site has to be finished on time, without any problems, and if it can't be done, then I'm to make sure of it by warping time."  Everyone gaped at him.  He shrugged. "I know you guys can do it.  I've seen you guys running ahead in the past.  I will have this site running on time.  I will have a peaceful site this time.  My crew and I are going to be having a short meeting after the official one."  Everyone nodded.  "Good.  Merle, Trisha.  Which one of you is taking which spot?"

"I'm taking the auxiliary buildings and Merle's doing the main one," she admitted.  "You're doing all the interiors?"  He smirked and nodded. "Sure, Xander."  Everyone gaped at that.  "Yeah, that's him.  He's the one who handled the situation at the abuse shelter.  Boris had to get down on his knees and beg for him to come back.  I wouldn't disappoint him."

"Then again, he's a good guy to work under," Brad called from the back of the crowd.  "Hey, Xander."

"Hey, Brad.  I'm having you running framing under Trisha while we're working two teams."  He beamed.  "Good boy."  He looked around.  "Do we have the plans?  Do we know the plans?"  Everyone nodded.  "Good!  The lunch cart?" he asked Merle.

"Will start today at ten, will have a credit if we're two or more weeks ahead," he agreed.  "Just like you did your guys and suggested for the others."

"You mean if we run ahead, lunch is free?" one guy asked.

"Three dollar credit," Trisha told him.  "That's enough to get a cheap lunch or to mostly pay for something more extensive."  Everyone muttered something about that.  "Only if we get two weeks ahead of the official schedule.  Which isn't hard.  We've done it under Xander before."

"It's not hard," Brad called.  "The first week is listed as doing the first floor on one building."  He pushed his way forward.  "How bad did he have to beg?"

"Lots and lots," Xander said dryly, smirking at him.  "Let me toss my stuff onto my desk.  I'll meet with my crew now if we've got materials?"  Merle shook his head.

"No?" Trisha asked.

"Noon. I called."

Xander groaned.  "Why me?" he sighed.  "Okay.  Let me toss my stuff onto the desk.  Home Depot, Merle?"

"Yeah, Xander."

"Thanks."  He walked into the office, going to call and use the pointy stick of encouragement.  "Hi," he said when someone answered.  "I'm the interior crew chief on the Lakeside Hotel site."  He listened to her.  "Honey, we've had this ordered now for over a month.  Where was it?" he asked sweetly.  "Because, I'm not going to put up with a backlog at this site," he said simply.  "This is my site.  I'm running it on time, honey.  We put in the order with a timeline for necessity.  Ask me if I care," he snorted.  "Honey, if you make us fall behind this time, the company will be canceling our contracts with you.  Since we work ten crews around the clock all year round, we do a good bit of business with you.  MIB concepts," he said firmly.  "Yeah, us.  Now, you were supposed to have this stuff here three days ago.  It was supposed to be checked in and waiting on us today.  If it is not here within an hour, I will be pressing for our contracts to be canceled.  I have already been told he's considering it.  So either you make good on schedule, like we agreed upon when we signed the delivery orders or I'm going above your head.  After all, three's a Lowes around here too."  He hung up and walked out wearing his belt. "You guys relax for about an hour," he called.  "It should be here then."

"They told me noon," Merle said.

"I told them it's going to be here on schedule from now on and it'll be here in an hour or we're canceling this order, every other order, and going through Lowe's.  She sounded rather panicked at that," he said dryly.  "My crew, let's head to the new hole."  He pointed and they followed him.  He turned to look at his crew.  "As my former crew can tell you, I will be working with you.  I'm going to be pulling just as long of hours and all that good stuff.  We're all the sort who you talk to if you've got a problem.  I tell jokes, you tell me if I insult you too badly.  Got it?"  Everyone nodded. "Good.  I don't care who you are, what you are, what you date, or if you're sleeping with anything other than kids or non- consenting animals.  I have a major squick against those who sleep with dead people but I personally think they're beyond consent so they probably don't mind, but I'm not going to go do a seance to find out."  That got some snickers.  "We clear on that?"  Everyone nodded.  "We can all tell I'm furry, I can also tell you I have a spouse.  He's a tan furry person. If you've got a problem with that, I'd move to another crew.  I like my husband, he occasionally shows up for lunch.  Got it?"  They all shrugged and nodded.  "Good.  Now, I know we can get us ahead.  I'm tired of paying for my own lunch too.  I know we can because the people who made it gave us a *lot* of room.  As long as we're very far ahead, I give very good breaks.  If we're getting tight, then I tend to get stingy and count minutes.  Do we have any questions?"

"Sir, steel construction?"

"Yeah, but that's Trisha's crew's job," he noted.  "That's mostly the other buildings.  The main one is wooden with minor steel framing for security reasons.  The glass is being put in by the glass people.  There's a crew for that.  They're coming in two months.  In two months, we have to have everything ready for them.  Or else it costs the company about thirty grand a day, which we'll have to pay out of our pockets.  And he did say *our* pockets.  Now this is an all-day site.  We'll be here from eight to five.  There's another crew coming in at six and working until three.  Then there'll be a group coming in to clean up the mess we made during the day.  Again, we can have a radio if we can agree to it.  We can also have a lot of fun.  I like having fun.  I'd rather have fun than have bombs like we did on the abuse site.  Any other questions?"  One guy raised his hand.  "Yeah?"

"How soon before we're doing more than framing?"

"By my estimates?  Maybe three weeks.  Then Merle's crew will start doing framing while we start on the plumbing and wiring. They're due to be about two floors ahead of us with the framing.  Can you frame?"

"I run plumbing better," he offered.

"Do you want moved for a few weeks?"

"I'm gonna leave that up to you."

"He can heft and tote," Brad offered.  The guy nodded. "Then that'll help the rest of us a lot.  It could be less than three weeks.  The last one I worked with Xander on it was more than a week and a half.  He will dig in with us."  Everyone smiled at that.  "What first?"

"First, we get the shipment, then we move on the first floor of the main building.  Has the night crew poured the concrete?"  They all shook their heads.  "Is it dug?"

"It's not," Brad admitted.  "There's a basement?"

"I thought so, for the pipes and things.  I thought the cleaning area was underground too."  He walked over to the plans, finding the page for that one. "Merle, the basement's not dug!" he called.  "Call Boris!"

"Basement?" Trisha asked, coming over to look at it.  "Oh, hell, those are to be underground," she agreed.  "What else is missing?"

"Pipelines.  Concrete.  Truck," he said, pointing at the one coming up the road.  She went to check the truck in.  "Make sure it's got the concrete!"

"It's the steel and wood," she called.  "No concrete."

Xander sighed and looked at Merle, then at Trisha.  "Need your truck, babe."  She tossed over the keys, and he went to straighten this mess out.  He got to Home Depot a few minutes later and strolled right in to the contractor's desk, reaching over to find his file.  He pulled out their first order, then slapped it on the counter, glaring at the young woman there.  "We're missing stuff."  His phone rang.  "Yeah?" he answered.  He listened, making notes on the paper.  "Thanks, Trish. Love you.  Second truck?"  He sighed.  "Sure.  Get someone there to dig that."  He hung up and put his phone back in the holder.  He turned the paper around, pointing at the things.  "This is what we got," he told her.  "This was supposed to be our *first* order, not the whole thing.  It was to be to us three days ago.  Go get your manager, now."  She nodded, calling him.  Xander handed the manager the paper.  "The numbers I wrote on there are the ones we received.  This was our first shipment, due to be there three days ago.  We need it today.  We're starting today."  He went pale.  "We've had this order in for over a month now.  Now, we at MIB concepts are really tired of this.  We're having one of those summers where you guys are now costing us money.  Unless you want us to cancel this order and go to Lowes, right now, I'd make sure that stuff gets to our site by noon.  As I told her, it was due there three days ago."

The manager looked it over.  "We may have a lot of this in stock," he admitted. "I don't know what the holdup is.  I'm going to check it out."

"Good," Xander agreed.  "Because I'm a tight ass.  I'll call you if we need our next shipment early, at least a week ahead of time.  I have in the past and I'm going to keep doing that.  I will not stand us being this backed up.  I am the tight ass of the universe about our deadlines.  If you can't make them, tell us now so we can order directly from your suppliers or Lowes."

"Give me ten minutes, sir.  Do you have a truck?"

"Small pickup truck.  I can take the cement now if you have it."

"Yes, sir," he agreed, going to do that.  "The shovels too?"

"Yes, unfortunately.  Our basement level wasn't dug either."  He sighed and went to get a drink from the coolers up front.  He paid for it and called his boss.  "I'm at Home Depot about our orders.  The basement?"  He listened to Megan reporting on the progress.  "Fine, we'll be digging today."  He hung up and went to get a cooler and a few cases of bottled water and juices.  They'd be needing them.   The manager found him and he pulled the truck around to get the concrete, the shovels, and the cooler and fixings in there.

***

Xander walked in and calmly announced, "I ache."

"Why?" Vinnie asked, pulling him down in front of him to work on his shoulders.  He heard the wince and hiss, easing up on him. "You're tense. What happened?"

"Basement level wasn't dug, shipments were supposed to be there three days ago.  I got to go chew Home Depot a new one."  He looked over as Throttle came out of the kitchen.  "I ache."

"I figured that's why he was giving you a shoulder rub.  That bad?"  Xander nodded.  "Problems?"

"Stupid people.  Home Depot stupid people.  Earth digging demons who never showed up.  Stupid things that are going to hinder our timetable."  He groaned, tipping his head forward.  "You're good."

"I know I am," Vinnie teased, going back to his working.  "Get it straightened out?"

"Oh, yeah.  And the shed for the supplies.  All metal and locking.  I stayed to talk to the night shift guys and they're not happy either. They at least got the easier job.  The earth demon came with them.  They're going to be doing some concreting tonight."

"At least they're working hard," Vinnie offered, working the knots harder. "You dug all day?"

"Most of it.  It took me until ten to get back there from Home Depot."  He groaned and moved his neck.  "Thank you."

"Welcome, bro."  He patted him gently. "How about tomorrow?"

"The basement had better be dug, some of the concrete had better be done and the pipe holes had better be started," he said firmly.  "Otherwise we've got to dig the pipe holes tomorrow, then crack the concrete to stick in starter pipes.  Which means I'll be cracking skulls tomorrow night.  They left us room but it's already starting."

"Wonderful," Throttle sighed.  "Long days?"

"No," he snorted.  "I will crack skulls."  He pulled him down to kiss him.  "Did we have plans?"

"Long hot soak?" he suggested.  "I didn't plan on doing anything other than reading tonight."

"I love you," Xander sighed, giving him a better kiss.  "I love you so much."  He let Throttle help him up and down to their bathroom.  "I'm bathing, it'll be all night.  Find another one," he yelled.

"Sure," Dawn called back. "I'll tell Rimfire when he wakes up from his nap.  Happy bath."

Xander walked in there and started the bath, putting in some of the salts.  He stripped down and his clothes were taken.  "I've got loose cash in there."

"I'll check your pockets," Throttle promised as he walked them off.

"The others are in my saddlebag.  I stunk."

"I'll get those too," Throttle promised. He shook his head as he checked the pockets.  His boy was odd.  He tossed those into the basket and went to rescue the other stuff, finding it damp and stinky.  He grimaced, carrying it inside.  He barely managed to check the pockets and some of his shirt was already stiff.  He tossed those into the basket and went to put them in the wash.  That was too nasty, even for them.  He did one last check of the pockets as delicately as he could, finding a few more things in there, then they all went into the wash.

***

Xander was woken up at four by a poke in his side, taking the phone with a growl into it.  "What?" he snarled.  He heard the comment.  "Getting up, will be in," he muttered, hanging up and getting up to find something to wear.  He finally found jeans and a t-shirt, figuring he could come home later and put on real clothes, heading out to his bike.  "Morning," he yawned.  "Let's go, work called, something happened."  He finished yawning as he climbed on, letting his bike steer for the first few minutes while he put on his helmet.  He finally made it to the site, nodding at the guard as he rolled inside and parked by the trailer.  The guard followed, leading him to where he had seen the problem.  Xander looked down at the spot, then groaned.  "What is that?"

"I don't know, sir, but it's wrong."

"It is," he agreed.  "Very, very wrong."  He looked down, tossing a pebble down there.  It bounced so the concrete was at least mostly hard.  "Is it a worker?"

"Everyone left, sir, and the cleaning crew won't be here for another hour.  I just came on shift."

"Fine.  Call the cops.  Or go flag one down.  We'll see what's going on."  He found the ladder and walked down slowly and carefully, noticing it was sinking into the ground.  "We'll just have to recoat this section," he decided.  "It'll be worth it."  He saw footprints before stepping off, heading around them to stand on the other side of the body.  He looked at the mess, then shook his head.  "That's not making any sense.  He laid down?"  He nudged the body with a toe, getting a small moan.  "Get him an ambulance," he called.  A cop came to the edge.  "I'm the interior day crew lead.  It looks like he climbed down here and laid down in the wet cement but that doesn't make any sense.  He did groan when I kicked him."

"Fine," the cop agreed.  "Let me get someone from the CSU down here and an ambulance.  Name, sir?"

"Harris.  They know me," he sighed, shaking his head.  "You might need a rope since he's still breathing."

"I'm sure we can rig a travois or something.  We did in the boy scouts."  He radioed dispatch and soon got people coming.  The paramedics came down the ladder first.

"Mine are the ones that take the wide arc," he called, pointing at them.  "Just so we don't mess up anyone else's."  They nodded, following his.  "Don't worry, we'll be relaying this floor again tomorrow.  He groaned when I nudged him."  He backed out of the way, getting onto a more solid surface.  "It's setting up, you might want to be careful."

"Yes, sir."  They removed the guy without doing more than flipping him over quickly, then lifting him back to the ladder.  The cop helped pull him up and Xander followed.  By then the CSU unit was there and the paramedics let them have a quick look, along with the guard, who said he wasn't one of them.

Xander looked at the guys, pointing at the tracks.  "Mine and the paramedics are the arcing ones.  The other ones were the only set when I got down there.  I checked him to make sure he was still alive.  It looks like he went down there and laid down, face down, in the damp cement."

The lead CSU nodded.  "We've seen some freaky stuff recently."  They climbed down, taking pictures from the ladder.  "Yours are the ones that go wide?" he made sure.

"Yeah, those be mine.  Need the field lights turned on?"

"Please."  Xander went over and flipped on the field lights, making them yelp.  "Thanks.  Those are really bright."

"We work two crews," he admitted, coming back to the edge of the hole.  He yawned again.  "I was sleeping.  I'm due in within four hours.  Let me call the boss to get him down here so I can go back to bed."

"Sure.  Just give a statement to the cop."

Xander looked at the cop.  "The guard called, said he found a body."  The cop sat down next to him to write all this down.  "Woke my tired ass up.  We spent most of the day digging yesterday."  He yawned again.  "Four am, I hate these calls."  He stretched, and caught himself before he fell in the hole.  "Don't wanna do that."  The cop chuckled lightly.  "So anyway, I ride down.  I parked next to the trailer, that's my bike, and I come down here.  I look down, see the body, groan, head down the ladder.  I make sure my tracks aren't near whoever else's were down there.  I strolled over, nudged him with my foot, he groaned, I yelled up at you.  You called people, they came."  He yawned again.  "Need me for more?"

"Want a ride home, sir?"

"No, I'm good.  My bike knows the way home."  He got up with a groan.  "Have the guard call me, I'll have him call the boss. At least he'll have a few hours."  He wandered off to his bike, pausing at the guard shack on his way out.  "Call Boris, tell him about this.  I'm headed home."  The guard nodded so he drove off.  "Okay, big guy, you know the way home.  I'm only holding on for appearance's sake."  The bike took over, getting him safely home and into the garage.  Where Xander fell asleep on him.

Throttle got up with the alarm clock.  Usually Xander hit it pretty quickly since it was on his side of the bed but this time it kept going and going and no Xander.  He realized he was alone in the bed and got up, slamming a fist into it to make it quit sounding off.  "Hate alarms," he complained, getting out of bed. He wandered upstairs, but no Xander.  He wandered into the bathrooms, still no Xander.  He heard a gentle snore and headed toward the garage, finding him asleep on his bike.  He stopped to admire the sight, even went to get a camera.  Still Xander didn't wake up.  So he took a few pics then put the camera aside.  He walked over, going to shake him awake.  "Hey."

"Hmwasisit this time?" he demanded sleepily.

"Why are you on your bike?"

"Stupid people."

"You know, I resemble that remark," Throttle joked.

Xander gave him a bleary glare.  "Shut up, you do not."  He sat up, stretching.  "Someone was so damn stupid he walked down into the site and laid face-down in wet concrete.  The guard found him and called at four.  What time is it?"

Throttle kissed him.  "Your alarm just went off."

"Fine."  He grabbed him for real kiss.  "You're not stupid.  I'm stupid.  You're not stupid.  Don't say that again and I won't say that word you hate."  He got off his bike and went to change clothes, or at least put on underwear and socks.  He sat down on the bed once he had the necessary items, and blinked a few times.  Fortunately he had that backup alarm that went off half an hour before he had to be at work.  Otherwise he'd have slept for a few more hours.  He finished getting dressed and went upstairs, working on his belt the whole trudge.  He accepted his sodas and his kiss from Throttle, and his breakfast hot pocket from Dawn.  He grunted and headed back down to his bike, getting on to ride to work, eating on the way.  He passed a cop but the cop only gave him a second look.  By then he had the rest of the hot pocket in his mouth and a for-show hand on the handlebars.  He pulled into the site during his second soda of the morning, grunting at the guard.  "Any more weirdos?"

"Just the boss," he said cheerfully.

"Fuck the boss," he complained, parking next to the trailer again.  He trudged inside, glaring at Merle.  "Why did he call *me* at four?"

"It was your turn," he said with a small grin.  "You can nap on the desk.  We'll be pouring another layer of concrete where you guys messed it up."

"You'd rather I had left him ta die?" he asked sarcastically.  Trisha came in, looking cheerful this morning.  "Go out there and kick my crew's ass for me.  I'm too damn tired to do it today."  He flopped down and put his head down, going back to his nap.

"What happened to him?"

"Outside," Merle said quietly, letting her put down her stuff then leading her out.  He pointed at the wrecked concrete.  "Someone came in and laid down in it, face down.  They called Xander at four this morning."

The other workers gathered around.  They all groaned.

"Someone so thoughtfully laid down in the concrete last night," Trisha said.  "Xander's having a nap since he got called out of bed to check on the person's stupidity."  They all groaned.  "We can put a second layer on easily enough.  Scratch the surface to give it something to cling to.  If we work fast, it might not be so bad."  Everyone nodded, going down there to do that.

"Still partially soft," one guy called.

"Good, dig in grooves and let's make a new batch," Trish yelled back.  A few of the guys went to start on the cement mixer while they got the base ready. Trish watched, then looked at Merle.  "It's starting again, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head.  "Not with Xander here.  He ran the abuse shelter site cleanly, even with bombs, and nearly had it on time.  We can do it with this one."  He looked over as a cop came to the guard house, going out to talk to him.  "Anything new on that guy?"

"Yeah, he said someone named Xander told him to lay down in the cement.  Ordered him to."

"Not our Xander."

"No, I didn't figure it was," he admitted.  "He said this guy was dark haired, normal human looking, and fairly pale.  I don't know who he was."  He looked at the site.  "I don't know what's going on."

"I'll bring it to our Xander.  He's pretty good about this stuff," he admitted.  "Thank you, officer."

"You're welcome."  He walked off, going back to his car.

Merle waved, smiling, then went to wake up Xander.  He jumped when he door slammed actually.  "Is there another Xander running around the city who can compel people?"

"Only if we've had a breach from another reality and the vampire me is running around," he said dryly.  He rubbed his eyes.  "Why?"

"Because the guy said some guy named Xander ordered him to lay in the cement and he did."

Xander called Cleveland.  "Did we have a realm breach and not tell me that the vampire me is running around!" he demanded. "Yes, Buffy, him!" he said mock-cheerfully.  "Then go kick Wes's ass and wake him up!  He owes me for stopping Giles and not killing him on sight."  She took the phone with her, nibbling the whole way.  "Long night?"  Her smart answer made him groan.  "Well, we had a guy here who said a Xander *compelled* him to lay in the wet concrete of our site.  Yeah, just like a vamp compelly thing," he said grimly.  She hurried up, he could hear her.  She yelled it at Wes as she kicked his door in, finally getting him and Fred up.  Wesley complained and told her it was nothing.  Xander snorted.  "Kick his ass, Buffy.  It's not nothing.  We're still dealing with Wolfram and Hart wanting my boss's business.  So I'm guessing they're after me and Faith this time."  Wesley stuttered something when Buffy repeated that.  "So, where is my doppleganger and how do I send his skanky ass home!"  Buffy repeated that verbatim and Fred whimpered, he could hear that.  Wesley repeated something and Xander found a pen, taking notes on the back of the blue prints.  He hung up mid-protest and got up.  "Going to go kick me a lawyer's ass yet again," he complained.  "Be back later."

"You could take help," Merle suggested.

"Oh, I am."  He walked out, then tossed his tools back inside.  He got onto his bike and put on his helmet, calling home.  "Guys, do we want to see the vampire me before or after I smoosh him and Wolfram and Hart flat for bringing him here?"  He started his bike.  "No, I'm going there now, Charley.  If the guys want to help me whip lawyer tail, they can come help."  He drove off, heading for the local offices.  He was sure his vampire self was there at this moment.  Where else would he be?  He called Boris just in case. "You don't have my vampire self, do you?"  His boss spluttered.  "I didn't think so.  No, I'm going to go blow up Wolfram and Hart.  I figure we have a lot of practice at it in the group."  He hung up and went on, merrily taking a short drive to give everyone else time to get there.

***

Oz looked at the noon news, which was reporting on a building blowing up, frowning mightily.

"Today, Wolfram and Hart, an international law firm, had a mysterious explosion at their Chicago headquarters.  Our live crew earlier caught it on tape as the building seemingly exploded and crumpled in on itself."

"It was like one of those scenes where you demolish a building with explosives," the field reporter said from her camera.  "First we heard a smoke alarm and the report of an automated fire alarm going off.  Then we got here and there was some smoke.  Then, as the fire department pulled up and the last people exited the building, the building just seemed to fold up slowly, floor by floor until it was just a pile of rubble on the ground behind me."  She got out of the way so they could see the rubble.  "Wolfram and Hart's spokesman said he didn't know what happened but a full investigation would be conducted and whoever had done this would be paying greatly."

It switched back to the main reporter, who was smiling.  "At least no one was hurt and the fire department spokesman said it was the most orderly and neat explosion he had ever seen," she reported.  "If you have a tip about what happened, please call the Chicago PD and leave a tip.  Remember, they need your information, not your name."

Oz dialed the number on the screen.  "Hey, I work construction and it looked like a structural problem to me.  I've heard that they've had a lot of work done recently and I'm guessing it was for a good reason and not good enough.  After all, they're stingy lawyers who tried to have us work for minimum wage."  He hung up and got comfortable, watching as the reporters happily reported on the Nub's most recent score.  "Hey, no mice," he said in appreciation.  He checked to make sure the phone was hung up, doing it again just in case.

When Meg came in, he pointed at the tv.  "I heard and saw.  Did you know there's a vampire Xander?"

Oz groaned, holding his head.  "Yeah, I knew.  I hate that I know, but I know.  Cordelia made him.  Bad times, man, very bad times."  He pulled her down to hold, sniffing her.  "Meg, birth control?"

"Um, pointless," she said sheepishly.

"Fuck!"  She got away from him and went to hide with Charley.  If Oz was swearing, it was world-ending.

***

Charley looked over as Meg came running in and hid behind Vinnie, babbling too fast for even the vampire Xander Xander had saved to understand her.  "Meg?" she asked.  "Calm down, it'll be okay.  No one's going to hurt you."

"Oz just said fuck," she moaned.  "It's bad."

"Oh, shit, what happened now?" Xander demanded, staring at her.  "Another apocalypse demon?  Another apocalypse?  Faith coming to live with us?"

"No, I'm pregnant," she moaned.

Vinnie squealed like Anya and grabbed her to hug.  "Ooh, baby Meg's!"

"But he swore, it's a bad thing!" she told him.

"That's because he's not sure if the baby would be furry or not," the vampire said patiently.  "Though I'm pretty sure it's a not situation."  He glared at the white mouse everyone was calling by *his* name.  "Who are you?"

"You, I just changed differently."  He grinned and showed him, making him howl and struggle.  "How did you get here?"

"Hell if I know. I was torturing Puppy and there was a big blue light.  I landed in the middle of this room and the guy there said I was going to come make your life a living hell because you're a *good* guy," he sneered.

"As we all are," he said, punching him and knocking him out.  "I'm tired of my alter ego.  We need a small, tiny, dark room.  We need some ropes or some of Oz's chains.  Or else I'm going to stake him a lot."

"Sure," Throttle agreed, picking up the vampire.  "Blanket?"  Vinnie tossed it over him.  "Thanks. Let's put him in a bathroom."  He carried him over to the bathroom by the garage, setting him in the bathtub and backing out slowly.  Just because Bringers said they tasted funny didn't mean this one would think so.  He closed the door and let Vinnie lock it with the padlock he had found.  For some reason, Xander had put an eye and flap on this one.  They hadn't been sure why before.  Now they knew.  He walked off, letting the vampire stay in there.  It had water, a toilet, and darkness.  It was fine for now.  He went to calm Xander down.  He was still vibrating, and hugging Meg when he got back there, but mostly still vibrating.  He hugged them both.  "Congrats, Meg."

"Thanks, Throttle.  Does this mean I can hide over here until Oz calms down?"

"I doubt he's that upset," Xander assured her.  "If he's still mad, I'll go kick his ass for you."

"Thank you."  She kissed him on the cheek and went into the bathroom to clean up.  She hated crying but Xander's shoulder made a good spot to do so.

Xander looked at Throttle, then grabbed the phone, calling Oz.  "Oz?"  He frowned.  "Sorry, didn't hear it ring, sir.  Let me give you to Charley."  He held it out.  "One of those freak occurrences where it rings as you pick it up."

"Last Chance Garage," she greeted happily.  "No, we were about to call a friend's boyfriend to let him know she was here.  What's up?"  She listened and nodded, looking at the garage.  "Well, I've got a small tune up in front of you, but bring her over," she agreed.  "It'll be fine.  No, if I'm not here, I'm always next door.  Sure.  Thanks."  She hung up.  "Bike who needs a fix."  She called Oz, getting a growling being.  "Meg's here.  She was scared you hated her and wanted to turn furry.  No, she was just crying.  You might want to come over.  We've got the vampire Xander hidden."  She hung up as someone drove up to the garage's doors.  "Hi, can I help you?' she asked, wiping her hands off as she went to meet with the blond guy driving the classic GTO.  "Hi, Charley."

"Hey, heard great things about'cha, I'm Stan."  He shook her hand. "It's being odd.  My dad and I rebuilt her and I don't know what's doing it."

"Turn her over, let's listen."  He did so and revved the engine, smiling.  She waved at him and he turned it back off.  "I know what that is.  It's fairly common and easily solved.  I'm um, kinda backed up with jobs at the moment.  I can do it by tomorrow morning?"  She heard Vic wail and sighed.  "The least of which being the son."

He grinned.  "Not an issue.  My partner can drive us on high speed chases taday."  He grinned at Xander.  "Hey.  She's good.  I couldn't figure it out at all."

"She's good about that," he agreed.  "He's one of the cops I had to go warn."  He went back inside, going to pick up the pitiful one.  "Hey, quit, it's not like we abandoned you," he teased, picking the baby up.  He took a sniff and grimaced.  "I'd wail too, kid."  He set him down to change the nasty diaper, then got him cleaned up and downstairs.  Daddy looked at him as he came out of the kitchen.  "One nasty butt cleaned."  Meg cooed and took the baby to cuddle, sitting down on the bench with him.  "I should get back to work."

"Probably so, yeah," Throttle agreed. He looked at him.  "What should we do with the vampire?"

"I'll figure that out while I'm dealing with stud walls."  He walked off, going to get onto his bike and head off to work.

"Hey," Kowalski yelled, coming out.  "Was that you?"

"Was what me?" he asked.

"Wolfram and Hart."

"Hell's lawyers?"  He smirked.  "Think you can take another lesson in strange already?  Have Throttle call Dawn to teach you about W&H and their pact with hell and the strange and deadly."  He winked and rode off.

"That's not helpful," Kowalski noted.  He went back inside to see how much it was going to cost him. "He said to ask someone named Dawn why the lawyers today got bombed.  Anyone know who she is?"

"Dawn!" Vinnie yelled.  Vic chirped in Meg's arms.  "No, not to spoil you, son.  He wanted her."

Dawn strolled in, looking very tasty if she did say so herself.  "Yeah?"

"Xander said to explain W&H to him," Vinnie ordered.

"Sure.  Hi, Meg and Vic."  She tickled him and noticed it looked like she had been crying.  "Who did it and can I kick his ass?"

"I'm pregnant and Oz swore," she sniffled.

"Then he's a toasty little furry man, I will not put up with it."  She walked the cop off, going to call Oz.  "What the hell were you thinking!" she yelled.  "You made Meg cry in her condition!  I swear to any and all Gods I'm gonna kick your little redheaded, computer programming ass, Oz!  You don't do that to your woman!  Now get your ass over here now!"  She hung up and calmed herself, letting out a little sigh.  "I feel better now.  So, Wolfram and Hart, right?" she asked, leading him up to the library.  She found Angel's journal and handed it over.  "The last one who dealt with it, his diary.  Watch out for moping."

"Sure, um, thanks," he said, going back down to call his partner to come get him and bring him back to the station.  Now they had some clues, maybe.  Hopefully.  His partner pulled up a few minutes later and he got in, reading the diary as he drove.

"What's that?"

"The diary of the last guy who had to deal with Wolfram and Hart.  It was in LA a few years back.  Some guy named Angel. Depressed mook sort.  Probably wore all black and stuff."

"This'll help us how?"

"They said something was going on with the lawyers, kept saying they were Hell's lawyers.  I thought they all were, but I guess they're not making it up," he said a few entries later.  "They do that magic stuff too."  He flipped forward.  "They do a lot of that stuff."

"Were these guys always around and we just never noticed?"

"They've got their own society.  Like the priests usta," Kowalski offered.  "They keep ta themselves most of the time.  That's why we can't find a good non catholic priest in the city anymore."

"Benny can.  He said something about needing to find a Santeria priest or something," Vecchio said.

"Cuban or somewhere around there.  Native plus Catholicism.  Saw it on the Discovery channel.  Like Voodoo."

"Oh, great, just what we need.  What next?  We find Benny sacrificing chickens?"

"I hope not.  He'd have to clean up the mess for days if he did, and Dief would probably try to eat most of it."  Kowalski snorted. "Hey, these guys keep trying ta call people back ta life."  He skimmed another page.  "This guy's talkin' about vampires and bein' soulless.  I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks."

Vecchio pulled into their precinct's parking lot.  "So hand it over."

"It's a loaner, not a giver."

"Fine."  He parked and got out, heading up to his desk.  "Stanley's car's in the shop," he called as he walked in.

"Which one?" Frannie, his sister and the civilian aid, asked.

"The Last Chance.  He went to spy on that Xander guy again.  Got given a book."  He flopped down, looking over as their faithful mountie companion joined him.  "You're not gonna go do the voodoo stuff, right?"

"I was finding a Santeria priestess, Ray, not a Voodun one, and no it wasn't for personal interest, though I do find them fascinating.  I was finding them for one of our visitors."  He looked at Stanley as he came in.  "What's that?"

"Here, summarize why Wolfram and Hart are so bad.  This is the last guy's dairy.  He's enough ta make me wanna slit my wrists," he complained, handing it over and walking off to get some coffee.

Constable Fraser sat down to start at the beginning.  "I've heard of him. I did some checking on that former group for my own edification.  They mentioned this group in LA as well.  Interesting."

"Someone's heard of this guy?"

"Peripherally, Ray.  He was part of the Sunnydale group, which Mr. Giles used to head apparently.  It's said that even though he had no reason to fight, he still did and he did it very well."  He went back to his reading.  "Angel, the person who wrote this dairy, had been in Sunnydale but escaped his long-time love that he couldn't have and set up shop in LA to save others.  He ran into many things, including a demonic law firm repeatedly."

"That Dawn chick said that Wolfram and Hart were Hell's lawyers," Stanley admitted.  "Ya think they meant seriously?"

Fraser looked at him.  "With the proof we've seen in the last few weeks, do you honestly still doubt?" he asked gently.  Stanley shuddered and went back to his desk.  "Any news on that man who was ordered to get into the concrete?"

"Nope," Vecchio admitted.  "He should be fine.  He was released earlier."

"I'm thinkin' that the Xander we know handled the other one," Kowalski admitted.

"Hopefully," Vecchio said quietly.  "I don't want to know what could order someone to die and make them do it without blackmail, a weapon, or force."

"Compulsion," Fraser said, sitting upright.  "If we're dealing with the supernatural here, there are many creatures who can do that."  He saw a small redheaded man walk in the door and watched as his wolf started to growl.  "Down, Diefenbaker."

"It's cool.  Natural wolves should react to me," Oz told him, handing over a disc.  "The compressed version for your records.  Whoever did it, if they didn't do it by accident while trying to summon something or something else bad, did it for a good reason."  He took the diary and walked off, going to take it back to the garage.

Fraser got up to look over these new records, frowning at what he saw.  "If this is true, we may be able to get them kicked out of Canada," he admitted. "I'll be back later."  He hurried off with the disc, going to make a copy and tell his superior, once he wrote it up in a report format that didn't mention magic in the least.

The two cops groaned and shook their heads.  They weren't sure they wanted to know anymore.

***

Xander rode back onto the site, finding his boss' car in the driveway and the office a bit more smokey than it should be.  "Ran inside without an umbrella?" he asked, sitting behind his desk to start on the paperwork.

"Good job, Xander."

"Thanks.  The guys didn't wanna play with me this morning," he said dryly, pulling out the paycheck records.  "There's a vampire me at the house if you wanted to see how bad I'd be."

"There is?" his boss asked.  Xander smirked at him.  "Why?"

"Cordelia made a wish once," he said fondly.  "There was a vampire Willow too but I don't think she's here.  She's a leather sex girl if you hear about her."

"I'll ask around tonight.  That's too scary for words, Xander."  He shook his head.  "How are you going to send him back?"

"Not a clue," he said fondly.  He grinned and went back to work.  "Sorry about the absence."

"No, it was reasonable, I like that.  Good job with the body this morning too.  I'm assuming compelled?"

"Yeah, by the vampire me.  He's being mean."

"Huh."  He took out the tape recorder in his pocket and turned it off, grinning at him.  "So, how about you stay?"

"How about I stake you?" Xander asked, staring up at him. "I'm sure you have a will leaving the company to someone, namely me."  He pulled it out of his desk drawer and handed it over. "Here, your copy so you can hide it in your house."  He beamed up at him.  "Thanks, boss, I needed a company."

"You bastard," he said fondly, reading it.  "You absolute bastard.  You'd kick Megan and her wife out?"

"No, but I'd make them fix the wreck you live in.  It's pitiful."  He went back to work.  "Remember, you try to blackmail me, I call something down on your head, and I've already got that filed in numerous places."

"If you wanted the company I would have given it to you if you had slept with me," he snorted, handing it back.

"Sorry, vamps were Buffy's thing, I'm more a furry guy."

"So I can tell.  Does Throttle know you went that evil?"

"Um, nope, but Dawn does."  He chuckled evilly.  "My husband thinks that I just turn bad every now and then.  Sorta like you and the blackmail."  He picked up the recorder and dropped it on the floor, stomping on it a few times before throwing it in the garbage can and dropping a lit piece of paper into it.  He watched while the tape burned, then went back to his paperwork, handing it all over.  "There you go, first week's paychecks, boss."

"Xander," he sighed, shaking his head.  "Can't you just enjoy my company?"

"Sure, if you call my husband in and have him watch you flirt.  He said he was going to drill a hole through you with his fist the next time you tried to hit on me.  By the way, that liquor and beer went to his mother on Mars so she could bargain with it now and then for the big things."

"That's fine," he agreed.  "Need anything else?"

"We send monthly small shipments up now that we've got the teleporter.  Food, dry goods, water.  Things that she can use so she and the families don't starve.  That leaves more for everyone else on Mars and this way we know they'll be fine.  We talked about it my last day back.  Speaking of, I've got to send up stuff tonight."  He used his desk phone to call home.  "Hey, babe, go shopping for the mothers tonight.  I told her I'd start sending her stuff about every month so she didn't have to shop for anything like food.  I figured it'd be easier on her and the others if she didn't have to.  The list's on my computer.  Look it over, print it off, add to it if you have to.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "Gotta love a bored Vinnie."

***

Across town, a guy hung up his phone and looked at it before looking at his wife.  "Some guy just called me babe, asked me to get his shopping list off the computer, look it over, add to it, and go shopping for his mother."

His wife shrugged.  "Probably a wrong number.  Unless you've been stepping out of me?"

"I'm not gay," he snorted.  "Or don't you remember what we did last week?"

"Not really," she admitted.  "It's so infrequent and usually kinda boring anymore."  Her husband stomped off.

***

Xander walked in and looked around.  "Did you already send the stuff up to the moms?"

"Huh?" Modo asked.

"I called Vinnie earlier, asked him to take my grocery list and send it to the moms."

"I don't remember that," Vinnie said from his spot on the couch with his son. "Maybe you dialed that number you did the last time, Xander.  He's got to think you're really strange by now."

"Maybe," he admitted. "Okay, we're going shopping for the moms, I arranged with Stoker and them to send them food about once a month so they wouldn't have to go shopping and so they could leave more for everyone else.  My shopping list is on my computer, someone go rent an SUV."  Everyone stared at him.  "Now," he ordered.

"Going for the rental," Dawn called.

"Thanks."

"I'll print out that list and look it over," Modo promised. "You go change. You're sweaty."

"Sure, make me go get pretty for the boys and girls at the grocery store. You know, it's supposed to be a place to pick up dates."  He wandered down to his room, ignoring the growling his mate was doing.

"He's teasing," Vinnie reminded Throttle.

"So?"  He went to pounce his mate, making sure he knew he was his.

"Honey, do you mind if I blackmail my boss?  He was trying on me earlier."

Throttle stopped before he could pounce, looking at his husband.  "What?"

"Boris was trying to blackmail me earlier," he said patiently.  "I destroyed the tape, but I have a fake will of his just in case I have to stake him some day."

Throttle shook his head.  "That's fairly illegal."

"Yeah, but so's blackmailing me by asking about the building and then taping it."

"Xander," he said patiently, starting to scowl now.  "We are law abiding mice."

"I know, but it'd save all those jobs and I'd eventually give it back to Megan and her wife."

"No, Xander."

"Shit," he sighed.  "I knew you'd say that.  I don't know why I told you."

"Because you knew I'd be disappointed if I found out after the fact," he said firmly, staring him down.  Xander gave him a sheepish look.  "Not working."

"Sorry."

"You'll destroy each and every copy of that one, right?" he demanded.  Xander gave him a helpless look.  "Xander," he said firmly.

"If I do, then we'll all end up out of work.  He doesn't have a will.  I know he doesn't have a will, Megan's wife was moaning about that and she used to be a lawyer.  If I do that and he dies before then, which is possible due to Wolfram and Hart, we'd not only have to watch out for Faith and Fred, we'd have all those people out of work and all those jobs unfinished and the lawsuits for fees already paid and things.  He owns more than the construction company.  He owns an electronics company too.  He employs about sixteen thousand people.  He also said that if I slept with him and asked him for it, he would have given it to me."

"That's still highly unethical and illegal.  I can't believe you did that!" he complained, stomping off.

"I wasn't going to use it unless there was an emergency," he called after him. "It wasn't really a ploy!"

"It's still wrong!"  He stomped upstairs, looking at Modo.  "My spouse made out a will for his boss.  He may have even filed it places."

Modo groaned, "oh, momma," and sat down, holding his head.  "He's usually a good boy, Throttle. You know that."

"I know, but still!"

"So call Boris and tell him," Vinnie said from his spot on the couch.   "He said it wasn't an evil ploy."

"Good idea."  He called Boris' home number, getting the vampire there for once. "Boris, Xander told me that he's made out a will for you.  He said it's not an evil ploy, and that he's sorry.  You might want to replace it."  He listened to the vampire tell him that Xander had already told him, he had seen a copy, and it was a good idea.  "Huh?"  The vampire calmly stated his reasons, including the fact that the construction business took some conniving now and then. Besides, he said Megan didn't want it and someone had to look out for his workers and Faith; since Xander had volunteered and all he'd let him have the headaches.  Throttle hung up with a moan and sat down.  "He liked the idea when Xander proved he had done it earlier."

Modo reached over to pat him. "Think of all the good he can do with it," he soothed.

"He just nominated himself as Boris' son, Modo.  That's a disturbing thought."

"I'm back," Dawn yelled.  "They're cranky but let me do it."

"Thanks," Xander yelled.  He came up the ramp.  "List?"  It was handed over.  "Fank you, Modo.  Throttle, I did it more to tease him but if he likes it I don't really mind all that much.  With Wolfram and Hart breathing down both our necks it's good to have a bit of insurance.  Besides, this way he doesn't have to work to turn me or to bed me."  He waved the list.  "Wallet?"  Vinnie tossed it over.  "Am I shopping for both mothers by myself?"  The guys all got up and found their boots, following him.

***

Stoker looked up as the teleporter went off, gaping at the boxes.  "What the cheese?" he demanded, getting up to look at it.  "For our mothers, from some dutiful sons, as promised, Xander," he read the note on top.  "At least it's after hours."  He went to call both mothers to come and get stuff.  The teleporter went off again, landing another few cases of stuff on the floor.  He hauled it out of the way, waiting on any more.  No water had come up yet.  Xander knew they needed water.  The teleporter fizzled on the next load, making him wince, but it was hopefully because it was full of jugs of water and juice.  He hauled those shipping crates out and looked at it.  "Any more?" he asked it.  A simple letter appeared, addressed to him this time.  "Ohhh, gee, thanks, they remembered me," he said sarcastically, sitting down to read it while he waited.  He saw one of the little kids playing messenger and guard looking in.  "Throttle and Modo promised their mommas they'd send food so they didn't have to shop at the markets and others could have it," he told her.

"That's so cool of them.  I want a son like that some day."  She came in to look. "They sent lots of water too."

"They did," he agreed.  "Mostly drinkable from the labels, and some juice for the kids."  He grinned at her.  "Xander's spoiling them."

"He does it very well.  If he has kids do you think he'd let me date them?"

"Possibly, but hope the kid doesn't have his daddy's evil streak.  Xander just volunteered to take over his boss's construction company by making out his will for him and trading it off when his boss tried to blackmail him."

"Sounds like he's unhappy with his job.  Why would he want to keep it?"

"Because the guy employs so many people it'd throw a lot of stuff out of whack," he admitted. He looked over as Modo's mother pushed the door open.  "I hope you brought a cart."

"Of course I did.  The boys are so thoughtful to not make us shop."  She looked at all the supplies.  "That's all?"

"No, there's more, but they're not sure it'll fit yet," he admitted. "That's only half.  They bought double of everything, and a few cases of diapers for the twins.  Plus some vitamins for them.  So I'm guessing unless you find those, that's Throttle's momma's batch."

"She's on her way.  I'll switch carts with her," she offered, going to get her bike and back it in here so she could load the cart, which she'd then attach to the back of Throttle's momma's bike.   When she got there, they switched out and then got their stuff loaded up after stealing Xander for a hug and a kiss each.  He was even nice enough to be holding the baby when he came.

Stoker looked at him.  "You know you hurt him each time you go slightly evil, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't do it often.  I've only got one slightly evil thing left to do and that's torment Giles."  He grinned sweetly.  "It's necessary.  He tried to kill me and claimed I was a traitor."

"He's still a human, kid."

"Yeah, and he's a human who tried to have me killed and then made it my duty to sacrifice myself against that demon.  All because I'm furry now.  Fuck him.  Throttle understands this one.  He didn't understand about the will thingy but my boss said he liked it and agreed.  Besides, he was trying to blackmail me into staying."  He patted the baby's back, smiling at Spike as he came out of hiding.  "Hey, Spike."

"Bitch," he said, pointing at Vic.  Xander swatted his ear with his tail.  "Hey!"

"Do not swear like that again, son," Stoker said firmly.

"Meany," he said with a glare for them.  Xander tossed over a book and Spike stuck his tongue out but sat down to read it.  "Choo choo?"

"Yeah, it's a choo choo," Xander agreed.

"Don't swat my kid," Stoker sighed.

"Did I hurt him?"

"No, but that's my job."  Xander gave him a long stare.  "Never again, kid."

"Fine.  I'll tell Vinnie what he called his precious firstborn too."

"Sure.  Speaking of, momma, go ahead and send Xander home.  I'll send a note back to Throttle tonight."

"Sure," she agreed, going to do that since everything was done.  She hoped.  She didn't have any more room. She smiled at him.  "He needed it," she said with a wink.  "Good job.  Just like I used to do with Modo."  She waved at the baby and sent him back. She looked at Stoker.  "Throttle would've done the same thing."

"I know, but Throttle was my second in command, Xander isn't.  I don't let everyone do that to my kids."

"He's not an everyone, Stoker, he's family to you since he married her son."  She swatted him gently.  "Someone needed to. You're not stopping him."  She walked out, going to her house so they could unload and switch carts back.

Stoker looked at his son.  "You really shouldn't swear.  It's not mannerly."  Spike spit at him and went back to reading his book on trains.  "You're going to have to grow manners sometime soon, son."   Spike giggled madly.  He swatted him himself, making Spike growl and glare at him.  "Tough, I am your parent."  Spike burst out crying but he left him there. He wasn't going to put up with a fit.  Not tonight.  He wrote the letter back, telling Throttle what had been said and his own feelings on the subject, then sent it back through the teleporter.  A smaller case of water appeared and he grinned since it had his name on it.  He took it and his son home, going to treat them all to a nicer dinner tonight, as long as he could keep Switch from cooking.

Throttle's momma looked at the canned vegetables, frowning at them.  "I don't remember anything that looked like that.  I wonder what you do with these things?"  She found the letter Modo had written about what each tasted like and decided to sit some of it aside.  She probably wasn't going to like those peas, but someone surely would.  She set aside the sauerkraut too, that sounded odd.  She'd get Modo's momma to try it out for her and see.  Or maybe they'd trade.  Peas sounded like something she'd want.

Episode 46:

A bright green beam illuminates a quiet street and a smallish, black, furred creature steps out from it, flipping back her hair.  You can tell it's a her, she's wearing a pair of black daisy duke shorts and a halter top that doesn't really conceal anything.  You can tell by her tail and her ears that she's a feline of some sort.  She turns and waves at the beam with a grin and it disappears.  "There," she said happily.  "One teleport successfully done."

"Kitty," a quiet voice said in awe and she felt a hand come up to stroke her tail, making her jump.  "Kitty?  You're a kitty?"

She looks down at the little humanoid being and nodded.  "Yeah, kid, I'm a cat.  Why?"

"Mommy!  Kitty woman!  Kitty woman!" the kid shrieked, loud enough to bring onlookers from a local construction site.  One of which runs to get Xander from the trailer.

"Kid, can you maybe not scream?  I've got sensitive ears," she complained, rubbing the one nearest him.

Xander came trotting out and looked at her.  "Hey."  He looked at the kid and squatted down, handing him an apple.  "Here, from the lunch truck."  He grinned.  "Unfortunately she's a lost kitty woman and I need to take her where she belongs.  Is that okay?"

"My kitty woman!" the kid defended, scowling at him.  He stepped in front of her so she couldn't be taken by this big, furry man who he watched ride a motorcycle every day.

Xander just grinned and poked him on the nose. "You're adorable when you do that.  Very fierce."  He looked over as the mother, or at least a female, scowling, relative joined them.  "The apple's from our lunch truck. A bribe to make him let her go.  She's a bit lost.  She belongs on our site."

"That's fine."  She took the boy's hand, watching as he bit into the apple.  "You are?"

"Xander, I'm the interior crew chief," he said, offering her his hand.  "Nice to meet you, ma'am, and thank you for your assistance.  This way," he said, nodding at her to follow him.  He waved at the kid.  "He's got a good scowl going.  Nearly Eastwoodish."  He walked her off, hand on her arm.  "We're open around here but not that open," he hissed as he walked her to the trailer.  She started to slow down and he drug her on.  "No, you can't stay out here.  The guys'll stare."

"I don't mind," she snorted.

"I do!  I'm one of the bosses!"

"Oh, sorry."  She grinned at him.  "I didn't mean to cause any trouble.  I'm here to see Throttle."

"You're halfway across the city but let me call him."  He dialed the house, getting Modo.  "Hey.  There's a four-foot-tenish black kittycat person here.  No, I'm pretty sure she's a kitty cat person.  Fur, ears, tail, little kid up the street who identified her as such."  He looked at her. "You Tranq?"  She nodded.  "Cool.  Yeah, that's her, Modo.  Please?  Because the guys'll stare and that's not good for them.  We had one woman quit because she was confused by her lust for me.  She said so," he defended at the snickering.  "That's what she said in her notice."  He hung up.  "You know Modo, right?"  She nodded.  "He'll be here to pick you up soon and lead you to the lair."

"I don't ride."

"That's fine, he'll probably let you ride behind him."  He stuck his head out of the trailer.  "Donovan?" he called. The guard looked over at him.  "Modo's coming!  Show him in!"

"Which one's he?" he called back.  Xander gave him a look so he looked at the passes he had, nodding.  "Gotcha, boss."

Xander closed the door, shaking his head.  "Some days, I kinda wonder," he sighed, looking at her.  "Don't touch anything and stay in here.  I trust my guys but I don't know them all yet.  I don't know who you'd have to beat up for trying you."  He walked out, going to shoo everyone back to work.  "She's not a scenic attraction, just a buddy of my mate.  Take a short water break and back to work!"  Everyone either reached for their drinks or went running for the lunch truck to get a new one.  Xander's word was law, even above Merle's and Trisha's.  If he said they could have a ten minute break, they could have a break.  He glared at one staring person, who sheepishly went back to his spot instead.  Apparently it wasn't that sort of break.

In the office, Tranq looked amused.  "So he's married, pity, and apparently to Modo," she said thoughtfully.  "I didn't imagine him wanting a guy.  That's as odd as Throttle wanting one."  She shook her head and looked at the pictures on the desks.  Two of them had pictures of the strange white mouse with the people she was here to see, plus two humanoid females and Rimfire.  "I miss that little dickhead."  She stroked the face over one of the pictures.  "Poor Throttle, stranded down here for a bit.  Maybe I'll offer him a *ride* home," she purred, smiling at her own cleverness.

The little boy walked up to the guard, giving the guard a confident smile.  "Can I please see the kitty woman?"

"No, sir, I'm sorry," the guard said with a grin down to him.  "There's no children allowed on this site."

"I saw one the other day."

"She came in to visit her father and stayed in the office during lunch," he explained.  "That's not you, sir.  Your parents don't work here and I can't let you on the property."  The kid scowled at him.  "While that's very fiercesome, sir, I still can't allow you on the property."  He nodded politely at the mother stomping after her child.  "He wanted to see our visitor."

"I figured he might," she complained, walking her son off by dragging him.  "It was probably just a costume for the opening or something, son. She's not a real catwoman.  They don't exist."

"She was, momma, I played with her tail," he protested.  "It had bones and it twitched."

"Then you're grounded.  How many times have I told you to not pet strange creatures and animals?"

"But, momma!" he wailed, watching as a biker rode past.  "It's one of those fuzzy bikers, momma."

"Another group you're not allowed to pet, son," she said firmly, taking him inside the house and locking the door so he couldn't get back out.  "It's lunch time, go clean up."

"I had that apple," he complained.  She glared and he scurried off to clean up.  "Yes, momma."

Modo rode into the lot, looking at the guard.  "Xander told me to come pick up someone?"

"Yes, sir, the catwoman appeared up the street and one of the local children was quite taken with her," he admitted.  "She's in the office so the guys wouldn't stare at what little clothing she's wearing."

"Thanks, man."  He rode that way, parking his bike and getting off, heading inside.  A little black bundle of fur attacked his stomach to hug, making him chuckle and hug her.  "There you are."  He patted her on the back, giving her a gentle squeeze.  "You ready?  Before Xander has a meltdown because his guys are staring again?"

"What's his problem?"

"Lots of problems and stress here on the site, plus some lawyers who are nibbling his tail."  He walked her out to his bike, letting her get on behind him.  "You're in for a treat, my lady's still down here," he called back before taking off.

"I thought he was your husband.  He told the guys I was an old friend of his mate's."

"No, that's Throttle," he assured her.

"Throttle likes boys?  Since when!"

"Ask him that," Modo teased, speeding up to get past the pointing kids at a playground.  They were going to have to watch that or they'd be hunted down for petting.  He took the fastest way home, riding her up into the lounge area.  "Tada!" he said happily.  "Home."

"This is nice," she said, looking around.  "My house isn't this nice."

"Xander designed it," Vinnie said from his former bed.  "He's good at that."  He yawned again.  "Hey, Modo, check Vic for me. I think he's cooing at his tail again."

"Sure, bro."  He got off, helping her off and onto the floor, then went to check on the baby.  "Hi, Vic.  Are you playing with your toes?" he teased, tickling the little belly.  Victor giggled and swatted him with his tail.  "That's a good boy.  Yes, you are," he promised as he picked him up.  "You're a good boy, Victor."  He saw her look. "This is Vinnie's son."

"He's adorable," she said, coming over to look at him.  "I've never seen that fur color on a mouse."

"He's got his momma's hair color," Vinnie said proudly.  "The next one'll be a white mouse."

"Bro, didn't Charley tell you if there was another one you're going to be fixed?" Modo taunted.

Vinnie nodded, yawning again.  "Remind her of that and I'm whipping your tail."

"You'll try," Throttle taunted as he came up the ramp.  "Tranq, hey.  Why're you down here?"

"An old friend can't come to visit?" she demanded.  "Not good enough since you now suck tail?"

He snorted and hugged her. "You're more than good enough and who said I suck tail?"

"She thought Xander meant me when he told some guys that she was a friend of her mate's since I was coming to get her."

"He saved me from being petted bald by some little humanoid creature."

"Down here, they're all humans," he noted, sitting down and pulling her down beside him. "Yeah, I'm with Xander.  He's a nice guy."

"How long have you liked tails?" she demanded.

"Um, I used to date Vinnie now and then," he reminded her.  "I've always been more a personality sort."

"Oh.  Pity I didn't realize that when you were dating Carbine.  We could have been good together."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "So, give, what's it like being stranded down here?"

"We're not really," Vinnie admitted. "Just needed."

"The remaining Plutarkians came back.  We're expecting them to slink back to the city anytime now," Throttle admitted.  "Xander's part of the reason we won against them the first time and got rid of the first Limburger."

"Interesting."  She got comfortable, looking around. "This is not your average bachelor Freedom Fighter pad.  So, who were the two females in the pictures on the desks?"

"The older one's Vinnie's girl.  The younger one's Xander's adoptive daughter.  He took in a friend's little sister when things got bad for her."  Throttle curled up in his usual corner.  "This is really awkward."

"We should go have a beer or somethin'," she agreed dryly.  "Help cure all that."

"Sorry, can't while we're babysitting."  He heard a bike and looked around. "Rimfire?"

"Yeah!" he called back.

"Visitor!  It's Tranq!"

He came jogging up the ramp and hugged her.  "Hey!  Long time no see!"  She grinned and slapped him on the back. "I see you've met the resident cuteness.  I take it Dawn's taking a boredom nap since she's not curled around him."

"Cramps," Vinnie told him.  "Watch out."

"No wonder I had to get her chocolate," he said dryly, grinning at her. "My girl."

"You're dating a human too?"

"Yeah, I went for personality.  She's great, just probably a bit cranky today."  He held up a finger.  "Let me deliver these things."  He jogged down the ramp, then came back up a few minutes later with Dawn, who he sat in his lap.  "This is my girl."

Dawn licked off her fingers and waved.  "Hey.  Dawn.  You?"

"Tranq," she said, grinning at her.  "I can tell you're fierce in your protection of him."

"I have to be.  Otherwise people would steal him," Dawn said dryly, making this new cat person laugh.  She grinned at Modo.  "He had the runs last night."

"He seems fine now," he said, sitting down at the other end of the couch with the baby.  "Where's Staff?"

"Helping Charley in the garage," Rimfire offered, looking at the baby, who was trying to suck on his toes. "I don't think he wants footies on today."

"It is a bit warm," Throttle agreed.

Modo nodded, stripping the baby out of his footie sleeper and letting him lounge around in his diaper.

"Oooh, that's a cute belly," Dawn teased, reaching over to tickle it.  Vic's tail wrapped around her wrist and she grinned. "Good hold, little guy, but I feel miserable today.  Can you let me go? I won't tickle you if you do."  He laughed and let her go, but then caught her finger instead.  "Very good job, Victor."  She got free and went back to sitting in her boy's lap.  "He's got a good tail grip going."

"That's my boy," Vinnie said proudly, but tiredly.  He yawned again and flipped onto his side.  "Sorry, long night, I'll nap now and be happy later."

"Sure, Vinnie, I'm down for nearly a week," she agreed.  He grinned and waved, pulling his sheet up over his head.  She reached for the ringing thing, handing it to Throttle when it made noise.

"Yeah?" he answered.  "No, visitor.  Yeah, that dark thing riding behind Modo was an old cohort, Tranq.  She's over here.  Vinnie's napping and Vic's down to his diaper so he can play with his toes."  He grinned.  "Sure, Staff."  He hung up and looked at Modo.  "She said he has to wear *some* clothes, even if it's one of those t-shirts with snaps around the diaper shirts."

"Sure."  He got up to find him something cute to wear, Dawn eventually going to get some laundry out of the dryer for him.  They'd apparently been in there a while, even the static cling was gone.  She loaded the stuff from the washer over and he sat down to dress the poor naked kid.  "There ya are, lil' fella.  How's that?"  Vic beamed and crapped his diaper. "You would have to do that to me, wouldn't you?" he teased, handing the kid off to Dawn since she was right there.  "All yours."

"Yay," she said sarcastically.  "Just think, Vinnie wants another one soon."

"He changed diapers all night," Rimfire reminded her, taking the baby to go change him in the bathroom.  No one deserved to sit in a diaper that smelly.  "Did the Karbunkle mess with the mommy, Victor?  Is that why your butt smells like a Plutarkian?" he teased, tickling his stomach.  Fortunately he managed to cover him before his tickling brought a stream of pee onto his head again.

"Don't insult the poor kid that way, he'll get a complex," Throttle called.

"It does!  Hell, that's an idea, send a bunch of dirty diapers to the Plutarkians, see them run!"

"He obviously never met the Loogey Brothers," Vinnie said dryly.  "Son?"

"Being changed."

"Mm.  Powder him well, Rimfire, we don't need a chapped tail too.  I'll never hear the end of it."

"Sure, of course, and I recreamed his butt too."  He brought the baby out and went to find him a new outfit. "Leakage," he explained at Modo's look.  He came out with the baby and a bag of microwave popcorn, handing Tranq the baby so he could go fix his snack.  "Want something, Tranq?"

"To not be a mother," she said, handing the baby to Throttle, who let him snuggle up on his stomach and chest. "You're good."

"It'll take all of us to make Vinnie's son a reasonable mouse," he said dryly. Dawn snickered, tossing a pillow at his feet.  "Thanks, but not really needed, and you're about to have a hygiene problem."

"Eww!  I wish you guys would quit doing that."  She got up and went to the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later. "There, better, daddy?  Or should I put in a tampon and use a pad?"

"I don't care as long as you don't leave blood spots anywhere," he said patiently.  "Remember how Xander freaked last time, wondering why you were hurt?"  She blushed and went back downstairs.  "Cranky," he called after her in a teasing voice.

"You'll know cranky later," she called back sweetly.  "Count on it."

"Don't get her wound up," Rimfire said from the doorway to the kitchen. "Please?  I don't want to have to deal with more than PMS."  He went back to finish making his popcorn, adding butter and some salt to it.  Then he came back out and sat down again.  "Anyone want some or can I have my own lunch?"  Vinnie held up a hand so Rimfire walked the bowl over there, letting him have a few pieces, then went back to his seat and dug in.

"You should eat better," Tranq said firmly.

"Grandmomma and momma both say so," he quipped. "They're not here."

"I can solve that," Modo threatened. "You haven't seen your nieces or patted the new one yet."

Rimfire popped another handful of popcorn into his mouth to give him time to formulate a polite, nice answer that would leave his tail unwhipped.  "The only pregnant belly I want to pat is on my girl, far in the future, when we're back on Mars permanently."

"Pity, I stopped in to see Primer and your grandmother.  She said Cell and Primer were coming down this week sometime too.  Possibly even today since I flew.  It's been two days since I left them."

"Aw, crap," Rimfire sighed, eating another handful.  "I like the women in my family but I'm going to be picked on for weeks."

"Not if you behaved," Modo taunted, smirking at him.

"I try really hard," he reminded him, sounding patient and wise.  "Who can control themselves with a girl like Dawn on their arm?"  He ate another handful.

"It'll be cute and give Vic someone to play with his own age," Throttle reminded him. "Detail and Shot could use it too."

"She named my nieces Detail and Shot?" he asked.  "Why?"

"Your momma apparently won the argument," Modo taunted. "Didn't momma tell you?"

"No, it went from 'these are pictures of your new nieces' to 'oh, Charley's in labor' and stayed there," he said dryly.  "I always thought Detail was a boy's name."

"It is," Modo agreed, getting to grab his popcorn for himself.  "You're making a pig of yourself."

"Sorry.  I was hungry."

"Then go eat," Throttle ordered, pointing at the kitchen. "You know how to microwave hotdogs."

"I'm not that hungry," he said dryly.  He looked over as Xander came up the ramp.  "Left early?"

"Water main in the street broke when the city was putting in the extension for us; it flooded the level we're working on.  Trisha and Merle are bailing and I'm tired."  He flopped down, looking at their guest.  "Hey, again."

She grinned. "Hi.  Thank you for saving me from being petted to death by the short human."

"The kid?  He tried it with me once or twice too," he admitted, waving a hand.  "It's all good."  He looked at the baby, then at his mate.  "If you wanna have one of those, all you have to do is tell me and let me help you pick out the mother," he offered gently.  "My abs don't need that sort of stretching."

Throttle chuckled.  "Not a concern for me, Xander.  We'll talk about that in a few years."

"Long after Dawnie and I move out," Rimfire added.  "I don't think we'd ever pull Dawn away from that kid."  He heard someone knock on the door downstairs and groaned.  "Who's turn is it?"

"Mine," Xander offered, getting up and heading down there to let the cop in.  "Hi, what seems to be the problem, officer?"

"Um, sir, we managed to pull some security footage from Wolfram and Hart.  I think you know why I'm here?" he suggested.

Xander shrugged.  "Not really.  Their structural integrity wasn't my job to fix.  For that matter, I have a restraining order from any of them coming nearby."

"That's him!" a man shouted, getting out of his car.  "I know it's him!  He's the only one who looks like him in this whole city!"

"Technically not," Xander sighed.  "Officer, restraining order."

"Sir, if you would please back off and honor the restraining order," he said patiently.

"He blows up our building and *I'm* the bad guy?"

"You're the one who decided to try and take my daughter's custody from me for no reason other than personal gain when her sister didn't want her back," Xander said dryly.  The lawyer glared at him so he crossed his arms and glared right back.  "Should I even mention LA and what I was witness to out there and why?"  The lawyer scrambled backward.  "Thank you," he said sweetly.  "By the way, I'm not the only pale, fuzzy creature in the city, nor am I the only pale, fuzzy creature who knows about explosives and weapons.  Plus you'll find he hates you just as much as I do for what you've done in the past.  Yeah, I was there, I was getting my personnel record that was stolen from my company from you, dipshit.  If you guys didn't have a vendetta against me, for whatever reason, I wouldn't have stepped foot in your office once."

"Vendetta?" the lawyer snorted.

"Honey, you might be amazed, but while I was retrieving my personnel record, I also found a long lost cousin, you know him as Alex, that night-loving little creature who compels all to help him?"  The lawyer went pale.  "He's in the bathroom if you wanted to see him," he said fondly.  "He was being kept in torturous conditions and lied to about me.  Officer, would you like to see him?" he asked.

"No, that's okay.  Why are they fighting against you?"

"Because a few years back I helped a group who needed me.  They needed me a lot.  This law firm happens to hate my group and what they stood for.  Since we stopped things like human sacrifices and the like they got really upset with us."  The cop shivered.  "I gave Detective Kowalski some information on them."

"Yes, sir, and he gave us a copy of the CD that redheaded guy gave him."

"Good.  I'm glad Oz did that," he agreed.  The cop looked stunned. "Oz was part of the same group.  It's pitiful when you have to take out a restraining order against *lawyers* instead of just shooting them like the Gods intended," he said, glaring at the lawyer again.  He went running back to his car and locked himself inside. "Good, stay there!"  He slammed the door.  "Let me get my big brother up.  I know I didn't make the building fall that way, we can make sure he didn't."

"Um, sir, you were seen laying a charge."

"Yeah, to blow a door," Xander admitted.  "They stole my personnel file from work.  I'm starting to think they were behind the bombs and stuff we had at the abuse shelter site."  The cop shuddered at that.  "Sorry, I was full crew lead then.  They've been messing in the company I work for as well.  Trying to buy it out and sacrifice us or something.  Did you know the last time they had workers in, sixteen of them disappeared within two weeks?  That was in this local office. Those men and women never showed up as far as I know."

"I'll look into that," he agreed.  "Do you know when that was?"

"Hmm, about four months ago?" he offered.  "Maybe just over.  Let's head upstairs."  He led the way, coughing as he came up.  "Cops."  Tranq gave him an odd look.  "Explain it to you later, dear.  Vinnie!"  He snapped awake so he gave him the 'play along' look they had worked out in the clubs.  Vinnie yawned but shrugged.  "The nice lawyer at Wolfram and Hart who's outside pissing himself said I'm the only white, furry creature around here who knows about explosives."

"No, I can set a charge," Vinnie admitted.  "I didn't.  I was busy taking care of my son."

"See," Xander offered, waving a hand at him.

The cop looked at him.  "How many more are there like you two in the city?"

Xander shrugged.  "As far as I know we're the only two fully white furry beings with explosives knowledge.  Then again, I work in construction and so does Vinnie sometimes."

"You do admit to trespassing though?" the cop asked.

Xander walked over to the briefcase he had dropped on his way inside, opening it and taking out the files he had taken.  "I went in to get my files," he repeated, handing them over.  "Go ahead and read them.  There's seven different ideas in there to kill me.  I'm keeping ahead of the assassins.  You can arrest me for that if you want," he said honestly.  "I'm sure I can bail myself out for a B&E charge."

The cop sat down to flip through them, staring at a few of the ideas, then up at him.  "They wanted to take your heart out?"

"Yeah.  Then they wanted to set fire to my chest cavity while trying to keep me alive as long as possible on an artificial heart machine," he said matter-of-factly.  "Now you see why I broke in and why I'd like to buy the guy who blew it up a round.  Though, speaking as a contractor and having snuck in there twice recently, and are you sure those films were from today? Their structure was unsound.  It had one avenue of support and that column was cracked from what the workers who made it through their last job said.  Yeah, my love tap to the door I used the plastique on could have sent a shimmy through it, but I was out of there about ten minutes before it caved."

"We found electronics and a minute amount of explosive in the upper levels of the building."

"Dude, I ride a bike, do you think I rode it all the way up there? You can tell, my sneaking today took me to the third floor. And only to the third floor.  By the way, you can have copies of those if you need them but I do need a copy for my attorney's files.  He said he was going to be acting against them again for doing this to me.  Not only this, but for aiding and abetting someone who tried to kill us all last month."  He crossed his arms, staring the cop down.  "I will cop to the B&E however.  If that'll make the prosecutor happy and content at night, then I'll gladly take my probation.  After all, it's not like I didn't have reason."

"No, you probably did," the cop agreed.  "Would you come down and make a statement out while we check on that?"

"Sure, if you want," he agreed easily enough.  "Do I ride with you or by myself?"

"No, you can ride with me, sir, I'm sure someone can come pick you up later."  He opened the next file and shuddered, putting it down.  "Autopsy photos."

"No, mock autopsy photos, officer.  There's not anyone who looks that much like me down here except for Vinnie.  Who was doing child care at that time."

"Fine," he agreed, gathering up everything.  "Did you need to pick up anything?"

"Wallet and keys," he admitted, grabbing his phone as well.  He followed him down the stairs, getting into the back of the car without handcuffs.  It'd be fine, he knew it'd be fine.  Those records were enough with the restraining order to give him reasonable cause for action and paranoia.

***

Xander looked up as Boris walked into the room he was sitting in, waving at him and putting his feet down.  "Did they give you the files?"

"They did, I'm horrified and amazed you didn't blow them for that, Xander."

"I thought about it but I didn't read them until I got back to the office, boss."

"Ah.  No wonder.  By then they were already gone."  He shrugged and sat down, looking at him.  "So."

"So?" he asked with a grin.  "Am I being arrested?"

"No.  The prosecutor went to get ill when she saw that autopsy file.  Who was that?"

"Mockups.  Computer generated.  The organs aren't quite right. They're off color and had to be a picture from the real ones I've seen.  Did you know sixteen workers disappeared the last time they had work done in their building?"

"I hadn't but I'm not surprised," he admitted, standing up.  "Come."

"Sure.  How's Faith?"

"Decent enough.  I do have copies for my records and for your records, Xander," he assured him, giving him a small smile.  "Are you done with him now?"

"We are," Vecchio agreed, giving him a look.  "You were still there.  Count yourself lucky."

"I'm just glad I got to those files before they tried to kill me this time," he said quietly.  "I don't even know what I did to piss them off.  All I know is that they suddenly attacked and I'm not sure they're not behind the abuse shelter situations my crew went through.  They're ruthless enough to kill others to get a primary target.  Watch out.  Any cop who gets in their path is a legitimate target in their mind," he said quietly.  "You're too neat to die this week either."  Vecchio nodded.  "See you around, Detective, and tell the other one Charley's probably got his car fixed, just call first.  Vic's been keeping everyone up all night."  He followed his boss out to his car, getting into the passenger's seat.  "Hey, Faith."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I told them I'd cop to the B&E if it'd help but that I didn't set the charges.  I still say it was structural."

"It was," Boris agreed.  "I went over the plans with the cops a while ago and it was indeed structural in nature.  All it took was a small charge to the perfect spot."

"I only blew a door.  By the way, I took a bubblegum sized piece of plastique from the site, I'll replace it later this week."

"Sure," he agreed dryly, pulling out into the street.  "That was stupid."

"No, it wasn't," he said, smirking at him.  "Why are they after me?  I must be in the way of something."

"I'm hoping the Powers aren't doing it," Faith admitted.

"Not their style, they go in for torture and personal misery, like with Tara."  He glanced back, then at his boss.  "Home?"

"Throttle called me throwing a fit," he said patiently.

"Hey, I can always go pack," he said dryly.

"No, I don't think that was the reason for the fit.  The confusion thing with Vinnie was I do believe."

"I blew a certain ID.  Vinnie knew that.  We have that communication thing going."

"He told him so, repeatedly, while we were talking but your mate wasn't listening."  He pulled into the park, letting them pause to watch the incubus cop walk past, giving him a cheery wave.  "He was most impressed that you helped him. He's getting my ex wife back for me."  He drove on, parking in one of the farther and darker parking lots. "The vampire you?"

"Was in the bathroom by the garage the last I knew."

"Fine.  Do you need supplies?  Dawn fed him earlier."

"Probably, I was just going to hit the butchers."  Boris shuddered at that.  "Sorry, learned that from Angel and Spike too."

"Fine."  He turned, looking at the boy.  "Be more subtle."

He grinned.  "What makes you think I did the explosive?" he asked patiently.  "I know who did, I saw them, but it wasn't me."  He smirked at him.  "If they take fingerprints, it's still not me."  Boris gaped and Xander winked.  "Who else hates them more than most?"

"Gunn?" Faith asked. Xander looked back and smirked, then pointed at the guy sitting by the lakeside moping.  "Connor!" she shouted, getting out and running over to him.

"Faith?" he asked, catching her to hug.  He sniffed. "Why do you smell like you were rutting with vampires?"  He pushed her back to look at her.  "You're pregnant?"

"Yeah, I kinda fell into the wrong orgy and got knocked up by some."

"Man, and I thought my parents were bad," he said grimly, looking her over. "It suits you.  You'll be a whale soon but it suits you."  He looked over as Xander came over to hug him. "How are you?"

"I agreed to cop to B&E if it would help them, but I didn't blow the building."

Connor smirked.  "I know you didn't.  I saw that when I was getting my own files."  Faith gaped.  "Neither did I."  He grinned at her, chuckling a bit.  "Don't worry about it."  He patted her on the stomach.  "They're strong."

"They should be, the Powers took them over," Faith said grimly.

"Oh, hell no," he said quietly.

"Ninety percent certainty," Xander said simply.  "Any of us.  Oh, this is Boris, he's my boss at the construction company.  Please don't stake him."  Connor put his stake back.  "Thanks.  Have you seen Dawn?"

"I haven't even heard from Dawn," he complained.

Xander pulled out his phone and dialed, smirking at the growl.  "Dawn's got a visitor."  He handed the phone over, watching as Connor chuckled because of the continued growling.  "We're in the park, come growl in person, and bring Dawn and Rimfire," he called.

"Please," Connor agreed.  "I haven't seen her since she left for Cleveland."  He hung up and handed it back, going back to hugging Faith.  "I missed you.  LA's so boring."

"I know," she promised, patting him on the back.  "I'll give you one of the twits to train if you want."

"Sure, I wouldn't mind.  Since Gunn left it's pretty backed up and boring."  He looked at Xander again.  "Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't keep secrets from Throttle," he admitted.  "When and if he asks, I'll show him everything that went on today."  He glanced up at his antenna, then grinned at him again as bikes came their way.  "Sounds like most of the family came."  He looked over, waving at Dawn, then nodding at Connor.

"Oh My God!" Dawn shrieked, running over to jump on him to hug him. "Connor! Shit!  When did you get into town!"

"Xander and I met earlier in Wolfram and Hart's file room," he admitted, giving her a squeeze.  He saw the vibrating and growling mouse and let her down.  "I think your boyfriend minds."

"He's my fiance and probably," she admitted, smiling back at Rimfire.  "This is Connor, Angel's son."

"How did a vampire have a kid?" he asked calmly and quietly.

"Wolfram and Hart," Connor told him.  "My mother was dust before they interfered."  Rimfire groaned and he walked over to shake his hand.  "Nice to meet the man Dawnie considers good enough to touch her.  She never let me get more than braiding her hair."

"Good, I like that," Rimfire admitted.  "I like that a lot."

"Sorry, he's a bit jealous," Xander said dryly.  "Vinnie, did you mind what I did?"

"No, lil bro, I know you were throwing off their ID of you.  Did you?"  Xander walked over and shared everything with him, making him giggle.  "That's bad."

"Isn't it though?" he asked dryly, smirking at him, then they smirked at Throttle. "I wasn't endangering him.  I was proving a point.  It had a reason, Throttle."

"I still don't like it."

Xander walked over to him, staring into his eyes.  "Throttle, if you want to know what actually happened, I'll show you.  It's not an issue for me.  Maybe you should ask before you jump higher on that peak of conclusion you're standing on."  Throttle leaned forward with a sigh and Xander showed him, making him blink and pull back before diving in again.  Xander gave him a bland look when he was done.  "See?"

"Fine. It was still wrong to involve Vinnie that way."

"They had what they thought was a positive ID from the security footage.  I weakened it using him and killed it because I was there to get my files.  Including their mock autopsy records they were working on."  Modo shuddered at that and he shrugged. "They were.  They're trying to figure out the most useful way of killing me.  I still don't know what I'm in the way of."  He stepped back, looking at him.  "These guys are more insidious than any Plutarkian ever born or hatched or however they come to be."

"Hatched," Vinnie offered, leaning against his bike.  "Who is that?"

"Connor, Angel's son.  He was stealing his birth records as well.  We met in the file room."

"Oh, that's cool," he admitted, staring at him.  "He's not normal, is he?"

"No, he was stolen and raised in a hell dimension.  He's only a few years old technically."  He looked at Throttle again.  "For that matter, I'm not sure why they didn't think it was Vinnie totally, at which time I would have stepped in again."

"Thanks for that, bro," Vinnie said with a grin.  He flicked Rimfire with his tail.  "Go kiss her if you're that jealous."  He watched as the younger mouse went over to claim his girl from her old friend, shaking his head and looking at Modo.  "He's more possessive than Throttle is."

"He is," Modo sighed.  "That's a bad thing."  He walked over there to break his nephew and Dawn apart by grabbing Rimfire's collar and pulling them apart.  "Enough."

"Sorry, Uncle Modo," he said sheepishly.  "It came over me."

"Hey, if she was mine, I wouldn't let another guy get within looking distance," Connor offered.  "Then again, I'm more possessive than anything Xander's ever had try to kill him after dating him."

Rimfire chuckled, punching him on the arm.  "For some reason, I think I could like you a little bit, but you still can't hug her."

"Rimfire," Modo warned.

"He can't!  No one can," he said firmly.  "My bike is jealous because I am."

"Your gray furred grandmomma would be ashamed of you," he chastised, walking him off to talk to him again. It's obvious he needed a better male rolemodel and he was around again so it was his duty to his family to fix Rimfire before he went over the edge.

Xander looked over at Rimfire and shrugged.  "Know how you feel about people hugging Throttle," he admitted. "I nearly slugged a transvestite hooker for trying to hug him for being cute."

"I'm just glad you got it off me," Throttle assured him.  He pulled Xander closer, leaning against the side of his bike.  "I saw the other plans and I don't like them either, Xander."

"Honey, I'm protecting our family from some major assholes of the universe.  I'm not going to let them kill me, you, Dawn, Vic, or Vinnie.  Or anyone else.  I'm sorry I had to break bad on them to do that.  I still didn't blow up their puny building.  It was the structure itself that did it."  He stared into his eyes, moving his sunglasses on top of his hair for now.   It meant Throttle couldn't see as well but he would have to listen to him instead.  "I love you, honey, and I'm in love with you, but Giles is getting punished for what he did to me and to us.  He deserves that and it's my right to do so since no one else can or will punish him enough for that betrayal.  He was my father figure for a good few years in there.  He turned on me, was going to kill me, and I can't forgive that.  He'll get what he deserves.  My plot against Boris had a good reason and a good founding, especially with a pregnant slayer living with him about to start having mood swings."  Throttle shuddered at that.

"You can't lay blame on me for very many evil thoughts and stuff, Throttle.  I'm not like that and you know it.  I'm sorry if my breaking bad on these situations has hurt you or upset you.  I'll take out this earring right now if that's what you want, and go to a hotel tonight too.  You're a good guy, I get that.  My methods do get extreme now and then.  I get that too.  Sometimes, you gotta do it my way to get results, especially in situations like these.  If I had other methods, I'd use them, but nothing's going to be that effective to protect you, or Dawn, or Vic."

Throttle pulled him closer, giving him a hug. "You touch that earring and I'm going to strap you down and beat you until you beg," he whispered in his ear, giving him a squeeze.  "There are other methods."

"That work?"

"That may work," he admitted.

"Oh, hell no," Dawn called. "Giles gets the full out, evil bitch of hell experience," she said firmly, glaring at him.  "I don't care!  I want that man tortured, gutted, then forced to eat his own intestines and then shit them out!  I want him fucking dead after a *long* bout of torture.  He tried to kill me, he tried to kill Xander.  That's unforgivable in my book and Xander's. That would be like one of you three turning on each other.  What would you do?"

"Kill them horribly," Vinnie admitted quietly.  "I'm all for that with Giles.  This Wolfram and Hart thing needs more subtlety.  We're loud and like explosives and it's still bigger than we'd do."

"No, in this case, you've got to throw your hat in the ring.  They work behind the scenes but they don't consider you a threat unless you're very upfront about it," Connor told him, putting an arm around Dawn's shoulders.  Rimfire growled and pounced him, starting to beat his tail. "Hey!"  He kicked him off and Rimfire got him a few more times before Modo grabbed him and drug him off again. "Sorry!  No touching, got it!"  He went to hug Faith instead, she was safer.  The vampire growled but that was fine.  He could stake him.

"No staking him, he runs a few companies and they'd go to Xander," Faith whispered in his ear.

"Oohh, I'm sorry," he offered, patting her stomach again.  "How many?"

"Six.  I'm having a litter."

Dawn squealed and hugged her, then let go and went to yell at her man herself.  Connor would be bruised and his lip was bleeding.  That was too much jealousy in her book.

Xander looked at Vinnie. "Who said I'm only being obvious?" he asked.  Vinnie and Throttle both stared at him so he grinned.  "I am a very good planner, I do prefer dramatics, but sometimes the front show isn't everything, guys.   You should know I'm more complicated than that by now."

Throttle nodded.  "I do, Xan, I really do, but I'm worried that you're bringing attention down onto us."  He slid his glasses back down so he could see again.

"Actually, I'm bringing attention down onto them.  The prosecutor took those files and got a warrant to search their files for other crimes from it."

"They're going to have some interesting reading," Boris said dryly.  "I know this one here sacrifices annually to raise power for the group."

"Yeah, in four days," Xander said with a bright smile.  "Same place this year?"

"Not a clue.  You might ask the guy in the bushes."

"I heard him.  Don't worry, I'll know anyway," he said sweetly, smiling gently at him.  "I'm like that."  Boris shuddered and backed off.  "By the way, no more hitting on me, boss.  I have a man.  I have one who I'd jump if Throttle would let me.  I'm not takin' more applications for bed candy."

"I'm not bed candy," Vinnie snorted, looking hurt.

"You are if I tied you down and licked you from head to toe a few times," he said with a grin, pulling him closer to kiss him, making him moan.  "Don't you wanna be my bed candy, Vinnie?" he teased.

"I prefer a more active role," he said with a grin back. "You're being bad."

"I need caffeine."  Vinnie laughed and walked off shaking his head, going to break into Dawn and Rimfire's fight since Modo wasn't.  Xander smiled sweetly at his mate, who pulled him closer to kiss him harder, gripping him firmly.  Xander leaned against his thigh, arching into his fingers, and groaning into his mouth.  "Thank you."

"I'm welding that earring on you," he whispered. "Don't even threaten that, Xander.  It's unkind and uncool."

"I was giving you an easy out since you were so upset with me and how I was doing things.  It's not going to be a short fight.  These guys have ruled Hell's minions now for about a thousand years."

Throttle kissed him again and again Xander went limp and let him be dominant.  "I'm helping you.  Together we're better than apart."

"Sure.  Not an issue," he said, initiating the next kiss.

"No necking in the park," the incubus cop called. "I see enough of that at home."

"Oh, bite me," Xander called dryly.  "Remember, I killed a succubus for daring to touch my family.  I can do it to others."  The cop snorted and wrote out the ticket, shoving it in his pocket.  Xander smirked at him.  "Liked what you felt?  You groped long enough, *Officer*."

"Keep it up, kid," he said with a smug smirk.

"Hey, I was only tongue deep in him.  If I wanted to claim him, he'd be bent over his bike."  He took out the ticket and handed it back.  "That's not public fornication and you're thinking very loudly about how hot my tail is.  Mind stopping that?"  The cop whimpered and backed off, taking the ticket.  "Gee, still?"  The cop turned and fled.  "Thanks," he called after him, going back to his kissing.  "Interfering demons," he complained before diving in again.

"That's two nights of being tied down for correction," Throttle murmured.  "You need it."

"Ooh, spank me, daddy, spank me," Xander said in falsetto, cracking Vinnie up so much he had to grab onto Modo to stay upright.  "I've been a very bad mouse cadet.  Should I bare it for you here?"

Throttle chuckled, shaking his head.  "Bad, Xander.  Bad!"  He spanked him and Xander moaned, pressing against his thigh.  "No treats for bad Xanders."

Xander got down and opened his zipper, going to work on him.  "Said who?" he asked halfway through, smirking up at him.  Throttle pushed his head back down, holding it in place while Xander worked him.

"Damn, not again," Dawn complained.  "I don't wanna see that!  Besides, I'm now better."

"I'm not going to let you compare so it doesn't really matter," Rimfire said firmly, pulling her closer to kiss her stupid.  "No comparing."

"Yes, dear," she said, smiling and teasing his chest fur.  "Not even on the dance floor?"

"No, you're both teases and I'd hate to see you gang up on the rest of us," he pointed out, kissing her again.  Apparently not stupid enough yet.  She moaned and went limp, giving in to him.  "Home?"

"Can Connor have a room, Modo?"

"Yeah, if he doesn't have one."  He looked over and Connor shook his head.  "Sure.  You can come back with us.  Guys, we're heading home," he called.

"Xander can't hear you," Vinnie said smugly, walking over there to tease Xander's tail with his foot, making him groan and get off.  Throttle moaned and slammed into his mouth, going over as well.  "We're heading home," he said with a bright grin for the couple. "Connor's coming over too."  He walked over to his bike, getting on.  "Boris, give the kid a ride."  He took off, heading for home.  Charley needed her rest so he'd go steal the baby again.

Xander stood up, kissing his mate while he stuffed him back into his jeans.  "Love you, even when you don't understand me," he whispered.

"Love you too, Xan, and I try, but sometimes you're thinking faster than I am.  Just explain stuff to me *before* you do it," he ordered.  Xander smiled and nodded, sharing his thoughts.  "Good ideas, but need refinement.  I can help you with those if Vinnie doesn't."  He pulled him into another kiss. "Home."

"Yes, dear."  He got onto the back of Throttle's bike. "No helmet."

"Fine.  I won't complain this time."  He nodded at Connor.  "See you back there."  He spun off, taking his mate home to put him to bed.  They both needed a nap and some quiet time alone together.

Connor blinked at Faith.  "I knew Xander teased boys in the club, but he's doing a guy?"   She nodded, beaming at him, popping her gum.  "Huh.  I never realized he was checking me and Gunn out," he said, shrugging at her amused look.  "Can we go? I heard great things about it from Gunn."

"Sure, kid," Boris agreed, leading him to his SUV.  He waved at the others.  "Night, all."

"Night, Boris," Dawn called from Rimfire's arms.  "We should head too."

"I need to have a talk with Rimfire, you go back with them," Modo said, grabbing Rimfire by the ear but not losing his genial, nice guy smile.  "Go ahead, Dawn.  I trust him."  She nodded, going to climb in before Boris could take off.  Modo put his nephew on his bike.  "Head for one of the sitting spots, nephew, it's gonna be a long talk.  I shoulda been there more often for you and it's time I imparted some wisdom about being a gentlemanly mouse."  His nephew sighed and did as ordered.  He knew he had to now and at least he'd be able to feel his ear again soon.

***

Trisha looked up as Xander wandered in the next morning. "Did you blow them up?" she asked.

"No. It was a structural issue.  Ask the morning news guy, he said so too."

"I saw that," Merle agreed.  He handed Xander a form.  "From the boos. Don't know what it is, it's in Latin."

Xander looked at it, then snorted and wrote 'no turning' across it and handed it back.  "We had to make sure the company would go on since he's got a pregnant slayer living with him and about to hit mood swings with his kid."

"He's a vampire, how is he having kids?" Merle asked, looking really confused.

"Special ritual Faith fell into.  She's having six kids for five different vampires.  One's Boris' son."

"Wow," Trisha said, looking awed.  "We need a very nice baby shower gift from our crew."

"I was going to announce it today," Xander admitted.  "She's finally got her twat back after it had been magically sealed for a month to keep the baby healthy and let it start off.  Her words, not mine," he said at her opening mouth.  "She's the one who told me, not my phrasing in the least.  I liked women much more than that."

"Good!" she said firmly.  "Oh, my boyfriend's jealous of you because you get to stare at my legs all day."

"When do I have time?" he asked dryly.  "We've have problems out the ass recently.  Speaking of, next shipment?"

"Already here, checked in, and full," Merle assured him.  "Came yesterday after you left early."

"Good, then I don't have to go deal with Home Depot again."  He looked over the mail in his box, tossing something at Trisha.  "Your specialty guys."

"Thanks."  She read it, smiling happily.  "Cool.  We need them."

"You need to kick some tail," Xander snorted.  "We're catching up to you guys. Brad's like me, honey.  It'll be caught up really quickly if you don't get those lazy ones to work faster with the rest of your crew."

She smiled. "That's why I'm asking for the extra guys," she said smugly.  "To make sure we keep ahead of you over-achievers.  Brad's fantastic though.  I wouldn't mind double teaming with him again."

Merle nodded.  "Me either.  He learned a lot from Xander and from Biggers when he was working with us. The kid'll go far soon."  He looked at Xander.  "Are you staying?"

"Not sure yet," he admitted.  "I'm waiting to see how many problems this ulcer-inducer gives me.  And whether or not I'm needed at home more often to help care for Vic," he admitted.  "He's in that cranky, not gonna sleep even though I know I can, stage."  He shrugged and leaned back, putting his feet up on his desk.  "It'll be over soon hopefully.  Vinnie's been stealing him so she could sleep enough to work.  We've all been getting woken up by him."  He yawned.  "Even me," he said through it.  He shook his head.  "I'm tired."

Merle snorted.  "You probably slept too little while enjoying your husband."

"Actually, we talked most of the night while cuddling Vic.  He thought I was going just a bit too bad for his tastes," Xander said with a small shrug.  He stood up, grabbing his toolbelt.  "Let's go see what night shift left us this time. It's nearly eight."  He walked out, going to run his crew into the ground for another day.

"Him, bad?" Trisha asked.

Merle gave her a look, then glanced out the windows to make sure no one could be eavesdropping.  "He helped Boris with the fact that he didn't have a will recently.  Just in case Faith went off the deep end during a mood swing."

She shuddered. "He's a bad guy?"

"No, but sometimes he does branch out for good reasons.  Can you imagine what would happen if Boris died?"  She shuddered again.  "Besides, he's reaching and stretching himself right now to get ready for the guy who tried to kill them all that day he couldn't come in.  He's been working that out while working.  I've had a few guys wondering if Xander was going to do the stuff he's been muttering about to them.  It's gotten around that someone tried to hurt him and the family and that he's about to kill them instead, so he's just playing with ideas at the moment."

"So that's why Brad gave him the funny look," she said sarcastically.

"Probably," Merle agreed.  "Shall we follow the lunatic?"

"Yes, let's."  They got up and headed out to work with their crews.  She saw a few guys giving Xander odd looks.  "Problems?"

"He was talking about flaying someone."

"I heard someone tried to kill him," another one of the guys hissed.  Trisha nodded.  "It's against that guy?"  She nodded again.  "Then I'll help hold him.  No one should be in that sort of danger, especially not that cute son of the other white guy's."  He found his spot and started off.

Trish looked at the other guys.  "You too."  They headed off, going to get sucked in too.

***

Boris walked into the lair that night with a cooler, putting it in the refrigerator, but for one bag.  That he warmed in the microwave and headed downstairs, going to free the other vampire.  He found Connor standing in front of the door, head tipped, looking confused.  "The vampire Xander."

"Oh!"  He nodded.  "Okay."  He handed over the keys Throttle had given him.  "I was told to come unlock their new pet."

"I'm sure it was a joke," he soothed, unlocking the door.  The vampire glared at him so he held up the bag.  "Human?"  It was snatched and drank.  "There's more in the fridge, Xander.  Come, let's talk.  I'm the closest you're going to get to a master around here."

"Is Willow here?"

"I'm searching, I haven't heard yet," he admitted, leading the young man up onto the roof.  It was a pretty night.  He did have on body armor, just in case the boy tried something to him, but he pretty much trusted this Xander too.  "So, how did you come to be here?"

"Big K-Mart express."   Boris looked confused.  "Blue light special."

"Oh."  He nodded.  "That sounds like a summoning and someone had to have known that you were around probably."

"They said they were looking for evil Xander's.  The last one nearly killed them.  For some reason I worried them less."  He shifted, looking around.  "The me here seems kinda uptight."

"That's because of Wolfram and Hart.  Usually he's the biggest goofball on the planet.  Trust him, he's good at what he does, but he's still got a good sense of bad humor."  The vampire beside him smiled slightly at that and looked down.  "Do you want to go home?"

"I have the feeling that we'd be staked at home."  He looked down at himself.  "I never really thought about spending life as a sixteen-year-old guy.  It's creepy and odd, but I'd rather not die if possible."

"I understand," he agreed, patting him on the back again.  "So, we need to do something about you.  Having you in the city makes Xander more uptight.  Having you running around probably does, but shouldn't as much.  Out of sight and all that," he said thoughtfully.

"I can't do the soul crap like Puppy did.  I refuse to turn into one of my torture victims."

"I can understand that.  Besides, a soul doesn't make you repent, that's your nature kicking you in the teeth.  There's plenty who have no repentance with a soul."  He stared across the city again.  "I'd offer you and your Willow a spot in my home, but with Faith that's a bit iffy at the moment, plus you wouldn't get to torture anyone.  Chicago's very laid back most of the time.  It's a very mellow buzz, like we're all smoking the same joint."

Xander laughed.  "I'd never have taken you for someone who did that."

"You'd be surprised," he said dryly.  "I've done more than my share of whatever was hot and current for the last six hundred years."  He patted him on the back again.  "I'm surprised his mate hasn't come in to talk to you yet."

"If he's the tan one I saw him looking in at me, but nothing else.  The white guy did.  He nearly bounced me to death."  He shifted some.  "Why is he a furry demon?"

"They're not demons, kid. They're not from around here, but they're not demons.  To answer your question," he said, turning the boy to look at him.  "The Willow here did it.  She's a witch here."

"Oh."  He frowned.  "She is?"  He nodded.  "Oh."  He shook his head.  "Mine wouldn't put up with that.  Takes too much time."  He shrugged and grinned.  "So, now what?"

"Now, we have to find you a spot that's not in the bathroom," Boris said fondly, grinning at him.  He could learn to like this vampire Xander.  He was like a younger, wilder, tougher version of his Xander.  "So, what did you want to do with your life, Xander?  I know it's odd but you now have a long future if you stay here.  You've got to do something with it."

"I don't know," Xander sighed.  "All I know is that I'd like not to be staked by whoever's on the ramp."  He looked back, finding Throttle there.  "That's his man?"  Boris nodded.  "Does he hate me because I'm some sort of odd version of his husband?"

"I'm guessing he's just realized that his mate could have turned into you," he soothed, patting him on the back, grinning at Throttle, who nodded.  "You're not going to stake him, right?"

"No.  Not unless he tries to eat us."  He walked over to join them.  "You weird us out, kid.  Nothing more."

"That white one came to figure out what the difference was."

"The difference was a wish made by Cordelia, that Buffy Summers had never come to the Hellmouth," Throttle told him.

"You mean I was created by a wish demon?" he said in disgust.

"One that the you here later ended up dating and nearly marrying," Throttle admitted.  "Here Cordelia was your ex when she did it."

"I dated the prissy bitch?"

"Yeah," Throttle agreed dryly, smirking at him.  "You did."

"Eww!  I have better taste than that!"  He went to find himself, finding him on the couch with the baby.  "You dated Cordy?  The ice princess?  I have better taste than that!"

"All we did was kiss and fight," Xander said dryly, shrugging a bit.  "It got me respect from the jocks, even though she was cheating on me the whole time we were together."

"And you let her live?" he demanded.

"Not into staking the living," Xander said, staring him down.  The baby cooed up at the vampire Xander.  "No, honey, I don't think he does babies."

"No, that's Dru's thing," he admitted bitterly.  He looked at the kid, who was very cute.  "I wouldn't eat you anyway, you'd taste funny."  He looked at his older self from this realm.  "A wish demon?"

"Yeah, Cordy hated Buffy now and then because she got attention.  She wished that Buffy had never come to the patron saint of scorned women."

"Anyanka made us?  Hold on, that means you dated her?"

"She was human."

"Since when?"

"Since during that she lost her power center.  I took her to the prom too."  The vampire Xander shuddered.  "Not much choice if I wanted to go."

"Eww.  I have better taste than that."

"Hey, look at what I got when I got here," he said smugly.  "In Sunnydale my options were limited.  Now I have a strong, manly, macho stud who gives great backrubs." Vic patted him on the nose.  "Sorry, am I not paying attention to you?"  He grinned at the baby, who made cooing noises at him and grinned back.  "Hi, Vic.  Did you wanna cuddle the uncle's tummy?"  Vic snuggled in, liking that offer.  "You're such a good boy."  He stroked the fur gently, looking up at his vampire self.  "I'm content."

"I can see that. Any word on Willow?"

"I think so, I can't be sure. From what the lawyer babbled when I rescued you, I think he did but she ate one of them and escaped."

"Sounds like my Wills," he said proudly.

Boris came down the ramp. "She walked into the club and asked about you, my boy.  Let's go see your girl.  Xander?"

"Being cuddled.  Don't want her here, she'd hit on my man."

"Fine, I'll bring them both home with me."  He grinned at him.  "You look good like that.  You should have some some day."

"If Throttle wants.  I don't need to spawn, not really.  It's a bad thing if I do."  He gave him a gentle grin.  "Being an uncle's fine.  Maybe I'll adopt a few of the orphans some day."

"Sure, kid."  He tugged on Xander's sleeve, walking the vampire off to his car.  "He thinks Willow would be worse?"

"I think Willow managed to escape here in the past, but I'm not sure why I think that."

"She did," Vinnie admitted from the garage.  He stepped out.  "Yeah, let's not have Rosenburg here.  She makes some of us nervous.  You're a Xander, therefore we can pretty well gauge your reactions to things but she's creepy."

"Sure," Xander said with a bright grin.  "More for me."  He got into the car Boris pointed out.

"I left some blood in the fridge.  Go ahead and freeze it in case something else comes up."  Vinnie shuddered.  "Just put it in a plastic bag, Vincent. It's only a few bags."  He got into the car and headed off to find Willow.  They walked into the club together, finding the girl sitting at his usual table, her maroon leather catsuit was very form fitting, and most of the vampires were giving her scared looks.  "Wolfram and Hart brought her over," he said quietly.  "We will leave them alone.  They're trying to destroy me and Xander.  You'll get caught in the crossfire."  Most of the vampires nodded and backed off, going back to partying.  He sat down, smiling at her.  "Hello, Willow."

"Hey.  Who're you?  Xander?" she purred, pulling him down to kiss him hotly.  "Missed you."

"I missed you too.  Then again, I saw the me from here.  He's furry."

"Furry?  He's a demon?"

"No, or not so I've been told.  Give," he ordered, staring at the local master.

"Martian actually, not demonic."

"Ooooohkay," Willow said.  "How?"

"You."

"Ow.  I do magic?"  He nodded.  "Shit."  She shrugged.  "So very not my style anymore."  She pinched Xander's butt and grinned at him.  "Is it numb?"

"I spent the last day in my alter ego's bathroom.  It was nice enough and you could actually sleep in the tub comfortably."

"Poor baby, should I kiss it and make it better?"

"Not in public," Boris said patiently.  "We don't play those games around here, Willow.  I'd bring you home with me but I've got a pregnant slayer staying with me."

"Fun new pet?" Willow asked.

"No, she's carrying one of mine."

"Oh."  She frowned at him.  "That rite worked?"  He nodded.  "Wow.  That's kinda cool I guess.  Motel?  No one here seems very interested in our sort of fun and games."

"He said all the demons here in town are like pot smokers," Xander complained.  "No real mayhem, problems, or deaths."

"So the whole town is like disney?" Willow complained.

"We're not quite that happy.  Think of it more like a minor, older family playground."

"So what do you do for fun all day?"

"I run a few companies that employ both demons and humans.  We're mostly families here in Chicago, Willow."

"Oh, get this, I found out what we are to this realm," Xander said, sitting down next to her.  "We were created by Anyanka due to a wish made by Cordelia."

"Eww!"

"And his former self here ended up dating Anyanka when she became human," Boris agreed.  She shuddered.  "We have a different form of warfare here."

Willow looked at him.  "I wanna go home," she said in a little girl's voice.  "You're no fun to play with and you have odd rules to your games."

"I know, dear, and we're working on it.  Now, if you can promise to leave Faith alone, you two can come home with me.  Xander has said he probably couldn't put up with you at his house."

"Not if he's with Anyanka."

"Not anymore.  She died here.  He's with one of the furry people, a good guy.  Throttle's the most important thing in his life now.  Even more than work."

"Pity I can't see that.  My Xander looks great when he takes it," she purred, smirking at him.

"There's no Master here and no one's topping me now, baby," he said, pinching her on the tit.  "Remember, I turned you, not the other way around."  Boris shivered.  "So, can we borrow a room as long as we don't bug Faith?"

"Yeah, you can borrow a room as long as you don't bother Faith.  And probably stick to leaving the Xander from here alone as well."

"Sure."  He stood up and Willow did the same.  Boris put some money down.  "We pay for drinks?"

"It's a vampire bar, it doesn't hold much of a threat here.  The owner's nearly a thousand."  He walked them out to his car, letting them get the backseat together.  He saw Fred pouting at the club.  "Fred!" he snapped.  Fred gave him an adoring look.  "Get in the car."

"Yes, master.  I was just remembering.  I had fond thoughts of what the doctor used to do to me too."  He got in and looked back, waving his tentacled hand.  "Hi.  I'm Fred.  Will you hurt me?"

"I can hurt you all you want, baby," she cooed, reaching over to pull him back with them.  She wanted to get a good look at him first.  He was a mixed up little demon creature.

"Play gently with him.  He's not turned," Boris ordered as he got in.  He headed for the house, smiling when Fred cooed because Willow had just twisted his balls.  "We just got those to work for him.  His maker is presently locked up and pregnant as well.  Xander, the one from here, gave him to us for the same rite.  There was a very nice wish demon who helped him to be both and participate."

"Hmmm, I'll go talk to him later," Willow purred.  "He sounds like fun."

"As long as he doesn't miscarry," Boris cautioned.  He pulled into his garage and got out, heading inside with the new vampires.  His servants would park the car for him.  They followed into the house, whistling.  "The benefits of owning your own construction company," he said with a grand smile.  "Faith?"

"Going to kill you!" she yelled.

"Ooh, mood swing," Willow groaned.  "Not fun."  She turned and smiled at her vampire self.  "Hey, how ya doin'?"

"This reached you on Mars?" Boris asked.

"I have telltales to tell me when she gets thrown back.  After the second visit, I made sure of it."  She looked around.  "Watch out, she's got a stake," she said, backing away.  Faith came running out and Boris grabbed the stake, stopping her, staring in her eyes.  Faith burst out crying and he soothed her, leading her away to sit down and cuddle her.

"Hate you."

"I know, precious, but if you stake me a good portion of people will be unemployed," he soothed.  "Stake me later.  Right now, it's made so Xander would take over the company and watch over Megan and you guys."  He stroked her back.  "What did I do?"

"You made me fat!  I can't even do a pushup!"

"Seven more months and you'll be able to do all you want," he promised, stroking her stomach.  "I'll help you get back in shape and everything."  She sniffled and staked him, then got up and stomped off.

"Oh, shit," Willow sighed, concentrating.  "I can't bring him back.  Megan!"  She came running and Willow pointed. "Faith."

"Shit!  He didn't have a will!"

"Wolfram and Hart has something to bring him back," Willow offered.  "I don't know how.  You'd have to ask Connor."

"Um, he did have a will," the Xander admitted.  "He said something about the me here making one for him."

Megan dove for the nearest phone, calling the lair.  "Faith staked him!" she screamed.  "I don't know what to do!"  She looked at the phone.  "Not funny!"  Xander repeated his suggestion and calmly told her what was going to happen now.  She calmed down at the soothing voice.  "You're sure?"  She nodded. "Thank you, Xander."  She hung up and burst out crying, which brought her wife running.  "We've got to pick him up.  We can't leave him like that."

"We will," she soothed, patting her on the back.  "We'll go clean the dustbuster and suck him up into his favorite vase.  If there's some way of bringing him back, we will," she soothed. Megan sobbed against her chest.  "Who are you three?"  She saw Willow and flinched.  "You!"

"Me," she admitted. "I came down to offer to help send these two home.  It can wait for a few days," she offered, fading out.  "Ask Connor how they brought his mother back."   She nodded, calling the lair to talk to him.  They knew where he was.  Megan was too emotional at the moment.

Episode 47:

Xander made the emergency calls, getting all the assorted crew chiefs heading to a firm location at once.  Then he got up and looked at everyone.  "Emergency situation three has happened.  Shit is about to hit the fan, but it's all going to impact me getting sleep.  I'm sorry in advance if I snarl, beat you, or even just give you hurt looks for being nice.  Someone call Gunn and Connor to make sure they can get the machine or whatever to bring Boris back to life."  He stomped off, going to get onto his bike and head to the same location with his copy of the will.  Most of them made it there before him, but Trisha, who came in wearing a beaded dark gray gown that was fairly skimming and slit up to her thigh on her left side.  It wasn't too bad on her but she wasn't the most shapely so it made her look like a teenager at the prom.  "Okay," he said, waving for attention.  "We've just grown a problem."  Everyone stared at him.  "I'm Xander."  Most of everyone stared at him and a few looked confused.  "I did the abuse shelter site."  That got a lot of nods and only a few confused looks.  He looked at one.  "Are you one of our crew chiefs, sir?"  He nodded. "You're sure?"

"He is, he just got promoted from under Bill," Merle said.  "Xander started out as my second, moved to work with Trish, then handled stuff before coming back to work with both of us on our current site."  Everyone quit looking so confused.  "Problems?"

"Boris just got staked by Faith," he admitted.  He held up the will.  "We're working on it, there may be a way around it but it'll take a few weeks."

"What about paychecks?" Trisha demanded.  "I can't ask my guys to go that long!"

"Chill, Trish," he said calmly.  "What I have in my hand is a copy of the will Boris and I worked out."  He handed it to Merle.  "You can read it.  Megan's still gonna be helping once she calms down."

Merle looked at it, then stared at him in horror.  "You're running things?"

"Until we can get him back, yeah," he said firmly, looking at the others.  "This means there will be paychecks.  Things will go on as normal.  What I'm not sure of is if we should take a few days off in tribute.  He can always come back as his son or something."

"How's Faith taking this?" Trisha asked.

"She's hormonal and pregnant," Xander said dryly.  "She's a slayer, hormonal, and pregnant.  Megan's going to warn the other fathers not to come over for a few days."  That got some understanding nods.  "So, the question becomes, do we take three days off in tribute?  That would get us to Friday actually."

"We could do that, I don't think any of us are going to hit target this month," one guy offered.

"We're under and staying under," Trish said smugly.  "Xander's like that."

"How?" one of the other guys demanded. "My guys are usually pretty good but they're slacking hard this summer."

"I'm pretty sure you'll find that we've been being sabotaged by the same people who just had their building destroyed the other day," Xander told them.  "For some reason, Wolfram and Hart want this company.  I don't know why, I don't care why, they're evil and sacrifice people for fun and games.   If you doubt me, they've killed more good people than the army has.  So we're all going to hunker down and weed out the bad influences.  I know Boris found a few that were from a street gang who were hired to cause trouble.  I know they've hired some ringers."  He held up a few sheets of paper.  "Look for your guys' names on here. This is who they've hired this year to cause trouble around the city."  He handed it to the nearest manager.  "I'm leaving it up to you guys.  Do we pull a tribute time off the rest of this week?"

"I can't," one guy said, looking at him.  "I'm four days from my deadline. I was about to ask for any extra workers."

Xander considered it.  "Anyone else?"  No one said anything.  "Tell me now."  Still no answer but a few headshakes.  "Okay.  Then we'll get anyone who's desperate over to you.  You guys can do it next week."  That man sighed.  "Any of our crews who *need* and *have to* have the hours, send there."  Everyone nodded at that.  "Any other problems?"

"Paychecks?"

"Megan's doing them, as usual," he promised.  "Things should be back to normal in three weeks or so. If we can get our hands on the thing that'll bring him back sooner, it'll be sooner.  We're keeping it around during the *whole* pregnancy as well," he finished dryly.  "Any other issues?"  One guy raised his hand.  "Yeah?"

"How do we get in touch with you?"

Xander took a pen and wrote his number on the back of the lists, holding them up.  "Take it down however.  That's my home phone.  If I'm not there, my husband can call me.  If he's not there, there's always someone there."  Everyone nodded.  "At the site, I'm with Merle and Trisha this time.  You can stop by or scream at them and they'll scream at me."  Merle chuckled at that.  "Guys, I'm a nice guy, I'm a fair guy.  You get crap, you tell me.  You need crap, you tell me.  You need help, you tell me and I'll do my best.  Whatever you need, I can probably handle.  My husband might not see me for a few days," he admitted, giving them a sheepish grin, "but he's gotten used to that now and then when things go bad."  The doors slammed open and he looked back.  "One of the crew leads?"

"Yeah, you?"

"I'm Xander."  He shook his hand.  "Boris ran into a serious problem earlier."  This guy was setting off his danger signals and he didn't know why.

"He's taking over until Boris can come back," Merle told him, backing Xander up.  "Which site are you on?"

"The one on Allegro drive."

"We have one there?" Xander asked.  "I thought we finally finished that one last month."  The man gave him a long stare.  "I started under Merle."

"So you're the guy who didn't call in one too many times?"

"Hey, we were being attacked.  Boris understood that and I needed the vacation.  One of my best friends just had her first child and I'm doing a lot of the childcare when they're too tired."  The guy snorted.  "Right now, I'm working with Merle and Trisha on their site."

"Oh.  Heard that's a big complex."

"Fairly," Merle agreed.  "So, we've got a list of people who a group trying to sabotage us have hired.  We've got Xander's phone number, and we're done?" he asked the rest.  Everyone nodded.

"How soon will Boris be back?"

"Hopefully about three weeks.  Megan and I are working things until then," Xander told him.

"Why you?"

"Because I'm good," Xander told him.  "My crew runs under budget, under schedule, and has the highest ratings from inspectors.  Boris and I worked this out a few weeks ago because he's becoming a father soon."

"I know what he is."

"Then you should know there's ways around that," Xander said dryly.  "As Faith proves repeatedly.  She's pregnant with about six kids at the moment, one of them his.  Artificial insemination works wonders."  He shrugged.  "He wanted it, she stepped in to help him and a few people.  Then she got him earlier and we're working on getting him back up and running."

"You can do that?"

"You know anything about Connor Angel?"  The man went pale under his dark skin.  "So do I," he said dryly.  "Wolfram and Hart have been trying us all recently.  Your name on that list by any chance?"  The man glared and Xander stepped forward.  "Let's get this straight.  I'm from Sunnydale, honey."  He grinned.  "You were Initiative, right?  I worked with Buffy."  The man took three steps back, right into the doors.  "We got it?"  He nodded.  "Good. Then we can work together as long as you're not on that list and not out to stop the company.  I know there's got to be some who aren't on there, pet projects, personal friends, people who aren't on the list.  If it's you, or anyone in this room, I'd stop soon.  Like I told some cops, the last crew they had working on their building lost sixteen mysteriously, never found.  In four days, they're sacrificing at least fifty people.  They do it every year.  We're still waiting on a confirmed spot."  They got quiet so Xander looked at them.  "We know they will.  I'm working on stopping them.  For the record, no I did not blow up their building but I was inside since they stole my personnel file.  Me and Connor both."  They all stared at him.  "From LA, guys.  Long story if you're not used to the strange crap in the world.  So, we cool?"  Everyone nodded.  "Then dismissed unless you need me.  Oh, hey, big guy.  If you've got people who absolutely can't stay off work for the rest of this week, send it to him," he said, pointing at the one guy.  "He's desperate."

"Fine," he agreed quietly.  "What are you?"

"Xander Harris," he said with a fond smirk.  "You guys had a file on me too."  He opened the door, letting everyone out.  "Go home, people, or go party or celebrate him however.  Call me if you need me."  They wandered off.    He walked outside, going to his bike.  He found a certain dark haired, balding detective against it.  "Yeah?" he asked quietly.

"Connor?"

"Nice guy, got fucked over by W&H himself.  They made him come into being against his parents' wills."  He looked at him.  "The yearly sacrifice.  Where are they holding it since their offices and the sacrificial chamber were destroyed?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Xander groaned.  "No one told you.  Okay.  These guys sacrifice fifty to eighty guys a year to raise power.  All at once. They've been gathering victims now all year.  If those construction workers aren't dead already, it's pretty certain they will be in four days.  Or if their hostages got away, expect a surge in missing persons locally.  They won't have time to ship them in.  There's not many places they can do that and taint that way easily.  It's a short list.  I'll gather up what I know tonight and have it delivered tomorrow with Dawn.  She's a normal girl.  It'll lead to less freaking."  Vecchio nodded.  "Right now, I'm in the middle of a small personal crisis so I'm going to go find somewhere and scream my head off."

"No heavy bag?"

"Yeah, but I figure my mate probably wants it."  He grinned and got on his bike.  "Off him please, Detective, before he gets a like for silk instead of leather and jeans."

The detective looked at him.  "You like leather?  You don't look like the type."

"You've obviously never seen my husband," he said happily, starting his bike and riding away.

"You'd be surprised," he said dryly, watching him leave.  He felt an arm go around his shoulders and looked at the guy standing there.  "Gonna defend him?"

"Xander?  Yeah.  He's worth it," Merle noted.  "He's a good guy, one of the city's defenders.  He's one of the reasons Limburger finally left the city alone.   He's one of the good guys and he's trying to do what he does best, but the system is getting in his way.  Trust me, there's a reason for everything he does, even if he sometimes has to make one up."  He let him go.  "Try to help him stop that sacrifice.  The city's overcrowded, but not that much."  He walked off to his car, getting in and going home to veg for the rest of the night and shudder in horror at the thought of Xander running *anything* this complicated.  The man only cooked things one dish at a time, said doing everything at once was too complicated.  He sent up many silent prayers to get that boy some help.

***

Willow looked up as something hit her in the head.  "What? I know!  Besides, I hate you Powers!"  She stomped off, going to soothe Faith and work on reconstructing the sarcophagus that had reanimated Darla.  "Don't we have any other magic around here?" she complained as she stomped on the astral plane.

***

Micah looked up from his desk as someone buzzed his phone.  "No," he answered, then hung up again.

Someone rang him again.  "What?" he asked impatiently.  "Why would I care about reanimation devices, Wesley?"  He listened.  "So?"  He dropped his pen and groaned.  "Xander's taken over Boris' companies and now he's fighting Wolfram and Hart's yearly sacrifice?  Why?"  It was explained with a few small chuckles and he whimpered.  "Sure, I'll ask around."  He hung up and dialed his Pentagon liaison.  "Do we have any reanimation devices lying around handy?  Something that can fully bring a body back to life?"  The answer made him groan and whimper, then shake his head and sigh.  "I may need to borrow it sometime soon.  Xander seems to have killed his boss, or had his boss killed by his pregnant slayer pet, and now needs to reanimate him.  Oh, has to be a full body?  You sure?  Sure, let me know when you do.  Thanks."  He hung up and went to take drugs.   He needed drugs.  He really needed drugs.  His phone rang and he picked up his secretary's extension.  "Yeah?" he asked, sounding complacent.  "Really?  Would it work on one that was dusted?  Sure, if you can.  I'll bring his ashes here.  Sure, give me a week?"  He grinned.  "Thanks.  You may have just saved us a worse headache in the long run."  He hung up and went to find his drugs.  He wanted his drugs.  Drugs were nice.

Max stopped her wandering to look at him.  "What's wrong?"

"Xander's running Boris' companies.  Drugs are nice," he said with a dopy grin.

"I think you need to go home.  Let me call Lorne to come pick you up," she said, sitting him down in a nearby desk chair. "You stay there, Micah, give me a few minutes.  If he can't, I'll drive you home."

"Okay.  Can we stop and get me some blotter acid?  It'll help."

"No, I can't do that.  You can always order some of that in," she soothed, going to call Lorne very fast.  "I think he's having a reaction," she hissed.  "He just told me drugs are nice and he wants some blotter acid."  She listened and looked at Micah.  "What did Xander do?  He wants to know."

"Boris got staked.  Xander's running his stuff.  They're going to bring him back."

Max looked at him, then at the phone.  "Did you hear that?" she asked Lorne.  "No, Boris got staked.  Xander's running his stuff.  They're going to bring him back."  She nodded and hung up.  "He'll be right here to take you home, Micah.  I'll work on those figures for you."  He hugged her, sniffling a bit.  "It's okay.  Go home, it'll all be okay in the morning.  You won't have to help Xander run anything."

Micah nodded, wandering outside to get Lorne.  He smiled when he saw him, getting into his car.  Lorne handed over a few joints. "I'd need 'em too," he admitted, taking off.

***

Xander walked into the house, finding Throttle reading something in Martian, and went over to snuggle up to his side.  "Can you teach me this?"

"Think it'll help with the stress?"

"No, but things should run pretty smoothly.  We'll be announcing everyone has the week off but one crew in tribute.  That one crew's four days from their deadline.  Anyone who can't do the four days can go help them."  He rubbed his cheek against the warm arm.  "Help me?" he asked quietly.

"Of course.  With the business or with something else?"

"Wolfram and Hart are due to sacrifice fifty to eight in four days time, but their sacrificial chamber is gone now.  I don't know where they're holding people or where they'll pick."

"What's the reason?"

"Raising power, which means that it'll have to be a ritual.  The ritual probably can't be inside the holding space, it'd cause too many problems, but it could be close by.  It's got to be big to hold that many people.  Even using vamps and magic to compel and keep contained, it won't help.  They'd still fight if they could.  So I'd make them separate, but I don't know how they're going to do it.  I can't think that evilly."

"We'll figure it out," he soothed, stroking his arm and back.  "We'll talk to Meg tomorrow, see if she or Oz can find something."  He nodded, rubbing his cheek against the strong arm.  "Need any more help?"

"I'm scared."

"I know.  It'll be fine. You'll do wonderfully and it'll be fine, Xander.  Like you said, things pretty well run themselves.  We'll get through this and he'll come back and I'll get sex again."  Xander grinned at him.  "Feel better now?"

"Kinda," Xander agreed, looking a bit more confident.  "Can we cuddle and you teach me how to read and speak Martian?  I wanna learn."

"Sure."  They both looked over as Dawn came up the stairs with Vic in her arms, cooing gently in his ear.  She sat down and Vic wiggled, finally lunging down and crawling off.  "I guess he's tired of being pampered and babied, he's a strong macho mouse," Throttle joked.  "Vincent!  Your son's wandering!" he shouted, knowing Vinnie would hear him.  Dawn was just pouting.  "It'll be fine.  It wasn't you."

"I know," she sighed, looking at him.  "But he's not so adorable when he's moving on his own."

"He's only four months old.  How?" Xander asked.

"We develop a bit faster than you guys do," Throttle offered, kissing him on the head.  "Hey, Vic, want a cuddle with the Uncle Xander?"  Vic spit at him and continued to explore.

Vinnie came running up the ramp and stared at his son.  "Oh, Gods," he whispered, falling to his knees.  "You're crawling!  Already!  Now!  Right now!"

"Ohmygod!" the baby shrieked, just like his favorite auntie.  Vinnie's jaw dropped and he let out a small whimper, looking shocked and dazed.  This was his son.  His son!  His son squealed like Dawn!  He crawled to his daddy, beaming proudly at him.  "Ohmygod!"  He bounced a bit, tugging on his bandoliers.

"No more watching him, Dawn," Throttle said patiently.  She spit at him and went to pick up the baby to nuzzle him.  Vic wiggled and got down again, crawling off to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?  I know where mommy is," Vinnie offered with a grin.  He wasn't sure if he should be proud, or cry at what his son's first words were.  His son grinned at him so he picked him up and walked him back to their room, setting him on the bed after nudging her awake.

Charley watched as their son crawled up to her, and latched on through her shirt.  "Hungry?" she asked sarcastically.  "Since when did you crawl?"

"Son, say hi to mommy," Vinnie said happily.  "She hasn't heard you speak."

Vic just grinned and went back to eating.   He pulled his son off.  "Ohmygod!" he shrieked, struggling to get back.

Charley undid her top for him, letting her poor, deluded son latch back on.  "You poor boy," she soothed, stroking the back of his head.  "Don't worry, your daddy and I will make you a normal mouse.  You'll grow up like your daddy, only without his ego problems, and it'll be all okay.  We'll teach you more words soon."

"Poof!" he said proudly.

"No, son, that's a Spike word," Vinnie said, shaking his head.  "He's got to have some normal friends soon.  He really, really does."

Charley nodded.  "We'll let Primer and her twins come down shortly.  That should solve most of it."

"Yeah, then he'll learn Martian swears," Vinnie said dryly.  "We need normal friends."  His son pulled off and burped. "Manners, son."

"Poof!" he said happily, diving back in. "Ohmygod," he murmured sleepily a few minutes later, snuggling into the mommy.  She was very comfy.  He felt daddy take him and let him cuddle too.  He was a good cuddler.  He just needed to be a bit softer in spots.  He got one arm tangled in his daddy's bandoliers and they were taken off and put aside so the he could get comfortable.  There, better.  Victor snuggled in between daddy's breasts and fell asleep there.

Vinnie looked down at him.  "Should I move him to his bed?"

"Just be careful.  It's too hot for blankets and he can roll over already if he gets into trouble."  She snuggled up against her son's back, knowing it would be a long road, but they could make their son normal.  They had the capabilities and they could do it.

***

Vinnie sat his son in front of the computer, in his lap, letting his uncle see him. "Say hi, Vic," he offered.

"Poof!" he said happily.

"We just barely got Spike to quit using that one," he said dryly.  "He doing anything else?"

"Crawling.  Tell him the other word, son."

"Poof!  Poof!  Poof!"  Spike's head popped up from his daddy's lap, giving him an odd look and an inquisitive growl.  He looked at his father, then at the baby on the screen again, leaning forward to pat him.  "Poofpoof!" Vic said, leaning forward to pat him back.  Spike let out another inquisitive growl, this time a few notes higher, patting harder.  "Ohmygod!"

Stoker fell out of his chair, and you could hear the laughing, but Spike had landed on the desk so he was staring at the baby like it was odder than anything he had ever seen.

"Don't feel bad, Spike, we feel the same way," Vinnie sighed, patting his son on the back.  "My son needs normal friends."

Spike growled.  "Mine!" he said, patting the screen.  "Me!  Mine!  Mine!" he shouted.

Stoker's tail came up to grab his son, cuddling him on the floor.  "Carbine, Vinnie's son just said his first words," he yelled.  "You won't believe it!"

She walked into view, carefully stepping over him.  "That good?"

"Poof!  Bitch!  Poof!  Ohmygod!" Vic babbled, beaming at her.

"That's a third word you can't use, son," Vinnie said, shaking his head.  "Not coached.  Started last night," he said at the shocked look.

"Ohmygod!  Poof!" he screamed.  Throttle came to the doorway and he whimpered, patting the screen.  "Poofpoof!  Bitch!"

"That's a word you're not allowed to say, especially not to your Auntie Carbine," Throttle said firmly, coming in to save the poor kid.  "Sorry, first words."

"So I can see," she said dryly.  "Some day, I'll have one and pay you back, Vincent."  She walked off, shaking her head.  "Switch!  Vinnie's son agrees with you!"

Stoker's head came up.  "I'm so proud," he said quietly, but looking very smug.  "I'll bring the kids down soon, man.  Thank you, I needed that laugh."  He hung up and went back to laughing.  That was so bad of Vinnie's son!  You couldn't teach kids to do that at his age either, it was natural.  Carbine shrieked as Spike bit her again.  Like his son biting his nightmare.  He was so proud of his son!

Vinnie dialed Micah.  Holding up his kid.  "Crawling," he said proudly.

"On the other line with the president."

"Poof!  Bitchpoof!" Vic shouted, wiggling to see him.  He grinned and patted the screen.  "Bitchpoof?"

"Yeah, him," Micah agreed, smiling at him.

"Ohmygod!"

"That's what I felt like this morning too, kid.   Good job."  He shook his head as he hung up, making sure he had saved that first.  He wanted to show that to Lorne later.  He went back to the president.  "Sorry, sir, quick interruption from Chicago on a situation."

"First words?" the president asked dryly.

"Ya know, I meant to save that, not send it, sir," he said.  "He's a democrat though, they all are."

"Is that why he thinks I'm an invisible female dog?"

"Um, sir, poof is a British slang term as well," Micah said.  "And one of his acquaintances is a Brit.  I'm sure he means it that way instead," he said, holding in his snickers.  "I'm sorry, sir.  I really did mean to save that instead of send it.  It in no way encompasses my feelings on you or your policies."

"Hell, Micah, I know you hate me.  I'm wondering why that kid does."

"Xander and Throttle are his favorite uncles, sir.  They're still gay."

"Oh, teaching 'em young, huh?"

"No, he's got plenty of girls around him, sir.  His daddy's pretty het, he'll be straight."

"That's good at least," he sighed.  "Anyway, any luck on finding someone?"

"Someone to kick asses and arrest people?  Yeah, I let Hendrix do that.  To make lab assignments and things?  I've found a temporary head to set up ethical constraints and all.  One of the people in Cleveland had a former Physics professor who said he'd temp in until I could find someone permanent.  It won't take more than his summer vacation for the most part."

"Good.  That's good.  He's ethical?"

"Yes, sir.  He's kicked kids out of the program for ethical violations," he said firmly.  "He's firm on those sort of things, sir."

"Good.  I like that.  I did some checking myself and what they did was horrible.  After all, they haven't proven themselves to be against our way of life, and being born funny lookin' isn't a sin in my faith's book.  You behave and make Max laugh too.  She seems to need one now and then."

He hung up and Micah carefully forwarded the video down to Lorne's desk.  About four minutes later he heard this deep, baritone cackle and stood up to looked own there.  "I accidentally forwarded that to the president since he was on hold," he admitted.

Lorne cracked up, grabbing Max to laugh on, pointing at the screen.  "President heard," he gasped, pointing again.

She reran the clip and giggled, hiding it with a file she was holding.  "Oh, that poor set of parents.  They'll never get him to stop squealing now."  She got free and walked off, shaking her head and laughing.  That was just so bad, especially if their president had heard it too.  She wanted to know what he had said to dance out of that one.

***

Xander walked onto the site the next morning, looking at the gathered workers. He looked at Merle, who waved him on.  "Guys," he said, drawing attention.  "Something happened late last night.  You know Faith?"  A few nodded.  "You know why the boss only comes out at night?"  Most everyone nodded.  "Well, Faith staked the boss."  That got full gapes.  "She's fine, we're dealing.  For right now, I'm in charge of the company until we can get a proven heir in.  For now, we're going to be taking the rest of this week off in respect."  Everyone nodded at that.  "If you absolutely can't do without the paycheck, there is a site which is four days from deadline and a bit behind.  They've agreed to host you.  We won't mind, and I think one of these two have the addy."  Trish held it up.  "I know you guys respected Boris as more than a paycheck giver and I agree with you.  I liked the guy a lot or I wouldn't have put up with him leering at me now and then when he was drunk."  Merle coughed. "He did!"

"He did," he agreed.  "Not the time though."

"Point, sorry."  He shrugged.  "We all know I'm not the most hip and fashionably sound cookie in the pack. Sorry if I offended. For right now, either take the address if you want it, or come back Monday.  If there was time, we'd have done this by conference call last night instead of calling you all in today."  They all nodded. "Go, remember the man and how good he was to us all.  I'm gonna try to keep it up."

One guy in the back raised his hand. "Why did she stake him?"

"Faith's like that," he admitted. "She's also pregnant and it was at hand apparently.  She's carrying a kid for Boris and had an early hormone swing."  Most of the guys shuddered at that.  "So we'll figure it out and tell you guys when he gets here, hopefully within a few weeks.  Megan's still doing paychecks and I'm just running the problems into the ground.  Now, go, grieve or not, but be back on Monday."  Everyone nodded, a few stopping by to get the address just in case. Everyone headed home, going to spread the news.   Xander looked at Merle.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem, he did it more than when he was drunk, trust me," he said dryly.  "The boss was not discriminating."  He patted him on the back.  "Go home.  All your paperwork was done and you'll be getting 'how do you want me to move now' calls soon."

"I hope not. You guys all seem so managing and able.  I don't want to change that."  He wandered off, going to get onto his bike and head for a short ride first.  He needed a ride. In fact, he wanted to run away himself right now, but he knew he couldn't leave everyone hanging.  This was a plan that wasn't quite working out right at the moment.  Then again, no one had started to bother him either.  He headed for home, riding up into the lounge area.  Dawn gave him a hug.  "Lots of calls?"

"No, one call.  Wanting to make sure you didn't hang yourself last night.  He said he was sorry for being in the Initiative and he wasn't the manager doing that, but he did know who it was.  And one from one of the workers saying that this site they could temp at was nowhere near done and not able to be done in four days.  Apparently they're *way* behind."

"I'll go look at them later," he promised, taking the papers.  "Thanks, Dawnie."

"Welcome.  Did you get to hear?  He's learned a third word. He called Auntie Carbine a bitch."

He looked at the kid in the middle of the floor.  "Yeah, I did the same thing, watch out for medals, kid."  Throttle and Vinnie both cracked up at that.  "So, anything else happen yet?"

"Not yet," Throttle admitted.  "You okay?"

"So far."  He got up and came over to get a hug.  "Wanna go look at this site with me later?"

"Sure if you want."  He gave him a gentle ear nuzzle.  "It'll be okay.  It'll only be a few weeks and we can manage it."

"I won't have a problem after the first week," he admitted.  "That's when you get all the doubts and the 'come hold my hands' and all that stuff."   Someone else called and he grabbed the phone, groaning when he heard the cheerful voice on the other side.  "Sure, I can hold for the Pentagon.  Why?"  He waited for a few seconds.  "Yes?  Yes, I am.  Why?"  He listened.  "I didn't know that.  No, I'm good.  I already have a security clearance, sir.  General, I'm not sure you're rated high enough to know that I exist," he said dryly.  "No, I'm in the omega range," he said proudly.  "Why?"  He smirked.  "That's fine.  You got someone there who works with Micah Simms?  So do I actually, so don't worry about my rating and anything to do with the electronics company.  Joanna does most of the day-to- day stuff there, I'm just going to be signing things.  Sure, go ahead and ask him.  He'll tell you I'm more than rated high enough to own a company that deals with you guys."

He hung up and got comfortable, then grabbed the phone with his tail and dialed Megan's house.  "The electronics company does Pentagon stuff?"  She snickered and told him what they did.  "That's fine, I just insulted a general who talked down to me.  I already have a security clearance, Megan.  Honey, I'm in the omega range for clearances."  He grinned. "Thanks, me too.  No, I told him Joanna does everything with that, I just sign stuff."  He listened.  "Sure.  From now on I will.  Of course I can be charming and flattering, but I don't care too much about the Pentagon or his attitude.  Yay, but I'll be nicer in the future.  Sure.  I promise.  I won't ruin it for you and if they do pull the new satellite, let me know, I might know someone who could use a communications one.  Thanks."  He hung up and looked at his lover. "We're building a satellite for radio communications for the military.  She said it'd go pretty cheap if they backed out."

"That'd be a great present," Throttle admitted.  "Probably really expensive though."

"Not really. It's not a Mars Rover or anything.  Satellites run from about six hundred thousand to a few mil to have made.  I looked it up," he finished proudly.

"I'm amazed at your research skills," Throttle said dryly.  "That's still really expensive."

"Yeah, but if you guys can't get the brain factory to work...."  He looked up at him.  "If they can do this, you could give them the raw materials and do that, maybe even trade for a few of the brains being made this year if Staff and everyone can't get 'em working."

"I'll suggest it to Staff.  She's the one working on those ideas."  He kissed him gently.  "I still love you, even though you do have ideas."

"So you love me even though I'm smart?" he teased.  Throttle nodded, cracking him up.  "That's fine."  He looked down at the tug to his leg.  "Hey, Vic.  Want a cuddle before I have to go look at a site?"  He pulled the baby up, putting him in his lap.  "There, how's that?"

"Poof!"  He looked around.  "POOOOOOFFFFF!"

"I think he wants his daddy," Xander admitted.  "Vinnie?"  Vinnie came out of the kitchen and his son clapped.  "I think he was calling you."

"Maybe."  He disappeared and came back a few seconds later after the microwave's beep, coming in to sit in front of them and feed his son his first cereal.  "Does this look right?"  Xander looked and nodded.  "Good.  It looks really thin to me."

"Like anyone who's only been on fluids, they have to start small," Xander reminded him.

"I hadn't thought about it that way."  He dished out some and wiped off the spoon, holding it up.  "You wanna try real food, son?" he asked with a grin.  His son tipped his head to look at him, nearly falling over.  Then he giggled madly.  "Yeah, you're my boy," he said, pushing the spoon into his mouth.  Then he retreated after a second and most of it was gone, and down the baby's chin.  He wiped it off with the spoon.  "Try it again, son."  He did it again, and the baby swallowed some this time, staring in awe and he worked his mouth.  "That's cereal.  You'll like real food."  He dished out some more and his son ate it like the good boy he pretended to be, earning a backrub from the uncles.  He grinned at them and went back to eating, trying to grab the bowl to help himself.  "Nope, I control it and the spoon, you can play with it after you're done."

"Only if you're cleaning it out of the carpet and everyone's fur," Xander said dryly.  The baby flung some at him and he wiped it off.  "Don't do that!  I'm nice to you."  He patted him on the back, helping him eat some more.  "Good boy, Victor.  Very good boy."

Rimfire came up the ramp yawning and looking around.  "He's ready for solid foods?  I wondered why Dawn was pouting."

"He's now mobile and starting to speak," Throttle said proudly.

"Ohmygod!" Vic said, clapping happily.

Rimfire looked at the baby mouse, then groaned and walked off. "I'm having horrible visions of the future," he muttered as he went to find breakfast.

"Poof poof!" Vic called.

"I'm right here, son," Vinnie said simply, making the baby laugh.  "Glad you enjoy that thought."  The baby burbled through some more cereal then Vinnie joined Rimfire in the kitchen.  "He's learned a third one from somewhere.  Bitch."

"Dawn's been walking around calling herself a stupid bitch now and then," he admitted.  "I've gotten her to stop most of the time."  He shrugged and made his own oatmeal.  "What are we doing today?" he asked before taking a bite.

"You should probably call Micah and see if he's got anything for you, then make sure you've got everything for your first day of college."  Rimfire nodded at that wisdom. "The rest of us, well, we're probably going to be helping Xander all week and next."

"Sure, and if you need me to, I can too."  He shrugged and put down his empty bowl, heading to shower and get dressed for the day. Dawn was still sulking so he pulled her into the shower with him.  It usually cheered her up a bit.

***

Micah looked up as the head of the IFU walked up to his office, shrugging at him and going back to his listening and nodding.  "Sure, sir, I'm on that right away.  Any idea what they think they are?"  He smirked.  "That's fine, sir, thank you."  He hung up.  "I get to send someone to a UFO convention to look for real aliens."

"They're in Colorado mostly," he said as he sat down, handing over a list.  "I have never seen a bigger group of nazi-like thinking in my life," he admitted.  "You were right to be concerned.  I'm now more paranoid about those people than I am suspicious of you, Simms."

"Thanks," he said, looking over the list. "How many are left?" he asked in awe.

"Twelve."

"Twelve?"

"Twelve.  Only twelve, and that's because they're lab assistants."  He shifted some.  "Most of them were committed easily.  Some weren't committed as easily.  Some were just having fun torturing though and had to be arrested.  A few were torturing humans and were handed over to the cops who had those cases.  I thought it best and most quiet, after having a word with said officers about the NID and the fact that it was being reformatted and the new boss wouldn't put up with this crap.  I now have three guys who have filed for counseling thanks to them."  He stood up.  "I wish you luck.  I'll forward all our reports on the various centers and things once I have it.  Oh, I had to go to Colorado to check out one that was working with that military group.  I drug him off by his ears.  He wanted to kill one of our allies for study."

"They let him live?"

"They couldn't figure out how to dump the body," he admitted.  "So I drug him off too.  He's safely committed talking about aliens and snakes and how they're going to take us all over if he doesn't find a disease that'll infect them and be a biological weapon they can send to other planets.  The nurses think he's raving mad already."  He smirked.  "Any other dirty work?"

"Nah, not now.  Thank you, Hendrix.  I've got a new guy over the lab.  Did you confiscate files?"

"Every and all, they're in boxes and I'll have them delivered later too."  He nodded and left, going to pet his cat, get a drink, and have more nightmares. He paused once he got into his car.  He was doing a lot of that recently.  Maybe he should get rid of his cat?  No, the cat was more soothing when he had the nightmares.  Maybe he'd quit sleeping instead.

***

Xander walked onto that other guy's site and looked at the shell of the building, then at the guy running it.  "It's screened, right?"

"No," he moaned.  "Someone came and knocked down the walls last night."

"Well, I know you've got some help coming.  Have you told the owners that you're this far behind because of what's been going on?"

"No, sir. I was hoping you or Boris would have."

"Uh-uh.  That's a supervisor's job," Xander said firmly.  "We had to call when one of ours fell in from that stupid gasline project, a few times."  The other supervisor shuddered at that.  He looked around.  "So, give, where were you yesterday?" he asked, heading that way to look at the building.  "Oh, husband, Throttle," he said, pointing behind him.  Throttle nodded and followed, parking his bike next to the guard.  He saw a few workers and nodded them over.  "Okay, what do we think happened here?   Your boss said someone came and destroyed part of the site last night?"

"They did?" one guy asked.  "I've only been here a week, sir, and this is as far as we've gotten."

"Guys on break while we're here?" Throttle asked him.

"He told us we don't have permits to work," another guy said.

Xander looked back at the supervisor, who was pale and shaking.  "Go wait in your office.  Now."  He shook his head.  "Right now.  Or else we're going to be playing 'debating stories' in front of the crew."  He ran off, getting into his car and heading away.  "Okay, looks like he quit.  Any of you guys got crew lead experience?"  No one raised a hand.  "Shit."  That got some chuckles.  "Okay."  He pulled out his phone, paging through until he came to a number, hitting the send button.  "Mrs. Robison?  It's Xander Harris, Chuck's former boss.  No, well, I'd like to get him back as a crew lead on a temporary job if he's not busy.  He is?"  He groaned.  "Okay.  Um, yeah, actually, it kinda is.  We had an obstruction called a supervisor recently.  Sure.  Thanks."  He hung up and called another number.  "Brad, my man, you're the man, I want you at that site pronto.  You're crew lead, their former supervisor wasn't doing the job and he just ran off.  Yeah, man, now.  Please.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "Okay, is this all your crew?"  One guy shook his head.  "Then I want you all here tomorrow.  I'm going to call the owners.  We're starting real work tomorrow."

"You're not Boris."

"I'm Boris's stand-in.  I'm Xander.  I started with Merle, worked with Trisha, now work with both of them.  Brad's my second in command."  That got some nods.  "He's a good guy, works with you, you guys can help him, but go easy on him, it's his first full crewship.  I'll be looking over his shoulder when needed."  Everyone nodded at that.  "What time is it?"

"Um, eleven, sir."

"Okay, I want as full of a crew here by one if possible.  I don't care how, I don't care if you have to threaten, I want them here.  If they're not here today, they had damn sure better be in tomorrow if they want a job. This is the only site we're running this week out of tribute to Boris and his former life."  That got some stares.  "Megan and I are still working together.  Like I said, I'm his stand-in."  That got some more nods.  "You've got extra people coming from other sites.  Yo, Carlos, did you take names?"

"Yes, sir, and numbers."

"Good, call 'em now.  Tell 'em work's starting at one, after lunch.  Half day today, full day tomorrow.  When Brad gets here, I wanna see him pronto.  The rest of the crew gets called in and called back.  I'm calling the owners."

"They live across the street, sir, and I can go get them."

"Please."  The guard jogged off and Xander looked up at the building.  "This is so very wrong."  He walked over when the middle aged couple started through the parking lot.  "I'm so sorry.  Boris just died last night.  I'm his heir, I'm naming my second over this site.  It's going to be done.  That last guy, he just quit."

"Good, it's already not right."

"Hey, let's go find the plans, go over it, and when Brad gets here, I'll go over ...."  He grinned as Brad pulled up.  "That's Brad."  He waved him over. "The owners say the last guy wasn't getting it right at all beyond not doing anything."

"Oh, my fucking God," he growled, looking at the site.

"He tried to tell Xander that someone stole walls," Throttle told him.

"I so wanna kick his ass," he said through gritted teeth.

"Stand in line," Xander said with a grin.  "I'll watch you however you need and I'll be there to help you fill out paperwork, this is your site now.  Everyone who can be will be in at one and if they can't be, they'd better be here tomorrow.  You're getting all the guys who volunteered as well."

"Good!  Let's go look at the plans."  He grinned at the couple.  "I'm his second on an interior crew.  He's done a lot of my training.  Depending on the size, it won't take long."  He walked them off, going to look over the plans with them, letting Xander watch.  He was going to run this site and do it well.  So well he'd get to keep his own crew.  Or maybe get to split off half of Xander's at the new site.  He'd like that.  He waved the guys over, finding the plans and bringing them to the table.  "Okay, ma'am, sir, what's wrong so far?" he asked, letting the guys hold the edges for him.  He looked from the plans to the building. "Is it even supposed to be facing sideways?"  They shook their heads and everyone groaned.  "Okay."  He reoriented the plans.  "It should look like that, right?"  They both nodded.  He looked at it, then at the building.  "Guys, it looks like we're uncreating, then creating again.  Don't waste materials, don't do sloppy work, and we'll get along fine."

"Hey, it's not bricks," Xander joked.  The male of the couple looked at him.  "Due to that gasline project, we had to move a wing of a new medical building thirty feet after it was mostly constructed.  Brad started on that one actually."

"Was that the one that sunk into a sinkhole, nearly whole?" the wife asked.  Xander nodded.  "Well, it looked well constructed."

"It was," Brad agreed with a grin for her.  "I'm an ace at framing.  They wanted to just make me do that.  Do we have all the materials ordered?"  She nodded.  "Down to cabinets and everything?"

"Yes, sir, they do, they're in our shed actually."

"Good.  We'll start the deconstruction this afternoon, hopefully starting the framing by then as well.  Quite a lot of that is stud walls and we can deconnect them and move them whole if I'm right."  That got some smiles.  "It won't take as long.  Men, Xander?"

"You're a priority site, Brad.  This isn't fair to them."

"Our original deadline was last month," the woman said.  "He promised us within four days."

Brad looked at the building, then at the crew.  "I can't do it that fast.  I'm hoping for two weeks, and if I have a full, working crew I think I can do that."

"I'd say three to be safe," Xander admitted.  "Inspectors and things ya know."

"Oh, I do," Brad said dryly.  "Speaking of, Henderson wanted a call about his.  His broke his leg, again."

"Again?  Man!  We've got to get that guy a wheelchair.  One of the city's electrical inspectors," he offered.  "Keeps tripping over little things, like his car."  The couple laughed at that.  "Brad, I'm leaving this in your hands.  I'll want a progress report each night.  Got it?"  He nodded. "Good, and I'll pop around most nights to get it personally."

Brad grinned. "Thanks, Xander.  Can I have a raise too?"

"You're a crew chief on this job, for however long it lasts, Brad, of course you're getting a raise for this job."  He beamed and got a hug, then went to walk the people through to make sure he understood where everything was going. Xander looked at the guys.  "You shouldn't have a problem with Brad, he's a good guy."

"His first one, he'll be a bit eager," one of the guys admitted. "Maybe a bit harsh.  We'll deal and he'll calm down.  If it gets too bad, we'll come see you."

"Sure.  Carlos knows how to reach me, he worked on my site last week."  They nodded.  "Start at one, work your asses off.  Do you guys get a lunch truck?"  They all shook their heads.  "I'll get one for the rest of this week, three dollar credit and all."  He went to call his site's guy, getting him. "Hey, has the truck shown up yet?"  He grinned, getting that phone handed over. "I know he told you, I'm figuring you're making him lunch?  No, there's a site that just got put on highest priority.  The one on Absholm.  We'll do the usual three dollar credit and they're restarting today.  So if you can come down here, we'd be really appreciative.  And hey, next week, we'll figure it out."  He grinned. "Thanks, love.  You're a great woman."  He hung up.  "Lunch truck'll start coming today.  You'll have her for the rest of the week and we'll try to get one of the other ones to at least cruise by at lunch."  That got some nods and they went to go help.   He walked back to the guard's position. "Lunch truck's coming.  Feed the guys.  Crew starts at one.  Brad's now in charge.  I'll be around.  If that last guy comes near the parking lot, I want him arrested for fraud if possible.  Anything he's left in the trailer, Brad can box up this afternoon.  He's fired, he's never working for us again, and if you see him, I wanna know."

"Yes, sir.  You know he was Joanna's brother, right?"

"Do I care?"  He shook his head.  "Good."  He grinned.  "Probably be about three weeks.  Brad's a lot like me."  He called Joanna.  "If you see that brother of yours, eat him.  He tried to lie and say the job he formerly had had walls stolen instead of him just not working.  No, he's over the deadline by over a month, Joanna.  So come down to the Absholm site tonight.  He built it sideways!"  He grinned.  "Seriously!  Built it sideways.  Oriented the building wrong.  It's a house.  It was due to be done last month, he's barely got all the stud walls in place.  I faced him down about it and he ran.  I take it he quit before I could kill him.  So if you see him, please eat him for me, 'kay?"  He grinned.  "Sure.  Any crap from the Pentagon?"  He listened.  "Decent," he breathed, grinning madly.  "I know they hate me.  I don't care that they hate me, but I know they do.  That's why I told him I only sign things and you run things.  So you can deal with him if you want."  He snickered. "No, Throttle's here with me.  He growled at the guy too.  We're heading home.  Tell Megan this is the new priority job outside of that one that burned.  Put them on as equal and mandatory.  Everyone reappears today around one or tomorrow morning or they're fired.  Sure. Lotsa fun.  Hey, if they're on legitimate vacation time, then they're officially still here.  That's fine with me.  Sure.  Have fun."  He hung up and looked at his mate.  "I need drugs.  I have a headache."

"Me too.  Let's swing by the house to do that."  Xander nodded, heading for his bike.  Throttle waved at the guard.  "We're going home if there's a problem."

"Yes, sir," he said, saluting him.

"Don't do that, I'm not military," Throttle complained as he walked over, getting on the front of his bike to drive.  "Home."

"Vinnie said he's picking up lunch.  Vic just snuggled up to Chef Andy like he was God, mostly because daddy smells like his stuff."

Throttle laughed at that. "Victor's going to be a lot of fun in a few months."  He took off, heading for home.  "Are they going to have to pay more?"

"I'll get with Megan tonight to see about that."

"You're good," Throttle assured him.  "Love you."

"Ditto," Xander said, giving him a squeeze.

***

Vampire Willow knocked on the door to the garage, smiling at the woman who answered.  "Hi, Megan sent me over with stuff for your Xander.  Is he here?"

"He's at the lair, next door.  Give me a minute and I'll lead you over if you want.  Come in and wait?"

"Sure."  She walked in and looked around the open space.  "This is really nice."

"Thanks.  My dad built it."  She went into the office, coming out with a few pieces of mail, which went into the mailbox.  "All done.  Let's go through the kitchen so I can set the alarm."  They walked that way and she set the alarm just before shutting the door, leading her through the garage door since someone was in there.  "Hey," she said, looking at the guys in the hottub. "I can't believe you put that in out here."

"I couldn't find another spot for it unless I wanted it on the roof," Xander complained.  "What's up, Willow?"

"Oooh, what a cute little baby," Willow cooed, smiling down at Victor.  She felt everyone stare at her.  "Um, oh, ah, nice baby, pretty baby, be good to eat, yeah, good snack," she corrected hastily.

"We knew you're a Willow already," Xander said dryly, holding a hand out.  She handed over the envelope.  "That seems to be everyone's opnion about Victor.  Even the cops."  He read over the form.  "Good, the company can eat the costs on that house since it was our fault," he said, looking at Throttle, and Modo, who had went to volunteer for the day.  "She found another one so far behind schedule it's not funny but that one has a reasonable reason, his neck broke two weeks back and he's still in the hospital.  She named one of his guys crew lead and he's hopeless.  So we'll have to pop around on him and use the pointy stick of encouragement on him Monday morning before I hit my site."  He folded it up and tossed it on his car's hood since it was parked nearby.  "So, what else is up?" he asked.

"Wolfram and Hart's sarcophagus was broken, but the other me thinks it can be reconstructed.  I'm really powerful," she said in awe.

"Yeah, and you really tried to destroy the world once too," Xander said dryly.  "Out of love's loss."

"Eww.  I'm sorry."

"So was she.  You okay?"

"No!"  She stomped a foot.  "No one'll play with me!"

"Not in Chicago," Xander agreed.  "Connor might take you home if you agree to help him by playing with the bad guys."

"I hadn't thought of that.  Is he here?"

"Doing Tai Chi on the roof."

"Thanks!"  She scurried up the nearest ramp, heading up there to pounce him.  He seemed like he'd be fun to play with too.  Besides, Xander was catching this mellow mood and it was *boring*!

Xander looked at the others.  "I like solving problems."

"Good, then solve his for calling me a poof," Vinnie said, pouting at his son. "Can't you *try* daddy?"

"Poofpoof!"

"Not quite, son.  Try it again.  Daaaaaddddyyyy."

"Poof?"

"No, not poof, daddy."

Modo laughed.  "It is cute."

"It's not cute, I'm not a poof," he defended, kicking his leg in the water.  "Meany."  He looked at his son again.  "Daddy."

"Baddy!"

"Closer," he admitted, kissing him on the forehead.  Then he handed him to mom, who had a bottle.

"Ohmygod!"

Xander cracked up.  "He does kinda sound like a miniature Dawn, or Dawn and Spike's kid," he chuckled.

"Spike gave him this odd look and an inquisitive growl," Vinnie admitted, "then he pounded on the screen and demanded to have him."

"Spike is a little creature some days," Dawn agreed.  She grinned at Xander.  "Can I take your bike out for a spin later?  Just to see if it's any different than Rimfire's ride?"

"If he'll allow it," he said tolerantly.  "You wanna take her for a spin later, big guy?"  His bike beeped and Rimfire's growled so it beeped at him and nudged him.  Rimfire's bike settled down.  "Thanks.  Sure, Dawn, he said it's fine."

"Thank you.  We can play chase," she said happily, grinning at Rimfire.  Who leered back.

"No sex in the park," Modo said firmly.

"Of course not," Dawn sighed, getting out of the hot tub, her bikini showing off her body very well.  "Let me change."

Rimfire watched her walk off.  "Why?  I like her in that."

"She'll get a ticket riding in it," Xander said dryly.  "No, Rimfire.  No bikinis on my bike."

"Yes, sir," he sighed, going to put on dry pants or shorts for his own ride.  His girl didn't need to be wet either.

Xander sighed and sunk down a bit further in the water.  "I needed this."

"You did," Throttle agreed, giving him a hug.  "Want to start on your Martian lessons tonight?"  Xander grinned and nodded.  "That's fine.  We'll start later with food words."

"I had lunch."  Throttle whispered in his ear, making him shiver.  "Is that a menu or a promise?"

"Menu," he said with a fond grin.  "Promises are for later."  Xander got out and headed upstairs to try to figure out what he said in relation to what they had in the fridge and freezer.  Throttle came up and pulled out each item, handing it over as he repeated the name.  For some reason cheese still sounded the same but rootbeer sounded exotic and erotic when he said it.

***

Dawn came back shaky and overly warm, going over to bug Charley for a minute.  "Um, Xander's bike has got a really strong vibration," she told her quietly.  "I'm not sure if that's normal or not."

"I'll check o him," she promised.  Dawn nodded and went to pounce Rimfire.

"Oooh, ready for me?"

"Four times over already; now, bed, right now," she demanded, dragging him off.

Charley snickered, going out to ride his bike around the block and make sure it was healthy.  "Dawn said you've got a bad vibration going.  Can I take you around the block?"  The bike revved, letting her on, and she did drive it around the block, coming back to pounce Vinnie.  "We knew Xander was a lover but his bike's got one strong vibration," she said as she pulled him against her, kissing him hard.  "Just in the right spot."

"Xander said he is his alter ego," he agreed, picking her up and carrying her up the stairs.  Vic couldn't get into much in the living room and he was sure someone would come over to check on them within minutes.  Or their son would follow them.  He could hear him padding along behind them.  He laid her on the bed and got her out of her clothes, diving in to clean up the wetness she already had.  She should only be that way from his tongue and fingers, not from Xander's bike.

Xander came into the garage to check on his bike, grinning at him.  "Did it to the girls too?"  The bike beeped happily.  "No, I'm sure they don't mind it once in a while."  He wiped down his bike's seat and went back to his Martian lessons.  Throttle was having him repeat the names of what he was doing to him over and over, making him beg for it.  It was a great way to learn a new language!

Episode 48:

Vinnie walked his son into the pet store.  Both he and his son sighed in relief at the air conditioning.  The one at home wasn't working as well at the moment and Charley couldn't figure out why, and the repair guy wouldn't be out until the morning.  He smiled at the saleswoman.  "Fish?"  She pointed.  "Thanks.  Ours died."  He walked back that way.

"Bitch!" Vic shouted, grabbing for a fish toy.  Vinnie covered his mouth, smiling at the shocked looking parents.

"Third word, haven't quite gotten him to quit saying it yet.  Got any tips?"

One mother nodded.  "Treats.  Treat for the good words, take it away for the bad ones.  I used oreos with my son and the f-bomb he kept dropping."  She tweaked the baby's cheek.  "You're much too cute to swear, young man."  They walked off.

Vinnie looked down at his son.  "Don't say that again."  He noticed they were near the puppies and that his son was staring at the fuzzy things.  "Sure, you can look at the other furry things."  He walked him over.  "Doggy."  He pointed.  "Those are doggies."  A few of them came up to the window and did their best to get his attention.  "Like the doggies?  Can you say doggie?"  Vic barked and growled, wiggling a lot in his stomach carrier, his tail swishing wildly out the leghole.  "Eh, close enough," he decided.  He walked him on and his son whimpered and reached.  "You can see them before we leave, son," he said patiently.  The guy with the fish grinned at him.  "It's not like we don't have fifteen cats at home," he said dryly.  He looked at the fish and sighed.  "I had one of those," he said, pointing at one like his blue fish.  "It took over it's universe and ate or killed the others, except our hermit crabs, then either the cats proved to be a higher power and killed it or it committed suicide this morning and was nibbled on.  It was in the middle of the floor when we got up.  So I need new home fish."

The man smiled.  "Sure.  Let's see, Dawn ordered yours, right?"  He nodded.  "Easy to care for fish?"  He nodded again.  "And nothing like the blue one this time?"  Vinnie shook his head and his son barked.  "You're adorable," he said, patting Vic on the head.  "Want some new fish?  Have you cleaned your tank?"

"Throttle and Modo are cleaning it at home since they forgot to feed the blue one last night," he said with a smirk.  "Scrubbing gravel and everything like Dawn saw online.  The hermit crabs were okay when we left, I think they managed to survive the Plutarkian fish."

"Plutarkian?"

"Um, swear word where we come from," he said quickly, covering that up.  His son saw a toy and tried to get it, but couldn't reach because daddy was too high so he used his tail and grabbed it, cuddling the little lighthouse.  He looked down at his son.  "Until we leave," he sighed.  "He just started to crawl and speak.  He found the fish first."  The fish guy chuckled at that and grabbed a paper. "Can we get them delivered?  It's hot and I'm on my bike."

"Sure.  Not an issue, sir."

"Bitchpoof!"  The toy was taken away and Vic let out an awesome wail.  "Poof!"  It was handed back and he looked up at his father.  "Bitchpoof?"  It was taken away.  "Ohmygod!"  It was handed back.  "Poof?"  He kept it.  "Bit...."  It was taken away before he got any farther than that.  He scowled at his father, looking every bit like Modo when you woke him up too early.  "Poofpoof!"  It was handed back.  "Poof!"  He cuddled it, still glaring at his father.  "Bitch."  It was taken back and put down and Vinnie moved away this time.

"Hopefully it works," the fish guy said, chuckling a bit.  "He is adorable."

"He called his aunt that name, that's how we learned he knew it," he said dryly, patting his son's foot.  "Okay, so pretty fishies please.  Xander said so.  He's paying for it."

"Sure."  He started to pick out fish, writing them down on the form.  "How about these?  They're big, but they're loving fish.  Won't eat the others."

"That'd be nice," he agreed.  "They are pretty."

"Poooooofffffffffffff!" Vic shouted.

"Son, hush," he said patiently, sticking a finger in his mouth.  His son chewed on him for a minute then spit him out and sucked on his own.  "Thank you, son."  He looked over as someone walked up with a puppy, letting his son see.  "See, doggy."  The doggy struggled to get over to lick them both, loving Vic by how long he licked him.

"He's up for adoption," the salesgirl said with a sweet smile.  "Unfortunately we got him from the shelter and he's running out of time.  Usually people like the puppies first."

"Awww," he said, looking at the dog.  "You're not even as big as our cats."  He scratched the ears, getting the most pitiful, hopeful look ever.  He stared down at him.  "Now I know why Throttle said I shouldn't come alone."  Both salespeople chuckled at that.  "You're just a loving little guy, aren't you?" he asked, taking him to hold.  The dog went back to licking his nose and chin, getting his mouth a few times.  "You're just precious."  He tucked him in with the baby, where the puppy settled in to play with his new toy.  Vic gave him an alarmed look but then hugged him instead.  He sighed and nodded, looking at the fish guy. "How long?"

"Maybe a few hours?" he suggested, letting him have the clipboard.  "There you go, sir.  How's that?"  Vinnie looked and nodded, signing it and handing over his card.  He stopped to look in the dog stuff, picking up some puppy food and some dishes, plus a collar for him and the few cats that didn't have one.  He also pointed at the litter and nodded back at the fish, letting the salesgirl smile and add it to his order when he walked up there.

"Twenty pounds?"

"We have fifteen cats."

"Well, we do have some stuff that comes in thirty pound buckets. We can send over a few of those."

"Please," he agreed, handing over Xander's card.  "I'm authorized."

"I figured you were," she said happily. "He's almost big enough to play with that jingly ball we got you."

"That's a good idea.  I haven't been able to play with my balls because Modo hid them and the son wouldn't let me play with my balls, but now he can play with my balls and it'll be cute."  He grinned and signed the slip, and the contract for the dog, taking that bag home with him.  He found his tank set back up, with some of the old water still in there, but clean now.  His hermit crabs were in there again, his sucker fish were still alive, but one that was floating, and that one got flushed, and the rest would be okay.  He set the baby and the puppy down, putting out some food for him among the cats' dishes and the new water bowl too.  Then he went to find his jingly balls.  He found one, and it was a good one.  He brought it back, rolling it past where his son was trying to maul the puppy, getting his attention on the jingly, bright, plush toy.  His son crawled after it, barking, and pounced.  "I'm so proud," he offered, getting down to play with him.  "Soon, you'll be pouncing like a big mouse.  Yes, you will."  He stole the ball back and rolled it again, and this time the puppy helped.

Tara and Joyce hopped down from their hiding spots, coming down to sniff this new furry thing.  The puppy was batted by Joyce, but it whimpered and gave her that same pitiful look.  Tara sat down to bathe it's ears, earning a bark and a few licks, then the puppy went to chase after the ball again.

"Put that ball back!" Modo yelled.

"Vic's playing with it," he called, grinning at the cats.  "He was pitiful and about to get put to sleep," he said quietly.  They went to pounce the dog, hiding him among the cats for a nap.  Puppies were easily encouraged to nap.

"Did you remember litter?" Throttle yelled.

"Being delivered with the fish."

"Thank you."  He caught the ball as it came rolling down the ramp, tossing it back up before Vic could follow.  "Stay up there, little mouse."  He saw a tiny tail flick and head off after it.  "Good boy."  He heard a bark.  "What was that?"

"Vic, he saw the puppies and thinks he is one," Vinnie called, coming to the top of the ramp.  "Why?"

"Just wondering."  Throttle shook his head, he had wondered why he smelled a dog, now he knew.  Vic had probably played with some at the store.  He went back to his tuneup, and helping Modo with his tire change.   He heard another bark and shook his head.  Kids were just odd.

***

Charley came up for dinner, and found Vic playing with the catnip ball now, and Xander watching him on the floor, but there was a dark, new, slightly furry thing napping on the couch.  "When did we get a dog?"

"What dog?" Vinnie asked.

She looked at him, then swatted him across the back of the head. "The one laying on the couch, Vincent, is there more than one dog?"

He looked back, then up at her. "That's a cat."

"It's not a cat!" she said firmly.  "It's a dog."  The dog and her son both barked.  "See!  Did you just bark, Vic?"  He barked again and the dog did after him.  "Oh, no, we have enough pets and dogs take more work because you have to walk them."

"Which gets him out of the house more often," Throttle assured her.  "Tara adopted him."

"I don't care, I'm not taking care of a dog."

"We take care of the cats, I'm sure Vinnie can walk Vic's dog," Modo assured her.

"Or else the dog goes back," Throttle finished.

"He only had two days to live," Vinnie reminded him.

"Then I'd be taking care of him," Throttle reminded him.

"When does he get fixed?" Modo asked.

"I checked, he's already balless, he's fixed," Xander told him.

"They do what to dogs?" Vinnie asked.

"They pop out their little balls," he said with a shrug.  "Leave the sack but take out the balls."

"Ow," the male mice hissed, holding theirs.

"That'll be happening to Vinnie when he wants a second one," Charley said dryly, glaring at her spouse.  "A dog?"  Vic grabbed his new friend, hugging him and the ball.  "Fine," she complained, "but you're cleaning up after him and you're taking him for walks and you're feeding him."

"Sure," he agreed.  "Come see my new fish?  I didn't get a Plutarkian fish this time either."

"That's probably a good thing since it killed the others."  She looked at his fish, smiling at the lighthouse toy in the tank.  "They needed new toys?"

"No, Vic wanted a new toy," he said dryly.  "Ooh, watch this.  Got advice on the bad word problem.  Vic, want a cookie?"

Xander held one up. "Speak, little mouse."

"Poof!"  He was handed a cookie and grinned, sucking on the edge of it. "Bitchpoof!"  It was taken and he scowled.  "Pooof!"  It was handed back.  "Poof poof?"  It was his!  He started to suck again. "Bitch!"  The cookie was taken.  He let out a wail.

"You're smart, you can figure this game out," Xander promised.

"Poof!"  He was cookied.  "Ohmygod!"  He was handed another cookie.  Two cookies, all right!  "Bitchpoof!"  Both cookies were taken and he snorted, glaring at him.  "Poof!"  One was handed back.  "Poof?"  He kept it.  "Baddy!"  He got the second one back.  "Ohmygod!"  He got a third!  He stared at them, then at his uncle. "Bitch?"  They were all taken away.  He barked and got a cookie.  "Poof?"  He got a second one.  "Bitch?"  They were all taken.  "Poof!"  He got a cookie.  "Poof bitch?"  It was taken.  "Poof?"  It was handed back.  He barked, got a second one.  "Baddy!"  He got a third. He looked at his uncle. "Bitch?"  They were all taken.  "Ohmygod!" he wailed.

"So I take it the son is eating cookies for dinner tonight?" Charley asked sarcastically.

"Pretty muchly, yeah," Vinnie agreed with a grin.  "It's worked so far.  He's showing off for you to see if you agree with us."

She got down, looking at her son.  "Don't say bitch, keep the cookies. You're more than smart enough to figure that out, Victor."

He barked.  His uncle handed him a cookie.  He gummed it to death.  He barked again and got another one.  "Baddy."  He got handed a second and beamed at his mother for his brilliance.  "Poof!"  Another one was handed over, one for each hand. "Ohmygod!"  A third one was handed over.  He stole another one with a grin, that way he had extra in his lap, which the puppy sniffed and licked a few times but he didn't care.  He let out an evil chuckle and went back to gumming his cookies.

"I think he's had enough sugar for the day," Charley noted, picking her son and his slobbered on cookies up so he could have a bath.  He was probably chocolate covered under his clothes.

"I'm Special!" Anya yelled from downstairs.

"We're up here," Throttle called.  "Might as well put him down, Charley girl."  She sighed and put Victor back down with his cookies.

"He's only had half the package, he should be okay," Xander told her.

"You gave my son half a pound of oreos?" Charley asked, looking stunned.  "Are you trying to kill me when he doesn't sleep tonight?"

"Dawn'll be up," he offered with a grin.  "More reasons for birth control."

Spike strolled up the ramp, looking at the baby and his cookies in the middle of the floor.  Vic looked at him and growled, then let out an evil chuckle.  "Poof," he said proudly, waving a cookie.  Spike pounced him to hold him down.

"Yes, son, you found someone who speaks your language," Stoker said dryly, carrying his daughter up the ramp.  "Here, special girl."

"I am special, mommy said I'm very special because of the way I think," she defended, stomping her foot.  She heard a bark and ran to hide behind her father, looking at the strange little creature.  "Not a kitty?"

"No, it's a dog," Charley said dryly.  "A puppy actually."  Vinnie beamed at her, trying to separate the kids out.  "Oh, let him, maybe he'll steal some of Vic's cookies so he's not totally sleepless tonight."

"Baddy," Vic complained, pushing at Spike to get his cookies back.  Spike growled a pleased growl and let out his own evil chuckle.  Vic looked at him in awe.  "Poof!  Bitchpoof!"  Spike growled back and Vic swatted him with his tail, smirking back.  "Ohmygod!"

"He really is like a kid between Spike and Dawn," Stoker said, shaking his head sadly.  "That poor mouse."

"The other VanWhams will have him straightened out when he goes home to visit next time," Vinnie said patiently.  He looked at his son, who was sucking on Spike's ear, and Spike was using his son as a pillow, growling softly and contentedly.  "Hopefully."

Stoker looked and shook his head.

Anya looked and stomped her foot.  "Showoff!" she sneered, going to hug Charley.  "You're a pretty girl, like me.  You may hold me."

"You need an ego deflation," Xander said, staring her down.  She stuck her tongue out and cuddled up to Charley's leg.  Xander's tail snuck behind Charley's other leg and got her in the side.  She swatted at it and glared at him.  He smirked. "Think you're more evil than I am?" he taunted. "I staged a hostile takeover of my boss's company."  She glared.  "I'm so evil Throttle gives me worried looks."  He pounced her, dragging her onto the ground to make her squeal and writhe trying to get away from him.  She tried to capture his hands with her tail but couldn't quite manage it since his tail caught hers.  She slipped free and kicked him in the arm, running behind her daddy's legs.  She spit from the safety of his shelter.  Xander smirked at her.  "I can get you again you know.  He won't stop me."  She spit again so he whipped his tail out and grabbed her, pulling her back into his lap.  "See?" he said, smirking at her.  She gaped at him.  "That's what happens to little girls who *brag*."

"I'll be good," she promised weakly.  "I promise, Uncle Xander."  He let her go and she kissed him on the cheek.  "Can I still be a girl like Dawn?"

"Yeah, sure.  Dawn's more than cute clothes and good grades though," he reminded her.  "She's training very hard to learn how to fight and ride."

"Okay, I can do that too!" she said firmly, grinning up at her daddy.  "Can't I?"

"Yes, you can," he agreed.  "Dawn's a good rolemodel to look up to most of the time."   He grabbed his daughter to hold.  "Thank you, Xander."

"I wouldn't wish a girl like the real Anya on anyone," he said quietly.  "She's still hanging around to watch us having sex."

"What's that?" Anya said, pointing at the dog.

"That's a dog," Charley told her.  "It's a canine creature."

"Like the Tabernish," Throttle told her.

"You know, that guy who called the other day to see if we were ready to restart old alliances and stuff?"

"Oh, he was kinda big.  That one's really tiny," Anya said, wiggling down to go look at the beast who was sniffing her brother.  She sat down beside it and stroked down its back like she would the cat's. "You're kinda cute," she offered.

"It stays here, like the cats," Stoker said firmly.  He looked at Vinnie. "Your contribution to the pets?"

"He was gonna die if I didn't," he offered sadly.  "Come see, we had to get some new fish."

"I was wondering if your experiment had failed."

"No, the blue fish killed them all," Xander told him.  "So we got a harmonious universe of fish this time, no Plutarkian fish."

Stoker shook his head, walking over to take the obligatory look.  On the way he kicked the ball and Vic's head popped up.  The baby got free of Spike and went to pounce it, cackling evilly at his father.

"I'm so proud, son," he praised, stroking the back of his head so the fur would lay down again. "That was a very good pounce."

"It was," Stoker agreed.  "He'll be fierce in his old age."

Xander got up and found the other ball, rolling it past Spike, who glared at it and pounced it with a mean growl, going onto his back to fight with the big squishy ball that was nearly his size.  He was getting it with his toes and his fists, doing a very good job of getting that mean ball.

"Good, he doesn't like the jingling either," Modo said dryly.  "Can we send them back to Mars?  I'm sure some kids up there would love to have such good toys."

"My toys," Vinnie said firmly. "My balls and you can deal with it, Modo.  It's good for Vic to chase the balls."

"He can chase the catnip ball, it's quiet," Modo offered gently, grinning at him. "I hate bells.  Those are just more annoying than most."

"Tough!  I like the jingly balls."

"We can keep one and send one," Charley said, breaking into the argument.  "We do have that one at the garage, Vinnie."

"Fine," he pouted.  "It's better for him to crawl over here, there's no stairs."

"He can still fall off the ramps, Spike took a header off the bottom of one before," she said plainly. She looked at Stoker.  "That suit you?"

"I'm sure Momma would be more than happy to be driven insane by Primer's twins soon enough," he agreed dryly.  "Shot's first word was 'bike' and Detail's was 'faster'.  Your mother was going around that day muttering about making her churn go faster.  She was trying to churn butter."

"You need milk with the cream still in it for that," Xander told him.  "If she wants butter, I'll gladly send her some."

"No, she wanted to see if she could do it at home.  Cream?"  He nodded.  "Why?"

"It's the cream that turns into the butter fat."

"Oh.  I'll tell her."

"I can look up stuff for you if you want," Xander offered.

"Or we can find him a set of _Little House on the Prairie_ books," Charley offered.  "They do describe it in there.  That, smoking meats, making cheese if I remember right, and a few other old-style home tasks."

"If we had more green area, we could bring up goats or cows or something," Stoker said bitterly.

"We found tons of green area up in the Northern Mountains," Xander offered.  "Lots of former villages too.  You could probably set up some sort of communal farm for each city."

"We could, but most mice don't like to think about there.  That area has always been full of cranks and fanatics," Stoker told him.  "Why were you up there?"

"Um, chili hallucination," Modo admitted.  "Part of it.  There is a lot of green up there still."

"Plus the Amish mice who don't use technology," Xander offered, hoping to deflect the questions.

"That's where you found your bike," Stoker accused, looking at him.

"During the hallucination, we traveled up into the mountains, one of the ancient villages," Throttle told him.  "The spirits there told him how to get his bike and it showed up before we woke up."

Stoker looked at him.  "Huh?"

"Mass hallucination from whatever Xander killed to make chili with," Modo put in.

Vinnie nodded.  "It gave us all the runs too.  Did you know there's an old, working bathroom in the temple on Olympus Mons?  It's a communal one too.  The ghosts up there said they didn't mind if we used them since it was so desperate."

Stoker stared at him.  "Huh?"

"Speaking of, Xander, you need to do more work in those books," Throttle reminded him.  "Make Vinnie help you tonight."

"Yes, dear."

"Thanks."  He stole a kiss.  "What's for dinner?"

"Hotdogs, it's not Xander's turn to cook," Vinnie said promptly.

"Fine, make me something," Xander agreed, waving a hand.  "Or I'll make a sandwich."  Vinnie grinned at him.  "Where are those books?"

"In the locked case in the library," he admitted.  "They look kinda fragile.  I was going to ask Dawn if she knew a preservation spell."

Willow appeared with a sigh, handing him a small crystal.  "Put it with the book," she said patiently.  "They're missing Mars."  Vinnie hurried to do that before they fully disintegrated.  She looked at Xander.  "You fired Joanna's brother?"

"No, he ran for his life after lying to me about why his site was so far behind and wrong," Xander said plainly.  "He claimed someone stole walls, Willow."

"Well, I pity him when Joanna finds him later then.  Megan's going over tonight to look at the area.  Brad called to report his progress.  He got the deconstruction totally done since it was such crappy work."  Xander moaned.  "Most of the walls survived and he's going to start laying them again tomorrow once he has them all checked.  You're losing a few people to him next week and until he's done."

"That's fine.  How did he do on his first day?"

"He started out kinda wishy washy, then got tough about three, and then realized he sounded like an ogre so calmed himself down and apologized, setting out a work schedule for the next day with a few of the very experienced workers who showed up to help.  He's definitely not Dom material but he'll be okay.  He said this was harder than it looked and he wondered how much paperwork he had to fill out."

"Lots and lots," Xander said dryly.  "I'll drop it by tomorrow.  I'm sure the guard knows who was working today so he can do the paycheck forms."  She nodded.  "Good."

"Megan gave him the sheet to fill in already.  She faxed it over and he's already copied it and sent the first day's back.  She said it'll be fine.  Will your site suffer with you not being there full time?"

"I figure I'll do rounds early in the morning, from eight to ten, then head to my own," he admitted.  "That'll make it easier and I can do most the paperwork here."  She nodded.  "You can tell her I said so or she could come over."

"I'll tell her.  She's too tired today.  The Pentagon called six different times today, wanting to make sure you didn't run that part of the stuff.  Joanna had to repeatedly remind them you did the construction company and not the electronics firm or the weapons facility."

"Weapons?" he asked, his ears perking up, his tail tip waving a bit.

Willow grinned.  "You can ask Boris when we get him back to play in there.  For now, concentrate on the construction company stuff.  They have the rest of it.  They wanted to know if you really wanted them all to move."

"No, I want someone to fix that building so it's not about to cave the second floor in," he said dryly.  "It'll be the next thing done I might add."  She nodded at that. "He should have known better.  You guys can go hide for a few weeks."

"Why are you down here?" Stoker asked her.

"Because they needed me since the vampire me and Xander are here," she said dryly.  "Not to mention the fact that Xander is now running Boris' companies.  Faith staked him during an early mood swing.  She's sorry by the way."

"Once we get the regeneration stuff done, we're keeping it for the rest of the pregnancy," Xander said firmly.  She laughed and nodded, disappearing again.  He took a deep breath and looked at Throttle.  "At least you'll know where I am late at night."

"Yeah, you'll be sleeping at your desk," Vinnie snickered as he came out of the kitchen.  "I put some hotdogs on."

"Thanks," Charley said, getting down to help Spike with his ball.  "Are you stuck?"  He growled and snatched it back, going to kill it some more.  "Sure," she said with a fond grin, patting him on the back since he was on top of it at the moment.  "You kill the ball so it won't bother Modo anymore, Spike."  She grinned at the chuckling father, who sat down at the table.

"Poofpoof!" Vic yelled, crawling for his father.  Spike looked at him and snickered, earning a light swat from Xander's tail.  Vic saw the moving tail and headed for it instead. "Poof!" he said, catching it, grinning up at his uncle.  He opened his mouth.  "Poof!" he demanded.  A cookie was handed down, making him a happy baby.  And one happy puppy since it got to lick more stuff off the baby's face and fur.

"At least he doesn't know what it means," Xander said, grinning at Vinnie.

"He'd better not," he said dryly.  "I happen to be a lady's man, unless there's no ladies around."

"How many women have you had, bro?" Modo teased.

"A real mouse never tells," he said firmly.

"You sound like every bragging virgin in every high school across this country," Dawn taunted as she came up the ramp.   "Does he act like one, Charley?" she teased.

"No, he's obviously had some practice," she admitted dryly.

"Yeah, stud, how many have you had?" Stoker taunted with a smirk.

"More than you have," he said dryly.  "And I had to pay for it a lot less times too."

Stoker growled and Xander got out of the way, letting him pounce Vinnie to pummel him.

"No destroying the new fish," Dawn ordered.  Anya tugged on her hand.  "Hi, sweetie."

"Can I hang out with you?  I want to be a girl like you when I grow up."

"Sure," she agreed happily, picking her up to hug her. "I'd be more than proud to teach you how to be a girl like me.  I'm only doing girly girl stuff this week, except for studying Russian because Lorne said so, but you can help me do that stuff too."

"You have your martial arts class too," Xander reminded her, nodding at Spike. Who was back on top of the ball and growling as he tried to rip it apart with his teeth.

"Oooh, that's so cute!" she squealed, reaching down to pat him on the head.  "You're such a cute vampire mouse."

Xander grabbed his wallet.  "I think we have to go to the mall for something.  Spike, wanna hit the mall with me?  Leer at the pretty girls?"  Spike looked over, his ears wiggling a bit.  "Really.  We can ride on my bike and everything.  We've got an extra snuggling carrier.  You're big enough to be on my back."  He nodded, getting off his ball.  He stepped over Vic and hugged him, biting him on the neck. "Gee, thanks," he teased, grabbing the extra carrier to put on.  He put it on, letting Charley help put Spike in there, then he headed out to his bike.  "Like him?  He's a babe," he told Spike.  "We're going to the mall so you can leer and if you're a good mouse, I'll buy you a treat."  He got on and the bike lowered his backrest.  "Thanks, babe.  Let's hit the mall."  He started the engine and roared away.

Stoker shook his head.  "What was his hurry?"

"An idea," Throttle said smugly.  He kicked at Vinnie's foot.  "Shouldn't the dogs be done?"

"Yeah," he agreed, getting free to do that.  Xander could get his own dinner.  He dropped more in and carried out the first batch.   "Why are you in town, coach?"

"Xander's birthday is this Saturday, right?  Spike wanted to come."

"We've got to finish planning his party," Throttle admitted.

***

Xander walked up to the t-shirt maker and grinned.  "I need some shirts for this little guy on my back," he said, turning him so he could see Spike.  The guy grinned at him and nodded.  "He needs a few shirts.  I'm not sure what size he is."

"A child's medium should be good for at least a year," he offered.  "I've got that in a lot of colors, sir."

"Cool."  Xander beamed.  "He needs one that says 'I'm evil, what else did you expect'.  He needs one that says 'I growl, therefore I am', and he needs one that says 'studly vampire mouse'."  He handed over his debit card.  The guy ran it and looked at him so he sighed and handed over his real credit card.  "I'm checking on that while you make them."  He looked at the colors.  "Which color, Spike?  Black?  Gray to match your fur?  White with red lettering?"  Spike pointed at one shirt that was black with silver letters.  "Okay.  Want sleeves or like Rimfire's?"  Spike bit him on the neck.  "Ow!  I'll get you a burger too."  Spike chuckled and pointed at the man's own ripped t-shirt. "Without sleeves?"  Spike nodded.  "Cool.  How long?"

"That one's a bit long.  Want the 'therefore I am' on the back?"

"However looks best to you, you're the artistic one," he said with a grin.  "We're going to get a few burgers.  They're having hotdogs at home."  He walked off, going to get his own dinner and get Spike some ice cream for dinner.  Vic needed someone who could keep up with his half-pound of oreos.  Spike cackled when he saw the sundae, digging in before it could be taken by the big mouse.  "So, how's it going?"  Spike looked up at him and beamed.  "Good.  Making new friends still?"  Spike nodded, going back to his eating.  "Are you and Ramjet still getting along, Spike?"  He chuckled evilly and ate another bite with the butterscotch topping.  "Cool.  I'm sure she enjoys you and Thruster, plus Piston as well."  Spike nodded, eating another bite.

"Let me call the bank."  He pulled his phone off his belt and called the bank's number from the back of his card, inputting his card number.  "Am I broke?" he asked the woman when she finally came on.  "My debit card just got declined."  He listened to her reading about his monthly allowance.  "Oh, that. I had forgotten I had done that.  Makes sense but I never think I spend that much."  She offered to start the paperwork to up it for him next month.  "No, I'll do that at the actual bank if I have to," he admitted. "Thank you, ma'am."  He hung up.  "I made myself an allowance.  I'm bad at spending too much.  Eat, Spike."  He dug back in, stealing a french fry to dig into the ice cream with.  "Sure, you can do that around me.  Vinnie does worse, that's why I tease him that he's pregnant."  Spike cackled and dug back in, stealing the spare burger to take a few bites out of it before going back to his sundae.  "Eat whatever you want," he offered.

***

Stoker looked up as his son came sauntering up the ramp in his cool toddler style, looking at his shirt.  "I'm evil," he read.  Spike turned around.  "What else did you expect?" he read, bursting out in mild chuckles.  "That's cute, Spike. Where's your uncle?"

"Getting the other stuff off the bike," Xander said, coming up with two bags.  He handed one to Dawn.  "Your smelly crud was in."  She swatted at him.  "It was."  He handed the small bag of t-shirts to the proud daddy.  "Since it looked like you didn't bring a bag."

"Where's mine?" Anya demanded.  Xander handed her a bag that said 'Claire's' on the outside.  She pulled out the small tiara and beamed, putting it in her fur.  "I'm pretty and a princess.  I'm going to be the next Miss Mars," she said proudly.

"I'm sure you will be," Dawn cooed, giving her a hug.  "You're a beautiful mouse, Anya.  Nail polish?"

"I didn't get her anything but that," Xander defended. "She seems like the sort to wear her daddy's t-shirt more often than not."  Stoker chuckled again and hit him on the arm.   "Ow," he complained, rubbing that spot.  "Which one got me that?"

"The studly vampire mouse one," he said dryly, holding it up so Throttle could see it and choke.  "I think they're adorable," he said, grinning at Xander.  "Any special instructions?"

"Yeah, turn 'em inside out when you wash them, and cold's fine for them.  Easy care shirts."

"Thanks, man."  He punched him on the arm again, going to play with his son.  He may not understand his daughter but Spike was his son all the way.

Throttle looked at him. "You're so bad."

"What did he have for supper?" Anya asked.  "We had hotdogs and rootbeer."

"We shared a few burgers and a sundae," Xander told her.  He had a whole two bites to finish off the sundae for Spike, about as much burger as he had eaten.

"He got ice cream?" she pouted.  "Why?  I didn't get any."

"For not going up that one girl's really short skirt," Xander said dryly.  Dawn chuckled at that.  "Some girl about your age, I think, was wandering around in a latex miniskirt so short I could see her panties. He tried to get a closer look."  That had been after the sundae, but it had been funny.  "Then again, the girl's voice was pretty low so maybe he was checking to see if it was a girl."  Spike nodded, beaming at him.  He kissed his father on the cheek then went to pounce his sleepy friend, the puppy.  It barked and ran around with him, chasing him and being chased.

"Whoa!" Throttle yelled a few minutes later.  "Very loud, guys.  Way too loud."  Spike spit at him and pounced the dog, hugging him as best he could.  The dog rolled over and licked his face, getting off the rest of the ice cream the napkin hadn't.

"I need to do that so I don't have to have a bath," Anya complained.

"Oh, honey, baths are *good*," Dawn assured her.  "I lay in my bath for *hours* with a book and stuff.  Girls like me love our baths.  I've even got some new bath stuff since Xander picked it up.  I'll help you take your bath tonight."

"Can I wear my pretty crown?"

"Once we've done your hair and ears," she promised with a grin.  "Otherwise it'd have to be washed too."

"Okay."  She took her hand and the bag of sacred girl bath stuff, privileged to be taught this new girl stuff by her idol.  Dawn led her down to get her into a bath and then into her t-shirt for the night.

"We don't have smelly bath stuff on Mars," Stoker yelled after her.  "Except for mineral springs."

"That'll change," Xander said dryly.  "She and her mommy can both use it now and then.  Dawn's got stuff that's too flowery and makes us sneeze, expect to smell the lilac stuff."

"Don't torture me that way, mini punk," Stoker threatened.  "I will get you back someday."

Xander beamed at him.  "Ya think?"  He went to steal a kiss.  "I'm going to bed.  It's late and I'm tired."

"Sure, Xander," Throttle agreed, patting him on the butt as he walked away.  "It really would help us if Anya and Switch took those.  We're allergic to it."

"Fine," he said dryly.  "I'm sure Switch wants to do something so women can feel pretty now and then."

"Have her reopen one of the old spring and spa places," Vinnie offered.  "Make it open spot for the next few years, you just have to sign up or if you get special tokens for doing good stuff.  It's time to start spoiling people for good stuff."

"Yeah, maybe," Stoker agreed.  "Right now we've got a motivation problem," he sighed.  He looked at Throttle.  "I've got sixteen units of Freedom Fighters who don't really see the point in training."

"Take Vinnie's cousins, get them hyped on muir berry juice.   Aim them at the cliffs and tell them to find the stuff hidden in them," he said dryly.

"Have Carbine look at the rest of them and tell the others in those units that if they don't find more than my cousins do, then my cousins get to run their training for a week while hyped on muir berry juice or worse.  We do have stronger stuff down here," he said with an evil smirk.

"Some would probably give up," Modo said dryly.  "No one can match that many white mice on muir berry juice.  Cell would laugh her tail off and ask Momma 'if three bored white mice are a planetary emergency, what's ten hyped white mice'."

Stoker burst out giggling.  "I can see that!  Thank you!  I'll suggest that!"  He beamed at him.  "How many are reactive?"

"Only half of the sixteen," Vinnie admitted dryly.

"You have sixteen cousins left?"

"Yeah, Aunt Kismet has a few kids left.  Mom just had me but Aunt Turnpike had like ten kids.  Four of hers are still around.  Uncle Mortality had six or seven of his own and I think one of them survived if she's the one I think she was."  He shrugged.  "We had a reunion to introduce Charley girl and Vic.  They all adored him and there's two other babies in the family.  Kismet is pregnant with one and Bullet's wife was in labor with her second.  Chassis knows which of us are reactive."

"I'll ask her," Stoker agreed.  "Thanks, punk."

"Welcome, coach."  He looked at Spike.  "Did you have more burger or sundae?"  The baby mouse smirked at him.  "That's what I thought.  You and Vic can keep each other company when you keep getting up."  He looked at his cards and put down his hand, smirking at Throttle. "Gin."

"Brat," he said mildly.  "What was that one for?"

"Freedom from dishes," Vinnie said smugly.  The dryer buzzed and he went down to get the clothes he had popped in earlier.  Vic needed more clothes done.  So had he.  He made sure none of the little clothes were sticking to his boxers again.  It had been odd to put on his boxers and feel something soft and plush down there.

***

Xander walked onto his site Monday morning, looking around.  "Hey, did Brad steal all the interior guys?"

"Yeah, they're going great so I agreed," Trisha admitted.  "You can work with my crew if you want."

"Sure.  Is my new schedule working for you and Merle?"

"Yeah, working well for us," she admitted, looking at his new clothes.  "Present from the hubby?"

"Birthday this weekend," he said with a grin.  "From Stoker actually.  He got me the jeans and the t-shirt.  Said they're the night ops version of the Freedom Fighter uniform.  I got two or three from him, then Throttle and Vinnie both got me new jeans and Modo got me a new jacket to go with my baby."  He beamed at her.  "It was pretty cool overall.  Oh, Vic's crawling and talking," he said proudly.  "It only took us six days to get him to quit saying the word bitch."

She burst out in giggles.  "That's not what I'd expect from Vinnie's kid."

"Me either, it was his third word.  He started out on 'ohmygod', like Dawn does and what he calls his mother and her, and then went to 'poof' for me, his daddy, and any other boy mouse.  I'm starting to worry that he's got some sight problems."

"Babies don't see very well," she reminded him.  "Maybe that one guy should come up to look at him."

"I thought about asking him but he'll be checking him soon anyway."  He looked at a nearby wall, running a hand up it.  "Is this right?  I don't deal with adobe much."

"Yeah, that's how it's supposed to look before it's fully cured," she admitted, leading him to where they were waiting on them.

"Surprise!" the entire crew yelled.

Xander squealed and hugged Merle and Trisha.  "I love you guys!" he shouted, hugging most of them, at least the ones who didn't flinch away from him. "You guys are so great! You guys can have a really long break today and everything!"  They all laughed.  "Well, we are ahead," he said smugly.  "Thanks, guys, I adore you guys so much!"  He beamed at them and blew out his candles, which relit as he watched, making him giggle. "I like those!"  They were plucked out and handed over, letting him hold them as he cut the cake.  They all got their pieces and went to sit down and nibble, Xander being one of the guys.  He put the candles in his hair once they had went out for good, making the guys grin at him.  "I like these," he defended with a grin.  "You guys are so great!"

"Hey, we had to do something to cheer you up," Trisha called.  "We're going to go over budget, boss.  The group just changed some things."

"Then they know they're going to be paying more," he said happily.  "What did they change?"

"Style of windows.  They wanted leaded glass."

"Good, then that company can come put them in, right?"  She smiled and shook her head.  "Oh, damn.  Heavy glass windows?"  She grinned and nodded.  "Do we have a glass team?"  She beamed and nodded.  "Good, then they're still paying for them," he said happily.  She laughed and nodded, making the others crack up.  "At least this one's not our fault."

"Nope, not our fault," Merle agreed, clapping him on the back.  "How's Brad doing?"

"I popped around today.  They've got it all reframed, the pipes and wiring are being run today.  The exterior is brick and stone and that's going up today as well.  The roof will be done by next week and then the interior finishing stuff."  He ate another bite of cake.  "The other guy had the house oriented in the wrong direction."  They all groaned.  "Yeah, so Brad had to deconstruct and then reconstruct the house fully.  At least he got to save most of the stud walls."  He shook his head and dug back in.  "I did arrange for them to have a truck, right?"

"Yeah, ours is going over there after first break and heading back for our lunch since he's calling lunch at about noon.   She was more than happy to do that."

"Good.  They deserve it.  Those guys are hauling ass this week.  The same as we did on my site.  If I had known where to get one then, I would have."  Merle smiled at him.  "Hey, we did good work on our house."

"We did," he agreed fondly.  "How's it holding up?"

"Modo put a hole in an interior wall while playing basketball but it's only through the wallboard.  They used to put tons at the scoreboard."  He straightened up and ate another bite of cake.  "Merle, if you were W&H and doing their sacrifice and needed to prove they were still going on, where would you hold it?"

"Somewhere the senior people could watch."

Xander pulled out his phone, dialing Meg.  "Check something for me.  The sports arenas.  Any in use tonight?"  He listened and groaned.  "They're resodding the Nub's field?  I have the feeling it's there.  We might want to post a guard there tonight, even electronically."   He hung up.  "Sorry, but they had to move it back to tonight due to us four days earlier.  Tonight's the last night they can do that this year and I'm going to stop them again."

"Sure, Xander. You have a duty to stop those idiots from sacrificing people."

"Who is?" one guy asked.

"Wolfram and Hart.  The same people who have been sabotaging the company all summer," he told him.

"Those guys you blew up?" another asked.

"I didn't blow them up," Xander snorted.  "I was in there getting my personnel file but I didn't give the love tap."

"Love tap?" Trisha asked.  "With the way it fell?"

"Their central support tower was cracked," he said dryly.  "It had a few cracks.  All it would have really taken was one car running into it to crash it."  He finished off his cake and grinned at Merle.  At least until his phone rang.  He checked the number.  "Yeah, Meg?"  He grinned.  "Really?  My hunch was right?"  He chuckled.  "Yeah, I expected that," he admitted.  "It only made sense and all.  Sure, you helping or watching?  Taping's fine.  I'm sure someone would like that."  He hung up and beamed at the other managers.  "I may be a bit late tomorrow.  They've already got guards there."

"If you need to, you can leave early tonight too," Trisha offered.

"No, I'll be good," he said smugly.  "More than enough time."  He beamed at the other guys.  "I adore you guys."  They grinned back.  "But we've still got to do some work today.  Ten....well, maybe twenty more minutes," he offered, taking the present Merle has holding. "Cool."  He opened it and beamed, holding up the leather picture album. "I've got tons of pictures that could go in here, guys.  Thank you."  He hugged it until Trisha handed over hers.  "Vinnie got us a dog," he said happily as he worked to unwrap it.  "Oooh!" he squealed, hugging the 'manly super stud' t-shirt.  "I love this!"  He hugged her then did another round of hugs, ending up with Merle.  "Okay, maybe another ten more minutes," he offered with a grin.  His whole crew grinned back.  A happy boss was one that let them slack off on a Monday.

***

Xander looked at the two cops who Meg had said had demanded to be there.  Then he looked down at the group of roped and gagged people struggling to get free and the altar being set up.  "We wait how long?" he asked quietly.

"Not much longer.  We have to have proof that it's not a hoax," Vecchio said grimly.  "Recognize any of them?"

"Four or five," he admitted, pointing at one.  "That one's from Cleveland.  She's a slayer."  He looked at Dawn, who was shielding them from being noticed until they were ready to attack.  She shrugged and nodded at the altar being set up.  He nodded that he would take it out. They watched as the altar was finished, candles were set up precisely, being measured out according to a drawing, and Xander snickered.  "The guy doing the measuring is one of the company's construction guys.  Guess who's not going to have a job tomorrow?"  Vecchio grunted at that bit of levity.  "We've done this stuff before, detective, relax."  He glanced at Modo, who was closest to him, getting a nod back.  The other mice were in place.  Xander waited until the first person was brought forward and cut free of the line, looking at the detective.  "I'm not letting them kill her," he said quietly.

"All we need is proof," Vecchio reminded him.  The person was laid on the altar, the knife was grabbed, and Vecchio pulled his gun, getting the guy holding the knife while Kowalski got the knife.  "Now we can go."

Dawn dropped the illusion, showing everyone gathered in the seats.  The lawyers down on the field swore, a few yelling 'fuck' very loudly as they tried to run.  The bikers gathered them and herded them back toward the waiting cops, which there were more of now.  Everything was going fine until one of the demons in the group started to change.  Xander stared in horror.  "Oh, fuck me," Xander said in awe.  "Another one.  In my lifetime."

"What's that?  What's going on!" Kowalski yelled, pointing at the growing demon.

"That is an ascending demon. He's moving to a higher class of people eater."  Xander looked up as it continued to grow.  "The problem is, we don't have a handy school to blow up."

"You blew up a school?" Vecchio asked, looking very confused.

Xander looked at him and nodded.  "We lured the demon into one, then blew it up while it was in there.  It was about the only way to kill it.  We need a big Willow spell of destruction," he sighed, looking at Dawn, who was frozen.  "Willow?" he called miserably.  "It's an ascension.  We need to destroy the big snakey demon again and don't have a school handy, or even explosives!"

The vampire Willow appeared with Xander clinging to her hip.  "Wow," she said, staring at the demon.  "He's a big worm."

Xander snorted.  "Not as big as mine is."

Vamp Willow elbowed him, making him yelp. "Behave, Xander."  She looked at the other Xander.  "She said to light it on fire."

"I'm not the witch she is," he said dryly.  He looked at the demon again.  "Okay, lightening?"

"Won't be strong enough," Willow said sadly. "I'd like to break that thing so much," she moaned.  "It's so pretty and malleable.  I could do great things to that demon."

Vecchio gave her a horrified look.  Xander tapped him on the shoulder.  "She's a vampire, she's like that," he explained.  "She likes her toys a lot.  So's the human me."  He looked down at the demon again, then sighed and looked up.  "Okay, you wanna do it your way," he offered.  "I'll weather the headache this time."  He looked at Willow. "Remember the string 'taunt the Cordelia' game?"   She beamed and nodded.  "We're doing that, you take the end, I'll do the middle."  She nodded.  "With fire."  She beamed brighter and cast the fire rope, letting him catch it and head down to play with it.  He looked at Vinnie, then at Throttle. "I'll be sore tomorrow," he warned, heading to play with the demon.  "Someone get the people!"  He ran for the demon, ducking the lunging mouth, but letting it have the fire rope.  Then he went to the far end and grabbed it, wrapping it around the thing.  By the time he had made the demon too dizzy to eat him, the slayer was untied and armed by Throttle, and the vampire him was cracking his knuckles.  "Okay, let's rip it!" he yelled.  The vampire him smirked and dove down the demon's throat, going to do it from the inside.

The slayer shuddered.  "Ewww!  That's disgusting, Xander!" she complained, going to cut him an opening.  No one should get eaten by a demon! She made the intestines, watching as they spilled, then moved higher, finding the lump of vampire and cutting it out.  The demon roared and tried to bite her but the mouse Xander shot a lightening bolt at it's nose, making it howl for different reasons as the delicate hairs in the nostrils lit.  He went after the mouth, adding power to the rope of fire, which made Willow chuckle with glee as she tightened it like a bit.  The vampire Xander tumbled out onto the ground laughing happily.  Apparently it had been a good thrill ride. Xander sent a few more bolts of power into the demon's stomach, making him howl and writhe.

"Coordinate, people," Stoker yelled.  "Xander, mouse Xander, go for his head again.  You, the vampire Xander, you take his stomach.  You, girl, go for his head, help the mouse, you, witchly one, help the other vampire."

"In other words, divide and meet in the center?" Xander taunted, going to help with that.

"We needed this during graduation," Martian Xander yelled.

"Who ascended then?" Willow demanded.

"The mayor."

"That paltry little germ-phobic imbecile?" she demanded.  He grinned and nodded.  "That bastard!  If we go back, remind me to rip him a new one, Xander."

"Sure, Willow.  Let's do this now!"  He ripped out a chunk, and the mouse one of him tossed another chunk at him. "Oooh, hey, dodgeball!"  He threw one at the slayer, who only screamed and wiped the ick off her.  He chuckled evilly and went back to it, playing with them.  By the time they were done, the demon was mostly a big divot and spine, but it was dead.

The slayer was giving her outfit a disgusted look and was starting to strip right there when Kowalski stopped her.  "I'm not staying like this," she said firmly, nearly demanding.

"Sure, but we've got showers available in the locker rooms and you don't wanna be naked out here, right?"  She shuddered and shook her head, going to find a shower and at least a towel for now.  She heard a bike and accepted the tossed t-shirt from the older gray mouse, nodding at him.  Kowalski looked around. "This is a big mess," he complained.

"Eeh, you said you were bored," Meg said, coming down to present the tape to them.  "For evidence.  If anyone would believe it," she said smugly. She looked at the mess.  "Hey, someone's going to have fun picking that up or burning it."  A piece moved and she shrieked, backing away.

"Okay, I've had enough of this!" Dawn yelled, raising her hands.  A large ball of green and blue energy came down, frying the pieces until they were burned to a crisp.  She panted, glaring at the field.  "I agree with Tanya.  Eww!"  She stomped off.

"Wow," Willow said, staring at her.  "What is she?"

"The Key," Xander said dryly.  "She was given to us to protect.  So I'm letting Rimfire do it for me," he said smugly, grinning at the younger gray mouse, who headed after his girlfriend.  "Though I do agree, this is nasty," he admitted, looking around, then down at himself.  "Looks like I need a bath too."  Throttle coughed and nodded.  "Fine.  Drive me home naked?" he asked with a grin.

"Start by getting into the shower with your clothes on," the other Xander offered.  "Worked for me after I took out some aggression on some demons."

"Good point.  I've done that in the past too," he agreed, heading to find a shower for himself.  After all, it was only a few miles, he'd be dry by the time he got home.  Good thing he had changed into clothes he hated.  Even his underwear was stuff he hated.  Just in case he got hurt too much.  Yeah, he didn't want to show up in the hospital without wearing any underwear this time.  Enamel would laugh at him again.  He found an empty shower and walked into it in his clothes, looking over at the slayer next to him.  "I'm going to have to walk," he said dryly.

She nodded.  "Probably, Xander.  You okay?"

"Yeah, fine."  He grinned his goofy grin at her.  "I'm just fine and I've got time to go home and sleep tonight."  He heard a bike and leaned back, grinning at Vinnie. "I'm trying."

"I can see that.  It's nearly as good as a wet t-shirt contest." Vinnie offered.

The slayer looked out at him.  "Take another peek, you won't have to worry about a *second* child, mouse.  I will fix you."  She went back to getting her hair clean.  "Buffy won't believe this."

"It was a lot more fun than blowing up our high school was," Xander agreed, skimming a hand over his clothes again.  "I'm as clean as I'll be before I get home."  He walked out and found his mate leaning against the opposite wall.  "Am I walking?"

"If I made you walk, someone would steal you to get the tight tail in the wet jeans," he said plainly, staring at him.  "Get on the bike, Xander."  Xander gave him a goofy grin so Throttle pulled him closer to kiss.  "Get on my bike," he repeated.  Xander nodded, heading for his bike.  Throttle shook his head, following him.  Xander felt someone swat him and looked back, giving Stoker a grin.  "Mine," Throttle reminded him.  "You have Switch."  He moved closer, walking Xander to his bike.  He knew someone would be stealing him if he didn't watch him closely.  Everyone wanted a Xander of their own, it was like the hottest toy on the market.  He got Xander onto his bike and climbed on, handing him back his helmet.  "Your bike's going to be pissed."

"I saw my bike, he's around here somewhere," he admitted, whistling sharply.  His bike peeked around a corner.  "Want me to ride you or ride with him?"  His bike beeped and moved forward. "Get in a few shots?"  It beeped happily, letting him get on.  Throttle looked at his bike, then got on behind Xander.  "You're riding with me?"

"Yeah, someone will steal you," he said dryly.  "I won't have that.  Guard us, girl."  His bike beeped and rode beside them the whole way back, being the perfect guard.  Throttle walked Xander inside once they got home, taking him right to the shower.  He still stunk and he could see little bits of demon in his fur.  Even if he had to scrub him, Xander would be clean soon.

Switch knocked on the door and stuck her head in.  "Megan said he doesn't have to come in tomorrow if he's hurt. If not, he needs to check on Sarge."  She closed the door, wrinkling her nose.  "What did they get into?" she asked, sounding disgusted.  She waited for everyone else.  "Throttle's scrubbing Xander's back."

"And head, and arms, and feet," Vinnie added dryly, smirking at her.  "They ripped a big demon to pieces and played dodge ball with it," he told her, still smirking.

"Eww," Switch said.  "Don't tell Spike that, he'll pout about missing it."  She walked off, going to make sure there were enough towels this time.  Someone was probably going to need to be dried off soon.

***

Tanya walked into the slayer's house the next morning, noticing Buffy was up eating breakfast.  "You never said the demon during an ascension was so eww-ific," she said in disgust, stomping off.  "Xander and Xander are both insane and they were nasty!"

"Xander and Xander?" she asked, sounding confused. "Huh?" she called after her.  "Tanya, two Xander's?  Is the world ending?"

"No, they stopped the ascension," she called back.  "One dove down his throat and the other one helped rip it to shreds.  Then Dawn fried it to bacon bits."

"Eww," she agreed, shaking her head.  "Two Xander's and the world's not ending.  Why not?  It should be ending.  Two Xanders would be a bad thing.  I'm wondering if Throttle is a Xander sandwich yet?" she mused, digging back into her yogurt.  Wesley walked in and looked at her.  "There's two Xanders around and the world hasn't ended yet," she reported.  "Tanya said they stopped an ascension."

"Two Xanders?" he asked, looking mystified. "Why would there be two?"

"I don't know.  Tanya said the two Xanders stopped the ascension and that the demon was eww-ific and that it was handled but that the world wasn't ending.  I was wondering if Throttle became lunch meat yet."

Wesley groaned and walked off, using a finger to clean his ears.  He hadn't wanted to hear that thought and he certainly didn't want to imagine it!  "Go practice!" he shouted back, unable to get that picture out of his head.  He called Micah's desk, getting his voicemail since it was fairly early.  "Why are there two Xanders and why won't you take Buffy to work with her for a bit?" he asked patiently.  He hung up and went to find something to take that image out of his mind.  Fred stepped into the hallway and kissed him, making him smile.  "Thank you, Fred."

"You're welcome.  The other Xander is the vampire Xander from Cordelia's wish universe.  So's the Willow."  She went to find her own breakfast, needing it really.

"Hmm, I wonder if we could get him to work with us," Wesley mused, heading to wake up Gunn and tell him another crisis had been averted without his help.  He was still fairly exhausted all the time.

***

Micah listened to the voicemail again.  Then he looked at Lorne, who had been listening as well.  Lorne walked off shaking his head.  "Bring me back something when you come back," he called after him.  "I didn't get breakfast."

"I quit!" Lorne called.  "I mean it!"  He slammed the door behind him.

"Fine, I'll come get you at the bar later and make you pay for lunch," Micah said dryly.  "Max?"  She came up the stairs, already looking pensive.  "Go find out why there's two Xanders from Dawn and collect a report from at least one of the locals."

She put something on his desk.  "Meg emailed it, and some news, and Dawn said the second one and the vampire Willow are both from Cordelia's wish universe.  That second one's a vampire too.  They handled an ascension and Wolfram and Hart this weekend."

"Wonderful," he agreed, leaning back to read it.  He paused at the first paragraph. "Meg's pregnant?"  She grinned and nodded.  "Well, I guess we need more from Dawn then.  Get her account as well as Rimfire's."  She nodded, going to do that. The kids wouldn't be up yet anyway so she had some time to goof off. Micah called Lorne's bar.  "Look at your boss and say these magical words.  Meg's pregnant."  He chuckled at the shocked noise.  "No, it's not his, she's a friend of ours, a coworker."  He listened as the bartender said that and Lorne hit something breakable, then wandered off talking about a retreat to Tibet.  "Tell him if he does, I'll want reports in triplicate about the situations there and what the Chinese prison he'll be in was like."  He hung up.

Lorne called a few minutes later so he put him on speaker phone.  "I hate you.  I hate that you got me back into the business, and I especially hate you even more now.  Chinese prisons are better."  He hung up again.

Micah chuckled.  "He'll be stopped at the gate," he said fondly, making sure of it.  The guys at Homeland owed him bigtime for not making them deal with this or NID ever again.

Episode 49:

Stoker looked over at his son as he pounced the dog again.  "He's still staying here, Spike," he said quietly, not wanting his precious son to throw a fit.

Spike growled and possessively clung to the dog.  "Mine!  Poof!"

"I'll whip your tail," he said dryly. "You know better than that.  By the way, don't walk into my bedroom again.  Not while we're in there."  Spike only sneered and went back to petting his friend.

Xander looked around from the kitchen, sticking his head out.  "Ya know, there's a lot of dogs that need adopting or else they'll die," he said gently.  "Unfortunately true," he said at the hurt look.  "Some owners don't get their pets fixed in time and there's strays and stuff too.  I know Vinnie said that one was going to die in about two days if he didn't adopt him."

"Damn it," Stoker muttered.  "I hate you."

"I know," he said with a small smirk.  "But hey, protective, possessive, and gives Spike someone to love.  He needs someone to love and take care of.  It's kinda obvious it won't be Anya or Ramjet," he added with a smirk.  "He's still giving his sister looks like she's an alien species who wants to eat his brain."

"Fine," Stoker complained, goaded into it.  He who had fought so his own people wouldn't die couldn't let another species suffer the same fate.  "Where do we go to get them?"

"Well, there's a few shelters, the ASPCA shelter in particular.  There's the pet store we shop at too, they take in some shelter dogs and adopt them out.  Plus, ya know, big, huge bag of dog food and jingly balls and catnip balls and all sorts of neat stuff."

"Where is this place?"

"The pet store?  I can show you.  I do have the day off," he reminded him smugly.  "Besides, Throttle's still in bed complaining about being sore."

Stoker snickered at that.  "What did you do to him this time, mini-punk?"

"Um, just gave him a backrub actually," he said with a small shrug.  "Come on, we'll go there.  We could probably use some new food too.  Spike, you wanna ride with your daddy or me?"

Spike looked from his father, to Xander, then back to his father and pointed at him.  "Daddy."

"Sure, let's go," Stoker agreed, grabbing the baby carrier.  "Where did you get this?"

"Walmart," he said fondly.  "Right next door to where we're going."  Stoker grinned at that.  "They're even used to us there.  It's one of the few Vinnie hasn't gotten kicked out of yet."  He headed back into the kitchen, making his fried eggs a sandwich with the addition of toast, then he followed Stoker out and down to their bikes.  He got onto his, eating one- handed while he started his baby.  Spike stopped to pat his bike but allowed himself to be put into the carrier and they took off together.

Modo came out into the garage, looking confused.  "Where are they going?  Stoker's got to go back tonight."  He shook his head and headed back to the mineral pool room.  He was having a good, long soak with Vinnie's permission.  His back was a bit tight too.  Maybe he'd ask Xander or Switch to work on it for him.

***

Xander walked into the pet store and smirked, waving at the girl they usually dealt with.  "He needs a puppy."

"A baby or any sort of dog?" she asked, looking at Spike, who made her coo and scratch him behind an ear. "You're so adorable!"  Spike let out an evil chuckle and moved quickly, sucking on her finger instead, making her blush.  "You're quite the mouse, young man.  What sort of dog were you looking for?" she asked Stoker.  "An apartment dog, a house dog?  One that'll herd kids and animals?  A hunting dog?"

"We live somewhere fairly warm and dry.  Minimal care is great, we ride motorcycles, and I'd appreciate saving one."

"Ooooh!  I know just the dog!  He's on his last day," she offered, leading them to the cages.  "This little guy is still pretty young, only six months old.  But he's a lover.  He's very protective and the warmer the better for him.  He's part chihuahua and part miniature pinscher.  He won't be getting much bigger."

"You are adorable," Xander cooed, letting the dog attack his face.  "Yeah, you're loveable and Switch would love you.  You'd fit in the baby carrier with the baby."  He held it up so Spike could see.  "It'll be a small dog, but your size for a few more years, Spike."

"It's not very manly," Stoker complained.

"Yes, but most of the manly dogs live less years and need more care," the salesgirl told him.  "They need a lot of exercise, a lot of care, and a lot of vet visits, plus this one can live over fifteen years, as opposed to ten for the larger breeds."

"Plus, he won't be eating that much," Xander told him.  "Something like a great dane will eat you out of house and home within a week.  This little guy will probably only eat a cup or two of food a day.  Which is still less expensive than cat food."

"Cat foods need to have more nutritional value," she said patiently.  "That's why they cost more."

"Fine, but it still bites," Xander complained.  "Please, Stoker?  He's going to die if you don't."

"I don't know.  What do you think, Spike.  Think Anya and Mommy would like him?"  He took the dog to look at more closely, getting attacked by the wet, sloppy tongue of doom.  Which made him chuckle and pull it a bit farther away.  "Well, you're cute and pitiful.  He won't be growing?"

"Probably not more than a few inches," she offered. "The miniature pinscher, the larger of the mix in this dog, grow to be about ten to twelve inches and about eight to ten pounds.  Chihuahuas grow to be about six to nine inches and two to six pounds.  They're very portable dogs, they can go anywhere.  This one was from two registered dogs getting together and being naughty in an alley one night. He's had all his shots and his vet certification to show he won't have many problems."  She looked at the other dogs.  "The only other one with one day left is that one," she said, pointing at a sheepdog, "and he's meant for colder climates.  If you live near a desert, he'd die of heat exhaustion."

"I can see that," Stoker agreed.  He looked over his shoulder at his son.  "Well?"

"Anya's poof?" he said bitterly.

"Sure.  Or mommy's."

"Mommy's poof," he agreed, biting his father on the neck.  The dog barked and stretched back to lick him.  "Eww!"  Xander chuckled.  Spike glared at him.  "Nasty poof!"

"I'm not a poof, dear, and we both know I'm not a dog," he said with a small smirk.  "Behave or no ice cream."

"Fine," Spike grumbled, stealing the dog.  "I carry!"

"Sure, son.  He'll fit in there with you."  He looked at the last one, then at Xander.

"Charley said no," he said dryly.  "But Oz might.  Meg's feeling sentimental.  She's pregnant," he shared with a wink for the salesgirl, who blushed.  He pulled out his phone to call his buddies.  "Hey, Meggy, it's me.  No, I'm at the pet store and they've got some shelter dogs.  There's a sheepdog here who's on his last few minutes.  Stoker's got a cute little guy for Spike but it's got way too much fur for his house.  It'd die from the heat, dear.  It's very hot up there."  He beamed.  "I thought you might. Plus, hey, give Oz someone to play with now and then.  Please?" he begged. "I'll buy you three huge bags of chow?"  He beamed.  "Yeah, that one by Walmart.  Love you, Meggy.  See you soon."  He hung up.  "Done," he said, kissing the salesgirl on the cheek.  "Now, Spike needs some balls.  He's been playing with Vinnie's and Vinnie's getting jealous of how often he plays with his balls."  The girl 'eep'ed and blushed even brighter.  "Not that sort, dear," he said with a small grin.  "Sorry."

"That's okay," she offered, leading them over to where they kept the bigger toys.  She watched as Spike's tail grabbed something and he let the dog sniff it before he cuddled up on it, cooing at how cute he looked.

"Please behave, son.  Show some manners in the store.  Like you do in the market when you go with your mother."  Spike snorted and went back to petting the puppy and playing with his fuzzy mouse toy.  Xander coughed and held one up, making Stoker look, then shake his head.  "We'll put antennas on later."  He heard a squeal and jumped, looking for his daughter.  "Oh, it's her," he said, grabbing his chest.  "I thought it might be Anya."

"No, it's not the daughter," Xander soothed, patting him on the shoulder.  "Hey, Meg!"  She waved and opened the cage before anyone could stop her, hugging her new dog.

"He's so adorable!" she cooed.  "This is the one on his last day, right?" she demanded of the salesman walking over to her.   He nodded quickly, looking at the cage's fact sheet.  "Then he's my dog now!  Make it so!"

"Sure, ma'am.  Let's go fit him for a collar and leash," he offered, walking her that way.

She stopped to look at one, holding it up.  "Oz would look good in that," she noted, adding it to the basket she had found lying around.  Then she looked at her dog.  "You'll like Oz.  He's a programmer, like me."

"Hey, Meg, I'll throw in a fourth bag if you cart the bags home for us," Xander called, holding up the *big* bag of dog food.  Fifty pounds.

"That'll last my dog his entire life," Stoker said dryly.

"They go bad after a few months," the salesgirl told him.  "Unless you can put it in air- tight storage."

"No, I don't have one of those," he admitted.  "Let's go for a smaller bag for now.  Xander can always ship stuff to me if I can't find anything nearer to the house."

"Sure," Xander agreed.  "With the other stuff too."  He grinned and petted Meg's dog as he was walked over.  "Someone's already well trained," he praised, opening up a can of treats and handing him one, then handing Spike's dog one, and Spike took one but made a face and spit it out, giving his dog a second one.  He added it to his basket with a grin for Stoker.  "He needed it."

"He probably did," he agreed dryly.  "Hi, Meg."

"Hi, Stoker.  Hi, Spikey," she cooed, kissing him on the head. "You're adorable with that puppy and the stuffed mouse."

"No, adorable is Vinnie's dog," Xander said dryly.  "What is Vinnie's dog? It's not going to be one of those small breeds."

The saleswoman pulled a breed book off the shelf and handed it over.  "Beauceron mostly.  They're herding dogs.  They're fairly active and playful, but quite intelligent.  They're protective of their families.  The little guy in the carrier will bark if he find someone hurting his family.  Vinnie's dog will do true guard dog work to protect his family.  But he's very trainable and very loveable, just very active when he's out to play.  If he's allowed to get lazy, you're going to have problems."

"I'll keep that in mind," Xander said dryly.  Spike gave him a smirk.  "No, he's had plenty of exercise already.  You've already driven all the cats but Joyce and Tara into hiding and worn out the puppy, Spike.  Play with that one and Vic for awhile."  He smiled at the cart the nice salesman was manhandling their way.  "Thanks, babe."  He dropped four large bags of dog food into it, then two smaller ones meant for small dogs for Stoker's new dog.  "Collar, leash, carrying case," he advised, pointing at that row.  Stoker nodded, going to get those.  He kissed Meg's cheek.  "Please be our pack mule?  Spike can help unload," he teased.

"Micah said I'm not allowed to lift.  This'll be the first baby in the agency since he started it."  She stuck her tongue out.  "So you're carrying your stuff and Oz can get the rest of everything later.  Speaking of, do we owe you rent?"  He nodded.  "How many months?"  He held up two fingers.  "Why didn't you call?"

"Been a bit busy doing a hostile takeover of Boris' companies and stuff," he admitted.  "But I'll let you do installments.  Didn't I pay the landlord?"  She nodded. "Oh, good."  He beamed and kissed her on the forehead this time, weathering Spike swatting him with his tail.  Though he did grab it on the next pass.  "You pass that one onto Oz and then tie him down and spank him for making you pregnant, dear."  She giggled, blushing madly, along with both clerks.  "He did!" he defended.

"Behave, mini-punk," Stoker said, shaking his head.  "We're going into Walmart next, Meg."

"Sure, I could use a glance at the maternity clothes and the fabrics.  Some of my costumes will need expanded soon."  She patted her belly and Spike gave her an odd look.  "Yes, dear, I'm going to have a non-furry baby."

"Fur's prettier," Stoker teased.  She pinched him and he winced.  "Ow! Mean woman!"

"Good!  Switch needs to beat you more!  Xander should give her ideas!"  She went to find her precious one some toys, letting him sniff them first.  Then they all checked out and loaded it into her Honda, heading next door to the mega-store.

***

Stoker dropped the last of the bags of clothes at the base of the teleporter and smiled at Meg.  "Thanks, dear."

"You're welcome."  She hugged him and Spike, getting puppy kisses too.  "I should head home.  Oz is in class."  She headed back to the car, getting in with her dog, who was probably big enough to drive, but didn't know how to drive a stick yet.

"Honey, we bought the kids clothes," Xander called as he headed for the kitchen.  "Who's making lunch?"

"You are," Modo called back.  "Please?"

"Sure!"  He heard the rapid yapping and got out of the way before the puppy knocked him over again.  It sniffed Spike's new friend, then barked a few times and went back to pounce Xander.  "Are you hungry?" he teased, playing with his ears.  "Okay, we'll go get food."  He headed up to the kitchen, going in to start a real lunch.  He found Vinnie staring at the microwave.  "Bottles?"  He nodded, grunting lightly.  Xander gave him a hug.  "Meg has a dog now."

"Good!  Something furry for Oz to play with on the bad days."  He took out the bottle at the beep and tested it, wincing a bit.  "How long?"

"I usually do thirty seconds.  It's still warm, but not that warm."  He opened the fridge door and looked inside, then started to pull out food.  "I'm doing lunch."

"Cool with me.  Stoker?"

"Is sorting through the stuff he got at Walmart."

"Even better," he decided, going to feed his son, who was sucking on his toes.  "You're cute when you do that," he teased, handing over the bottle.  His son snatched it and sucked as hard as he could, his eyes drooping shut as he drank.  "Good boy, you nap."  His dog barked.  "You can nap too."  He pulled him up onto the couch, letting him settle in beside him.  It only took a few minutes before his dog ran off again.   Then two dogs came back.  "I'm hoping one of you is going home with them."

"The little one is," Stoker admitted as he walked in with his tray of lunch.  "He only had until the end of the day."

"So, Anya's getting her own dog?" he teased.

"Switch is getting a dog," he said smugly.  "He's not exactly a manly dog, but he's cute and loveable and she'll adore him.  He's the same size as one of the babies and won't get much bigger."

"Good, she needs something else to fuss over," Throttle agreed as he came up the ramp.  "Spouse?"

"Food."

"Good.  Xander, make me some."

"Of course I am," he called back, sounding patient.  "Meg's got a dog too."

"I'm sure Oz will be very amused."  He sat down in front of Vic's spot on the couch, looking at the playing dogs.  "Why do we have a breed book on a big herding dog?"

"That's what Vinnie's dog is," Stoker said dryly.  "The salesgirl thought you might need it."

"But it's not that big," Vinnie complained.

"It's a baby, Vincent," Xander said as he started to drag food out to the table.  "We need some sort of rolling cart to load up so we don't have to hand carry all this food."  He went back for more, bringing it out and putting it on the table too.  "FOOD!"   Staff came jogging up the ramp, grinning before sitting down to dig in.  Stoker's dog came over and jumped into her lap, making her stare at it.  "It's for Switch."

"It's a newborn, right?"

"No, it's a lap muffin dog," Xander told her.  "Part chihuahua and part mini pinscher. It's still pretty young but won't grow much more."

"It's supposed to last about fifteen years and it'll make Switch let go of the baby," Stoker pointed out, coming over to eat with his son.  "Anya!"

"Doing my nails!" she called back.  Then she giggled.

Rimfire came up the stairs shaking his head.  "Just don't ask, coach.  They're doing girly stuff and Dawn nair'd earlier."  Xander shuddered at that.  "She rinsed out the shower."

"Thankfully.  I don't want to be furless from her girl chemicals."  He sat down to eat.  "Someone call the garage."

"I told Charley before running over," Staff promised.  She ate another bite of her lunch.  "Sorry, skipped breakfast."

"You shouldn't do that.  Breakfast is important," Modo teased, smirking at her.  "How's the new design?"

"Going well but there's something wrong with it.  I'm working with Charley to figure it out."

"If you need help, you could ask us," Xander offered.

"I'm working on a new bike, not a building," she said with a grin for him.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem.  Need my books from Micah on how to design weapons?"

"You have books like that?"  He nodded.  "Why?"

"I got bored and wanted to learn something new beyond Dawn's Spanish book and designing buildings."  He shrugged.  "I'm like that."  He heard a bike.  "Sounds like someone's visiting."

"Well, we're all here so it's got to be Enamel or Shell.  The rest of us are here somewhere," Throttle pointed out.

"Unless my sister or niece snuck down," Modo offered.  "They can be like that."

"Let's not wish the terrible twins on this planet, Uncle Modo.  I'm sure they don't want to be invaded by them," Rimfire said dryly, stuffing his mouth full when his uncle gave him a long stare.  "Primer's kids would," he offered once he had swallowed.

"Your nieces are perfectly cute and adorable," Modo told him.

"Until they want to get into trouble, then they'd be like their momma on a naughty kick," Rimfire shot back with a smirk.  "Or don't you remember her trying to take over your squad for you?"

"Um, well, yeah," Throttle agreed, wincing a bit.  "That would be bad," he agreed, looking at Modo.  "They could probably do worse since there's two of them just like their momma."

"She and Momma will stop them," Modo assured him patiently.  "They know what girls in our family can get up to, they'll stop them cold."  He looked over and nodded as Enamel came up the ramp.  "Came for lunch?"

"No, came to check on Xander."  He looked down at the barking thing by his foot, frowning at it.  "Why do you have a dog?  A small, little, annoying dog at that."

"It's for Switch," Stoker told him.  "It only had a day left."

"So, which one told you about the thousands of pets that die every year?" Enamel taunted.  Throttle pointed at Xander.  "Good job.  Shelter?"

"Pet store has shelter dogs," he said dryly.  "Meg has one too."

"We are not running a home for poor animals," Throttle said firmly.  "There's enough fur with just us and the cats."

"I'm not!  I didn't bring home any new pets," he defended.

"What happens if Meg can't have the dog because Oz's allergic?" Modo asked.

"Considering how furry Oz gets sometimes, I doubt he's allergic to fur," Xander said dryly, giving him a look.  "He doesn't sneeze when he's furry and he doesn't sneeze around us.  He won't sneeze around their new sheepdog."

"There's *thousands* of dogs who could die this year?" Stoker asked.  "Why?"

"Overbreeding, strays, what I told you earlier, and they're all over the world, Stoker.  Well, in some parts they'd be food not die for other reasons, but we who can try to keep the pets down.  That's why all of ours got fixed when he caught them."

"Gee, it only took three litters," Vinnie teased.

"That was Dawn, not me," Xander defended.  "I wanted to take the first litter in to be fixed at six weeks, but Tara was already pregnant again and Dawn fussed about Joyce being fixed.  We got the rest, but Andrew, fixed.  We couldn't find him when it was time. All the cats but Harley and Cranberry are fixed."

"Cranberry's which one?" Enamel asked.

"The red one that likes to pounce you. Watch out."  The little red cat jumped from the top of a doorway she had been sitting on and landed on Enamel's shoulder, purring in his ear when he jumped.  "See?  She's going in next week once the vet's sure her infection is gone."

"We know you try very hard, Xander," Throttle soothed.  "Don't stress about it."  He nudged his foot under the table.  "What else did you get him, besides dog food?"

"We went to Walmart.  Got some clothes and some spares for the general fund," Stoker admitted.  "We need to come down and do some more for the general fund, some of the things in it are looking a bit shabby and worn-out.  This'll replace most of those.  Plus we got some tools so we could get some kids started learning how to build and fix things."  Staff beamed at that.  "Leak is doing those lessons," he told her.

"He's good with the kids.  I'm glad he made it through the war," she offered gently.

"Speaking of kids," Enamel said with a small cough.  "Take this, Staff," he ordered, handing her a small bottle of pills.  "It's a revamped version of viagra that's closer to what we used to have.  They're doing human tests to see if it's better working than the original but you're our guinea pig for testing it on mice.  It'll definitely reduce those knots but we're not sure of any side effects so write down anything out of the ordinary and let me know."  She nodded, taking the first one right there.  "Good girl.  It should take about six months for it to fully work."  She beamed at him, then blushed.  She dove back into her food and the dog started to bark again.  Enamel looked down at it before picking it up with his tail.  "I'm a friend of the family, dog.  Get used to it."  He let it sniff his nose then put it back down, watching as it wandered off to hop into Stoker's lap.  "For the wife?" he asked dryly.

"Yeah, she'll love it, it'll sit in her lap like the baby.  That way the baby can crawl around finally."

"Got any new pictures of the baby?" Vinnie asked.

"Nope.  No film on Mars and what we got the last time got warped by space radiation on the way home.  It apparently doesn't travel well across the cosmos."

"Ah, but there's a solution for that," Xander said smugly.  "You use a digital camera, then upload them into a central database of pictures.  One which you can search by name. Which would be a good project for any kids wanting to learn how to work on computers, or for Switch if she's still taking classes."

"Those were expensive," he complained.

"Not that much," he said, pulling one out of his jacket pocket and tossing it over.  "That way we can share pictures of the kids.  Most of ours go onto my computer."

"It'd have to, the laptop is still running the transporter," Rimfire said dryly, snatching another piece of pizza to nibble on. "What sort of burgers are those?"

"Pre-formed."

"Ah, no wonder they're not as good," Rinfire said dryly.  "Give me Chef Andy's any day."

"He was closed when we rode past," Stoker told him.  "The sign said he was at the doctor's for a few hours."  He looked down at the dog, seeing the hopeful, pitiful look on his face.  "What are you doing?"

Staff looked.  "Begging.  Switch gets that look when you've been doing too much paperwork."

"Oh, that's why it looked familiar."  He scratched behind the creature's ears, getting a groan but the dog was still begging him for something.  "What?"

"No begging for food at the table," Xander said firmly.  "You know better!"  It hopped down and went to pout on the couch.  "Thank you."  He broke apart his burger and tossed two pieces down, letting Cranberry have one too.  Vinnie's dog woke up at the sound of other animals eating and trotted over so Xander tossed a piece for him too, farther back so he'd get the point not to beg next to the table.

"You're a softy," Enamel teased.

"Yes, I am, the conditioning treatments worked very well on my fur," he said smugly.

"That's right, it did," Vinnie agreed.  "Very well.  You're nearly as soft as I am."

"Is that something that being down here makes you want to do?" Stoker asked.

"No, but Charley likes me having soft fur.  Says I make a better pillow," Vinnie said smugly.  "I get more cuddles for my soft fur than most any other reason."

"You could just ask," Charley said as she came up the ramp.  She took her normal seat.  "Enamel, you could sit down like a civilized mouse....."  She stopped, looking at the second puppy.  "That one had better be going to Mars."

"It's for Switch," Stoker assured her.  "He won't get much bigger but it'll give her something to baby."

"You asked her if she wanted a pet, right?" Charley asked.

"She's always saying she wants a few of the cats," Stoker offered.  "It'll be fine.  She needs something to baby besides the baby.  She won't even let her crawl around."

"Fine, but if she doesn't want him, you find him a *good* home."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, saluting her.

"Charley, are you feeling all right? You sound kinda grumpy today, like someone came in with an engine that won't be fixed," Xander offered.

"I'm fine.  A few of the checks people paid me with bounced this morning.  I had to deal with the bank."

"Is everything okay?" Staff asked.  "Can we help?  I can do a mean impersonation of a mean person."

"No, we have ways of handling those down here," she assured her, patting her on the hand.  "Thank you anyway, Staff."  She smiled and nodded.  So Charley looked at Xander.  "Don't even think about it."

"I wasn't," he promised.  "The mail come yet?"

"Yeah, the water bill's on my desk.  Since when did we only have one water meter?"

"Since the renovation when I told the water company to do that," he offered with a grin.  "They're still measuring yours for the garage, I'll let you get that to me whenever."

She nodded.  "Fine.  Thank you, Xander."

"You're welcome.  One less thing for you to worry about," he said happily.

Charley knew it was more like 'one more thing to bind my family together so they wouldn't leave me' but left it at that.  Xander was still fragile about his family falling apart.  You didn't pick on Xander about family stuff, it was mean and he went off then stomped off to get into trouble.  "What's on for this afternoon?"

"Gathering up Anya and her Dawn-given sacred girl stuff," Throttle told her. "I expect that'll take a few hours."

"Probably," she agreed dryly.  "Where are they?"

"Doing their nails," Vinnie said with a small smirk.  "Making her pretty for her mother."

"Xander got her a crown and she's refusing to take it off," Throttle added.

Stoker nodded.  "Some day we'll have to restart the Miss Mars pageant and I'm sure she'll be one of those in line for her age group."  He shook his head, he didn't understand that daughter.  Hopefully the next one would be more like him.  At least Spike liked the new baby.  He looked at his son, noticing he was asleep on his plate, and smirked.  "Camera works how?"

"Ours is on the desk," Xander said quietly.  Modo got up to get it, bringing it back to take pictures of him and Vic, who was sleeping with both the puppies and a cat on his back with his tail wrapped around her middle. He grinned at Stoker.  "See the fun you get to have?"

He nodded. "Thank you, Xander.  A lot of parents will like that."

"Plus, it'll lead for easier identification of kids if they become lost," Throttle offered.  "You could also put up family charts so people could find their relatives."

Stoker nodded.  "That would be helpful.  Vinnie's would take up a whole database by itself though."

"Not my fault we're prolific," he taunted happily.

"No, it's one of your uncle's.  The one who had kids by nine different women," Stoker shot back, making Vinnie snicker and nod.

"Why?" Charley asked.

"He didn't believe in binding oneself to another being," Vinnie told her.  "So he had a harem."

She shook her head.  "That's your *uncle*, right?"

"Yeah, my Momma's youngest brother," he admitted.  "He hated my dad a lot."

"Oh, good.  Let's not follow in his footsteps," Charley said patiently.

"I'd never do that to you," he assured her, giving her a grin.  "Want help this afternoon?"

"I could use some.  Staff's been working on my computer all day."

Oz walked his new dog up the stairs.  "I should hurt you," he told Xander, handing him an envelope.  "You made her cry."

"Why did I make her cry?"

"The dog pounced me and decided I was food to nibble on," he said dryly, looking at the other two.  "No wonder.  I'm surprised we didn't have a cat yet."  Joyce got up and stretched before walking over to rub against his leg.  Oz's dog sniffed her tail and she hissed, batting at his nose, making him shy back.  "He's all right, Joyce. He won't hurt you. Someone hurt him in the past."  Joyce looked at the dog, then gave it a playful bat on the nose and a meaningful look before going to the food bowls.  Where she glared at Xander.

"Give me ten minutes, Joyce, you're not starving."  He dug back into his food, eating faster.  "I knew a dog would help Meg for when you had to travel and stuff."

"It does and he's nice," Oz agreed.  "He had how long to live?"

"End of the day."

"Poor guy."  He patted his dog's head.  "That's half the first month's we owe you."

"That's fine, just catch up soon, like when you get your disbursement or something."  Xander beamed at him.  "The little dog is for Switch."

"Looks like Vic's gonna wail when his new friend disappears."

"Hey, Oz, how much is getting us another laptop going to run?  Dawn wanted to know," Rimfire asked.  "The other one is running the transporter and we'll need one for schoolwork."

"About a grand for a good one, maybe a grand and a half.  She might be able to order one through the school and get a discount though.  Have her bring me specs so I can make sure it's compatible with the home system here."  He nodded quickly.  "Any other problems with it?"

"Yeah, but it was solved by yelling at the air conditioning guy and threatening to sue him," Xander said dryly.  "They didn't want to honor the warrantee."

"Ah," Oz said, nodding.  "I'm sure you got them to do so.  Need me for much?"

"No, that's fine, Oz.  You can stay and play if you want."  Oz nodded, heading into the office to play with the computer.  His was being used by Meg.

"He doesn't have one at home?" Throttle asked.

"Meg's probably working on a few things at once," Xander told him.  "She often uses them together."

"Ah.  So they need a third one?" Modo asked.

"No, she'd probably steal that one too," Xander said dryly.  "I thought about giving her a gift certificate to update her system for the holidays but I'm not sure that she wants it."

"She needs more processor space and the external you've got," Oz called.  The dog barked.  "Yeah, I know, it's an expensive toy but it means I'd get my own system back."  He came to the doorway.  "You're overheating again.  Money?"  Xander tossed him his wallet.  "Thanks, watch the pooch for a few minutes.  I'll go get extra fans and install them."  He headed out, going to hit the computer store and price what she needed.  Since Xander had said he would and all.

The sheepdog trotted out and sniffed everyone, finally ending up next to Modo to be petted since he had the strongest hand.  "Feel good, little fella?" he asked with a grin.  The dog only groaned and put his head down on his lap.  "Sure, I'll pet cha more."

"Will he grow more?" Stoker asked.

"No, he's a bit older," Xander told him. "He's probably somewhere between two and five years old and probably won't live past twelve because of his size."

"So we should expect a second Oz and Meg baby about that time and have it named after him?" Rimfire asked.

"Nephew," Modo said firmly.

"She will go to him for comfort, it'll probably happen, and I'd bet that she'd probably want to name it after him."

"Point," Throttle admitted.  "Still uncool."

"Fine, sorry."

Anya and Dawn came up the stairs.  "I thought Mommy got a little dog.  Did it grow really fast?" she demanded of her father.

"No, that's Oz's dog," he assured her.  "Ours is on the couch with Victor."

"Oh.  He probably needs the friends."  Dawn swatted her.  "Hey!  Don't mess up my hair! You yelled at me for doing it!"

"That wasn't nice," Dawn told her.  "Vic's too young to go out and make friends."

"Sorry, Auntie Charley.  I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"That's okay.  One day you'll learn to think before you speak."  She gave her a pat on the back.  "I like your hair."

"Thank you.  It fits very well with my tiara."  She smiled smugly at her daddy.  "I'm beautiful."

"You are, but you're still spoiled and going to be grounded for bragging," he said firmly.

"It's not bragging if it's true," she retorted smugly, smirking at him. "You said so."

He groaned.  "Not in that case, daughter.  In yours, it's bragging."

"Fine."  She crawled up into his lap, staring at her baby brother, then snorted.  "Did he wear himself out again?"  He nodded, handing her a french fry, then grabbing her hand to look at her nails.  "It's called Comet Silver."

"I can see that," he said, looking over at Dawn.

"It is," she agreed. "It's a very good color for her and her fur."

Stoker shook his head.  "Remember, princess, this is a *special* treat.  You don't have fingernail polish on Mars."

"Can we go buy some?  It'd make other people pretty too."  She pouted up at his head shake.  "Others need to feel pretty too, daddy.  Otherwise nothing ever gets done because everyone feels so ugly and old.  People need to feel pretty now and then to keep going.  After all, a night of being pretty means that you can go on when the world is ugly for a while longer."

"That's very wise for your age," he assured her, giving her a gentle squeeze.  "You still can't buy any nail polish.  Maybe for the holidays."

"Thank you, daddy."  She beamed up at him. "Not even for Auntie Cell?  She could use some prettying up.  She's got a date soon."

"No, not even for your Auntie Cell," he said patiently.  "She can ask her little brother herself."

"Okay."  She took another fry from his plate. "Thank you for making lunch, Uncle Xander."

"How did you know he did it?" Rimfire asked.

"There's no hotdogs."

"Ah," Stoker agreed, nodding.  "Very logical, daughter.  I'm very proud of your thinking today."  She beamed up at him.  "You deserve a treat."

"Nail polish and perfume?"

"Noooo, how about some new clothes?  We picked you up some jeans and some t-shirts."

"Okay!  Can I have hip hugger jeans?" she asked.

"When you're old enough to have hips to show off," he said patiently.  "That's for older girl times."

"Okay."  She nodded, digging into his lunch while her personal Goddess sat down next to her man and ate her own lunch.  "Daddy?"  He looked down at her.  "Will you help me find a nice guy like Rimfire some day?"

"Sure, dear, I'd love to," he assured her, giving her another hug.  Rimfire choked.  "I'd never let her go with someone who wasn't as good to her as you are to Dawn," he said dryly.  "I'd have to kill anyone else."

"Maybe she'll end up liking girls and go for one of Primer's kids," Dawn offered.

"Do girls like you like girls?" Anya asked, looking confused.

"Well, I only like Rimfire, but yeah, girls can like girls.  The same as boys can like boys, like Throttle and Xander."

"Oh.  Okay.  That's pretty cool.  Maybe I'll find a girl who's like Rimfire then."

"That would probably be Primer's daughters," her father offered.  "We'll see who's around when you're older, dear."

"Yes, daddy."  She stole her brother's plate, letting his head hit the table.  He didn't wake up, he never did, but she got her own plate now.  Even if she did finish off her daddy's lunch by putting it onto her plate.

Throttle snickered and handed over more food.  "Hungry, coach? Your plate seems to have been cleared."

"Yeah, I think it grew a mouth," he agreed, taking more food for himself.  Which his daughter still took more of.  "Eat your own."

"Yours tastes better, daddy."

"It came from the same source."

"Yes, but daddies have special magic on their plates that make it taste better. The same as mommy's do."

"I can't refute that one," Stoker admitted.  "I don't know the counter argument."

"You put some of the magic onto her plate," Xander said quietly, smirking at him.

"Ah.  Here, daughter, let me put some of the magic on your plate."  He switched plates with her and ran his fingers around the edges, then switched back, having to refill his plate again.  She beamed and ate her own lunch now.

Xander looked at Vinnie, then at Enamel.  "Is it normal for Victor to call all girls like he does his momma and all boys the same name?  I've noticed that.  He calls all guys 'poof' and all girls 'ohmygod'."

Enamel shook his head slowly.  "What?"

"Hey, Vic, want a fry?" Xander called.

"Poof poof?" he asked sleepily, lifting his head.  "Poof!" he said, smiling at Enamel.  He yawned and got up, wandering over to sit in his daddy's lap.  "Pooooooooofffffff?"  His father put some fries on his plate for him to gum to death.  "Ohmygod!" he said, spotting his mommy, beaming at her and beating the plate.  "Ohmygod!"

Dawn took him to cuddle.  "Hi, Victor."

"Ohmygod!" he said, cuddling into her shoulder.  She gave good cuddles.  She handed him off to Rimfire.  "Pooof poof!" he said happily, giving him a wet, sloppy kiss on the nose.  He handed him to his mommy.  "Ohmygod!" he shrieked, reaching for his normal food source, not caring that she was wearing a shirt.  He was hungry, he'd eat through it.  "Ohmygod!" he mumbled, sucking hard to get through the fabric.

"Son, let me get us into a bedroom," she complained, heading into the nearest one to feed him.

"So he calls all guys 'poof' and all girls 'ohmygod'," Dawn agreed.  "He also growls and says 'baddy' now and then."

"We're breaking him of saying 'bitch'," Xander offered.  "I just wondered if that was normal."

Enamel shrugged. "He doesn't know that many words yet.  Soon he'll start giving you each colorful names.  I'm guessing that's what's going on.  Unless he's got really bad eyesight."

"Can you check that?" Vinnie asked.  "Just in case?"

"Sure, Vincent.  Not a problem.  Once he's done eating."  Vinnie grinned and went back to eating his new handful of wet fries.  "You guys make sure my life is never boring anymore.  That's what I like about this family.  Any plans on the second child, Vincent?"

"Not yet," he offered.  "She said no more for a while."

"When she wants more, she'll let you know," Dawn assured him. "Then you can jump to attention and help her with that project for a few weeks."

"Then we'll have another baby who likes to play with the jingling Vinnie balls," Xander teased.

"That came out wrong," Throttle said, shaking his head to clear that image.  "Please say that came out wrong."

"It did," Xander assured him, grinning at him.  "He does claim all those balls as his though."

"Do I even want to know?" Enamel asked flatly.

Rimfire got up and grabbed the jingle ball from behind the couch, handing it over.  "One of Vinnie's jingling balls.  The other's in the garage, where Charley hid it."

"And they're furry balls too," Dawn agreed.  "The other's are catnip balls."

Enamel jingled the ball, then put it down quickly, wiping off his hands.  He didn't want to have that image.  He really didn't.  He might have to think about how to interchange the three sets.  No, not that thought!  He pinched the bridge of his nose and thought of his girl, Shell, and how she'd make him forget alllll about Vinnie's balls.  "I don't wanna know," he announced.  "That's given me dirty and nasty thoughts.  Especially about interchanging them."

"That'd be one way to make sure no more kids came," Xander said dryly.  "Change to a harmless set before sex."

Dawn choked and Rimfire pounded her on the back.  "Please, I didn't need that image either.  Especially not with how the kids keep playing with them."  In her head was an advertisement for interchangeable balls and Vinnie's smiling face saying something like 'my wife likes when I change mine out, that way there's no way of having more kids, but they're always a lot of fun playing with my furry sets of balls'.  She shuddered and Rimfire kissed her, making her focus on his balls instead.  "Downstairs," she said firmly.  "Now.  Take this image out of my head."  He nodded, walking her off.

"No sex in the house," Throttle yelled after them.

"Fine, we're going for a ride then.  I need to get that ad out of my head!" she called back.

"Ad?" Rimfire was heard to ask.  When you had big ears, you could hear conversations downstairs.

"Him talking about how much fun it is when he changes them out for Charley's pleasure and how much safer since there wouldn't be another kid.  Take this image out of my head, Rimfire, before it gets stuck and makes me have a stroke."

"Yes, dear."  He got her onto the back of his bike and took off with her, heading for somewhere more private.

"That is a bad thought," Throttle admitted, looking at Xander.

"He started it, he calls them his balls," Xander defended.

"He made the salespeople blush by talking about it too," Stoker noted.

Throttle got up and walked around to pick Xander up and take him down to their room.  "He needs a nap. Let me help him with that.  I'll be right back," he promised, going to put Xander to bed one way or another.

Staff finally unblushed and cleared her throat.  "Bad Xander," she chuckled, then snuck back to her drawing.  It'd take that image out of her mind.

Modo looked at Vinnie."He's definitely your family.  A true white mouse," he taunted.

Vinnie beamed at him and nodded. "Yup, he sure is," he agreed happily. Then he chuckled.  "I wonder how Chassis and them would take that."

"I'll let you know," Stoker said dryly.  He shuddered.  "I didn't want that image either.  Anya, are you all packed so we can go home?"

"No.  Do we have to?"

"Yes, we have to," he said firmly.

"Can we bring the air conditioner home?"

"No," he said patiently.  "You don't need it.  It's a luxury."

"Fine," she complained.  "My hair will be frizzy."

"So?  You can find ways around it," he assured her, patting her on the back.  "Finish up so we can pack your things."  She nodded, eating slowly.

"If you're not packed, he'll make you leave it until the next trip," Enamel told her.  She ate more quickly, getting the hiccups.  Her father handed her a soda and let her drink them away while he took her down to pack her bags for her.  There was a small pile of shirts and stuff on Dawn's bed with Anya's name on the paper on top of them, and another pile with 'give these to someone naked' on top of them.  He packed Anya's bag for her then went to get some plastic bags for the other stuff.  Dawn was pretty good about donating her former clothes before they got too worn out.  Then again, she liked to shop way too much to ever be satisfied on Mars.  It'd be a long time before she and Rimfire came home for good.

***

Switch looked at the stuff her children were carrying out, watching the two helpers who went to get the rest of the stuff.  "What's all this?" she demanded.

"Stuff we picked up.  Some's for the kids, some's for the general clothing fund.  Some's other stuff and the soft-sided carrier's for you," he said, kissing her on the cheek.  "That way the baby can grow up."  He put Spike into someone's arms.  "Hold him.  He's been trying to steal Vinnie's son and pack him in his bag."  He went back to get the rest of the stuff, letting Modo carry the water and soda since he was stronger.  They finally got it all through and the last thing through was a bag with books.  Then the transporter shut off.  "Hey, I didn't get those."

"Rimfire did by the note in the bag," one of his helpers offered.  She looked at him.  "How was my cousin?" Chassis demanded.

"Fine.  Both of them are fine.  Vinnie got his son a dog.  He's crawling and talking. Enamel said he's got pretty normal eyes but he might need glasses some day, he's not sure yet.  Charley said she needed them as a child so he's not too worried."  Chassis gave him a long look.  "Xander had to be put down for a nap.  Oh, we brought some kiddy toys back too.  Modo made me take the furry ball that Vinnie had."  He nudged a bag and Spike quit growling and wiggled down, going to find the ball and attack it again.

Switch giggled.  "That's so adorable!" she cooed.  "We need pictures of that."

"I have some from their living room.  Also, Xander and Throttle decided we needed a digital camera for pictures and to put them in a large database and to do genealogy charts so we could search out relatives easier.  By putting them online over the computer systems, it'd make it easier to share with the other cities and find our families.  The camera he got us is actually a two-pack so we can share it with one of the other cities and the others can figure out if they want to borrow or get their own."  Everyone nodded at that.  "Let me get these guys home so we can sort stuff out.  We did get some extra clothes for the general fund.  We did get some clothes from Dawn as well.  She and Rimfire went through her closet.  Plus my kids are growing so we'll be able to put some of their older stuff in."  The other councilors smiled at that as well.  "Switch, get the soft-sided carrier, that's your present.  Spike helped me pick him out."

She squealed and found the carrier under a not-very-heavy bag and pulled it free, looking inside.  She frowned and opened it, taking out the small dog.  "Oooooh, you're so adorable!" she cooed, hugging him.  The dog lapped her face.  "Yes, you are!  You're so adorable!  So small and tiny and loving!  The kids will love you!"  Spike snorted but he continued to play with his ball.  "Tough, son."

"He's got a thing for Vic's dog.  It's a puppy but it'll get bigger.  This one's about as big as it'll get.  It's got a very loud bark."  Switch smiled and gave him a kiss.  "Thanks, babe.  Bike with a cart?"

"Outside," she said patiently.  "Let me get them up here.  You always come home with stuff from Xander."

"He's the one who took me to the pet store and to Walmart," he agreed.  "That dog only had a few hours left.  Oz and Meg got one too.  Oh, she's pregnant."

"Oooh!" she squealed hugging him.

"She wasn't as happy and Oz was really upset for a few days, but now they're used to it.  He got the other dog, a huge sheepdog with a lot of fur, since it only had a few hours too."

"That's so cool," she agreed, going to get the bikes so they could load all this stuff up.

"Mommy, look at my nailpolish and my crown," Anya demanded as she followed her mother.

"You're so adorable!  You look very pretty, Anya.  How was Dawnie?"

"She's very good.  She taught me some Russian and she did my nails and we brought you some smelly bath stuff that Uncle Xander said they were allergic to but it's sacred girl stuff so we can smell better than some sweaty, nasty boy.  Uncle Rimfire got me extra stuff and Dawn showed me why baths are good for girls like us.  She thinks you should open one of the spas with the mineral pools and just do appointments for everyone for the next few years."

"That was Vinnie's idea actually," Stoker admitted.  "Give everyone a free spot each month, let the spa give out so many award tokens each month for things like medals earned and the like.  Anya thinks it'd make things go easier to have a day of prettiness once a month, said it'd make the ugly times go faster," he said proudly.

"It is an interesting idea and we can't use that water for other means," Carbine noted dryly.  "It'd also give Switch something more to do than to have another baby."

"We agreed, no more kids for a while, that's why she's got the dog," Stoker said dryly, smirking at her.  "It won't eat much, Xander said he'd send up food for it, and it made Anya coo and pet something other than her brother, who was getting pissed off.  Oh, look at his t-shirt.  His uncle got him that," he said smugly, smirking at her again.

"I'm evil, what else did you expect?" Carbine read, then snorted.  "That sounds like Xander's handiwork.  "How is everyone?"

"Fine. Rimfire's getting ready for his first day of college.  He's been doing some work for Micah now and then.  He went out to help the ambassador get settled in and teach him about the human-style appliances.  Apparently he's learning how to cook since Dawn doesn't."  Staff came back with both bikes, letting him load up the carts behind them.  "In the blue bag are baby carriers," he offered.  "There's a soft stomach one for someone Spike's size and a back one for someone Anya's size.  She'll be too big soon but it's probably safer for right now."  He sniffed, then grimaced.  "What smells like a Plutarkian?"

"We found a few hiding in the mountains, coach," Chassis told him.

"Why?"

"We're not sure yet," she sighed.  "He won't even tell us his name, and by law that means we can't kill him yet."

"Let me get Xander up here.  He'll tell him his name," he said dryly.  "Oh, Carbine, got a suggestion on the motivation problem," he said smugly.  "Xander and Vinnie suggested this, with Throttle's full support."  She sat up a bit straighter at that.  "Get all of Vinnie's relatives who are muir berry reactive, hype them up on them, point them at the mountains and tell them to go find stuff.  Look at the rest of their units and tell them that if they don't find more than the hyped-up mice, the cousins get to teach them like that for a week.  He said Chassis would know which ones that would work best with."

"Ten white mice, all hyped up on Muir berry juice," Chassis mused, looking up and grinning.  "Hey, we could probably carve new homes out of the mountains too!  Man!  We'd get shit done like it was nothing for *days*!"

"So they could put together prefab walls too?" another councilor asked smartly.

Chassis nodded.  "Probably more than you'd ever use.  Can we, Stoker? Just to see the looks of horror on everyone's faces?" she asked sweetly, leaning on his arm. "Please?" she begged at his grin.  "Pretty please?  I'll babysit."

He snickered.  "You'll do it anyway."  He patted her on the back.  "It's quite possible," he offered.

Carbine moaned and shuddered.  "That's a bad mental picture. Ten white mice doing the training while in hyper mode.  It's worse than the week Vinnie did his on muir berry juice and taught riding skills classes."  Chassis laughed at that.  "Sure, you laugh now, but we had a lot of injuries from kids trying to do what he did!"

"Yes, but the motivation problem would be fixed," Stoker reminded her.  "All those kids grew up on the horror stories of what those three were like.  I'm *sure* they've heard about that incident and the one where Vinnie took on a rat encampment by himself because he was hyped up, and allllll the other ones," he said fondly, smirking at her.  "Wanna bet it won't motivate someone?"

She snickered, shaking her head.  "Sucker bet.  No way.  Fine, we'll suggest it openly in front of a lot of the recruits, see what happens," she decided.  "It might help."

"Also threaten to have Vinnie bring Xander up to help his training," Chassis offered sweetly, smirking at her. "After all, we got to hear the stories about them taking down the tower on caffeine."

Stoker chuckled evilly.  "I like the way you think, Chassis.  Vinnie said you'd know which cousins that would work on."

"Sure do, I can get you a list later this week."

"Thanks, now help me load this stuff. You can bring the spare cart back with the stuff for the general fund."  She nodded, going to help since she wasn't doing much of anything else.

"Why were you up here anyway?" Switch asked her.

"Oh, I was going to see if there was new news from Earth.  Vinnie usually can't stay out of trouble."

"I saved down Vinnie's call where he showed off Vic's speaking skills," Stoker offered.

"I saw that," she said with a grin. "He's so adorable!"

"They broke him of saying bitch," Stoker offered.

"Probably a good thing.  Where did he get that one word from?"

"Dawn, Rimfire's girl," he said dryly.  He looked around, spotting a few last bags, which got tossed into Switch's cart since his was more full.  He found the carrier and put it on, putting Spike into it with his ball since he wouldn't let it go.  Anya got onto her mommy's back while the dog got to go inside her shirt.  Then they headed off with Chassis following behind them.

"It was a good idea," one of the councilors noted, tossing his hair back over his shoulder.  "A bit of frivolousness now and then would help morale."

"It would," Carbine agreed, "plus Switch would be an idea candidate for that.  She's caring, she's detail oriented, she's got free time with the kids.  She'd also be a good person to help design the stuff for the pictures and family databases.  She couldn't work on it herself, she doesn't know coding that well, but others do.  It would be a help finding people and making sure families didn't interbreed."

Everyone nodded.  "Any opposition?" the other female on the council asked.  No one said anything.  "Then passed."  She banged her gavel.   "Any progress on the list we need to send down to Earth?"

"I still feel a bit like a Plutarkian," one of them noted.

"We're not stealing or taking, we're buying things that are readily available and openly sold," Carbine reminded him.  "Clothes and cloth are available everywhere down there.  Micah gets us good exchange rates and we can do a bit of shopping to help out some of the shortfalls we have."

"We should be buying water," another one noted.  "Not cloth."

"We have some water but we're out of clothes in most of the sizes.  Even whatever he brought back won't fit most of us.  None of us are overweight anymore but we're not all the same size.  Uniforms have been tailored to death.  People only usually have two outfits.  Even if those of us who have a bit more from our former lives give them up, it won't be much help.  You can't take the old uniforms from the army and make it into Freedom Fighter uniforms.  For what we outfit each Freedom Fighter in, we spend about forty earth dollars.  Giving him one thing would outfit everyone on the planet at that cost for nearly six years.  Even if we bought the cheapest of the cheap clothes, we'd get more and it'd last less time but it'd still be about three years worth of clothes.  Right now, we've got about ten months worth left.  Less if we take out all the patched and worn stuff."

"I see the point, Carbine, but we need water and other necessities more," another one pointed out.

"No one said you can't get both at the same time," she pointed out. "We'd have more than enough money to do that.  You can buy reusable water containers, like wells, down there for fairly small prices, or you can buy filtration units and dig wells into the underground water tables and the larger stream."

"Filtration?  With as many chemicals as it has?" the other woman asked dryly.

"Possibly a few in a row," Carbine admitted.  "I'm not fully up to date on that science. Their drinking and faucet water isn't much better.  They have to add chemicals to purify it."

Stoker came back and flopped down with a sigh.  "Chassis's taking the stuff to the general fund warehouse.  What's the topic for discussion?"

"She wants to go buy clothes and water."

"We could use both, unless you want to see most Martians walking around without anything on?" he suggested dryly.  "It's actually a time of sales since school is about to start all over the US."

"What about water filters? Did you get a chance to do any research?"

"I did some online.  I emailed, their electronic form of communication, with someone in the Department of Wildlife and that stuff.  They're the people who make environmental regulations.  They said that it shouldn't be used for drinking, even with filtration, but that we could probably use some of the mineral pools.  I told them basically that I had some mineral pools and had found a small underground water source full of minerals, this is what was in it in this strength, and let them tell me what to do."  They all nodded at that.  I used pools Access 1 and 2 and the Lunar pools as examples.  I figured they were mostly standard ones.  For the stream I used the last known test, dated about two years before the invasion started.  So we can solve the bathing issue but not the drinking issue.  He did suggest some places to look at filters for that."

"Can we put filters in a row?" Carbine asked.

"Yeah, we'd almost have to."  He pulled out the papers he had copied down, handing them over to her.  "That's what he suggested.  It'd be about three thousand US dollars to get one system up and running for each city."

"If we could get a few of the smaller villages to move inward, it'd help some," Carbine said bitterly.

"People want to go home now that they can," one of the males noted.  "Besides, some of us don't want to be pressed together in the city."

"Neither do I, but for practical purposes, things are easier when you're dealing with a few cities instead of a bunch of farms that aren't connected by anything, not even roads."

"A central water supply would be easier to maintain," the other woman agreed, "that's only practical.  Unfortunately, we're an independent people who hate being forced together.  Unless we ran pipes out there, it'd be problematic."

"We could set up regional areas," Stoker offered. "Group the farms together and run pipes to each of them.  Especially the food farms."  He looked around.  "It was also noted that what little green area we have left is up in the Northern Mountains and that we should start clean-up efforts up that way."

"Are there any people that way?" one of the other men asked.

Stoker shrugged.  "Not a clue.  Apparently during a hallucination Throttle's group went up that way but that was said to be due to Xander cooking."  Carbine snickered at that.  "That's also the same hallucination that they got his bike during."

"If you say so," she said dryly.  "I was wondering where it came from."

"It would be for the better if we could do that," Exhaust said plainly.  "Then again, people are wary of that area because of it's reputation."

"As far as I know, there's no mice up there.  We should send a troop of people up there, maybe Cell's group, to search for survivors.  We'd welcome them home to the cities and it'd let us bury any dead and reclaim some of the area."

"That's spread pretty far away," Carbine said bitterly.  "We don't have supply lines that long."

"We could easily put a few food farms that way and ship it every month or so," Exhaust told her.  "We do have the units for that.  With a group up there, they could form mutual protection or even just move a troop up there and switch them out yearly."  Stoker nodded that he liked that idea.  "That would be easier than trying to grow plants in an area with little water."

"What about the old filtration systems at some of those pools?  They were using the same water to get the showers and those were always clean," the other woman noted.

"I'm not sure that there's any left but we can easily go look," Stoker admitted.  "A point came to me earlier.  We've got to start talking to the other cities and see what they're doing.  We need to set up an information exchange before we get some inter-city warfare going."

"I do like that idea," Carbine admitted.  The others nodded.  "When do we call?"

"Tomorrow, it's late at night," Exhaust said, flipping his hair back again.  "All right.  Anything else good come from the trip, Stoker?"

"Some bad thoughts.  Vinnie has these furry toy balls that Xander made some bad jokes about and gave me bad mental images."

Exhaust snickered.  "I'm sure you'll live."  He looked over at the sound of clicking nails on marble.  "I see someone can track."

Stoker looked and groaned.  "You're supposed to be with Switch," he complained, reaching over to pick the dog up.  "What? She didn't pet you enough?  Did she coo too much?"  His dog licked his face happily then settled down in his lap.  "Fine, this time.  Do not make this a habit, dog."

"He's nearly as cute as Spike," the oldest member of the council said with a small grin.  "Does he growl?"

"He barks," Stoker told her.  "Totally different.  So does Vinnie's son though.  He growls and Spike used him as his pillow because he called him a baddy and growled at him."  They all laughed at that.  "Vinnie said his kid needed more normal friends."

"Vincent needs his head examined for spawning," Carbine said dryly.  "Is he still wanting more?"  He nodded, smirking at her.  "What?" she asked cautiously.

"Xander told Throttle that when he was ready to have one, he'd help him pick out the mother.  You should put in an application for that, Carbine."

"He'd hate me."

"He might not mind.  They'd be pretty children and very smart," Exhaust offered.  "Xander doesn't want any of his own?"

"Xander's found out a few things about the guardian spirits that used to control his life," Stoker said quietly.  "Apparently they're working to make his life difficult because he left them.  He said that any child of his would wend up either working for them or dying because of them.  That's why if Rimfire and Dawn ever have children, the child is to be born on Mars, blessed immediately to a Martian deity, and then stay on Mars.  Even if it does end up with the M'dreth, it's to stay up here."

"Why?" Carbine asked.

"That's for him to tell you, Carbine, not me," he said firmly.  "You've probably heard him swearing about the Powers That Be.  Needless to say he knows what's going on and he's resigned himself."

"That means he could come up here...." she started.

Stoker shook his head.  "They had a much more personal interest in his life than they did Dawn's.  It's any child she has that they can claim, but if Xander has one they *will* claim.  Dawn has a ninety percent certainty of having a child that will end up serving them, even if she doesn't want it.  He figures his is worse."  She shuddered.  "You've heard about his past.  He knew about Martian deities after first meeting Throttle and the boys.  He went home and found evidence back in Sunnydale.  He knew then, before that thing with Willow, that he was in trouble.  They abandoned him then.  This is not to go in the official records either," he said firmly.  "It's his problem and he's handling it well enough."

"What about Throttle's child?" she said gently.

"It'll be his kid, not Xander's.  Xander can only be a step-parent and an uncle.  He said so and he said it's safer, but he won't keep Throttle from having children."

"Good.  I know some who wouldn't mind having one for him, even if he wasn't living up here all the time," the other female noted.  "Would he consent to being a surrogate?"

"Throttle or Xander?"

"Either, but mostly Throttle."

"Throttle wants to be a daddy some day," Stoker said firmly.  "Not to be a donor.  Xander said he wouldn't care, but he's not fully mouse, he's changed."  The teleporter in the corner went off and Xander walked out.  "Problems?"

"Small ones."  He handed over a letter.  "Micah couldn't hook into the system again.  He said that the Plutarkians down there are considering heading for a secondary world, which would bring them back past Mars.  Throttle's considering how to blow them up from a distance."

"Good," Carbine agreed firmly.  "Can you?"

"They're in Russia, in Siberia," Xander told her.  "That's half the world away.  That's some pretty strong magic," he said dryly.  "Oh.  Got the water bill," he said, waving it.  "I love you guys dearly, but I'm not able to afford to water all of Mars again."  He held up the little device he had found in one of the sink's faucets.  "Whoever put it in there, I don't care, but they turned the faucet on full-blast."  He handed the bill to Stoker, who choked.  "That's what I did," he said dryly, frowning at him.  "I don't care if you guys take half the water stream while a faucet is running, but I can't handle a three grand water bill every month to refill all of Mars' cisterns."

"No, that was unfair of whoever did that, Xander.  I'm sorry," Stoker told him.  "If we could find a way to take half of a water stream we could do that?"

"Sure, that wouldn't cost any more. We'd just have low water pressure on a few sinks."  He shrugged.  "I can handle that or low water pressure in one of the tubs even.  I can't handle another shock like that water bill."

"No, and you shouldn't have to.  Do you need us to cover some of it?" he asked.

"No, I'm good on that part," he admitted.  "I've still got *some* of my inheritance from the Watchers.  Oh, and the Plutarkians were found to have some more hidden accounts.  Meg and her crew found some more.  They're appropriating it out."

"That's fine," Exhaust told him.  "Stoker noted that you had said you'd welcome Throttle having children some day.  You do know that you're eligible too?"

"Yeah, but I know what'll happen to any kid of mine," he said dryly.  "Besides, you don't quite look like you've got the proper equipment to have his kids.  But if you're interested I'll ask him for you," he finished with a grin.

"Not me, young man, I'm much too old to sleep with someone as young and energetic as your mate," he retorted, smirking at him.  "I do know that a few of my cousins wouldn't mind and drool over his old recruiting posters.  That they'd even do it and raise the child totally."

"Nope.  If there's a kid from Throttle, we'll get to play with him, he'll get to play with Victor, and we'll get partial custody," he said firmly.  "No being a donor.  That's not fair to the mother or the kid."

"Told ya so," Stoker said firmly.  "What did we refill?"

"Both aqueducts and the reservoir were all refilled in the last month," a male member noted. "It was nice."

"Ice asteroids," Xander said firmly.  "You can pull one down and use it."

"There's none close enough," Carbine said sweetly.

"How hard would it be to go out and find one and bring it back in tractor beam?" Xander retorted.  She looked startled. "Yes, Xander is a Trekkie, Carbine.  He's seen it before.  The same as you've got two moons you can use."

"We hadn't thought about that," she admitted. "What did you kill for that chili?"

"Some small furry thing that reminded me of a rabbit.  Modo said it was edible," he defended.

She groaned and shuddered.  "As a moment of desperation maybe," she agreed.  "That's starvation food, Xander."

"Hey, I asked before I killed it for going near Vic.  He said it was edible.  I cooked it."  He shrugged.  "I tried."  He took the water bill back.  "Figure out how to do half a stream and I'll gladly attach it to the tub's cold water faucet or something."  Stoker nodded.  "Any ideas on getting to them in Russia?"

"Ask Micah if he's got any contacts," he offered.

"Point.  He's considering that himself."  He shrugged.  "Oh, from Vinnie for his cousins," he said, pulling out a few pictures.  "Vic was being adorable again."  He handed them over with a smirk and then headed back home through the transporter.

Stoker looked and chuckled.  "Vic was helping someone cook," he said, passing that one around.  "Who put that on there?"

"I'm not sure," Exhaust offered.  "I'll figure that out tomorrow.  I say we adjourn?"  Everyone nodded and got up, heading out to their rides.  Stoker remembered the puppy but didn't see the other one sneaking through the shadows.  Exhaust did however and smiled.  "You're adorable," he offered, letting the puppy sniff his hand.  It barked and ran out, tracking Stoker by scent all the way home.  This one crawled into Switch's lap at the table and lapped her before laying down, one tired puppy.

"Ooooh, another one?"

"No that's Victor's dog," Stoker said dryly.  "How did you get up here?"  He wagged his tail and let out a tired bark.  "Fine, we'll call them tomorrow so they won't worry."

"He's just a baby doggy," Anya told her mother, handing her the bowl of veggies.  "He's going to grow really big and he'll need trained.  He's got to have a lot of exercise or else he'll start to get into trouble.  Uncle Xander said so."

The oldest member of the council knocked on the door and walked in.  "Xander sent these things up with a note that said since the puppy wanted to live with Spike at least they'd help you feed the thing."  He put the bags of food and the bag of stuff down, handing over the note.  "He does look very tired."

"He followed me home," Stoker said dryly, reading the note.  He rolled his eyes and looked around.  "Spike already in bed?"  She nodded.  "Well, Vic's pouting because his two friends left him in the same day."

"He can go back if they want," Switch offered.

"No, he'll be fine," the councilor noted.  "They said to keep him up here."  He waved and left.

Spike came out of his bedroom and looked at the dog, then grabbed it and drug it off to bed with him.  He slammed his door after himself.

"Want dinner, son?"

Spike kicked the door and went back to bed with his friend.  He was tired too.  It was a long trip home.

Stoker shook his head.  "Kids," he muttered, digging in to eat.

"Did there used to be kings and queens on Mars like in Dawn's stories?" Anya asked.

Stoker shuddered.  "We'll tell you about them when you're older," he said firmly.

"Why?"

"Because it's not a happy ending story," her mother advised.

"Fine.  No fairy tales?"

"Nope, not on Mars, kiddo.  Sorry."

"Then I'll just have to tell the ones Dawn told me," she said firmly.  "At playgroup tomorrow.  I'll even wear my crown."

"Not a chance," Stoker told her.

"Mommy said I shouldn't be grounded since I am pretty and special and beautiful.  That it's not bragging if it's true in my case."

Stoker looked at his daughter.  "While it might be true, you're still bragging.  If it's true, you shouldn't have to state it repeatedly for others to realize it."  She nodded, looking down at her plate.  "The fact that you keep stating it is bragging and that's what got you grounded.  So you'll behave, princess, or else."

"Yes, daddy.  Can you take me for a ride tomorrow after I get back?"

"Sure.  Just the two of us will go out to watch the sunset."  She smiled at that. "You still can't wear your crown to playgroup.  It could get broken."

"Fine."  She carefully took it out of her hair and put it beside her plate.  "Can we put it with the other valuable stuff?"

"Sure, princess, later on tonight," Switch offered.  She nodded, yawning.  "Eat and then go clean up."

"Yes, mommy."  She cleaned her plate then went to wash her face and get ready for bed.  Baths were only done once a week here on Mars and her hair would be a wreck in the morning but Dawn had showed her how to fix it.  She climbed into bed and let the little puppy climb in with her, getting closer to snuggle it.  It was a good dog and defended her very well from Spike. Her brother was a big meany.

Stoker looked at Switch.  "Try to keep them both here tomorrow," he offered.  "The little one followed me to the chamber."

"I saw," she teased, kissing him gently.  "Love you."

"Love you too, mouse cadet.  Hurry up and eat.  I had to sleep alone for way too long.  Even Modo was starting to look good for a cuddle."  She chuckled and finished her dinner, putting everything away so she could pounce him.  He could finish his supper later.  He'd need the energy to make it through their second bout.

Episode 50:

It was Sunday, a nice day for a long nap on the couch, and Xander would be doing that if it wasn't for the gun in his face at the moment.  "Ya know, I'm not going to let you get with this," he said calmly and patiently.  Commandos, why did this keep happening to him?

"Shut up," the soldier ordered coldly.  "You're not doing anything."

"You'd be surprised."  He saw one dragging Charley out of their room and growled.  "Leave her alone."

"We're not hurting her."

"She's a nursing mother, you're hurting her and her son, and I will hurt you all," he sneered, tensing up.  The guy tried to hit him so he grabbed his arm and broke it.  He was much stronger as a mouse.  He tossed the guy and stood up but the others pointed their guns at him.  "I will kill you all."

"We only need her help for a few days," the guy who had Charley said calmly.  "We'll bring her back unharmed."

"And what's her son supposed to do until then?" he asked bitterly.  "Or her business?"

"You can handle it."  He walked Charley down the ramp and down to their van.  He heard a shot and someone screamed but it was one of his guys who came running out holding his arm, his face bleeding under his mask.  The other guy ran out and slammed the doors as well.  "Let's go!" he ordered the driver.

Xander calmly shot out the tires on his side before the van could move.  "I don't think so."  He shot at the window of the van but it was bulletproof.  "I'd let her go, now!" he ordered coldly.  "I'm not the most happy of campers."  Another van came around the corner and he shot at it when the door opened, but had to duck when he was shot at.  He knew he wasn't bulletproof and Throttle would be really upset if he got hurt.  He stood up and shot at it again when the shooting stopped but it took off.  He jogged down to the first van, finding two people in there.  "Well," he said dryly.  "Let's see who we get to torture this time."

"Freeze!  Chicago PD!" someone yelled.

"These idiots just stole Charley, there was another van, a little bit more green than this one that took the rest of them," he said, turning to face the cops standing there.  "I was trying to protect her.  They're military!"

"Shit!" the cop shouted, diving for his radio.  If it was true, they'd need to stop the van.  If it wasn't true, well, someone would know.  He reported it and his captain came on telling him to let it go.  He reported the situation and his captain repeated to let it go.  He hung up and looked at the others.  "The captain said to let it go, sir."

"Hey, then I get to torture these guys, right?" he asked dryly.  "Phone?"  He looked inside, then at one of them.  "Would one of you go get me my cellphone?  It's only my desk, which is upstairs.   I have a friend who might want these two when I get done with them, he's a Fed," he said bitterly.  They all went wide-eyed as he heard the bikes.  "Guys!  Military van, dark, dark green, took Charley," he yelled.  "They went West, probably heading for the interstate, cops won't intervene!"  The bikes went that way, all but Rimfire and Dawn's.  "Dawn, go do a protection on her.  They promised not to hurt her, but I'm not trusting military guys.  And call Micah, 'kay?" he finished with a sweet smile.

"Sure.  If they're not already on their way from the gunshots through our wires."   She and Rimfire headed up the stairs to do that.

Xander looked at the two groaning people.  "Don't worry, you won't die...today," he said sweetly, grinning at them.  He looked back and the cops were just standing there.  "If you're not going to help, I'd leave. You probably don't want to watch me do this."  They all nodded, heading out.  One of them called the state police and his brother who worked there, letting him know what was going on and that they had been stopped from helping but not to stop the other bikers.  Xander looked at the military guys again, yanking off their masks.  "Ah, Graham," he said dryly.  "Long time, no see."

"You don't know me."

"Honey, I'm still a Xander," he said smugly.  "Just a bit more furry now thanks to Willow."  He saw the flinch.  "Oh, by the way, we're gonna have a long talk about some things."  He let out a cold chuckle and drug them inside, locking them in a bathroom.  There wasn't anything sharp in there to kill themselves with and he needed a drink before he killed them.  He saw Rimfire pacing.  "I was having a nap, Charley was napping with Vic in the bedroom.  I woke up to a gun in my face."

"Not an issue, I told them what I saw and Throttle said to check on the baby.  Dawn's doing that and laying protection spells with him."  He stopped, looking at his uncle.  "Vinnie is so pissed but not at you."

"Well, there's a new thing."  He picked up the radio. "Throttle, honey, one of the guys I shot earlier was Graham.  From the Initiative."

"I'll kill them all," Vinnie said bitterly.  "Horribly and painfully, inch by inch.  The kid?"

"Dawn's got him.  I've got those two locked in the bathroom.  I'm going to get a drink and deal with them soon for information.  Hurry back if you can't get her back."  He hung up and got his scotch on the rocks and headed back down there sipping it.  He put the glass aside and unlocked the bathroom door, reaching in to grab one of them then shutting it and locking it with the padlock again.  "Rimfire, come guard this door."

"Yes, sir."  He came down, finishing off Xander's drink and watching him drag the other guy off to one of the empty buildings they still hadn't finished tearing down yet. A few minutes later he heard screaming and it sounded like Xander yelling at someone.  He shuddered and settled in to wait and listen for others coming to rescue their buddies.  Xander came in a few minutes later with Lorne.  "You got here fast."

"I was on my way earlier when I got the message something had happened."  He looked at Xander.  "Torture is bad."

"So?  They stole Charley.  The military apparently didn't get the message the last time not to fuck with my friends and family.  You can have him after I'm fucking well done with him, Lorne.  You can tell Micah I said that."  He unlocked the bathroom door and went in there, shutting the door behind him.  Someone in there started to cry and sob and plead, then screamed like he was being skinned.

Rimfire looked at him.  "So, what was on our training agenda?"

"Um, mostly how to spot and use surveillance equipment."  He shook his head, pointing at the door.  "You're allowing that?"

"I'd be in there helping but the bathroom's too small."

"I didn't think you guys believed in torture."

"It's fair game when you capture someone who's just hurt your family.  Ya might wanna get someone here before Vinnie gets back."

"They won't be hurting her."

"And I *so* believe that," Dawn said dryly, coming down the stairs with Victor on her back.  "Sorry, not leaving him alone.  He was still sleeping.  Not harmed.  Xander?"

"Torture," he said, nodding behind him.  "We need the vampire him here to help."

"I'll call and see if he's busy," Dawn offered, grabbing a phone and dialing.  "Hey, Megan, it's Dawnie.  Is the Vamp Xander still there?  Someone military came in and snatched Charley and I'm not sure that our Xander will make him break and beg soon enough."  She listened.  "Cleveland, huh?  Pity.  How about Willow?"  She nodded.  "No, I understand.  They were a bit psycho.  Any new news on getting Boris back?  Oooh, good!" she squealed happily.  "Tell him I said hi when he wakes up and that Xander's probably taking tomorrow and possibly the rest of the week off if we have to go retrieve her.  I'm thinkin' there's going to be some dead people."  She hung up.  "They're in Cleveland.  Xander, the vamps are in Cleveland."

"Don't need 'em, not an issue," he called back fondly.  You heard another wet sounding thud then came out wiping his hands off on a towel. "When did Charley sell a bike to the military?"

"It was her own design, based off ours," Rimfire reported.  "Probably a year after the bros got here.  Why?"

"It's apparently rejecting its rider so they want her to fix it.  They're taking her to Louisiana and then she's going to another base from there."

"Wonderful.  Can we kill them now?" Dawn asked sweetly.

"No, you can't.  But I do get Graham for other things, like Spike," he said, going back out to the other building to talk to him again.

Lorne just gaped at Dawn.  "You're not like that!"

"Hello!  They just touched my family.  No one touches my family.  I don't care if you're a God, you don't touch my family.  I do get a tad bit upset.  Right now, I'm thinking about huge destruction spells.  Like opening a portal somewhere to suck in the planet."  He shivered.  "You can ask Micah, he knew I can be like this.  He asked me once what I'd do if someone touched my family.  I very calmly told him I'd destroy them at the molecular level and then cackle pleasingly."

"I love you," Rimfire sighed, grinning at her.  "Xander might be done with this one if you want him, Lorne."

"Let me get a clean up crew here," he said patiently, calling someone on his phone but speaking German.  Micah ordered him to leave them alone about this.  That he'd be surprised if the Pentagon didn't get blown up after doing this to his family.  Then Micah told him why Xander was going to torture someone and how he probably should try to keep him calm until Throttle got back.  He hung up and sighed.  "Go call them and tell them what he found out if he didn't," he ordered.  Rimfire nodded, going to do that.  The guy in the bathroom wouldn't be walking anytime in the near future so it was safe.  Lorne looked at Dawn.  "She'll be fine.  They don't want to hurt her."

"See, a military strike force barging in here doesn't exactly inspire confidence in that," she pointed out. "If they had wanted her help, they could have asked or brought the bike back here.  Even with that rider, who probably just needs to have an ego adjustment.  I'm sure we could have done that easily."  She walked off, going to check the garage to make sure everything was okay.  She found Staff in a closet, bound and gagged.  "Boy is Modo gonna be pissed," she offered while she released her.  "Charley's been taken.  Xander's torturing people."

"Good, I want to too," she said firmly.  "What's going on!"

"Charley once designed a bike based off the bro's bikes," Dawn told her. "It went Military.  They're not working well together."

"So they kidnap her!" she demanded shrilly.  "That's not right!"

"Well, Micah swore that they wouldn't be hurting her," she said dryly.  "I'm doubting that and Xander's busy torturing others."

"Oh, no, I want one good kick," she said, stomping to where she could hear someone screaming, taking a kick at the guy's balls.  He only whimpered.  "I expected more of a scream."

"I ground them under my boot a few minutes ago, let them get a chance to feel sore again," he quipped, grinning at her.  "You okay?"

"No!  They tied me up and locked me in a damn closet!" she shouted, waving a hand around. "I want to hurt someone!"  She kicked him in the stomach and he howled so she backed off.  "Took the skin off?"

"Not yet," he admitted, cracking his knuckles. "I learned a lot from reading about vampires, and listening to Spike and Anya tell stories about how they used to torture others.  We'll be out here until either Throttle comes back or Lorne comes out to repossess him.  There's another in the secure bathroom.  His balls are still intact, just not his legs or his arms or most of his ribs or his nose."

"Then maybe I'll go visit them," she said grimly, going to kick him in the nuts too.  She was a gentle soul and couldn't do more than that, but she was sure Xander was doing it for her as well as for Vinnie and Modo.   She heard the bikes and paused, watching as they pulled in.  "Couldn't catch them?"

"Nope, disappeared," Vinnie said bitterly.

"Xander's torturing people for you."

"Where?" Vinnie asked casually.

"You okay?" Modo asked.

"They tied me up, gagged me, and put me in a closet. I'm going to kick the other one in the nuts."  She stomped that way.

Throttle coughed.  "Vinnie, Xander's torturing someone that way," he said, pointing at where he smelled blood.  "The other's probably in the bathroom."

"I'll be right back," he said, strolling that way.  Once inside he took out a flare and handed it over after lighting it.  "Here, you might need this," he said with a smirk.

"No, I insist, go ahead," Xander said, handing it back. "I was just having a talk with Graham here about how he tortured Spike and us because we had to take care of Spike."  He kicked him in the ribs and only got a groan.  "I think he's ready for the fire treatment now.  Want holding or burning?"

"Burning," he said, bending down to make sure he was awake. "You took my wife," he said with a fierce grin.  "You're gonna pay worse than any Plutarkian ever did."

***

Throttle looked over as both white mice came in, already cleaned up.  "Thank you for showering off the blood."

"No spewed blood to shower off," Xander noted dryly.  "I didn't break the skin.  Vinnie only burned his."  He shrugged.  "I like internal injuries.  They're more useful and hurt longer."  Then he grinned.  "One of them did Spike and made us protect him."  He sat down with Victor once he had grabbed the crawling infant, cuddling him.  "We will be getting your mommy back, Victor.  I promise we will or there's gonna be some human fireworks," he said, giving him a squeeze.

"I put on an anti-locking spell for cuffs, something to help keep her calm and logical while this was going on so she could work on getting free, tried to cast a location charm but something powerful was blocking it, and marked the truck with her in it as holding snatched people," Dawn reported.  "I'm hoping they're pulled over and she's freed."  She took Victor from Xander, sitting down to hold him but Vinnie stole him from her and she didn't protest.  He was the daddy, he needed the comfort.  "Did Lorne's people come finally?"

"Yeah, and they were quite impressed that I didn't break any skin," Xander said happily.  "Lorne said he'd pop around tomorrow to work on your further training, once he got drunk tonight."

"Sure," Rimfire agreed, shrugging a bit.  "Movies tonight?"

"It won't ease the worry," Throttle said grimly.

"No, but it'll kill time until we can find these people and have a discussion with them," Modo said, squeezing Staff's middle where she was cuddled in his lap.  "I wanna have a long discussion with them."

"Lorne's guys said that she should be back within two weeks," Vinnie said bitterly.  "I pointed out that she has a business here and Lorne suggested we fill in like she's on a vacation or something.  I wanted to hit him so bad for not telling us where she was going but I don't think he knew."

"No, he didn't know about it beforehand, but he found out some things," Xander assured him.  "After the other guy so nicely told us about the bike, he found out that the final base is in Florida.  That they are not to hurt her, and that there's going to be some people apologizing within a few days.  Here, of course."

"Of course," Throttle said grimly.  "Can we hit them?"

"Sure," he agreed, waving a hand.  "Micah said we could hold them and beat the shit outta them for doing it this way.  He agreed, they should have *asked* or brought the bike back up here.  Which they'll be doing from now on.  Apparently Micah complained to the President, who got onto a General, who's telling the others to commit suicide before we get to ...talk with them too," he finished dryly, glaring at a wall.  "Pity about that."

"Hmm," Vinnie agreed, cuddling his son.  "Staff, what happened to you?"

"They tied her up and gagged her, then locked her in a closet," Modo said grimly.

"I woke up with an assault rifle in my face," Xander offered.  "If I had magic, they'd be dead right now."

"It'll be fine," Vinnie soothed.  "We can kill the ones who bring her back."

"They might be messengers, but they'll make an admirable statement," Dawn said coolly.  "I'll restrain."

"Sure, Dawn," Throttle agreed. "You can do the chains and we'll hit 'em.  We hit harder than you do."

"Oh, but then I get to use a weapon," she assured him.  "Someone might be able to identify them when you get done."

"Sure," Rimfire agreed, grinning at her.  "You're so fierce.  I love you."

"Love you too, babe, but you're turning me from angry to mushy."  She kissed him gently.  "Stop that."

"Yes, dear."

"You are so whipped," Vinnie said dryly, shaking his head.

"Yes, but I enjoy being this way," Rimfire said smugly.  He sat up.  "Willow."

"Already tried that," Dawn reminded him.

"Not the vampire Willow, the other one."

"Hmm, well able to track and she did have that diary of mean things to do to the Initiative," she admitted.  Vinnie's ears perked up at that.  "It was her form of therapy so she didn't actually *do* anything to them."  She got up and went to find it in her things, bringing it back to him.  "Here ya go.  We'll work on it together," she offered with a grin.

"Sure, Dawnie, I like that idea," he agreed happily.  "We should do some of that now."

"According to the computer, it takes about 15 hours driving non-stop to reach New Orleans.  They're still on the road, don't make 'em wreck," Xander advised, leaving it there.  He curled into Throttle's side, getting the cuddle he needed.  Throttle gently stroked his back. "I'm sorry if you're mad at me," he whispered.

"I'm not, I would have done the same," he assured him.  "There's a time and a place for things like that.  Mostly when someone has your family."  He kissed his mate gently.  "We'll cuddle tonight."  Xander nodded, snuggling in harder and wrapping his arms around him.  "Thanks, babe."

"Welcome."  He watched as Vinnie and Dawn went out to the library to work on the spells together, taking the baby with them.  Rimfire got up to grab some sodas and followed a few minutes later.  "I should go help and cheer 'em on."

"No, it's all right.  Let Vinnie get it out of his system, Xan.  He needs this more right now."  Xander nodded, settling down and staying comfortable.

***

Charley was drug out of the back of the van and her hood was removed, making her gasp.  "What are you doing! I'm a damn citizen!  You're letting me go before I have you fucking castrated and arrested!" she shouted.

"Calm down please.  We don't want to have to sedate you," the officer in front of her stated.  "We're sorry we were a bit abrupt, Miss Davidson, but we need your help.  You sold us a bike and it was going well but now we're having problems."

"You couldn't just bring it up to me?" she asked sarcastically.  "After all, we do have people with a security clearance around us."

"Yes, but that's why we didn't," he offered.  "We don't know why they have one."

"Then maybe you should ask around.  The mice will be killing you."

"Ma'am, we are the military."  She snorted.  "They can't really hurt us."

"Really?  Missing anyone?" she asked dryly. "I know Xander got at least one."

"Two," one of the guys coughed. "One was injured, the other was too slow."  He saluted.  "She's here, sir, and I'm going to get the kicks she gave me looked at.  By your leave?"

Charley turned and spat on him. "You'd better be thankful I only kicked you."  He nodded, hurrying off when the officer waved him away.  She glared at him.  "I will see you hurt for this."

"Ma'am, no one knows this base is still in use. It's been closed except for a very small covert group working out of here."

"Really? Then our friends who work covert ops in Intelligence should know about you, huh?" she said smugly.  "I will have him close you and have you tortured."

"Well, for now, we're going to feed you, put you on a chopper to your final destination, and then you can go home," he said tiredly.  "If you come to my office, I'll get you checked over and hopefully the rider you'll be assisting is here now.  She was on her way from a base in Virginia that was having problems."  He led her that way, taking her arm again when she yanked it from his grasp. "You'll find it nicer when you cooperate."

"Yay."  She tripped him and walked off, heading for the gate.  "Got scissors?" she asked a soldier.  "These cuffs are killing me."

"Here, let me," a female offered, slicing the link between the plastic cuffs.  "You'll need those bandaged, Miss Davidson.  I'm sorry about the heavy-handed way they came after you."

"You could have killed my son or my friends."

"If they had resisted we would have only used knockout gas."

"Which isn't formatted for infants or for mice," she said bitterly.  "You still could have killed them.  Then the others would have killed you."

"Oh, we have no doubt that there'll be reprisals for this.  Especially since the unit left two of them there."

"Then I'm sure Xander had a lot of fun with them."

"Who?"

"Ah, you don't know," she said smugly.  "The guy on the couch, Xander Harris, works in Intelligence now and then.  He's a survivor from Sunnydale."

"I've heard that name," she admitted, walking her into a ground floor office and typing the name into a computer.  She blinked.  "There's a do not engage order on his file."

"That's probably the wisest thing you guys have done in decades.  He will kill you and blow up this place once he finds me.  And he will find me."

"You'll be in Florida by then, ma'am."  She looked at her.  "He wasn't hurt. They reported he was awake and shooting at people to try to get you back.  The person we left watching the house said that the infant was fine as well, and that your friend and your mate both went to torture Graham."

"Yeah, Xander knew him from his last job," she said dryly.  "I'm sure they're having a long talk."

"How did you know?"

"One of your idiots said something about the Initiative.  We knew about it already.  Xander told us."

"Oh, damn," she sighed, sitting down.  "Okay, well, we can't save 'em now.  Regrettable but he was too cocky and now he's paying.  Let me bandage your wrists for you."  She pulled out her first aid kit and opened it, pointing at a chair.  "If you'll sit, ma'am."

"I won't."

"It's easier to bandage wrists when the hands are on something flat," she offered.  "I'm not going to hurt you, ma'am.  I'm here to make sure none of the boys hurt you."

"No, I think I hurt them more," she said snidely.

"Good, I'd have killed 'em for it."  She used her knife to slice off the remains of the plastic cuffs, then got to work putting a salve and bandages on the rub marks she had created while struggling to get free.  "You're much more feisty than our usual hostage."

"Pity, but good for me."

"True."  She got them both cleaned up then pushed a button on her phone.  "Bring dinner."  She let it go.  "There, it'll be a short wait.  I'm sure you'll need some food. It hopefully won't take that long for you to fix the conflict in the bike."

"It's semi-sentient.  You've probably pissed it off too."

"Actually, the last rider got reassigned."

"It'll only bond once.  It's sentient.  It's programmed to protect the rider."

"There's no reset?"

"There is one, but why would I show you?" she snorted.

"Because it'll get you home faster, Miss Davidson.  Back to your business and your son."

"If either one of them is hurt by this, I'll be the one killing people," she promised. "Not even your God'll save you."

She coughed.  "Ma'am, we are *covert* ops."

Charley laughed. "Really?  Then explain how a non-military person got here," she said, pointing at the Willow-shaped person who had just walked through the walls.  "Can you get me home?"

"Not quite that powerful," she admitted.  "At least not at the moment."  The woman spun, reaching for her gun. "I doubt it'll work, Colonel.  All you'll do is put some pretty holes in the wall which you'll have to fill out forms to have fixed."  She floated closer, looking at Charley's wrists.  "Pity Dawnie's spell to make sure locks wouldn't lock around you didn't work on those cuffs."

"No locks on the plastic," she said grimly.

"Yeah, well, we're sorry about that," she offered, stroking her cheek.  "Victor is fine.  He slept through it.  Xander tortured their two guys and Modo found the guy watching the house about an hour ago.  He's already had his fun with them."  She grinned.  "I wish I could just teleport you home, Charley, but with my power tied up in the temple, I can't do that.  Then again, I could go nudge Xander's magic free and use him as a battery I suppose," she said thoughtfully.

"Xander doesn't have magic," she said, looking confused. "At least not strong magic."

The Seal from the Hellmouth looked at her.  "Yes, he does," she said firmly.  "The PTB didn't think they needed another magic user.  His powers are opposed to mine so therefore he couldn't use it on the Hellmouth.  I ended up wrapping them up around the hyena actually."  She smirked at her.  "Pity about that, but he does have it. It's simply unexploded at the moment.  See, Willow used to use him as a battery."

"You are Willow," the colonel said bitterly.

"Honey, I'm not Willow.  I'm the Seal from the old Hellmouth.  I'm bound to Willow and I like Willow, but she's way too nice at the moment.  Don't worry, we'll talk once she's on her way to Florida."  She looked at Charley again.  "Don't help 'em unless the rider is worth it.  Stick to the Martian principles."  Charley nodded at that.  "Oooh, I wish I could help more!" she said angrily, making the room's walls explode and the roof disappear.  "I hate this!  I really, seriously hate this! I should go free Xander again!"

"Again?" Charley asked.

"Yeah, there was that Martian temple incident," she sighed.  She sat on the edge of the desk, looking at her.  "See, I knew about the temple.  It was there for centuries before people were.  The ones who came down here built it.  They knew that the power that still gathers there isn't all dark and set it there so it'd be a powerful spot to lead back home."  Charley nodded at that.   "When Xander first came back from his trip, I sensed the changes in him.  I sent him that way actually by breaking a water main so he had to go down Third street and made him want to go into the bakery for a donut.  Instead he headed down to the basement level and found the temple's opening."  She sighed. "I knew then that I had lost him.  I've always liked Xander.  He has chaos floating around him.  Like he was a lightening spike drawing it to me."

"That's why you protected him."

"When I could," she agreed dryly.  "Sometimes it was kinda hard to protect the kid.  His house was one I couldn't get into and I couldn't make Willow leave him alone.  She used him like he was a rechargeable battery.  Then he walked into the temple and he changed so drastically. I felt him blind the PTB and I felt them discard him, and then I felt the magic come out to recharge that temple.  It felt like he finally had a place to be comfortable.  He went there after Willow pounded the shit outta him when she tried to destroy the world.  He went there after his eye was popped and before the final battle.  He thought it was some saint's temple," she said smugly.

"Who was it to?" Charley asked.

"Our God of Protection.  The one who watches over children," she said quietly, misting up a bit.  "He has a place on Mars waiting for him when he's ready."  She nodded, accepting that.  "Anyway," she said, wiping off a stray tear.  "He found a home.  He didn't know it was Martian until he came back and made the realization after seeing something on one of Modo's posters in Martian.  There had been some carvings on the walls you see."  She grinned.  "It was partially that temple that stopped the suckage.  The rest was Spike, who joined with its power.  It read the intent and used him."  Charley nodded at that, she knew Spike had protected Dawn over the years.  "Long time ago, I noticed the magic in him and how it was basically allergic to mine.  That's why I bound it up with the hyena in his head."

"Hyena?" the colonel snorted.

"Yeah, the guy was possessed a few times."  She looked at Charley again.  "Think about his first two, you'll understand why."

"The soldier Ethan gave him was cold and logical, going toward Special Ops," Charley noted.  "He told me that."

"It was, and it didn't like the magic either.  He had some bad denial about Sunnydale at times."  She winked and grinned.  "But now, the hyena's pack is wonderful and safe for the most part.  It agrees with Xander, the pack will be bound together for its own protection.  Including you so quit fussing about things like the water and electric meters."

"He got the electric meter too?" she demanded.  "Why?"

"He's a Xander," she said dryly, shrugging.  "You're his pack.  You were his pack before Vinnie was.  They were friends but you accepted him as he was, problems and all.  If you hadn't told him to stay, he would have probably went to some wooded area and became a lumberjack and had his hyena and the magic come out.  Then Willow would have died protecting him from himself and I'd be alone.  I'd have destroyed Plutark and been lonely on the dead planet without all the fun that we had first and pouting badly about the boredom.  So you see, I owe you a few times over."  She grinned again.  "I knew protecting Xander would be worthwhile for me.  So now I'm going to do a few things.  I'm going to strengthen Dawnie's protections on you so if anyone tries to touch you wrong, they're in for a hell of a shock.  I'm also going to make you temporarily bulletproof.  It should last the full two weeks they're expecting this to take."  She winked again as she leaned closer.  "When you get home, make Xander quit fussing.  Point out that his pack isn't leaving.  Put it in those terms so he'll make the connection," she said patiently.  "Then tell Throttle what he did so he can help him too.  Personally, I think the boy needs to have another week away like they had when he started to change.  That'll screw all those insecurities out of his system," she said dryly, sitting back again and waving a hand around her.  "There, done."  He smirked at the colonel.  "Now, go take your cheeseburger and go wait a few buildings down so you don't have to see this, dear.  It'll be unpretty in the extreme."

"Thanks."  She stood up, looking at her wrists. "I thought you were more psycho."

"Oh, I can be.  That's part of what I picked up from so many years on the Hellmouth. I was just a seal and a portal before that but living there taught me a lot about evil and bad things.  The new rider is coming this way in a jeep.  Be ready, I don't think she's worthy."  Charley nodded, walking off and taking the plate of food someone had left on the other desk in the other no-longer-a-room.  The seal looked at the colonel then froze her, leaning over to tap her on the forehead.  "That's my Xander buddy and her buddy.  He considers her like a sister.  I'd run, change your name, and hide forever.  Otherwise the others that Xander likes and who like him will make you suffer."  She touched her again, making her scream and writhe as the pain ran through her.  "I liked those books Willow read to me. That is a really neat spell."  She got up and strolled off, watching as the new rider was driven in and headed for the helicopter.  "Go after her," she told Charley.  "Talk to her, make sure she's worthy."

"Yes, Seal."

"Thank you, dear.  Have fun in Florida.  You'll be near the bottom tip of the penis-state."  Charley blushed at that.  "You can't tell me it doesn't look like that.  Oh, and the running joke about Vinnie's furry, jingling balls?  Remind Xander of that prank he did to Jessie.  I wanna see him do that to Vinnie."

Charley shook her head.  "I don't wanna know."  The soldiers from earlier started toward her.  "Touch me and die, guys."  One tried and yelled as the pain ran through their bodies and made them lose control of their bowels.  "Hmm, good.  You deserve it for kidnaping me away from my son."  She headed for the helicopter, looking at the man standing there.  "What?" she demanded.

"Who's that?"

"Go ask her yourself."  He glared at her and she glared back. "I'm not cooperating with you and I hope she tortures you like Xander got the other two."

"Just get on the chopper," he said grimly.  She gave him a look so he shoved her, then yelled as his hand burst into flames.

"Here, let me help you, ma'am," the other woman with her offered, holding out a hand.  "That way you don't have to crawl the rest of the way on."  Charley took it and let her pull her up.  "Thank you for not hurting me."

"You're not trying to hurt me and you're as stuck by this as I am."

"What is going on?  All I know is that there was a base raid drill and then I was being carried off by some woman."

"Apparently you've been reassigned to a special project that includes a bike I designed once."

"Oookaaaaaay."  She shook her head. "I don't ride a bike, not even a ten-speed. I never learned.  That's my sister."  She looked at the man in the opening.  "I'm Susie, not Crystal. I can't ride a bike.  You wanted my sister maybe?"

"You'll learn."

"I doubt it.  I don't have any balance. I have vertigo.  They're thinking about discharging me for medical reasons because of my vertigo."  He looked stunned and she nodded.  "I can't ride a bike. I've never been able to."

"We'll see, it's not my decision," he said grimly, shutting the door.  He waved at the pilot then got out of the way, holding his hand all the way to the infirmary.  He found that irritating redhead in there already and glared at her.  "What do you think you're doing! You attacked Army personnel!"

"Yay.  I didn't like you when you came to my town to try to take over on me either."  She waved a hand and the rest of him burst into flames. "Ah, a weenie roast.  Angelus would be really proud of me."  She looked around and then found a phone, using it to call Micah.  "Trace this," she ordered.  "No, I'm the seal," she said smugly.  "They fucked with Xander's family and I'm keeping him from destroying them.  This is a base for covert ops.  No, New Orleans. It was closed and consolidated from what I can tell."  She beamed.  "Sure!  No, there's gonna be a few bodies.  I don't like them.  They're upsetting me.  Just be glad it's me instead of scary, veiny Willow as Xander calls her."  She put the phone down and walked off, going to visit the other guys who had taken Charley.

"We were only following orders!" one yelled when he saw her.  "Please!  I didn't hurt her!"

"Yay.  Next time, don't follow stupid stuff."

"We can't do that, ma'am, we're in the military," another complained. "That's why we didn't gas the family.  We didn't know how it'd hurt them."

"While that's nice and all, I might let you live, as long as you testify."  She stared at them.  Then she smiled.  "Then again, Vinnie, her husband, is still quite ...upset."  They shuddered.  "I'd have to ask him what he wants me to do.  Give me a minute."  She sealed the doors and popped back up to Chicago, startling the drowsy Vinnie awake.  "Hey.  She's fine.  They used plastic cuffs on her so Dawn's anti-locking spell didn't work.  But they were cleaned and bandaged by someone in charge.  If those guys testify, should I let them live?  They claimed they were as nice as they could be."

He looked at her.  "You're not Willow," he noted.  "The babble's wrong."

"True, I'm the Seal," she agreed smugly, grinning at him.  "They claim they were only following orders.  If they testify and the stuff is shut down, do you want them to live?"

"Make sure they remember this lesson always," Throttle ordered.  "They can't get off without some punishment but they can live."

"Sure," she agreed, grinning at them.  She wiggled her fingers at Victor.  "Your mommy is just fine and she's on her way to Florida with the person they wanted her to calibrate the bike for.   She's someone who can't ride due to her balance problems too."  She disappeared, landing back in the barracks.  "Well, they said that you could be mildly punished as long as you remembered the lesson learned and were going to testify against this sort of thing."

They all nodded, they'd rather be tortured than dead.   They all screamed as one of their hands fell off, but it hadn't really hurt, just a bit of a shock.

"Sorry, but I was born and made in the Middle East," she said smugly. "You did steal.  That's kinda traditional.  At least you're not bleeding or anything."  They all nodded, settling down on their beds to wait for someone to come get them. "Good boys.  Shouldn't be too long.  Micah's on a plane this way," she sang, disappearing again to go find more people who had pissed her off.

***

Suzie came off the helicopter and saluted.  "Sir, there's a small problem with your plans.  I'm not my sister and I can't do what you want me to do."

"Your file...."

"Apparently got mixed up with my sister's again.  Crystal is in Afghanistan.  She's a nurse.  She rides a motorcycle every day.  I'm Suzie, sir, I have vertigo.  I can barely walk without getting dizzy.  They're considering discharging me for it.  You stole the wrong one, sir.  Respectfully speaking, I'd rather be back doing my encryption work."

"Well, you're here now so you'll have to learn."

"Sir, unless you want that pretty, multi-million dollar prototype to be crashed within moments, you won't let me near it," she said dryly. He gave her a dirty look. "Sir, I'm not allowed to drive a normal vehicle because my balance is so off that it affects my sight.  I can't drive a motorcycle."

"Since when?  Your file doesn't say anything about that."

She took it from him when he held it out, then she sighed and pointed at the name. "Sir, Crystal is my *sister*.  She's in Afghanistan being a nurse."  He looked stunned.  "They mixed us up again.  They did this once before and I ended up in a war zone hospital in Korea.  Didn't know why and it took three weeks for someone to get a clue and send me home, even though the doctors and nurses complained.  I don't even look like her, sir."

"I figured it was hair dye."

"And the thirty pounds of muscles she has that I don't?  Did you think I was that sick as well?"  He glared at her again.  "Respectfully of course, sir, but it's not me and I can't do what you want."  She looked at Charley.  "Besides, from what she said, her bike is sentient.  It'd be cruel and unusual punishment to make her forget the last few months and start over again."

"The military has no use for single use weapons," he sneered at her.

Charley hit him.  "Don't give me that look and I'm not one of you. You can kiss my ass and give me my bike back now."  She heard struggling and headed that way, sure it was her prototype.  It popped up a gun and shot at the chains holding it, coming over to rest against her.  "It's all right, girl. I was wrong.  They can't use you.  They're too stupid.  But I do know someone who could.  Modo's got a girl now," she offered.  "She's designing and you could be wonderful to help her.  She doesn't have a bike and I can find you a wonderful mouse to ride you, baby."  She patted it. "Come on, let's go."

"That's military property," a man stated firmly.

"I sold it to you but you're not treating it right.  Therefore you can't have it.  Want the money back?  The check bounced."  He looked stunned.  She sneered at him. "You'll be paying for this and for kidnaping me.  I swear you will."  She got onto her bike and rode it into the other room, startling the general standing there.  "You know that the check bounced, right?" she demanded.  "I'm already working on suing you.  By the way, since this is sentient, you can't really destroy it.  If you try, I'll add to the suit."

"No one is going to say anything to us if we do destroy it."

The bike popped up a gun and she pulled it, pointing it at him. "Really?  You sure about that?  Bike, dear, do you still have that satellite radio link I installed?"  It beeped pleasantly.  "Open a communication to Maxine London, DC.  You should be able to find her cellphone listed."  She continued to hold the gun on him, then shot back at someone sneaking up behind her.  "I'm not that nice.  Your check bounced, I've already started proceedings to take my bike back."

"Hello?" Max asked.  "Charley?"

"Yeah, it's me, Max.  I'm in Florida.  They had the bike I sold the military and their check bounced so I'm repossessing it.  Also, we'll need transfer orders for the woman they wanted to ride, who is not her sister.  She doesn't even drive."

"Shit," she said in awe.  "Give me two minutes. I'm going to keep this line open.  Okay?"

"Sure.  I'm sitting here with a gun and PMS."

"Cool.  I like doing that too," she agreed, and you could hear her typing something.  "Okay, got you linked in.  You're in Miami?"

"Not a clue," she admitted.

"Yes, we are," Suzie offered. "I saw that cute little island that all the rich people live on when we flew over it.  We're probably on the outskirts of the city."

"Fine, thank you," Max agreed.  "I'm sending PD forces to you and I want you to wait, Charley.  They'll take you and her with you.  I've explained everything to them as well.  I have a friend down there."

"Sure.  My arm's not tired yet."

"Are you okay?"

"Plastic cuffs dug into my wrists but I've been bandaged.  Bike sounds run down, probably needs a new battery and plugged in."  The bike shivered under her.  "I can help you, baby. I do it every day.  It won't hurt if I do it."  It beeped happily.

"Is that one of the guy's bikes?" Max asked.

"No, based off it but not actually one.  I couldn't give it the conscience that theirs have. We're not that advanced yet.  Jack's design is pretty decent though."

"Okay.  You've got two squads of PD coming your way.  Just hold on."

"Thanks, Max.  About that other base?"

"Oh, the Seal was there doing her nails when Micah got there.  Gave him a moment's pause but the guys who had lost a hand for stealing were most helpful."

"Good."

"Stealing?" Suzie asked.

"I was kidnaped from my home, where I was laying down to nap with my six-month-old son."

"Sounds like stealing to me," Suzie agreed.  "They could have just *asked*."

"That's not the manly man way, it's like with directions," Max said bitterly.

"That's okay, the check they tried to pay me with bounced, so I'm doing what I'm allowed to legally and repossessing my bike," Charley told her.

"Sure.  I fully agree," she promised.  "I'd think it'd do better somewhere like the CHP personally," Max offered.  "Micah said so to, I'm typing updates to his phone at the moment.  He's calling them to update what's really going on."

"I hear sirens," Charley offered.

"Sure.  Which one's Suzie?"

"The other female. Blonde, skinny, works on encryption stuff she said.  Has bad vertigo."

"Okay.  Updating that to him, he's talking to them so they don't hurt you."

"I'm on my bike."

"Decent."

The door was crashed into and the Miami police department rolled in, cops coming out with guns.  Charley put hers up.  "Thanks, Max."

"Welcome and I'll tell Vinnie you're okay before he goes more insane.  Your son's giving him hurt looks anytime he's cuddled now."

"Yeah, my son'll be one of those manly little guys," she agreed dryly.  "Come up soon."  She hung up.  Then she rolled over to them.  "I'm Charlene Davidson."

"That's fine, ma'am.  Where's your fellow hostage?"  She pointed her out. "Take her outside with you, ma'am."

"Sure.  Suzie?"  She looked hesitant.  "I promise, no turning."  She nodded, climbing on the back and holding on for dear life.   She rode them outside and Suzie threw up as soon as she stood up again.  "She's got very bad vertigo," she offered the officers.  "I'm Charley Davidson."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am, and your bike," the officer said, nodding at it.  "Is it okay?"

"A bit rundown.  Needs to be plugged in I think.  She should be fine."

"Yes, ma'am.  If you can follow us please?"

"Sure.  Happy to," she said patiently.  "Can I blow them up?"

"No, ma'am, I wish I could let you," he offered.  "Does this...um, she, have weapons?"

"Weapons up," she ordered, patting the crank case.  The bike popped up all the weapons, making him moan.  She smiled.  "They're very handy for urban combat.  Their check bounced and then they had the audacity to try to intimidate me into silence about that and my former design, try to steal the design itself, and then kidnaped me yesterday."

"I understand, ma'am.  Let's head down to the station.  That way you can plug her in at the garage while we take your statement."

"Thank you.  Suzie?"

"I'll take a car.  It's better in a car," she moaned.  An officer helped her up and into the back of her car, taking off with her.

Charley followed the nice officer in, and he did lead her to a private garage where she could plug the poor dear in.  It beeped happily at that and settled in to suck up and recharge while she was led upstairs.  "She'll only be looked at, right?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am.  One of our CSI's here rides and he wanted to look her over.  He won't touch her though.  I called ahead about the weapons system."

"Thank you.  That's very nice of you," she offered, grinning at him.  "She's actually a bit less sentient than the ones I designed her off of.  They'd have kicked the military's ass and rode home on their own."  He smiled at that.  "Jack McCyber's bikes are probably around the same advancement as she is too," she admitted.  "He's a programmer, I only did what I could."

"That's fine, ma'am.  She seems quite protective of you."  He led her into an interview room and got her some water, then sat down across from her.  "Can you tell me what happened with all this?  From the beginning if it helps."

"Sure.  That bike is a prototype I designed a few years back off a few friend's bikes.  Theirs have true intelligence.  Mine has partial.  Probably about the same as a little kid if I'm being honest, but she can learn.  I'm not a great programmer and I had to talk one of my friends into helping me.  I didn't originally plan to put a brain in her, but Jack thought it'd be a neat challenge and did it for me."  He nodded, continuing to write while she talked.  "Well, I offered it to the military, it's an urban assault vehicle and I needed the cash.  They agreed, came to take her for a week of testing, gave me a nice big check, and then the problems started.  I tried to deposit the check and it bounced. I started legal proceeding to sue them because of it and got threatened and got death threats.  I filed a suit about that too, and they threatened the judge, making him dismiss it.  I've recently refiled to get my bike back or the money if they had destroyed her plus extra for the aggravation of dealing with them."  He nodded again.  "So, yesterday, while I was napping with my six-month-old son, a commando unit bursts into my house and steals me."  He looked up, gaping at her.  "It was a friend of ours and my son and I in there.  The others were out for a lazy Sunday ride.  Staff was working in the garage on something so I'm not sure if she saw them or not."  She sipped her water.  "I'm told my son didn't wake up through it all and that he's fine, and that our friend Xander is also fine, but that he managed to torture a few of them when he caught them.  I was drug out to a van, and he found his guns.  He shot out the tires."

"Is he military?"

"Um, that's classified," she admitted.  "You'll be seeing a Mr. Simms or one of his people soon.  Ask him."  He nodded, writing that down as well.  "Anyway, I heard him pop two of the tires, I heard another bullet hit the driver's side window since it was facing the house by the way they shoved me into the back.  I didn't hear glass shatter, but before we could take off, the tires were popped. That's when a second van joined us and I was rudely shoved over there and tied with the plastic cuffs since I was struggling."  She held up her hands.  "When we got to Louisiana, or so I was told, the big guy there sneered at me and I struggled against him.  Then a female officer who was called colonel by someone else there bandaged my wrists. I was talked down to for a few minutes, then shoved into a chopper and landed here, where Suzie started to protest because she can't ride a bike, she's got extreme vertigo.  Her sister rides a bike and apparently people get them confused somehow."

"And that's why we were called to rescue you," a man said from the doorway.  "Are you all right, ma'am?"

"A bit sore around the abrasions from where I struggled."  She undid the tape on one side, letting him see the wounds.  "I'll live.  Is my bike okay?"

"Just fine, ma'am."  He sat down across from her.  "That Mr. Simms.  Was he the one who called us?"

"The first one might have been a woman named Max London.  She works for Micah.  I called her from my bike once I had a weapon and we were at a standstill."

"I understand."  He nodded a few times.  "We have talked to a Mr. Cash as well?"

"He works for Micah, he's his second-in-command."

"Where might these people be from?" the man asked casually.

"Intelligence," she said firmly.  "As in classified and ask him."

"Ah.  That's fine.  We can do that.  We're more used to dealing with the DEA and Immigration," he admitted, "but we have had to deal with others in the past."

"Micah's a sweetie," she promised. "So are Max and Lorne.  Just be thankful it wasn't my man or our friend Xander."

"Oh, I am.  Civilians in the middle of these things tend to make it more messy.  Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay at the moment," she promised.  "I could use a candy bar in a little while, but for right now I'm okay."

He smiled and nodded. "I'll see what I can do.  Officer, go ahead and let her check on her bike for now," he said quietly.  "Then bring her back up here until Mr. Simms or one of his people show up."

"Yes, sir," he agreed, coming around to help her back up and take her back down there.  They ran into someone staring at the bike.  "She's very pretty," he offered, making the man jump and look at them.  "You are?"

"CSI Wolfe.  I did traffic for a long time," he offered.  "She is very pretty."

"Thanks.  You can look closer.  Bike, he's okay," she offered.  It beeped and popped out her weapons and other features for him, making him moan.  "I designed her for urban assaults."

"I can see that," he agreed happily.  "I wish I had one of these babies when I was working in Traffic.  It'd have been much easier to pull people over."  The bike let out beeps sounding like a snicker.  "You have a sense of humor, girl?"  He gently stroked the seat, squatting down to look at the weapons. "Some aren't loaded."

"She probably ran out of ammo," Charley offered, coming over to look. " Yeah, the missiles are empty and so are the bullets."  She pushed on those and they went back down.  "Let's see, the laser?  Can you fire a small beam at the joint where the floor and the wall meet, dear?"  She did so, a small, concentrated beam.  "Good job!"  She stroked the handlebars.  "Very good job."  She walked over to look at it.  "Fairly weak though. Did they turn the strength down again?"  The bike beeped an assertive noise.  "Pity."  She shrugged.  "We can deal with those later, dear. After Staff and I check you over to make sure you're healthy.  Then we'll figure out if you're going to be going to someone like Stoker for safety."

"Stoker?"

"Friend of ours.  Doesn't live around here, but he's got a similar bike."

"Oh, okay," the CSI officer agreed.  "Are there many of these up north?"

She smiled.  "He's really not from around here.  It's a long story, another thing to ask Mr. Simms."

He nodded, accepting that.  "I can believe that.  That's almost super-human in design.  Can I take some pictures?"

"Go ahead.  She can preen for you.  Go ahead and pop everything back out for him, baby."  The bike did so and stood up a bit straighter so he could take the pictures he wanted.  She heard a familiar voice and looked around. "In here, Lorne!" she yelled.

Lorne stuck his head in, then smiled. "You'd be very proud of Xander, he left them living.  Vinnie used a few torches on one, but otherwise Xander only caused internal injuries.  Not even broken skin."

"Then I'm really impressed. How many broken bones?"

"Nearly every single one on the guy they did together.  The other guy had all four limbs, all his ribs, and his nose broken."

"Good," she said firmly. "Hopefully they'll never try to kidnap me again."

"No, hopefully not," Lorne agreed.  "Is this her?"  She nodded and moved so he could look at her.  "She's beautiful.  Where is she headed after you get home?"

"Probably up to Stoker," she admitted.  He smiled at that. "It's safer."

"It is, and I'm sure she'll make someone very happy to ride her.  Even if she's not quite as sensitive as Vinnie or Rimfire's bikes are."

"More sensitive?" the CSI asked.

"Rimfire's has a bad case of jealousy," she offered.  "Any other questions, refer them to this guy," she said, pointing at Lorne.  "Did Micah ever get that legal stuff I sent over?"

"We did and we're using it right now," he admitted.  He looked at it, then at her.  "He might offer to keep her safe for you," he suggested.  "I'm not sure yet."

"We'll see once we get home."

"Sure.  We're borrowing a DEA jet so we can do that and the nice Staff Sergeant can ride with us back to DC.  Micah's on his way in and hopefully he'll have orders for her."

"Sir, we're gathering up in an interview room if you'd like to come with us," the officer offered. "You as well if you want, CSI Wolfe."

"Sure.  I wouldn't mind.  Thank you, dear.  You're very pretty and strong. I'm sure you kick butt very well."  The bike beeped and hid everything again, looking just like a normal bike.  "I would have killed for one of those while I was in Traffic," he sighed, following them back upstairs.  He nodded at his boss and pointed at the others, getting a wave in return.  In the interview room was a man writing out a statement for another cop, this time a detective.

"Charley, you okay?" he asked without looking up.

"Fine except for some plastic burns from the cuffs they used."

He did look up at that, taking her wrist to look over.  "The Seal should have healed those."

"They're fine."  She hugged him.  "Thank you."

"Not a problem but we'll be talking later about whether she goes up to visit Spike or stays with me. I wanna test her first," he said smugly, grinning at her.  "Think I could?"

"We'll see," she said dryly.

"Sure.  I'll even let Xander or Throttle ride with me to make sure I don't get into trouble."  She did grin at that.  "Sit.  You look exhausted."  She sat down beside him, looking at the papers.  "An official statement."

"What seal?" the officer asked.

Micah looked up at him. "Son, there are things on this world that aren't normal to most people.  How much do you really wanna know?"  He shuddered and walked off, leaving his notes there for their use.  Micah looked them over, then nodded.  "All you left out was her."

"I didn't know how to explain her."

"Good point," Lorne assured her.  "I don't even like to think about her."  He looked at the CSI.  "How about you?"

"I'm all for odd things, as long as I can explain them away," he offered.  "That's what I like about CSI work."

Micah looked up at him, then at the detective, who got up and walked out.  "Kid, what do you know about the link between real magic and aliens?"

"Um," he said, blinking and thinking as fast as he could.  "I know a few people online who believe Martians are fuzzy mice."

"They're right," Charley assured him.  "I'm married to one."

"Oh.  Okay.  That makes a lot more sense and I can fill in the rest of my mental gaps," he offered, grinning at her.  "As long as you're happy.  By the way, what's wrong with Meg?  She was ranting online the other day."

"She's pregnant with a baby Oz."

"Ah.  Tell her I said hi and congrats.  I'll send her an e-card later.  I'm not telling anyone, sir, it's just interesting."

"Good."  Micah handed him a card.  "If you feel the urge to tell anyone or the need to find a new job, call me. I'm over the NID labs now too."  The CSI beamed and nodded, heading off to go back to work.  He looked at Charley.  "You knew?"

"I figured.  He didn't look horrified at the weapons, stunned at the laser, and was all but cooing over her."

Micah nodded.  "Reasonable excuses."  He finished writing out his statement and handed it to Lorne after proofreading it then signing it.  "There, go hand that in.  We'll head home, leaving the military to figure out the wreckage."

"What about Suzie?"

"The Staff Sergeant will be fine.  We're bringing her back to DC with us so she can go give a statement to the nice JAG people so they can fry the people over this.  She's already headed for the plane with one of my girls.  You ready?"

"If I can go," she admitted. "The bike needs more time plugged in."

"I'll see what I can arrange on the plane," he promised, following Lorne down to the garage to gather the bike.  He stopped to look at it.  "She does look tired."

"She's been in the hands of the military for the last few years," Charley said sadly.  "If I had known, I'd never have said a word about it."  Micah nodded, walking over to stroke her handlebars and have a quiet word with her.  She beeped.  "I can ride her."

"No, we'll bring her on a truck, Charley.  That way she doesn't have to strain herself any more and you only have to ride her back from the airport."  He stroked her handlebars again.  "She's well designed.  Very well designed.  Vinnie faxed me the plans when he figured out what this was about.  Max was drooling.  She said she's better than her car."  The bike snickered at that.  "Yeah, me too," he admitted, patting her on the seat.  "Come on, we'll hoist you onto a truck so you don't have to strain yourself then we'll see if we can plug you in while we're flying you home."  The bike unplugged and recoiled her power cord.  "You're very handy.  I'll have to stay around for a few days, see if you might like to work with my guys instead of going to Mars."  He whistled and a truck backed into the garage, stopping so the agent inside could get out and lower ramp.  "Can you move yourself?"  She beeped and rode up the ramp they laid out, settling in on the back of the truck.  "Good girl.  You're much more than I had hoped for."  He got back there with her to check her over.  The guys' bikes had always fascinated him.  This one was nearly as good, if not as smart as Modo's or Xander's bikes.  Then again, maybe that was a good thing, he wouldn't get backtalk from his bike.

Charley leaned on the side of the truck. "I'll leave it up to you whether you stay with Micah or go to Mars," she said quietly.   The bike beeped and then leaned toward her, letting her pet a handlebar.  "Good girl."  She got into the truck and Lorne sat beside her, the agent getting in to drive.  "She might be happy with him."

"She might," Lorne agreed. "Plus, Micah used to be a Marine.  He did some odd things with them for some covert projects that he still can't talk about."  He pulled her into a hug. "I'm glad you're fine, Charley.  Xander's a scary guy when he's mad."

"The Seal said he's got magic too," she said quietly. "More than just fetching the remote."

"Crap."

"It's tied up with his hyena."

"Oh, well, maybe it'll stay hidden then," he said, hoping and praying it'd be so.  She fell asleep against him and he was nice enough to carry her onto the plane.

***

Vinnie answered the phone.  "Yeah?"  He sat up straight.  "Give me thirty minutes. Twenty if there's traffic."  He hung up and rushed down to his bike.  "Micah and Charley girl are back!" he shouted.  "I'm going to pick her up!  He's got a ride!"  He hopped onto his bike and sped off before anyone could do more than look in the direction he had been yelling from.  He heard another bike and glanced back, finding Xander there.  "I can guard her."

"I know, I want my own hug and to look at this new bike," he said firmly.  "Besides, we're all coming.  Staff's babysitting Victor at the moment since she's doing that oil change for Charley."

"Sure."  He sped up, heading for the nearest on-ramp and doing his usual jump up onto the interstate and going through, around, and over traffic.

"Besides," Xander continued.  "This way I can distract the others so you can take a sudden side trip to make sure she's really okay."

Vinnie snickered at that, he would definitely welcome that service.   He headed into the private plane terminal, going through the gate and to where he could smell Charley waiting.  He stopped beside her and grabbed her with his tail, pulling her onto the back of his bike so he could take off and check her over while the others made nice with Micah. She only laughed and gave him a hug.

Xander stopped beside Micah.  "He's going to do a physical check," he said smugly.  He looked at the bike.  "Hey, baby love. You okay?"  She beeped and he nodded. "Good."  He looked at Micah and his defensive posture.  "Bonded," he said smugly.  "Need help?"

"No, I can ride.  I haven't in a while but I can ride."  He looked at the others. "Hey, guys.  Vinnie took off with her."

"He'll be back within ten minutes," Throttle noted dryly.  "He usually is."  He looked at the bike Charley had ridden before to pop their masculine egos, then over at Modo. "She looks tired."

"She does.  But I'm sure we can baby her back into good health and less exhaustion."  He looked at Micah.  "Plus we'll help her new rider go over a few of the standard maneuvers."

"It'll give me someone to train with Xander," Throttle agreed.  He grinned at his mate.  "Did I see you jump a car?"

"Yeah, but he was in the wrong lane," he defended.  "It was either jump him or possibly crash as I went around him.  I knew what I was doing."

"Fine.  We'll restart your training this weekend," he said smugly.

"Yes, dear," he agreed happily, beaming at him and Modo.  Vinnie came back.  "That was fast."

"Funny, bro," Vinnie said sarcastically.  "That sort of stuff can wait until she's had lunch and a nap."

"I napped on the plane but I could use some food," Charley offered patiently.

Vinnie nodded, closing his face shield. "I'll stop at Chef Andy's to get lunch."  He zipped off before anyone could protest.

"That boy is gonna fuss for days," Modo offered dryly.

"Yeah, she'll end up screaming at him to stop," Throttle agreed. "Just like I do."  Xander gave him his most innocent look. "Won't work on me, Xan."

Xander blew a kiss.  "I'm a damn angel compared to how I used to be.  Just think, I used to fuss over Willow.  I learned it from her and did her worse than she did me.  Come home with us, Micah.  Ride her back so she gets used to your style."  He headed off, heading for home and calling Staff on the way.  And possible Enamel if Vinnie hadn't yet.  She had bandages on her wrist and they'd need looked at.

Throttle shook his head.  "She's gonna yell at both of 'em."

Modo nodded, looking grim.  "At least you can protect her from Xander.  Get a small scrape, bro.  Let him fuss over you."

"I'm still sore from him wearing out his frustration last night," he complained.

"I can hear you," Xander called over the radio.  "You're gonna be more sore tonight."

"Damn," Throttle muttered, closing his face shield. "Hurry back, Micah, let him fuss over you for a bit."   He took off, going to chase his mate.  He seemed to do a lot of that recently.  He'd have to give Xander a few rides instead.

Modo shook his head. "He loves being fussed over, no matter how much he does complain.  Carbine never fussed and he used to pout.  Saddle up, I'll ride back beside you in case there's a problem."

"Sure, thanks, Modo," Micah offered, grabbing the new helmet they had picked up in Miami and mounting up, heading out beside him.  Modo wasn't going too fast, letting him get used to riding a bike again.  It was a nice thing.

Episode 51:

Charley looked up as Vinnie paced back and forth in front of the garage's door.  "They're not coming back," she said patiently.  He only snorted so she let him have his paranoid delusions for a few minutes longer, until it bothered her again.  When it did, she got up and got his furry, jingly ball from the hidden spot she kept it, tossing it across the room.  Vinnie didn't even look in that direction and she mentally winced.  Oh, man, she was in for a long protection spell this time. "I wasn't really in any danger.  The Seal made me bulletproof.  Dawn did the anti-locking charm, only they used the plastic cuffs at first."

He looked back at her.  "Doesn't mean they're not coming back and you won't get hurt this time."

"I'm fine, Vincent," she said impatiently, staring him down.  "They're not coming back.  Micah made sure of it."  He snorted and went back to his watching.  At least until something made him move so a bike could roll inside.  "Xander," she said, looking at the box on the back of his bike. "What's that? Parts?"

"Sorta."  He climbed off his bike and headed for the kitchen, only coming back to grab a roll of electrical tape and his soldering iron.  He yelped a few minutes later but then banged something hard with a hammer on her counter, apparently fixing it.  He came out a few minutes later, holding up the small device.  "Okay, Vinnie.  Go bury this about ten yards from the *front* door of the house and the garage both.  No more than twelve."  He nodded, taking it to do that.  Xander went back into the kitchen, coming out about a half- hour later with a small box, which he attached the wall.  He stepped back to admire it, then grinned.  "There, perfect."

"That does what?" Charley asked patiently.

"It senses gunpowder.  It's an alarm."  He looked at her.  "Since we mostly use lasers and we all use the back door, it'll catch anyone coming up to either front door who has gunpowder on them or around them.  Like in a gun."  He wandered back to the kitchen, taking his other one to the house to install in the living room.

"What's that?" Modo asked.

"Gunpowder sensing alarm.  Vinnie's burying the sensor unit.  Found it online before you ask."

Modo gave him an odd look.  "Won't that catch us?"

"We don't use gunpowder-based weapons except for Dawn and I.  Plus, we use the back door, not the front door.  You push the blue button to turn it off if it does catch us."  He did so when it went off a few minutes later.

Micah came up the stairs.  "Vinnie wanted to know if it worked."

"Is the alarm going off in the garage?"  He walked over to open the nearest window.  "Vinnie, blue button if it's going off.  It worked over here."

"Thanks, little bro."  The alarm over there quit going off.  He opened one of the second floor windows to look at him.  "Any other good ideas?"

"Not yet, but I'm thinking about it," he admitted.  "We can't do anything to drive off military personnel, it'd catch National Guard members and I don't want to do that if they're not involved.  Maybe an anti-malice charm?"  He shrugged. "I'll figure it out soon enough."  He closed the window and went to his computer to go back to searching for new ideas.

Micah shook his head.  "I'm guessing he's still overprotecting Charley?"  Modo nodded, giving him a smug look.  "I don't blame him for worrying but they won't be back.  Most of them are headed for prison at the moment.  They tested it on the streets of Miami and someone caught it on tape.  Those pictures by the CSI were all they needed to get them."

"Both of them are at it, we won't get them off this overprotection kick until someone else gets hurt.  Xander's like that and so is Vinnie."

"I guess Dawn needs to go out and get shot at then.  It's part of the job description to keep the world at peace."

Dawn came out of the kitchen.  "Me getting shot at won't get those two upset, it'll get that one," she said, pointing at the napping Rimfire, "upset.  He'll be worse and those two will give him *ideas*.  We don't need that, right?" she said firmly, glaring at him, hands going to her hips.  "Otherwise I will buy Buffy a plane or a train ticket and tell her how to get into the office so she can come...train with you and your people."

"Never mind," he said meekly, sitting down.  "That's a fate worse than being overprotected by those two."

"Out!" Charley shouted.  Vinnie came running in a few minutes later.

"Bro, what did you do?" Modo asked calmly.

"I came over to check the garage for listening devices and things," he said miserably, looking pitiful and pathetic.  "I'm trying to be good, I really am."

Xander came out of the office and gave him a hug.  "It'll be okay.  She'll get with the program soon enough.  We're doing it for her own good," he reminded him.  Vinnie grinned at him.  "Now, what do you think of next?  Something to sense heavy metals, like nukes, or something to sense heavy metals like cars?"

"Well, she works on one and if there's a nuke in Chicago I need to know about it," Micah told him.  "Both are really impractical, Xander.  Go for the nicer stuff."

"Okay, I can build the gun turret for the roof today.  We can put one on each building.  Lasers or regular guns?" he asked Vinnie, walking him off to look for plans for those.   They came out a few minutes later with a bunch of paper and headed for their bikes to go shopping.

Modo shook his head.  "I'll talk with Throttle tonight," he said quietly, making Micah sigh in relief.  "I'm sure he can stop at least one of them."

Dawn snorted as she came back out of the kitchen.  "Fat chance, Modo.  Nothin's stoppin' Xander for the next few months.  Nothing, no one, not even another invasion, which will only make him work harder.  I'm surprised we hadn't had a demon detector before now."  She sat down, biting into her sandwich.  Rimfire sniffed and blinked over at her.  "I'm not your chef, I'm your girlfriend.  If you're hungry, go cook."

"Not that hungry," he admitted, getting up to kiss her.  "Love you."

"Love you too, Rimfire.  Go back to your nap.  Nap with Victor."

"Sure," he agreed, stealing a handful of her chips and going back to the couch.  "Hi, Uncle Modo, Micah.  Big problems?"

"Two insanely overprotective uncles," Micah told him.

"Ah.  Throttle?"

"Still out at the library."

"I'm sure he'll be able to fix them," he said as he gulped the chips and laid back down.  "Victor?  Are you up or napping?" he called quietly.  "I could use a cuddle."  Victor came crawling up the ramp and attacked his shoes with a giggle, letting Micah put him on the couch so he could curl up with the fun one.  Victor grinned at him as he patted him on the nose.  "You're a good boy, Victor.  Wanna cuddle with me so I can nap?  You're too big for a nap but I'm not."

Victor settled in to cuddle with him. He liked cuddling and he hadn't connected it with napping yet.

Modo waited until he heard the first snore from the baby.  "I'm wondering why we don't have a demon detector."

"Because Xander's worried that it'll catch on him for a prior possession," Dawn said dryly.  "He said so when I asked him why."  They looked over as Throttle rode up the ramp.  "Hey, studly, your boy is in full-blown protection mode. You might wanna stop that soon."

"What's he doing now?" he asked, looking hesitant.

"Going to get stuff to make gun turrets for the buildings," Modo told him.

"Oh, I thought it was bad already," he sighed, shaking his head as he took off his helmet.  "That's fine."

"He's already put in a detector to sense gunpowder," Dawn told him.  "They've got plans for the turrets and all that good stuff."

"Hopefully they can do it in a way that won't get us in trouble."

"Flip-up doors too?" Micah taunted, smirking at him.  "Go ahead and suggest that.  I wanna know how he does it."

Throttle looked at him.  "It's only been two weeks.  They'll calm down soon."

Modo grabbed the radio, calling them.  "Vinnie, pick up some hotdogs while you're out?  We're out of that and rootbeer."

"Sure, if there's room on the back of the bikes," he responded.  "We're going to build revolving turrets.  They'll cover the whole street."

Throttle got off his bike and walked over, taking the handset.  "Guys, if you do that, we'll get in trouble with the cops.   Remember, we can't have guns in the open."

"Already thought of that.  There'll be a cover over it," Xander promised.  "A crank to extend the barrels.  Think fifty caliber shells are big enough?"

Throttle imagined that bullet.  "I think that's probably a bit too big, Xan."

"Pity.  The plans we found were for fifties.  I even found plans to make the shells."

"Guys, come home so we can look at the plans," Throttle said calmly.  Dawn gave him a smug look so he kicked at her chair, making her grab the table. "You, behave."

"Fine," she complained, eating her other sandwich.

"Come home so we can look over the plans.  There might be a better way to do it."

"Fine," Xander complained with a sigh.  "We'll be home soon.  We just found the metal stock for the barrels."

"I'm surprised they didn't head for old tank parts," Micah offered dryly.

"That's a good idea!" Vinnie said excitedly.

"Yeah, but then we can't build 'em," Xander complained.  "I like building things."

"Come home, boys," Throttle ordered, hanging up the handset and turning off the radio.  He shook his head and went into the kitchen.  "Dawn, you left a mess."

"The dishwasher is full and it's not my job to empty it this week," she said sweetly.  "If certain tan mice would quit forgetting to do their domestic chores, the kitchen would run more smoothly now and then and be cleaner."  She got up to put her plate and glass in the sink, patting him on the arm.  "Have fun emptying.  I'll load later."  She went for the library, going to find something new to do.

"I can make it your punishment to do both," he said coolly, glaring at her back.

"Yeah, and I can find a permanent cockring spell too," she joked, turning to smirk at him.  "I'll have fun with it."  She turned back around and went back to her hunt for something new to do.

"It's not that hard, bro," Modo taunted with a smirk as he looked in the kitchen.

"I can make you sleep on the roof tonight," he offered tiredly.

"Wanna trade?"

"Hell no, you have to clean the tubs," he complained, unloading the dishwasher.  This was better than scrubbing the tubs any day.  He needed to talk to Xander about getting the cleaning woman in once a week instead of once a month.  They liked her and she could probably use that a lot.  Xander could even add a room for her if he wanted as long as they could quit doing chores around the house.

Vinnie and Xander came in with the pipes and the plans, letting him have them on their way past him to the roof.  "Gonna go measure now," Xander quipped, stealing a kiss on the way past him.  "Wanna cuddle later?" he added.

"Sure," he said, looking at the plans.  He groaned and shook his head.  "Boys, this is too much," he complained.  Somewhere nearby an alarm went off.  "What's that?" he demanded.

Vinnie came down the ramp and hit the blue button then went to look out the window.  "Hey, Stretch.  She's in the garage somewhere.  Probably pouting.  We're trying to protect her."

"Sure, Vinnie.  There's a sign up that said she went to get a drink and she'd be right back.  Can you come let me in so my heap of junk will quit smoking?  It never does it in the garage."

"Sure, be right down."  He jogged down and through the back door into the kitchen, turning off that alarm as well.  He raised the door and waved him inside.  "Come on in.  Ooh, it is smoking, isn't it?"

"Yeah.  What was that alarm?"

"It detects gunpowder," he said honestly.  "Someone came up and tried to take Charley girl the other day.  I was not amused."

"Good idea, man.  Where'd you find the plans?"

"Xander found 'em online. I can see if he'll print you off a copy," he promised.  "Go ahead and drag her in here."  He went to call Xander from the backyard.  "Hey, Xan, Stretch wants to know if you can get him the plans for the gunpowder alarm," he called.

"On the kitchen table probably.  Have him make a copy and bring me back the originals."

"Sure."  He found them in the kitchen and brought them out.  "He said to copy them off and bring them back to him."

"Sure.  Thanks, man. I know some people who could use it.  What's his newest project?"

"We're thinking gun turrets on the buildings," he said smugly, grinning at him.  "Just in case, ya know?"

"Oh, I do," he admitted.  "What caliber?"

"Fifty is what we found the plans for.  Crank-out barrels to hide them.  Micah, a buddy of ours, suggested we go for old tank parts."

Xander came jogging in.  "Hey, Stretch.  Instead of the wire, I used a wireless setup from a doorbell system.  It works great.  Got about a fifty foot range."

"Thanks, Xander.  I like that idea.  Let me copy these and I'll bring 'em back."  He clasped hands with him and headed off to the nearest place with the copy machine.  This could help a lot of people he knew.  He'd pass on the old tank parts idea too.

***

Detective Vecchio looked up as someone walked over and whispered in his ear.  "Why is this my problem?" he asked his sister.

"Because they're scaring some people, Ray.  It's being talked about in church.  They said Charley, that mechanic broad, got kidnaped by the military recently.  They're getting paranoid and it's makin' others worry.  You're a cop, go have a talk with them," Maria, his older sister demanded, walking off.

He groaned and got up, walking out with a sigh.  He had thought this was going to be one of those boring Tuesdays, but apparently he was wrong.  He drove down to the garage, parking across the street to look up at the roofs.  Nothing out of the ordinary and he didn't see any gun turrets.  He got out and leaned on his roof, staring up there.  There was a new little shed on top of the garage.  Maybe it was hidden finally?  He walked over to the open door, hearing an alarm and someone swearing after a bang.  He smirked at the mechanic as she pushed a button. "You okay?  I heard you nearly got snatched."

"I'm fine but my man is a paranoid idiot," she said grimly.  "Who complained about what?  The gunpowder sensor?"  She looked over as the door burst open and Rimfire stomped in.  "Calm down, it's the nice detective."

"Oh, hey," he said, grinning and waving a hand, putting his blaster behind his back.  "Okay, Charley ma'am?"

"Rimfire, put it down and go home!" she demanded. "No one's stealing me!"

"Fine," he said, looking hurt.  "We're only tryin' ta help, Charley ma'am."

"Did you learn that look from Xander!" she said, glaring at him.  "Out!  Before I turn you into a piece of the highway!"  He hurried back next door.  "Sorry.  Xander and Vinnie made him promise to be paranoid in their absence."

Ray shook his head and took off his sunglasses.  "I can understand why," he offered with a slight grin, "but it's gotten a bit out of hand.  Some people complained to my mother and sister at church about some gun turrets?  My sister came to complain to me about them."

"If I asked nicely, would you make them take them down?" she asked.

He nodded. "If they're outside of city ordinances, I can do that."

"Good!"  She shut the door and led him up to the roof, opening the shed and letting him see the console.  "Watch out.  They're gonna pop out."  He moved and she pushed a button, ejecting the barrels.  "Xander switched it from a crank system to an air-gun ejector type system.  Runs on paintball gun cartridges."

He stared at the gun, then looked next door, noticing that setup.  He sighed and shook his head, putting back on his sunglasses.  "They definitely defy legal codes for living in the city."

"Don't put it that way, they'll kidnap me out into the country to live."

He chuckled and patted her on the arm.  "Where are they?"

"Xander's at the site.  Throttle drug Vinnie off when he was making more shells.  He's trying to calm him down.  It's been weeks now, detective.  I know the military got to some of the cops around here so they couldn't help, but really."

"Huh?"

"From what I understand, the cops were told not to chase the van that took me."

"Oh, someone's gonna have a foot shoved up their asses," he assured her.  "Put it back in."  She pushed the button and they retreated so she put down the doors over the turret.  "What's that intelligence guy say about it?"

"He's been laughing whenever I complain," she said bitterly.  "I wanted to kick his butt too."

"I'm sure you could," he said fondly.  "Okay, let me find Stan to show him.  He can come collect shells and stuff since he's injured."

"He okay?"

"Yeah, he got outta the car ta go get a coffee from a little stand and Diefenbaker put his car in gear so it ran over his foot."  He shrugged.  "He's on crutches, nothin' major.  Let me talk to the paranoid ones.  I'll be back tonight, after shift, with Stan, okay?"  She gave him a hug and he patted her on the back.  "It's okay.  Let me handle this.  We'll work somethin' out with him."  He let her go and followed her back down, hearing the alarm going off again.  "That's a what alarm?"

She came to the door.  "Gunpowder.  The sensor's somewhere in the ground, has the wireless system from a doorbell set?  He let some guys I do work for routinely borrow the plans he found online."

"I'll stop that too.  That's a bit too close to weapons dealing."  He watched as Vinnie came roaring back, holding up a hand, then waving him closer.  "We gotta talk, Vincent.  You're breakin' the law badly this time."  He looked miserable.  "I understand, we'll work it out among us.  The turrets have got to go though.  And no more handing over plans.  That's really close to weapons dealing."  He stared over the top of his glasses.  "Meet me and Stan in the park later, say about four?"

"Xander gets off at five."

"That's fine.  Meet us there in the park in the picnic shelter at five.  We'll figure out what you can and can't do.  Okay?"  He nodded, looking a bit pitiful.  "Hey, I get it, and I'm gonna go have a talk with someone about the cops not helpin' you guys.  At five, we'll figure out exactly what you can do to help protect both places better.  Within the law.  Got it?"  He nodded. "Good, kid.  Now, no more makin' shells.  Stan's limping and I'm having him collect them after our meeting tonight."  He gave him a long look.  "You'll be there?"

"Yes, Detective."

"Good boy."  He clapped him on the arm. "I don't wanna have ta arrest you two for tryin' ta help."  He got back in his car and headed for Xander's worksite, parking in the visitor spot and heading to the fence.  "The white one?"

"Office, sir," he said, making note on the visitor's log.  "Is there a problem at the garage?  I know he's been worried about Charley."

"Not really.  Just gotta have a talk with him.  He's still using dealer plates," he said grimly, heading into the site and up to the trailer, tapping on the door. He heard the grunt and walked in.  "Hey, ma'am.  Xander?"

"Just headed inside to yell at someone for dropping paint out a window."  She looked at him.  "Problems, Detective?  I've seen you in the paper."

"Someone noticed Xander's still got dealer plates and complained.  I need ta talk ta him about it.  Privately if we could."

"Sure."  She nodded, going to get Xander.  Poor guy, he still hadn't gotten his new plates?  "Xander!" she yelled.  "Didn't you get those plates yet?"

"They're claiming they can't give them to me," he complained as he came out. "Fixed."

"Good, there's a detective in the trailer who wants to talk to you about your plates."

"Sure," he sighed, heading that way.  He walked in and paused for a second, then shut the door.  "Charley?"

"Fine, but you scared the neighborhood, kid."  He kicked back in Trisha's chair, looking at the young man.  "Some people complained to my Ma and my sister and she came to complain to me today.  Also, what's with the plates?"

"The bike's not exactly an Earth model and they won't give me plates since I can't produce a title on it."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "Gotten tickets?"

"Yeah, and I told the traffic cop what was going on and he called them for me and they're staying they can't and won't."  He sat down behind his desk. "Is this really about my plates?"

"No, this is about the armory you have at the house and how you're breaking the law."

"You got into the safe?  We're nearly out of rocket launchers."

Vecchio held up a hand.  "I don't wanna know, don't say another word," he ordered.  He sat up.  "Problem is, you're breakin' the law with those new turrets and how you gave plans away, kid.  So you, me, Stan, Fraser, and Vinnie will be in the park, in the picnic shelters at five.  We'll figure out exactly what you can and can't do to protect the house.  Those turrets are so illegal I should be bringing you in right now. Got me here?"  Xander sighed and nodded, hanging his head. "That's why we're gonna talk tonight.  We'll figure out what you can and can't do.  We'll work out the security for both places together so it's barely legal."  Xander perked up a bit at that.  "But for now, you're not to make another shell and you're to not touch those except to take them apart.  Also, those plans being given away is a lot like arms dealing.  That's a Federal offense, kid."  Xander nodded at that.  "I'll excuse it this time because you probably didn't know."

"I offered the one guy one for the gunpowder sniffer."

"Wonderful. Doesn't matter."

Xander sighed and nodded again.  "Yes, detective.  When?"

"Five, in the park, at the picnic shelters.  You, me Stan, Fraser, and Vinnie.  Got it?"  He nodded again.  "Good.  Bring your idea file and we'll see.  By the way, that's a neat way you had them popping out."

"She showed you?"

"Yeah, I demanded," he offered.  "Complaints like that are taken pretty seriously, kid.  So behave for now and think.  Meet me tonight at five.  We'll work it out after I kick some asses for not helpin' when she was taken."  He perked up a bit at that.  "I'll also call about your plates.  You're probably going to have it impounded soon if you can't get it fixed."

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy.  Bring your file.  I'm sure someone would like it."

"You're sure?" he asked.  "Micah said I had high hopes and not a lot of sense."

"Yeah, well, I know what works on the street, kid.  He does higher thinking stuff, like Bond gear.  We'll see.  Okay?"  Xander beamed and nodded.  "Good kid.  I'll see you in a few hours."  He got up and headed back to his car, looking at the cop looking at Xander's bike.  "They said they're fighting about his tags now.  The state won't give him any."

"Why not?"

"It's a custom job and didn't come with a title.  He's the first owner."

"Oh.  No title?"  Vecchio shook his head.  "Can we prove it's not stolen?"

"Yeah, and I'll be calling someone today.  Give him a week?"

"Sure," he decided.  "It's a gorgeous bike.  I'd hate to have to impound it."  He shrugged and walked off, going to report in that he had talked to a detective and been told what the problem was, that someone was trying to solve it.  He came back to put a warning on the bike's windshield then headed for his next vehicle to boot.

Vecchio headed back to his precinct and inside, going to his lieutenant's office.  "Sir?"  He waved him inside.  "I just talked to a certain paranoid white mouse," he said as he shut the door.  "We're going to meet about his paranoid tendencies tonight.  What's up with the cops who didn't help when their mechanic buddy was kidnaped?"

"First I've heard of it," he admitted. "Wouldn't?"

"Charley said they were ordered not to from what she was told.  Which is why the boy created gun turrets on the roof.  I'm going to get him to dismantle them and hand 'em over.  We'll work on legal means tonight."

"You've got a week, Vecchio.  Someone else filed a formal complaint."  He handed it over.

"They don't even live on the same block.  They're impossible to see, they're inside a garage.  It's all BS."  He handed it back.  "You might wanna warn someone that Xander found a way for that gunpowder sniffer online to work.  Or at least work for them.  He did say someone got a good look at the plans."

"Wonderful.  Did he *offer* them to someone?" he asked patiently.  Vecchio shrugged.  "Intentionally?"

"He wouldn't have known anything about it being bad," he pointed out.  "I know he didn't sell 'em."

"Fine. You warned him?"

"Yeah, and about his tag problem.  Seems they can't get a title for his bike so he can't get tags."

"Have him take the ones off his car."

"They were doing that earlier and he was found out, sir."

"That' a shame, it's a pretty bike."

"I'm gonna call down there to see if there's a way around it.  I don't want him upset or nothin'.  Apparently he's been working on designs for his intelligence buddy.  I told him to bring his idea file with him."

"Fine, Vecchio.  I'll leave this to your good judgement. Just get those turrets off in the next few days."

"Stan can help 'em remove 'em tonight," he said smugly.  "They're nice.  He's got 'em working on a retracting barrel system."  The lieutenant looked impressed at that.  "I wanted to see what he's come up with for other weapons."  He headed out to his desk to write a minor report about talking to Charley about the weapons, not including anything about what they were or the rocket launchers Xander had said he had.  "Why would he need 'em?" he muttered as he typed.  He looked over as Stan clumped in, dragging someone behind him.  "We're gonna go sit with Vinnie and Xander tonight ta talk about the weapons around the garage.  Five at the picnic shelters.  Bring Fraser, we'll need inside and out of the local codes."

"Sure," he agreed, shoving the guy at a chair. "Sit your ass down," he said coldly. "Don't make me break the other crutch by clubbin' ya in the head."  The crook sneered and Stanley growled so he sat.  "Good dog!"

Vecchio snickered.  "What happened this time?"

"Romeo here tried to grab them to beat on his girlfriend at the burger place.  Modo stopped him by picking him up and shakin' him, but it still got broken.  She's on her way to the ER, he's gonna go away for assault."  He sat down to start on the report.  "Remind me."

"Sure.  Let me call Benny so he reminds both of us."  He called the consulate.  "Hey, Turnbull.  Where's Benny?  No, not good.  We need to be in the park, at the picnic shelters, directly at five to talk with a weapon's designer.  Yeah, that one.  Why?"  He snorted.  "Wonderful.  No, someone copied them off him.  Sure, do a citizen's arrest and I'll come get 'em myself.  Thanks."  He hung up. "Be right back. Someone got the gunpowder sniffer plans to work and is selling them in front of the consulate."

"Wonderful.  Who?"

"Someone got a look at 'em when a certain very pale person did it."

"Oooh," he winced. "No wonder.  Did he know?"

"Nah."  He headed out to go arrest the guy, bringing him back crying and sobbing about how sorry he was.  Apparently Benny had proved how worthless those plans were.  He wondered why Xander's version worked and those didn't.  He'd have to ask later.

***

Throttle walked over to join them, handing Xander a soda.  "Thought I should butt in."

"Not an issue," Detective Kowalski said happily.  "Got more'a those?"

"Not really, but there's a seller over there wearing an earpiece," he offered, nodding behind him.

Vecchio looked.  "FBI.  Bad, Xander."

"Sorry," he whimpered. "I didn't know."

"I know, kid.  That's why we're having a friendly chat."  He got up to go talk to him, finding out why he was there, then nodding and explaining what was going on and how Xander worked for an intelligence agency part of the time.  That he was working on upgrading some designs.  The agent reported that and got told to go home so Ray got his whole tray of stuff and brought it back for their dinner.  "Here.  They weren't sure you weren't a new designer they had to watch."

"I'm not trying to be."

"I know," Throttle soothed, patting him on the back.  "We'll figure it out, Xander.  Where's Vinnie?"

"Changing Vic in the bathroom," he said, nodding that way.  His phone rang and he winced, pulling it out to listen.  "Yeah?" he asked hesitantly.  "Boris!  I've missed you!"  He looked at the detectives.  "No, we're talking about my plans against home invasion by the military.  No, small problem.  No, fifty caliber gun turrets actually.  No, retractable.  Sure!" he agreed happily.  "I heard you had a weapon's company.  Of course.  We're in the park, in picnic shelters.  Sure, see you once it's dark."  He hung up.  "Boris actually owns a weapon's company and he wanted to look at my file too."

"That's fine, that would be legitimate.  He could pay you for it and it wouldn't be arms dealing.  Unlike you letting that person see those plans."

"Why didn't theirs work?" Kowalski asked.

"Oh, I had to correct some wiring flaws.  I didn't mark it on the plans," he admitted.  "But I did say that I used a wireless doorbell system so you didn't have to run obvious wires.  Can we keep that?"

"Sure," he agreed dryly.  "Your gun safe locks, right?"

"It's a bunker and yeah," Throttle assured him.  "It's got a tumbler lock and a key lock."

"Good, don't tell us anything about what's in there," Vecchio said quickly.  "Speaking of, Xander.  You've got to find someone who can get you a title, somehow," he said, stressing the last word. "Maybe someone like your boss would know?"

"I know where I can get one," he admitted. "I just wanted it to be legal."

"I know but I stopped someone from booting your bike earlier today."

Xander shuddered.  "Yes, detective."

"Good boy.  You gotta week."

"Yes, detective," Throttle agreed.  "We'll figure it out somehow."  Xander grinned at him.  "Your car needs new tags too."

"I've got those at the house.  I only have to put them on."

"I'll do it tomorrow while you're at work," Throttle promised.   "That way you don't get into trouble, Xan."  He looked at the file.  "Is that your design file?"  Xander beamed and nodded.  "That's cool."  Xander's phone rang and Throttle answered it.  "Yeah?  Hey, Micah.  No, some people complained about the gun turrets.  Well, Boris wanted to look at them," he admitted.  "He could probably squeak around it by saying they're prototypes that're being offered to a weapons manufacturer."  Vecchio shook his head. "No?"

"Nope.  Someone six blocks away who can't even see the garage put in an official complaint."

"Oooh, sorry."

"Not an issue.  She can't see 'em, I'm not sure how she did."  He shrugged. "It's being handled at the moment."

"Hear that?" Throttle asked.  "No, Xander, Vinnie, and I are working on it with the local detectives he went to warn that time.  Hey, Vic," he said, taking the baby as Vinnie came back.  "Did you make a mess?"

"And then some."  He took the phone, listening to Micah.  "We're gonna protect her, you've gotta expect that," he complained.  "So?  Xander's good at designing stuff.  You gave him the books," he said dryly.  "Of course he used them."  He hung up and tucked the phone back into Xander's pocket.  "He's going to take something for his headache."

Xander's phone rang again and he answered it, listening to the quiet voice telling him off.  "Lorne, I'm only doing what he wanted me to do.  I offered them to him first, he said they were crap, wouldn't work in the agency.  That's his decision so I'm letting the two detectives and Boris look at them.  Because he owns a weapon company?  Yeah, him.  Nah, he's back," he said happily.  "It's not my fault. I asked, he gave me the books.  I designed and he didn't like when I showed them to him.  Then I'd suggest he actually look at things next time. It's not my fault he didn't like what I updated. That's all him, Lorne.  Yay.  Have fun with that.  Need to know how to grow them at home? I had some friends who did and so did Oz."  He smirked.  "No, I figured you guys could go to the DEA and ask for some that they use in busts and stuff."  He smirked.  "Not my fault, yell at him."  He hung up and turned off his phone, tucking it back into his pocket.  "He said Micah's been upset by me showing them to anyone else.  I did offer them to Micah first and he didn't like them."

"That shows you to be an honorable and loyal man to the agency that helps you," Fraser offered, getting up to look in the cart.  "Are you sure these are ours, Ray?"

"The Agent said to eat 'em," he said with a shrug and a hand wave.  "Okay.  We pulled out the rule books," he admitted, handing over the copied pages.  "These are the official rules of what you can't do.  They do include gun placements on the tops and sides of buildings.  Apparently they didn't want the mob to get any ideas."  Kowalski snorted at that.  "It had to be against them.  The stockyards wouldn't do that, it wasn't necessary and would have wasted money."  He looked at the three mice again. "You can do anything that's not listed in here.  It doesn't say anything about button-operated electrocution systems like the one that's on the garage.  It doesn't say anything about sleeping gas, though that might be iffy because there's a state law that says you have to register all potentially dangerous or hazardous chemicals if you store them.  I'm guessing that would be borderline."

"I can switch to mace," Xander offered.  Vinnie looked at him.  "It's like pepper spray."

"We can disable that one until we can clear that up," Vinnie promised.

"When did you put that in?" Throttle asked, looking confused.

"The night after we got Charley back," Xander said, looking at him.  "I thought I told you."

"No," he said patiently.  "I never heard anything about a sleep gas system at the garage or at the lair."

"Did they tell you about the electrocution system?" Kowalski asked dryly.  Throttle shook his head.  "Not anything?"

"I would have remembered them saying that," he said, looking at the two white mice.  "You two are horrible.  She's right, you both need to calm down."

"We're worried that they'll come back.  The military doesn't like to be humiliated," Vinnie complained.

"Plus, now they know where I am and there's a chance they could come for me for my role in taking down the Initiative," Xander admitted.  "That'd make twice that I've humiliated some covert ops group."

"I had an old friend check, you're listed as 'do not touch'," Vecchio told them.  "They don't like you very much."

"They probably hate me more now," he said dryly.  "I did torture those two who tried to take her."

"We don't wanna hear about that either," Vecchio said quickly.  "I talked with the people who can have a quiet beating of the guys who couldn't help and the one who gave the order."

Vinnie grinned.  "Thanks, detective."

"You're being really helpful," Throttle agreed.

"Why?" Xander asked with a sweet grin.

Vecchio looked at him.  "Because havin' someone in town that thinks like Batman makes the cops nervous.  Plus, it'll keep some property damage down.  I can't imagine what would happen if you had to fire those turrets."

"They've got a tracking system," Xander promised.  "Commercially available."

"They're too far back from the edge of the roof."

"They've got wheels and a small motor to move 'em," Xander told him.  "We can park it on the edge of the building and fire straight down if we need to."

Vecchio looked him in the eyes.  "Kid, people like you make others nervous and make some jealous.  Some people would try to outdo you and others would get nervous about caped people moving in."

"I used to dream about being Batman but I couldn't wear the outfit.  My butt's a bit too big," Xander joked. "Besides, I'd look horrible in the hood and cape."

Kowalski looked at him.  "As long as you realize that," he quipped dryly, staring him down.  "Warn us if you gotta put one on."

"Sure, did the mayor turn down the Plutarkian when Junior came back?"  Throttle and Vinnie both stared at him.  "He came back and quietly visited City Hall."

"Yeah, and did you do the last letter?" Vecchio demanded.

"No, Lorne did.  I did the lover one."  He grinned. "He pissed me off.   He also admitted it eventually.  So I was right."

Kowalski shook his head. "You've got a bigger set than I do," he admitted.  "Didn't you worry about him retaliating?"

"He's a war criminal from another war.  We were working on capturing him."

"Ah," Vecchio sighed.  "I don't wanna know about that either, Xander."

"Sorry."

"Not a problem."  He shook his head.  "Okay, what else do you guys have that we'll have to remove tonight?  Or tomorrow probably."

"Um, the electrocution system around the door frames, the sleeping gas system."  He considered it.  "There's a pipe set that I put into the garage the last time I fixed it but I haven't hooked it up to anything. I was planning on the air conditioning but she said she couldn't have that in the garage itself, it could warp the tires she kept on hand."  He grimaced, considering it.  "I replaced the carbon monoxide monitor in the garage.  I replaced the air conditioners when they went out the second time and went down to the air conditioning company with a lawyer because of that.  Let's see.  I replaced the dart system I put in last year.  They were all old so I loaded fresh ones in.  I put the grease sprayer refill in last week.  I put the weight sensors in the floor when she wanted to know if a car was off- balance.  I put the hidden cord on the back door but I took that out because it wouldn't stay in.  I put the heater pads down in front of the garage so she wouldn't have to shovel snow or deal with ice.  I cleaned the drains last weekend.  Um, there might be lye in the secondary shooting system," he admitted, shrugging.  "I can't remember anything else I put in."

"Grease shooter?" Vinnie asked.

"Um, yeah, two nozzles pointing at the door.  They're hidden in the tracks for the doors, and the switch is under the workbench, about halfway across.  The blue one's for the grease shooters, the green one's for the dart system.  It's filled with a natural nerve toxin from some fish or something.  I got it in Chinatown."  He shrugged.  "The darts are really cute, basically toothpicks that shoot out with air pressure and pass through a spray of the toxin."  Both older mice stared at him, mouths open.  So was Kowalski.  "I put it in while we were still fighting Papa Stinky," he defended.  "Stoker helped me!"

"Xander," Throttle said, patting him on the back.  "You need a new hobby, babe."

"I can't.  I'm too busy," he pouted.

Throttle kissed him.  "I'm going to take you home later and take all those thoughts out of your head," he promised gently, patting him on the thigh.

"Why didn't you tell me about those?" Vinnie asked, looking hurt.

"I thought I had."

"No," he complained.  "I didn't know a thing about dangerous toothpicks."

"It wears off after thirty minutes," Xander offered. "Unless you've been taking aspirin."

Vecchio moaned and shook his head. "Way too powerful.  You've got to take out the toxin and use something lesser."

"I have a refill of something that just makes you nauseous," he offered.

"Better."

"Neither one of those is covered under the law, Ray," Fraser offered, sitting down with his bag of chips and his hamburger.  "Technically the toxin wouldn't be one that requires a license as long as it's under two fluid ounces and under a certain strength."

"I asked, the guy said it was legal," Xander defended.

Throttle kissed him again.  "Hush, Xander," he said quietly.

"Oooh, there's the zapper thingy at head height in our front room," Xander said suddenly.  "I've been working on that.  I got Rimfire the other day and he only got a headache.  Is that legal?"

Fraser considered it.  "It'd probably be a gray area," he admitted.  "Was it electrical?"

"No, charged air.  Ion stuff."

Vecchio shook his head.  "I don't know," he admitted.  "It probably will be some day."  Xander shrugged.  "Show that to Boris later tonight too, Xander."

"Okay."   He beamed at him.  "Do you really think some of those are good?"

"I do," Kowalski said, turning the page to the next design.  This one had stuff paperclipped together.  "Changing the barrels?"

"Yeah, on the blasters.  That way we could use a second energy source instead of just the batteries and the lasers.  That way if we're trapped and can't recharge we've got another option."

"Huh?" Vinnie asked.  Kowalski handed it over.  He looked it over, then handed it to Throttle. "My head hurts.  Give me my son."  Xander gave him a squeeze and a cuddle then handed him over.  "Don't worry, son, we'll let Xander design the weapons for your bike when you're old enough."

"Poooof!" Vic said happily, banging his hands on the table.  He opened his mouth and made whimpering sounds at Fraser, who eventually gave him his pickle.  "Baddy!"  He gummed on it, making a face but enjoying this new taste sensation.

"Rhubarb next," Xander said happily.  Vinnie gave him an odd look.  "I used to eat raw rhubarb."

"So that's what happened to your mind," Vinnie taunted, smirking at him.  Xander pinched him on the arm.  "Not while I'm holdin' the kid," he complained.  Vecchio took the baby and he pounced Xander, getting into one of their rolling/hitting/punching fights.

Vecchio looked down at the baby.  "Grow up like your Ma, kid, or like your Uncle Throttle here.  He's pretty normal."  He patted him on the back, making the baby belch.  Then he giggled madly.  He looked at Throttle, who shrugged.  "Try harder."

"We do.  Modo and I both try to make sure Victor grows up to be a normal mouse."

"Ohmygod!" Vic shouted at a pretty woman jogging past, reaching out for her.

"Then again, sometimes Dawn beats us to it," Throttle said dryly. "That was his first word."

Vecchio looked down at the kid.  "I agree, she was cute, but way too old for ya, kid."  Victor beamed up at him, liking his rougher voice.  "Yeah, you're cute."  He watched as more joggers ran past, turning Vic around so neither one of them had to watch the bouncing food sources.  "He got a bottle?"

"Yeah, on my bike," Vinnie called, going back to beating Xander.  "Yo, bike, toss the bottle," he called.  It shot out of the back, where the tow line usually was, and Throttle jumped up to catch it.

"Thanks," he called, waving it.  He handed it over, shaking his head.  Vic clapped and laughed.  "No wonder your daddy did that.  Is his tow line still in there?"

"Yup," Xander agreed, getting on top of Vinnie to smirk down at him.  "You're a hostage now. I should treat you roughly and make you give up your tub for the night."

"I'll share it with ya and Throttle," Vinnie offered weakly, staring up at him.  Xander had his arms pinned, his tail was underneath him, his legs couldn't hurt him.  "You're fighting dirty."

"No, if I were fighting dirty, I'd be muddy and nearly naked.  That's how humans do it," he said with a smirk, getting off him and going back to steal the baby to feed him. "Come eat with the unclie, Victor.  Yes, I've got a comfy chest and I didn't even get very sweaty today."  Vic burbled through the milk but seemed to like his pecs and arms since he rubbed his cheek against them.

Throttle could only shake his head.  "You really should come look at the systems in person, that way you can have gadget boy disable them on the spot."

"We should," Kowalski agreed, sliding the idea folder back over.  "You've got some great ones in there, Xander.  Nice work."

"Thanks," he said smugly.  "I'm a man of many talents. I can hammer in a nail and build odd stuff."  He looked around.  "Still no Boris?  I guess he'll find us at home."

"Sure," Throttle agreed.  "Give Vinnie back his son so he can cart him home.  I'll take your idea folder and stick it in my bag."  Xander handed it over and went to help Vinnie off the ground so he could carry Vic back in his carrier. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"Not an issue," Vecchio assured him.  "We'll meet you back there?"  Throttle nodded and got up, heading back to his bike.  Vecchio waited until they were alone to look at Fraser.  "Don't give him any more ideas."

"I'm not trying to.  You wanted them to stay within the letter of the law and I'm helping with that," he offered.

"He's gotta point," Kowalski admitted. "He's still paranoid though."

"Let's be thankful the boy's not one of those paranoid schitzo people," Vecchio said grimly.  "Then we'd have real problems."  He got up and went to his car, sure that Xander had pulled out everything by now to show them.

***

Boris slapped Xander's face gently, nodding him outside once he woke up.  "Sorry, I was a bit busy being turned again."

"Not an issue, boss.  Do you wanna see the practical stuff or the design work?"

"I'm interested in both, Xander.  What do you have done?"

"A few things," he said modestly.  "I was told if you didn't like 'em I'd have to deconstruct and hand them to the cops."

"Fine, let's sit up on the roof and look at your file.  Where is it?"

"In Throttle's bag."  He went to steal it back and take him upstairs to look at their gun turret and other things first.  They could head over to the garage after that.

By dawn, Modo's room had been snuck into and a note left for him.  He woke up, looking at the note on his chest, and the check.  "Huh?" he complained, sitting up.  He read the note, then snorted, getting up to go find Xander, finding him crashed out on the roof, right on the edge.  He stuck the note and the check between his teeth while he yanked him back onto the firmer footing and woke him by doing so.  He handed over the note.  "You've got today and tomorrow off.  Boris wanted to know if you could build the dart system with bigger darts, like maybe stakes."

"I don't see why not.  Increase the hopper size and the shooting tube, plus the amount of nasty stuff," he said through a yawn.  "What time is it?"

"Maybe six if I'm generous," he grumped, heading inside.  He wasn't really used to seeing the sun come up.  He wasn't sure he liked it.

Xander sat there and looked at his note, and then the check.  "Wow," he whispered in awe.  "Throttle!" he yelled, waking him, Vinnie, Victor, Charley - who was woken by Victor, and Dawn.

Modo stuck his head in Throttle's room when he didn't come out.  "Go up to the roof before he wakes the whole neighborhood," he complained.  "He's got the next two days off to see if he can increase the toothpick shooter to stake size."

"Why?" he groaned, heading up there, rubbing his eyes and snout.  He took the note and the check, looking at the check first, then at the note.  "Okay, I'm impressed.  Go buy waffles for breakfast since it's so early," he said, heading down to hide the check in the office before it could be blown out of a sleepy hand.

Xander ran down the ramp, heading for his car.  He'd have a lot of stuff to carry back.  They were out of milk too.

Episode 52:

Charley looked up as a dark sedan parked in front of the garage and two people got out, mentally wincing and hoping Xander was working somewhere without windows.  "You wanted something?  Or are you having car trouble, gentlemen?"

"No, we're here to see you, Miss Davidson," the general said genially.  "There's a bit of a sticky situation and we do have to resolve it peacefully, or at least I hope we can be peaceful about it?"

"Maybe.  Then again, that depends on you guys, doesn't it?" she asked dryly, crossing her arms and leaning against her car lift. "Let me guess, you're going to apologize and then beg for me not to tell anyone else about my kidnaping?"

"Well, that would be an ideal solution," the general offered.  "But we also have to make restitution for the sore spot of that check.  Unfortunately our budget got cut about that time and it was an oversight."

"Yet, I tried to tell you and you never said anything. You threatened a judge to keep that matter quiet too."

"That was a different administration, ma'am," the general's assistant said plainly.  "We weren't in power then."  She gave him a cool look and he took a step back, remembering quite well what had been done to others on her behalf.  "Please don't hurt us, ma'am, we are trying to be friendly about this."

"I don't think she's the one you have to worry about," Xander said from the doorway to the kitchen.  He was leaning on the swinging doors.  "But I'm sure you knew this already."

"Down, boy," Charley ordered.  "Let them speak, then we'll see if more torture is needed."

"If I must," he sighed, looking like he regretted it totally.

The general looked at him.  "Mr. Harris, I assure you, I have no desire to deal with you at all.  You were trying to protect your family and that's an honorable thing in my book.  I'm sorry you had to torture them."

"Actually, I kinda had wanted to do that to Graham for a few years," he admitted, smirking at him.  "I owed him for the Initiative stuff too."

"Yes, well, if we had been in power, that would have been stopped.  Torture is almost always wrong, son," the general said firmly.

"Yeah, but it's fun," Xander said with a smirk.

"I heard it can be very stress relieving," the assistant offered.  "But I never heard fun."

"Xander," Charley snapped.  "Down.  Now."

"Fine."  He went back to staring at them.

The general coughed and snapped his fingers, getting a briefcase.  "We should have honored that check then.  We are prepared to do that now, ma'am, if you'll not press charges against the guys who took you."  She quirked an eyebrow up.

"There is that pesky torture charge to some covert ops agents," the assistant reminded them.

"Shit, the seal had fun and you can't prove how she did it," Xander said dryly.  "You may think it's a tie, but if you can't prove it, you can't really charge anyone with it.  Even in those handy secret courts."  He grinned again.  "Then again, I can show you how stress relieving it is, Captain."

"No, that's quite all right, Mr. Harris," the general said calmly, looking at Charley.  "I don't want to hurt you, ma'am, I just want to sweep this into a dark, deep closet and leave it there.  As far as I'm concerned, we don't know you exist."

She looked at the briefcase.  "The same amount as the check?"  He nodded, looking a bit eager.  "And this'll never happen again?"

"Not in the least.  Though we would like to know the final disposition of the bike."

"Ask Micah Simms," Xander said dryly.  "We sent her off.  She needed a vacation. You guys nearly killed her."

"Xander!" she snapped, not having to look at him to know he flinched. "Forgive him, he's frustrated."

"Yeah, my newest console of artillery doesn't quite mesh well enough," he sighed.  "Unfortunately I'm under orders not to mock-up any more and put them on top of the garage ever again."

"You design weapons?" the Captain asked.

Xander beamed and nodded. "It's a hobby of mine."

"What do you do for a living, son?" the general asked.

"I'm a construction foreman.  Fortunately my boss also owns an electronic company and he likes me enough to take my designs and make them pretty for others."

"Interesting.  We'll have to see if anything's useful."  The general looked at her, giving her a pleading look.  "We're very sorry.  Those who were over your kidnaping were stopped and those who took the bike project are even sorrier than I am.  Please," he offered quietly, handing her the briefcase.  She took it and closed it.  "Thank you, Miss Davidson.  You have a nice life.  You as well, Mr. Harris."  He went back to the car, his Captain walking behind him with his hand on his gun.  He heard a noise and drew, but Xander muttered something and his gun landed in his hand.  The captain squeaked.  "Son, may he please have his gun back?  He's my bodyguard and my wife's on a rip about the newest grandchild.  He'll need it to protect me from her."

Xander looked it over, then tossed it back once he had put the safety on.  "I've got better," he noted smugly. "Plus you're two bullets short of a full load."

"Thank you, sir," the captain offered, running back to the car. He got in to drive, backing out quickly.  "Sir, how did he do that? I thought we had the guns."

"We did, son, but Mr. Harris is from Sunnydale.  He helped bring down the Initiative.  He's just odd and we're going to go reinforce his 'do not engage' rating.  Just forget you ever saw him, Captain."

"Yes, sir."  He headed for the airport.  He wanted out of this city.  He could have sworn he just saw another furry biker on a parallel street to their route.

Charley looked at Xander.  "Xander, they weren't going to hurt me."

"Bull."  He leaned more heavily on the doors.  "They like to hurt others.  They've proved that to me yet again.  I'm not letting them hurt you.  Do not complain or I'll whine to Vinnie."

"Xander, your pack is fine," Charley said firmly.  "You're overreacting and we're all fine.  We're not moving, we're not migrating.  So just calm it down and behave.  I can protect myself."

Xander stomped off, considering going to Mars to talk to his mother-in-law but she'd never understand.  She still didn't really get him all that well, she just tolerated him because he made Throttle happy.  Then again, he couldn't hit Mars anyway, the only place he had to go was a temple and that would upset someone so he didn't want to do that.  He got onto his bike and rode off, going to pout in private.  He was driving aimlessly when he saw a shootout going on and groaned.  "Why me?"  The bike beeped inquisitively.  "Sure, it's been a bad day.  Go ahead and we'll help."  She roared up and he shot two of the guys in the ankle, making them scream and give up as he went riding past. So what if the cops had seen him, at least he was being helpful this time.  About ten minutes later, he saw the flashing light and sighed, pulling over.  "What?" he asked, looking up at the officer walking over.  "Oh, hey," he said tiredly.  "Are you having a bad day too?  Is that why you're doing Traffic?"

"No, I was having a bad day and then you shot two people for me," Ray Vecchio said dryly, looking at the kid.  "What happened?"

"Charley made fun of me," he said bitterly.  "It's not my fault I got possessed or anything and she made fun of me for it."

"So you're out sulking around while going for a ride?"

"No," he defended, but he knew he was pouting.  "She's supposedly a friend and she made fun of me.  Just like my last ones did, man.  It's horrible and I hated that they did that.  That's why I ended up leaving them."

Vecchio shook his head.  "I doubt she meant it, Xander.  I really do."

"Yes, she did."

"Was she frustrated?"  He sighed and nodded, hanging his head.  "Sometimes we say things we don't mean.  Don't you do that?"

"No, if I blurt shit out, it's stuff I've been keeping inside," he said bitterly. "Which just makes it worse.  If she's thinking like that about me, then I don't think she really ever wanted me around or anything like that."  He sniffled.  "I'm going to go back to my ride.  If I'm not in trouble?"

"Head off," he offered, watching him go.  He went to get back into his car, dialing his cellphone and putting in the earbud before hitting send.  "Charley, aren't you usually more delicate with fragile people than to make them have flashbacks to their former friends?" he asked bluntly.  He heard her gasp.  "Yeah, well, I just saw a certain very pale being on his bike and he was ready to cry.  So whatever you said, which he didn't tell me, you might want to think about apologizing for.  No, I figured you snapped in the heat of the moment and said something stupid.  Apparently he's the sort that only blurts out repressed stuff and he thinks you're just like his old friends.  Therefore, I'd talk to the boy.  No, he's fine.  His bike is taking him off for a ride.  Yeah, I noticed. It likes to stare at my car."  He smirked at her blustering.  "Don't start, Charley.  Just fix it.  Before he runs away for good.  He's a nice kid, but I don't wanna do his job too, 'kay?"  He hung up and went back to the station to check in their new problems.  His boss looked at him, holding up the preliminary report one of the others had done.  "What?"

"Backup shooter?"

"Person who got pissed at the traffic jam," he said blandly.  "He's a damn good shot.  Three hits and three ankles."  He grabbed one by the scruff of his neck and sat him down at his desk.  "Do not make this more difficult on yourself," he warned at the protest starting to come out.  "I'll let him come back for the rest of you."  The guy shut up and curled up some.  "Good boy.  Now, name?"

***

Charley walked up to where the guys were sitting, flopping down between Throttle and Modo, letting Vic crawl to his daddy.  "I upset Xander," she said quietly.  "I followed the Seal's advice and he all-but went off to cry."

"Where is he?"

"Riding.  I don't know, I can't track him."

"Uh-huh," Vinnie said dryly.  "And this advice would be....?"

"To tell him his pack wasn't leaving and that he could quit fussing anytime now," she admitted bitterly.  "He gave me this horrified look and stomped off.  At least he's on his bike, but he's not responding to calls and he's not able to be tracked."

"Including the one I put in his jacket?" Throttle asked.

"He's not wearing his jacket.  He was wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers, no shirt."

"Oh."  Throttle grimaced, considering his mate.  "I'll look for him this afternoon."

"Thanks.  Bring him back so I can apologize, okay?"

"Sure.  Hey, Vic, want a hotdog?" he offered, holding out the end piece of his last one.  He was full anyway.  The baby beamed and came over to gum it for him.  "Hey, Vinnie, where is he?"

"Probably still out riding," Vinnie reminded him.  "He hasn't really picked a place to sulk yet, other than being somewhere alone and abandoned. Good luck with that.  Call me when you find him so I can come help."  He looked at his son, holding up a french fry.  "Want a chili fry?" he asked with a grin.  His son crawled back to him to get the fry and smoosh it with his piece of hotdog to gum together. "Good boy."

"Pretty soon he'll want a bike of his own," Modo said with a grin for the toddler.  "Then we'll have to chase you and Xander around."

"Bet me.  No one's hurting my son like Xander got hurt," Vinnie said firmly. "If I find someone hurting him like they hurt Xander, I'm killin' 'em and having fun with it."  His baby let out a copy of his own battle howl and he beamed.  "I'm so proud!  We've got to show your cousins!" he said, picking him up to cuddle.  "You're a great son, Victor."

"Yeah, just like his daddy," Charley agreed dryly.  "Including being messy and needing a bath now."

"He's a boy, let him finish getting dirty first," Modo said laconically, grinning at her.  "We do that."

"So I've noticed.  He's already had one since he was playing in some spilled oil."

"We've got to figure out what to tell him about Greasepit someday," Throttle said suddenly.  "I don't think the full story's appropriate for a kid his age."

"No Plutarkians or cheese around my son," Vinnie said firmly.

"I'm not going to worry about the Plutarkians coming back," Charley told him, "but I would worry about cheese.  He likes to eat Auntie Dawn's cheese sandwiches with her."

All three big mice shuddered and Vic let out his evil chuckle, going back to licking the dirt and food off his hands.

***

Xander rode onto the site, nodding at the guard.  "I know it's my day off," he sighed, heading inside.

"Xander, are you all right?" one of his crew asked.  "You look pretty down."

"Yeah, I am," he admitted, shrugging a bit.  "It happens, even to me."

"Wanna go to the gym with me?" he offered gently.  "It's where I go to think. It's a gay place, but you'll only be drooled over."

Xander considered it.  "Sure.  How far away is it?"

"About ten blocks.  I'll even go unpaid."

Xander snorted.  "Like I care at the moment?" he asked dryly.  "You're keeping me from going to hit the side of the trailer."  He nodded at his bike and the guy nodded, grabbing his toolbelt and heading off with him.  Xander looked at the guard.  "Tell Trisha or Merle that I have him. He's showing me around his gym and I'll have him back soon."

"Sure, Xander," he agreed, making note of that.  He watched them ride off together, handing that note to Trisha when she came back from her lunch nookie.  "Xander said so."

"Fine," she agreed, reading it. "What happened?"

"He was pouting, I'm guessing some sort of thing with his man."  He shrugged. "I'm not gay so I don't know how they do those things."

"I'm betting those two have fantastic makeup sex," she offered with a grin, heading inside.

***

Xander looked around the gym.  This was a place he could learn to appreciate.  He smiled at the girl behind the desk.  "Hi. I'm with him," he said, nodding back at his worker.  "I'm his boss and he's showing me around."

"That's fine," she agreed happily. "Sign in please?"  He nodded and filled out the small form so she got one of the trainers over.  "This is Xander, he's being shown around by one of his guys at work.  He's looking to build muscles."

The trainer looked him over.  "Well, you've got a good start but you need definition.  How many calories are you doing a day?"

"Four thousand because my doc said I had to.  I work way too hard otherwise."

"That's fine, we'll work on burning fat and increasing mass then," he offered, leading him to the changing area.  "Do you have anything to change into?"

"He can borrow some of mine," the buddy said.

"I'm good in what I have on," Xander offered.  "I work construction in 'em."

"Sure," the trainer agreed, smiling at him as he led him to the first machine.  "Go ahead and sit down.  We'll start here.  How much can you lift in one go?"

"Just plain off the table?  About eighty comfortably.  A hundred if I have to."

"Good, we'll start you at sixty for your first few reps, see how it does for you," he offered, setting the weights on the machine.  "Now, push out," he said, smiling as Xander grabbed on and did it correctly.  "Do you belong to another gym?"

"No, I used to when I lived out in California," he offered, doing another rep. "That's been a few years.  I'm thinking about rejoining though, I need somewhere to go when the world craps in my frosted mini wheats."  He did another slow, patient rep.  "This is good to think during."

"It is," he agreed.  "Plus, you're not that hard on the eyes and I seriously doubt anyone would do more than drool on you."

"My husband would appreciate that," he said dryly.  He looked up at him.  "Have you had these days?  When even your friends are against you?"  The trainer nodded, looking like he understood.  "Yeah, one of my friends basically said something to me that she knew would upset me and was like the stuff my former friends used to say about me, which is so very untrue and why I left them.  She know how much it bothers me," he complained, looking back.  "This is really light, go ahead and up it."

The trainer set it a bit higher.  "Try it now."  He pushed and nodded.  "Now, remember, the secret to building muscles is repetition."

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, doing more.  "But this is giving me some resistance, the other wasn't."  He shrugged and looked up at him.  "How many reps are we talking about? I do have to work, I can't just spend all day in the gym, that would be hiding."

The trainer smiled. "We have a few who do spend a few hours each day in here, but you should be able to do an hour maybe three times a week if you're doing other cardio stuff."

"I work construction.  I get plenty of cardio all day long."  He did a few more and put the machine slowly back into the resting position.  "Let's move on.  You've got stuff we didn't have the last time I was in a gym."

"Sure.  We also have a naked yoga class two nights a week and one tai chi.  You don't strike me as the sort to want aerobics, cycling, or tae bo."

"I can already box and I'm pretty good at fighting," Xander admitted with a shy grin.  "Naked tai chi, doesn't that mean parts get in the way?"

The trainer chuckled and nodded.  "Very true.  I usually just wear my jock strap.  It's clothing optional, but it's really more naked than not."

"Interesting.  I wonder if I could talk the husband into it."

"Maybe.  Some people do go as couples and going to the gym with a buddy means you get support during your workouts."  He led him on, taking him the machine in the corner, letting him get in and setting the weights.  "I'm going to start at sixty again."  Xander tried it and winced.  "Okay, let's go back to twenty.  Are you looking for body building sort of muscles, Xander?"

"I'd rather have drool-inspiring muscles, but I could see myself that cut eventually.  Not this year," he said with a small grin.  "But some year."

"I can see you doing that too," he offered.

"Whose motorcycle is that outside?" one guy called from the doorway.

"Mine," Xander called.  "Is he blocking you in?"

"No, man, it's a sweet ride.  Where you get her?"

"Him, and he's a custom job," he said with a grin.  "I had him hand built."  The man moaned.  "He's a great guy and doesn't usually mind being petted and stroked."

"Thanks.  I did and I noticed it wasn't alarmed."

"Oh, it is, just against mean people.  Since you're obviously not mean...."  He trailed off into a grin.  "Pat and admire away.  He set me back a ton of energy."

"Wow.  Did you do the custom work?"

"No, but Charley, at the Last Chance, did some."

"Thanks, man."  He went to look that place up.

Xander looked up at his trainer.  "And I'm a really nice guy, because I'm still sending people to her, even though she said mean things to me."  He did another few reps. "Maybe I need to get out and meet more people."

"Watch out for the guy in purple," he warned, "but otherwise we're pretty nice here."  He winked.  "If you ever feel like leaving the old man, let us know.  If you walked in an announced it, I'm sure you'd have a date that night."

"Sorry, I promised one of my fellow supes at work a shot if we ever broke up.  He made me promise."

"That's okay, just putting it forward," he offered with a grin.  "Come on, do five more.  You're too manly to do such girly reps."

"Sure, but most of the women I know are tougher than the men."  He went back to working on his legs, feeling the burn in them.  "I'm gonna ache later."

"Probably," he agreed.  "That's not great, but after your first workout in a few years not unreasonable."  When Xander had done those five he moved him on to another machine, helping him with that one.

***

Throttle rode onto the site, giving the guard a look.  "Did Xander stop by?"

"Yes, but he took one of the guys to his gym."

"Why?" he asked, looking confused.

"He looked upset, like life was crapping on his head again.  I'm guessing they went to work some of that out on the machines."  He shrugged.  "He said he'd be back soon when he called about thirty minutes ago."

"Thanks.  Any idea where this gym is?"  The guard shook his head and shrugged.  "Then I'll wait.  How're things?"

"Fine.  No damage recently.  It's like everyone got tired of that game and moved on.  Merle's inside the trailer if you wanted to check on your boy."

"Sure."  He parked in Xander's spot and headed inside, going to talk to Merle.  He tapped before walking in.  "Hey.  I heard Xander took off with one of the guys for the gym?"

"Xander was stressed, the guy offered him an alternative to going and pounding things into the walls too hard."  He looked at him.  "What did she do?"

"How did you know?"

"Because if it were you, you wouldn't be here.  You'd be waiting on him at home to beg and plead for forgiveness.  Were it Modo, he'd be here looking sheepish.  If it were Vinnie, he'd come up and take Xander off to chat with him.  Since you're here, they're not, and she's not, I'm guessing it was Charley."

"She brought up something that made Xander hurt," he admitted.  "I don't know what's going on.  All I know is that it's dumb."  He sat down behind his mate's desk.  "I'm here to apologize for her."  Merle shook his head.  "No?  You don't think it'll work?"

"I think she's gonna be upset with him for a bit.  From the way he looked, it was just like after last Thanksgiving. Do you remember about a week after that trip?"  Throttle groaned and nodded.  "So I'm guessing she said something like his former friends used to say and now he's pissed.  You're going to be lucky if he goes home tonight."

"He will.  He'd miss being slept on."

Merle gave him a long stare.  "Throttle.  The boy doesn't stay with you for the sex," he said plainly.  "Now, don't get me wrong, you probably speak normal Xander very well, but I think this time she's put her foot in it and hurt him a lot.  Think about who was his friend first."

"Point," he admitted softly.  "He's back."

"Good.  Then talk to him, don't try to apologize or rationalize it.  Just talk to the boy, let him vent.  He needs to vent."  Xander came in a few minutes later, grinning at them.  "Have fun?"

"Yeah, I did actually.  Hey, Throttle, wanna go to naked tai chi with me?"

"Um, no," he said, looking at him.  He took a sniff.  "Where were you?  You smell like someone rubbed a few in-heat men on you."

"The gym.  They drooled very appreciatively," he said smugly.  "All I did was get sweaty."  He stared at him.  "Why're you here?"

"To talk."  Xander gave him a cooler look.  "Just to let you talk, man.  Nothing else."

"She sent you?"

"She was worried about how you took off," he admitted.  "She did come to us and tell us how she screwed up with whatever she said to you.  I thought you might want to talk and ride for a bit.  Since it's your day off and all.  We haven't had a nice, peaceful ride in a while."

"Sure.  I could use a ride," he agreed.  "I rode in."

"I figured you did," he admitted, standing up.  "Need him before I sweep him off?"  Merle shook his head.  "Thanks, Merle."  He walked Xander out, sniffing him.  "Did someone rub up against you?"

"Two or three guys.  It's a gym," he said with a small blush.  He walked over to his bike, who was leaning against Throttle's.  "Lovin' her, dear?" he asked, stroking his handlebars.  "He even got loved at the gym. One of the guys came in saying how studly he was."

"He is," Throttle agreed.  "Can I have her back?"  His bike snorted and snuggled in.  "We're going for a ride with him."

"If you want to, you could ride with me," Xander offered.  Throttle's bike beeped at him.  "Sorry, thought you wanted a rest, dear."

"She's not that old," Throttle said, patting his seat. "Are you, girl?"  She beeped smugly then snuggled back in.  "We're not doing this here.  We're going for a ride and then you guys can cuddle.  So let's go."  They untangled and Xander got on his, heading out.  Throttle smiled, watching him ride.  For a guy who used to protest that he couldn't and shouldn't ride, he had a very natural seat.  He got on and followed his mate out, letting him pick the direction.  He pulled up next to him, glancing over at him.  "Outside the city or inside?"

"Outside."

"That's fine with me. Just somewhere quiet."  Xander nodded, riding without thinking.   Throttle looked around.  "We're going out by Cheesyland?"

"Yeah," Xander called.  "There's a nice spot out there."  He glanced over at him, then he lifted his face shield.  "Why did she come complaining to you guys?"

"Because she was sorry she said it," he said honestly.  "The Seal told her to say it, or so she said.  She didn't tell us what she said."

"Us?"

"Us.  We were having a picnic."  He shrugged a bit, pulling a bit closer.  "She's sorry, Xander, but I don't want to talk about her.  I'm here for you this time."

"This time?" he asked dryly, glancing at him and swerving to avoid a piece of metal on the interstate.

"As in this time you need me."

"Oh."  He continued to ride, heading to a small spot he knew of.  The people who owned it had told him he could come sit on their hill anytime to watch their cows.  He waved at the farmer as he rode past, getting a smile and a wave in return. He smiled back, he liked this nice demon couple.  He pulled up onto his usual hill, parking his bike in the shade.  "There you go, go cuddle."  His bike moved over to entwine handlebars with Throttle's once he parked.  "Stay in the shade. You know you overheated the last time," he reminded him.  He checked his usual spot before sitting down and looking out across the fields.  "They moved the cows."

"Cows?" Throttle asked as he sat down too.  "Why cows?"

"Because the demon couple who owns this far raise cows," Xander said simply, looking at him.  "It's nice, they only come up and try to lick me.  I drove off the demon dog trying to eat one last time and they said I could come back whenever I wanted."

"It's one of my favorite things too," Throttle agreed, leaning over to lick the tip of Xander's nose.  "See?"  He rested against his side again.  "You wanna talk?"

"No.  Because I think you'll take her side."

"I'm not taking any side and I don't really know what this is about."

"She said something that was just like the slayer twats would have."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "I figured it was something like that."  He stroked the firm thigh, noticing how tense it was.  "I can stop."

"I'm still tense from my workout."

"Sure.  You going to join this gym?"  Xander nodded.  "Did you already?"  Xander nodded, looking at him.  "That's fine.  Just wondering.  Can we go?"

"Sure, but it is a gay place. You will get ogled and one person did try to stroke my tail."

"I'll make sure they know they're not allowed to do that the next time," Throttle assured him.  He looked out across the fields.  "That's a cow," he noted as one wandered into the field below them."

"It is," Xander agreed happily.  "Here comes the rest of the herd."  He leaned against his mate's shoulder, getting comfortable.  "I know she meant it," he said quietly.

"I doubt it.  What did she say?"

"That my pack was safe, that I was fussing."

"Well, you have been fussing," he admitted, "but I never heard of mice moving in packs.  Gangs on occasion but that's mostly stupid kids."  He put an arm around Xander's back, stroking his farther arm.  "It could be worse.  She could have said something else that was actually mean."  Xander snorted.  "Babe, I think she wanted you to calm down, that's all.  You have fussed a great deal.  You have taken steps so no one in the family can leave you or kick you out.  Like the thing with the electric and water meters."

"We're together anyway.  It saves money."

"We are and I got that when you did it.  It didn't bother me at all, but Charley's used to living on her own.  Even Vinnie don't get to stay with her all the time because she yells when he tries to hover. She's an independent woman and she hates being mothered, which you do do now and then."

"That's just the kinda guy I am.  She should be used to it by now."

"She should be, but every now and then she breaks back out in independence and makes Vinnie come back to sleep at the lair too."  He gave him a kiss on the ear.  "It'll be fine.  She feels really badly that she hurt you, babe.  She didn't want to make you pout."

"I'm not pouting."

Throttle snorted.  "You are pouting.  We don't have lips and your muzzle is pouting."  He gave him another squeeze.  "I'm surprised you didn't go talk to my mother."

"I thought about it but that would make her take sides."

"She's had to do it before, even against me."  He went back to his stroking.  "Come on.  Let's go home.  There's a last weekend at Six Flags event this weekend and we needed to plan on how to do that and do Dawn and Rimfire's shopping for college."

"They have everything."

"They need a computer of their own."

"Point."  He looked up.  "Sales tax free weekend is this weekend too."

"So we'll go do that and clothes shop then," he agreed. "A full weekend."  He smiled as a dog came trotting into view.  "Look, not just cows."

Xander pulled his gun and shot at the dog.  "Leave the cows alone, demon beast.  Go eat the muggers in Chicago!"  It growled and he glared back, making it yip and run off.

"Thank you, boy," the farmer called, waving up at him.  He grinned at his wife, who was helping move cows.  "That's a nice set of demons."

"He said they're Martian."

"Really?  Well, close enough for me," he decided.  "He's very nice."  He checked the herd over, making sure no one had been bitten this time, then took them in for milking.

***

Vinnie looked up as Xander walked in, then picked him up and took him into his special pool room, starting the water going.  Xander gave him a hurt look.  "You need cuddled."

"Yeah, but your wife's gonna get more pissed."

"Fat chance," he snorted.  "She told me to come in here and cuddle you until you forgave her for making you pout."  He stripped down and looked at Xander.  "Do I have to strip you?  Usually you're naked and anxious by now."

Xander stripped and sat on the edge of the tub, looking at the premixed jars Vinnie had made up.  He pointed at one.  "Can we do that one?"

"Sure," he agreed, putting in the low sulphur mixture.  "How's that?"

"Good."  He swung his feet around, getting in with a sigh.  "Oh, this is nice."  Vinnie grinned and climbed in next to him, handing him a cold rootbeer from the mini fridge.  "Thanks, big brother."

"You're welcome."  He pulled him closer to cuddle, using his tail to turn off the taps.  Someone pounded on the door.  "I have him.  Go away."

"My mate."  Throttle walked in and closed the door, then stripped and climbed in too, getting Xander's other side.  "This is a nice treat."  He smirked at Vinnie.  "Mind much?"

"He's your guy," he said dryly.  "What's on for this weekend?"

"Six Flags has a weekend event and then school shopping for the kids."

"Cool.  I could use some new jeans too."

"Yeah, me too," Xander agreed, taking a sip of his soda.  "How is Rimfire going to explain to his teachers about being a mouse?"

"He's already talked to most of them, dropping hints about genetic disorders.  He's only missed one and he did leave a detailed note for the guy, but he expects him to say something the first day."  Throttle let Xander cuddle into his side, getting very comfortable.  Then Vinnie shifted closer to get his own cuddle.  "Is she ignoring you?" he teased.  He nodded, snuggling against Xander's back. "Fine, I'm a good pillow and cuddle."

"You're a very good cuddle," Xander agreed.  He looked up at him.  "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault.  She didn't realize she was doing it.  Just let her apologize later," Throttle ordered.  Xander nodded, wrapping him ain his arms and tail.  "Did you need more than held?" he teased.  Xander nodded, getting comfortable on him.  "Having problems getting back into the old mindset with less problems?"

"Yeah," Xander admitted.  "I need to finish calming down.  It's like I'm expecting something to happen and then nothing does but I can't stop being tense and waiting."

"You can relax," Vinnie reminded him. "Your body just needs to remember how to relax."  He stroked the tense back, making Xander wiggle a bit.  "You're still tense in here?"

"Things have been tense for the last few weeks," Throttle reminded.  "The kidnaping, the taking her back, the weapons designing that then got stomped on."

"I didn't mind that," Xander offered quietly, looking up at him.  "I'm ... I guess I'm just waiting for the next thing to happen. Most bad things don't happen alone."

"I know," he agreed quietly, stroking him on the back.  He smiled as he messed up some of the fur, making Xander wiggle, but Vinnie took pity on him and smoothed it back down.  "Sorry."

"No, I don't mind you playing with my fur.  I like it when you play with my fur."  He looked at his mate.  "Can you....maybe...teach me more Martian?"

"Sure."  He grinned at Vinnie.  "You might wanna take a nap for this, bro."

"Not really," he said, smirking a bit.  He was definitely amused by this.  He said something and pointed at the fridge, watching Xander shiver.  "Well, we knew you liked rootbeer, Xan....."

Xander got him one and even popped it open for him, grinning sheepishly.  "Sorry.  Maybe later?"

"Nope, sorry.  You need to learn it.  The playbook is written in it, Stoker will expect you to know it by then.  I'm sure he thinks we're drilling you extensively in it anyway."  He took a sip of his rootbeer and put the can in the cupholder he had installed beside where he normally lounged.  "Okay, we're up to what level?"

"About year two," Throttle told him.  "What you'd normally expect a toddler to say."

"Wow.  That's almost impressive."

"Hey, I got a 'D' in French, okay?  I'm not Dawnie, I don't pick up languages well."

"It's a good thing this one makes you hot."  Vinnie snuggled up against Xander's back, looking at Throttle.  "So we're doing food, numbers, or verbs?"

"I was doing verbs. Then again, that was a bedroom game," he admitted sheepishly.  Xander blushed a bit, but grinned at him.

"Hmm.  Okay, let's go back to the mundane so I can help.  Modo'll wanna help too ya know."

"Um, no," Xander said, shaking his head quickly.  "Not with how I react he won't."

"Point," Vinnie admitted.  He pinched him on the tail. "I'll warn him beforehand."  He leaned his chin on Xander's shoulder, getting comfortable, letting Xander wrap his tail around his waist.  "Food words.  I'm sure you've went over the basics," he offered.  "How about meat today?" he suggested.

Throttle nodded. "We went over it a bit.  We can start there and move to vegetables and fruits."  He said something.

"Pork," Xander said triumphantly.

"Good job," Vinnie agreed.  He said something.

"Beef?"

"Close enough.  Hamburger."  Xander repeated it.  Vinnie grinned and said something else.  Xander looked confused.  "Beef," he told him.

Throttle said something and Xander looked really confused.  "Mutton?  Like lamb."

"Eww."

"Sorry.  Spike liked it."

"Spike's not a picky eater, he tried to eat someone in the mall when I took him for those shirts.  Well, her underwear, but he did try to eat her too."

"Stoker's going to have a problem when he gets older.  All the girls are going to be bedded and flirted with," Vinnie said happily.  "Someone can go for my record!"

"Mr.-I-slept-with-a-whole-unit-over-a-weekend-before-an-away-mission-without-them- realizing-it, I don't think that's something he wants his kid to do."

"He said he laughed when they compared stories later that week," he said smugly.  "Just another sign that I am the studliest mammajammar in the universe," he said proudly.

"Yeah, right," Xander snorted.  "I'm cuter, and the girls want to pet me more because I'm softer," he said smugly, sticking his tongue out at him.

Vinnie leaned over and bit him on the neck, making him howl.  "Behave. You're softer because you're smaller.  It's to make up for other defects."

Xander shook his head.  "Not even, Vincent.  I'm bigger than you are."

"Yeah, but you're not as good a rider as I am."

"Yet."

"Fine, yet," he agreed.  "When you do get that good, I'll be ancient so you can hold my title for a few years until you get too old."  He grinned at Throttle and said something, making Xander shiver.  "Hmm, knows what that is.  I wonder why."

"He was making me repeat it over and over while he did it to me," he said, shivering again, all the way down his back, which wiggled Vinnie against his back and butt.  "Um, big brother, maybe you should move a bit."

"Not a chance," he teased, nuzzling an ear.  "You can control yourself.  All the big mice do."

"Yeah, I'm still at the horny teenager stage."

"Ooops.  Oh, well," he said smugly, smirking at Throttle.  "How *do* you put up with those urges and lack of control, sweetheart?"

"With a huge smile, Vincent," Throttle retorted.  "Hands off the man's body."

"No hands," he promised, wrapping his tail around him.  He watched as Throttle shivered, then winked at him, saying something extremely dirty, which made Xander blush when he repeated it in his ear in English.  "Now tell him that."

Xander stumbled over the words, but Throttle was blushing bright red by the end.  "Except for saying 'fish' in there, it was a good try."

Vinnie whispered something even worse, and Xander repeated it and Throttle ducked his head, his ears straight up and his tail swishing through the water.  "What did I just say?"  Vinnie told him and he blushed and kissed his mate.  "Sorry.  He's making me do this."

"You needed work on your pronunciations anyway," he agreed.  He pulled Xander onto his lap, which drug Vinnie closer.  "Say it again, like before."  Xander repeated the first one, more properly this time and Throttle grinned.  "You sure you wanna make me do that?  That sounded like an order."

Xander hummed as he considered it then nodded quickly, grinning at him.  Throttle kissed him, making Xander moan and arch into his body, letting him run his fingers through the soft fur.  "Bro, don't care if you watch," he panted.  "But you're in the way. Move!"  Vinnie slid back, watching as Xander was flipped around and planted back on his mate's lap, moaning as his little brother did.  Xander was clutching Throttle's arms and leaving nail indents on them as he moved and wiggled to get him deeper, eyes tightly shut.  Vinnie looked at Throttle, then goosed him, making him move for his little brother's pleasure.  They were off and he grabbed his can of rootbeer to get comfortable, throwing out random phrases to help the poor white mouse along.  Now that he knew this about Xander, he was going to tease him mercilessly.  Even while he was at work.  It was a very nice floor show.

Charley stuck her head in after a very brief knock.  "Watching?" she asked dryly.

"Helping Throttle give him Martian lessons," he said with a smirk. He nodded her in and she shut the door, stripping down to her underwear.  "You know better.  No cloth in the pool.  You'll ruin it anyway."  She blushed but finished stripping down.  He even put aside his rootbeer to grab her and put her into his lap, letting her sink down onto him.  She moaned the whole way down and he smirked a bit, kissing her gently.  "Love ya, sweetheart," he offered as he started to move.

"I love you too, but this is really dirty for me."

Vinnie smirked and started to talk to her in Martian, watching her eyes go wide and her body shiver and shake at what he was saying.  Throttle swatted him a few times with his tail but Xander was moaning loud enough to cover up the sound of the doorbell and someone running up the halls.  Rimfire peeked in, then eeped and left, heading back to tell Dawn that she had to handle this issue instead of Xander, since he was...busy.  Vinnie ignored the interruption and went back to what he was doing, nibbling on his girl's neck and making her sore and tired after she went limp.  He loved her when she was tired and limp, she liked to cuddle then.  Xander let out a loud, intense moan and panted, gasping for air.  Throttle was pulling him back to rest against his chest, whispering in his ear, stroking his stomach.  Vinnie came not long after that, holding his girl in place once she was done.  He nipped her hard and looked at her.  "Say you're sorry," he whispered.

"Xander, I'm sorry," she offered.  "I didn't realize it would hurt you."  She reached over, stroking his cheek.  He gave her a hurt look.  "I'm sorry, Xander."

"Don't do it again?"

"I won't do it again.  I also won't say what the Seal tells me to ever again."

He nodded. "Okay. As long as you don't do it again."  He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, then went back to cuddling his man.  He liked to cuddle.  He looked at his mate and said something in Martian, making him laugh.  "I got that wrong, huh?"

"Yeah, you just said you wanted to eat the fish and drink the water in the lake."

Xander groaned and kissed him.  "Love you."

"Love you too.  We'll work on it this afternoon."  He looked at Vinnie, who was smirking at him, saying something back at him, mimicking him earlier.  "I should swat you for offering like that."

"You should," Xander agreed.  "If he was offering, it's a naughty thing."  He looked up.  "What was he offering?"

"To help you along when I passed out."

Xander looked at Vinnie, shaking his head.  "You'd need the hospital by now if you had tried."

"You can't beat me in a fist fight, Xander," he reminded him.

"Who said I fight with my fists?  I'm a weapons guy.  I don't ever brawl without something."  He smirked evilly.  "Though, I could use some help in the gym when I go back."

"I get to go first," Throttle demanded.  "That way I don't get jealous because you come home smelling like horny humans rubbed themselves against you."

"Sure.  Can we go tonight?"

"Sure, babe," he agreed, kissing him gently.  "For now, relax.  Maybe you'll get a backrub later."

"Maybe.  I did promise Modo I'd give him one.  His back's really tense."  He grinned.  "I give very good backrubs."

"I'm sure you do," Charley agreed.  She grinned at him.  "Was this a planned event?"

"No, we were working on his Martian lessons," Throttle admitted.

"If French had sounded like this, I would have gotten an A-plus," Xander said dryly, snuggling back in.  Someone pounded on the door.  "What!" he snapped. "I'm relaxing!"

"Xander, bullets?" Stoker yelled.

"Bunker, next to where the old weapons case was.  Combination's on the shelf if it's locked."

"Thank you," and you heard him hurrying off.

"We should help."

"We should," Vinnie agreed, getting up and putting Charley down in his spot. He picked up his can of rootbeer and grabbed a towel, handing one to Xander on their way out.  "You two relax."  They ran into Stoker coming back.  "Need help?"

"Yes!  I need really good shots."

"I am," Xander reminded him, taking half of the bullets to load into the rifle he was carrying.  Automatic rifles were so nice.  They walked out of the transporter and he retied his towel, heading out after him.  There was a big ship, right in the middle of the town square.  Xander looked at the little ugly Torians and took aim.  "Carbine!" he yelled, making her look up and then blanche and move out of the way.  He fired.  That one died.  He fired again, another died.  He caught his towel, then shrugged and put it over his shoulder before going back to it.  Vinnie groaned and tied it for him, then took the gun and did his own, his tail holding his up.  Xander wasn't fully using his tail yet, he'd have to show him how later.

Stoker looked at them, then shook his head and went back to firing.  Eventually the aliens got the point and ran back into their ship, taking off again.  "Damn, some escaped," he said bitterly.

"Only about twenty of them," Xander noted, handing over the rifle.  "I'll come get them if we need 'em.  But I was soaking after really great sex."  He smiled and headed back to the transporter, sending himself back home.

Vinnie looked at him.  "We really were, coach.  Oh, he wanted to learn Martian, but it's a bit of a struggle. He's got bad pronunciation.  But it's kinda fun.  Did he tell you Spike went crotch diving at the mall?"  He walked off, whistling happily, having to catch his towel as he walked up the stairs into the building.

Stoker looked up.  "Why me?" he asked the sky.

Carbine came over, spluttering.  "What was the meaning of that!"

"They have the bullets that work," he defended.  "They were soaking and didn't waste time coming to help."

"Obviously!" she screeched.  "They were naked!  Xander's towel fell totally off!  I saw much more than I ever wanted to see of him!  Or of Vinnie's tail just now!"

"Not my fault, they're the ones who didn't waste time, like we needed," he said patiently.  "Yell at them for soaking."  He walked off, taking the rifles to put in a closet, just in case.  They'd send them back if they didn't use them again within the month.  He saw his son sitting in his chair, growling unhappily at the fact he was tied to said chair.  "You did what at the mall to that girl?"  Spike growled at him and he narrowed his eyes.  "You went and sniffed some girl's tail?"

Spike snorted and shook his head.  "Tried to bite her," he told him smugly, smirking a bit.

"You are so getting it when we get home, young man.  That's something you do when you're Xander's age, not now.  You're much too young and you don't know where she had been!"  He untied his son, took his daughter out from under his desk, and walked them off, taking them home. Along with the dog following them.  The little yapping one was still following him around.  He rode home with them and walked into the house, presenting his precious son to his wife.  "He crotch dove at the mall when Xander took him."

She looked at her son.  "Son, there's a very old tradition of arranged marriages.  Unless you want me to pick someone I know you'll hate, you'll wait until you're old enough to have your own bike at least."  She hugged both kids and petted the dog resting her husband's arms.  "Was Xander naked for a minute?"

"They were soaking," he defended.  "They didn't waste time going for clothes."

"You're very good and you keep telling yourself that," she cooed, kissing him on the cheek.  "Because we all saw Xander naked and Vinnie's naked tail too."  She walked the kids off, talking about dinner.

Stoker shook his head.  "Why do I even try?" he wondered.  The dog licked him and he put him down, stomping off to head back.

***

Vinnie walked out of the transporter.  "Throttle, Xander needs more practice with his tail.  He couldn't keep his towel up," he called as he walked toward his pool.

"Yours didn't stay up either," Xander yelled, sounding outraged.  "You mooned everyone!"

"Yeah, well, you went full frontal, little brother.  I'm sure a lot of women now have some very good dreams and thoughts that'll get them through the next few weeks.  I didn't realize you had that impressive of thigh muscles."  He heard the transporter go off behind him and looked, waving at Shell as she came back.  "Back already?"

"Yup.  You guys obviously need me more.  By the way, Vincent, there's betting on who's bigger and he's winning."  She drove her bike off, going back to her man's side so he could take those mental images from her for a bit.  Or maybe they'd both get off on Xander fantasies tonight, he was kinky like that at times.

Vinnie pouted.  "I am so bigger!" he yelled after her.

"Unless you want *me* to pull out a tape measure, shut up!" Dawn yelled.  "Because we all know I'm going to laugh at the puny things anyway because Rimfire's bigger than you both!"

"Bet me," Vinnie and Xander called back.

"Dawn!" Rimfire called at the same time, a very strangled sounding yell.

"Oh, momma," floated down from the kitchen and Modo, who must be bright red.  "Some of us don't need to be part of this conversation!" he called. "Please!"

"Sorry, bro," Vinnie called smugly.  "Yell at Dawnie."

"Hey, I'm sticking up for my man and volunteering to settle the debate," she protested.  "Yell at Xander for dropping his towel while shooting."

Throttle looked at where Xander was pressed against his chest.  "Happens to the best of us," he promised, gently stroking his back to calm him down again.  "They can dream, I've got the original."

Charley looked over, bright, cherry red.  Then she shook her head.  "Can't we drop this subject?  He's impressive, but I'm figuring I don't need to know."  Vinnie strolled in, smirking at her.  "You *mooned* Mars?"

"The towel slipped as I was walking up the stairs.  Give a guy a break," he complained. He dropped his towel, making her 'eep' and look away.  "Sweetheart, you've seen it before."

"Yeah, but not after you mooned everyone!"

"Only those in the park outside the Council building.  Besides, Xander's full towel fell.  He did a bit more than moon everyone."  He saw her look and smirked at her, kissing her hard.  "Eyes on the prize you've already got, sweetheart."

"I'm not so sure it's a prize at the moment," she said sarcastically.  "At least Xander's embarrassed."

"Yeah, but that's because he's not as cut as I am," Vinnie said smugly, showing off some muscles.

Carbine stormed in and put down some pants.  "From now on, keep real clothes in here!  I did not need to see that!  I did not need to compare!  I did not need to figure out that Xander is bigger than you or Throttle," she complained at Vinnie, stomping off again.

Xander blushed a bit brighter and slunk down a bit.  "Well, I guess that settles that," he said weakly.  "Independent opinion and all that."

"I doubt it," Throttle growled, glaring at the doorway.  "Tape measure, Vinnie?"  Charley got out and ran away before they could even think about moving to find one. He sighed.  "Babe, can you summon a tape measure like you do the remote?"  Xander gave him a look like he was insane.  "I know I'm bigger."

Rimfire walked in, blushing bright red, as bright as Vinnie's bike.  "Here, Dawn said you needed the smaller tape measure," he said, then he ran out before Vinnie or Xander could pounce him.

"We can't measure this soon after sex," Vinnie complained.  "We've got to do it hard, like morning hard."

Throttle nodded.  "Sure.  Or right before bed hard."

Vinnie nodded. "I like that idea.  I'll pop over to your room tonight."  Xander got up and fled, taking the tape measure with him.  "Hey!"

"We can easily get another one, bro.  There's a few around here, including in his toolbox."

"So, did you get to pick on him about his reaction to Martian yet?" Vinnie asked.

"Not yet.  I was planning on calling the site soon and having Merle or Trisha repeat something at him, see how long it took him to take a long lunch."

"I was thinking morning break, see if he made it to lunch, that way you could see if he needed work on his self-control."

"He's got more than you do.  He'll be fine."

"I have plenty of self-control," Vinnie protested.

"Sure you do.  Who was it that slept with an *entire* unit? And who was it that ate all the dessert that one night?  And who was it that held the record for the most bar brawls on Mars for the last decade?"

"I do not," he protested.  "Starlight does."

"Uh-huh," Throttle said dryly.  "Sure he does, bro.  So, right before bed, so you can go jump Charley girl afterward?"

"Sure," he agreed happily.  "You get your boy, I'll find a tape measure, we'll meet in there right before bedtime."

***

Trisha looked up as Xander came wobbling in the next morning, giving the bag in his hand a funny look.  "What did we run out of?"

"New tape measure," he said dryly, sitting down with a wince and a hiss.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem.  What happened to your old one?"

Xander looked at her.  "Husband."

"Throttle?  Did he rip it up or toss it?" she asked with a grin.

"Neither.  I had the misfortune to head back to Mars for a few minutes yesterday with Vinnie, to help handle an assault."  He blushed.  "It was while we were soaking and we didn't have time to put on clothes, so we went in towels and mine fell off.  Then Vinnie's fell off as he was coming back.  Then Throttle's ex complains that she didn't need to see that because I'm bigger."  He gave her a look.  "I'm not touching that old tape measure again."

"Who won?" she asked with a grin.

He blushed and ran out.  "I did."

She stared after him.  "If I had her number, I'd call her to see if anyone had saved it so I could make myself a copy.  That's a sandwich that I wouldn't mind being in the middle of.  Him and either of them."  She grabbed her tool belt and went out to work.  She needed to do something with her hands before she pinched him.

Episode 53:

Xander looked around the library, then at Throttle, who was frowning at him.  "What?"

"Willow showed up," he admitted quietly, sitting down.  "She wanted you to look through a few of the books.  A history and a few others."

"I can't read Martian yet," he protested.

"It's a good way to learn," he offered, "and that's what I'm here for.  To be your research helper."  Xander gave him a 'get real' look.  Throttle would be insane within an hour of researching and helping him.  "I can handle it."

"What am I supposed to be researching?"

"Clan histories," he sighed, shrugging a bit.  "She said so.  I don't know why."

"This has to do with the whole 'lost bike' thing and the 'black mouse' thing, right?"

"Yup, think so," he admitted.  Which did suck.  He didn't want to know about these things.  "Of course, if you wanted, you could have Dawn come help.  She wanted Dawn to have the books when you were done with them."

"Why?"

"Because Willow and Rimfire believe she's a rebirth from up there," he admitted patiently.

"Um, hate to tell them this, but the Key was a human magical creation, not a Martian one."

"Actually, we helped make the Key," the Seal said as she appeared next to them, adding another book to the small pile.  "Those same priests and priestesses that came down here to be with the Druids helped make her."

"There's evidence of that artifact further back," Xander protested.

"Ah.  Yeah, well, they kinda used me, when I was still Middle Eastern, to help layer it over another artifact.  The Key needed to be created so they used me to help but they needed a foundation to build on.  Creating that much energy out of nowhere would have killed them all."

"So they used the power of the First Evil and a hellmouth?" Throttle asked.

"No. They stole energy from me to layer with it, to hold it in place.  I wasn't always attached to a hellmouth, Throttle.  I was moved to Sunnydale when it was discovered and colonized by a few dark and chaos sorcerers.  Then the mayor killed most of them and took it over to start his ascension.  I was in London before I was moved to Sunnydale.  Before that, I was in Persia for the most part.  I was part of a holy and ancient temple to hold the First Evil in place and quiescent."  They both nodded at that so she smiled.  "So I was kinda stolen too.  They took some of my power to use and the artifact they layered her over.  By the way, never try to separate them.  It might not kill her, but it would make her energy disruptive.  Fair warning.  She'll probably consider it and that'll make her ache and go disruptive if it's her idea."

"Dawn!" Xander called plaintively.  She came jogging up the ramp from the garag.  "She said you're going to be looking over some stuff on the history of the Key but that you can't even think about separating out the other parts.  Or else it could turn you into a big bomb."

"Okay," she said, looking clueless.  "Why is this an issue?"

"Because the artifact that was used as the base of the Key is going to be called to soon," the Seal told her gently.  "I'm sorry, sweetie, but it might hurt for a few days.  There's another artifact passing through.  I've tried to get Wes and Fred to route it around you but he said it's safer if it moves nearer to the guardians than not."

"So can I leave town for a few days?"

"Sure, as long as it doesn't conflict with school starting," Throttle assured her.  "If so, we'll do what we can about it."  She nodded, sitting down beside him.  "Xander's got to read through some histories of Mars and the like.  I'm here for translation purposes."

"Can't you just *give* us the language?" Dawn whined.  "I suck at Martian."

Xander blushed.  "That's not exactly my problem with it," he admitted dryly. "Then again, I'm not the language guy of the group.  I learned Latin, some Greek, and some of the demon stuff now and then.  I'm still working on basic Martian because it's so different."

The Seal looked at him, then at her.  "I might be able to help Throttle transfer his knowledge of the language over," she admitted.  "It'd be like a memory for you though.  Nothing easier than that, sorry."  She stood up.  Then she looked around. "Vincent would be better for that," she admitted.  "His mind's stronger and it could be very vivid memories.  That would help it some."

"Vinnie?" Dawn yelled.  He jogged in, pausing when he saw who else was in here.  "She thinks we can suck some of the Martian language from your head as really vivid memories."

"Why don't we do the Lingua Mutata?" he asked, looking confused.  "The M'dreth do that now and then with some of the demon languages and the younger priests."

"Because we'd have to sneak you into a temple and the minute they found out who and what Dawn is, she becomes a priestess of her instead," the Seal offered dryly.  "Which Rimfire would hate."

Vinnie looked at her, then at Xander.  "Yeah, but we can do it to him and then we can transfer it from him to her."

"The Martian and the human brain work differently," the Seal reminded him.

"So we'll bring Charley up too," Throttle said with a small shrug.  "Easier?"

"Much," the Seal admitted.  "If it'll take in her and if she agrees."

Dawn got up and walked over to the window, opening it. "Charley?"  She and Modo both looked out the back door of the garage.  "We need to do something about making Xander learn Martian easier along with me.  The easiest way is to go the M'dreth and you and him sucking in the language.   Then I can get it from you."

"That's dangerous," Modo told her.

"Not really," the Seal called.   She smiled as she heard the transporter go off.  "Dawnie, go ahead over there and chat with her," she ordered calmly.  She looked at her, then nodded and headed over through the back way.  The Seal waved a hand and the window closed itself.  "Visitors.  Vincent, your cousin Wrench is here."

"Wrench?"  He went down the stairs, finding his cousin, who was an off-white mouse and had shaved even his fur on his head so he was very bald, standing there.  "Hi.  Welcome to Earth.  Big family problems?" he suggested.

"I came to see the priestess and you," he admitted, smirking at him.  "You might as well tell her I know who she is.  It doesn't matter to me who and what Dawn was reborn from."

"Can I shoot him?" Rimfire called from up the hall.  "If he's threatening Dawnie, I get him, right?"

"Sure," Vinnie called, looking at him. "She's not home at the moment."  Rimfire joined them, giving him an odd look.  "She went to talk to Charley."

"Oh, good."  He looked at the obvious priest.  "Hey."

"Rimfire," he said, smirking at him.  "I knew of your father."

"More than I had."

"I know it hurts, child."

Rimfire raised an eyebrow, then shook his head.  "Not really."  He shrugged. "What's going on?"

"The Seal said that Xander had to study some Martian history and stuff," Vinnie told him.  "The rebirth stuff."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Vinnie admitted.  "She's up in the library if you wanted to ask."  Rimfire headed that way at a trot.  "Come on up.  Xander's up there with me."  He walked him up the stairs, finding Dawn coming back.  "Ah!"  She 'eeped' and disappeared.

"The Key," he said, blinking a few times.  "All right."

Vinnie glared at him.  "She's human now."

"I could see that.  Interesting.  She's the priestess?"  He nodded.  "Very interesting.  I'm not telling anyone, Vincent.  She's too precious to us."  He followed him up the stairs.  "Miss Summers, I won't tell anyone," he called.  "I'd not betray the Seal that way.  She might never let me sleep again."

"I do now?" the Seal quipped, smirking at him.  "You prayed to the be the Highest."

"Smoking holy herbs?" Xander asked.  Throttle kicked him and Vincent snickered, turning around to laugh.

"Only during times that I'm required to talk to the Goddess or the spirits," he offered back.  "You?"  Wrench smiled at him.  "Then again, it looks like you don't need that sort of looseness.  Where are those books?"

"Second cabinet," Xander said, pointing.  "They're a bit crumbly so I haven't touched them recently."  He looked and gasped.  Xander looked at them and sighed.  "They're normal again."

"Yeah, Dawn redid the preservation spell a few days back," Vinnie reminded him.  The priest brought over the books and put them between them.  "We know.  We're working on it."

"Wonderful.  You need more work, Vincent, your aura has flares."

"Just like your butt when you got too close to the grill the other night," Xander joked.  Vinnie snickered and punched him on the arm.  Throttle just moaned and shook his head.  "It did."

"It did," he agreed. "I'm lucky I didn't singe my tail."  He sat down across from Xander.  "So, what's up and the real reason you're both down here?"

"I came to look at Xander's bike," Wrench told him.  "Plus to pass on a few diaries to our new priestess and her claimed mate."  He pulled them out of his robes and handed them to Rimfire, watching as he took them.  "I have two others but they may not be held by any other than a female."

"Dawn?" he called.  "He already knows."  She came back, looking careful and curious.  Wrench handed over those diaries and she nodded gently.  "I've got the others," Rimfire told her.

"Okay.  What's up?"

"Those may only be held by women," Wrench told her.  "By the way, I knew.  A few of us know in abstract means, but not totally.  We're dealing with willful ignorance basically," he offered. "That was a good paper on the tie between us and the Druids.  I did get a copy and it was well written and interesting to read.  Also mostly factual."  She gaped and he smirked.  "It was our order who came. The Goddess said there are lost children and some came down here to talk and learn from them.  It was quite a share of information."  She nodded slowly. "In the diaries are some older knowledge about those things.  Purely priestess work since you seem interested.  Do not let them out of your containment.  They are precious."  She nodded at that.  "Thank you."  He smiled at Rimfire and called a book over, looking at it, then at the young man.  "This was your father's path," he noted, holding it up for him to see it.  Rimfire swallowed.  "Originally. Then he moved paths to have more power to help with the war.  You and Primer both show skills but there's no priests left of this version.  There are of the Sunlight temple but they're happy people who only want it to know things."

"So they're Ravenclaws?" Dawn asked dryly.

"If I take the reference right, if you were to breed a Ravenclaw to a Hufflepuff, give the child the Hufflepuff's nature and the intelligence of the Ravenclaw, you get the Temple of Sunlight's priests."

Throttle nodded.  "Definitely.  The last time I rode past one of their temples, they were playing B-52's and 'Mickey'."

Dawn shuddered at that.  "Okay, magical cheerleaders.  Good to know."  She looked at the book, then at Rimfire.  "How far is that off my path?"

"A sidepath.  All these come off the main one, which you chose to walk along," he offered.  "With Rimfire being your chosen mate, you can move to his or he can be more general."

"She's only letting me help by mixing and as a backup when she needs a second," Rimfire noted.  "I don't want more."

Wrench looked at him.  "Wanting and needing are different, Rimfire.  There are others who need those of the blood and power to do things gr....."  He stopped when he saw the baby crawling in.  "Shield him," he said, glaring at his cousin.  "You should know better."

"He is," Xander told him.

"Not to us," Wrench told him.  "Shield him our way as well, Vincent and Dawn.  He'll need it.  In the red journal is our method."  He looked at Rimfire again.  "Consider it this way, kid.  If one of the higher of the darker paths get you, then you're toast.  You've got the power and you've proven you can do minor things.  The same as that kid will."  Vinnie moaned and shook his head.  "He should have an attitude like Rimfire's," Wrench assured him.  "He can learn it for knowledge but the first time he uses it, he'll flare up and you'll have to watch him."  He looked at Rimfire again.  "On those prison worlds were ten or twelve who followed the darker paths.  They came home too."

"Shit," Throttle muttered.  Everyone around him moved back at least a step but Xander.  "Sorry."

"It is not your fault," Wrench told him.  "We wanted the others home and they are.  The bad must come with the good.  Including those who like to hurt others and were using the war to practice.  By the way, tell Enamel his brother does live.  He's one these two should watch out for."  He looked at Xander.  "Enamel's drawn to you but it's not power, young man.  I know what you were."

"Which is?"

"A black mouse," he said with a fond smirk.  "Back in the clan days, what color you were born as was the deciding factor in how you were trained.  The scouts and defenders were always tan.  The hunters were always gray.  The white mice were a late addition to the clans, coming from the clans of the black mice.  They were less powerful, but they were the healers, those who held the power to heal and protect.  The black mice were always those who turned to hear the voices of others.  The scribes, the historians, the bards, the priests.  They were all from the black mice.  You form your own clan," he assured him.  "You, who can and is beloved of powers other than those who originally played chess with you as a pawn.  The healer, one who holds power to work healing magic, if he would ever study again.  You have a protector.  You have two hunters, and you have another priestess, who is guarded fiercely.  You also have a captured mate from another clan," he said with a wink toward Vinnie.  "Sorry I missed the reunion, cousin."

"It happens.  Some of the others did too.  So?  What's this mean?"

"There's a great push to have some of this historical segregation going on again.  The traditionalists are being heard strongly at the moment.  They want us to move back into clans instead of cities.  They think the structure would help us more. Then again, they're almost always teachers. The scribes of yore."  He shrugged.  "So there's ones who would push.  You need to know of these things to protect you all.  The same as you must take back up your education, even if you don't use it.  The time will come some day when you'll have to stop your son."

"Not if he doesn't pick them up."

"Vincent, even if you moved him to an isolated part of Mars, they'll find him.  The same way magic found Willow and Xander, they'll find Victor."

"Power always calls out," Xander said bitterly.  "Is that why they wanted me?"

"Perhaps, but more they saw the uses you had. The soul in you is quite strong," Wrench reminded him.  "You have not broken yet.  They want you back.  Before they protect Victor, they'll have to protect you and Dawn.  Mostly you.  You are a mouse now.  They will try to call out to you.  The Powers who used to play with your life and the new ones.  The new ones don't really want the chess game but it'll be forced."

"I never chose to walk the path," Xander told him.

"Point.  Which is in your favor.  Those who do look over you now know of you and why you do not choose to walk the path.  The Goddess knows each who walk on her path and why," the Seal offered.  "Then again, she also knows those who should and which path and which of her heads they should see.  The fact that the temple you found in Sunnydale was a Temple of Children, well, that's just odd," she offered with a slight grin.  "Then again, you did protect innocents.  And those who weren't."  He winked at Throttle.  "You do that a lot with him.  The point is, you've got to know so you can make your choice.  Some day, it may become necessary to stop Victor as it was Willow.  You'll know the signs first.  You saw them first.  You can make sure he and Rack never become acquainted."  Xander tipped his head at that.  "There's also the reason of Dawn will have children some day and you'll have to be there to mentor their education as well.  Vincent will be there, but his path and their paths are different."

"Their?" Dawn asked.  "How many did some stoned seer see me pushing out?"

"Four in total," Wrench told her.  "And she was only partially stoned unfortunately."  Rimfire's mouth hung open.  "Better to warn now than warn when they start coming, right?"  She nodded quickly, walking off with the diaries.  He looked at Xander.  "You must know to choose a path.  The fact that you can summon the remote control and have means that the paths will try to pick you otherwise.  That's why we're giving you information.  We need you to make the decision of your own free will.  The same as Victor will have to make his some day and Rimfire will have to make his.  We need you to make yours.  Vincent's still on that same path.  Which bothers me since it's mostly females."

"Which worked in my favor, cousin," Vinnie said bitterly.  "I don't do that stuff anymore."  Wrench just stared at him.  "Unless necessary."

"Then you, and Rimfire, would be quite comfortable on Heldran's pathway."  Vinnie made a face.  "Okay, without the celibacy clause," he admitted.  "'Cause you'd go insane, cousin."  He looked at Xander, then at Rimfire, then at Victor, who was staring at him.  "Hello, cousin."  The baby smiled and babbled at him.  "Good boy.  You stay there.  You will definitely not be one of us."  He looked at Vinnie, then at the bookshelves.  "I see a rainbow book," he noted, looking at him again.  "Perhaps you should read as well?"

"It's dry and boring."

"Not those."  He smirked and winked.  "I made sure you got the shortened version.  The main one is about seven thousand pages and only fits on an altar."  He looked at Xander and yawned a bit.  "You must make an informed decision.  It's like choosing between the Norse, the Greek, and the Druid down here."

"I hated some of each of them," Xander offered.  "I'd prefer the quiet serenity of the woods but I don't get that."

"Very true.  You won't.  Ever," he assured him.  "Even when you retire, you'll still feel a need for activity.  Down here I believe they call that ADHD."  Xander snickered at that.  "Read, make an informed decision."

"That's going to be kinda hard.  I don't really understand Martian yet."

"Really?"  He considered it, then nodded.  "We can fix that for you and Dawn, and Charley should she want it."  Vinnie looked at him.  "I am the Highest of the M'dreth, Cousin.  I can do that."  He looked at Throttle.  "You speak and read it?" he asked.

"Yes.  Modo used to be a novitiate for a year."

"I figured as much."  He looked at the Seal.  "Are you powerful enough to preform it?"  She nodded.  "Here?"

"Sure, babe.  You know I love you, Wrench.  You keep me interested in the outside world."  She looked at Rimfire.  "You're fairly good in it.  We need a full source code.  Who do we know that has one?"

"Carbine was military," Throttle offered.

Xander looked at him.  "Exhaust was a priest and a teacher," he offered quietly.

"How did you know that?" Throttle asked.

"Easy.  We talked.  It was from him that I got the idea to learn Martian."

"Ah, yes, dear Exhaust," Wrench said with a smirk.  "On a totally different and war-like path, but he would do.  Seal?"  She nodded and went to ask him.  "If he should agree, that would be as close to ideal as possible.  Anything more intense you could learn on your own."  Xander nodded at that.  "I don't want to rush you, Xander.  You've got about four years to do your homework, read up, research, all that stuff.  In four years, you'll need it.  You'll know, because you're in that much contact, but it'll be almost four full years before you have to make that decision.  Who you call out to in the middle of the night will determine the path you step on.  Which you can't take back.  This is another of those 'one way' paths.  There's no going backwards."

"I understand.  It was a temple to a protector of children?"

"Yes, it was," he said sadly.  "He was the first to welcome you home and he felt the power.  He felt that the Powers were going to abandon you.  He's the one who held you strong after you had to stop her," he said gently.  "I know you went back there."

"I did.  I walked in and I basically fell down to cry for a few days," Xander admitted. "There was nothing of children in there."

Wrench smirked.  "In the green book is a list, with their major symbols and all that.  What we use for child looks about like your square maze marking."  He kissed him on the ear.  "Peace, cousin.  Though you could be, you are not ours.  You act it very well, but you are not M'dreth.  Just on the same tree."  He nodded at that.  He considered him.  "When the time comes, you'll hear multiple calls.  Go with the one that feels right, even if it's not perfect.  No one said you had to do everything if you're not a priest and if you're not actively practicing.  You can walk the path but not follow in the footsteps in some places."  He looked at Vinnie.  "Just like he chose one that was full of girls."  Throttle snickered at that.  "The family never doubted why he did it, it was to pick up women.  My mother and aunt both knew why he gave it up too, and they warned me to watch out for him now and then.  That he'd need it."  He shrugged and pulled out a chair to sit down.  "I hear the transporter.  We need four candles, any color but blue would be nice.  It's our color," he said happily.  "I'll need a ceremonial bowl of something not silver, and I'll need a circle."

"Dawn's been working down in one of the spare rooms," Rimfire offered.  "There's no furniture in there.  We've got a brass bowl down there and all that stuff."

"Wonderful, lead on," he agreed, standing up and pulling Xander with him.  "Willow would be quite proud of Dawn if we let her remember that she's doing magic.  She got a bit panicked about it."

"Yeah, well, sometimes I don't mind but most of the time I do," Xander admitted, nodding at Exhaust and a very old mouse with him.  "Hey."

"Xander," he said, smiling and shaking his hand.  "You're having trouble learning Martian?"

Xander nodded quickly, blushing a bit.  "I'm still working on the basics, the food words."

"This seems too easy," Throttle noted from behind them.

"He'll still have to practice," the old mouse assured him.  "It will be a memory for him, not a true one of his own making.  You must make him use it so it does stay with him always."

Throttle nodded.  "Sure.  Vinnie, Charley?"

"She's content learning it the normal way," Dawn admitted as she joined them.  She looked at the old mouse, then kissed him on the cheek before taking both his hands between hers.  "Welcome, Highest."

"Thank you, young one."  He squinted at her, then at the Highest of the M'dreth.  "Wrench, interesting company you keep."

"This is Dawn Summers.  She did the paper on the link between the M'dreth of old and the Druids down here.  I was bringing her some information on what really happened so she could correct the few assumptions.  She's dating Rimfire."

"She's bonded and chosen of Rimfire," the old priest said dryly, smiling at Dawn.  "Does he thrill you?"  She nodded.  "He treats you well, child?"  She nodded again.  "He backs you up when you need him to?"  She nodded, smiling at him.  "Then I welcome the true bond.  He is what you were looking for.  It is good for Mars and for you both."  He looked at Exhaust.  "Let us do this.  Just these two?"

"We can teach Victor as he ages," Vinnie offered, going to pick up his son.  He showed him to the older priests and they both smiled at him.  "My son, Victor."

"He is very strong," Exhaust said, smiling at him.  "Mentally mostly."

"You mean he's gonna have a brainiac?" Dawn asked.  She smirked at Vinnie.  "Don't worry, we'll make sure your kid plays and not just reads."

"Thanks.  I doubt he'll *only* read.  Even Wrench's brother did more than read."  Wrench snickered and nodded.  "Did he ever mate?"

"Hell no.  Unless a walking book comes to life, he's never going to mate," Wrench said dryly.  "Now breed, he has done that.  He's offered his seed to a few of those traditionalists.  Shall we?"  They nodded and Rimfire led the way to the work room, making all three priests smile.  "Well appointed," Wrench praised Dawn.  "Very well done."

"Thanks."

"I knew I put a slate underpinning in here on purpose," Xander said, looking at Dawn. "Go dig a basement and convert it."

"Then I'd get dirty and nasty, Xander."  She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  "Thanks, Xan."  She went to lay out what they'd need.  She had looked at the spell already.  She had been thinking about asking Modo if he'd contribute with Throttle to help her learn Martian faster.  "So, we'll have deja vu whenever we read Martian?"  The priests all nodded.   "That's cool.  I can deal with that."  She got out of the way, waving a hand.  "My stores are your stores."

"Thank you, Dawn," Wrench said, coming over to help himself to them.  He had done this same thing from the Seal to himself not too long ago.  He still had it memorized, now in three languages.  He bowed before the altar and sent up a silent prayer before starting the chants.  The two priests stepped forward and he touched antennas with them, transferring it into his head while holding the ceremonial bowl.  Then he went to Xander, then Dawn, transferring it to them.  They both shivered and he smiled.  "You should give to them in return."

"They give plenty to all of us," Exhaust said plainly.  "Xander didn't even yell when he found out he had refilled all the cisterns we had already dug."

"How big was that water bill?" Throttle asked from his spot next to the door.

"About three grand," Xander said, looking back at him.  He frowned at Wrench again.  "I don't feel it."  Vinnie said something in Martian and Xander frowned at him.  "Huh?"

Wrench looked at the two priests, then at Dawn.  She shrugged.  "He said it was Miller Time."  She frowned and looked at Xander.  Then she smacked him across the back of the head.  "Did you lower your shields?"  He frowned but nodded.  "Damn it."  She moved closer, staring into his eyes.  Then she touched his temples and closed her eyes, sending what she had into his mind.  "He sucks at languages."  She pulled back and looked at him, then asked how he was in Martian.  Xander replied in kind and stared at her before whooping and hugging everyone.  Dawn looked at the priests.  "Xander's a very unique mind," she said dryly.

"So we can tell," the old priest offered with a small grin.  He patted her on the arm.  "Come, Exhaust."

"I'd like to fill up some water bottles if we could," he offered.

Dawn nodded and led them to the bathroom, smiling as they went to pull some bigger containers.  She rinsed out some of their old litter containers, making sure they came out clear, then left them in there as well.  They'd be heavy but they had handles and were easily used.  She skipped back up to the library, sitting down with the history book to study it.  It had to be more interesting than the third time she took US history.

Xander came up a few minutes later with a few sodas and some chocolate, sitting down to take another book to read through.  "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Good," she said happily.  "No headache.  You?"

He reached over to pinch her.  "Yes.  Thank you though."  He moved onto the next page, frowning a bit.  "It's like I can speak it but not write and barely read it," he complained.

"You've got a man who can do both.  Go take some practice."  Xander nodded, going to get Throttle to help him with all that stuff.  Dawn rolled her eyes.  "Sometimes the practical and the mundane just miss that boy completely," she said dryly, going back to her reading.

"Don't be too hard on him," the Seal said as she reappeared.  "After all, Xander's a...unique guy.  He's the sort that the mundane should miss.  Just because it's not that interesting."  Dawn smirked at her.  "We are worried about you, Dawn.  It can't be your life.  The time of mages ruling the planet and plane have passed."

"I don't want to be that way, but I need it to help protect the city," she said patiently.  "Besides, I barely spend an afternoon a week studying my magic books."

"Eeeeh, point," she admitted.  "But then again, that's how Willow started.  The fact that you've got a lot of power, a lot of willpower, and a strong set of magic books is giving her nightmares.  She's having a few flashbacks now and then when she remembers."

Dawn looked over at her.  "Unlike Willow, I don't have to ask anyone or do anything to get more power.  I've got enough.  I've got more than enough.  I don't need more, I don't need to do things like gypsy curses or sealing hellmouths, I don't need to do things that'll bring back the dead.  That was nearly one of my first spells.  I don't need more power.  She needed and wanted more power.  She wanted to feel the world in her hand, and I've had that a few times.  It only freaked me out with the responsibility."

"I'm glad," she offered with a small smile.  "Thank you, Dawn."  She kissed her on the cheek, then faded out, leaving something else behind.  "Always gotta be a balance."

"Yeah, well, I'm the light to her cloudiness," she said dryly, looking at this new journal.  That one she got up and went to hide it in Vinnie's things.  Just in case.  He came up and found her doing it.  "The Seal left it.  It's the journal of someone who went dark.  Hold that, 'kay?" she said cheerfully, heading back to her reading.  Xander was sitting at the table going over the alphabet and things with Throttle and Modo, and letting out little moans now and then since they were talking in Martian.  "Hopeless," she said, shaking her head.  "Xander, Martian is now mundane," she called.

"No it's not," he yelled back, in Martian.  Then she heard another small moan.

"Don't tell me you were training him that way, Bro," Modo complained.

"It's the only way," Throttle defended.

Dawn snickered, closing the library door part way so she could study in peace.  The phone rang and she summoned it.  "Yuppers, Wes?" she asked.  He spluttered.  "Because I'm doing Martian history, we just did a language spell, and we were warned the Powers want him back suddenly.  Yay," she said dryly, smirking at the book.  "And?"  She listened.  "Nope.  No he's not.  I don't care.  He's not.  Wes, I don't care what the pointy, blue skinned people told you, Xander does not really do magic.  He does an emergency spell now and then, like summoning the remote when his back's out, but nothing more major than that."  She smirked at his insistence.  "Do you really think Xander, the one that everyone rode for nearly three years about flaming a book by reading it aloud, the one who watched Willow as she started her descent into hell, is going to do magic?  You can tell the Powers to bugger off.  Preferably up Giles' ass since he escaped before the spell I started could be finished.  Yay.  Yay!  Wesley, he deserves a weaving.  He really does.  What he did was inexcusable.  We knew it was him.  We knew the nightmare curse was him.  I don't care if they didn't let that demon loose, he didn't even try, he just picked Xander because he's not a lapdog and he's furry.  Bigots like him deserve things like weavings of destruction of lives.  Yeah, well, ya know, you better hope Ethan never wakes up either," she said dryly.

"Because that'll be one sorry mother fucker when I get done.  And then, when I'm done, then the bros get him before Xander takes control.  So you might as well send him back this way.  I don't care if he's repented, found God and Jesus up his asshole, and that he's presently doing them in the back of a Honda Civic, he's being punished.  He tried to kill Xander.  He killed the child I was carrying.  He let that evil loose on the world and didn't tell anyone.  He can nibble my tail and that's our final verdict.  If you don't like it, whine."  She hung up, then calmed herself before going back to her reading.  She had her plans in place for them, all she needed was to finish it and then integrate it with Xander's plans for revenge.  Then they'd see who deserved what.  After all, a weaving of destruction could only be put onto those who were unjust or those who had wronged the caster.  It had stuck on Ethan.  It had started to stick on Giles but he had felt it and escaped before it could be finished.  When she found him, she'd finish it and it'd stick.  She knew it would.  And then the bros could have their fun while his life went to hell around him, leaving the final bits for Xander.  She looked over as Vinnie came in.  "You know I started on Ethan and Giles' punishments, right?" she asked dryly.

He nodded.  "I figured you had.  I figured you created a base to let us build from."

"Well, yeah," she said smugly, smirking at him.  "The only thing is, I've got to find Giles again.  He managed to slip out right before I was done.  If I had cast the circle around him wider, it would have stuck."

"What are you doing?"

She got up to get the book, flipping to the spell and handing it to him.  "That."  She sat down to get back to her history lesson.  Martian history was so much less boring.  She liked ancient history and this was a lot like that.

Vinnie looked at the spell, then at her.  "You can do that with Rimfire?"

She looked at him.  "I can do that alone and did do it alone.  Rimfire can get his fists in when we've captured them again.  Once I've laid the spells, you guys get them, and then Xander finishes it."  He looked stunned.  "I'm not the nicest bitch on the block all the time, Vinnie, and he was like a father figure to us.  It'd be like you selling Victor into slavery and him getting you back."

"No wonder they worry about you!" he said warmly.  "That's for three people!"

"Three *normal* people," she corrected, holding up a finger.  "Which I'm not.  The same as the Seal and Willow worry about me because they think I'm gonna go bad?  Not a reason to.  I have enough power at my fingertips to undo whatever she does.  All I needed was his picture, some hair, and a location.  I've got the picture and the hair, now all I need is a location.  It's all set, all I have to do is restart it and it'll go on its own while I sleep like I'm drugged.  So if I'm up late sometime soon, it'll be because of that.  Just let me sleep for a few more hours and I'll be fine," she said with a smirk.  She looked at the books.  "You guys really used to ride around in clans? Like the tribes in the Arab deserts?"

"Yeah," he agreed, pushing that to the back of his mind for a later thought, sitting down across from her.  "We used to be smaller clans, then some of the clans settled down to raise families in protected valleys.  That started out a long period of strife because they were fighting to get more green space, and then people started to move away from there to form cities, where they could be together even if their clans were warring.  Cities on Mars pretty much started out as a lover's hiding place."

"Places you could pull a Romeo and Juliet without the death at the end?" she suggested.  He smirked and nodded.  "Okay, getting that point.  Down here they mostly started to facilitate trade."

"No, ours were usually a few localized farms that held some lovers who were upsetting their clans and they took in more when they wanted to run away.  The priests hated them so they always ranted and raved against them but kids love who they love.  It's odd, most of them didn't allow single people to live there at first."

"Wow."  She tipped her head a bit to the side.  "Then how did you find someone from another clan?"

"Oh, you saw them during raids.  You were captured by one," Throttle said from the doorway.  "You saw them during formal trade times.  You were sent to one and then your family was disgraced so the rest of the village came to hunt you down and kill you.  Little things like that.  You did what to Giles?"

"I did what to Ethan.  I was working on doing what to Giles and he managed to escape right before it took hold."

"Not what I meant and you know it, Dawnie," he said firmly.

She grinned at him.  "I did a weaving of destruction.  Vinnie's got the book."  Vinnie held it out.  She smirked at him.  "I'm really not using it like she did.  You guys can chill about that part," she offered.  "Most of the time, I only have to do protective things.  Wards on the house, shields at the school, healing a cut when someone tried to stab Rimfire last week."  She shrugged.  "Every now and then I do have to do something that stretches me and they feel odd, but I do have the power.  I could have gotten a great number of witches to help but I didn't need it."

Throttle looked at her.  "That sounds like bragging."

"Well, a touch of smugness, but I also know my limits and I have a base of ethics, unlike some people," she noted dryly, smirking at him.  "I'm much more powerful than Ethan ever dreamed of being.  If I had the training, I could probably take both of them in a duel together against me.  Not an issue.  Plain and simple truth.  Doesn't mean I need ta do it.  Doesn't mean I want ta do it, I just know I can do it.  And it's probably a reason why I can if I have to.  So while I have the power, I'm still using it for good."

"Punishment isn't that good," he pointed out bitterly.

"Justice isn't that bad," she countered.  "He fucked us over.  He was our father figure."

"Not saying he doesn't deserve this and more," Throttle assured her, "but we wanted to help."

"Oh, honey, this is only the base.  Once I find him again, then you guys can go get him.  Then Xander gets him after you."  He looked stunned.  "This would be like Vinnie selling Vic into slavery and Vic getting him back for it.  Giles was like my father.  He was about the only sane parent Xander knew outside of Buffy's mom.  He fucked us over," she said firmly. "He deserves worse, but I'm keeping it in the family."

"Did you have Rimfire help you?"

"I had Rimfire sitting outside my casting circle and watching over me to make sure I wasn't eaten or anything," she assured him.  "No participation needed for this problem.  He said he wanted to hit him, and I like that idea.   I'd like ringside seats when he does hit him.  Full out gorefest hopefully."  She smiled sweetly.  "But then again, sometimes you just need to see someone hit in the mouth over and over again until they finally beg for mercy."

"This dark streak of yours," Vinnie started.

"Came from my father," she said dryly.  "He was just kinda like that.  That's why he's off boinking a secretary that's my age."  She smirked at him.  "When mom died, he didn't even answer our calls or letters.  But that was okay because I had Tara, Giles, and Xander."

"I get it, but you're still freaking us out," Vinnie assured her.

She grinned.  "It's a girl's prerogative to do that now and then, dear.  What else would we do with our scheming and plans?  It's not like we have to ambush you guys that often to get what we want.  Speaking of, did you remember to get Charley something for your anniversary tomorrow or did you still need help with that?"

"Crap," Vinnie moaned, shaking his head.  "Please."

"Sure.  Your bike or mine?"

"Both," Vinnie told her, getting up.  "Come on."

She nodded, going with him, only pausing to kiss Throttle on the cheek.  "I'm still a very good girl and Rimfire makes sure of it," she said quietly.  "That's part of having someone who balances me out."  He nodded, letting it go with that.  He knew very well that Xander wouldn't care about the spell and would probably cheer her on as a first act.  He'd just have to be a bit more vigilant about what she and Rimfire were doing, and what Vinnie and Xander did now and then too.

***

Dawn walked back into the garage wearing her new top and Charley gave her the once- over.  "I spilled soda on myself.  Totally my fault," she offered with a small grin.  "Cute guy with muscles and long blond hair, looked like a hunk of bubblegum, but fairly dumb sounding.  Sounded like a squeaky balloon so I snickered and dripped."

"You don't have to explain that stuff to me," she pointed out.  "I was giving you the once- over for a different reason.  Where were you?"

"Helping someone pick out a present."  She kissed her on the cheek.  "You should like it, but if not, blame me," she whispered, heading off.  "I helped him decide between three things."

"Sure," she said, shaking her head.  Vinnie rode in a few minutes later and she looked at him.  "Huh?"

"I needed her to help me decide between which three things I was getting you for our anniversary," he offered with a shy boy grin.

"Our...anniversary's next month," she said, looking confused.

He smirked and shook his head.  "No it's not.  The first time you let me cuddle you is tomorrow and our first time together is the next night."  He got off his bike and walked closer, holding out the small box.  "For you.  I love you even though you don't remember the little moments."  He kissed her gently and walked off.

She opened the box, staring inside.  It was a pretty diamond heart shaped pendant.  She sniffled, then went to pounce him, kissing him as hard as she could.  "I love you too."

He smiled and brushed her hair away from her face.  "We've got dinner coming tomorrow and I will skin whoever bothers us," he promised her.  "Wear that for me?"  She smiled and nodded.  "Good girl."  He stole another kiss.  "Come on, we could use a movie night.  Xander's still probably going over the small words in Martian."  He walked her up to the lounge area, settling into the couch with her.  Throttle and Xander were kissing and Modo was blatantly reading a magazine.  "Movie?" Vinnie asked him.

"Movie's good," Modo agreed, handing one over from the stack.  "Spaceballs?"

"Spaceballs," Vinnie agreed, getting up to put it in.  "Movie!" he yelled loud enough to wake up Rimfire and hopefully break those two apart.

Rimfire came up the stairs and paused to look at the couple.  "If it's not on the tv I thought it was theater," he said dryly.

"It is.  We're watching a normal movie anyway," Vinnie assured him, grabbing a sheet from the closet and tossing it over them.  He fed his fish then sat down to cuddle with Charley.  She was still holding his present so he took it and put it around her neck, making her smile at him.  He got another kiss for that and they watched the opening credits come up.  This was his sort of downtime.

Episode 54:

Xander looked around the house, then frowned.  "I'm calling this house meeting to order," he announced.  Everyone stared at him.  "Tough, we've got things we need to clear up before they drive me insane."  He looked at the others.  "Yes, I know we were visited by a cleric or whatever you wanna call Wrench.  Yes, I know some things were said that probably creeped someone out besides me."  Dawn snickered at that.  "You, you're in deep shit for not telling me what you were doing beforehand so I could include it into my plans for Giles.  Everyone else, ignore the magic stuff, please.  Ignore me doing research unless you're helping me relearn how to speak, spell, and read correctly."

"And then just ignore the moans," Vinnie joked.

Xander pinched him.  "You, shut up."  He looked around again.  "Ignore the stupidity of my magic, Vinnie's magic, Dawnie's magic…."  Rimfire gave him a dirty look.  "Are you actually doing magic?"   He slowly shook his head.  "Then don't worry about it, but talk to your uncle before you actually *do* anything."  He looked around the group.  "Can we do that?  Please?  I feel like one of our fishies.  By the way, Vin, how many are missing?"

"I found Tara having a snack," he said grimly, glaring at the cat.  "No more eating my fish, cat."

"At least we know she's not pregnant," Dawn offered, glaring at the cat.  "I got him those fish.  You're ruining my present."  The cat meowed and came over for some attention, then went to sit on Vinnie's shoulders, one of her favorite places to nap.

"Fine," Vinnie relented.  He looked at Modo.  "So, can we ignore the magic stuff?"

"That depends, bro, am I suddenly going to wake up orange some morning?"

"I think you'd be adorable in purple," Xander said with a wicked grin.

"Try it," Modo said smoothly, smirking back at him.  "I doubt you could."

"Oooh, I can," Dawn shouted, waving a hand.  "I figured out how to do that spell from _The Craft_ to change hair color."  She smirked at Modo.  "Wanna see?"

"Dawn, do the words 'grounded' and 'no sex' mean anything to you?" Throttle asked dryly.  She looked like she was considering it but then Rimfire covered her mouth with his hand.  "Thanks, brat.  You, no magic at all."  He looked at Vinnie.  "Your son and his future?"

"He'd better not," Vinnie said firmly.  "I refuse to let my son turn into Willow."

"Then make sure he doesn't start using it for the easy stuff and the easy stuff doesn't start coming without work," Xander said simply.  "She used to change her clothes with it.  She used it to change her hair, the style not the color.  She used it to change channels on the tv a few times when she didn't want to get up to find the remote.  She used it in cooking so she could do more than one pot at a time while reading halfway across the room.  She also used it to travel a few times and then to come back.  She did a lot of stuff that the mundanes do by walking, reaching, and driving.  Then again, I doubt he'll be able to do that with you, me, and Dawn watching his tail."

"He'd better not," Vinnie agreed.

"They're saying Vic has magic?" Staff asked, looking confused.  "Why?"

"They're making comparisons between him and our former friend Willow," Dawn said, snuggling back into Rimfire's arms.  "She went bad with a magic addiction and we're making sure Vic doesn't.  Therefore he won't be the one doing the bad stuff like trying to end the world out of grief.  Of course, if he does, then we'll gladly be there to help him."

"Don't wish that on my kid," Vinnie complained.

"Sorry, Vinnie, being realistic.  Hers was from loss of her soulmate.  Wellll…I'll be doing my best to make sure his won't be doing anything so dumb as to get dead too quickly.  Okay?"

"Sure," he agreed.  "I still don't want him practicing."

"Vinnie, if it's natural to him, you won't be able to stop it," she sighed.  "You really won't.  He could start spouting it off very quickly and unconsciously, then what would you do?"

"Whine, like I am now."  He stared her down.  "Got it?"  She nodded, looking amused.  "Thank you, Dawn, and Xander.  Let's try to keep him out of that field though, okay?"  They both nodded.  "Good.  Excellent even.  Now, where is the son?"

"With the mommy," Throttle reminded him.  "Getting a bath so he can get cuddles."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."  He shrugged and settled back into his seat.  "Is the house meeting over?"

"No, there's still the matter of who puts the empty milk containers back into the fridge," Xander said dryly.  Everyone pointed at Staff, who blushed and ducked her head.  "If the trash if full I can understand it, honey, but please.  I have to do the shopping and if I see a container I might not buy more milk - and I need milk.  Remember, I'm a growing mouse too."  Throttle kissed him on the side of the head.  "Thanks, babe.  Whose turn was it to do the laundry?"  Modo coughed and raised his hand.  "That stink coming from the washer means you've got to do it again now.  Twice probably since it soured so much."  He stared him down.  "You can ask for help."

"We could get a housekeeper," Throttle offered.

"Fat chance, love.  Unless you're going to pay for her?"  He groaned and shook his head.  "Then nope.  We can take care of the house.  None of you are bachelors anymore."  He pinched him on the ear with a grin.  "You can all learn how to clean like big boys, even if you don't like it.  Because at least once a week, there's going to be people coming in to visit.  Enamel even gave the place a look and asked me how the party had been."  All three bros looked embarrassed at that.  "So, I'll do my part, the rest of you will do yours, and we'll all be happy and big mice.  Any other topics?"

"Yeah, someone needs to redo the silencing charm on your rooms," Staff complained.  "You kept us up last night, guys."

"We were in the hot tub last night," Throttle told her.  "We fell asleep in there.  I'm doubting it was us."  Everyone stared at Dawn and Rimfire, who blushed to the tips of his ears and hid his face behind Dawn's head.  "Do it on your room.  None of us, especially your uncle, want to hear that, Rimfire," he complained.

"At least you were spared it that time," Dawn quipped, totally unrepentant for that.  She liked it when they got loud.  It meant it was good.  "I'll do that tonight," she promised to ease the weight of the frowns facing her.  "Remember, some of us do have to work tomorrow and some of us start school next on Wednesday."

"How did you manage to miss having Monday and Tuesday classes?" Xander demanded.

"I'm special," Dawn quipped with a  bright smirk.  "I also signed up for the longer afternoon and a few early evening classes and mostly online, just in case we have to do more running, jumping, playing, or fighting."

Xander stared her down.  "If your grades fall, you will be in deep shit.  You will be living in the dorms, not in an apartment, in the dorms, and you will be forced to eat caf food every day for the next four years.  Do you understand?"  She nodded quickly.  "Rimfire?"

"Yes, sir.  Is the food really worse than on base?"

"It won't matter, neither of you will have an allowance for things like pizza and movies without both of you getting jobs," Xander told him.  "I expect great grades from both of you unless it's something you're struggling in. If the grades start to dip, you'll be living in the loudest, most horrible dorm I can pick."  They both nodded at that, giving him sheepish looks.  "Do we understand?"

"We're not the smartest of clans," Modo protested.

"If he's having trouble, he's smart enough to come note that," Xander pointed out.  "Otherwise, the kid is one who could have joined the Freedom Fighters at what age with computer and intelligence skills?"  Modo blushed at that.  "So he can do it and he will do it or the foot of righteous father-figure in *her* life will make sure he does do it and won't be sitting for months on end.  Agreed, Rimfire?"

"Agreed," he said firmly.  "I should be able to keep up.  The lessons should be about what I'd have done in high school, if I had gone to a public one."  Modo looked at him.  "I was tutored while I worked on some special projects for Stoker," he defended.  "Grandmomma said it was fine, Uncle Modo."

"Then I agree,  you'd better keep up and let us know if you're not," Throttle assured him.  Rimfire nodded at that.  "Remember, after Xander gets done with you, your gray furred Grandmomma will get you."  Rimfire shivered and clutched Dawn tighter.  "That'll be the first thing she takes away.  The same with you, Dawn," he noted when she opened her mouth to protest the warning.  "I will add to it on top of whatever Momma and Modo and Xander do."

Xander stared her down.  "Let's try to make a comeback for the Summers women, okay?" he said quietly.  "Your mother would be proud that you got into college and she'd be even prouder if you don't destroy it like your sister did and if you manage to finish and make a career for yourself."

"Yes, Xander.  I'm gonna try."

"There is no try, only do," Vinnie misquoted in a horrible Yoda.  Dawn threw a pillow at him.  "Thanks, I needed that."  His son came crawling out, naked and wet, and he grinned, clapping his hands.  "C'mere, eggbert.  Let's cuddle!"  Vic crawled up his father's leg and into his lap, hiding himself against the soft, white, warm fur that he loved to snuggle against.

Charley came out of the bathroom and tossed him a towel.  "Try to blot him at least.  Remember to back-brush too.  He's shedding again."  She looked at Xander, who was looking a bit sad.  "You can have him have one," she reminded him.

"Why?  Modo will give me another nephew or niece soon enough," Xander quipped back, smirking at her.  "Or you will, dear."

"I doubt it."

"We don't," Throttle and Modo sang in unison, making Vinnie blush.

"Perverts," Charley declared, looking around.  "Are we doing another movie night?"

"Nothing else to do unless you wanna go for a ride in the rain," Throttle offered, pointing at the nearest window where a light drizzle had just started.

"Damn it, that guy's window is still down," she said, hurrying off.

Vic watched his mommy go, then looked up at his daddy and shared a grin with him.  Mommy was so funny sometimes.

Xander leaned over to rub noses with the baby.  " You're adorable when you're acting like your daddy and me.  We should take you to play in the park tomorrow that way you can figure out what mud is like."  Vic let out a squeal and patted him on the nose, making him grin.

"He's right, Bro, you need to let Throttle have his own kids so you've got someone to spoil that can't be taken away when the parents are tired," Modo teased.

"Some day," Throttle assured him. "Not right now.  Not before we're back on Mars for good either.  I'm not going to be an absent father."

Xander beamed at him.  "When we get to move up there for good, that's fine.  I'll start taking applications for you, dear."

"Gee, thanks," he said, spanking him a bit.  "Make it someone I'll like."

"I heard someone suggesting to Carbine that she offer," he suggested with a wicked smirk.  "She turned them down though.  I figure between me and her, we can figure out someone decent enough to bear your future little studly biker mousse."

"That kid will be too cool for words," Throttle agreed smugly.  "Like a sane version of little Spike."

Vinnie snickered at that.  "I can see that kid now, Bro.  It'll be a miniature Xander.  A little wild prankster who makes girls cry in horror and fear with spiders."

"I was a good boy," Xander defended.  "Almost always."  Throttle gave him an odd look and he smirked.  "I said almost," he offered sweetly, smirking at him.

"I know that's a lie and I should punish you for it," Throttle said, trying to look serious.  "Weren't you the one who helped Jessie prank that librarian at the public library for three years straight?"  Xander beamed and nodded. "Do you even regret the many times they had to walk her home because she was crying so hard?"

"Hell no, she was mean to us.  Wouldn't let us look at any of the art books with the naked pictures and she refused to stock comics in the library, claimed they weren't books."

Modo clicked his tongue and shook his head.  "Xander, you're a bad boy. You really should have apologized for that."

"She was mean," he defended.  "She tried to give us poisoned candy the second time we ever saw her.  The first time was a school trip so we all got apples.  The second time we got candy that had this nasty tasting rat poison in it.  My parents were not amused when I puked orange stuff onto the dinner that night and were even less amused when they were *forced* to take me to the ER for vomiting blood thanks to her.  She got every bit she deserved before she died," Xander assured him smugly.  "We were only giving her mild hell.  We could have done *much* worse."

Modo groaned and shook his head.  "You're a bad influence.  We shouldn't let you around the impressionable ones, like Rimfire and Vincent."

"Me, impressionable?" Rimfire snorted.  "Yeah, right, Uncle Modo.  Who was it that helped save you guys when I was only fourteen?"

"I was doing that too," Xander said with a grin.  "Some day, you'll become just like me."

Dawn looked over her shoulder at her man.  "If you do become like him, I'll depossess you too," she promised with a grin.  He pinched her and she yelped, getting up and going to sit next to Throttle.  She stuck her tongue out and cuddled in, hearing Charley come up the ramp.  "You can have Rimfire's lap if you want, Charley.  He's being mean to me."

"Why were you mean to her?" Charley asked tolerantly.

"Xander pointed out that he was doing some of the same stuff I did when I was younger and that someday I'd be just like him, so Dawn promised to depossess me when I needed it," he pouted.  "I only pinched her lightly."

"You yanked some of the hair I've got to trim again," she offered.

"There is no way in any version of hellish Plutarkian existence that you're going to be furless, Dawn," Rimfire said firmly.  "I like being able to walk and sit."

Vinnie burst out in giggles, curling around his son.  "Some day," he panted, "you'll have someone like her who does that for you too, son.  Maybe even a mouse."  He kissed him on the head, earning happy baby laughs.  He caught Charley's wrist with his tail and yanked her over, making her curl against his side.  "We'll make sure you've got a girl or a guy who drives you nuts the same way Xander made Throttle lose sanity and the same way Dawn made Rimfire lose IQ points."

"Other way around," Modo joked.  "Throttle had to learn new skills to chase after Xander when he got upset and Rimfire lost sanity because there's no way my nephew just said that in front of me or my lady."

"Or me," Stoker said from the ramp, staring Rimfire down.  "What?  Too old to handle her, punk?"

"No," he said weakly, blushing again.  "She gets too frisky when she goes totally furless.  It drives me insane and then she's going over the edge and I've got to follow and then I can't sit for a day."  He noticed his uncle covering his lady's ears and blushed even brighter.  "Sorry, Uncle Modo.  I know I'm not supposed to say that stuff in the open."

"That's all right, nephew.  It's okay to complain to your bros about your girl driving you nuts, just don't do it in front of Momma or other polite women."  He grinned at him.  "The cure to that is to take away the stuff that makes her go furless."

"I can always go borrow a razor from someone else," Dawn noted dryly.

"Did you bring my spoiling minions?" Xander asked cheerfully.

"No, Spike's still in bed," he said dryly, coming in and sitting down on Vinnie's other side.  "I couldn't reach anyone on the comm. So I popped down.  Modo's momma needs someone to take care of the twins for a few days while Rimfire becomes a new uncle again.  Momma's gonna be busy helping with the new baby."

"What's wrong with it?" Xander asked, looking worried.

"Nothing much.  Cell's said it's been a hard pregnancy on Primer and her husband's about useless for anything other than foot rubs and hovering.  Cell's about to go back out for a month, Momma's gonna be busy with those three and she can't take the time to take care of Shot and Detail."

Xander looked around.  "I'm not here most of the day.  Vinnie?"

"Fine with me, bro.  I think little Vic here is about old enough to play with someone.  Would you like to play with some girls, Vic?"

"They're pretty rowdy, Vincent," Stoker warned.  "They've been tearing up the house.  Cell's been complaining non-stop about them tearing up the house."

"Bring 'em down," Modo said gently.  "I'm sure a bit of extra attention will cure that."

"If not, I'm sure we can figure out how," Throttle agreed.

"And if not, I'll used what worked on Anya," Xander said smugly.  "I'll make 'em piss themselves with laughter and show them that they're not the biggest and baddest white mice pairing on the planet."

Vinnie nudged Stoker with his foot.  "Just think, some day soon we'll all be living on Mars, Stoker," he said with a bright and happy grin.

"No," he said firmly.  "Not until after I die.  Throttle, you can't bring him back full time until after I die.  Promise me.  And that he won't raise Spike."

"No can do, coach.  We'll have to come back some day and you're an old warmouse.  You'll probably outlive most of us," he said with a smirk.  "I'm not staying down here that long.  Unless Xander get turned or something."

"Fine, but if you do bring him home with you, you've got to control him.  There's to be no horsing around like the last time.  No sudden dream trips, nothing like that."

Xander gave him his best innocent look.  "Why would I need to, Stoker?  All I needed was my bike and those books."

"At least we know he's not going to become M'dreth," Vinnie offered.

"True," Charley agreed.  "Wrench did say he had four years before it became totally relevant."

"I'm learning," Xander sighed.  "Martian is really hard!  It'll take me three years just to get up to the level of the books."

"Do I wanna know?" Stoker asked.  Everyone shook their heads.  "Good.  I'm good with that."  He heard a creeping sound and groaned. "Spike!"  Spike grinned as he stuck his head around the corner.  "How did you get here?"  He waved the paper he was carrying and grinned brighter.  "From who?"

"Exhaust for the messy, mean one," he said, coming in to pounce Rimfire, since he was always good enough to scream when he did it.  Rimfire let out a shriek when he grabbed him with his cold hands, making Spike chuckle like the bad guy he had been.  "Got you."

"So we can tell, son.  Let's see the note."  Spike handed it over and he read it, then groaned.  "Okay, the twins are coming, tonight.  We need Enamel and possibly Shell.  The baby's turned wrong and there's not a damn OB left on Mars."

"On it," Xander sighed, getting up with a groan.  He headed for the nearest phone, dialing the number he knew so well.  He got an 'out of service' notice and tried it again with the pre-programmed one.  "Um, small problem."  He called Micah.  "Is Enamel moving?  No, his phone's dead and they need him on Mars immediately due to a complicated birth."  He listened.  "Why is that more relevant?"  He hissed and nodded.  "Okay.  Do you have an OB handy?"  He shook his head.  "No, Primer, Rimfire's sister."  He groaned and hung up.  "Enamel got sent to Vegas.  The ambassador's kids picked up chicken pox."  Stoker looked horrified.  "He can't leave them for a week.  Micah suggested you get someone from here locally but I don't know who and neither did he."

"No military docs?" Throttle suggested.

"OB's?" Xander countered.  "If the baby's coming out wrong, she needs a specialist."  He considered it then sighed.  "Okay.  Two things.  If we can get the rig working, can you, through the com system, do the birth with a camera and instructions?"  Stoker slowly shrugged.  "Go make sure.  I'm going to be pulling the power on something in a minute."  He went into the workroom Boris had him put in, finding the plans he had found and the machine he had been working on.  He checked it over, reconnecting the last two screws.  It would be giving someone else a psychic headache he was sure.  Then he looked around for a power source, finding an adapter lying beside it.  He got the receiver unit and powered it up first, using the six six-volts attached to a belt to plug it into.  The other he could plug in there.  He went to hand the receiver to Stoker.  "You're going to have a headache.  The more psychic you are, the worse it'll be."

Stoker just stared at him. "What's this?"

"Something Boris and Meg were working on.  It does work, I got one hell of a headache from it at work the other day.  Those are all new batteries.  There's a few more down on the workbench so you can have them if you need 'em.  That should give at least an hour," he promised. "Yes, it will hook into the communications system as long as we can get Enamel somewhere near a hotspot for wireless stuff.  So go home, find a doc of some sort."  He nodded, heading off with the receiver unit.  "Spike, stay," he ordered, going to use the transporter right after Stoker.  He used the laptop to find Enamel and Shell, finding them together.  Then he turned on the transporter and headed that way, grabbing the adapter when he dropped it on the other side.  "Bad news," he announced, tossing it to Enamel.  "Primer's newest is facing the wrong way."

Enamel looked at the headset, then at him.  "What would this help?"

"Put it on.  Is this a wireless hotspot?" he asked the guard.  Who nodded slowly.  "Good, then he can  hook through our communications system.  Stoker's got the other side, Enamel.  He's got a camera, you've got a lens.  You can order him however."  Enamel just continued to stare.  "Boris and Meg, Enamel.  We all know I like designing weapons, I was just working on the circuit boards."  He walked over to help him put it on.  "You're going to have one hell of a headache," he warned.  "Or at least I did."  He got Shell out of the way and knelt down, plugging him into the nearest outlet and plugging the adapter in. Enamel flinched but then straightened up.  "Got it?"  He nodded.  "Blue button is for speak," he said, putting the control in his hand.  "Blue's on top.  Red's for mute and it's on the bottom.  Let's hope we can save it.  We're getting the twins at the moment.  Hand it back in when you come back, just in case they need you more."  He stood up and looked at Shell.  "The more psychic the worse the headache.  I'd say he's gonna need some aspirin."

"He's not very psychic, not like you and I," she offered gently.

"This is great, Xander.  How much was this going for?" Enamel demanded.

"Not a clue, ask Boris when you get back."  He nodded politely at the ambassador.  "Primer's third child is turned funny and can't come out right.  Stoker's got the other side."

"How many times have you tested this?"

"Personally?  Once.  My head felt like it was going to explode.  It worked very well.  I did construction on a site on the East coast.  I could only do an hour though." The man looked impressed.  "We had Meg and Oz, two of our friends, test it further and it went okay for them.  It's only those with traditional psychic mental skills that got the bad headache."

"What's your skill?" the guard blurted.

"The dead love me," Xander said quietly.  "They liked to come try me on now and then."  The guard shivered.  "Yeah, exactly."  He nodded again. "Our transporter's hot so I'm heading home.  Need me to pass Throttle a message?"

"No, we're pretty good out here," the ambassador noted dryly, smiling at him.  "Thank you, Xander."

"Welcome."  He stepped back into the spot and hit the remote for the transporter.  He looked at the picture again, watching as Enamel sat up again.  He activated the transport module and he straightened up fully.  "Okay, one limitation," he decided, making a note of that and watching over the scene.  "Honey, tell Stoker I've got to keep the transporter active," he called.

"He heard!  My mom's got the twins.  They'll be down later," Throttle called back.

Vinnie came down to look at the monitor.  "Wow."

"Very wow.  It works really well.  There doesn't seem to be any time lag associated with it either."  He grinned at his big brother.  "Meg and Boris do good work together.  He still said he couldn't turn her, he'd never put up with that odd of a child."  Vinnie snickered at that.  "It shouldn't be too long."  Vinnie gave him a hug.  "What did I do to deserve that?"

"You're one of the good guys, Xander. You've deserved more than one."

"They're much better than medals."

Vinnie smirked at him.  "Next time I'll tell Carbine to hug you instead."  He bounced away before Xander could swat him and ran off laughing.

"POOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!" Vic shouted.

"Son, you've got to call me something else," Vinnie called back as he walked back up the ramp.  "We have got to teach you more words, son.  I'm not a poof.  Throttle is a poof, not me."

Throttle looked over at him.  "Some day soon, I'm going to get you for that, when your son and girl aren't around."

"Sure, you say that now, but then who'll keep your energy ball of a husband busy when you're trying to read?" he taunted, smirking at him.

"You'd do it anyway, you'd be bored at the same time," Modo reminded him.

"I heard that," Xander called up.  "Keep it up; remember, I've got ADHD and I've kept it under control so far!  I can quit doing that."

"What's ADHD?" Rimfire asked Dawn.

"A very bad thing," she said seriously.  She suddenly grabbed her forehead and bent over, trying to make the pain stop.  "Seal, I so did not need to see that!" she shouted.  Then another vision hit her and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, memorizing it.  She glared at Rimfire.  Then at Vinnie.  "There's a book we don't have, but I think it has a spell to protect the kids more from the Powers."

"Then when it's time, far in the future, we'll do that," Rimfire agreed happily.  "We'll find the book when we go home on leave right before the holidays."

"Sure," she said weakly, leaning into Throttle's side.  "The other one was Xander being asked how he kept up with his harem.  He said he had ADHD so it wasn't that hard."

"He had a harem?" Modo asked.

"He'd better not," Throttle said firmly.

"It could have been all the kids," Rimfire offered.  "A harem of little people following him around."  Everyone stared at him.  "He dotes on them and they do follow him," he defended.  "I'm sure Detail, Shot, and this new one will too."

"Possibly," Modo agreed.  "Detail and Shot liked him enough to not dirty their diapers on him," he reminded Vinnie.

"Wish my kid would like me like that," he sighed, looking at his son, and his very low hanging diaper.  "Son, I know low riding hip huggers are in fashion but not in diapers."  He picked him up and took him into the bathroom to clean up.

"At least I got him into one," Charley called.  "It took me nearly ten minutes to do just that."  She looked over at Dawn.  "It was the kids, right?"

She grinned and shrugged.  "Not a clue."  She got up and went to find something for her head, then went to the library to make sure they didn't have that book yet.  She found it on the library table with a rose on top of it and smiled, sitting down to read over the spell.  She'd have to do it once they went to Mars, and the child would have to be conceived up there, otherwise all bets were off, but she could do that.  Someday.

***

Throttle walked into the ambassador's house, nodding at the guard.  "I was called."

"He's out back," he offered, pointing the way.  "How's Vinnie's son?"

"Horrible and rotten, the way his father and my man make him," he said smugly, smirking at him even.  "Ride free."  He headed out back, tapping as he opened the door.  "You yelled to see me? More problems?"

"No, Throttle, come sit with me for a few minutes," he said quietly, staring out across the desert.  Throttle sat, looking at the sight for a moment then at him.  "Throttle, there's something…difficult I have to talk to you about and I don't want you to get upset."  Throttle shrugged.  He looked at the younger mouse, seeing the few traces of gray just starting around his ear tips.  "Were you planning on bringing Xander back when you came home for good?"

"Yes, he's my mate. I've claimed him," he said patiently.  "Why?"

"Because that may not be such a good idea," Tailpipe offered quietly.  "He's not one of us, Throttle."

"He's damn close enough," he said hotly.

"Calm down.  I like the boy for some reason, but there's been a few things that you haven't heard about.  Anyone who was turned into a mouse is forbidden to breed until they're cleared. A  few were found to have been brainwashed into hurting their children," he said, taking a sip of his iced tea.  He wiggled the pitcher.  "Get yourself some if you want."

"I'm fine."  He stared him down.  "Karbunkle didn't make Xander.  That spirit that the M'dreth protect did."

"Which is wonderful," Tailpipe assured him, "but there is still going to be prejudice against him because of it.  That and because you're together and you're not breeding."

"We've agreed, I can have as many kids as I want as long as Xander can get along with the mother so we get partial custody."  Tailpipe stared at him.  "He's a smart mouse, General.  That's why that other General tried to put him down so badly."

"Yes, well, I know it's difficult to think about, but he's still not Martian."

"No, you're right, he was down here saving lives while we were fighting."  He stood up.  "I've heard enough.  Most people respect Xander.  After all, he opened the bike factory's doors.  He's the one who got Rimfire into the college bookstore so he could find out about filtering technology.  He's the one who didn't complain too much when someone put a drain onto one of our faucets and turned it on full blast, giving us a three grand water bill."  The older mouse flinched at that.  "Most mice I know seem to respect and like Xander, even Carbine.  Even Exhaust and some others.  Even Stoker.  So when I come home, he's coming home.  That's the end of this discussion I hope?"

"What will you do when things get hard, boy?  You're used to living down here where water is as near as the faucet and food as near as the store."

"We've been shipping food back up there," Throttle said coolly.  "I'm still used to it and so was Xander for most of his life."  He walked off shaking his head.  "I'm not letting you do this to me, man.  I don't wanna hear about it."

"What're you gonna do, Throttle?  Run like you did the last time?"

Throttle slammed the door he had been opening and glared at him.  "Excuse me?"  He stomped back there.  "I was captured!  I did not run!  I haven't ever run.  Even the two times I had to call a tactical retreat I never *ran*.  I regrouped and attacked again.  How dare you accuse me of that!  You have no idea what you've just said or done, old man."  He stomped off, heading home.  Then he headed to Mars to shout at Stoker for a bit.  Stoker looked at him and flinched, then nodded outside.  Throttle stomped that way, slamming that door too.  Stoker nodded for the rest of the Council's benefit and headed that way.  "Do you know what he just accused me of!" he shouted before Stoker could even close the door.

"I'm sensing Tailpipe just did something quite dumb," Carbine said dryly.  "Anyone want to take a guess which part upset him?"

"Hmm," Exhaust said, shaking his head.  "Probably something to do with Xander and people wanting Throttle to have children soon."

"Xander's said that's fine with him and that he'd be a wonderful stepparent," Carbine pointed out.  He looked stunned, then smiled.  "He's looking forward to it according to Van Wham.  Spoils all the children around him horribly when they're down there."   She winced as something hit the bronze doors hard enough to dent them.  "Oooh, no I think this was a more personal insult."

Exhaust got up and walked out there, closing the door behind him.  "What did my cousin do?" he asked quietly and gently, trying to calm the obviously raging mouse down.

"He accused him of running," Stoker told him.

"Throttle has never run a day in his life!" Exhaust said firmly.  "We were all surprised the two times he called a retreat.  We didn't know he knew what one was."  Throttle only grimaced at him.  "Seriously, son.  Now, tell me what happened?"

Throttle shook his head.  "If I do I'll start hitting things again."

"I could use a good spar.  Want to go down to the gym?  As long as you take off your Nuke Nucks, Throttle," he warned when he saw them.  "I can't stand being put through a wall anymore."

"Sure," he said, handing them to Stoker and walking off with him.

Stoker followed, needing to hear this for himself.  There was no way this was as bad as Throttle was making it out to be.  It couldn't be.  Tailpipe wasn't that dumb.

***

Xander looked up as someone called his name, so he grinned and got the equipment for them.  "Here you go, boss.  Only one small glitch when we tested it on Mars.  We had to keep the transporter open down here to facilitate communication."

"Why did you test it on Mars?" Boris asked, looking confused under his cowl-hooded robe.

"Bad birthing problems."

"Oh."  He nodded.  "That's perfectly acceptable to me, Xander."  He smiled and patted him on the cheek with a gloved hand.  "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, boss.  I've been fine.  I'm always fine, but I think my mate just had a supreme temper tantrum somewhere," he said, looking a bit confused.  "I wonder what happened."

"I don't know but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," he promised lightly.  He smiled at him.  "Is there anything new you wanted to talk about?  How's the job going?"

"It's going well.  We're ahead by about a week and a half but this is the slow and meticulous portion of the process.  We're starting the wallboarding and stuff downstairs at the moment.  The upper levels are getting the finishing touches.  Needed to go look?"

"Sure.  Take me on the tour."  He followed Xander inside, smiling at the subtle ways the boy had made sure this place was going to last, no matter who got into a brawl.  The decorative metal panels were going in front of concrete walls.  The adobe and textured surfaces were going over reinforced walls.  He followed Xander down into the club area and whistled.  This was finished and it was beautiful.  Gleaming wood, marble floors, the dance floor in a contrasting spiral of colors.  He walked through to the earth room, running a hand along the walls and the floor.  It was so compact nothing came free.  The little alcoves for resting and the bower for the more delicate and fragile demons already had the benches and the overhead plants in.  It looked like something you could find in a good indoor conservatory.   He smiled at Xander.  "I wasn't sure about this idea but I like it.  I'm glad we stole it from the other bunker bar you did for us.  It's definitely for the more delicate and the less dance-oriented ones or for business meetings."

"Or for trysts," Xander agreed smugly.  He led him back upstairs, letting him walk through the rooms that were getting walls put in. most of the suites and rooms were nearly done, they needed final touches, like paint and furniture.  They headed up the stairs to the overlook portion, which was another nice, greenish space.  The room with the changing windows was darkened at the moment and the final fixtures were being added there.  The other part was a darkened hallway for other vampires.  They headed up to the final floor, which contained a bar area.  It was a nice, calm feeling place already.  There wouldn't be any of the wild jumping around up here, no here would be for quiet conversations, drinking to forget, and those who were lonely but didn't really want to be around others.  The screens overhead had already gone in and they were padlocked shut.  Xander looked up then grinned at him.  "Someone tried to fry one of the night shift the night they went in.  The night shift sup has the key."

"That's fine," Boris agreed, clapping him on the back.  "This is excellent work, Xander."  He knew it had taken Xander almost a week to figure out that they were building a second bunker bar off his designs.  He'd be giving him full credit for everything for this one as well, even if the boy didn't know it yet. They went back down the stairs together, going to look out the outlying buildings.  A small set of shops were going in.  Another restaurant was being added in the same area.  There was also a small recreation area going in, and Trisha was yelling at someone over there.  "Problems?" Boris asked quietly.

"Slackers," she snorted.  "This whole complex will be opening at the same time.  This area will be done at the same time."  Xander beamed at her.  "I love this place, Xander."

"Thank you."  He kissed her on the cheek.  "We love you too, Trish.  Who's got the music today?"

"My crew lost theirs by goofing off for the first hour. Yours is over in your building."  She looked at Boris.  "It's been a long climb, sir."

Xander looked around.  "People, get your asses in gear or I'm coming to run this crew," he shouted.  "Trisha can have it easy and do mine for a few days."  They all ducked back to work, they had heard from his crew that he worked with them but he did push them to work.  "Thank you.  We've got three weeks to finish everything.  If it's not done, someone's staying over without pay."  Boris chuckled at that.  "They are," he defended, walking him back to his car.  "Boss, I wanted to ask for a favor."

"What's the favor?" he asked.

"I want to use our discount at Home Depot to ship some building supplies up to Mars."

Boris blinked at him.  "That's not really a favor, kid."

"It is to me."

"Okay.  Sure.  As a matter of fact, we've got that warehouse of leftover stuff too.  Go ahead and send that."  Xander started to stutter and Boris swatted him gently on the ear.  "Shut up, Xander.  It's doing me no good sitting there.  I'll consider it a charitable donation and leave it there."  He smirked and got into his specially darkened limo, letting his driver take him home.

Xander beamed and went to call the house from his desk.  "Honey, put someone on," he ordered when he heard Vinnie answer.  "Yeah, like home someone."  He waited while Vinnie connected him with the computer and then to Mars.  "Hey, it's Xander," he reported.  "We need someone to come down and do a run through Home Depot.  I asked Boris and he said we can use the company's discount for it.  That's about thirty percent off."  Carbine squealed.  "Did Spike bite you again?"  He chuckled.  "Sure, just send someone down with a ship.  That way if we can find anything you guys could use, they can bring it back.  Oh, and Boris said we've got a warehouse full of leftover stuff, like leftover sheets of wallboard and things.  He said you guys could have that to."  He beamed.  "Sure.  Tell him to have the moms make a list this month.  I have no idea what they want and they keep complaining about the veggies.  Laters, Carbine, gotta get back to work."  He hung up and hurried back, beaming at his crew.  "It's a good day!"  They all cheered.  "Boris was really happy with you guys and he loved what we've done so far.  So keep up the good work, we're opening everything on time in three weeks."  They cheered and got a drink before heading back to work.  After all, they were ahead.  "Someone turn on the music," Xander called as he went to help move one of the decorative bronze plates into place and hold it.

***

Stoker came back with Throttle, looking around at the happy faces.  "Good news?  Someone found a new well?"

"Something a bit less good than that," Carbine told him.  "Xander talked Boris into letting us use the company's discount to get building materials plus we're allowed to take from the excess they've got stored."

"Wonderful!" Stoker agreed as he sat down.  "How much is that?"

"Thirty percent," Throttle said, sitting beside him.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem," the other female member said with a smile.  "I'm quite pleased with how your mate helps us and he said to get a list from both mothers so they quit complaining about the vegetables."

Throttle did grin a bit at that.  "My boy's weird that way," he agreed.  "Who's coming down?  So we know what rooms to prepare?"

"I was going to send Cell," Stoker said dryly, "but I think she should be staying since the mother's needing her so much."  Throttle nodded at that.  "Anyone want me to send someone other than my assistant?"

"Chassis is good," Exhaust agreed as he walked in.  "Where are we sending her?"

"We're sending her and Pit down to Earth to gather supplies from the building contractor Xander works for," Carbine told him.  "He's gotten permission to use the company's discount on our behalf."

"Wonderful!  How much?"

"Thirty percent," Throttle offered. "He used it to buy the stuff for our addition too."  He shifted, looking around.  "If we had a list, we could shop at the same time.  One ship could probably carry it all."

"I'll get Chassis into one of the old freighters," Stoker promised.  "CHASSIS!"   She came jogging in.  "You're going to Earth within the next two days.  You're flying supplies back, mostly building stuff.  Find a ship, requisition it, and find Pit.  He and Xander should either clash or get along like brothers."

"Why?"

"We've got permission to pick through their spare stuff warehouse," Carbine told her.  "Plus use their discount at Ho me Depot."

"How much stuff are we talking?  There's only two freighters we've got operational, boss."

Stoker shrugged.  "Not a clue.  It's all going to be heavy and bulky stuff though."

"Damn," she said in awe.  "It'll take me about a week but I can get the Granite flying again."  They all nodded at that.  "That means more scavenging for parts and me taking two of the mechanics."

"You could call Staff too," Throttle offered.  "Modo could use an excuse to come up and get the kids and see the new one."  He looked over at Stoker.  "Rimfire wants to bring Dawn up to visit during the holidays.  Any problem with that?"

"Hell no," Carbine snorted.  "They can stay at my place if his grandmother's is too crowded.  As long as they don't have sex, they can share the couch."

The others laughed at that and Chassis shook her head. "Rimfire's got a real girl?"

"Rimfire's dating Xander's adopted daughter," Throttle told her, pulling out his wallet.  He found their prom picture.  "That's from her prom, which is some American thing to say you're an adult and at the end of your schooling."  She sighed in pleasure.  "Dawn's a great girl, but she's a pranker and she's got a mouth on her," he warned.

"I've seen and heard," Carbine reminded him. "As long as they don't have sex and I don't have to hear too much swearing it'll be fine.  I have no doubt he's going to be dragging her all over Mars to show her the sights."

"Has Xander agreed to let them come?" the other female member asked.

"As long as Rimfire guards her," Throttle promised.  "She's not to be left alone."

"No one would hurt her," another, older, male complained.  "Humans have helped us too much for that."

Throttle looked up at his old friend.  "You tell 'em.  I'm tired."

"I can see that.  Go call your mother so you can get that list."  Throttle got up with a groan and headed for Stoker's office to do that, taking Spike and Anya with him since they were outside waiting impatiently.  Stoker looked around.  "Someone cut the feed?"  The live feed to the rest of the local inhabitants was put on hold and he looked at everyone.  "This goes no further," he ordered calmly.  "You know the M'dreth and their new temple with that spirit?"  They all nodded, looking expectant.  "Dawn's part of that."

Willow appeared on the front of Carbine's desk, snorting greatly.  "Way to put it subtly, I didn't know you knew what an understatement was, Stoker."  She smiled at him.  "When can Spike come and play?"

"Not anytime soon," he said firmly.  "I don't want him remembering his last life."

She leaned over and flicked him on the nose.  "If he doesn't, he can't fight when you're gone," she said simply.  "He's got to really be Spike, just reborn as a living, breathing thing with a reason to protect.   You have no idea but Spike always protected what was his."  She looked around.  "Dawn's … well, let's just say Dawn and I share a few gifts in common and I was there when Dawn was turned into a human from her primordial and powerful original form."  They all stared at her and she beamed.  "And it wasn't even my fault," she said happily.

"What was she?" the other female member asked.

"The Key."

"As in that artifact the M'dreth go nuts over?" Exhaust asked.  Willow nodded.  "How long have you known?"

"Since before she did.  When her sister found out.  Yes, they all know down there, but she's a real girl now and is staying a real girl.  Oh, by the way, if and when they decide to have kids, expect to have at least that family as new, permanent residents.  Otherwise the Powers down there can steal her kids for their own use.  Hers and Xander's."

"That's why he'll be a stepparent," Stoker agreed, staring at them.  "So when Dawn comes up, she and Rimfire go everywhere together and if not, I'm expecting some common sense and his bros to protect and keep her if Carbine and I don't.  Got it?"  They all nodded.

Exhaust shivered after a moment.  "How is she doing?"

"Very well.  She's fully adjusted.  She's happy with Xander and he treats her like she wants to be treated, like a human.  Though she said she wouldn't *mind* being a mouse, she's not asked me if it's possible or done research into it yet.  Then again, it didn't stop the Powers going after Xander's life again either."  She looked at him.  "Oh, expect some minor magical traffic now and then.  He's only got four years to do all his research and he's still learning the basics of reading Martian and still moaning whenever anyone speaks it around him."  She beamed.  "That's a great way to teach him anyway, Throttle's so smart!" she cooed.  Then she wiggled her fingers and disappeared.

"So, that's the reason why we're going to be a bit on edge when Rimfire and Dawn come up," Carbine finished, noticing the light was on over the camera again.  She looked at Stoker and nodded at it.

"Yeah, very protective," Stoker agreed.  "She's a great kid, as most of you realized during that one assault we did down there."

"She was," Exhaust agreed with a smirk.  "She's a wonderful girl. I had realized her potential before but I thought she had just absorbed it."  He glanced at the camera then shrugged.  "Anyway, it'll be fine.  I'm sure Rimfire can protect her from whatever unsavory element might exist to torment the young woman."

"How does she feel about him having fully mouse children?" the other female suggested.

"She's fine with it but she'll be jealous," Carbine told her.  "Victor's still mostly mouse.  Enamel said that our DNA is stronger than the human's so it's overpowering his human side."  She looked at Stoker.  "What was that thing you came back with?"

"Something Meg and Boris were working on so you could remotely view an area and give orders.  Xander had to keep the transporter locked onto Tailpipe's house to make sure it went through correctly but it worked well enough.  Almost no lag in the voice and video functions.  Apparently Xander had been doing the circuit boards for it.  Oh, Carbine, he did manage to sell quite a bit of hardware to his boss for his weapon's factory.  He had fully armed the garage after the military dared steal Charley girl and she had made him because she was feeling a bit paranoid and confined.  He even had moving, retractable turret guns on top of the garage.  It was a good design."

"Wonderful.  Someone really should tell Pit he's going to Earth to look at building supplies and we've got to figure out how much we can send them with," she noted.   Everyone sighed and pulled out their copy of the bank balance.  They had to do this if Mars was going to rebuild but it did suck.  They were warriors, not bank people.  Then again, most bank people hadn't survived.

***

Xander looked up as Throttle came back with the lists, giving him a gentle smile and a kiss.  "You all right again?"  He had just gotten home for the day, but he would gladly go out again to help him.

"No," he said honestly, "but I can't kill him either."

"You could but you'd have to make sure you could store his DNA," Xander pointed out with a slight grin.  "I love you, even though you did go running to beat up Stoker for the idiot.  Was it about the human thing or was it about me personally?"

"You being a former human and other things.  He accused me of running," he sighed.

"Excuse me?"  Xander demanded.  "You haven't ran from a damn thing a day in your god damned life," he said hotly.  "That mother fucking asshole!"

Throttle looked at him.  "It's okay.  I dealt with my anger and others are going to chew him a new one."

"No, I'm going to chew him a new one," Xander said firmly.  "How dare he say that about you!"

"Who said what?" Vinnie asked as he joined them.  He looked at the lists.  "That's all they want?"

"Yeah, anything else we add will get sent to the general pool," Throttle admitted, putting the lists down.  "Xander, it's fine now."

"Bullshit!"  He glared at the wall toward Las Vegas.  "I am not allowing *anyone* to insult you that way!  Especially not some moth-eaten old mouse who didn't do shit during the war!"

"Whoa," Vinnie said, stepping between them.  "Who?" he asked calmly.  "What happened?"

"I got pulled over to talk to Tailpipe," Throttle told him.  "He didn't want me to bring Xander back with us.  He said that the former non-Martians were now forbidden from having kids, just in case someone programmed them to hurt them, and that he wouldn't be comfortable there anyway."  He took a deep breath.  "Then he accused me of running."

"Oh, hell no!" Vinnie said hotly.  "There's no way that man gets away with that!"  He looked around.  "Modo!  Bro!  There's a snake in the grass among us!"

"What?"  He called, jogging in from outside to join them.  "What happened?"

"Tailpipe," Xander said bitterly.  "Not only am I not supposed to go back to Mars, he accused Throttle of running."

"That rat!" Modo yelled, his eye starting to glow.  "I'm going to hit him this time."

"I told Stoker and Exhaust," Throttle said tiredly.

Xander pulled him over to hug him.  "You let us handle this, baby. You don't worry about it a bit.  You're safe and loved and we all knew the only thing you ran from on Mars was the women who wanted to jump your tail when you were with Carbine."  Throttle let out a quiet chuckle at that.  "And maybe some really nasty caf food from what Rimfire said."  He kissed him gently then nuzzled him like Vinnie did to him sometimes.  "You go rest, let us handle this for you, babe.  That mouse is going to pay and pay hard.  There's no way I'm letting him stay down here.  An ambassador has to be better than that."  He walked Throttle off, putting him down in their bed, then headed off to get something from the office.  He came out and handed Modo the keys to something.  "In the cellar, the new one I had dug, there's a trunk and a case.  The trunk's needed up here and I can't lift it, big guy."

"Sure, Xander."  He headed down through the new door they had all wondered about, whistling at the size of the cellar.  It had emergency supplies too.  They were well stocked in case of the next tornado.  He found the case in the corner and the trunk next to it, heaving the trunk up with a grunt of pain.  Xander hadn't been lying, it was really heavy.  He carried it up to the garage and let it drop with a wave of his metal hand.  "Sorry, bro, but you weren't kidding."

"There's a reason why it's so heavy," Xander admitted, getting down to open it.  He pulled out a few things and put them aside, then smiled and pulled out one last thing.  The cloth he had pulled out first was spread out, making sure it wasn't wrinkled.  Then he opened the heavy metal thing and stood it upright, then the other two things were put on two of the four corners.  "Step inside, but not on."  Vinnie stared at him.  "Anya's," he said with a small grin.  "It's got a half-hour time limit."  Modo stared then shook his head.  "You wanted to take the transporter and warn him?"

"Well, no," he admitted.  "I don't like that though."

"Me either.  It works well," Xander said with a wink, "But it's not as much fun to use without her.  She used it to take me everywhere.  We even did dinner in Italy one night thanks to this."  He looked at Vinnie, who shrugged and walked over the patterns on the cloth.  "Modo?"

"I'll get him back by calling Momma," he offered.  "Then see if I can help her pounce him."  Xander grinned and waved, then closed the new metal roof around them.  It touched the two pillars and they were gone.  Modo groaned.  "Whoa, my gray furred momma wouldn't believe this one," he said in awe.  He shook himself and went to call her, going to get her help to trash Tailpipe.  He would not be welcome anywhere near their family by the time he was done.  He heard a noise and looked downstairs as the two boys came back giggling and eating ice cream.  "That was fast."

"She built a time-stop into it," Vinnie called. "We were there for exactly long enough, but I still wanted to hit him again."

"Yeah, me too, but if we hadn't come back, it would have been a problem," he sighed, shrugging a bit.  "She said so.  I'm going to trust her on that one."  He handed Modo the extra cone Vinnie was carrying then went to hand his extra one to his mate, smiling at him.  "He's very sorry.  He's going to be calling to say he's very sorry soon."  He stole a kiss then went to play on his computer, waving at Momma.  "You sure you don't want flour or anything, Momma?"

Modo's mother smiled at him.  "No, Xander.  I don't need flour or anything.  We've got some desert wheat to grow."

"Yeah, but that would save it for the little kids."

"I know, dear, but I wouldn't know what to do with it," she assured him.  He smirked and got a book, holding it up.  "What's that?"

"A Native people's cookbook.  It tells you how they do rice and flour stuff.  I'll send it up tonight."  He blew a kiss.  "Need Modo?  I was going to draw for a bit."

"I'll call him later, dear.  You behave."

"I'm always good," he said sweetly, beaming at her.  "Throttle makes sure of it."  She laughed and shook her head. "Okay, well he *tries*," he defended with a wicked smirk.  "Sometimes I'm just too naughty for everyone's good."  He wiggled his fingers and cut the connection, then opened up his drawing program so he could work on something else.

Modo went to get himself a root beer, thinking about what had happened later.  That way he didn't really have to think about it ever, but the back of his mind would point out anything that was going to haunt them for a bit.  Like political repercussions.   Then he decided to do something different.  "Xander, did you do your Martian yet today?" he called.

"Shit.  Not yet," he called out, sounding sheepish.

"Maybe you should."  He heard the transporter go off and got up, going down to see who it was now.  He smiled and hugged his sister.  "Bringing me sanity?"

She snorted.  "Bringing you the twins.  You'll never be sane again, little brother."  She tweaked him on the ear.  "Where's my son?"

"Probably having …um, napping," he decided, blushing greatly.

"Having sex with his girl then?  RIMFIRE!"  He came out of the bathroom with only a towel on.  "Well, you've grown," she offered, smirking at him.

"Momma!" he complained, coming over to give him a hug.  He felt a small hand grab his towel and wrapped his tail around it, glaring at his nieces.  "You don't need to see a naked mouse yet, ladies. You can wait until you're my age.  Or older."  He went back to hugging his mother.  "Let me get into my shower, I'm nasty and sweaty, momma.  Then we can talk?"  She smiled and nodded.  "Good. Uncle Modo, let them go watch the fish and warn the cats."  He ran back into the bathroom to get his shower, startling Throttle, who was using the toilet.  "Sorry, momma's here with the twins."

"Wonderful.  Where's Xander?" he called once Rimfire was back in the water.

"Probably upstairs.  Probably somewhere near Vinnie."

"Good."  He finished up and washed his hands, heading up to see Cell and give her a hug.  Anymore, Modo's family was like his family.   It gave him more nieces to spoil.

Episode 55:

Xander looked up as his office trailer door was knocked on, going to open it.  He found one of his favorite normal people on the other side and grinned.  "Surely we're not too loud."

"No, not this time," he agreed, walking into the office.  "You nearly done for the day? I could use a bit of help on something strange."

"Sure.  Let me finish this paperwork.  You got about twenty minutes?"  Ray nodded so Xander went back to his paperwork, finishing the time slips for the week before and sliding them into the usual envelope.  He tidied his desk and grabbed his bike keys, then his jacket and nodded, leading the way outside.  "Trish, my crew's stuff is done, I'm heading to help the detective with a technical bike matter," he called.

"Sure!"  She smiled and waved at the detective.  He was kind of nice.  If she didn't think he was gay, she might have asked him out.  Maybe she'd ask Xander if she was wrong about him.  She went back to prodding her guys to catch up to the other crews.  It was embarrassing that her crew kept slowing down so much.

Xander got onto his bike, looking at the ancient car.  Then at her driver.  "So, biker stuff, mouse stuff, or other stuff?"

"Other stuff.  We had a guy who broke into somewhere without breaking anything other than the doorknob.  So really, inhumanly strong.  No pictures from the security camera.  Nothing.  Only an eyewitness for a description.  Fortunately he's been in trouble before and he did fingerprint."

"Sure.  That sounds like something that could get a lot of people in trouble," he admitted, starting his bike.  "Lead on, Detective."

"Sure."  He glanced back inside, then at Xander.  "Is she taken?  She keeps staring at my butt."

"No, she was dating an absolute dirtbag who got jealous of her working in shorts around a lot of guys.  She finally got wise about three weeks ago and sent one of her crew to go make him pack and leave her house.  She just thinks you're cute.  I'm expecting to get a purr and asked a lot of questions about you tomorrow.  Which way?"

"The precinct for now.  I want you to look over the stuff and tell me I'm insane."

"I know you're not insane.  That's my job," Xander quipped.  "I'll meet you back there since it's heavy traffic time."  He started his bike and headed off, weaving through the stalled traffic.  It was a good thing he had ridden in today.  He parked and smiled at the nervous looking cops.  "Vecchio wants me to look at someone to see if I know him," he explained to one.  "He's behind me somewhere.  Traffic's murder today."

The cops just nodded and left it alone.  The kid obviously knew something about a case if Vecchio himself had went to get him instead of just calling.  Or maybe he was just tricking him to get an easy arrest.  Vecchio pulled in and parked, getting out of his car and looking around.  "Yeah, I wanted his help.  Go do something productive, like direct traffic at that wreck three blocks away."  He walked Xander inside and up the stairs, taking him to his desk.  The boy sat down and took the file he handed him, so Vecchio sat down to watch him read.  "Was I wrong?"

"No, you're right," he admitted, glancing up at him.  "Must be pretty recent too.  I'd say he's not been like this for long.  Got any idea where he's hiding?  Is he with the sire type person or not?"

"Not a clue," Vecchio admitted.  Welsh came out and looked at them.  "That case with the strange stuff, sir."

Xander grinned at him.  "Yes, it's me again."

"Did you call him or he call you?" Welsh asked the white mouse.

"He came to get me."  He got up and showed him the file, speaking quietly next to his ear.  "I'm pretty sure he's right and the guy's a recent turning.  Do you want the hassle of the paperwork when he bursts into flames at sunrise?"  Welsh shuddered.  "I'm leaving that call to you guys."

"Nah.  Deal with it.  He can fix it."

"Sure."  Xander went back to the desk and grabbed his helmet.  "Come on, I know where to go ask."

"Sure."   Vecchio grabbed his jacket and followed him out, watching as the young man straddled his ride.  "You do good on her."

Xander grinned.  "Him.  He's a boy bike.  I seem to like riding boys," he quipped, making the detective and a few cops around them blush.  "I'm heading to Pierce and Abrams."  Vecchio nodded, knowing he'd get there first, and got into his car to follow.  Xander parked in front of the vampire bar and smirked at the bouncer.  "I thought you might already be here.  Do you live in that wall you're always leaning on?"

"Nearly," he admitted.  He saw the detective park and groaned.  "What?  Who was it?"  Xander showed him the ID from the fingerprint file.  "What did he do?"

"Broke into somewhere with security cameras by breaking the lock," Xander said dryly.  "Fairly obvious he's not what he once was so I got asked to help figure it out."

The bouncer groaned and held his forehead.  "Give me a minute, boys."  He walked inside with that ID card and came out a few minutes later with an older looking woman.  "Him and the detective, ma'am."

"Xander?" she asked, frowning at him.

"I just got asked what was going on," he admitted.  He grinned at the detective.  "He's the one that Giles tried to kill."

"Ah."  She sighed.  "All right.  Come inside, boys.  We'll sit at my table and work out how to handle this."

"Can he give back what he stole?" Xander asked Ray as they walked inside.

"Maybe.  I'm not sure yet.  What did Welsh say?"

"To let you deal with it and fix it."  He shrugged.  "I asked if he wanted to do the paperwork when his person in custody burst into flames first thing in the morning."  He sat down on the inside, letting Ray have the easy escape this time.  "So, what do we want to do about this?"

"Personally I want to stake him and his sire," she said dryly, handing back the file.  "Yes, he was turned.  Probably recently as Xander thought."

"I thought he might be, that's why I went to Xander," Ray admitted.  "So, what can I do?"

"Stake him," she said firmly.

"Ma'am, I'm a cop, not the sort to do those things.  I'm not an assassin."

Xander patted him on the back.  "I will for you.  The existence getting out would cause a lot of hell and wonder."  He looked at the old woman again.  "Any idea where he is?"

"Not much," she sighed.  "But I think I know who his sire is," she admitted.

"That could help," Xander admitted.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome, young man.  How is work going?"

"I can't believe it took me nearly a month to figure out that they were rebuilding my design with a few changes at this newest site," he frowned.  "I feel dumb."

"You designed that?" Ray asked, looking a bit impressed.

Xander beamed and nodded.  "Yup, all me.  I can do buildings and weapons."  The vampire matron laughed at that and waved them off.  "An address?"

"I'll get you one," she promised, going to get one from the office.  She came out with it and handed it to Ray.  "He may not be there when you get there," she said gently.  "Things like this piss us off.   His sire may have to punish him greatly."  Ray nodded and smiled at her.  "You should go home soon, young one.  Your mother must worry horribly about you."  She walked off.  "Xander, Boris is coming later."

"I've got to head home sometime," he called back.  He nudged Ray.  "We can go."

"They won't try to eat us?"

"They don't like to try that around me for some reason," Xander said dryly.  "Scoot."  Ray got out and let Xander follow.  He looked at the address.  "Not the best place."

"No, not the best place," Ray admitted, looking at it.  "Not the worst either."  He got into his car and Xander got onto his bike and they headed off to deal with this vampire felon. They finally got to the other side of the city, where the vampire's roost was, and he parked, getting out to look at the building.  Xander pulled up behind him and popped up his visor, looking over the building himself.  Then he whistled.

The door opened and someone stood just close enough yet still in the shadows so she wasn't in the direct sunlight.  "What did the idiot do now?" she called.

"Broke into a warehouse with security cameras," Xander called.

"Momma Lion sent you two?"  Xander nodded.  "Who're you?"  He took off his helmet and shook out the short hair he had let grow out again.  "Oh, damn," she sighed.  "Give me a minute, Mr. Harris."

"Sure.  We're not sure what to do about him yet," Ray admitted.

She smirked at him.  "Do you really want to fill out the paperwork for a prisoner bursting into sudden flames?" she asked dryly.  "I remember how bad that was in Detroit, Detective Vecchio."  She looked at Xander again.  "Are you teaching him?"

"Giles was trying to kill him so I had to clue him in a bit," he admitted.  "So, how's tricks?"

"Getting better and better," she said happily.  "You know, I could use someone like you."

"My man would be beyond pissed if I joined your stable, Marie.  You know that."

"You know her?" Ray asked.

"Forced into it, but yeah.  When she turned she ran from her home city and her calling there as a transit cop, ending up here in one of the seedier places and being¼used."  Ray shuddered.  "Yeah, we feel the same way."  He smiled at the doorway as one long arm hauled someone closer and then shoved him out the door so he could burn up and scream in agony.  "Huh.  She went for painful."

"I'm teaching the other four to listen better," she promised.  "Detective, would you like to come in and find whatever he took?"

"Sure.  Thanks, Xander."

"I'll wait and follow you to make sure you make it home," he promised. The vampire gave him a long stare.  "I got off early today and all I have to do at home is language lessons and jumping my tired, napping spouse."

"Poor thing.  Doesn't he treat you right?" she teased, smirking at him.  "You know I would."

"I know you would but everyone else in the free world would get a cheap pass at my tail too and I can't have that.  I'm very demanding as a lover."

"I can see you as a dom," she purred with a grin.

Xander snorted.  "You have no idea, Marie.  Go ahead, detective."

"Sure."  He headed into the darkened house, smiling at the things spread around the old building.  "You did a good job setting up in here."

"Thank you.  It's not much but it's home for most of us who don't have one."  She led him to the boy's room, taking the file to look it over.  "He really was dumb.  He was dropped off on me, he's not my childe or minion, but I still took him in."

Ray nodded.  "In cases like this, I let Xander tell me what's going on.  That way I don't have to know too much about that stuff."  She chuckled and patted him on the cheek, making him shiver since she was so chilly.  He got free and went into the room, finding the things the boy had stolen, all but one.  He walked out.  "There was a small black case with a prototype video game.  Know where it is?"

"I had wondered why he had that money," she said thoughtfully, going to look in the hiding spots she knew he used.  She came out with the case, letting him see inside it.  He nodded.  "Was anything else on the list?"

"No, just this," Ray said.  "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're welcome, detective, and remember, if you or anyone down there needs us, we are here to help.  I miss having a real job."  She stroked his cheek again.  "You should go home.  Xander's a bit bouncy and anxious.  He's never been what you'd call calm.  My sire knew him from Sunnydale and said he's better now but he still scared vampires back there by being so bouncy and active and happy to stake."

Ray nodded, heading out to his car.  He glanced at Xander, who was staring at a nearby building.  "More problems?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Xander admitted.  "Marie?"  She came to the door and he pointed at that building.  "Do you know what's up there?"

"Yes, dear, he's a very nice fellow and he's very good to the girls he hires.  We like to leave him alone."

"Sure.  Just making sure," he said with a small smile.  He waved and followed the old car off, making sure the detective made it back home.  With a day like today, it was a good day to be ambushed somewhere.  Someone did try, a few of Limburger's former goons had started their own cult/gang and were trying for him but he shot at two of them and the rest ran.  He waved and roared away when the detective pulled into a driveway, he was home and it was all good.  He headed back to the garage, dreading telling this one.  He hadn't had any action, just played bodyguard.  He pulled into the garage, looking at the empty bays, then grinned as Charley came out of the office.  "Another day of solitaire?"

"Unfortunately so," she agreed.  "You?"

"Part time at work and then helping that nice detective with a vampire thief."   He shrugged.  "I played guard.  Oh, some small bit of intel.  I ran into that goon squad."

"Tell us over dinner.  You're buying," she said with a grin.

"Cool, so Chinese?"

"Sure."  She smiled as Xander parked and patted his bike lovingly.  "He sounds good."

"He is, but I I'm still feeling that odd vibration.  I still think one of the weapons is loose."  His bike beeped.  "It feels like it.  If not, you've got a bad vibration under the front of the seat."  The bike beeped and tried to put something out but it stuck.  "Huh."  He got down to look at the area, Charley coming to help, and they managed to pry the compartment out gently, looking at what was wobbling.  "You have your own set of tools?"

"Let me get that greased up so it works okay," Charley said, stroking the gas tank.  "It'll be fine and I can pad it with something."

"Pad it with one of those space blankets in case I get cold," Xander suggested.  "Or in case of trauma."

"Sure."  She got up to get the one from the medical pack and some oil to lubricate that drawer, coming back to work on his bike.  "Get me some fried rice?"

"Sure.  No peas, right?"  She grinned and nodded.  "Any particular meat beast tonight?"

"Chicken or pork.  I'm not in the mood for beef."

"Sure."  He went to call in the order, then came back to help her put that drawer back.  He was still fascinated by the magically increased space inside the bikes.  Throttle's held a pop-out sidecar.  Modo's held a cannon and Vinnie's held a lot of weapons.  His apparently had tools.  Which he couldn't use, but that was fine.  He was learning.  He helped her up and then they cleaned up.  He paid the delivery guy and they headed over to the loft, startling the others.  "I just found a tool compartment on my bike," he said in greeting, handing over the beef with broccoli to Vinnie since he had Vic on his lap.  Vic liked to suck the sauce off the broccoli and then gum it to death.

"We ate about an hour ago," Vinnie said dryly.

"It's Chinese food and you're a bottomless pit," Xander snorted.  "Don't give me that 'I'm not hungry' crap."   He found Charley's order and handed her the three boxes he had gotten for her, weathering the shocked look.  "You've lost weight and that new one needs to be healthier."

"What new one?" she said, glaring at him.

He grinned at her.  "The new niece or nephew I'm getting so I don't have to spoil Victor and turn him into me."  She gaped, then sat down suddenly and he beamed.  "Eat, you need to eat.  You're too skinny as Modo's Momma says."  He found his and sat down next to Throttle, getting a content smirk.  "Hi."

"How was your day away from paperwork?"

"Detective Vecchio needed help a vampire thief.  His sire set him into the sun."  He opened his first carton and dug in with the chopsticks he had requested, eating heartily.

"Where's mine?" Modo teased as he joined them.  Xander pointed at the large bags on the table so he went to dig in, tossing Throttle his and setting out Staff's.  He sat down with a sigh.  "This is nice.  I'm so bored."

"I saw the goons and their gang-slash-cult," Xander offered.  "There's about twenty of them left.  They were after the detective."  He ate another few bites while Modo considered and chewed his chow mein.

"What were they doing?" Vinnie asked casually.

"Shooting at cars as they passed but two tried to follow the detective home," Xander said, smiling at the baby mouse trying to get some of his food.  He held out a piece of walnut from his chicken with walnuts, letting him steal it.  "Good boy.  When you're big enough, I'm gonna teach you how to use chopsticks too."

"Teach me first," Modo joked.  He ate another bite.  "Are they a real threat or just an annoyance?"

"A bit of both.  They did cause a few cars to crash and one pedestrian was slightly injured.  Then they ran off when I shot back."  Xander shrugged and handed the baby a piece of pepper before going back to his eating.  The baby cooed at him and gummed it happily.  "You don't need the spicy stuff, Vic.  Your little tummy will get upset."  He looked over as the twin menaces came up the ramp with their uncle Rimfire, grinning at him.  "In the second bag is some rice and some other chicken with broccoli.  They can have that."

"Thanks, Xander.  I saw the goon patrol."

"I saw that gang," Xander told him.

"I saw the new building going up," Rimfire said dryly.  "They're putting up a research center at the college."  The girls clapped.  "Do I win?"

"Sure, you get baths tonight," Xander promised with a grin.

"That's not a prize," he said dryly.  The twin menaces shot off the back of his bike and headed for Victor and Vinnie, who held them off and kept his food from them.  "Girls!"  They glared at him.  "We got you some of your own.  Let me get it out."  He went to get plates and forks, then spread out some of the rice and the chicken and broccoli, also getting them some milk.  He set the plates on the table and grabbed one, stuffing her into the chair.  "Eat.  Detail, hungry?"

She pointed at Modo's food.

"If you eat all yours, I'll share," he said with a grin.  "Go eat, like a big girl."  Detail bounced over and allowed her uncle to help her into her chair, then dug in, being very messy.

"Maybe I should have called for pizza," Xander said, staring at them before shaking his head and taking another bite.  "Oh well, have fun with the bathing, Rimfire."

"I can foresee a tail-whipping in your future," Rimfire taunted.

"Only if you suddenly gain more skills, Rimfire," Xander taunted back.  "I am the best mouse to whip your tail and make you cry.  Except maybe Dawn, but I'm not going for the fun tortures she does."  He smirked at him.  "Where is she?"

"She should be here," he said, looking at the other mice, who shook their heads.  "Is her bike here?"  Xander and Charley both nodded.  "The car?"

"Was back there when I came out the back door," Xander assured him.  "Dawnie?  Did you sneak home?"  No answer.  "Huh."  He ate another few bites, then noticed the little auburn fingers reaching for his food.  He handed over another pepper, making him a happy baby.  "You know, daddy has that other green stuff you like."

"Why are you feeding my kid vegetables?" Vinnie asked, looking very confused.

"Because if he doesn't eat them he'll remain that size forever, never get on a bike, never pull a prank, and never get the girl or boy of his dreams," Xander answered succinctly.  He looked at Throttle.  "You wanna call our little darling?"

"Not really.  I doubt it'd help since her phone's on the charger."  He pointed at it.

"Huh," Vinnie and Xander said in unison before finishing up their dinners.  Vic got handed to Rimfire.  Xander kissed Throttle, and they rushed for their bikes.

"Wait for the rest of us!" Modo yelled, hurrying after them, finishing his dinner on the run.  At least his bike could steer and follow without both his hands.  He jumped on and headed after the two white mice, shaking his head sadly.  He heard Throttle coming behind him and smirked back at him and the little beast on his tail.  "Got a passenger!" he called before taking off.

Throttle took Vic off his tail and patted him on the head.  "Not this time, little guy.  Not until you're older so you can whip tail like a big mouse."  Vic let out a hear-rending wail and Throttle took the opportunity to leave.  His momma would calm him down or Rimfire would.

Rimfire picked up the baby, cuddling him gently.  "Don't feel bad, little guy.  They did the same thing to me many times."  He walked him back upstairs, getting him some dinner too.  Since Xander had left the rest of the food and all.  He looked at Charley, who was eating from another carton of food.  "Are you all right, Charley ma'am?"

"Yeah, but I think I want a second opinion on that."  Rimfire gave her an odd look.  "Xander thought I'm having another one."  Vic cooed at her from his seat at the table.  "Not you too," she complained.   "No more babies."

"Babies are fun," Shot said, pouting a bit.

"We like new brover," Detail agreed.

Rimfire patted her on the head.  "I like my new nephew too, Detail, but if she's not ready to have another baby, she won't."  He heard the sound of a motor outside and tensed up.  "Charley ma'am, take the kids and go hide somewhere, like the basement."

"Why?"

"Now," he ordered, handing her the three kids.  "Go.  Shoo!  Before I have to turn into Vincent."  He headed for the front window, noticing the tryke out there.  He was very familiar with it.

"Greasepit?" Charley asked, looking confused.

"Go.  Hide.  Now," he ordered.

"No!  I can fight."

He turned and nerve pinched her, then carried her down to the hiding spots Xander had put in, going back to get the kids and the rest of the food and some sodas for them.  He even put in a spare laser and then locked them inside.  Then he went for his gunbelt and his bike, taking her around the side of the building.  "You needed somethin'?" he asked dryly.

"You lives here?" he asked, pointing at the garage.

"Sometimes.  Go me, I've got mad skills," he said facetiously.  "You got other issues with me living here?"

"I remember youse," he said, smirking at him.  "You're the one with the skunky hair and the bad aim."

"Oh, I think I've improved," he said, pulling his gun and pointing it at him.  "Leave, Greasepit."

"I'm not Greasepit, I'm Greasebomb.  We're brothers," he said with a smirk.  "Where's my brother's toy?  I heard he was here."

"Dude, he doesn't have a toy here.  Now, I'd leave.  I'm losing my patience and the others are on their way back."

"I doubt it," he said with a smirk.  "See, I sent them a little present.  Another little girl like that mechanic dame.  So, why youse wearin' the helmet still?  Afraid I'll laugh at your hair again?"

Rimfire shot his front tire, then aimed it at him again.  "I'd leave," he repeated.  "I'm not the nicest of blokes."  He tapped his radio.  "Guys, there's a guy here who claims he's Greaspit's twin, Greasebomb.  He said he's got Dawnie."

"Wonderful.  He taunting?" Throttle called back.

"Yuppers.  Can I kill him?"

"No, incapacitate.  Let me sweat him," Xander called back.  "Or better yet, the vamp me's in town.  Get him to do it.  He's probably very good at making people sorry."

"Um, eww," Rimfire noted.  "I don't want to imagine the vampire you, Xander."

"Xander, that's my brother's toy!" Greasebomb said excitedly.

"I doubt it.  He's a married man."

"Eh, he's a slave," he said, pulling out some paperwork.  "He was given to my brother."

"He was never captured, it was a ruse to destroy the machines again," Rimfire countered.  "Sorry, you can't buy someone who's free."  He lit the papers on fire, staring him down.  He heard a scarping noise and winced, then sighed.  "Get out here!" he called. "I can hear you!"

"Who, me?" the vampire Willow asked, smirking at him.  "Can I have him?"

"As long as we get information from him," he noted.  "And he doesn't move into the house."

"We've got all those lovely abandoned buildings," she said with a fond grin for the greasy man.  "Come, dear, let's go party."

"Youse is pretty," he admitted.  "But really pale.  Youse need more sun."

Willow rushed over and grabbed him, then drug him off.  "We'll be right back.  Tell them Dawn's at Sixth street in the old Rocker building.  Xander should understand when he sees it."

Rimfire tapped his radio.  "The scary Willow is here, she's got him.  She said Dawn's at sixth street at the old Rocker building, that Xander would understand when he saw it."

"Gotcha," Xander agreed.  "I know what she's talking about.  Hold the fort, get the kids somewhere safe."  He cut his transmission and took a corner sharply, heading off through the evening traffic for the building he knew very well.

Rimfire went to watch, he was curious about what a vampire could really do to a human being, even one as greasy as this one.  He stopped when he heard a wet 'pop' noise and a scream of pain.  "Never mind, I don't wanna know," he decided, going to check on Charley and the kids.  He heard her talking to them.  "Just a few more minutes, Charley ma'am.  That scary Willow has Greasebomb."

"Greasebomb?" she called.

"Claims he's Greasepit's twin."

"Oh, wonderful!" she said bitterly.  "Just what we need!"

"The others are getting Dawnie.  Once she's done with him I'll let you guys out."  He went to monitor the radio, hearing Vinnie and Throttle arguing about the play they wanted to use.  He picked up the handset.  "I've always preferred the roll back six-ninety-nine special."

There was silence, then Vinnie and Xander decided that was a good idea and his uncle joined in.  They had it; he could relax for a few minutes.  He decided to call Enamel, make sure he knew something was going on.  He actually got him this time, apparently whatever had happened to his phone before was now fixed.

***

Xander smiled at the man who was running toward him shooting at him and shot at his feet.  "I'd stop."  The man stopped, staring in horror at him.  He took off his helmet and pushed the button on his bike to disengage from the small wheeled platform he was towing.  "This unmannerly person decided to come to my house and say I was his slave.  Do you know anything about that?"

"N¼no," he stuttered, frowning a bit.  "Who are you?"

"Harris."

"Ah¼.."  He blinked a few more times.  "Who's he?"

"He said his name is Greasebomb, twin brother to Greasepit."

"Him I know," he admitted.  "He did say that he had a personal friend down here."

"No, he tried to take me as a slave and he never managed to capture me," he said dryly.

"We can fix that," Greasepit said.  "Right now.  Boys!"

Xander shook his head, pushing the button to start shooting at them.  Most of them ran off and he glared at Greasepit.  "Do you never learn?" he snapped.  "You don't own me, you can't have me, and if you try to keep me, you're gonna die, like you nearly did the last time you tried that stupidity.  Get over it."

"But you're a cute mousie and Mr. Limburger said I could have you," he protested.

"He don't own me, Greasepit.  No one does.  He can't tell you you can have me if he doesn't own me."

"Ah, but if we capture you¼."

Xander pulled his hand laser and shot him, making him scream in pain since it was the one he had¼modified.  "You can't capture me, dumbass.  Get over it."  He put up his laser with one hand while moving his bike in a circle with the other.  He gave a jaunty salute and a smirk before taking off, sticking his helmet back on with his free hand before hitting the main street again.  He saw a cop car out there and sped up, going to lose them in the maze of streets.  He made it back to the garage and found Vecchio waiting on him.  "You that bored?" he asked as he stopped beside him.

"No, we got a call of a white mouse shooting at idiots who were shooting back," he said sarcastically.

"They shot first.  They also sent someone here to tell me I'm now a slave and I'm being given to some nasty, greasy mother fucker."  Vecchio's eyes widened and he spun his bike, getting the goons coming for him.  Once they were all down, he looked at him again.  "Welcome to the war, part three," he said dryly.  "Limburger's back."  He smirked at him.  "Go home, detective. You don't want to be part of this.  It won't be pretty."  He headed into the garage.  "Charley, I'm getting that shock issue again," he called.  "Oh, there's about twelve goons out on the street out there."  He headed over to the house, going to take a shower.  He felt really slimy and nasty.  Just the thought of someone like that trying to own him, or anyone trying to own him, was disgusting.  He heard the door open and glanced out, finding the detective standing there.  "Needed a statement or coming to help me scrub my back fur?" he asked, going back to his shower.  He could wait.  He needed to feel cleaner.

Throttle walked in and pulled the detective away from the doorway.  "Is there a problem, officer?" he asked calmly, his voice smooth, mellow, and not in the least bit tense to his ears.  Even though inside he was bouncing as much as Vinnie ever had.

"Yeah, a small one.  They said he shot first."

"His bike tapes encounters so he can review 'em," he offered.

"Can we transfer it?"

"We have in the past," Throttle promised.  He walked him back to Xander's bike, plugging in the VCR and tapping a few keys to get the fight he wanted.  He hit the record button and let it run, then popped the tape.  "As far as I know that should only have that on it."

"It's got an ep of Xena and you had better not have erased it," Charley yelled.

"You've got the box set, Charley girl," he complained.

"Not for that season.  It's not come out yet!"

"It has, it's sitting in my closet," he complained.  She went running to get it.  He looked at the detective again. "Sorry, she's a big fan.  She's been trying to convince us she should be able to go into combat too."

"I'd never let a woman do that unless I had to.  Should I watch it with Welsh?"

"He loaded Greasebomb up and took him back, and the guard there started to shoot at him.  He explained it, Greasepit came out and taunted, they pulled their guns, and Xander did get out the first shot."

"How did this start?"

"We were sabotaging Limburger's plans to make the planet into mulch by putting some small robotic controllers onto some of his digging machines.  Xander was doing the raid that time.  Greasepit decided he was cute.  Asked Limburger for him.  Apparently Limburger agreed so he thinks he's his now and that he's ownable."

"Which I'm not," Xander said as he joined them, back in his leathers.  "Are they still out there?"

"No, they ran off once they got themselves pulled back together," Vecchio admitted.  "You're sure he's really back?"

"Yeah, we're sure," Xander admitted. "I saw him at the school; he was in a window watching."  He looked at Throttle.  "The original, not Junior."

"I thought he was executed," Modo said.

"Well, either it was a very realistic hologram or a very good cardboard cutout, but he was standing there in the window, staring at us."  Xander looked around.  "I think it's time we called for a meeting of the minds.  Someone's got to do that soon.  I'm not putting up with a four year war this time.  No way, no how.  We can't stand that long."  Throttle just gave him a look.  "We can't," he said firmly.  "There's more important things to be done."

"Point," he agreed bitterly.  "We have in the past."

"You've spent half your life fighting with them.  It's time to end it sooner instead of later," Xander countered.  "As much as I hate to say it, it is.  This is a moment my ethics are cowering in the closet hoping I'm gonna be pulling ‘em back out sometime in the near future."  Throttle opened his mouth.  "It's time for this to end.  I'm not letting any other mice die in this round.  You've lost too many and I've had enough."

"Xander, you're not Ares," Charley called down the stairs.

"Bet me, I look just as hot in his leather outfit as he did.  And I am a God of War, didn't you get the memo?"  He looked at Vecchio.  "Duck and cover, detective.  It's gonna get messy.  I'm going to go play with my weapons now.  Unless you need me?"  The detective shook his head.  "Cool beans.  Laters."  He went back to his armory, going to check over the weapons they had and make a list of what he needed.  Which he faxed to his boss.  His phone rang and he smirked as he answered it.  "Hey, boss."  He chuckled at the confused sounding complaint.  "Because I saw a Limburger.  Greasepit's back too.  He decided I was his.  No, he thought I'd make a neat sex slave.  No, I'm in leather."  He grinned.  "Sure.  When can I drop by?  Coooolllll," he breathed.  "Sure.  Love you, boss man.  Oh, I got that new thing done too.  Sure."  He hung up and went to check the mail, finding the bank statement in there.  It was something he really needed to look over.  He'd been hemorrhaging money to Mars now for a few months.  He could do that tomorrow at work though, it'd be an amusing counterpoint to the paperwork he needed to get done.  He looked at his bike.  "I'm going to get some heavy stuff, baby.  You stay here and play with the kids and we'll go scouting later."  His bike beeped so he grabbed his keys and headed for his sports car, roaring off into the night.  He got to Boris' house, smiling at his childer as they came out with a few cases of things.  "Oooh, pretty," he said, looking inside one.

"You've got a few bigger things too," Megan told him, swatting him gently.  "How bad?"

"So far?  About twenty goons.  Limburger's setting up something at the college.  Which is where Dawn and Rimfire will be attending.  That's not going to be helpful by any means and I'm a bit pissed.   He actually thought he owned me.  Sent his supposed twin brother to claim me!" he snorted.  "Like I was gonna go peacefully and let him do that to me?"

Megan kissed him on the cheek.  "You're amazing, Xander, but we want you to live.  No making us turn you.  We're not sure you would or if mice can."  She got out of her sire's way, letting him put the new prototypes in the back seat.  Xander handed over the small box that had been in his glove compartment.  "What's that?"

"Something he had me working on," Xander said proudly.  "I tested it in our wreckages.  It works really well, boss.  Spot on, very delicate balance, and you can easily control the spread.  Instructions are in the box."

"Wonderful!  If it works like promised, you're going to be getting a tail-warming check."  He kissed him on the cheek.  "Be safe and remember to have someone call if you can't get in."

"Yes, sir.  Thanks.  Oh, we're turning those wrecks into empty warehouses.  So I might have something to do this winter, depending on my bank balance and all that."  He grinned and hopped back in, heading home with the new weapons.  He found the detective still in there.  "Um, Vecchio, I've got weapons in the car that are experimental in nature," he said.  "Maybe you should, like, head to the bathroom?"

"Maybe not," he said dryly.  "I'm not narking on this."  Xander shrugged and popped the trunk, making him gape.  "You needed all that?"

"Hell yeah," he said dryly.  "We didn't have any backup fuel cells for the lasers."  He lifted out a few cases and carried them to the armory, then went back for more, this time being followed.  Vecchio looked inside and whimpered.  "I'm an old hand at war and combat, detective.  I know how to safely use everything in here and so will Vic by the time he's ten."  He got the last few prototypes, sitting down in there to look them over.  "Rimfire!"  He came jogging in and Xander tossed him one of the two prototype laser rifles.  "We've got target practice tonight.  My boss found Throttle's old laser and took it to replicate it.  They're prototypes.  Meet me in the wreck behind the garage."  He nodded, going that way.  He looked at the detective.  "Wanna watch?" he asked with his usual goofy grin.  "I don't mind and he won't either."

"Sure.  Just¼lock the door, okay?  You're making me nervous.  Does anyone else know what's in here?"

"The guys might, if they've been in here recently."  He shrugged and walked out, closing and bolting the door but not locking it.  The kids couldn't get in there and they might need to get in there in a hurry.  He headed over with the fuel cells, tossing Rimfire one while he loaded his rifle.  "Okay, see the black marks?"  Rimfire looked and then nodded.  "I was testing a new micro explosive compound.  Let's see if we can cause more damage."

Rimfire beamed.  "Sure, Xander.  So, where is this place?"

"At the college you two will be heading to," he said grimly.  "Another very good reason to get him gone for a bit."  He took aim and fired at the dark spot, then smirked when the gun fizzled.  He pulled out his pocketknife to open the gun up so he could look, then went to get a wire and his soldering iron.  He came back to fix the problem, fixing Rimfire's too.  "Okay, let's try it again," he said once he had it back together.  They fired on the target again and Rimfire yelped because the gun got too hot.  "Hmm.  It needs shielding or insulation¼."  He looked at him.  "Use your t-shirt for now.  I'll fix it later."  Rimfire nodded, taking off his shirt to go back to it.  Xander's was fine.  He'd have to compare the two later.

Rimfire blew the wall out and howled.  "Yeah!  That's my sort of weapon!"

Xander beamed.  "Guess we know why it's not shielded, huh?"  He took aim and fired his again, getting the finer points.  He found the switch to adjust that and the laser heated on him but it was fine.  He was insulated.  He put it down, making notes so he could send them back to Boris later that night.  Then he took them both to his work area and got to work fixing the problems.

Vinnie came in, looking at them.  "What're those?"

"Boris found one of Throttle's old lasers, these are his versions.  It's adjustable to a wider destruction versus a narrower destruction beam but it overheats the wider you go.  The others have a faulty wire too.  Can you get them for me so I can fix this?"

"Sure."  He went to do that, coming back to watch Xander work.  He never really got to watch Xander work on things before, not even his remote controlled car.  "What was that potiony thing you were working on?"

"A new delicate explosive.  For miniature things, like locks."  He grinned at him then got back to work on the shielding.  He put the first one back together again and went back to the wreckage to test it, smiling at how much better and more efficient it was.  Changing that tuning crystal had helped wonders.  He came back and fixed the rest, then put them into their new spots in the armory, sending the fax to Boris about what he had done, step by step, so he could fix the others.  He heard a quiet knock on the door and went to answer it since he was downstairs, smiling at the detective.  "New problems?"

"Old problems.  We just lost a guy in the woods.  You know anyone who can scout that way?"

"Yeah, I can.  I'm not sure if the guys can or not, they're from a desert world."  He leaned against the doorway.  "That bad?"

Vecchio nodded.  "Child molester.  He's right near a campground too."

"I'm coming.  Let me get my pack and some water."  He let him inside and went to gather his backpack from his room, which made Throttle stare at him.  "Vecchio needs help tracking in the woods.  I'll run a scouting run when I get back."

"Modo went for that," he offered.  He looked at the clock.  "It's one in the morning, Xander."

"Yay.  It's a child molester and he's near a campground.  They lost him."

"Cheese!" he swore, shaking his head.  "Go ahead.  You're good with me.  I'll call you off if I need to."

Xander stole a kiss, grinned at him, then headed out with the detective, following on his bike.  They got to the staging area and Xander parked away from the others, concentrating a bit on himself.  He had done this before.  He used to play in the woods after he was possessed.  He could feel that pleasure coming out and tipped his head back to look up at the moon.  "Luck be on you, Goddess, and I'm yours.  Help me protect them," he whispered.  He got off his bike.  "Babe, it's a trek through the woods, you up to it?"  His bike beeped and backed away.  "Sure. You stay here.  I'll be back or you follow the cops to wherever we end up.  Don't let anyone take you unless you know ‘em very well."  He walked over to the area, tapping Vecchio on the shoulder.  "Scent?"  He was handed the shirt they were using for the dogs, and took a deep sniff.  He memorized it and handed it back, starting off.

"Who was that?" Welsh called.

Vecchio looked at him.  "Guess.  You saw him earlier.  I saw him after that too."

Welsh shuddered.  "They can do that?"

"No, he can do that," he complained.   He set off after the kid, going to make it a legitimate find if he did manage to track the guy.  The dogs had lost the scent but this guy was a human, they needed a higher class of predator to find him and something about Xander said predator to him.  He found him looking at where the dogs had lost the scent.  "You lose it too?"

Xander grinned at him and shook his head.  "He went into the trees."  He bounced a few times then leaped, catching a branch.  "Follow along under me."

"Sure."  He watched as Xander moved through the branches, following clues he couldn't see.  The kid finally came down about twenty trees later and Vecchio whistled, bringing the dogs to their spot.  They found the scent and took off again, heading deeper into the woods, away from the people in the campground.  Vecchio watched the boy.  He was moving like he was part animal.  Maybe that mouse thing wasn't all that Xander was or could do.  Not that he wanted to know about those things, but it was a handy gift to have he guessed.  Especially when you were trying to wage a quiet war on within the city.  The boy quickly outpaced the dogs, and Vecchio, and he had to stop to catch his breath.  Once he could quit panting again he followed the broken path the boy was making, which was odd.  He was leaving more marks than the thief.  He found Xander sniffing something and grunted.  "Don't do that," he moaned.

"What?  He was here.  He rested here.  He's very knowledgeable about the woods.  He's moving to avoid a trail."  He took another sniff.  "He's tired but he's looking forward to having something good.  I can scent the lust mixed in now."  He looked around and took off again, following the minute trail evidence and that hint of scent that caught his nose.  The dogs were long past by now.  Xander was reveling in the moonlight and the sensation of running.  He took off his pack and tossed it back at the detective, only keeping a dagger.  "Hold that for me."  He raced ahead, he could hear him moving.  He let out a quiet growl of pleasure and pounced, making the man scream.  Xander flipped him over, sneering down at him.  "Hi.  Were you running?"  He shook his head quickly, trying to get Xander off him. "I'd quit.  That nice detective will have to shoot you.  Your choice."

"What are you!" he yelled.

"Having fun," Xander sneered, then leaned down to sniff him.  "Awww, did we ruin your celebration?"

"Xander, back off him," Vecchio said, his gun drawn.  "Now.  He's former military."

Xander beamed at him.  "Really?  I just did urban combat."  The guy thrashed again but Xander sniffed him, making him scream in fear.  "Someone wants you back.  He scent marked you."  He stared into his eyes.  "You should really go for that more often. He might protect you from the bad people."  Vecchio pulled on his vest's collar so he got off the guy, getting him handcuffed.  Then he looked around.  "Wow.  Where are we?"

"Not a clue," Vecchio admitted. "We're so far gone I don't even know what county we're in."

Xander looked at him.  "Did you think to bring something like a GPS monitor perhaps?"  He shook his head.  "Okay.  Well, we can follow my trail back.  I wasn't trying to hide mine.  I'm sure the dogs will find us soon enough."

The prisoner snorted.  "You can't find your way back?"

Xander turned and knocked him out.  "Of course I can."  He looked at Vecchio.  "Got anything that smells like one of the other cops?"

"Only Stan.  He was in my jacket earlier when he got shot.  I don't think he's there though."

"Let me try," he admitted, sniffing the arm.  He sniffed the air and sighed.  "No."  He leaned against a tree, considering it.  "I know I packed a compass.  Where did we start from?"

"How should I know?  I'm a city boy.  If I need to use a map, it had better be an apocalypse that requires either Will Smith or Jeff Goldblum."  Xander chuckled at that.  "I leave that stuff to the Mounties.  Even when I was lost in the woods with one of them, he still set the path and the direction."  He looked around.  They were truly lost if Xander couldn't find them a way home.  "Any water sources?"  Xander pointed behind them.  "Can we follow it?"

"We could end up in Montana by the time we find someone, or Canada."  He found his compass in his backpack and looked at it.  Then he looked up at the stars.  "Okay, I say we head cross-country, a shorter route home.  I can get us there.  I'll just home in on the bad coffee smell that seems to waft around you guys."  He put the compass back, memorizing the direction he wanted to go.  "By the way, can we not tell Throttle about this?"

"Yeah, sure, kid, our little secret," he agreed, not know what ‘this' was anyway.  He wouldn't know what to say about tonight and as he followed Xander with the prisoner, he was working on how to explain this in his report. There was no way he was admitting this to anyone.  Ever.  Not even in confession, which was saying something for a devout Catholic.

***

Xander wandered into the house and plopped down on the couch, falling sideways.  He was asleep before Modo fully woke up, and the cats were curled up on him long before Modo made it upright to check on him.

Modo smirked and pulled a blanket down to cover the boy and the cats, sniffing him.  "What were you doin', bro?" he asked quietly, heading down to tap on Throttle's door. He'd be worried about the boy.  Throttle opened it and stared at him.  "He's back.  He's napping on the couch."

"Thanks.  He okay?"

"I didn't smell any blood.  I smelled pine sap, but no blood."

"Pine sap?"

"Yeah."  He shrugged.  "Not a clue why."  He went back to his bunk, watching the fish as they swam around.  Maybe Vinnie had a point about watching them to see if their universe mirrored their own.  Or maybe it was just because it was calming.  He yawned and drifted off, sleeping to the quiet snoring of the white mouse.

***

Xander was napping at his desk when Boris fled into the trailer, patting out the small bits of smoking on his pants legs.   He smiled in awe at the sight of the sleeping mouse, coming over to see what he had been working on.  Apparently he was balancing his checkbook.  On company time.  But that was fine.  His crew was totally finished, pending the final walk-through today.  He looked at the balance and frowned.  That was very low.  He shook his head and headed to Merle's desk to sit down and call Throttle.  "Your boy's asleep," he said quietly at the grunted answer.  He grinned.  "No, he's fine.  He fell asleep balancing his checkbook.  No, I've got a check for him for the work he's done on the weapons side as well.  Maybe you should start a separate fund for Mars.  Because his is starting to run out, Throttle."  He smirked.  "Ever see Indecent Proposal?  I'll gladly give you two million for a night with him."  He chuckled at the growling.  "It was just an offer.  Sure.  No, final walkthrough.  His crew is done, everyone else is catching up.  No, it's here.  I glanced at it.  It's still fairly small by what he should have.  I know, that's the sort of mouse he is.  Still, a good two million."  He chuckled at Vinnie's threat.  "Tell him I'll keep that in mind, young man.  No, once I've done the walkthrough he can finish his nap at home.  Or he can stay and bully the other crews into working harder.  Trisha's crew could use the encouragement."  He smiled.  "Of course.  Should I slip this new check into his checkbook?"  He nodded.  "Fine.  You have a good dinner waiting on him.  From what I heard, he did very well tracking last night."

He sat up.  "You didn't hear?  No, he went to help track the guy down.  As in, like one of the scent dogs.  Yeah, him.  I don't know. You tell me."  He smirked.  "Then again, this is Xander we're talking about.  Did he come home and nuzzle you to death?"  He let out a silly grin.  That was a cute image.  "Sure.  Are you sure I can't offer you guys two million for the war clean up?"   He smirked, he loved hearing Throttle growl.  It was so adorable how that mouse protected his Xander.  "I'd be very gentle with him.  No biting, no bondage, nothing like that.  Fine, spoil my fun.  I'll just make sure that Xander has plenty of work to do soon enough.  No, he did a new delicate explosive for me.  It works very well.  No, you can get it into the minutest places in liquid form and it'll be stronger, or you can use it in a solid form and it'll just blow a ten centimeter radius."   He nodded.  "Yeah, that was him working on it.  No, I have no idea where it came from but it's a wonderful thing.  You think I should?  Then I might offer that nice Mr. Simms a chance to bid on it," he said smugly.  "Then again, he might offer to pay you more for Xander than I ever could.  Federal budgets you know."  He chuckled, even Modo was growling now it sounded like.  He was having the time of his unlife getting to them.  "He's still asleep.  Whatever went on out in the woods must have worn him out.  No, I heard he was tracking the guy better than the dogs.  Nothing else.  Not a clue how.  You tell me, Throttle."  He grinned at the renewed growling.  "Fine.  Let me do that walkthrough with him and give him the option of working Trisha's crew to death or not."  He smiled as Merle walked in.  "I'm going to do that now.  If he wants, I'm leaving that up to him.  Personally I'd make him a very nice dinner.  He does work very hard for you guys."  He smiled and hung up on the growling.  "Ready for me?"

"No," he said plainly.  "Don't upset Throttle.  He might make Xander quit."

"Fat chance," Boris said dryly.  "I am giving Xander a new contract to take home to look over," he admitted, getting up and slipping that under his checkbook as well.  "Come on. Let's go do this."  He pulled back up his hood and followed quickly into the main building, smiling at the work that had been done.  He had noticed the exterior crews were doing quite well as well on his way past. He followed Merle through the whole complex, making a few notes of things that hadn't quite looked the same as the plans and they had agreed on.  Xander's second was found staring at a fallen ceiling panel.  "Is there a new problem?"

"A human style mouse, boss," he said dryly.  "I've got one of the smaller guys up there to catch it."  He looked at him, then at the list.  "The indoor fountain?"  He grimaced but nodded.  "Sorry, boss, they were out of the other one and just told us yesterday.  Xander decided to go with something coordinating instead."  He shrugged.  "They said it'd be about six months before they could get the other design."

"Fine.  What about the wallboard on the second floor?"  The guy pointed up.  "All that?"

"One of the guys freaked and threw his hammer at it.  We're fixing that today."

"Good.  The wrong paint in six-sixty-four and six-seventy-three?"

"Ran out.  It'd cost us another hundred to get enough but we had it in that other color and it still went.  Xander checked, it didn't look like some sort of mystical symbol or anything the way they color coded ‘em."

"It wasn't meant to be," Boris admitted.  "Fine.  It's all good. Just fix that stuff today and find that mouse, then you guys can help Trish's crew for the rest of the day.  They need the help."

"They need the foot of Xander up their tails," the guy in the ceiling said dryly, dangling a cage down.  "Got her.  And her nest."   He hopped down and they put the ceiling panel back up.  "Sorry, boss.  I don't know where she came from."

"That's all right.  These things happen.  Any sign of damage to the wiring?"  He shook his head and yawned.  "Is there some sort of mass sleep problem?"

"No, sir, just tired.  My wife wanted a new kid last night."  He grinned.  "I'm hoping it worked, I can't do that much work that often."  He walked off with the mouse, going to give it to Trisha.  She had a pet snake at home.  He gathered the rest of the crew.  "Okay, I found it.  Let's go fix the damage, now!"  They wandered inside, going to fix those few things that the mouse had damaged.

Boris came out shaking his head but smiling.  He went to check on Trisha's crew, then went to get the extras from Xander's and bring them to her.  "You've got another week to finish this building," he noted dryly.  "And I do mean finish it fully."  Xander's crew groaned and went to work, making the other guys look really slow by comparison.   He looked at Trisha.  "What happened?"

"I think they got jealous of Xander's crew and decided en masse to slack."  She heard another footstep and smiled at the nice detective.  "If you're here looking for Xander, he was crashed on his desk while balancing his checkbook.  If you're here looking for me, I've got lunch in about an hour," she offered with a small grin.  Xander had told her she was wrong and that he was available.  He was very cute too.

Ray blushed, then coughed.  "I just need to get Xander's signature on the report from last night."  He saw her smirk and blushed a bit more.  "If I'm still here, I could take eating with the crew," he offered, hurrying off.  He wasn't used to women that forward. He tapped on the trailer door and heard something hit it so stuck his head in.  "Xander?"  He heard a moan so he walked inside, going to wake him up.  "Hey."  Xander blinked up at him, looking confused.  "I need your signature on your statement.  That way no one can question how and why you were able to track that guy that way."  He handed over the one he and Stan had written, with Welsh's full blessing, knowledge, and grammar correction.

Xander read it carefully, then snorted and looked at him.  "That's a big, mean lie."

"I know, but you'd rather answer what you are on the stand?"

"No," he admitted, signing his name to it.  "Did the guy start screaming about aliens?"

"No, animals.  They thought he was talking about the dogs. I told the others he had seen a wild dog and thought you were a dog.  They believed that after a glance at you and left it there."

"They actually realized I'm not human?  Most of them don't."

"Two did and they're not saying anything," Vecchio said smugly.  "Welsh said so.  He pointed out what sort of problems that would bring and how he would have someone's nuts in his daily salad."  He took back the form and pulled out the other one.  "From the other battle."  Xander read it and grinned, then signed it.  "Thank you, Mr. Harris.  We like doing business with you."

"Yeah, like I mind," he said with a mean grin.  "I'm good like that."

"Good, just keep it out of the normal version of eyesight in the city and we'll be fine.  Got it?"  He nodded. "Good.  From the paper, announcing Limburger Junior's new genetics grant to the college."  He handed over the clipping his Mountie had found and left, getting grabbed on the way out by Trisha.  He looked at her.  "Breaking early?"

"Before I go in there and start to stab people," she agreed, smiling at him.  "My crew are being slackers."

Xander came out of the trailer, frowning at the check in his hands.  "Is the boss still here?"

"Yup, watching my crew be slackers," she called.  "Why?"

"This is really low."  He headed into the auxiliary building, waving it.  "Only half?" he asked.

Boris looked at him.  "The rest will be yours when we finish testing it, Xander.  That's just for the help with the laser rifles.  Oh, should I ask Micah to come see the new stuff?"

"He might get pissed if you don't."

"Sure."  He ruffled the short dark hair.  "Do you want to stay after lunch and run Trisha's crew while she watches your guys fix the mouse damage?  Or did you want to go home?"

"I don't know.  I'll call home and see."  He shrugged, finding his cell and dialing.  "Hey, me.  Am I needed this afternoon?" he asked Charley.  He grinned.  "Why?"  He suddenly looked confused, then looked at his boss.  "Really?  Why is my man ranting?"  Boris just smiled and walked off, heading back to his limo at a trot.  "No, I can stay the rest of today.  Sure, let him surprise me.  I've got to hit the bank on the way home too.  You might want to send Micah an email and tell him Boris is testing my new explosive too."  He grinned and hung up.  "He made Throttle jealous by offering two mil for a night with me."

"If I had the cash, I would too," Merle assured him with a pat on the back.  "He left the new contract in there too."  He went to get them some help.  Most of his guys were done already.

Xander looked around at the workers, most of whom were taking a break. "Oh, no," he called.  "No breaks until lunch unless you've got flaming runs and can prove it with the stains.  You guys are so damn far behind, you may even get a shorter lunch.  You've got a week, and only a week, or else Boris and Trisha have both promised to cut positions."  The guys gave him a dirty look and he glared back.  "I went and did target practice, a bit of small combat training, and went hunting through the woods last night and I still made it in and did work.  You can too since most of you just watched tv.  Get back to work!"  That got some grumbling but they did settle in and get back to work.  He hopped up onto a counter to watch, frowning at his crew.  "Thank you guys for filling in," he told them.

"It needs to get done and they're pouting," one of his guys called.

"You guys get more perks," one of Trisha's workers complained.

"We do more work than you guys do.  We deserve our perks.  We did twice the work you guys did in the same amount of time with only half as large a crew!  We deserve every single perk we get.  If it weren't for us, you guys wouldn't have gotten the lunch truck credit."

"Enough!" Xander yelled.  "You're right," he told his guy.  He looked at the others.  "You guys are going to now work like *my* crew does.  For the rest of this job.  If you can suitably impress me, I'll tell Trisha to keep you.  Now, you're behind. You've got a week to do a week and a half's worth of work with extra helpers here.  I'd do it."  They all got back to work, knowing that he meant it.  Their jobs were now on the line.  They were going to be fired if they didn't get things done.

Merle walked out and came back with more of the other guys.  "Xander, want the rest of your crew in here?  There's only another half-hour to lunch."

"Would you guys mind?"  They shook their heads and got sucked in too.  This project would be finished.  They were ahead of the official schedule but they were falling behind the personal one Xander had set.  Now it was time to knuckle in and do the real work.

Episode 56:

Xander looked up as a ship started to land on their roof, smiling all the way home.  He pulled into the garage, Charley was frowning at his bike already. "I told you I was having that shock problem."

"Fine.  I'll look at him tonight.  Who was that?"

"Not a clue.  Damn big ship though."  He walked out the back door and headed in through the patio area.  "I'm home!"

"I'm magnificent and you should bow to me!" Chassis called.  "It's only right that you come home to bow to me."

"Yes, three of us!" he shouted, hurrying up to hug her, and Victor since she was holding him.  "Hi, Victor.  I bought you a treat," he said, pulling out the small bag of baby candy.  The baby grabbed some to gum, smiling at him.  "You're such a good boy," he cooed, rubbing noses with him.

"You, get off her," the other mouse demanded.  "I know her boyfriend!"

"I'm not dating you, Pit, you're an arrogant bastard," Chassis said dryly.  "This is Xander, Vinnie adopted him into our clan."  She stole a piece of candy and let the baby down, patting the twins on the head. "I see you two are down here too."  She beamed at Xander.  "Where's my slacker cousin this time?"

"Probably on patrol.  We just had a Plutarkian pop up last night."  He beamed at her, then at Throttle as he came out with real food to put on the table.  "Ham?  We're having ham?"  He gaped at his mate in awe.  "You cooked a real ham?" he asked, sounding amazed.  "I love you."  He hugged him and kissed him as hard as he could, making Throttle clutch the walls.  "I adore you, you spoil me so well!"

Throttle smirked at him.  "I thought you deserved it after hunting last night."  Xander blushed.  "We'll talk about that later.  Tonight I'm spoiling you, even though we do have family down.  Hey, Chassis.  Vinnie's at the store with Modo for the moms."

"Sure, not a problem.  I'll sit here with my baby cousin and make sure he's a proper Van Wham family member. Oh, that's Pit.  He's here to look at the building stuff."

Xander smiled and waved.  "Hi, I'm Xander.  You'll be with me."  He grinned at his mate again.  "Can I chase you around the house?"

"No, but I'll let you chase me downstairs later," he offered.  "Let me get everything else before it burns."  He went to get the other stuff, bringing it back.  He brought out the last few cans of root beer and then called the bros.  "Guys, we're ready to eat.  Where are you?"

"On our way home," Vinnie called.  "We had to stop to get a trailer."

"I've got to get one of those for us," Xander decided, sitting down in his second usual spot.  Then Throttle sat down and pulled him into his lap, fixing a plate for him.  "Why are you being possessive?" he asked, looking back at him.

"Because I am. You deserve it," he promised, kissing him gently.  "If you two want to eat, I'd get over here.  Victor, we've got ham."  He squealed and came over, he liked anything that was food and it was a lot of food.  Xander kissed him and put him into his high chair.  "Detail, you sit in Xander's seat.  Shot, you take Rimfire's.  He can eat with you on his lap if he wants."  She beamed at  him and stole Rimfire's seat with a smirk for him since he was coming up the ramp.  "Good.  Come eat.  I've got plans for tonight."

"When were we looking at the human building methods?" Pit asked as he came over to sit down beside Chassis.

"Well, Rimfire," Chassis said, smirking at him.  "What's this I hear you finally got a girl, you shaggy and mangy beast?  Does she like your furless patch on your back?"

He blushed and shook his head.  "She helped me fix that, thank you," he squeaked, sitting down and putting his niece in his lap. "Great spread, Throttle.  Where's the bros?"

"Coming.  They went shopping for the moms," he offered. "Dawn?"

"Coming," he promised.  "She was changing clothes after her martial arts class."  He looked at his niece, then dished up some potatoes and handed her his fork.  "Eat."

"No!  They're not hot dogs."

"No, they're potatoes and they're good for you, eat," Xander told her.  "There's no hotdogs tonight.  We do that now and then."  She pouted at him.  "Throttle made a special effort to cook this much food for us.  You'd better eat.  Or no snack and no tv later."  She continued to pout but dug in.  Rimfire added some gravy from the jar and some salt and pepper after tasting it.  She looked at him and he nodded so she tried it that way, loosening up a bit. "Try it without the gravy, Rimfire.  Lots of kids don't like the stuff the way you do."  He beamed at Chassis.  "He's spoiling me."

"I can see that.  This is bigger than most feasts at the base."  She grinned at him. "What'd you do this time?"

"His boss called today and he's been doing a lot more for Mars than I realized," Throttle admitted.  He gave Xander a squeeze.  "He deserves the treat.  He never asks for them."  He pulled over some ham and fixed a plate, letting Xander have their fork.  "Eat.  You need to eat.  You're pretty skinny and Enamel will nibble my tail again." Xander kissed him, then dug in, eating heartily.

Dawn came up after Modo and Vinnie appeared, walking with them.  "Ooh, ham.  Did someone come threaten to take the Xander baby mouse away?" she teased, sitting down beside Rimfire.  "Hi, I'm Dawn."

Chassis smiled at her outfit of pants with cartoon characters and a tank top.  "I can tell.  Most people don't go out dressed like that."

"Honey, I'm home.  I'm not going out tonight.  These are comfy.  Get over it. I could be naked or wearing much less."  Rimfire blushed.  "But he hates it when I do that."  She kissed Rimfire on the cheek.  "Better, baby?"

"Much."  He grinned at her.  "You need to eat too.  You're much too skinny.  My gray furred grandmomma said so."

"Your grandmother thought I should be rotund," she teased, but she did fix herself something.

"Oooh, someone's getting lucky tonight," Vinnie taunted, noogying his cousin.  "Hey, finally made it down?"

"You bet!  I heard some great things about the trouble you three or so get into down here.  I wanted some of my own."

Xander grinned at her.  "Well, you've come to the right house."  He heard a minor gunshot and sighed, getting up to open the window.  "That had better have been a backfire!" he shouted.  "Or else I'm taking heads off!"  All the noise stopped and someone ran off very quickly.  "We need a dog that can play fetch that crook."   He picked up the phone, watching him run.  "Hi, I just heard something like a gunshot and when I opened my window, there's a guy wearing dark blue jeans, black and blue sneakers, and a green hoodie sweatshirt running for his life toward City Hall.  I can't tell.  Please.  Last Chance Garage.  Yup, that's us.  Thanks."  He hung up and went back to his mate's lap, grinning at him.  "Sorry, I called it in since he's running scared."  He dug back in, only stopping to grin at Vinnie.  "I'm being spoiled."

"I can see that. You deserve it."  He looked at Throttle.  "Did you get to look over his new contract yet?"

"Not yet," Throttle admitted.  Xander pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it over.  "Thanks, babe.  After dinner.  You eat."  He heard another bike and sighed.  "Enamel's here and it sounds like his bike's heavy, so probably Shell too."  Modo chuckled at that.  "Pit, grab some extra chairs from the closet in the bedroom behind us."  He got up to get those, bringing them back.  The table was a bit cramped, but it was okay.  At least until Dawn bumped her elbow one too many times and switched places with their niece so she could be babied by Rimfire.

Shot beamed at her uncle Modo.  "I'm a big girl."

"You are," he agreed happily.  "You have pretty good manners too, just chew with your mouth closed.  You know your gray furred great-grandmomma would be proud of you for it."   She nodded, doing as he ordered.  Detail was already showing off her good manners.  "Good girls," he said, smiling at them.  "Pass the potatoes, Rimfire?"  They were passed down, and then the gravy was as well.  "Thanks, nephew."

"Welcome, Uncle Modo.  I've got the broccoli too."   Vic let out a squeal at that word so he got some handed to him by his daddy.

"POOOOOOFFFF!" he said happily, lapping his daddy's cheek before eating.

"Thanks, son.  Try Daddy?"

"Baddy!"

"No, Daddy," he said slowly and clearly.  "Or even Dad."

"Poof!" he said firmly, then beamed and ate another bite.

Vinnie just groaned.  He grabbed the phone to call over to the garage.  "We're having a real dinner.  You coming or not?  Chassis and Pit are here."  He smiled.  "Sure, I'll save you a good plate and bring it over with the son."

"Ohmygod!" he squealed, smiling and trying to get the phone.

"Yeah, he's got some broccoli, he's happy.  Sure."  He hung up. "She's armpit deep into an oil change."

"I've got her a plate in there, Vinnie," Throttle offered, nodding toward the kitchen.  "I cut one really thick slice of ham and saved it for her."

"Thanks, bro."  He grinned at his son, then at his cousin.  "Why are you here?"

"Ferrying Pit," she said sarcastically.  "I was the best piloting choice so they don't crash the building stuff."

"I'll call Boris later to get the keys to the warehouse," Xander promised, taking another bite of the ham.  He grinned at his mate. "I love you."

"I love you too.  Eat more."  Enamel and Shell walked up together.  "There's enough, eat."

"Did your freezer break?" Shell teased as she sat down next to Shot.  "Hi, dear."

"Who you?" she demanded, scowling at her.

"I'm Shell."  She stroked her arm fur down.  "We're friends of the family."

"Yeah, I guess you are," Rimfire admitted.  "Thank you for saving them."

"Not a problem," Enamel assured him.   He took his own seat and hauled half the food down their way, giving Shot some more potatoes since she was eating them.  Shell and Rimfire fixed them for her and she smiled at him.  "You're welcome too."

"Doc, can we work around not having anyone up there trained for OB stuff?" Dawn asked.

"I'm not sure how," he admitted.  "Short of admitting them down here to medical school and then doing the Martian training?  Or maybe taking a few of the medics and finishing their training?  Maybe doing an apprenticeship thing?"  She smiled at him.  "I've been trying to figure that out myself.  I've already talked to Micah about it.  Someone would have to do an illusion on them so they wouldn't have to worry about hats and things."

"Sure.  I can do that," she reminded him.  He smirked at that.  "Oh, Charley's been feeling nasty again and Xander and Vinnie have a bet about her being pregnant."

"I know.  She says she's not."  Vinnie sighed.  "Sorry, man."

"Not your fault.  I keep tryin'," Vinnie said dryly.

Throttle pinched him.  "When she's ready, Vincent.  Not before."

"But, Bro, I want the kids to be close.  Like Spike and his little sister."

"He and Anya are close," Xander defended.  "He knows he has to watch out for her because he thinks she's not able to do it herself."  Vinnie snickered at that.  "She's not the toughest mouse, big brother."

"True," he agreed happily.  "She's not.  She will however make someone a very fussy wife."

"And then some," Chassis put in.  "She's recently decided she's going to find herself a boy like Rimfire so she's making Anvil's son into him.  He's getting really fed up with her image makeovers."  Rimfire groaned at that.  "Fortunately Anvil remembers you, Rimfire."

"I'm sure he does."

"Who can forget such a studly mouse," Dawn teased, making him blush again.

"Guys, trying to eat here," Xander stated firmly.  "I can't keep down my very excellent spoiling-type dinner with you two being so mushy and cute.  I don't want to do that to reward all his hard work.  I'd rather play ‘chase' later."

"Eww," Dawn said, shuddering.  "I don't want to think about you two and sex tonight," she complained.

"Then put that shielding spell on that last wall," Throttle told her.  He smirked at her and she grinned back.

"Why?  It's great fun late at night.  You both talk in your sleep.  Hold whole conversations about grass."

"We did?" Throttle asked, looking at Xander.  "Grass?"

"I was dreaming about crabgrass the other night," he offered.

"Yes you were, and it was attacking so Throttle burned it all with a nifty flamethrower we've got to construct for the bikes and then ravished you once you were saved, you bimbette," Dawn said happily.

"I don't mind being the bimbette  now and then, but you've got to take on that role too, Dawn.  After all, Rimfire's got to want to save you now and then."

"It's the rescue sex," Rimfire assured him.

Modo moaned.  "Nephew."

"She drives me to it, Uncle Modo," he protested.

Modo stared him down.  "Manners are a mouse's best friend," he reminded him firmly.  "I will soap your mouth like my gray furred momma would."

Chassis giggled. "He's said worse unintentionally."

"In front of Stoker," Rimfire agreed.

"That doesn't make it something you say in front of your family," Modo said patiently.  "Your bros may be your family but you don't say things like that around your baby nieces."

"Yes, Uncle Modo.  I'm sorry."  He kissed the back of Dawn's neck. "She does drive me to it though."

"Enough mush," Vinnie pronounced.  "Before your bike tries to take out hers again."

"It did?" Chassis asked.

Rimfire grinned at her.  "She got jealous."

"Ah."  She nodded.  "Well, she's a pretty girl, Rimfire.  I'm sure you have to defend her from boys like Pit here all the time."

"I'd never think about hitting on her," he said, frowning at his pilot.  "I'd only go for a nice, polite, young mouse maiden."

"Which is pretty good considering there's a birth discrepancy," Enamel noted.  "Nearly two to one now, Throttle."

"Eh.  Vic's a boy.  That's enough for us."  He gave Xander a squeeze and Xander fed him a bite, making him smile.  "I wasn't hinting.  I can wait."

"It's not fair to make you wait when you're the one who cooked."  He kissed him and shifted sideways to start feeding him as well.

"I couldn't even hope to get away with that," Dawn muttered.

Chassis grinned at her.  "They're special.  He's a white mouse and we need special upkeep and maintenance."

"We should go to the club tonight," Vinnie decided.  "Celebrate your first night on Earth, and then you can do the boring materials stuff tomorrow, Pit."

"I've got to work," Xander said dryly.  "Trisha's crew pulled a Rimfire and got jealous of mine.  They've been slacking hard.  My crew about went in and killed them today, got them nearly finished.  Oooooh!  Dawnie!"  He grinned at her.  "Trisha likes the detective Ray."

"She does?"  She considered it.  "Well, he's handsome enough, for an older guy.  Not my type in the least.  I hear he lives with his family still."

"That's common among Italians," Xander assured her. "His mother probably demanded."  He heard someone knock and groaned.  "Go around the back and enter!" he yelled.  He kissed Throttle's ear.  "Sorry, babe."  He fed him another bite with a grin.  "Love you."

"I love you too, Xan.  Now you eat.  You need to eat.  I nibbled."

"Are you one of the human baby mice now?" he teased.

"Just for that, I'm tying  you down and making it extra torturous before I let you come," he growled.  Xander shivered and stole a longer kiss.

Enamel shook his head, looking at Chassis.  "Why are you two down here?"

"Building materials. Apparently the great white lustful mouse here got us the privilege of using his company's thirty percent discount."

"Congrats.  I've got some stuff and money I can kick in," he promised.  "Not that much but some."  Shell beamed at him. "It's not fair to the next generation," he reminded her.  "They need more so they can continue on.  Including a full textbook set for the medical library."

Shell smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  "I love it when you're mushy.  You rock my world."  He blushed but smiled at her.  "I'll reward you later."

"We have guest rooms," Xander offered, pulling back to pant.  "Wow."  He stole a light kiss.  "What happened?"

"Your boss jokingly offered me money to sleep with you.  I about went through the phone and I realized I haven't spoiled you recently."  He gave him another squeeze.  "Eat, Xander.  Before I have to fuss."

"I'm eating. This is my second helping."  He fed him another bite of ham then ate one himself, making sure Throttle would have the energy to please him later. He grinned when Throttle moaned at him eating.  "Are we going with the crew?"

"Hell yes.  I haven't seen you dancing in a while."

"It's sweater night at the usual club," Dawn told them all.

"Eehh, not tonight, princess.  We'll go somewhere more Martian," Vinnie told her.  "Xander, Planter's?"

"Ick."

"That fluff place?" Modo offered.

"Double ick," Dawn told him.  "Too heavy."

"Some of us like heavy metal," Chassis offered.

"Yeah, but I can't tease Rimfire to it," she retorted dryly.   "It's not as conductive to dancing either."

"Point," she agreed finally, after thinking about it for a minute.  "What's the usual one like?"

"House music, techno with some heavy metal mixed in now and then," Vinnie told her. "There's a good median place just up the street from it.  We'll go there."  Everyone nodded at that.  "So, doc, why you in?  Not that I mind."

"Checking on your girl for you and I've got to call Stoker to check on Primer and the baby."  He ate a bite of broccoli.  "The usual postnatal stuff."

"Need the transporter?"

"Nope.  I can do it all by call.  My link's still broken at home."  He shrugged.  "It happens."  He ate another bite and felt Shell's hand come over to stroke his thigh. "How dressy is this place?  She's dressed up but not for clubbing."

"Pretty usual," Throttle told him.  "We can go in our riding stuff."  He looked at the actual button-up shirt Enamel was wearing.  "You'll need to change."

"I've got the cutest green dress that's too tight around my chest that you can borrow, Shell," Dawn offered.  "Or you, Chassis.  Actually,  I've got a stunning blue wrap dress that'll make you look wonderful."

"I like you in that dress," Rimfire complained.

"Hush, babe.  I'm loaning her some clothes.  Plus the shower and my good smelling bath stuff if she needs it."

"I wouldn't mind," she offered with a grin.  "I thought I smelled some chemicals down here."

Vinnie beamed at her.  "Xander put in a mineral pool for me."  She gaped and stared at Xander, who just smiled and fed Throttle another bite of his dinner.  "'Lil bro, eat your own," Vinnie complained.  He shook his head.  "I don't even do that for Charley girl."  He looked at Enamel, who was watching them.  "At least he's eating."

"That is a good thing.  I'll go ahead and do a quick check of him tonight too."

"I'm fine," Xander promised. "Really, I am. I'm not even hungry."  He finished off that slice of ham and cleaned his plate, then stood up and hauled Throttle up, letting him have his lap now.  "There, now you eat," he said, teasing his stomach fur by gently stroking it.

Throttle moaned and stopped the fingers.  "I can't eat when you do that, Xander.  The only thought I get is pouncing."  Xander kissed the back of his neck and just held on lightly while Throttle scarfed more food.  He was hungry.   He'd definitely need the energy later.

Xander leaned closer.  "Doesn't Pit remind you of Wes?" he whispered.

Throttle grinned at him.  "Definitely." He got himself some more.  "Vinnie, when you're done, we'll get Vic in with us since Xander could probably use a shower.  You go feed Charley girl.  We'll head out at nine?"  Everyone nodded, that was over an hour from now.  "Pit, you're more than welcome to come with us if you want, or you can stay here and surf the internet or watch TV."

"I'll go out with you.  I wanted to see how Earthers constructed their buildings anyway."  He smiled at them.  "I promise not to be a bother."

"It's not a problem.  You can't be any more hyper than the twins," Modo assured him.

Vinnie snickered.  "Or the day that Vic started to crawl."

"Poof?" Vic asked, looking at his daddy.  "Poof poof?"

"No, son, Spike's not here," he sighed.  "If he were, we'd definitely need a sitter tonight."

"We need a sitter anyway," Dawn said, nodding at the twins.

"Sic ‘em on Stoker, since you've got a transporter and all," Chassis offered with a bright smirk.  "Switch is trying to convince him to have another son."

"His next son's going to be just like me, only flighty and fun," Xander said with a grin . "I know he will be."

"So he'll be Stoker's poof?" Vinnie teased.  Xander beamed and nodded.  "Wonderful.  I hope he survives."

"How do we know this?" Rimfire asked dryly.

"Because I said so.  After all, I named Anya and it's not even her reborn."

"Good point," Throttle agreed dryly.

"At least Anya wants to be a girl like me," Dawn said happily. "She could be fully like her namesake, all about the moans and the moolah."

"Dawn!" Modo snapped.

"She was," Xander assured him. "That was just how she was."

"Yes, but that was still not polite and not to be said around the kids," Modo argued.

"Point.  Dawn."

"Sorry, Uncle Modo.  Sorry, girls.  You'll forget you heard that soon."  Rimfire gave her a cuddle.  "What am I wearing tonight?"

"The green leather outfit," Xander told her.  "Since you'll have bodyguards out the butt tonight."

"I'd rather not get into a bar brawl over her," Rimfire said patiently.

"Okay, then the green top and the light green skirt," Xander said with a shrug.  "A bit more tasteful but still her usual tease."

"I like that idea," Rimfire agreed, looking at his girl, who only smiled at him.

"Remember, no sex in the bathrooms," Vinnie said tiredly.  He looked at his son, who was starting to nod off.  "We need a sitter tonight, don't we, baby?"  He pulled him out of his chair and let him cuddle.  He had gummed quite a bit of his dinner and eaten it instead of spreading it around.

Throttle took the baby from him.  "Go feed Charley girl, we'll get him bathed and ready for bed."  Vinnie grinned and hopped up, going to get that plate and take it over to her with a soda she'd like.  Throttle looked at them. Then at Dawn.  "Don't you know someone who's babysat in the past?"  She nodded.  "They expensive?"

"I'm not sure they still are sitting," she admitted.  "They're at the university with us."  She concentrated and her phone came over to her, letting her dial the number. "Hey, Mandy, it's Dawn. No, we're looking for sitters for the baby mouse and two twin nieces of Modo's.  Well, Throttle thought of you first, " She admitted. "I wasn't sure you were still sitting though.  Know anyone?"  She smiled.  "Yeah, one infant, two precious and active twins.  About two?"  Rimfire and Modo both nodded.  "Yeah, and the usual precaution as well.  Yup, they sure are," she agreed happily.  "Sure, I understand.  Thanks."  She hung up.  "Wash, sorry.  She doesn't know anyone she can trust not to scream at the sight of them."

"Let me," Xander said, calling his boss. "Hey, boss.  I need a babysitter tonight.  No, one of Vinnie's cousins is in town and we're all going out.  Yeah, Vic and Modo's twin nieces.  Please.  Sure!"  He beamed happily.  "You sure he wants to watch the kids?  Then I'm all for it.  Thanks, man."  He hung up.  "Vampire me is bored, and has decided he's fascinated with Faith's stomach.  He heard and volunteered."  He stole a piece of ham and nibbled then went back to stroking Throttle's stomach since he wasn't eating anyway.  Throttle moaned and shifted a bit, then went back to eating.

"Can we trust the vampire you not to eat or hurt them?" Modo asked.

"He's still scared of you, big guy.  It's not a problem.  He's fascinated with babies anyway."  He shrugged a bit then nuzzled Throttle's back, earning a wiggle and Throttle's tail playing with his ears.  "Eat.  You'll need your energy to keep the hands off me."

"I will," Throttle agreed, eating heartily.  He saw Chassis's hidden grin as she ate.  "I will.  That thing on Mars?  Not even close.  He and Dawn have driven whole clubs to beg."

"I enjoyed watching her work too," Rimfire agreed.  "It's just hard keeping hands off them."  He dug into his dinner since he hadn't eaten yet and Dawn was done.  He would need more strength than Throttle did.  Dawn was hotter than Xander in that proposed outfit.  She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, getting up and heading downstairs.  "Chassis, when she's done, I'll show you to the guest rooms and get you some of her stuff and that dress."

"Thanks, Rimfire.  We'll have a good gab fest later."  She winked at him and he blushed.  "Ooooh, really?"

"Lots you don't know about," he assured her smugly.

Shot yawned.  "Uncle, I need bath and bed too," she complained.

"Not me," Detail said happily.

"There'll be another Xander coming to watch you three tonight," Modo promised, pulling her into his lap to cuddle her.  "We'll get you guys cleaned up once I'm done."  He smirked as Throttle got up with the totally asleep baby mouse and Xander took him to go shower with him.  He got the girls moving downstairs once Detail had finished her plate and drink, getting them cleaned up and into bed too.  Then he went to shower and change.  By the time he got back upstairs, everyone was there but Dawn and Chassis, who they could hear giggling down in her room.  "Ladies!" he called.  "We're waiting."

"We're women, you always wait on a woman, Modo," Dawn called back.  "It's polite."  Chassis let out another giggle.  They came up the stairs and everyone's jaw dropped.  Dawn looked wonderful in her forest green leather vest and slightly lighter silk skirt that barely fell halfway down her thighs.  The black heels were just high enough that she came up to the same height as Rimfire.  She kissed him and he quit drooling.  "Hi, babe.  Think I did a good job on Chassis?"

"I do," he agreed, but he was staring at her.  "Wow."

Chassis smirked at Vinnie and Charley.  "So?"

"You look hot," Vinnie agreed.  "Let's go.  You bring your old heap, cuz?"

"Of course," she agreed, punching him on the arm.  He was wearing  a very tight t-shirt that showed off every muscle he had wonderfully.  Xander was in dark blue leather pants and a shirt that was probably tighter than Vninie's or else he was built better.  Throttle had on a black muscle shirt over his jeans.  Modo had on some really tight jeans and a muscle shirt as well, and he would be hit on at the club if there was any justice.  Pit was wearing some normal clothes, fairly causal but nice enough and a bit looser.  Charley was in Dawn's former pink dress and it made her glow.  Enamel pulled up as they walked down to the garage, smirking at them.  He was back in jeans and a tight black t-shirt.  Shell was in the dress Dawn had given her, she walked out to get onto the back of his bike and he visibly drooled.  She grinned at Vinnie, who only winked and walked Charley off to his bike.

"Bro, she can't ride in that," Modo complained.  "She'll show everything she's got."

"The car needs gas," Xander called.  He grinned at Throttle.  "Your bike or mine or both?"

Throttle considered it and looked at his bike, who nudged him.  "Yours.  We look more dangerous on yours."  Xander's bike moved forward and Xander climbed on, letting Throttle get on behind him.

"Now, that's a bike," Chassis said in awe.  "It suits you, Xander."

"Thanks.  A warrior and a lover."  He winked and they were off. "I hope you know where we're going."

"I do and Modo can call out directions if we get lost," Throttle assured him, closing his helmet.  There was a bit of a breeze tonight.  He almost felt sorry for the girls.  Then again, only Chassis wouldn't have a nice, warm body to snuggle against.  "You sure you want to go out tonight?"

"Yes, it'll keep you unjumped and from taking it for longer," Xander joked, speeding up to get through a yellow light.  He saw a familiar car and paused beside it, opening his visor.  "Detective," he said.  Detective Stanley Kowalski looked over at him.  "Are  you stalking someone?" he teased.

"No," he snorted.  "Just dropping someone off.  I was trying to decide on pizza or chinese tonight."

"Go tacos.  They're good for you," Xander offered with a grin.  "A few veggies never hurt anyone."

Stan looked them over.  "Goin' out?"  Xander grinned and nodded.  "Where ya headed?  Just in case there's trouble again with those goons."

"The Battery," Throttle said, removing his faceplate too.  "You could join us. You already know what Xander is. "

"True," he agreed with a grin, "but I'd never get hit on with you overly muscled boys there."  He grinned at Dawn, who had helped him with another Wolfram and Hart matter a few days earlier.  "Thanks again, that lawyer did get arrested."  She just waved him off with a grin.  "Have fun and be safe tonight, kids.  The city don't need another war."  He stared at the pale Goddess riding up behind the group with the other original city mouse.  "Maybe I will show up later," he decided.  He shook himself from staring, knowing he was staring and probably making an ass of himself.  He grinned at Xander, who only winked and sped off.   Stan watched the Goddess go in his mirrors, smiling a bit.  He called Vecchio's house.  "Xander's got some family in.  Nah, a new guy and a gorgeous female.  Yeah, dressed ta kill me.  Huh?"  He snorted.  "No!  Dumbass!"  He hung up and headed for his house.  He definitely needed to clean himself up a bit if he wanted to introduce himself to her.

***

Xander smiled at the bouncer as he parked and got off, pulling out his wallet.

"I've got it," Throttle promised, paying everyone's cover since it was cheap tonight.  "All of us."

The bouncer looked at them, drooling at Dawn and Charley, but just staring at the other two.  "I should ask for weapons but you'll probably need ‘em."

"Nah, we can whip the tails of people who try to grab what's ours," Rimfire promised with a bright smirk.  He walked his girl inside, taking her right to the floor.

Xander smiled at Throttle and crooked a finger, walking backwards to lead him out there.  Throttle could only smirk and follow his hot little mate.

Vinnie looked at the others.  "You want us to get the table and put stuff down?"

"We can," Charley agreed.  "Then your tail is mine, Vincent."  He winked at her and they found a large table, putting their jackets and things down at it, along with Pit, who was just staring at how Xander and Dawn were moving.  She drug Vinnie out there, dancing next to him.

"Whoa, she's good," Chassis said happily.  "Much better than they did on Mars."  She walked out, going to dance with the two married studs.  "Boys, can I cut in?"

"Sure," Throttle agreed, letting her between them.  She wiggled her way in and they all got down.  The music was a bit loud but it was hard and pounding through them.  Chassis was laughing.  Xander was happy.  Enamel and Shell were tightly wound with each other's tails.  Rimfire had his most possessive grip on his girl's waist and was already having to glare some people away.  Modo was being danced with by some young blonde girl who was cooing up at him and feeling his arm's muscles.  Pit was drug out once but he couldn't dance that well so he was set free for a bit by his captor.  He scurried back to the table, obviously thinking he needed video of this to show the others how loose they were down here.

Stan walked in and spotted the group near the edge of the floor, heading down into it.  He smiled at Xander.  "May I cut in?" he called over the music.

"Stan, I love you, but I've got a man already," Xander taunted.  "Here, have Chassis instead so I don't have to get jealous and neither does Throttle."  He handed her over and moved closer to Throttle's stomach, teasing him until he was growling at him to stop.  Xander just winked and let out a small evil smirk.  "What's wrong, babe?  Tired already?"

"Not yet, but you're gonna be," he promised, pouncing his mate right there to get a kiss.  Xander pulled back and grinned then turned to dance against him, knowing it made Throttle insane.  Vinnie danced Charley over and forced him to switch, and he grinned at her, kissing her gently.  "Hey, Charley girl.  You okay?"

"I'm wonderful!  I haven't had this much fun in nearly forever!"  She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him.  "I'm here to make sure you don't get gay bashed."

"That's fine," he agreed, putting his hands on her hips to guide her better.  "We all know where you and Xander belong."  Xander came back, dancing behind her, with Vinnie behind him.  He moaned and looked over at his bro.  "Tease."

"You bet," he agreed happily.  He moved against Xander's tail, making him moan and shiver a bit, moving him closer to Charley, who only shivered and let it all go.  "That's my girl," he praised. "You go, sweetheart.  You were the lady of the night long before Dawn ever got tits."

"I'm going to get you for that later," she vowed.  She turned, dancing Xander off, making him chuckle and pull her closer to dance with him.  She squeaked a bit but let it happen, knowing it was driving their mates to distraction.  They'd not be sitting tomorrow, neither of them.  She felt someone's tail inch up her leg and moved but Vinnie got her back and she was trapped in the warm, soft, white vise of those two lovers.  She moaned, a small hitch to her breath.  "Vinnie!" she called.  "Too much."

"Is never enough," he promised in her ear.  He pulled her off to a dark corner, where he worked out a bit of tension with only his hands.  He was surprised, she hadn't put on anything under the dress, but it was all the better for him.  "I wanna slam into you right here, right now, and have everyone watch me claim you," he hissed as he worked her into a frenzy.  "I wanna make it so hot you howl, sweetheart."  She bit the edge of his ear to hide her scream of pleasure and he winced but let her do it.  He finished up and licked off his fingers, then kissed her.  "I'll clean that up later.  Keep it warm for me, babe."  He walked her back onto the floor, holding her tightly while she recovered and they danced some more.

Chassis grinned at Stan when she saw what her cousin had been doing.  "I'm not that demanding."

"I never get past third base on the first date," he promised, grinning at her.

She giggled and moved closer, kissing him gently.  Then she moved back and danced with him, doing what Dawn was to Rimfire.  She heard the moan, smelled the lust floating around her, and shifted slightly closer.  She heard him chanting ‘I wanna be a good boy, I wanna be a good boy' over and over and decided he needed to lose that stigma.  He obviously wasn't a boy and he clearly wasn't just good.  She winked and turned, doing what Xander was doing to his mate, and Stan snapped, dancing her off very unsubtly to the bathrooms.  He pushed her into one of the stalls, kissing her hard.  It was a bit awkward since he didn't have the same raised snout, but she made do.  He kept true to his words, he only groped and touched; they didn't have actual sex, but it was more than enough for both of them for now.  She came down, panting against his chest, hands fisted in his shirt.  They shared a gentle kiss and she smiled.  "So, tell me more about yourself, Stan.  I wanna get to know more than the slightly geeky exterior that's going to be driving me up the wall later when I dream about you."

"You're so smooth," he teased, kissing her again.  "Wanna go back to the floor?"

She moaned and arched against his body.  "Right about now, I wanna say fuck it and take you on a wild ride in the park.  Or on my bed, or your bed, or hell, even on the sidewalk."  He blushed at that.  She smiled and eased up, he was a nice and good boy, like Modo had been back in his heyday.  "I'll stick to promising you lunch and coffee?"

"I like coffee," he promised.  "Usually it's the first thing I head for in the morning."  He kissed her again.  "You wanna go back and dance, Chassis?"

"Hell no.  The only dancing I want is naked."  He moaned and nodded.  "If we can agree I don't have to do all the work….."

"Hell no, I like giving my woman pleasure."  He walked her out the back door, letting her get on her bike.  "Follow me?"  she smiled and nodded, taking off after his car.  He parked in front of his apartment and hurried up the stairs, holding her out there for a moment while he checked things.

"Oh, please, Stan, I live on a military base full of guys like Rimfire.  A little mess isn't going to deter me."  She walked in and smiled as he fed his turtle.  "You're a lovely little thing," she offered, stroking the hard shell gently.  "Ooh, and shy."

"They are," Stan agreed.  He locked the doors and led her to the bedroom, going to have his way with her.  Every which way he could since she wasn't native and she couldn't stay for long.  He'd let himself have this dream for as long as he could, it'd give him something to hope for.  He worked her dress off her, then stripped himself quickly, being a gentleman and carefully laying her on his bed.  Then he went to work pleasing her like he couldn't in the bathroom, making her howl and claw at his back while he touched her.  "You need to be appreciated," he told her as he licked down her throat. "You've got the body of a Goddess and obvious skills.  You're tough, yet you're just so juicy."  He moved down to find all the little hot spots on her body, tugging on the hair gently, teasing the obvious ones and the spots that made her moan and thrash.

She was going to go insane under him. "Stan!" she shouted, arching up.  His mouth had found a pleasurable spot that she hadn't known about on her stomach.  He was teasing her with it, but a finger was teasing her below so it was all good at the moment.  Then he went lower and she didn't know you could do that!  "Damn!  Cheese!  Stan!" she panted, coming against his tongue.  He smiled up at her and she stared back.  "We don't do those things.  I never knew you could do that."

"Oh, you can, and I love it," he said happily, going back to it.  She was definitely a full meal for him and he hadn't even begun to think about her tail or antennas yet.  She pushed up against his mouth and he let her, doing whatever she wanted him to do.  She grabbed his ear and pulled on it so he moved up to kiss her, letting her lick away the mess he had made.  She flipped them over and slid down him, moaning the whole way.  "Oh, Chassis," he moaned, grabbing her hips but his hands moved up her sides to continue the pleasure.  "More.  Please?"

"I'm certainly going to try," she said, moving the way she needed to.  She could feel herself getting close and she knew she was going to lose it.  She had never felt like this before.  She felt Stan pull her head down and went with it, letting him have her antennas.  She had no idea where he had gotten that thought but he was licking them and that itchy, twitchy, nerve surge of an orgasm started there before moving through her and forcing a wail out of her throat as she came hard.

He made a purring/humming noise and flipped her over to go back to what he had been doing, riding her smoothly, but hard, and keeping her antenna entertained.  She was writhing under him and he grinned.  "Good?"

"Oh, Cheese!" she said.  "More!  I've never…!  More!"  He chuckled and went back to it, switching antennas and it got better.  Apparently that other side was even more sensitive.  She let out a throat-ripping scream of pleasure and he came with her this time, then he let her antenna go and just held her.  Oh, Gods, he cuddled!  She snuggled in, resting her cheek against his chest.  "Damn," she said finally, having calmed herself back down. "I should have taped that.  That way I can never forget even the slightest detail."  He chuckled and stroked her back, giving her a gentle squeeze.  "If I ask, would you come live on Mars with me?"

"Sure, some day.  If you get serious about me," he promised sleepily.  She smiled, he could feel it, and she wrapped herself around him, making him one happy human.

***

Xander smiled as Throttle led him into their bedroom, getting free long enough to check the door before locking it and stripping off for his mate.

"No, do it properly," Throttle said with a husky voice.   He kicked off his boots and leaned back on the bed, arms crossed behind his head so he couldn't touch Xander while he stripped.  He knew the rules if he asked for a stripping.  Xander smiled and started to move to the music he could still feel surging through his body, taking his time to move closer and then teasing his mate before shifting back out of range.  Before he could get rid of his pants, he had to turn on the radio to cover up the moaning his mate was doing, but that was fine.  A little music never hurt their sex life.  Xander changed beats with the song on the radio smoothly, like he was part of the music.  The leather pants' first button was undone, showing it was a button fly.  Xander teased his stomach fur, running gentle fingertips through it and around his navel.  The second button was flicked open and you just could just see a hint of his cock peeking up.  Throttle moaned and shifted so his legs were spread.  Xander smiled and flicked the third and last button, exposing more of himself but still not all of it.  As he danced, his pants slowly started to slide until he finally did away with them, then he moved to dance for him, standing right beside him so he could see everything that he was offering.  Throttle shifted again, freeing his tail to swish in agitation as he watched his mate move for him.  He wanted to be naked right that moment, but he was still in clothes.  "I wish you could strip me," he said, staring at him.  "Right now I want to tail you while I play with your antennas."

Xander moaned and pulled Throttle up, stripping his t-shirt off in one quick move.  The field specs were put back into place and then Xander moved with him, making Throttle match how he was moving as he undid his jeans.  "This is how you strip, babe.  Soon I'll have you able to do it for me."  He stepped back, watching Throttle move with his jeans hanging open, his stomach rippling in the low light they preferred in their bedroom, and his fur just calling out for marks from them.  He licked his lips, diving in to taste his throat, making Throttle pull him closer.  The older mouse did start to tease his antennas, just a quick breath across them at first.  A gentle brush down his back to smooth the fur, and then a very quick grab and flip onto the bed by Xander, who pulled those jeans off him, tossing them aside.  "I feel primal with you, Throttle.  You bring out the wicked, nasty, snarly animal in me."  He pounced, going back to tasting and exploring his mate all over again.  He was still scenting him when the thin tail tip entered him and Xander let out a howl of pleasure at that, throwing his head back to let it out at the ceiling instead of into the firm chest.

Throttle bunched up and flipped them over, going to do a bit of teasing himself but Xander wrestled him for control this time and won.  He was a lot stronger than he looked because Throttle found himself on his back and pleading for mercy as Xander licked every inch of his chest and stomach, then smoothed his fur out with his fingers so it was like being gently petted.  Throttle shivered as that tongue came back, leaving a scent trail down to his thighs.  Xander rubbed his cheek against the soft skin of his sheathe and went past to tease his inner thighs, which he knew drove Throttle insane.  He tried to move, tried to get him to do more, but Xander nipped him and switched sides, showing he was in control.  It was like Xander was claiming him as his prey, his claimed prize, maybe his beta in his pack, showing and proving that he could do whatever he wanted.  He was staring up at him now as he licked and tugged on the hairs down there, and Throttle met his stare.  He only blinked once during it but he wasn't sure if Xander did or not.  He did see the feral smile and knew he was in for it now.  Xander licked slowly up the underside of his cock, making him grab the sides of the bed and hold on for dear life.  He had never see Xander like this before.  This was a different Xander, one who was going to claim him.  He didn't need his bros to see and approve, this was holy for him.  This was like their binding.

Xander's tongue explored every inch of him, including just inside the edge of his sheathe.  There was nothing that was secret from Xander's tongue.  He knew then that he wasn't getting any other lube tonight, just Xander juice and saliva, and in some way that thrilled him.  Xander, pure Xander, was exhilarating.  Xander was nudging his inner thighs now, almost kneading him.  The tongue came back to lick and play with his cock while he was kneading and Throttle lost it then, shooting off against that warm, scratchy tongue.  He heard a purr and looked down, but Xander was flipping him over.  It was going to be an animal coupling, not their usual gentle or even their rougher stuff.  Both preferred it face-to-face and this was not going to be this time.  Maybe later, when he had proven Xander was his pack alpha, but not this time.  He felt the tongue come back there, along with the nose, sniffing, testing him to make sure he was all his.  He knew he carried Xander's scent from their last time fooling around, Xander had sucked him and had used some of his precum as lube while fingering him, but now that tongue was much more thorough.  His insides were licked.  That was the only way he could think about it.  Then the body moved, the warm fur brushing the fur along his cheeks the wrong way as it slid up his body.  He heard the purr in his ear and the hardness pushing and let it go in.  This was what they needed tonight and he was all for it.

Xander nipped him but Throttle could feel that he was pleased.  The running purr was in his head now, he could hear it coming from his mate's mind, his satisfaction as he lay embedded in his body.  Xander nipped him again and he shivered, earning a quiet chuckle and then he was moving.  Pushing.  Pulling.  Thrusting.  Making him howl into the bed like an ancient cavemouse.  There was no more higher thoughts.  There was no more Xander, no more Throttle.  Just two very ancient primal beings claiming each other.  Xander knew what was his and he was making sure everyone else would know what was his.  Throttle was letting him, trying hard to connect their minds.  He wanted to feel this from Xander's side.  He had to, he wanted it so bad.  Xander finally got the point and lowered his shields, letting him in.  All Throttle could feel was the pleasure and the pressure to release soon.  He could feel the purr as much as he could hear it.  It was like it was ghosting across his fur and making sure that he knew how good it felt.  Xander sped up a bit, shifting angles when he felt the pleasure increase.  Throttle was whimpering like his bitch now, begging for him to do more, always more, and Xander's purr calmed him, soothed him, showing him he would get all he needed.  Xander's hand started again, this time stroking.  His stomach and chest were petted in comforting circles but for some reason the usually-comforting action was just making him need it more.  Xander was invading him and he was there!  He came!  He could feel Xander roar against his neck as his dominance was complete!  Xander finished off slowly, leisurely almost.  Just a slow, gentle, rubbing between them.  He let go with a small whimper and withdrew, sniffing his claim to make sure of it before forcing Throttle onto his back and lying on his vulnerable stomach.  He continued to purr at him, making Throttle calm down and hold him.

Throttle could only lay there and hold on.  Their minds were still together.  He could feel the stiffness in Xander's thighs from all the work he had done.  He stroked him gently, making sure his mind showed how much he loved Xander, how much he meant to him.  He felt him drift into a nap and smiled, still petting him.  Xander deserved the petting.  He felt his mind slip deeper into Xander's, letting him feel where this had come from. He was deeper than he had been before and now things were so much clearer.  All the instincts they had wondered, all there.  He smiled because in the darkness of his mind he could feel the patient watching.  He had his mental self sit down and felt the shadow creep out to him, letting him pet it.  This wasn't the hyena, like Vinnie thought it could be, it was a shadowy black beast with soft fur and tender ears.  "You're just a purr machine tonight," he said quietly.  The animal huffed and he went back to petting it.  "You rest, I'll guard you."  Xander curled up in his lap and Throttle lay down around him, cradling and protecting this fragile and gentle demon creature.  Because he knew this thing could tear him apart, it just wouldn't now that he was his.

***

Rimfire pulled Dawn off his bike and down to her working room.  Their room was too close to Throttle and Xander.  He didn't want them to hear her screaming in pleasure tonight.  Tonight it was all his.  They walked in and he felt the shields go up and smirked at her before working on her dress.  She got out of it and stood before him, naked, furless again, and smiling.  He could smell her lust, he could tell what she wanted.  She had said this was one of her things, this slight naughtiness of being naked while he was dressed.  "Suck," he demanded.  She raised an eyebrow and he moved closer, kissing her hard, making her moan and arch into him.  "You gave yourself to me tonight.  We agreed, you're mine and only mine tonight.  That was the agreement for me letting you out in that trashy skirt.  Now, suck me.  If you're really good, I'll get the oil out for later."  He pushed her down and she knelt in front of him, calling over a pillow for her knees while she undid his pants.  She didn't lower them much, just enough, and that was all she needed. She went to work on him, like she had promised.  She had promised she'd play this game tonight and that he could be the dominant one for the night.  She'd get him back tomorrow of course, but that was fine with him.  She was working him as good as she knew how and he was inches away from slamming himself deeper into her throat.  So he pulled back and took off his shirt, watching her eyes as he did so.  She was smiling slightly, being naughty.  She knew how they played this game.  He got out of his pants and boots, then his socks, leaving himself completely open to her, but she wasn't smiling.

He picked her up and kissed her, ignoring his own taste for now.  Her legs wrapped around his waist and he pulled back to nibble and suck on her throat, knowing what she wanted him to do.  Instead, he got another idea, one he had seen in one of her journals.  It wasn't his fault she had left one on sex magic out, and some of the ideas had been…intriguing.  He walked her over to the pile of pillows in the corner, settling her among them, then flipped her onto her stomach.  A quick reach brought the oil she had made.  It was one that helped soothe muscle aches when they had worked out too hard and it was a favorite of theirs for sex.  He lubed himself, watching her shiver.  There was a bit of a breeze in here tonight.  He lit the altar candles, bowing to them properly, then dove in to taste her. She was wiggling and shifting, opening her thighs, but he kept them where he wanted them, barely open.  It gave him the best advantage this time.  She moaned when he nipped her clit, but that was all.  So he moved up and slid inside, a long, smooth, hard push into that warm cavity.  She was clutching a pillow to her chest and he could hear her gasping into it.  He took the pillow, moving it aside.  "I wanna hear it.  That's why we're in here, Dawn.  Out loud."

"More," she gasped, pushing back.  He spanked her.  She held her breath.  "Please, Rimfire?"

"What did we agree?"

"That I'm yours since I was going to cause so many hard-ons," she panted.  "Please!"

He slowly shifted, barely pulling out then moving back in again just as slowly.  She was begging and pleading for him to speed up but he liked this.  She had agreed, he got all of her tonight for the way she was dressed and how bad a tease she was.   This was his reward for putting up with her flighty moods and her odd moments of darkness.  She was his and only his, and he was not going to let anyone take anything else from him.  He pushed back in harder, and she gasped, letting it out for him.  She knew he needed this release now and then. That's why she made these little deals.  He had to have an outlet for his possessive attitude, his fierce and firm hold on all those he held dear.  He was really riding her now and she was letting him hear it.  It was glorious and he could feel the oil he was using heat up around them.  Soon it would be better and nothing and no one would ever part them.  He looked at the altar, then down at her back.  "Mine," he growled.  Not a question, a statement.  She was his.  All his.  No one's but his.

"Yours," she agreed, trying to find a handhold.  "Rimfire, please!"

He pulled her up against his chest, still in control.   He was panting in her ear, making the sweat rolling down her face dance away from each pant.  "Vow it," he moaned.  "Now, here."

"Vow?" she asked, fingers clutching his thighs.  "Yours!  All yours!"

"Vow!" he demanded, going harder.  She was sitting on his lap now, he had her firmly in his arms while he ground himself into her.  "Vow, Dawn, mine!"

"Yours!" she shouted.  One of the candles on the altar went out and she gasped, then wiggled free of the steel-like arms around him.  He caught her and brought her back, putting her onto her back to have her this way now.  She stared up at him in shock and awe.  "Yours," she agreed.  "Mine?"

"Yours," he agreed firmly.  He was back to pounding into her now, making her move with each movement.  He smiled down at her, tender even in the midst of his streak of possessing her.  "Mine."

"Yours," she agreed.  She wiggled free and kissed him, then nuzzled under his chin.  She bit the side of his neck, an ancient custom from when Mars was still clans.  He moaned and tipped his head back, letting her taste of him, drawing just a hint of blood up.  She licked her lips and sat back, tipping her neck to the side in a silent invitation.  He stared at her for a moment then leaned forward and bit her hard and fast, making her gasp and clutch his arms, but it felt good and right.  He licked the bite clean then put her back onto her stomach.  He took a calming breath, letting it out slowly.  He wanted her too much, he would hurt her like the time after the succubus if he wasn't careful.  He didn't want to hurt her.  His hands were shaking, he could feel it and see it.  She looked back.  "You won't."

He nodded. "I can."

"You won't."  she grabbed his hand and pulled him on top of her.  "You won't," she repeated firmly.  He nodded and slid back into her, this time into the tighter spot.  He loved doing this to her and she loved it just as much as he did, but he didn't want to hurt her.  He slowly and carefully had her that way, making her moan and shake and eventually come from the friction.  He relaxed and pulled out, getting a baby wipe from a nearby box on her potion making board to clean himself up.  He looked at the oil, then at the candles.  They were down to one now.  He looked up at it, staring at it.  It was her candle to the Goddess.  He knew what they were doing and he bowed to it, finishing this.  He leaned down, hugging her.  "If mine life fails it must be from thine's own hand and thine's own wound," he said quietly, picking up her chopping blade.  He looked at it then at her, seeing the knowledge in her eyes.  He looked down at the blade.  "My love is a fierce shield around you," he said, handing it to her. "I cannot harm you but would you harm me that is in thine's own hand."

She looked at the knife, then at the candle, then sent up a silent prayer.  "If mine life fails it must be from thine's own hand and thine's own wound," she repeated.  "My love is like a forcefield around us, protecting us and sheltering you from the storms."  She stared into his eyes.  "I cannot harm you but will you would harm me that it is in thine's own hands and will."  He gripped the knife with her, but the knife disappeared and she sobbed, falling into his arms. "Rimfire?"

"Yours," he repeated, sliding her into his lap, taking her again.  He could feel the magic again, it was around them.  "No, she will not conceive," he said quietly.  "It is not safe."  The power was still there.

"Heal those who need it," Dawn pleaded, adding some of her energy to it. She felt Rimfire move and shifted her higher onto him, letting her have him all.  She was back in control and she lay down, pulling him back on top of her.  "I let you lead, this time."

He smiled and went back to what he had bee doing, pleasing himself by teasing and torturing her until she came many times before he did to prove she was his and only his.  While he worked himself in her body, he concentrated on the magic, letting it go out to his native world, letting it heal whoever there could use it.  They needed it more.  He felt himself getting closer too soon and tried to hold it back but this was Dawn and he couldn't ever hold himself back with her.  She came with a small moan of pleasure and he came after her, feeling the magic floating away.  He hoped it had helped.  He saw Dawn close her eyes and put his head next to hers, joining her in her silent prayer.

***

Vinnie walked Charley up their stairs, going backward while kissing her as often as he could.  He knew something was going on over at the house, he could feel it.  The same as he could feel a gentle purr in the back of his mind.  That was the other couple and he pushed them back out, finally getting Charley onto their bed and naked.  He undressed himself slowly, like he had seen Xander do in his memories, and she grabbed him by the chest fur, pulling him down on top of her.  "Geez, babe, I'm tryin' ta be cute and all."

"You're already cute, you big, white puffball.  Now, lick!"

"My pleasure," he said with a leer, going down on her.  She knew what she wanted and apparently it was his tongue.  He'd get more later, she couldn't resist him having everything and anything he wanted.  He shifted around so she could put her legs over his back, it'd give him leverage later, and went to town with her.  She was wiggling and squealing and giggling as he worked so he had to hold her down a bit but it was good for him.  She came and he cleaned it up delicately, then surged up and planted himself in her, kissing her gently with a grin.  "Sorry, I broke."  He moved hard, fast, giving her what she needed so she could have another one soon.  He might only get one tonight but it was going to be a good one.  He pushed Throttle and Xander from his mind again, concentrating on what he had here.  He didn't and couldn't care what they had at the moment, he had what was his and only his.  He pulled her up with a hard yank and she landed in his lap, seating him deeply within her so he could still kiss her while he pleasured her.  This was all about her pleasure tonight.  She wanted and needed it, he was more than happy to give it to her.  After all, if she was happy, he'd get more in the morning.  She was moaning and rocking on him in counterpoint and he was loving every second of it.  She screamed and he twitched his ear, but kept going.  He was so close!  She pulled back and slid off him, making him stare.  "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

She grinned and moved away, pushing him down onto his stomach.  Then she opened the little side drawer to find the little thing she had stolen off Xander with Dawn's help earlier.  She flipped it on and looked at it, then at his tail, giving it a wicked smirk as she put the small vibrating collar over the base of his tail and closed it.  Vinnie shot off the bed with a yelp and looked back, his tail just jiggling.  It was too much, he was going to go insane.  She giggled and kissed him.  "I figured you might like that."  She pushed him down again, just concentrating on his tail.  She moved the disc up a bit, letting it rest closer to his hole while she played with the tip.  He was laying there, his mouth open, barely breathing, just experiencing it.  She smiled and teased herself with his tail, sure he wasn't  going to mind if she used the extra-bendy and slim toy she had found him wielding.  She was pleasing herself when she felt the tail start to twitch like normal.  That just meant she had to turn up the vibrating collar.  She flicked the switch to the next setting and Vinnie went back to mindless lust while she got the vibrating tail again.  It was very good.  She considered it, then her mate.  "Vinnie, can I do with anything else?"

"Tail yourself," he moaned. "Please, Mars, tail yourself."  He shifted slowly so he could watch her, smiling in pleasure when she laid down facing the other way.  That way he had a perfect view.  She did insert the tail and was riding it when he started to get some control, and he found out the thing had a third setting.  "How many more!" he panted, his voice high and squeaky.  He wiggled, moving the tail in her, and she wiggled from it, groaning a bit.  "Up or down, sweetheart, pick, please!  "Up is sensitive, down is sensitive!"

She smiled and pulled it down by another inch and he went wild.  She gasped as the tail shoved deeper into her than it had ever gone before.  She hadn't expected that.  She started to move but the tail was dancing as Vinnie's body danced with it.  She reached over to hold his tail down, against his crack, and he let out a scream of pleasure that she swore made some dust fall from the ceiling.  It was all she could do to hold on, he was tailing her and she was nearly vibrating from it.  Then he suddenly broke and the tail moved out some, but he was there, pushing in and taking it all.  He had arranged himself so his tail was underneath him and between them but he was okay with that.  She was going to go insane.  He hadn't had her this hard in ages.  She was losing her mind and then his antenna connected with her head and she felt what he was.  She forced herself up and moved the ring back up, robbing him of the vibrations around his hole, but hitting that sensitive spot that was like a prostate on mice.  He bellowed and shoved in deeper.  She gagged, swearing he had just somehow gone through her cervix or something.  But he pulled out and pulled her into his lap, having her harder and deeper.  His hands were on her breasts, kneading and playing, tweaking a bit.  Then one slipped down to tease her clit while she rode him and she could feel his pleasure at her renewed writhing.  She finally came and went limp.  He picked her up and held her while he finished, and he still felt like he was going up through her insides and up her throat.  He came and she was dropped, but he fell beside her, panting hard.

"Take it off, please, take it off," he begged.  "Before I start again."

"You're on my arms," she said.  "I've got to move."

He moaned and wiggled and tried to move but it wasn't working.  He finally got his tail free of her body and flicked it toward her but that made it shift and it hit that spot higher than it had before, sending currents of heat and lust and agonizing vibrations that were going to drive him mad.  "Charley, please," he begged.

"Get off me so I can."

He managed to shift some more and she grabbed it, flicking it in the wrong direction.  That got him to move.  He shot off the sheets, gripping the headboard until she could take it off him.  He looked at her.  "Please, Charley, you know what I need now."

"I can feel it, Vinnie.  Come here, I'll try."  He laid down, a vibrating white blur against her pale blue sheets.  She reached into the drawer, finding her old vibrator.  It was going to have to do this time.  She wet it down with her tongue a few times then slowly slid it into him.  It was slim so it wouldn't cause any problems, but it wasn't enough.  He was sobbing in need.  She had been mean to tease him that way.  "Call one over," she ordered, knowing he would follow it.  "Use the magic and call one.  A big one.  I'll use it on you."

Vinnie tried, he couldn't concentrate.  He lunged up and kissed her, blocking out everything but that then.  A small box appeared and he mentally cheered, she had a few more.  He watched as she pulled out some lube and used it on her fingers, using them to open him.  He moaned and went to his knees, he needed this.  That had made him only want this now.  He had to have it. She had to take him.  He felt something hard, but cold, slide into him and gasped, clamping around it.  "What?" he tried.

"Marble.  I don't know from where."  She used it a few times but it wasn't enough.  She found a flesh-like one and switched them out.  He howled in pleasure and she grinned. "Like that, Vinnie?  It's probably about Modo's size."

"Throttle's he panted.  "Trust me."  He went back to his knees and hands, letting her have her way with him.  She was good at this.  He needed to get her more things to do this with.  He howled in pleasure as she let it get deeper, and she responded by nipping him on the butt cheek.  He bit his own arm, trying to keep it down.

"Let it out, Vinnie.  I didn't want to make you go this far."

"Oh, quit!  I like this!  More!" he shouted.  She smiled and went back to it, making him arch his back and ride it.

"That's it, Vinnie, ride this big cock.  Who's is it?"

"Yours," he moaned, trying so hard to get it deeper.  He lost control of his shields and felt Rimfire and Dawn.  He felt Xander inside Throttle and the intense claiming they were doing.  He let out a scream of his own and turned onto his back, pulling his knees back.  "Babe!  Please!"

She switched out to a longer one, inserting it and he went nuts, making her need look like nothing.  She bent down to lick the head of his cock while she worked and he pulled her spare hand up, putting it on his antenna.  So she steadied the dildo as she got him onto his side, curling him up a bit so she could reach both.  He was helpless in the face of her onslaught.  He was keening now, and she was giving him what he needed.  She could feel him, his shields were gone.  She was still in his head and he was one big, ragged nerve of need.  "Use your tail, stroke your own cock," she ordered.  He did so and that's when he came.  He tensed then went totally limp.  She took the toy out and he whimpered, but she went down to tease around the hole, blowing gently across it.  She licked across the bottom of hi balls and then moved forward to clean him up.  He went limp, smiling happily.  When she was done, she curled up next to him, clutching his chest.  "Sorry."

"No, was good," he said tiredly. "Need that now and then."  He kissed her.  "Next time, wear the thing so I can feel you pounding into me, sweetheart.  It'll make it go faster."  She looked stunned. "They make stuff for that."  He kissed her again then let out a sigh of pleasure before falling asleep.

She rested her chin on his chest, thinking about what he had said.  It was definitely different and not part of their usual sex life, but if he wanted that now and then…as long as it wasn't every time.  She pushed the toys onto the floor, she'd have to clean them in the morning, but she could do that too, just as long as she got normal sex then.

***

Vinnie came down the stairs the next morning, beaming proudly at his bros since they were all in the garage's kitchen.  Well, at least Modo and Stoker were there.  "Where's Throttle and Xander?"

"In bed," Modo said dryly.  "I called him off.  Boris was amused that he had made Throttle take him that hard."

"There might be more to it than that," he said as he sat down, wincing a bit.  "Charley girl's in bed too.  She needed a nap," he said smugly.  He watched as Enamel came in and went right to the coffeepot.  "Yours broken?"

"No, yours is over there."  He stared at him.  "The office, Vincent, now."  Vinnie raised an eyebrow.  "I mean it."  He got a sigh and Vinnie trudged off.  Enamel went upstairs for a moment to check on Charley then came back down with a stick he had seen on the counter.  He showed it to him.  "Yours?"  Vinnie stared in awe.  "She called before passing out.  Dumbass."  He smacked him upside the head, shaking that stupidly happy look off his face.  "How hard were you on her last night?"

"Pretty," he admitted, then he straightened up.  "Is she okay?"

"She should be.  I'm going to go examine her.  You're going to wait in here."

"But the bros…."

"In here. I don't want to break that news to them in there."  Vinnie nodded and he left, taking his coffee upstairs with him and his pouch.  He found Stoker in the bedroom and kicked him out without a word said, just hauled him out by the arm and slammed the door in his face.  He attached his little scanner to her stomach and sat beside her, sipping his coffee while he searched for the probable baby.  He found it, nestled safely, and smiled.  "You're fine so far," he promised, stroking her hair.  She blinked up at him, looking confused.  He showed her the panel.  "So far.  I'm going to check again in two days.  Just in case.  I told him but he's holding off on the announcement hopefully."

She sighed.  "Sure."  She yawned.  "Vibrating rings are dangerous."

"Vibrating rings?" he asked.  She found it on the floor and handed it to him.  He looked at it.  "Where did you put it?  Just so I know what to do to Shell when I buy one?"  He got all sorts of ideas from these guys and she always enjoyed it and gave him full credit for being so good in bed.

"His tail," she said smugly, grinning a bit.  She pulled the covers higher.  "I'm sleeping in today.  Customers be damned.  Vinnie can change oil if necessary."

"Good idea, Charley.  Like I said, give it two days and I'll be back to check.  At this stage it's nearly nothing."  She nodded, yawning again.  "You rest.  I'll make the big lummox make you a real breakfast."

"Had that already," she said smugly.

"Uh-huh, but that's not very nutritious and you do have to worry about that again."  He brushed her hair off her face again.  "You rest.  I'll see you in two days."  She nodded and he gathered everything, heading downstairs.  Vinnie was vibrating in the garage.  "She's okay.  Just tired. Make her *real* food for breakfast, Vincent.  What she had is not nutritious.  Make her actually eat."  He looked at Stoker.  "Okay, now why is Xander not waking up and flinching when someone knocks on his door?"

"It was one of those really good nights when most everyone got some," Vinnie said from the doorway.  "What's she want?"

"Food.  Good food.  Make real food.  Make it something she'll like.  She's sleeping, you've got time to figure out how to use a frying pan," he said facetiously.  Vinnie blushed and went to figure out what they had.   He started on breakfast, much to Stoker's amusement.  "Even really great sex has never stopped Xander from jumping up whenever someone walks into his room and he's asleep," he told Modo.

"They went psychic there for a bit," Vinnie offered.  "I…. my, um, shield dropped for a few minutes in there and I felt them. They're probably going to need a hot bath soon."

"What were they doing?" Modo asked.

Vinnie looked at him.  "I was a bit preoccupied at the time," he said finally.  "It's not like I was trying to bother them or anything."  He went back to making his girl an omelet.  He wasn't doing it very well but she would appreciate it nonetheless.

Modo looked over and shook his head.  "Let me, bro."  He got up to fix the meal for him, shaking his head.  "Do you think they're still stuck?"

"Probably," Stoker said dryly.  "I warned the punk time and again about that."

Enamel reached over and swatted him across the ear.  "Shut up."  Stoker glared at him and he glared back.  "Those two are special, Stoker.  If you haven't realized yet that Throttle and the guys aren't the typical baby mice cowering in fear you used to teach, then you need glasses.  Throttle and Xander have had psychic sex before.  Probably a number of times.  They're like that.  From what I hear they're also into bondage now and then." Stoker shivered at that.  "Throttle is not some cheese-brained little moron doing stupid shit to gain attention and neither is Xander.  Which is why everyone likes him, including his boss."

"You heard about that?" Modo asked.

"Yup, did."  He shifted, looking uncomfortable.  "Boris  asked if he should up it when he called to see if Xander was going to have any more growth spurts."  He looked at Stoker.  "You need to get over it.  Throttle is still your protégé, even though he's with a guy.  No one's making any comparisons and you're driving him up the wall."

"Throttle usually laughs at that stuff," Vinnie said dryly.

"I meant Xander," Enamel said dryly.  "A few weeks back, the boy was hurting from something or other.  Where did he go?"

"I don't know," Stoker admitted.  "Vinnie?"

"He was?"  He shrugged.  "He didn't say anything to me."

"Would he?" Modo asked.  He looked at Enamel. "You watch him."

"Hell yes I watch him.  He's the one thing that does great things.  He inspires groups, he takes over and runs the show efficiently and effectively.  He can plan battles.  He can do some limited magic.  Reminding you of anyone you knew in history?"  Both younger mice stiffened.  "Exactly," he said dryly.  "So we've got him, we've got the cats, we've got Dawn.  We've got Throttle."  He finished up his coffee.  "You forget what a college degree used to entail, boys.  Some of us may not be M'dreth, but that doesn't mean we're stupid and clueless."

"How did you know?" Vinnie sighed.

"His bike.  Though I had my suspicions when I met him.  Who else could just suddenly turn mouse?"

Vinnie concentrated.  "Someone's purring.  I'm guessing it's Xander.  I'm also guessing that Throttle's the one petting him."  He sent a mental nudge and felt himself be slapped for it by a tail.  Not a mouse tail, but a furry tail.  "Hey!"

"Don't get in there, you'll get stuck again," Stoker complained.

"Coach, since the night that we had those living nightmares, Charley and I can feel those two having sex anyway.  It's not like they can't eject me now and then."  He got up to grab the breakfast from Modo when he heard movement, pouring her some juice too.  She had always wanted juice the last time.  He carried everything upstairs, smiling at her as she made her way back to bed with a yawn.  "Come on, sweetheart, I got you breakfast."

"Thank you."  She kissed him and obediently lay back down.  She was handed the plate and the juice, which she gulped.  "Any more?"

"A whole new jar," he said happily, going to get it for her, and the toast that Modo had just gotten done.  He took them all up to her again and sat down with her to baby her.  "They think Xander and Throttle are stuck again."

"Yay them," she said before taking a bite.  "They'll come out soon enough.  I can hear something purring at him."

Vinnie grinned.  "I'm thinking that's Xander's inner beast," he offered, giving her a kiss on the cheek.  "Eat, you need to eat."

She pinched him.  "I'm going to get you for doing it to me again."

"Sure, babe, if it takes and all, I'll let you beat me night and day for the next six months."  She grimaced. "Okay, eight," he sighed.  She pinched him again.  "Ow!  Hey!"

"So far I am, therefore I get to punish you."  She ate another bite.  "I can't hear Dawn chatting."

"She's not down there," Vinnie admitted.  "Neither's Rimfire."

"We should probably check on them," she said, then yawned again.  "I need a nap."

"Sure, you nap.  I'll handle anything that comes in that's not too hard.  After all, I can repair the bikes."  He kissed her again.  "Done?  You should finish that."

"Tell whichever one cooked for you that they did a good job and I'll eat it later," she promised through another yawn.

He grinned.  "I'll tell Modo that since he kept me from botching it up too badly."  He covered it with a clean towel from the closet but left it beside her bed, then went back downstairs, going over to the lair to check on everyone else.  He saw Rimfire's bike a bit slumped and patted it.  "What's wrong, girl?"  She beeped sadly.  "No, he's not leaving you.  They're just in tighter now."  He went to check, finding them in their magic room.  He noticed the candles looked like they had been lit recently.  The air smelled of wax and sex.  He walked in and slammed the door, getting a glare from Rimfire.  That's when he noticed the bite mark on his neck.  "You're in so deep.  Stoker's here."

"Cheese," Rimfire moaned, putting his head back down.  "I'll be up soon.  Can you toss us some clothes?"

"Hell no.  Go shower, you stink, kids."

"Fuck you," Dawn muttered.  "I'm allowed."

Vinnie rolled his eyes, going over to haul Rimfire up.  Tugging on Dawn would get him slugged by Rimfire because he was the epitome of a jealous mouse.  Rimfire glared at him.  "Go shower, now.  Take her with you.  Before Stoker comes over.  Or Enamel."

"Hell," Dawn complained, using Rimfire to pull herself up and steady herself.  "Shower, we do stink.  I think the oil broke on us."  She walked off, his hand in hers, and headed for the nearest shower.

Vinnie looked at the altar.  "You satisfied now?"  He felt the peace and contentment around him. "I guess you are.  Fine, you tell his mother."  He went to his bros' room, tapping gently.  He felt another mental nudge and went in, smiling at how they were tangled together like a knot.  Then he tickled Throttle's ear.  He got tail-swatted for it.  "Stoker's here."

"Fuck me," Xander complained.

"No, you fucked him, bro, get it right," Vinnie said dryly.  Xander lifted his head and grinned but didn't open his eyes.  "He's already complaining about you guys and mental superglue."

"Fuck him," they agreed in unison, then closed their eyes.

"Nope, not today, guys.  Today we got stuff to do.  Stuff like clean up, find Chassis, take Pit shopping and to the warehouse.  Little things like that which I cannot do.  I'm studly, but I don't know nothin' about building a house."  Xander moaned.  "Besides, I'd like the mental purring in *my* head to stop, please."

They both looked at him again.  "Sorry, bro, my shields failed majorly," Throttle sighed.

"Mine too," Vinnie agreed, sitting on the foot of the bed.  "Then again, with what Charley did to me last night, I'm not surprised they failed."  Throttle smirked at him.  "You know that vibrating ring thing you guys used to have?"  Xander moaned and nodded.  "She used it on me in just the right spot.  You might be missing a few other things too."

Xander lifted a hand by a few inches, pointing at his closet.  "In there, red bag with gold lettering.  Not the other one.  That one's his present."  Vinnie beamed and went over there, going to find his bag.  He found Throttle's and peeked.  He'd love that set of straps, they looked comfortable.  He found his bag under some other stuff and backed out of the closet, running into Enamel.  "Sorry, they got me something."

"Wonderful.  Use it carefully."  He stared him down.  "No more overly wild sex, Vincent.  It's not good for her until the second trimester."

"She is?" Throttle asked.

"She is," he sighed.  "Probably.  They got a bit wild last night themselves and he was a bit energetic so we're waiting to see if it's going to affect the baby implanting herself."

"Herself?"

"Possibly, just guessing. Did you want another son?"

"I'd like one who didn't call me poof," he offered.

"Teach him how to say daddy."

"I've been trying."

"Then he's enjoying seeing you blush and struggle against it," Enamel told him. " I'll check his vision again today."  He bent to check on Xander, then looked at Throttle.  "Nice job, he's now his own age as a mouse."

"How?  He was only fifteen last night."

"Hmm, you did *what* last night?" Vinnie asked dryly. He grinned at them.  "Come on.  We've got to eat.  You've especially got to eat, bro."  Xander stood up and you could tell he had lost a bit of weight.  The remaining baby fat was now gone from his body.  All his muscles stood out in splendid display.  Vinnie almost felt jealous for a second but he knew he looked better, even when starved.  He helped his little brother toward the shower, then came back to get Throttle too.  They both needed it.  And probably more but that should do for now.  He went to raid the fridge, bringing back more eggs, bread, and other stuff, but Modo tossed the bread.  "Was it bad?"

"It was when I tried to make a sandwich yesterday.  Dawn and Rimfire?"

"Um, bro, maybe you should sit down," he said, helping him into a chair.  "Um, I woke ‘em up.  They're kinda sore."

"Nothing new there," Modo said grimly.  "And?"

"They're both wearing bite marks on their necks."

"Excuse me?" Modo asked.  "They bit each other that hard?"

"Here," Vinnie said, laying a hand on where Modo's own former wife had once put a scar on him.  "Both of them," he said, staring into his remaining eye.

Modo jumped up.  "They did what!" he shouted.  "Rimfire!"

"Oh, shut up," Dawn called.  "He's got a headache."  She walked in leading Rimfire, putting him into a chair and frowning at Modo.  "You, sit down."  He glared at her and she glared back.  "Happened in the middle of it, neither of us planned it, but his headache ain't getting' better by you yellin' at him," she said firmly.

"Dawn, quit," Rimfire said calmly, patting her on the hand.   He stood up slowly, facing off with his uncle.  "I'm a grown mouse.  She's a grown woman now.  You all knew we were going to be bonding someday soon.  Well, it was kinda spur of the moment but it happened," he said dryly, staring him down.  "You know damn well I'm gonna take care of her.  I already do."

"You're too young!"

"Oh, quit, Uncle Modo!" he said firmly.  "I've been figuring out how to do this since last Christmas!  She's been mine since then in everything but bonding.  Now we're bonded.  You should have expected this."

"Fine, then you're going to tell everyone and you're going to make it official on Mars," he said firmly.  "Now, right now."

"We've got classes this afternoon," he said dryly.  "After classes we'll all go.  I'm not endangering ours or Mars' future by skipping my first day of college."  Modo and he stared each other down.  "I will tell Momma and Grandmomma before then if you want so they're not shocked and they can get there.  But I can't head to Mars until after classes are done for the day."

"Fine," Modo agreed, nodding a bit, looking at Dawn.  "You got anything else to put in?"

"Yeah, quit yelling at him," she said firmly.  "The only one who yells at my man is me."  He looked stunned at that.  "You're his uncle, Modo, quit acting like his damn owner.  I'm his owner."

Rimfire chuckled and kissed her on the cheek, sitting her back down.  "She hasn't had any caffeine yet," he apologized.  "We all know she doesn't like mornings either."

"Especially not with the magic hangover she's got," Vinnie said, staring Dawn down.

"Yell at him about that.  That was his thing, it just hit him," she said with a  wave of the hand.  "Yay me.   Should I try to find a white dress or is that not required on Mars?" she asked Stoker, who was staring numbly at them.   She snapped her fingers in front of his face.  "Earth to Stoker, you're down here now."  He blinked and stared at her.  "Do I need a white dress or anything else?"

"No," he said, shaking his head quickly.  "Not necessary.  Just be yourself."  He stared at Rimfire.  "Magic hangover?"

"She does do magic, the binding did include vows to protect each other, yeah, she's probably got a bit of one from last night.  That and I think I may have pulled her hair again once or twice."  She shook her head, getting up to rummage for something to drink.  She sat down with a soda, then looked at Xander as he was led in.  She let out a small giggle and handed him the soda, getting herself another one.  He took the unopened can with a frown.  "I hadn't drunk from it yet."

"I still don't want to know where your mouth was last night."  He looked at Rimfire.  "You'd better be good to her or else I will skin you and use your parts in horrible ways that'll make your shade beg and plead for mercy while crying blood tears.  You got that, Rimfire?"  He nodded quickly.  "Good.  Dawn, did we not have this talk about patience being a virtue when you were about sixteen?"

"We did, and it just kinda happened, he started it," she said, taking Rimfire's hand.  She wasn't scared of Modo, he wouldn't hurt Rimfire or her.  Xander would kill them both, unintentionally but he'd do it.  "Sorry, Xander."

He grimaced at her, then at Rimfire.  "Where's the knife?"

"It disappeared," Dawn said, then popped her soda and took a drink.  "She blessed it."

"Wonderful," Vinnie said grimly, glaring at them both.  "Sit!"  They both got comfortable and he went to start making more food, which Modo took over again.  "You okay?" he hissed.

"No.  I'm gonna go pout."

"I understand, big guy.  She'll treat him right and you know your momma loves her already.  We all knew it'd happen soon."  He gave him a nudge and a grin.  "Enamel said it might be a girl."

"Then we'd all better practice our aim.  That'll be one pretty baby, bro," he said with a sad grin.  He looked at his nephew again.  "Go call your mother."

"Fine."  He got up and went to call from the office.  It had a comfortable seat in it.  He put his feet up on the desk and grabbed the keyboard and the mouse, connecting to Mars.  "Hey, Carbine, I've been ordered to call my mother and my grandmother.  Can you please connect me in?"

"That depends, why would you need to call them?" she asked.

"We'll be coming to see you later," he said patiently.  "For now, I have to tell them first.  Uncle Modo said so."

"Rimfire, this is really for…."  He growled and she raised an eyebrow.  "You have better manners."

"Then get my gray furred Grandmomma to yell at my tail," he snapped.  "It's been a long damn night, I haven't had any breakfast yet, and my tail's sore.  Oh,  and we think we've got plutarkians again here.  Xander thought he saw a Limburger along with Greasepit, Greasebomb, and a bunch of goons."

"Excuse me?" she demanded.  He nodded.  "Since when?"

"About a day ago.  I'm sure that'll be discussed over breakfast, but I still need to speak to the two scary women in my family.  If you wouldn't mind? I still have trouble hacking in from this end."  She frowned but pushed the button.  He typed in the call code and his mother's commander/husband showed up.  "Sir, I need to speak to my mother on my Uncle's orders."

"Did something happen to the twins?"

"Not as far as I know.  But then again it's been a long, strange night."  He smiled weakly.  "Really, sir. I need to speak to her and Grandmomma afterward."

"Fine.  This time.  It had better be important."

"I'd hope so."  He gave him a dry look.  "They actually expected me to wait longer for her."

The commander gaped then hurried off, he could hear him running.  Dawn brought him a plate and a root beer.  "Thanks, babe."  He gave her a gentle kiss and a grin.  "Go before someone singes your tail too."

"Why would I?" Cell asked. "This had better be important, I was just training a bunch of new recruits in how to ……"  She trailed off when she saw her son's neck, tipping her head to the side.  "Turn your head in the other direction, son," she ordered.  He did so and she moaned.  "You dumbass!  You absolutely stupid, moronic, imbecile!"

"Hey!" Dawn protested.  "Only I get to call him that, woman!  You gave birth to him and I took his tail.  At least I appreciate it."  She glared her mother-in-law down.  "Modo said he had to call.  Otherwise you just would've gotten a call to come visit with Carbine when we showed up.  You do not yell at my man!"

"Well, you're protective of him, I like that much about you," Cell admitted.  "We will be talking, Miss Summers."

"I'm sure you will be, but you don't scare me.  My sister's bitchier than you.  So are the other slayer twats.   You ain't got nothin' on seventeen slayers on the rag at once."  Cell actually smiled at that.  "So calm it down, he's got a headache."

"Fine.  I'll save my yelling for in person.  Is there a child coming?"

"Oh, hell no," Dawn said impatiently.  "Not until we're back on Mars.  Permanently on Mars."  Cell nodded at that.  "It's a long story and we'll tell you sometime soon, but not now and not over this.  I'm going to go eat now.  I have a headache too."  She walked off, heading back to her breakfast.

"So, momma, did you and daddy do the thing with the knife too?" he asked, taking a bite of bacon.

"The knife?" she asked flatly.  He nodded.  "Yeah, did you?"  He beamed and nodded.  "I'm supposing it disappeared?"  He beamed even brighter.  "Did you even stop to think?"

"No, we were having sex and the urge and knowledge came to me.  It seemed to make her happy."  He shrugged. "It was only a matter of time anyway, momma."

"Fine, but no babies.  When are you bringing her up here for longer than a ten minute visit?"

"The holidays, in about four months."

"Fine.  We will be talking then, son."

"Yes, momma.  Can you switch me to grandmomma?  Uncle Modo said I had to call her too.  He's a bit upset."

"Gee, I wonder why?" she asked sarcastically.

"That's okay, Xander said he'd skin me and use me in horrible ways that would make my shade cry blood tears while begging for mercy.  Even Uncle Modo shut up at that one."

"Hmm.  I agree and I'll help him if you hurt her."

"Except for that one incident with the succubus," he started.

"I don't need to know about you and sex, son!" she said quickly, transferring him to Throttle's momma's house.

"Hey, Auntie.  Where's my Grandmomma?"

"In the garden, dear.  What's going on?"  He tipped his head to the side and she squealed, looking very happy.  "Finally!"

"Last night during sex.  Uncle Modo is not pleased with me," he said dryly.  He dug into his eggs.  "He's making breakfast too."  His grandmother came in and gave him an expectant look.  "It's not grandkids."

"Good.  What was it?"  He tipped his head to the side.  "Is that a bite mark, Rimfire?"  He nodded, eating another bite.  "Hungry?" she asked dryly.

"During sex, grandmomma.  It just kinda hit me and I went with it."  He beamed at her.  "We've already been threatened and we've got to go visit Carbine later to get hitched after classes.  We'll wait to do it down here by Earth standards for a while.  It'll just screw up her taxes or something."  He shrugged and ate another bite of breakfast.  "Chassis and Pit are here somewhere but not here presently.  I'm guessing Pit's off exploring somewhere and Chassis, well, I think she found a guy in the club who liked her."  He shrugged.  "Xander will know but he's not in the best of moods this morning.  They were having psychic sex and got interrupted apparently."  Both mothers sighed at that.  "Stoker's down here too.  Want me to send him back with the twins?"

"No, not yet,  let Modo have some fun for a few more days.  I'll make sure we're all there this afternoon, grandson."

"It's about ten local time here, we don't get off classes until six-thirty, so seven by the time we get home, eight tonight probably when we get up there.  Sound good?"

"That's nearly the middle of the night, son."

"Damn it."  He sighed and looked out in the hallway.  "Dawn?"

"No, me," Modo said patiently.  "Problems?"

"Time difference."  He looked at him.  "We won't get home until seven probably.  Our class is from four until six-thirty."  Modo nodded at that.  "So, that means probably eight after we change clothes and she quits fussing.  Which grandmomma said puts it about the middle of the night."

"What time?" Modo asked, coming in.  "Hi, momma.  Did you yell at him?"

"Son, it was only a matter of time," she chided.  "Besides, I like those two.  They've mostly got their heads on straight."  Modo grimaced at that.  "They're good kids."

"They're too young," he protested.

"So they'll learn to be adults together.  Goodness, son, I married at fifteen."  He gaped at that.  "You nearly had another older sister."   Modo sat down at that news.  "So they'll be fine.  We were and Rimfire's just like his granddaddy."

"No, I have a better sense of humor," Rimfire said dryly.  His grandmother chuckled at that and nodded.  "We've got classes for the next three days," he sighed, looking at his uncle.  "Up to you, Uncle Modo.  To us it is official."

Modo grimaced.  "When's your next free day?"

"Saturday."

"That's a holiday here, son," Modo's momma offered.

"Again, not great," Rimfire agreed.  He looked at him.  "If you truly want me to do this today, I can say I have to duck out early, at five."  Modo looked at him and nodded.  "Dawn and I both can."

"Can what?" she asked as she joined them again.  "Bad timing?"

"It'll be about the equivalent of ten at night," Modo's momma offered.

"So I call the teacher, tell her we're eloping tonight, we're leaving at five.  I told her things like this might happen due to childcare and other problems around here."  She shrugged.  "She seemed understanding."

Rimfire found his stuff from the school and dialed the normal phone, getting the operator at the college.  "Hi, ma'am, I need to speak to Doctor Sharpeneva in the English department please."  There was a buzz and he was transferred.

"Hello?" a tired voice called.

"Doctor Sharpeneva?  This is Rimfire and Dawn, we're in your class this afternoon?"

"It's been canceled, kids.  Not enough people coming.  We needed twenty and we only got fifteen."

"Shoot."  Dawn pouted a bit . "They won't reconsider since it's mandatory?"

"No. I tried that already.  They're suggesting 215 or 219 instead."

"Both of those were really early," Dawn protested.  "Unfortunately we have nighttime commitments about half the time and wouldn't be able to go.  Can we trade into 314?"

"Not without mine first," she offered.  "Personally, I would take poetry, it's an online course."

"I hadn't thought about that," Dawn admitted. "I thought it was by permission only."

"Some of us can't do poetry," Rimfire said grimly.  "I'll never make it through the readings."

"It's writing," the teacher said plainly.

"Then I'd never pass," Rimfire assured her.  "I cannot rhyme worth anything."

She let out a small chuckle.  "So take one of your other mandatories, like a computer class."

"I'm already on for those," Rimfire said.  "I'll talk to my advisor later ma'am, thank you."

"You're welcome.  Why were you calling?"

"We were going to have to cut out early to elope," Dawn told her.

"Oh, goodness.  Congratulations," she said, sounding happier.  "I wish you the best of luck, you two. I hope to see you next semester.  Have a good day."  She hung up.

Dawn looked at the parents.  "Okay, so we can come up.  That was our only class today.  When's a good time?"

"In about three hours," the mothers said together.

"Give Cell some time to complain first," Modo's mother offered.  "I'm assuming you told her first, grandson?"  He nodded, finishing off his eggs.  "Good boy.  We'll see you then.  That's usually a break for them anyway."  She wiggled her fingers and cut the connection, when sent them back to Carbine.

"Three hours good for you, sir?" Rimfire asked.  "Our first class got canceled."

"Fine.  We're in down time then," she agreed.  "I'm sure I'll be seeing your whole family?"

"Most likely," Dawn agreed.  "You need to see Buffy too?"

"Xander has custody of you, that's enough," she said firmly.

"Sure.  That's good with us."

"No, have her bring Buffy up," a voice called.

"Hey, Rivet.  We're coming up during the holidays."

"I need some information," she called.

"Then we'll send you down.  We're not exposing Mars to Buffy Summers," Carbine said firmly.  "Go away, kids."  She hung up on them.

Rimfire finished his breakfast quickly and looked at his uncle.  "Is there any more?  I figure I'll need the energy tonight."  Dawn swatted  him.  "I should. It's our honeymoon."

"I just started, honey, it's going to be a few days," she said firmly, going to get him some more food.  He would probably always be a bottomless pit.

Modo patted Rimfire on the head.  "I'm proud that you're thinking ahead, Rimfire, but I think you moved too fast.  I'm not disappointed, but I still think you moved too fast."

"Which is great and all, Uncle Modo, but I know very well Grandmomma stopped you and your former wife from sneaking out to elope twice before you graduated."

"We, um, kinda had to," he admitted dryly.  "Then she lost the baby.  We still stuck together though."  He stared him down.  "I will expect that from you."

"Of course.  She's mine and only mine."  Modo grinned at that.  "I'm forgiven?"

"For now, until you do the next stupid thing.  Call your advisor, see what you can put in that class's  place for next week."  He walked off, going back to his food.  He felt better now.  "Three hours," he announced.

Xander nodded.  "Sure, I can find clothes by then.  Should we try to call Stan and see if he's still got Chassis?"  Everyone stared at him and he beamed.  "You didn't seem ‘em leave?" he asked with a catty smirk.  He pulled over the phone and dialed the station from memory.  "May I please speak to Lieutenant Welsh?  No, sir, Xander Harris.  It's not an emergency either.  Well, Detective Kowalski if he's in, but if not, him.  Please.  Sure.  Ray's fine."  He grinned as the phone was switched.  "Ah, detective.  Did Stan call off?"  He sipped his soda.  "Because he's got one of our Martians with him for a long discussion since last night and there's going to be a wedding today.  We thought she might like to attend."  He grinned.  "Sure.  Thanks, man.  You okay?  Then you have an easy day, detective."  He hung up.  "He'll call him at home."

"I'm sure he'll like that," Vinnie agreed with a grin.  "Think they hit it off that well?"

"Hopefully.  Stan's a nice guy," Xander said, finishing his soda and sitting up fully again.  He winced a bit. "I could use a soak in the hot pool.  Vinnie, can I?"

"We'll go together.  Since she won't let Carbine bond us."   They got up and headed next door to go rest in the hot tub and work on Xander's Martian some more.

Enamel shook his head.  "Kids."

"Tell me about it," Stoker said grimly. Then he grimaced.  "Why am I agreeing with you?"  Enamel laughed at that.  "Asshole."

"Not really.  Otherwise Xander wouldn't like me."  He smirked and got up, heading to check on Charley then head home.  It was happy news he could pass on.  Shell would be pleased.

Episode 57:

Rimfire led the way into the Council Chamber, nodding politely at them.  "Are we on break yet?"

"Nearly," Stoker said, pointing at some chairs that had been imported.  "Sit."  Xander sat between him and Carbine.  "Comfy, mini-punk?" he taunted.

"Sure I am."  He smiled at Spike and he growled and pounced him.  "I figured he was around somewhere."  He grinned at Stoker.  "I make his week."

"You do.  Anya's pouting in my office if you wanted to make hers."

"Eh, she'll want Dawn more."  He gave Spike a cuddle.  "Hey, little mouse."  He nuzzled noses with him and grinned, getting a dirty look from him so he winked and Spike just sighed, remembering what Xander was like.  He looked up as someone was let in, then groaned and shook his head.  This mouse was wearing tweed.  He pointed at him and whispered in Spike's ear.  "Look, it's a Giles mouse."  Spike giggled and pinched him but made a dirty face at the mouse giving him an odd look.

"Whaddya want?" Exhaust said tiredly.  Apparently he'd heard from this mouse before.

"I come to talk to you today about the greatest threat to our civilization, this continued dependance on modern ideas that we cannot possibly hold with our current population.  We cannot hope to hold this city if something more drastic were to happen," he said pompously. "We've proven it already with those two miniature attacks."

"I wouldn't call them miniature," Carbine said firmly.  She too sounded tired of this already.  "Back when there was still a real army, not even they could have taken on a full stench cruiser and it's crew with only twelve losses."  Xander glared at her and she glared back.  "Plus one civilian casualty," she admitted calmly, looking at the tweed-wearing mouse again.  "The reformation of cities has let us pool our resources so we were sure to win battles like that."

"But the Plutarkians are no more," the mouse said firmly.

"Yeah, there are," Xander said, glaring at him.  "They're on Earth.  Some bubble-headed imbecile let them live in Siberia."

"Where's that?" Carbine asked.  "I never did get that clarified adequately."

"Northern Russia.  It's a frozen wasteland."

"Does the cold hurt them?" the mouse wanted to know.

"Ya know, no one thought to ask them that or their preference when they came seeking asylum and the idiot gave it to them and conned the other leaders into agreeing," Xander said dryly.  He looked at Stoker.  "I saw one of the Limburger's the other day.  They are moving."

"We don't have proof of that, Xander," Throttle said firmly.  "I don't want to jump and you said it could have been a hologram.  I don't want to upset Micah by coming to him with less than real proof, like a picture.  Until then, we're on alert and doing sweeps," he noted patiently.  "I'm not going to discount it but I don't want to be paranoid either.  Not with how useful of an ally Micah has been to Mars."

"It's a good strategy until you know for sure," Stoker agreed quickly.  "What are they doing?"

"They've set up a foundation to do genetics research," Rimfire told him, flipping some of his hair back into place.  "They're at the same college Dawn and I are starting at.  There's also been no mention of if their ships were disabled or cannibalized."

"They were cannibalized," Xander told him.  "Otherwise the Russians were going to take them as payment for letting them squat their fat, smelly asses on their ice."

"What's ice?" the mouse demanded.  "This makes no sense!"

"Ice and snow are frozen precipitation.  We get a lot of that on Earth," Xander said dryly.  "Siberia is like a desert made of ice and snow.  Plus some radiation in places if I remember right."  He looked at Carbine.  "There's been no obvious movements from their compound but they can't get an daily count on them either.  It's too far in the middle of nowhere to set up more than remote watching stations.  They're using mechanicals for it."

"It's probably best not to get too near anyway, they could corrupt them or turn them to their side," Carbine agreed quietly.  "They could restart that Cold War Micah was telling me about."

"Easily," Xander agreed.  "Then again, Japan might have them beaten technology wise.  You never know what they're hiding."  He looked down at Spike.  "Right?"  He nodded, giving him a patient look.  "I talked with Buffy, she got you a card for your birthday."

"Bottle blonde," Spike snorted.

"Not anymore.  Micah said he preferred brunettes so she quit hitting the bottle."  He ruffled the pale gray fur.  "You're almost silver anymore.  Did you sun bleach instead?"

Spike smirked and nodded.  "Sissy made me.  Sunlight sucks."

"I agree," Xander said, giving him another cuddle.  He grinned at the other guy.  "If you're so worried about cities being the enemy and overpopulating the world faster than it can feed or account for, then why are you bothering these people?  You're not going to change the minds of warriors.  They're seeing the defensive capabilities and the fact that they do have a pool of warriors to pull from."

"If we went back to clans, we would as well.  We'd just have to have some agreements in place."

Xander gave him a long look, then stared in his eyes.  "Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"I did study it a bit, yes," he said bitterly.  "I was also in the war.  You?"

"I was like, ten, when it ended here," Xander told him.  Carbine gaped at him so he nodded.  "I'm only a few years older than Dawnie, Carbine."

"So Throttle picked someone barely legal?" she snorted, smirking at her former lover.  "Going for the scandal?"

"He was fully legal when we got together and he was a warrior then," he said firmly, glaring back.  She shivered so he knew she felt it.  "Xander is who he is, and the fact that he's one of Earth's protectors made him all the more special, even if it is annoying when he gets up in the middle of the night to go stake a vampire."

"Still, at your age," Stoker taunted with a bright smirk.

Xander poked him.  "Shut up, gramps.  You're married to a girl who's younger than me and you're how much older than Throttle?"  He smirked at the grimace Stoker gave him.  "Hey, I was fighting other things long before I met them and I was just barely legal the first time we met.  I was fully legal when I moved back.  Consider what he might have done if he had met the younger and wilder me."

"He is only twenty five," Dawn agreed. "Soon to be twenty-six and we've got to do something about this birthday, Xander."

"Bite me, Dawn.  I don't do birthday parties anymore.  I haven't since I was six."

"We can at least have a nice dinner and cake," Throttle assured him.  Xander gave him a head shake.  "Yes, we will, Xander.  Otherwise Vinnie gets to plan the party."

"Ooooh," Vinnie said, rubbing his hands together.  "I haven't done that since the one for Proxima."

Everyone shuddered at that and yelled "NO!" at him.

Carbine added in a 'bad mouse' and a scowl.

Xander looked at Stoker.  "That bad?" he asked.

"Just don't ask," he groaned, holding his head.  "Trust me, don't ask."

"I'll show you later," Throttle promised.  He pinched Vinnie.  "Nothing that wild."

"Sure.  Maybe a strip-o-gram at work or something.  A gorilla one since we couldn't get a mouse one."

"Well, Rimfire could use a job soon," Stoker said dryly.  "Maybe he can do that."

"Bite my tail, Stoker," he said dryly.  "The only one who looks at me naked is my Dawn."

"Can we please get back to the subject at hand!" the tweed mouse demanded in a high and whiny voice.  "These cities are dangerous.  They give false hope and complacency.  We will be caught off-guard and killed because of it."

Xander looked at him.  "Okay, hot shot.  Let's see if you think you know what it takes to be in a real clan.  Now, granted, this is based on scientific evidence from Earth's past, when most humans were roving clans.  The average protein intake for a mouse is about a pound, right Stoker?  For good diet maintenance?"

"Probably a bit more.  Maybe a pound and a half.  Most of us are near starving about half the year."  He relaxed, letting Xander work.  He'd seen him in action before and he wanted to see him run over this idiot.

"Okay, so a pound and a half of protein minimum," Xander said, staring down the tweed mouse.  "A day.  Can you do that?  There's how many days in a year on Mars?"

"In our calendar, 580," Carbine said, mimicking Stoker even though she wasn't sure Xander could make this one go away.

"So let's say five hundred for the sake of the easier math and because sometimes hunting will be bad.  So that's....750 pounds of meat in a year, caught fresh daily since you won't have a way to preserve it past drying it and that'll take some of the nutritious value away.  For each mouse.  Now, that's not counting the calcium and iron you'll need to keep your bones stronger, which is something that can kill you as many old people each year prove.  How were you planning on doing that?"

"Some of the huntable creatures are high in calcium and iron as well," he said firmly.  "Plus, a single mouse can easily hunt a pound and a half a day."

"Ah, but if you're talking about a clan situation, which you were," Xander said dryly, continuing to stare him down, "then you've got to get enough for each person in that clan to have that much.  So a twenty mouse clan would need about thirty pounds a day.  Can you still hunt that much?"  He nodded.  "Fine, we'll leave you with that thought, because I'm not sure where you'd get it all. I did some hunting on our trip to Olympus Mons and I barely found anything."

"Yes, and what you did find gave us bad hallucinations," Vinnie butted in.  "Never again, Xander."

"Sure, Vinnie."  He looked at the tweed mouse again.  "Okay, so that's protein intake.  What about medicine?  How are you going to provide for the sick?  There's not enough doctors on Mars, I know that for a fact and from personal experience know that some of them aren't as well trained as they used to be."  Stoker choked a bit at that.  "So how are you going to determine the sick from the well and take care of the sick?"

"There are enough if you put the medics into each clan and leave the healers and the doctors in a central location," he said firmly.  "I've drawn up plans," he said, pulling them out and handing them over.  At least this one was using logical arguments.

Xander looked at them.  "Um, small point of order, my man.  Those farming things?  Those are called villages, which are the precursor to cities."  He looked at him.  "Plus you left no room for defense or enough people for defense. You also forgot to take into account that no line was untouched by the war, so many families these days are made up of bros, like mine.  How would you make that clan?  All the Van Wham's, all Throttle's remaining family, all Modo's remaining family?  Well, we'd be a warrior heavy group, but that would deprive others.  If you take Vinnie's cousins alone and their families, which you would have to, that would include another six families there.  How were you planning on mitigating that development?"

"They would have the choice of which clan to join," he said firmly, staring him down.  "Who are you?"

"Xander.  I'm Throttle's mate."  The man looked stunned so he smirked.  "I'm also the one who got the civilians out during that battle.  I'm the one who got those mice who don't use technology or guns out of harm's way."  The man blinked a few times and stepped back.  "Now, how would your small clans, with the two exceptionally large ones that would be formed of interwoven families, deal with a protection situation?  Who said the Plutarkians can't come back?  After all, if we kick them off Earth, they're going to go somewhere.  Here would be a tolerable fallback position since they know the lands and how we fight."  The man gaped.  "It would also be because there's so much crap they left hidden around here because they couldn't ship as fast as they mined or used.  That's how you guys got the transporter.  Also, your farming plans are inadequate.  Speaking as someone who does know a tiny bit about it from Rimfire's new textbooks that's he's sending up, you need to grow at least a pound of veggies per person per week.  At the minimum for healthy people.  You can't do that in smaller numbers.  A family might manage if they can plant things that grow at different times in their plots.  Then again, a city could do that on a larger basis because they would have the technology to cultivate and protect it.  For a single person to do it would be tiring."

"You'd need a garden the size of a football field and canning and preservation techniques," Dawn butted in.  "Which you have but not enough of.  Plus that would also require arable lands, which you don't have enough of.  Farming in the desert is a tricky thing, that's why Rimfire's taking those classes, so he can pass back some information to the rest of you guys to help you."  She stared at him, then shook her head.  "The only way you're going to prove your point well enough is for you to take yourself and those like you and do it for say, six months?  Or half a year, sorry that's half a year on Earth."

"We could do that," the mouse said firmly.  "Would that get the Council's approval?"

"We can't stop you from doing damn fool stuff," Exhaust told him. "If you and the other like minded people want to form a clan and go backward in time, go ahead.  Check in every now and then so we know how you're doing."

Stoker looked at him.  "You can have a ten person tent, that should be enough, and you can have a backpack each of survival supplies.  We've got enough of those on the older bases. Put 'em to good use, man.  Check back in half a year."

"Fine.  We'll talk about that and I'll give you a list so you can reassign housing and things."  He nodded at Xander.  "It was a well-thought-out argument."

"Thanks, I try," he said with a smirk.  "Sometimes.  Every now and then I still stomp my feet and pout like Spike here.  I find it gets me hugged."  The mouse raised an eyebrow but left it at that and walked out.

"I never knew Giles had an illegitimate child who was a mouse," Dawn said dryly.

"Me either," Xander agreed.

"Wanker," Spike agreed.

Xander hugged him.  "That's the Spike we know and love.  Some day soon you'll find someone who'll make you wanna protect 'em the same way too."

He looked up at him like he was insane.  "There's no Dru here."

"And aren't you glad?" Dawn teased, grinning at him.  "Just think about that mouse."

"She'd be M'dreth anyway," Stoker said dryly.  He didn't like this conversation.  "So, what else was on the menu besides that nauseating news that Plutarkians are still stinking up your city?"

"We were supposed to be here as a family group," Rimfire told him.  "Uncle Modo said so."

"That position to make sure all couples get wed is still open," Carbine said with a smirk for the trio of older mice.  "You should start with Vincent."

"She refuses," he said with a touch of bitterness.  "We're still arguing over the human version, but thanks anyway, Carbine.  Glad to know you care."

"I still say we should introduce these guys to the alternate version of me," Xander told them all.  That way Vinnie was out of the spotlight.  His big brother gave him a subtle grin for it.  "After all he's like a fifteen-year-old me underneath the fun exterior."

"There's another version of you running around down there?" Carbine asked.  "Like from another dimension or something?"  Xander nodded.  "Then why hasn't reality stopped?  That breaches untold laws of physics."

"Because he's not me.  I'm not him.  We're not exactly the same, Carbine.  He's a fifteen- year-old me who's...a lot like my boss," he decided to be decorous in case not everyone knew what a vampire was.

Spike gave him an awed look.  "Bloody hell.  A vamp you?"

Xander beamed and nodded.  "Yeah.  Cordy wished him up.  He and the boss get along famously.  That's why he offered Throttle money to sleep with me."

"Why hasn't the world ended yet?" Carbine demanded.  "Two Xander's are just too much for any poor, stressed out world.  Earth should have ended by now."

Stoker looked at Xander, then glanced at Carbine before looking at him again.  "No more making her panic, mini punk.  Please.  I don't need that headache either."  Xander just beamed at him, totally unrepentant.

"We don't associate much anyway," Throttle assured her.  "It's just weird seeing how Xander could have turned out if the Master had gotten him instead."

"Yeah, well, I apparently have a lot of fun with that," Xander reminded him.

"Don't remind us," Modo said dryly.  He looked at Stoker.  "Where's Momma and Cell?"

"Cell's still complaining about her son," he said patiently.  "Your mother should already be here.  I'm not sure why she's not."

Rimfire looked at his uncle.  "Unless Momma and Grandmomma can get here, I'm not going through with this."

"I agree," he assured him, giving him a pat on the shoulder that nearly sent him sprawling.  "I wouldn't want to either.  Family should be here for these things."

"What things?" Exhaust asked, looking at them.  He saw the side of Rimfire's neck and smirked.  "Oh, really?"  Rimfire smirked back and nodded.  "I see."

"See what?" Stoker demanded.  He looked at him, then at Dawn, not seeing anything abnormal.  He caught Modo stroking his neck and frowned, he wasn't sure what he was doing or if he had an itch.  He looked again, Rimfire had a bad fur spot there.  "Need brushed?"

"No, I did that earlier," Dawn assured him smugly.  "He likes it when I brush his back for him."

"Fine, I'm still lost," Stoker admitted.

"It's okay, coach, we expect that from you," Vinnie said in his most annoying and pleased coo.  "After all, look what happened the first time Switch went into false labor."

"A mouse is allowed to panic at those moments, Van Wham.  Were you that calm?"

"Charley didn't have any and I was only scared she'd brain me," Vinnie snorted.  "After all, my girl's really fierce when she wants to be."  She pinched him and he yelped.  "Ow, sweetheart.  Easy on the merch."

"Oh, shut up, Vinnie," she ordered, rolling her eyes.  "Too much white mouse mouth."

"Awww, but I was good," Xander defended.  "I talked him out of trying to make everyone die a horrible death from starvation, illness, or premature aging."

"Not you, your twin mouth," she said, staring him down.  "Spike, bite him."

"He tastes funny," Spike said, sounding upset about that fact.

"It's because he won't eat hotdogs," Modo told him.

"Nah, it's that thread of chaos that surrounds him," Stoker told his son.  "That unpredictability."

Spike snorted and shook his head.  "He used to taste good.  It's the fur."

Xander nipped him on the ear, making the little mouse yelp.  "You still taste good."

Spike just gave him an odd look, then burst out in giggles.   That was the Xander he knew and had loathed but almost respected.  "I want Wheatabix," he decided.

"I'll send up some shredded wheat," Xander said dryly, looking at Stoker.  "Should I send the stuff with sugar or without?"  Stoker's mouth just hung open.  "I have to go anyway, *someone* forgot to put some of the mom's stuff in the fridge and it went bad," he said dryly.

"How was I to know that those things needed to be put into the fridge," Vinnie complained.  "Throttle's mom said she wanted fruit so I got her some."

"You did, big brother, but we'll go pick out some stuff that won't rot within a day."

"Kids," Throttle sighed, shaking his head.  "Modo, go call your mother and sister.  That way we don't torment the Council any more than we have to."

"I'm kinda enjoying it," he admitted, but he did go to call them.  He got Racer instead.  "Racer, where's momma?"

"She went to hospital with baby brother," he said, frowning greatly.  "He had itchy tail and was bleeding.  Cell went to make Primer sorry."

"Thanks, little guy," Modo offered, smiling at him.  "Why didn't you come down with the twins?"

He blinked at Modo, then glanced behind himself.  "Because this way I didn't have to play with them for a few days.  Girls are annoying.  'Specially those two."

Vinnie burst out in cackles at that, falling off to the side to roll around.

"They can be at times, but you'll grow out of that," Modo assured his adopted nephew.  "Give it a few years."

Racer shook his head.  "I like other girls, Uncle Modo, but those two are really annoying.  Shot keeps trying to open my belly button and Detail always wants me to be her dolly.  I hate dresses.  'Specially her ugly one."  He scowled.  "Can they stay with you?"

"Primer might not like that, little guy," Modo said, trying hard not to grin at him.

"She's nearly as bad," he complained, whining a bit.  "She messes up my fur and everything! I can't get a girlfriend with messy fur!  I can't even get a pretend one with messy fur.  Then I complain and she laughs and Momma swats her one, but she just laughs harder.  Can they all come stay with you?"

"No, but when you're older you can come down, just like Rimfire did," Modo promised.  "That way you won't have to deal with them."  He touched the screen.  "Tell Momma that Rimfire's holding off since she couldn't come and that I hope the baby's okay."

"He's the best," Race said with a happy grin, changing moods like the bros changed gears.  "He poos whenever Detail tries to cuddle him and he likes me because he likes to play with my ear.  He even doesn't cry for me when I'm feeding him his bottle at bedtime.  Momma says I'm very good at taking care of him," he said proudly.

"I'm sure you are," Modo agreed, grinning at him.  "It's good that you're so good with babies.  Maybe you'll become a doc some day and take care of them."

"Can I?"

"Sure."  He looked back at Stoker.  "He can, right?"

"We could use more good doctors," he agreed.  "Racer's pretty smart, he's good with his hands, and he shows some compassion because he hasn't beaten the snot out of Shot yet for trying to nibble his tail."

"She does what?"

"She's teasing him but he just sighs and walks off and goes to help your mother with something," Stoker assured him.

"I get in trouble if I hit her," Racer complained.  "I think it's only fair since she's trying to torture me but Momma said boys shouldn't hit girls unless they're bad girls so I can't do it to her yet.  Not until she's older and goes evil.  She'll be worse than any Plutarkian to all us boy mice."  He leaned closer to the screen.  "She wants to make me a girl mouse, Uncle Modo.  How do I stop her?"

"I'll have a talk with her," he promised.  "She can't do that and we'd all hurt her if she actually tried.  That's not how good girls act."

Racer beamed at him.  "Thank you!  Can I give Momma another message too?"

"No, just tell her I called and that Rimfire's holding off since she couldn't be here and that I hope the baby's okay."

"Sure, Uncle Modo.  You have a nice day and pat Rimfire on the ears for me for that card.  It worked very well."

Rimfire beamed at him.  "Of course it did, it worked on her mother.  Primer was worse than both of them combined, Racer.  It's only getting better through the generations."

"If you say so.  Did Auntie Primer try to make you a girl too?"

"Yeah, she even came at me with a knife once to try it.  I whipped her tail and made Momma yell at her for it.   Remind my Momma of that and she'll stop the girls."

"Yes, Rimfire.  Thank you."  He waved. "I'd better go.  I've got lessons."  He signed off.

"She did?" Carbine asked.

"Yeah, when she was about twelve.  You thought it was just a girl thing why she had casts on both arms and one foot?"

"I thought she fell off Cell's bike," Modo said dryly.

Rimfire gave him a long stare.  "Momma said that so she wouldn't be embarrassed.  The second time she tried it she did it in public and Turbo stopped her by whipping her tail and making sure she knew she'd never get a date after that.  Look at her now," he finished dryly.

"That's not nice," Modo complained.

"No but it's the truth and if it hurts, you're doing something wrong," Rimfire shot back.

"It's still not nice and she's your sister, young man," Modo said firmly.  "We are family even if she's a bit odd mentally."

"She can't be all bad, she likes Xander," Vinnie offered.  "Wanted to steal him."

"She promised to wait in line for hell freezing over and me leaving him," Throttle said impatiently.  "So, anything else since we can't get the mothers in?"

"Rivet left a note of what she needs from Cleveland," Carbine said, balling it up and tossing it at Dawn's head.  "You sure?  We can do this anyway."

"Grandmomma would kill you for even suggesting that we do things like that without her being present," Dawn said, staring her down.  "Besides, it's not as fun without the family there to celebrate."

"Point," Carbine admitted.  She looked at Stoker.  Then at Xander.  "Pit?"

"Is working on his list.  I took him to Home Depot and he came on the spot when he saw everything, especially the trees and stuff.  So we're working with one of the design guys there who used to live in Arizona.  That's desert country too and he's figuring out what they can use.  He's one who doesn't realize I'm not human anymore."

"That's good," Exhaust offered. "How much longer?"

"Maybe a week," Xander told him.  "The extra stuff warehouse wasn't as helpful as he wanted.  He said there's no use for things like wallboards, it'll just take up space.  I told him they made good decorations and he decided he wanted to stick with the firmly functional for now.  He did like the idea of the toilets but he said it's a water waster so he let it go at that and took a lot of drawings to work on his own ideas.  I suggested the one you guys have on the ships.  He said it's not totally applicable but that we might be able to reform it."  He looked at Carbine, then at Stoker.  "Boris found one of Throttle's older, non-working lasers.  He's improved on the design with some help from me.  They're really nice rifles and we now have some extra fuel cells and a recharging base for them and the old ones."

"How much did you have to beg?" Stoker asked.

"Beg?  Me?" Xander asked with a smirk.  "Not at all.  I found out about it while he was working on it.  He found the older, non-working one in my desk drawer when we were going over weapon designs I had stored and he slipped it out without me realizing it.  Micah's coming in to look at them shortly so you might want to give him a call."  He stood up with a moan.  "Oooh, too much lunch."  He shook his head and nuzzled Spike then put him down.  "There.  You go play and taunt your sister less.  Remember, she's fragile."

"Mentally," Spike snorted, glaring at him.  "I'm not like that, poof."

Xander frowned.  "Vinnie said that's how parents and favorite uncles and stuff nuzzled the kids."

"It is," Stoker agreed, smirking at him.  "He just hates it, it messes up his fur."  He picked up his son and put him on his lap.  "Pretty soon you'll be in a training class.  Then what'll you do all day?"

"Beat the snot out of the idiots," Spike muttered.  Stoker gave him a look so he beamed at him.  "I will."

"Remember, Spike, you've already got a pretty good pack going," Xander pointed out.  "They might need some help.  Become cooperative with them."  Spike gave him a sideways look, then looked thoughtful.  "After all, Ramjet seems like she'd be good at math."

"True," he admitted.  "Maybe."  He smirked at him.  "Bloody poof."

"Hey, I haven't been in a fight in d...weeks."  He smirked at him.  "I've been a good Xander mouse.  What about you?"  He got a smirk and a tongue stuck out at him.  "That's what I thought.  How's Piston?"

"Tired.  He sick and smelly."

"I had that," Xander sighed, shaking his head.  "Vinnie, since we're here, you needed to talk to someone about the chicken pox vaccine."

"Point," he agreed, hopping up and heading up to the doctor's board area.  They would know which vaccines he could give Vic and which he should give him.

Xander looked at Stoker.  "Also, we're going to need something to start home training the kid soon," he noted.  "So at least a list of where to start until we know what he wants to be when he grows up."

"I can get you the standard curriculum," Carbine promised.  "He'd just be starting playgroup up here."

Xander looked at her.  "He's actually a great help when I'm working on my bike.  We're doing it that way and the usual toddler and preschool stuff.  So I need to know what the Martian equivalents and anything specific by age group.  I know we can do Earth history when he's old enough and if we're down there, but it won't help him up here with facts everyone else seems to know."  He grinned.  "Besides, some of that I should probably read over anyway."

"True," Exhaust agreed, smiling at him.  "At his age, it's mostly play and getting the motor skills down.  How are yours?  I see you've hit another growth spurt."

"No, I'm fully caught up," he said smugly.  "I'd show off but that would deprive me of a backrub later."  Throttle gave him a look.  "No?"

"No.  Go ahead."

Xander rubbed his hands together and from a standing position went into a backflip, then a quick tumbling run, then punched the person he could kinda see up on the wall by the ceiling.  The mouse fell with an 'oomph' and he landed beside him, smirking down at him.  "Hi.  That light bending stuff is really great.  I could use that."  He took it off him and looked down at the tan mouse.  "Hey.  Who're you?"

"I will get you for that," he ground out, throwing something at Stoker, but Modo shot it out of the air and he glared at him.  "And you."

"I doubt you're going to get anyone," Throttle told him, standing up and coming over to look at him.  "Where you from, kid?"

"Luna."

"One of the other cities sent you to assassinate us?" Carbine asked, starting to snicker.  "Why?  We've offered to let them join us in what we're getting and to pass on anything we can.  We've tried to make everything cooperative and they wouldn't let us," she said when Throttle looked at her.

Xander squatted down next to him, making the mouse look at him.  "Listen, you little shit, what they have is me.  It's also the stuff they've found in the mountains, like the transporter.  We'd love to include the other cities.  I want nothing more than for Mars to prosper and become the grand lady she used to be.  I'm hoping like hell my step-kids will live to see Mars green some day.  So get off your high horse and ask to come get stuff.  Or to be included.  It's not like you can't go around your city and find tons of shit hidden there.  There's nothing that says the other cities can't find their own transporter or use this one to come to Earth and get stuff.  We've got people down there willing to help who can easily fit in another contact from other cities.  All you have to do is show up."

The mouse got free of him and rolled backward, getting to his feet.  "You're not one of us," he sneered.

"No shit, sherlock.  Figure that out within a minute or more?" he asked dryly.  He waved at him.  "Come on.  You wanna take out the old fart over there, you face me."  The mouse glared at him.  "I mean it.  I won't take you on for Carbine, she's a tough old bitch who makes most grown men piss themselves, but I only pick on her."  He sneered.  "You think you have what it takes to take out a Biker Mouse or their students?"

"I can handle him," Dawn offered.  "I am a student too."

"That too," Rimfire agreed, kissing the back of her hand.  "Just hit him, Xander."

"I'm not one to attack first, Rimfire.  If he wants to try something, I will stop him, but I'm not going to attack someone who has enough brains to realize he's in a bad spot and might change his mind."  He looked at the mouse, noticing the dagger in his hand.  "Try it."  The mouse threw it and he fired, hitting the blade and knocking it off course and away from Spike, then he pounced the mouse.  The guy tried, he really did, but if this was army training it was pathetic.  He had him down and bleeding within moments.  He knelt on the mouse's back, barely breathing hard.  "Now then," he said quietly.  "We want to form a cooperative government with the other cities.  We'd like to become friendly and not have a civil war next.   You're making sure that won't happen.  I can't let that happen. Mars will never recover with this idiocy.  Which city council member sent you?"  The man only grunted.  Xander grabbed some of the fur on the back of his head and yanked.  "Which one?" he growled in his ear.  "Before I have to take it from your shade.  I can and will do that.  It's fun and games for some of us."  The mouse let out a whimper so he gave another yank.  "Who!"

"Prestone."

"Thank you."  He let him go and stepped back.  "All yours, Carbine.  Did you train him?  He's awfully stiff and pathetic."  He wiped off his hands and the small trail of blood from his mouth.  The guy had only gotten in three good shots and the other two were making his ribs ache but not in a critical way.  A good heating pad would take care of those.

"Unfortunately we did," she admitted.  "Guards!"  Two mice ran in.  "Him," she said, waving at the mouse on the floor.  "Thank you, Xander.  What's the running total now, Exhaust?"

"I find hugs work much better than medals," Throttle taunted.  He smirked at his mate.  "I'll reward you later with that backrub you wanted.  Nice job."

"Vinnie will be sorry he missed that show," Modo teased, smirking at him. "Vinnie!"

"Coming!" he called.  He jogged in a few minutes later.  "What smells like Plutarkians?"

"The two we have in custody," Stoker told him.  "They refuse to tell us their names and we don't have them in the records.  By law we can't execute them until we know their names."  He looked at Xander, then back at Vinnie.  "Your dog was quite good at tracking them down.  Switch's dog protected her and the kids but the bigger one did track him very well.  He was peering in the windows looking for me and Tap."

"Huh," Vinnie said, smirking at him.  "Good job.  Need some dog treats?"

"No, I gave him a long pet and he was more than happy," Stoker assured him.

"Little doggy licks everyone," Spike complained.  "Big dog mine.  Little dog Anya's and mommy's.  Even if he does follow daddy to work."

Xander beamed at him.  "Good dog," Xander agreed happily.  "Dogs are great.  Much better than the fish eating Tara at the moment.  She got another one, Vinnie.  I had to give her the last can of wet food."

"Thanks, man.  How many are we down now?"

"Six.  I'm counting it as a natural disaster.  They died in a drought or something."  He shrugged.  "We done?"  Everyone nodded.  "You sure?  Should you go get Vic and bring him back so they can look him over?"

"No, we're good on that end," Vinnie assured him.  "Enamel's been sending back records for him and you each time there's an exam."  He smirked at him.  "How was the fight?"

"He was stiff and pathetic," Xander said, putting an arm around his shoulders and walking him back through the transporter to the house.  He ran into Micah and hugged him. "Hey, bossman."  He walked him on, taking him to the gym.  "I still have trouble integrating my tail at times."

"It's not that hard, we can work on that," Vinnie assured him, beaming at him. "Did he manage to hit you?"

"I gave him a free shot, he got me two other times with a real punch and a few girly swats.  Worse than Dawn ever did."  He beamed at him.  "Nothing too serious, bruise making stuff."  They slammed the gym door in whoever was following them's face.

Throttle shook his head as Micah came back.  "He was really good in that fight," he admitted, grinning at the kids.  "Hi, guys."

"We go home now?" Detail demanded.

"Nope, not yet," Modo said as he joined them, picking up all three kids to hug them.  Vic wiggled down and pouted at him, arms crossed over his chest.  "What's wrong, little man?" he asked, grinning at him.

"Bad!" he said, scowling at him.

"No, no one was bad," Throttle assured him, picking him up.  He sniffed him.  "Why do you smell like blood?"  He sat him on the nearest counter and looked him over, finding a few scratches from nails and one cut.  "Bro?"  He pointed at it, then looked at the girls, who were trying to disappear into the woodwork.  "Freeze."

"What happened?" Modo asked him, smoothing some of his ruffled fur.  "Did you get hurt or did someone hurt you, Victor?"

Victor saw his mommy come out and burst out crying, holding his arms up.  "What happened?"  She picked him up to cuddle him, soothing him as only a mommy could.

"He's got some scratches and a cut," Throttle told her.  "The cut's on his hip.  The scratches are on his upper arms."

"Girls," she said firmly, glaring at them.  "I want an explanation."  They both gave her scared looks.  "Modo?"

"Now," he ordered.  "I want one as well.  Vinnie!  The girls hurt Vic!"

Vinnie came jogging back and picked up Shot, staring at her.  "What did you do?"

"Not me," she said weakly, staring at him.

"Hey!  I only scratched him!  He was itchy!" Detail complained.  "You have the scissors to trim his fur!"

"That's it!" Rimfire shouted as he came through.  "Come here, now!"  They both flinched and stared at him.  "I will not have this, nieces.  That is not how you behave and it is not how you play with a younger child.  Grandmomma is gonna have your tails for soup!"  He grabbed them both and drug them off, taking them back to the council's chambers.  "I need either Momma or Grandmomma," he ordered coolly.  Carbine gave him a sideways look.  "They scratched and cut Vic."

"Excuse me?" Stoker demanded, glaring at the girls.

"I was only trying to cut his fur," Shot defended.  "She scratched him!  He was itchy!"

"You're in so much trouble I'd shut up now," Rimfire ordered coolly.  "Can we call them?"

"I'll get Cell," Exhaust offered, calling the hospital.  It was only up the hall.  She gave him a tired look when she answered the comm unit.  "We need you in the chambers."

"Can't Rimfire wait for another day?"

"Your grandchildren are in deep."

She just nodded and cut the connection.  She walked in a few minutes later, glaring at the twins.  "What did you do?" she demanded.  Rimfire started to open his mouth and she held up a hand.  "I want a confession.  Where is Victor?"

"I'll get him," Rimfire promised, going to get the baby.  He came back a few minutes later with Charley and the baby.  "Here you go."  Both twins were sobbing and curled together in the middle of the floor.  He sighed and looked at his mother.  "Want us to keep 'em?"

"No, I think they need the righteous hand of grandmomma," she said dryly.  "And great- grandmomma too."  She took Vic, looking him over.  "Are you okay, little mouse?" she asked.  Vic sniffled but hugged her.  "I love you too and they're very sorry."  She let him settle in on her shoulder and looked at Charley.  "They're already being punished.  They're going to be very sorry for that."

Charley nodded.  "As long as they learn better.  I won't have them torturing my son or any future kids."

Cell nodded.  "Me either.  I will turn them into mulch if they try it."

"Momma, they've been tormenting and torturing Racer too," Rimfire said quietly, moving closer.  "The same thing Primer used to try on me."

"I noticed he had one of your tricks memorized and was using it quite effectively."  She patted him on the back of the head and kissed him on the cheek.  "I need to be home more often.  Primer's been busy and Momma's been trying but she's not as young as she used to be."  Momma and the new baby came in.  "They've been pulling Primer's old tricks.  Shot tried to defur him with a pair of scissors and Detail decided he was itchy so she scratched the hell out of his arms.  How's this one?"

"Fine.  They found out what he was allergic to," she said patiently.  "Rimfire, no more talc powders.  Please?"  He nodded.  "Thank you, boy."  She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  "What happened?"

"The same thing Primer used to do to me," he said grimly.  "And they've been getting Racer too, Grandmomma."

"I know, dear.  I've been trying."

Cell shook her head.  "It's my turn, momma.  It took both of us and Modo to stop Primer.  It'll take all of us since she's been encouraging it."  Momma nodded.  She looked at Stoker.  "I'm taking a leave of absence or I'm retiring. Your choice."

"Take a year off," he assured her.  "We'll put you as on-call."  She nodded at that.  "Is Victor all right?"

"Pretty fine," she promised, looking at him.  She smiled.  "He's napping, Charley."  Charley moved closer to take the baby, smiling at her.  "He'll be fine and they'll never do it again."

"That's fine.  Thank you, Cell."

"Eh, he's a cute little guy."  She stroked the back of his furry head, smoothing down the fur sticking up.  "Even if he is a bit of an odd color.  He's cute.  Girls will go nuts over him."  She hugged her.  "You okay?  You look tired."

"Yeah, just fine.  A bit worried, nothing else."  She smiled at Momma.  "Want Dawn back up here?"

"Not today, dear.  Sometime soon but not today.  Today's a day for punishments."  She looked over as a mouse walked in, slamming open the doors.  "Well," she said, glaring at him.  "Someone needs better manners."

"He certainly does since he sent an assassin to take out this Council," Carbine agreed.  He flinched and she cued up the tape of the fight and the confession, making him sit down suddenly.  "That's going to be beamed to your city council.  I'd suggest we all start getting along and learn to talk like civilized people.  We don't need a civil war either.  We'd win."  He nodded quickly.  She tossed the remote to this month's Head of Council.  "You've got the gavel, make the call."

She turned the communications gear to the next city over, smiling grandly at them.  "Hello, dears.  We wanted to know if you'd like to hold a meeting between the four cities."

"Why?  Where did you get the transporter!" the male on the other end said, leaning forward.

"In the mountains.  The Plutarkians left a bunch of crap," Carbine told him.  She pointed at the mouse in the middle of the floor.  "He sent us an assassin as a present. Want to see the tape?"

"No, that's fine.  I'll view it when we hold this meeting."  He looked at Charley.   "Do I know you?"

"Charley Davidson, from Chicago."

"Oh, you work with the Biker Mice," he said, nodding a bit.  "How are they?"

"Fine.  Doing well.  They were just up here."  She looked at Rimfire.  "Want me to save you some dinner?"

"I'm good with leftovers," he promised, smirking at her.  "Take the little guy home and cuddle him to distraction."  She nodded, heading home.  He glared at the man.  "One of my fellow trainees had to stop the assassin from taking out Stoker and Carbine.  We were highly insulted by having to fight the weak bastard and his very weak skills."

"Weak skills?" Prestone sneered.  "He's one of our best."

The tape was cued up and beamed while they watched it.  "I'd say he was fairly weak.  Probably barely passed physical training and combat lessons," Carbine told him.  "I'd never have let him out fighting that weakly if I had trained him."

The male mouse on the other side moaned and rubbed his snout.  "We'll be up tomorrow.  It's a holiday, right?"

"We're celebrating in two days," Carbine told him.  "That way we can combine it with the opening on the new bike plant."

"You did?" he asked, sitting up straighter.  "Since when?"

"We've got the basics built and we're working on how best to implement," one of the other members offered.  "There's the suggestion of getting body parts from Earth and then doing the brains or doing it all natively."

Exhaust smirked at him.  "Throttle's mate Xander designed the plant.  It's very efficient.  You should come see it so you can help."

"We'd like that," he agreed.  "How are your food rations going?"

"My son and my brother are still on Earth with his bros," Cell told him.  "They've been providing bits and pieces for their families so we could give our portions over."

"The rationing's not too bad at the moment," Stoker offered.  "Rimfire's going to college on Earth to learn about desert farming methods.  Since Modo's still down there and they've got the last Plutarkians in the universe down there."

"Some lived?" he demanded.

"About twenty or so," Carbine told him. "Plus some of the tadpoles and eggs.  We've got a full briefing whenever the other cities would like it."

"Can we use the transporter to get Earth materials?" he asked.

"We do," Stoker admitted.  "We've got someone down there right now getting building materials with Xander.  Earth's had a number of desert peoples so they're looking at their methods and historically looking as well.  We'd love nothing more than to share, but you guys snubbed us when we suggested it."

"We were dumb and proud, Stoker.  Now we're just dumb."  He smirked at him.  "Tomorrow.  I'll get the other two's heads here.  Keep him in chains or something.  We'll figure out what to do with him before I leave tomorrow."  He smiled.  "We had maps of where Plutarkians had bases and storehouses but we haven't had the people to go looking."

Cell smirked.  "I find it's good training for trainees.  I sent mine out all the time."

"Wonderful idea.  Thank you."  He smiled at Carbine.  "Tomorrow.  Expect a three person delegation from at least us and one other city.  We'd like to know what you've gotten done and where you're going with certain stuff.  That way we can help or join in."  He nodded politely and signed off, going to yell at his people that Stoker and Carbine wanted to hold a summit and they were going, even if no one else wanted to go.  They had found some solutions and they were more than willing to share and help them.

Carbine smirked at Stoker.  "Nice bargaining chip."

"It is.  Soon we'll need a formal government instead of just city governments.  Wouldn't that clan guy just crap."

"Mousey Giles would eat his own tail," Spike snorted from his lap.

"Mousey Giles?"

"Tweed guy," Spike said, looking up at him.  "Like the pillock."

"Oh.  I'll let you explain that one later, son."  He gave him a cuddle.  "Guards?"  They came back, looking bemused.  "Take that nice council member and put him somewhere safe but not too damaging.  His people are coming tomorrow for a summit so make sure he's at least fed tonight."

"Sir, we only have three cells," one of them protested.  "Two have Plutarkians."  The mouse looked horrified.  "The assassin might hurt him."

"Then lock him somewhere," Carbine ordered, not liking how Stoker was staring at the guy.  "That's cruel and we forbid it by law, Stoker," she said firmly.

"It'd serve him right," he complained.  Spike nodded to show he agreed.  "See, even the kids know it's only fair."

"No, Stoker," Exhaust sighed.  "Even though it would be fitting."

"Fine," he complained.

Spike sighed and shook his head.  "Waste of perfectly good torture," he muttered.

Cell looked at him, then at Stoker.  "That's a bit advanced, Stoker.  How're you training him?"

"The Xander method," he said dryly.  "It's all his fault."

"Oh, sure."  She looked at her mother.  "Maybe Racer should go when he's older."

"Modo suggested he could become a baby doctor," the other female council member offered gently.  "He seemed taken by the idea."

"He would be," Cell agreed.  "I don't like Enamel but he did save Racer's life and he does have a bit of hero worship for the rat."  Momma cleared her throat so she sighed.  "I'm sorry, Momma, but I will never like Enamel.  No matter that he did save Primer's life with that new experimental technology Xander and whoever was working on.  I still won't like him, ever.  So please don't nibble my tail over it."

Her mother patted her on the back.  "I understand, child, but he did save Racer and Primer, not to mention Xander a few times."  She looked at the twins.  "Come along.  Now."  They followed her out.  "We'll be back when it's time, dears."

"Sure."  Stoker looked at Rimfire.  "You staying?"

"With Dawn waiting on me?  Do I look dumb?"  He smirked and headed home at a trot, going to tell them what was going on now.  It was going to be a good report and he might have to be there for part of it.

Episode 58:

Vinnie looked at Xander, watching him do a simple jump.  He was getting better.  Nearly up to his standards, which were higher than most in the Freedom Fighters. Xander was definitely getting better each time he rode.  He wasn't exactly a natural at it but it was starting to look like he could pretend to be one. "Good job," he called when Xander did another one and kept his balance this time. "Getting better," he decided.  "Pretty soon you'll be able to do anything I can on my bike on yours.  Even though mine is meant for sleek and dangerous stunts and yours is meant more for power and attracting the wrong sort."

Xander beamed at him.  "You really think so?"

"I know so," he admitted.   He walked over, looking at his little brother on his bike, grinning at how comfortable he looked.  His bike was already as much part of him as Modo's was him.  Not many riders had that sort of rapport with their bikes, but Xander's fit him perfectly.  He stroked a handlebar.  "Now if only you had the thrusters I do," he teased.

"I do have the thrusters you do, but I need more power for the acrobatics you have to pull sometimes," Xander said dryly, smirking at him.  "Charley made sure they were working.  One was misfiring."  He patted his bike.  "Go ahead and show him everything you can do, big man.  He deserves the right to drool over you the way the ladies do."  His bike beeped like a chuckle and popped out the thrusters and weapons.  "The other stuff too," Xander said with tolerant fondness.  The newest prototype laser came out and Vinnie whistled.  "Charley and I worked on it together," he said proudly.  "It works very well."

"I guess it would," Vinnie agreed, running a hand over it.  "Very sleek and deadly, lil' bro."  He grinned at him.  "Now quit showing off and try it again, this time firing your front cannon at a target at least ten feet in front of you."

"Yes, drill sergeant," Xander agreed dryly.  He went back to try it again.  Mid-jump he felt a distortion wave and looked around, but couldn't see anyone, not even Vinnie.  He landed and spun around. "Shields," he said quietly, still searching.  "Vinnie?"  No answer.  He grimaced and checked the bike's tracking system but it only showed the other bikes.  "Did you see him disappear?"  His bike beeped in the negative range.  "Fuck."  He felt the wave coming again and ducked, turning his bike and heading away from it as fast as he could.  "Rear shields at maximum, bike.  Voice activate call home."  The radio beeped.  "Throttle, we've got a sitch.  There's a wave distortion where we're practicing and I can't find Vinnie," he reported.

"Can't find him how," Charley demanded.

"Like he's no longer where he was and won't answer, Charley.  Pass it on.  Quick."  He hung up and spun to the side to evade another blast.  "Rotate shielding with the front edge of the blasts, babe.  Let's show them why I'm now a mouse."  He spun and headed for where the waves were coming from, firing at it.  He was better than Vinnie thought but he wasn't about to show off stuff he had dreamed until he had it perfect, which he didn't.  Which was why the wave hit the back tire when he jumped over the source.  His weapon didn't miss but he fishtailed when he landed, causing him to overcompensate.  He cleared it up but he was still going too slow when the second wave cannon fired.  He got that one but it knocked him out as he fired.

***

Charley went running into the lair.  "Xander just called.  There's a wave cannon going off where he and Vinnie were practicing."

Throttle jumped up.  "Where are they?"

"Can't you track them?" she demanded.  "He didn't say, just it was where they were practicing!"

"Calm down," Modo offered.  "We're going.  Lil' Hoss?  Vinnie and Xander are in trouble."  His bike roared up and he mounted, grabbing his helmet on the way past the rack.  Throttle followed right behind him and he could hear Rimfire behind them somewhere.  He hoped Dawn stayed out of this one.  She wasn't that trained yet.  He sped up, letting his bike track Xander's bike.  Vinnie's had still been at home.  "Why were they on Xander's bike together?" he called to Throttle.

"Vinnie was going to give him practice in some of the special moves he does so he took Xander's bike with him," Throttle offered.  "They're fine though.  I'd know if Xander wasn't."

"That's not saying much, bro.  Fine and captured aren't exactly the same thing but they'd feel the same."  He looked at the monitor.  "His bike's moving."

"I can see that.  Where's it heading is the better question."  Throttle moved up beside him.  "I don't know that area at all."

"I've driven by there," Modo admitted.  He shook his head.  "They're leaving the area, they must have his bike too."

"Well, a wave cannon that took them out would disorient the bike," Rimfire offered.  "Standard ploy to catch a single rider in the badlands these days," he said when Throttle grunted.  "The Sand Raiders have been overusing them. They even caught Momma once, but she woke up before they secured her.  Her bike was basically shaking itself for the next day."

"Wonderful," Throttle said bitterly.  "Why didn't we hear about this?"

"We didn't think they were coming back and you guys hardly ever go out alone," Rimfire offered bitterly.  "Otherwise I would have.  They usually use it on single riders, almost always those on scout or guarding.  It's not as effective if it hits a group of riders or bikes.

Sharing it around weakens it by ordinals."

"In English?" Modo asked.

"If it hits two bikes instead it's only a quarter as strong," Rimfire offered.  "Hit three and it's a sixteenth as strong."

"Okay, so how do we fight it?"

"You can use the bikes' shielding feature.  The weak spot is always underneath.  Even on Xander's."

"So how did they get him?" Throttle demanded.

"Probably managed to catch the weak spot and he had to slow down or maneuver and couldn't change the shields fast enough," Rimfire offered. "That's how they got Momma."

"Good to know," Modo agreed.  "How do we use these shields?"

"The same as you always have," Rimfire said dryly.

"We have anti-wave shields?" Charley demanded over the radio.

"Uh, the rest of us do," Rimfire admitted.  "Stoker sent down those plans so you could add them in, Charley ma'am."

"I never got 'em," she sighed.  "Okay.  What can I do right now to help?"

"Pray," Rimfire said grimly.  "This means there's definitely Plutarkians back in the city."  He cut his link off and sped up, looking over at his uncle.  He turned off his faceplate.  "Which Limburger is it?"

"I don't know yet," he said dryly.  "I haven't seen the fishhead yet, nephew."

"Which one would be more techie?"

"Marshall," Throttle called. Then he pointed.  "Right there."  They ran into a shield around the building and it burned them so they had to back off a bit and study it.  "Got a clue?"

"Yup," Rimfire said grimly.  "And we're in deep shit."  He looked at his uncle, who was glaring at him for swearing.  "That's a genetics shield.  Set against mice."  He looked at Throttle.  "You want Charley or Dawn?"

"Dawn.  She's better and Charley needs to be at home," Throttle said firmly. "If there's any chance she's still pregnant I don't want her in combat."

"Sure."  Rimfire touched something around his neck and Dawn appeared a few minutes later, looking grim.  He got off and let her have his bike.  "It's a genetic shield."

"Wonderful.  Will it hurt humans?"  She rode forward and it sizzled on her but she could get through.  In retaliation, she blew holes in everything until it went down, then she let Rimfire have control of his bike again and rode behind him.  There was no way she was leaving this situation running.

"They're here!" someone screamed.  "They made it past the shields!"

"Fire the cannons!" a Limburger yelled.

"Fat chance," Modo growled, firing first with his arm cannon.  It took out the mounted cannons and they sped inside through the new hole they created in the walls.

"Break and splinter 37," Throttle called.  He almost missed that Vinnie didn't ask for something else.  He had to get them back.  He wasn't letting them stay in Plutarkian custody.  He and Modo split off and both of them clotheslined someone with a gun then they went to ride over a few more while Rimfire took the high road and ran over more of them as he jumped the main group.  They screamed in pain and the few who could move ducked and scurried away.  They found the elevator and the nice diagram next to it, but there wasn't a mark for the prisoners.  "Well, what do we want?  Main office?  Lab?  Basement?"

"Lab," Modo and Rimfire said in unison.

"Just in case it's Karbunkle too," Dawn agreed.

Throttle nodded.  "Sure, let's Rock..."

"And ride," the others answered, firing their booster rockets to get up the elevator shafts.

Rimfire counted floors and blasted the doors ahead of them.  "Six I believe."

"Lab was on seven, dear."

"Karbunkle's not there," he assured her.  "They're usually a floor off."

Throttle nodded.  "They do it to confuse," he agreed.  He blasted open the wall of the lab, making the technicians scurry and cover their pet projects.  "Where are they?" he demanded.

"Level B, subset H," someone yelled from behind a piece of equipment.

"Thanks," Modo said, blasting the power supply.  "Find an ethical employer."  They headed down to the basement.

***

Xander woke up and looked at the dingy cell.  This was really sickening.  Twice in his life was too much.  He hated this.  He coughed and heard a movement from the next cell.  "Bro?"

"Yeah," he called back.  "You guessed it."

"Thought so.  How hopeless?"

"Fairly."  The shifting happened again and someone pounded on the stones between them.  "Got anything handy?"

Xander got up and patted himself down.  "I'll be damned, they learned how to frisk someone," he said in awe.  "Let's do this the white mouse way, big bro."

"You can't mean...."

"Weinrick 316?"

"I'm not that far in that one yet," Vinnie complained.

"Bull."

"Okay, so I am but I don't have it memorized.  I only read it over to see if it was helpful and marked it for later study."  Vinnie hit the blocks again.  "They're too thick anyway."

"Not if I do one and you do one."  Xander concentrated.  "Hey, there's power below us."  He drew it to him and concentrated, muttering the spell.  He traced the small figure on the wall and watched as most of it disappeared in a shower of dust.  "Neat, huh?" he asked with a grin.

"Very.  I've got to memorize that one later."  Vinnie crawled through the large hole, looking him over.  "They managed to frisk you?"

"Yeah, unfortunately.  Got a hairpin?  I could try the lock."  Vinnie gave him an odd look.  "How about any sort of pin?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, you wretched rodents," a familiar voice sneered as he stepped in the light.  "That was very interesting, how did you do that?"

"Limburger," they said, grimacing at him.

"I forgot how much you stunk," Xander said, shaking his head. He looked at Vinnie.  "So, think we can do it this time to the bars?"

"They're Plutarkian steel, Xander."

"So?"  He shrugged.  "That's strong but there's a demon enclave underneath us."

"Really?" he asked, sitting on the bunk to look at him.  "What sort?"

Xander considered the power he could feel.  "Something lighter class but they do use the magic.  They're gathered around it like a comfy fire for warmth.  I'd say something like a primal strain of Relniks."

"Eww."

"Yeah, well, we don't want them to fight anyway," Xander pointed out.  "They all hate me.  I don't want to be eaten today or have them try to kidnap me.  Throttle might get really pissed if I missed dinner since it's his turn to order."

"True," Vinnie agreed with a smirk. "You're so besotted it's not funny, little brother."

"Enough," Limburger sneered, stepping closer.  "There's no hope of you two escaping. You're going to be here for a very long time."

"So you think," Xander said, glaring at him, then he sneered at the younger one. "Oooh, look, the tadpole's grown up," he cooed snidely.  Vinnie snickered at that and Xander looked at him again.  "So, ice cream on the way home?"

"No way, Xander.  I don't wanna watch you eat another cone ever again.  You do it to tease Throttle way too well."

"Hey, I've got to keep in practice," Xander complained.  Junior came closer to the bars and he leapt, grabbing him and banging him against the bars to choke him.  "Let us out," he said, staring into his eyes.  "I'm having a PMS moment of my own.  You're going to be pissing yourself if you don't let us out.  We can cause all sorts of hell to come from in here."

"No sending the building to hell with us in it," Vinnie instructed.  "I don't want to go visit those bringers."

"I'd protect you," Xander whined.  He glared at Limburger's nephew Marshall again.  "Come on, you know you wanna live and I'm going to choke the life out of you."

Limburger sighed and pushed a button, activating the shield on the bars, which was set against mice and sent that one flying.  "This is really so boring.  Must we always do this?"

"Yeah, we must," Xander agreed, feeling something shift.  "Well, what else did you expect?"  He grabbed the small blade and threw it, hitting Junior in the face.  He screamed and grabbed the opening in his cheek and Xander muttered, summoning it back.  "I can and will take you apart and make you into fish sticks.  You're nothing to me."

"Oooh, but you have *ethics*?" Marshall sneered.

"Not in combat.  I may for things like genocide, but not in the middle of combat."  He looked at Vinnie.  "You struck dumb?"

"Not quite, listening to the sound of firing upstairs."  He twitched his ears and looked at the Limburgers.  "You're gonna be sorry soon.  Throttle's here and you've got his boy."

"He's gay?" Limburger said, smirking at him.  "How droll and very interesting."

"How do you know I'm not a bothie, smart ass?  I could be," Xander said with a smirk.  "You have no idea what I am."

"Ah, but there you're wrong.  I do have Karbunkle's files on you, Mr. Harris."

"Hmm, pity that they're mostly wrong," Xander said dryly.  "Did he take credit for my change?"  He shook his head.  "Really?"

"Really.  He said he wasn't sure what caused the change but it was something he wanted to study."

"Over your dead body," Vinnie said coldly.

"Oh, he won't," Xander assured him.  "The minute he comes near me he knows we're out of here."  He continued to stare them down.  "Do you really want this place to go up like usual?"

"I doubt they would.  After all, this facility does do research into human conditions that could be cured by the simple work those people up in the labs are doing."

"Hmm, and they're going to know that how?" Xander asked smugly.  "Remember, we don't really follow genetics.  Wrong mice for that.  I'm not quite the breeder everyone relies on for bloodlines."

"Bro, calm down," Vinnie said dryly, his tail waving a bit.

Xander looked at him.  "Why?  He's so much fun!" he whined.  "I need some fun sometimes.  Especially since there's no music or any caffeine to control the ADHD."

"Hmm, good point," Vinnie admitted, looking at the Plutarkian families.  "He really is going to start ripping this place apart by the bricks soon."

"I'm sure we can move the shield so it would stop him," the younger Limburger sneered.

Xander snorted.  "No it won't.  I'm not quite *that* Martian, Junior," he sneered back.  Marshall's eyes went wide.  "Ooops, there went your much lauded shield.  Sounds like Rimfire and Dawn came too," he said smugly, his tail waving now.

"His tail belies his words," Marshall snorted, turning his back on them.

"No, that's tail code," the elder Limburger said bitterly.  "We've never broken it because we don't have tails.  Therefore they're chatting."

"Dude, I don't need tail code to talk to him.  I can just 'path him," Xander said dryly.  "I'm good like that.  Or hey, I could just summon something like a demon."  He did and looked at it, then at Vinnie.  "Huh.  What are you doing?"

"Knight," the bringer sneered.  "Why did you summon me?"

"Tell the demons downstairs to keep out of the way and warn them that their roof may be caving in," Xander told him.  "I doubt they'd want to join in, but just in case there's a nursery or something."

"Fine."  He looked at the Plutarkians and licked his lips.  "Hmm."

"I don't wanna see that, it'll turn my stomach," Vinnie complained.

Xander sighed and banished him, sitting down beside him.  "Fine, spoil my fun and having them eaten."

"Sorry, little brother, but I can't stomach that."  He gave him a shoulder nudge.  "Round and round twelve?"

"Hell no.  I don't need to bang into the walls," he said, frowning at him.  "Unless we do it in reverse."

"Nope, my head's still sore from last night."

"Ooh, are you two together?" Marshall sneered.

"That's not a bad idea," the older Limburger noted.  "It would totally demoralize the whole group."

Xander raised an eyebrow.  "No it won't.  Gods, are you behind in the times, Limburger."  He smirked.  "Not that you *could* make me lust after him, but it still won't do more than make Throttle and Charley really pissed.  That means they'll let me be...creative."

Vinnie shivered and curled up a bit.  "No, please not until we're out," he begged.  "I can't stand the carnage today, Xander.  She's sick and I'm feeling it again."

"Sorry, big brother."  He gave him a cuddle.  "It's all right.  I won't break bad on them yet.  Not until you're asleep and can't see it."

Marshall took something out of his pocket and handed it over.  "Here, uncle.  I think you've been waiting a long time to do something totally wretched to these miserable miscreants of mercy.  I'm sure they'll enjoy it."

"Indeed," he agreed drolly, firing the small beam at them.  "Pity it'll wear off sometime."  They walked off laughing together.

Xander looked at Vinnie.  "You know, that blue glow really sets off your fur."

"Yours too," Vinnie agreed, giving him a kiss on the cheek.  He shifted closer so they could cuddle.  "How much longer do you think?"

"Maybe ten minutes.  Yo, bike!" he shouted.  No answer.  "Shit."

Vinnie chuckled.  "One day you're going to make those much more rare, that way we step away from you when you swear too."

"Fat chance, Vinnie.  I'd rather have respect, not fear."  He nuzzled him on the neck, then beamed.  "I think that was a lust beam."

"I do concur," he said in a high-class British accent, something he liked to tease Rimfire in.  "Then again, it could just be us.  Maybe an inhibition stealer."

"No, I'm not naked and singing yet.  That's what happens when I get that drunk."  He got comfortable, cuddling Vinnie.  They ended up curled up together lying on the bed since there wasn't much of a wall behind them.  "This is really nice.  You're kinda comfy.  Maybe a quad isn't such a bad idea after all."

"Sure, you convince Throttle and I'll convince Charley girl and we'll go for it," he agreed happily.  He heard the explosion.  "Sounds like the cavalry.  We should probably get up."

"I'm comfy and I've got a headache."  Someone shot open the door and he waved.  "Hi, dear."

Modo looked at them, then grimaced.  "Bro, they're glowing blue," he called.

"Yeah, it's a lust beam," Vinnie said, sitting up and hauling Xander after him.  "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Throttle agreed.  "A lust beam?"

"Either that or something that makes him extra cuddly and makes me want to burst out in song," Vinnie told him.  "Where's his bike?"

"We're not sure yet."

"It's down the hall," a tiny voice called.  "Keep going and get us too, Uncle Modo!"

"How in the nine hells did you get down here!" he roared, going to free Detail.  He picked her up, looking her over.  "Did those rats touch you?" he demanded.

She giggled and shook her head.  "Nope.  I was with Engine and we got captured."  She shrugged and pointed at her cellmate.  "She's very good at keeping little people entertained."

"Engine, like Staff's sister?" Modo asked.  She stood up and nodded.  "I'm Modo.  Welcome to Earth, future-sister-in-law."

She shook his hand, then punched him on the arm.  "Thanks.  I'd rather be on Mars though."  She nodded down the hall.  "The bike's that way.  There's a storage bay.  They're saving it for investigation later, when Karbunkle comes back from his daytrip to Paris."  She heard a small noise and looked around.  "There's someone else down here and we don't know who."

"I do," Xander said, standing in front of a cell.  "Enamel?"  The mouse looked up and Xander noticed how dead he looked.  "Shell okay?" he asked, looking at the bars.  He growled and ripped it off the hinges then walked in to help him up.  "Can you walk or ride?"

"I can't feel my hands or arms," he said flatly.  "They did something to me."

Xander nodded, walking him out.  "Then we'll see what they did and if we can counter it, Enamel.  You know I'm not going to leave you like that."  He looked at Throttle, who nodded.  "You're coming back with us until you're better or we figure out how to make you better.  Vinnie, help him.  Is your bike here?"  Enamel nodded quietly.  "That's fine.  Vinnie can drive yours back and I'll take you to someone I know.  They're the best bet of finding out how to fix it."  He walked down the hall, taking point.  He came to the door and looked at it, then smirked at Modo.  "Guess who's finally back from Paris?"

"Oh, let me," he agreed, handing Xander his niece.  Then he knocked in the door, sending it skittering across the floor.  "Honey, we're home," he said dryly, glaring at the doctor.  "Oooh, look, bros."

"Hmm, idiot inventors and their grand dreams of Nobel prizes," Dawn agreed, heading into the bikes.  "Vinnie, I'll take Enamel's.  You ride behind Throttle or Rimfire."

"You can't have it," Karbunkle wheezed.

She punched him, knocking him onto the floor, then she leaned down.  "You were saying, idiot?" she sneered.  "Rimfire, find that lust ray."  He nodded, going to destroy the lab while looking for it.

"It looked like a laser pointer," Xander offered helpfully.  He leaned on Vinnie's shoulder.  "You know, doc, it's not that bad," he said smugly.  "Vinnie and I were already very close.  The same as all the bros and I are very close.  You didn't destroy anything, just added whole new layers to it."  He winked at him, then looked at Enamel.  "Come on.  Bike!"  His bike didn't even beep.

"They're often in confusion for about a day after being hit by a disruption wave," Rimfire warned.  He found it and held it up.  "Oops, no, this is the nerve blocker."  He pocketed that and then tore up another desk.  The elevator came down and he knocked the younger Limburger onto the floor to pummel him and take the ray from him.  "Ah," he said happily, getting up and walking over, hitting the switch for 'reverse' and firing it at them.

Vinnie giggled.  "That tickles."

"It did," Xander agreed, beaming at him.  "I still love you, babe," he said, pulling Throttle over to kiss him stupid, "but that didn't work."  He shrugged and took Enamel to his bike, starting it manually.  "Come on, doc.  Let's go.  Rimfire, that beam?"  It was tossed over and he caught it with his tail.  "We're going to visit Madam Li's.  We'll be home in about an hour hopefully."  He fired a rocket, taking out the wall.  Then he rode off with Enamel, letting the others have their fun.  After all, he'd done his quota of damage.  "Doc, just relax and try to hold on."

"I can't," he complained quietly.

Xander reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a set of cuffs, putting them around his wrists.  "There, how's that?"

"Thanks, Xander.  You think this can be fixed?"

"If she can't unblock you, then she'll know who can," he promised.  "She's like that and she's also into the mystical."  He turned a corner and Enamel shifted but his arms didn't move. "Did they hit you with the beam once?"

"About seven times.  They've had me for at least a day.  What day is it?"

"Um, Thursday."

"Three days then," he said grimly.  "Shell's still on Mars, right?"

"I think so," he admitted.  "We're never sure when she sneaks down, you know that."  He stopped at a red light and the car next to them was a cop car and the cop gave them an odd look.  "His arms are numb, I'm taking him for a treatment," he said, speeding off when the light turned.  "Nosy."  Enamel let out a quiet chuckle at that - a harsh and bitter sound.  "Trust me, doc, we're not letting you go out like this and you're staying for at least a week so we can help you.  Then I'm going to get them for this.  If they survive Modo.  That was just too dumb to take his niece."

"They were going to sell her," he offered, shifting slightly closer.  "I think your bike's waking up.  The seat's moving."

"Bike, man, quit.  Don't pop Enamel off.  He's injured."  The bike quit shifting.  "Thanks, babe."  He stroked the tank and it settled down, running a diagnostic.  "We'll be fine, baby.  I promise."

"Me?" Throttle asked over the radio.  "Or Vinnie?"

"My bike, but we'll all be fine," he said happily.  "Did you kill them or can Enamel?"

"No, he'll get a shot.  We've got Junior in custody and Charley's calling Mars for a pickup.  Hurry home."  He clicked off.

"Wonderful.  Another assault to free him and then we'll be free of another one," Xander said fondly.  He pulled into a parking lot and undid the cuffs, getting off to help Enamel off and inside.  He bowed to the receptionist, a deep bow.  "This is an emergency.  Someone blocked the nerves in both his arms and hands, he's a doctor."

The receptionist looked at him, then nodded, taking him to a room.  "It will be a short wait," she said gently, looking at his hands.  She tested one and there was no reaction.  "What did this?" she asked.

Xander handed over the beam.  "A few doses of that."  He took off his helmet, then Enamel's for him.  "He's my doc."

"Ah, I thought it you," she said with a slight smile. "I will tell Madam you are here and have upset some long-time clients with this emergency but also why."  She took the beam with her, going to tell the nurse in the foyer what was going on.  "He is a physician and this hit him repeatedly.  He has no response in either hand or his arms.  I saw Xander remove handcuffs from his wrists so he wouldn't fall off riding with him."

The nurse looked at her then at the beam.  "Dirt."  She went to find their boss, tapping on the treatment door she was behind.  "Madam?"

"I'm busy."

"Xander is in with an emergency.  An odd one to a healer."

"I will be there once I'm done here.  Have him wait in a room so he doesn't get petted," she said calmly.  "Do the usual checks as applicable."

"He has no feeling in either hand or arm and no movement.  Tana said he had to have handcuffs to ride behind him."  The door opened.  "It's a healer," she repeated, handing over the beam.  "This is what caused it."

"I see."  She nodded once.  "Give me ten minutes.  Try to see if there's any blood or energy flow.  I will be right there."  She nodded, hurrying off to help them.  Madam Li went back to her current patient.  "I'm sorry."

"No, for a doctor to have that happen is heinous," he said sleepily.  "It is an emergency.  I hope you can help him."

"If not, I can call upon someone who can."  She went back to his acupuncture treatment.  In about ten minutes she walked into Xander's room, closing the door behind her.  "Have you tried to reverse it?"

"He got hit seven times," Xander told her.  "I'm not sure his body could handle that or if it could make it permanent.  They're like that after all."  He went back to the massage he was doing on Enamel's left hand.  "He had some energy flowing here, I'm trying to keep it going."

"I see."  She came over to examine him, then sighed and shook her head.  "I cannot," she told him.  "I know one who can.  Let me write her.  She's up right now, she's in Japan."  She went to her office and sent an email to the woman who had trained her, who was a little, tiny Irish woman.  Not what you'd expect of a practioner of these arts.  She got back an answer and had to look it up.  "I've never done that," she protested, writing that back.  Instructions were sent to her, along with pictures of the nerves she would have to stimulate.  She printed it off and took it back with her.  "There's a hope to restore partial sensitivity for now," she offered.  Enamel looked heartbroken and she touched his cheek.  "The rest will come.  I can feel it fighting to continue.  The dam holding the energy and nerve impulses back is weak but it will take some time.  I can do a temporary relief, but it will be painful.  You will also need other forms of treatment.  The massages Xander is doing daily, and they will also hurt.  Or you could wait and it should come back within a year."

"I can't be that long without my hands.  People count on me.  I'm one of the last fully trained doctors on Mars, lady."

She nodded. "I figured as much when Xander used the word emergency to my staff."  She looked at his hand where Xander had been working on it.  "For now, go home and soak in as hot of water as you can stand.  We will have to remove the hair from your back to work on it.  The hot water could ease the dam more, making it easier to manipulate.  I will come to the garage tonight to see you and do this for you."  Enamel nodded, bowing his head slightly.  She gave him a gentle smile. "I would never let a fellow healer suffer like this.  It will get better and I will do what I can to mitigate it until the dams are broken, but it will hurt greatly."

"I can take pain," he promised.  "I have in the past."

"Very well.  Xander, take him to make him soak.  Take the fur off his back only.  We'll be doing the wings area."  Xander nodded at that.  "Do what you can for his arms between now and then.  Have him drink a lot but do not eat.  It can make one nauseous.  Make him comfortable until I can get there."  They both nodded at that.  "Then I'll see you around eight or nine."  They nodded, leaving her to contemplate this new problem.

***

Throttle rode into the Last Chance and parked, staring at their friend.  "You're gonna be pissed," he told her quietly.

"Why?" she asked cautiously.  "Did something happen?  Did we not save Vinnie?"

"No, we did.  Limburger hit them with a lust beam."

"A what?" she asked, starting to chuckle.  "It's not April Fool's, Throttle."  She noticed he wasn't joking and quit laughing.  "You're not kidding?"

He shook his head.  "Nope."  He got off his bike and pulled her closer to hold her hands.  "It's fairly weak so far.  We hit them with the reverse setting but it hasn't fully worked yet," he said quietly, staring into her eyes.  "There's going to be some odd behavior for a while.  It's taken the closeness they already had and built on it."  Modo roared in with his niece, Dawn right behind him on Enamel's bike and Rimfire behind her with Vinnie.  "Xander and Enamel are seeing someone because the rabid Plutarkians managed to block all the feelings in his hands and arms."

"Oh, God, he's got to be upset," she said.

"He looked dead," Modo admitted, letting Detail off.  He looked over as Engine came in after them.  "Close the door, Vinnie."  He got off and closed the door.  "Where's Junior?"

"Chassis took him from us," Engine told him.  "I didn't know she was down here."

"She and Pit are down here to deal with the building stuff," he offered.  He looked at Throttle and Charley, then at Vinnie.  "You tell her, bro?" he asked lightly.

"Yeah, but she doesn't believe it," he admitted, letting her go.

"Vinnie?" she asked.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said with a grin.  "Sorry about this."  He shrugged and pulled her over to kiss her.  "Hmm, honey.  Now all we need is Xander to eat nuts and we'll be one happenin' group."  He kissed her again.

She pulled back.  "What are you playing at!" she demanded, swatting him.

"Ow!"  He rubbed the spot, frowning at her. "Not my fault!  He broke me into his cell and we played 'taunt the Plutarkians' and they zapped us. I don't *want* to be in lust with him," he complained.  "He's cute and yummy, but you're my girl."  He gave her most winning and charming smile.  "Aren't'cha?"

"That depends," she said, frowning a bit. "How bad of lust?"

"Let me move Detail back to the house," Modo said quickly, taking her over there.

"What was she doing down here?"

"She snuck into my ship before I could go on patrol and I crashed," Engine noted bitterly.  "They didn't touch her, they were going to sell her to another one."  She looked at Vinnie, then at Charley.  "It's not unheard of.  It was one of Brie's favorite torments to his prisoners.  It tends to wear off after about a year."

"A year!" she shrieked.

"Sorry, sister.  They can fight it some but it'll more make them cute and mushy with each other than rabidly fondling and in bed at least."

"So mushy poetry instead of jumping each other?" Throttle asked.  She nodded.  "Have you seen it in action?"

"Been under it in action," Engine admitted.  "My commander was not happy when it hit him.  You can fight the urge to have sex, but the closer you are the harder it can be.  I'd say these two aren't close that way since they're siblings."

"Adopted," Throttle and Charley told her.

She winced.  "Still.  I'm sure they can fight it off."

"I'd never sleep with Xander without Charley and Throttle being there anyway," Vinnie defended.  "We promised we wouldn't."  He looked at Charley.  "It don't change anything else, sweetheart.  You're still my girl.  I'm still your stud.  Xander is still Throttle's world rocker.  Now we're just a bit more mushy with each other.  Just point it out and we'll deal when it happens."

"You'd better not let anything happen," Charley said firmly.

"We promised," he said, staring her in the eyes.  "We promised it would only happen as a quad.  It won't happen otherwise.  No matter how much I wanna go write Xander a love note and make a paper airplane of it so I can launch it at him as he drives in."

She shuddered.  "Ick."  She walked off shaking her head.  "Fine.  We'll deal when we have to.  I'm still going to whip your tail if you sleep with him.  Ever."

"Yes, dear."  He beamed at Throttle.  "He does look very good in the blue of the beam."

"I noticed.  Remember, I can help her whip your tail or do it all on my own."

"Sure, sure," he agreed, heading for the office to write the important people in his life notes.  He felt this urge to try his hand at poetry.  The back of his mind was screaming that this was not what macho studs did, but the front was pointing out that a bit of mush would get him laid like never before from Charley and Xander would probably be in his head listening to his prowess so he'd know what was going to be his soon.  The back of his mind shut up, severely traumatized.  "Hmm, what rhymes with bike?" he mused, sitting at the computer to type it out.  He'd handwrite it once he got it perfect.  It'd be more special that way.

***

Xander rode into the garage, looking at Modo since he was waiting. "We need to fire up the hot tub as hot as it can go.  I need Dawn's supply of Nair to do his back.  Madam Li will be here about eight or nine."

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Enamel asked.  "Please."

"Sure."  He undid the cuffs and helped him off the bike, walking him into the bathroom and letting him in there. He looked at him, watching him watch his belt.  "Fine.  It's nothing between us, like you and a kiddie patient in casts."  He undid his pants and then his boots, leaving him there to kick out of them and he'd help him with his shirt after that.  He went to check on the hot tub, making sure it was as hot as it could be, hitting the switch for the extra burner to start.  Modo looked at him.  "I put in an extra burner to heat it faster."  Modo nodded and went to tell the others what Xander had said and needed, sending Dawn running.  "I need your Nair, we're doing his back."

"Sure."  She went to get it from the bathroom, finding Enamel trying to wrap a towel around himself.  She grinned and did it for him, then grabbed the Nair.  "After you soak for a bit, we'll do this part and you'll shower it off, then we'll send you back to the hot tub to rest."  He nodded and she led him back to the tub, noticing Vinnie and Throttle were already on either of Xander's sides.  "Here you go."  She put the bottle behind the tub, on a counter so it couldn't get on anything, and then helped Enamel in, taking off the towel at the last minute.  She folded it behind him then looked around.  "Food?"

"Drinks only," Xander told her.  "It can make him sick later."

"Sure.  Alcohol?"

"Please," Enamel begged.  "Just some wine or beer?"

"You got it, doc."  She went to get him something, bringing Throttle and Vinnie a bottle of rootbeer that had been chilling in the freezer for him and Xander a glass of the red wine she found in the fridge.  She made herself, Rimfire, and Detail a snack, then delivered that before going back downstairs.  "Will he be okay?"

"Madam Li thinks it'll wear off within a year," Xander told her. "She's going to do some temporary removing tonight to give him some feeling.  She'll be working on the wings area of his back."

"I can help work on the hair removal.  I figure some soaking would help soften his thick pelt and then we'd do it, let him shower, then bring him back here."  Xander nodded at that.  "Time frame?"

"Eight or nine.  Do we have a guest room open?"

"Yup.  Or we've got Rimfire's room open."

"I can take a guest room," Enamel promised.  "Once I've got some feeling I can go home too."

"You've got to have those massages daily probably," Xander reminded him.  Enamel glared at him and he smirked.  "Didn't it help earlier?"  He nodded, groaning a bit and sinking lower in the water.  "Then we'll deal.  We put up with twins, you're going to be less work."  He smirked at him, then at Vinnie, then at Throttle.  "So, what have we decided?"

"We're going to kill you two if you try to climb into bed with each other," Throttle said simply.

"Good deal.  I agreed, it should only be a quad thing," he said with a small shrug.  "Hey, Rimfire," he said, smiling at him.  "What's up?"

"The nerve disruptor was in database.  It wears off after six months."  He looked at Enamel, frowning a bit.  "It'll keep regrowing until it's too weak and can finally be broken through. If I tried the reverse setting it could set it permanently."

"That's fine, kid.  What about multiple uses on a victim?" he asked calmly.

"Same thing," he assured him.  "Stoker got hit about twelve, fifteen times once during a time he was held.  They used it on his legs, that's the usual usage.  Apparently they went in for torture of you. It will wear off, but all the notes claim that it's extremely painful because you've got all those sudden surges."

"Madam Li can do acupuncture and acupressure," Xander told him.  "That can relieve some of the backed up flow.  I can do deep tissue massages which'll also help."  Enamel nodded that the earlier one had.  "That'll keep some of the worst at bay and we'll figure out the other stuff after that, Enamel.  Even if I have to go pounce Stoker myself."

"I don't want him to know," he told him.

"He's been there," Rimfire reminded him.

"Yeah, but I don't like him and he'll make fun of me and I can't take that."

Throttle shook his head.  "If he does, we'll whip his tail for you.  He's not usually that cruel."  Enamel nodded, frowning a bit.  "If he was after your trial, he was younger then.  Now he knows better and he's a bit more compassionate.  But if you want, I'll go to Exhaust for now."

"Please," he agreed quietly.  "Can I, um, have a straw?"

"I wasn't even thinking about that," Dawn admitted, going to clean out her earlier one for him.  "Here you go," she said with a small kiss to his forehead.  "You're already warm.  Are you sure he's supposed to be this warm, Xander?"

"She said to get it as hot as he could stand it.  Turn off the extra burner though."  Dawn hit the switch and Enamel shifted, getting comfortable.  "Better?"  He nodded, taking a sip of his wine.  "You just relax and rest.  You took care of us when we were in horrible shape and in horrible moods and even when I stunk horribly.  We can help you with this and you can get us back later if we annoy the fuck outta you.  Deal?"

"Fine," he relented, nodding a bit.  "Thank you, Xander."

"Not an issue.  You'd do what you could in the same situation."

"If this were me handling it and you were another doctor, I'd be putting you out of your misery when you asked for it," he said honestly.

Xander nodded.  "I can see that.  It's got to be soul sucking to have everything you've ever known about yourself suddenly rearranged and made mute and impotent."  Enamel sighed and nodded, realizing that Xander had went through it when he had changed.  "So we'll help and annoy and you can make my next check up hurt."

"Sure, kid.  Thanks."

"Not an issue," Throttle assured him.  "I should go talk to Exhaust now, just in case an emergency happens."  Enamel moaned.  "You okay?"

"No, but I'm not sure how we'd handle one."

"Easy.  The same headset if I can get it back from the boss," Xander assured him.  "You can always instruct for now."

"Maybe.  It's not that easy."  He took another sip.  "This is really good wine."

"Thanks. I was going to make a pot roast with it but then the meat got fed to a certain bunch of football hungry mice."  Enamel cracked a small smirk at that.  "Didn't even wait for the good stuff, just browned it and ate it like a really thick steak."

"That's because we were hungry, bro.  You wore us out," Vinnie teased, leaning on his shoulder. "I wrote you a poem."

"Then you're a better mouse than I am.  I suck at poetry," Xander said, beaming at him.  "What's it about?"

"Your antenna."

Throttle moaned.  "Please, no."

"Sorry," Vinnie sighed, shifting over so he was cuddling Throttle's other side.  "I'll try to keep it down."

"Thank you."  He gave him a nudge with his shoulder.  "We'll get through this too, Vinnie.  Bros don't let bros go through this stuff alone.  The same as kinda-family doesn't let the soul sucking injuries go unnoted and unhelped."  Enamel looked stunned. "You might as well be some days," he admitted gruffly.  "That's as mushy as I'm getting."

"Could the beam have affected you through your link?" Rimfire asked.  "There's not much on it in the database.  Just that the reverse setting usually makes it a bit harder to resist."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Xander said dryly, looking at Vinnie.  "Warn us if you have any pouncing urges, okay?"

"Sure," he agreed happily.  "Maybe one of us should go put on a suit."

"I don't own a bathing suit," Xander complained.  "Except my old trophy speedo."

"No, that's not a suit, that's underwear and a taunt," Throttle said quickly.  "Naked's fine. You two can handle that much. You're big mice."  Enamel let out a quiet snicker.  "This is going to be horrible."

"They're already so close it'd just phase in and out of a quad until it wore off," he offered.  "They'll be embarrassed at the end of it but they'll all be fine by then.  Then again, you and Charley might find a new appreciation for each other too."  He tried to shrug and winced.  "At least I felt some pain that time."

"That's from the weight of the limbs," Xander offered, shifting over to work on his arms some more.  "I have magical fingers and I'll do what I can to help you.  Even Modo likes my back and arm rubs," he said proudly.

"I think you go too hard," Throttle offered dryly.  "Then again, I'm not used to someone kneading me like bread dough."

Xander spit at him.  "I'll stick to foot and leg rubs for you, dear.  After all, they make you horny."

"I'll remember that," Vinnie said happily.  "I never realized that before."

"I don't know why not, you did about everything else to him when you two were together," Xander said dryly.  Dawn and Rimfire both choked on the air they were swallowing.  "Long ago, kids.  Way, way long ago.  Like ancient history."

"We were just in the end of our training," Vinnie agreed.

"Yeah, that's ancient history," Rimfire agreed dryly.

Vinnie lunged and caught him, pulling him in and putting his head under the water.  "I'm not that old, Rimfire.  I'm barely thirty!"

"Let up on him!  You big meany!" Dawn shouted, beating on his arm.  "My mouse!"  She got Rimfire free and helped him back away from the tub.  "Just for that, you're going to be funny colored for the next year, Vincent Van Wham.  No one tortures *my* mouse but me."  She stomped off, taking Rimfire with her to baby him for a bit.

"Wow, that was a great plan," Xander said happily, beaming at him.  "Now they're off having sex and leaving us alone.  Dawn's no longer staring at the three of us and our bare asses either."

"I've seen bigger dicks on slugs!" she yelled, then slammed her door.

"Proportionally speaking, slugs are hung," Enamel offered, shaking his head a bit.  "Ow, Xander."

"Sorry.  You know it's working though."  He switched to the back of his neck and started to move down from there.  "I remember reading something about the oldest and proportionally longest coming from some sort of snail.  If the snail was a human it'd be, like, two feet long."

"Wow," Vinnie said. "I want one of those."

"Your girl would run from you," Throttle said, shaking his head quickly.  "Hell, we'd all run from you, bro."

"Why?  Is he spouting poetry again?" Modo asked as he came in to join them.  "Suits?"

"Optional," Vinnie and Xander announced.

"Fine.  I'll wear mine if you don't mind."  He slid into the empty spot.

"Did you know that proportionally speaking, slugs have bigger penises than any other creature?" Throttle asked him.

"Did that beam affect you through your bond to Xander?" he demanded.  "Bro, that's just odd."

"No, seriously," Xander agreed. "I read it in a news article.  I even saved it down.  The biggest ever was on a snail and it was about two feet long if the snail were human sized."

"Well, Dawn did say she'd seen bigger on a snail," Vinnie agreed with a grin.  "How about you, Xander?  Would you run from one of those?"

Xander blushed and ducked to pay attention to what he was doing.  "No comment."

Modo stared at him, mouth hanging open.  "You know someone like that?"

"Hid that from me during the life review?"

"No, I just watched him do his porno shoot," Xander admitted, grinning at his very jealous mate. "I was there soaking up the beach.  They were shooting up the beach from me.  I'm still impressed at the girl who took it up the butt."  He shook his head and shifted around Enamel to work on the other side, moving his wine out of the way.  "There, sip on that side."

"Can you get off my lap?" Enamel asked.

Xander shifted a bit further away.  "Sorry, didn't mean to make you horny at the sight of my sexy tail."

"Vincent, quit infecting him with your ego.  He's got enough already," Enamel said dryly.

"But why?" he asked with a bright grin.  "There's so much I can show and infect him with of mine that it'd be great.  We could really start acting like twins."

"Gred."

"Yes, Forge?" Vinnie replied, grinning at him.

"You're freaking the muggles out.  Quit for a bit, okay?"

"Fine.  I'll quit freaking the muggles out," Vinnie agreed happily.

"Huh?" Modo asked.

"I'll give you the book tapes later," Throttle assured him, shaking his head.  A year of this.  He was going to be insane by then.   The transporter went off.  "Go away I'm having a nervous breakdown!"  Yes, he was definitely going to be insane by the end of this.  Either that or he'd have two white mice begging him to help them nap the sleep of the deeply sexed out.

Episode 59:

Throttle signed onto their connection to Mars, dialing Exhaust's seat.  He found Stoker instead.  "Where's Exhaust?" he asked tiredly.

"At home in bed, it's the middle of the night, Throttle," Stoker said tiredly.  "What's wrong?"

"You know those plans you had in case Enamel ever got hurt?  You're going to need to use temporary measures."

Stoker stared at him for a moment.  "It was noticed by someone that Rimfire was getting into some ancient accounts of tortures, including one of mine.  What hit him?"  He let a small smirk appear.  "The lust beam hopefully?"

Xander walked in and leaned over Throttle's shoulder.  "You leave Enamel the hell alone, Stoker," he said firmly.  "He doesn't need your brand of shit today and the rest of us definitely do not need to hear you ragging on the person who saved so many lives, including your own and Vinnie's."

"He's a punk," he snorted.

"If he wasn't such a punk, you'd have lost all three of these guys and every other Freedom Fighter and Army mouse who had injuries that needed fixing with mechanicals," he said coolly.  "You guys trashed him for trying to find a way to help those of you, like my man, who needed the help, and for not being God.  Well, fucking get over it.  If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have your tail.  Throttle would be blind and probably dead.  Modo would be dead.  Vinnie would have been dead as a child.  Think about what would have happened to the war if all those people who got the benefits of his work had died."  Stoker just gaped at him.  "Like I said, leave him the hell alone."

Stoker looked at Throttle.  "Was he the second victim of the lust ray?"

"Only right on one count, coach," Throttle said, patting Xander's thigh.  "You, calm down."

"He doesn't need this shit, Throttle, and I'm tired of hearing it from both sides.  Yeah, he's not God.  None of us are.  Doctors lose patients, even when they try their best and do the utmost and most unusual things to save them.  It's not his fault that Mars ran out of the medicines that kid needed.  Blame it on the real assholes who were the reason, the Plutarkians."  He left, going back downstairs to help him some more.  "Sorry, Enamel, but Stoker's the only one in tonight and Throttle told him," he said quietly.  "But I chewed him a new one.  He thought it'd be funny if you got hit with the lust ray."

"Hmm, I can't imagine that," Enamel said bitterly.  "I can go.  I've got some limited feeling back."

"If you move from this room, I'm going to pout and throw a tantrum," Xander said firmly.  "Doctors make horrible patients, but this time you are and you've taught me a hell of a lot already.  Therefore you're going to submit and like it or else I'm going to have to practice my Vinnie-serenading on you.  And I'm tone deaf."

Enamel groaned and shook his head.  "Xander, there's no reason...."

"Shut it or else."  He sat down to work on his arms again.  "You have every reason to whine but don't do it because people actually give a damn about you.  Or else I will call Shell too."  Enamel shut up at that.  He couldn't stand to let her see him like this.  He couldn't let her see him as weak.  Xander knew this.  "Good."  He smirked at him.  "I even swore at the big, gray, old fart for you."

"You know we're the same age, right?" Enamel said sarcastically.

"Yes, but you weathered better.  He looks old.  It's probably Spike and Anya's fault, but still."  Enamel chuckled at that, a real sound of happiness, the first since he had been found.

Upstairs Throttle shrugged.  "He's right.  If it weren't for his work, all the mechanical parts wouldn't work on us.  He's the guy who figured out how to integrate them into us."

"Still."

"No," Throttle said, shaking his head.  "Enamel's still a mouse.  He's helped us behind the scenes and you guys did take his work to help us further.  Xander may have went overboard by swearing at you, but the gist was right.  Enamel is still a Martian.  He's not God.  We were running out of medicine.  He let that girl live for another three years.  Yeah, her mother was grieving and she was the last of her family, but he tried to save her repeatedly.  Even figuring out how to mix the two serums we did have to keep her going."

"That kid's life wasn't what you'd call pleasant."

"No, but she was alive.  Yours isn't what you'd call pleasant most of the time," he pointed out tiredly.  "Neither's ours sometimes.  Yeah, he could have let her die painlessly but he did what her mother wanted and saved her as best he could.  You guys got mad at him for something that wasn't his fault.  We had that medicine until the Army botched it up and wrecked that shipment on purpose."  Stoker winced at that.  "Or did they?"

"They were using it to keep a general alive," he admitted tiredly.  "I've known Enamel since primary school, Throttle.  He's always been an arrogant asshole."

"So?  So're you."  He smirked at the glare.  "You are.  You should have been a white mouse."

"Bastard," he muttered, but he was back to smirking at him.  "Fine, I'll leave off him.  What got him so we can make plans?"

"The nerve blocker."

"Shit," Stoker sighed, shaking his head.  "He's going to hurt for a long time, even after the effects wear off.  Tell him the pain will be enough to make him want to rip off his legs.  It did me.  Tell him...I'll listen if he needs me to," he decided.

Throttle shook his head.  "Not his legs, coach."

"What?"  He sat up.  "Who in the hell did that!  That's crueler than usual!"

"Marshall.  He got Vinnie and Xander with the lust ray too.  Oh, Chassis has him in custody and is heading back but we've still got the older Limburger down here.  He was in hiding.  You guys got his Karbunkle'd clone."

"How many of those did he make!" he demanded.

"I don't know.  The original's down here.  So's Greasepit and Greasebomb.  So's the older Limburger.  Got any strategies for dealing with two lustful white mice who belong to me?"

"To you do they?" Stoker asked smugly.

"Xander's mine and Vinnie's my bro.  Besides, we've been a close set of couples."

"All I can think right now is 'thank god it wasn't Modo'," Stoker sighed, shaking his head quickly.  "Staff would gut Xander on you.  At least you can sleep with Vinnie if you have to.  And Charley girl too I suppose."

"Nope, not happenin'," he assured him.  "Not yet anyway.  Right now, Vinnie's working on a new poem about Xander's tail."

"Poetry?  Already?"  Throttle nodded.  "Damn those two are close.  Persevere," he ordered.  "It's all you can do, punk.  Need anything else?"

"Helpers for Enamel possibly.  He can't really feel anything even with the acupuncture they did earlier."

"What's that?"

"Lots of little, tiny pins stimulating the nerves," he said grimly.  Then he shuddered. "Made me think of horrible tortures."

"Me too.  Just the description sounds painful.  I'll talk to Mayflower tonight."  Throttle nodded at that.  "Just hang in there.  Remember, it wears off.  It will wear off."

"Thanks, coach.  Have a better night."

"You too.  I'll call soon."  He hung up and left a note for Exhaust on his screen, then went to find the top doc.   He rode out to her farm, noticing the lights were off.  He hated to do it but he had to get this moving.  They might not have time if there was another emergency.  He dismounted and walked up to the door, tapping firmly but not pounding.  He wouldn't do that unless it was an emergency.  A very disgruntled and disheveled doctor opened the door, glaring at him.  "I know it's late."

"It had better be the fate of someone's life," she warned.

"Enamel got hit with the nerve blocking ray."  She blinked a few times.  "They got his arms and hands."

"Get in here, we've got to figure some things out."  She headed for her kitchen, coming back with a drink for them and sat down across from him.  "How bad?"

"Throttle wouldn't say but they're trying something called acupuncture to ease some of it.  Xander's babying him."  He sipped his drink.  "He's got to be devastated."

"If it were any of us left up here, we'd be begging to be shot," she told him.  "For a doctor this is spiritual death."  She took a longer drink.  "We've got problems anyway and he might be able to help, even with this problem."  Stoker sat up a bit straighter.  "We don't have all the knowledge we used to.  Teaching the new doctors is becoming frustrating because so much was lost."

"So either send them to Earth to do the basics and then train them for Martians or do an internship," Stoker offered.

She shook her head.  "It's the specifics of Martians that we've lost, Stoker."  She stared at him.  "We could do an internship.  Train them then send the new docs out with the older ones so they could finish their training with what they remember.  I wish we had been able to save the old library in Dahon."

"Me too," he sighed.  "So much was lost when that went up, including the birth registry."  He finished his drink and put the cup aside.  "How would that help him?"

"Easy.  It'd give him two pairs of hands to order and do the odd stuff for him," she said simply.  "He knows and remembers a lot.  Plus there's been some advances down on Earth that have helped us improve what we've got to.  I don't want medical science to go back through a Dark Age while we recover what we lost."

Stoker nodded at that.  "Was it true what Xander snapped at me?  That it was his work that enabled those of us with mechanical parts to go on?"  She nodded, looking grim.  "Why?"

"Because he was the only one working on it," she admitted.  "If we hadn't been so uptight about the attack on the clinics that happened right around then, we would never let you guys banish him.  Yeah, he lost the kid, but he managed a hell of a lot.  Losing one patient is hard but we gained another three hundred, at least, in return.  Her mother was insane to charge him for not being God."

"That's about what Xander yelled at me," he sighed, leaning down to scrub his face with his hands.  "So what do we do?"

"We've got a class graduating early next month," she said, finishing her own drink and putting it down.  "I'll pick out two of the best to send to him.  Surgeons with some basic skills in pediatrics and birth problems."

"Charley may be pregnant," he offered, looking at her.  "We're not sure."  She nodded.  "Xander's his actual age again."

"Good.  That leaves Victor and any visiting children, the ambassador's children, and any more refugees they get."  She gave him a sideways smirk.  "It could be much worse, Stoker.  We lost a lot but we're holding on.  As long as the Plutarkians don't come back, we'll survive and eventually prosper.  Our future kids will look back in horror at what we had to suffer but they'll thank us for it."

Stoker nodded.  "True.  Should I tell him?"

"Please.  What about Shell?  I know she's up here working in the hospital with some of the veterans."

"I'm not sure he'd want her to know.   He always hated being found to be weak," he said, standing up.  "It might destroy him if she found out."

"I'll try, Stoker, but she plans on going back within a few weeks.  He might not have that choice."

"Fine.  I'll warn him.  I'm heading down there.  Any idea who so I can give him an idea?"

"No, but warn him they'll be cocky brats.  We usually are when we graduate."  He nodded, shaking her hand and leaving.  She got up to call her fellow doctors.  This had taken the decision they had been arguing over out of their hands.  She found some of them together and gave them a grim look.  "This does not get told to Shell," she announced.  They sat up straight, it could only mean something happened to Enamel.  "He was hit with the nerve blocker.  They got his hands and arms."  The other doctors moaned and one swore, throwing his glass of liquor.  "I'm sending him two of the students to train."

"Fine," the lead of that group agreed.  "It can be a test case."

She nodded.  "Agreeable.  Stoker said he might not want her to know."

"She'll find out soon enough.  She won't be kept up here for the next six months," the male who threw the glass said quietly.  "We should tell her so she doesn't hear about it by seeing him."

"No, we'll let him tell her," she ordered.  "That way it's up to him."  They all sighed and nodded at that.  It must be a girl thing since they were male and didn't understand it.  "I'll need a list of who since they're graduating next month."

"Send down Proxima and Heat," one of the men said, leaning closer to the camera.  "They're as trained as we can get them and they'll get their attitudes knocked down but they're our most competent.  He can easily mold them into his image."

She nodded.  "That's fine.  I'm headed to Earth to talk to him.  Can you gather them?"

"Sure.  I'll have them down there within the week."  She nodded and signed off.

***

Enamel looked up as someone tapped on the door and it was opened.  "What's up?" he asked the doctor standing there.  "I suppose you heard?"

"I did," she agreed, walking inside to sit next to him.  "We've decided to try a pilot program with you that we've been arguing over for a while now."  He raised an eyebrow at that and she stopped his taped book from going.  "You know the library on Dahon contained the medical database and most of the accumulated knowledge.  When it went up, we lost centuries of knowledge without a way to retrieve it."  He nodded at that.  "We've decided that the best way to make up this gap is to do internships for now.  We're sending you the first two.  You'll have them for however long it takes, that's one of those things we've got to figure out.  You're to train them in whatever you can remember and specialize them however you can.  We need surgeons and I won't kid you, we'll need baby doctors and people to deliver children."

"Should I get them enrolled down here?"

"They should be able to work without it.  What we lost was the specifics of the Martian system.  The generalities we still mostly could teach."

He looked at her.  "We've got a lot of stuff down here that you guys don't.  Tests, treatments, drugs."  She nodded at that.  "The way it works down here is you do a four year biology degree.  Then you do a two year intense medical study, then an internship where you sample the various specialities to figure out what sort of doctor you want to be.  Then you do a residency, which is more like our internships.  They could benefit from those two years worth of training."

"They might, but what we need is for them to be fluent in treating Martians."

"Yeah, but a lot of it crosses over.  Hell, I've been treating Charley out of their textbooks."  She blinked a few times.  He nodded.  "It's not what I specialized in.  I barely remember anything about birth."

"Good point.  Fine.  If you feel it's necessary.  If possible I'd like for them to be able to rewrite some of the texts when you're done with them.  Even if they're not proficient in the field and they panic, we need someone who can rediscover things.  I know I've donated my old texts, and I'm sure you did."

"I donated my newer set," he admitted.

"You had a newer set?"  He nodded.  "How?"

"They came out right before I was banished.  I already had them on order and I told the bookstore to give them to Sophet to hold and use for a student who couldn't afford them."

She smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.  "You're a great mouse, Enamel.  If we'd had any sense, we'd have stuck up for you.  It wasn't your fault.  Even if she is still harping on that death.  Your work and your research saved hundreds of other mice."  She stroked his cheek gently.  "What do you want us to tell Shell?"

"Can you keep her up there?"  She shook her head.  "How long do I have?"

"Three weeks."

"Damn it," he muttered.  He took a calming breath, then looked at her.  "I can't have her see me like this."

"She'll understand."

"I don't care."

"I know."  She stroked his cheek again and smiled at the mouse leaning in the doorway.  "Hello, Xander."

"I heard the words stop and I thought he might need the tape flipped."  He looked at her.  "More problems?"

"No, but we're sending him some student doctors to hopefully train as great as he is."

Xander beamed at her.  "That's a great idea," he promised happily.  "I'm sure he can do great things and make them better doctors than the one who treated me."  That got some snickers from Mayflower.  "Seriously."  He looked at him.  "I can go tell Shell.  Tell her that she can't come down for a bit, that you're going to be overloaded with the students."

"No, she'll never believe you."  Enamel stared at him.  "I don't want her to know."

"She'll know anyway, Enamel.  She's plugged into you like I am Throttle."  He grimaced.  "She's probably got phantom pins and needles already."

"Fine, tell her but tell her she can't come down until I'm better."

"Sure.  I'll tell her that.  If she follows it," he said with a small grin.

"Point.  My girl is nothing if not stubborn," he agreed with a weak grin.  "Go to bed."

"Yes, dear."  He went back to the garage, waiting on Mayflower so he could go back with her.  "I'm going to tell Shell now," he said quietly.  "That way she can throw a fit in the privacy of her home instead of at work."

"That's a good idea," she agreed, patting him on the cheek.  "Come along, Xander."  He followed her back through and then got the address off the main system, which he somehow knew how to use.  She watched as he jogged out of the building and down the stairs, shaking her head.  "Damn that's one fast kid.  He's got to slow down sometime or even Vinnie won't be able to keep up with him.

***

Xander found the address after asking one of the bored night cops, and tapped gently on the door.  He heard a mumble and smiled, tapping again.  The door opened and he was faced with a big, burly he-mouse.  "I'm Xander.  I was told Shell was here?"

"She's in our guest room.  Is it an emergency?"

"Kinda, but one that she just has to be told about.  She probably won't be leaving, he doesn't want her to."

"Fine."  He went to get his sister up, shaking her gently.  "There's a white mouse here to see you."

"Vinnie?"

"No, it's not Van Wham," he said dryly.  "It's the one he went to rescue."

"Xander?"  She sat up and rubbed her eyes, padding out to the door.  She frowned at him, then pulled him inside and shut the door.  "What happened?"

"You remember hearing about those nerve blocking rays?" he asked gently, steering her toward a chair.  She nodded, frowning at him.  "Enamel got hit with one.  We're working on getting him free sooner, but he didn't want you to come fuss."

"Fat chance!" she stated, standing up.  She glared at him.  "How dare he!"

"He's afraid you'll think less of him," Xander pointed out gently.  She should know this if she stopped to think.

She frowned.  "I don't care if he is scared I'll dump him for having a momentary injury.  It's stupid and he knows better.  After all, I'm having his mouse!  How dare he do this to me because he can't walk for six months!"  She started to move and he caught her arm, shaking his head.

"Limburger junior got his hands, Shell.  His arms and his hands."  She gasped and sat down, staring at him, starting to cry.  "We're working on it," he promised, sitting beside her to hug her.  "I promise we're working on it.  I had a great acupuncturist come in to look him over earlier, after we got free.  She's working with me and him on it.  We're going to try to get him free sooner, but he didn't want you to see him like this."

She sniffled, looking up at him.  "I know how he feels and why," she said.  "Why are you telling me?"

"Because Throttle botched up sending the official notice and report, giving it to Stoker."

"Oh."  She nodded, swallowing a bit.  "Is he all right?"

"He's staying with us for now.  We're working on him every day.  I'm doing some deep tissue massages.  She's doing acupuncture and acupressure.  We think we can make it shorter than six months."

"These things leave you more sensitive afterward," she said quietly.  "He'll be a lot more sensitive."  She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Then she stood up.  "He's feeling pitiful and I agree, but he could still use a cuddle and I still have to tell him about the future mouse."  She went into her room, coming out in a bathrobe and slippers.  "Come on."

"I didn't bike in," he said, standing up.  "You sure you don't wanna put on real clothes in case this goes long?"

"I'll borrow from Dawn."  She walked him out to her bike, letting him drive this time while she thought.  Her poor baby!  He had to be hurting and he definitely needed a more delicate and supportive touch, one who wouldn't coddle him and coo at him.  They got back through the transporter with her pass and one of the guards recognizing Xander.  Then she ran up the hall to where she could hear a book tape going, bursting into his room to hug and cuddle him and coo over him.  "Oh, Gods, baby," she cried, clinging to his chest.  "I'm so sorry!"

"Shh," he soothed, wanting his arms to move.

Xander walked in and put them across her back.  "She insisted.  I told her you said not to."  He left, closing the door behind him.

She looked up at him.  "I was coming to tell you about the other news that's going to rock your world."

"I won a Nobel prize?"

"No!"  She gave him a weak smile.  "I'm with mouse."

He gaped, then slowly passed out.  Yeah, that topped his day off nicely.

***

Shell walked off the transporter and Stoker whistled, looking impressed at her outfit.  "Looking good, doc."

"Shut up," she growled.  She glared at him and he gave her a small smirk back.  "I heard what you said about him.  You will leave my man alone, Stoker.  He's done everything in his power to move on after you guys decided he's not good enough, just because he's not God!"  She stepped back.  "For that matter, you have no right to whistle or leer at me.  I'm a taken mouse and you should have more couth by now, Stoker."

"Sorry, doc, I was just being appreciative of the work you went to this morning," he complained.

"Well, don't!  Women are not here to be ogled by slimy little men like you!  We are here to do the shit you can't and won't do because men are too damn selfish to try new things!  For that matter, Enamel is *much* better at that because he does try new things and he actually does his own laundry."  She stomped off.

"Man, give a girl a compliment and get your head torn off," Stoker complained bitterly.  "That's the last time I compliment her."

Carbine coughed, hiding her smile at Shell's outburst.  "While I agree with her," she said more gently.  "Did you notice she had seemingly gained some weight and was a bit happy and glowing when she came out?  That was part of her beauty today."

"You can't be serious," Stoker said, sounding a bit flat.  She nodded.  "You're sure?"

"Pretty sure.  Most women don't light up the room they walk into that way unless they're just past morning sickness."

"Then I hope his future kid is as neat as my younger two are.  A kid like Anya would drive him nuts."

"I would not!" Anya yelled from outside the chamber.

"We're talking about Enamel having one, sweetie."

"Oh, never mind.  He's too grumpy to have a good girl like me anyway.  Can someone open the door, they're heavy!"

One of the guards pushed open the door, smiling at her.  "Why aren't you in classes?"

"We had an 'splosion," she said with a scowl.  "Ramjet and her brother are gross and disgusting and Spike just howled in laughter until he figured out he was puce."

"He was what?" Carbine asked.

"Puce.  It's a purply color Dawn showed me," she said proudly.  She smiled at her father.  "Daddy, Spike helped blow up the school."

"Why me?" he moaned, shaking his head. "Is this 'punish Stoker' day or something?"

"I'm sure we can make it official," Carbine offered quickly.  "Anyone contest that idea?"

Stoker pulled his laser and shot out her chair, making her fall onto the floor.  "Yes, I do, Carbine."  He put it away and looked at his daughter.  "Where is your brother and Ramjet?"

"At the ruins."  She walked around to climb up into his lap.  "It'll take *weeks* to rebuild it."

The other councilors groaned, but were quiet enough to hear Shell going off on someone up the hall.  Something about changing doctors if they didn't like who she was dating.

"Yup, she's pregnant," Stoker sighed.  "Switch said the same thing to Throttle and the bros."  He shook his head and gave his daughter a squeeze.  "Go get the teacher and tell her I want an official report.  That the kids are going to be punished if they did it on purpose.  Got it?"  She nodded, beaming as she went to give that important message.  Then he quietly called Throttle and Modo's mother.  "Help," he said impatiently.  "Spike just helped blow up the school."

"I'm coming, dear," Throttle's mother assured him.  "Just be a bit more patient and give me time to ride in."  She broke the connection but you could hear her laughing before she hung up.

***

Modo woke up in the morning and saw Enamel was in the kitchen, staring hard at the coffee maker.  "Let me hit the can," he groaned, getting up.

"Shell started it before she left," he admitted, glancing over at him.  "Rimfire's out for a run with Dawn.  When did she take up jogging?"

"It's their tamer version of chase," he complained, heading into the bathroom.  He came out a few minutes later and pulled on his jeans, coming in to look at the breakfast already done for them.  "Someone does a great job," he said happily, taking a few of the sandwiches for himself.  He made a plate for Enamel and got him a mug of coffee.  "Milk, right?"

"Not the first cup.  I need it straight."  He followed Modo out to the table, groaning when he realized he couldn't eat.  "Damn it."

Xander came up the stairs and sat down next to him, going to work on his wrists again.  He slowly moved up this time instead of down.  It was messing up the gray fur but it might help a bit more.  Enamel winced but let him continue.  He finally got one hand to clench and relaxed his body.  That's when the cramp hit him, making him hiss.  "I know," he soothed, picking up a sandwich and taking a bite, then putting it in his mouth with a grin.  "We're all sharing around here.  Except Modo, he doesn't love me enough to let me sneak off his plate." Enamel ate a bite but you could see the humor in his eyes.  That had was released and he was able to barely clench it around the sandwich so he could speak.  "Good job.  Let me get the other side too."  He switched over, going to work on that side.  It was the stronger one and he hoped they could get him back to basics soon.  "Will you need rehab?"

"No, not for this.  It'll hurt for the first few days but I won't be losing anything as long as someone works the muscles for me," he admitted, bending his head down to take another bite.  Xander lifted his elbow and he nodded his thanks, taking a large bite this time.  That hand suddenly cramped and his fingers flexed so he got the coffee cup.  He couldn't feel the heat from the coffee or the texture of the cup, but he could lift it slowly and shakily.  He gulped it, knowing he was going to be dropping the mug soon.  It went back onto the table a bit harder than it should have but he didn't spill any of the precious liquid God.  He finished up that sandwich and found himself very tired.

Xander got up to get something he had thought up last night, coming back with the clamp and the platform, sitting the next sandwich on it once he had it attached.  "Ta da!" he said happily.

Enamel looked at it.  "I still feel like the dog."  He shook his head.  "You're an original, Xander.  Don't ever let anyone copy you.  The world might not live through another one."  He bent forward and took a bite, leaving the sandwich on the small platform but forward so he could take the next bite.  Or he could pull it forward with a bite/pull maneuver.  By the time the second one was done, he was ready to nap right there.  "I think I'll go back to bed."

"Crash on the couch," Modo offered tolerantly.  "It's plenty comfy.  Xander and I have both napped on it recently."  He helped him up and to the couch, getting the pillows for him.  "There.  Need the tv?"

"No thanks.  Daytime tv's all smut, talk shows, and court shows.  None of which I need in my life."

"I'd say not," Xander teased with a bright grin.  "She told me.  Should we plan a party?"

"Not yet," he said quietly.  "Let me absorb that fact first."

"Huh?" Modo asked.

Enamel looked up at him.  "Shell's with mouse.  She broke out in hysterical tears last night and promised she'd be coming to take care of me so you guys wouldn't have to put up with me."

"That's great news," Modo congratulated, smiling at him.  "Some day soon you'll have a kid who'll call you a poof too."

"My kid won't learn that word," he said dryly.  "It's Vincent's own fault for letting the kid hang out with Spike.  He's obviously a bad influence."

"Gee, ya think?" Xander joked.  "If you knew anything about how Spike used to be, he's still adjusting.  He used to be much more annoying."  He smirked at Modo.  "So, how's Staff?"

Modo blushed.  "Still working on the ships.  She'll be back in a few days."

"Cool.  We should hold the party for the newest future doc then."

"Can't we wait until I can move?" Enamel whined.

"By that time, you're going to be catching him or her," Xander said with a smirk for him.  "Unless you're going to let someone else deliver your child?"

"Fat chance," he growled.  "My woman and no one's touching her that way."

Vinnie hopped up onto the ramp then walked the last few feet.  "Who cooked?" he asked happily, taking Xander's last sandwich.

"Hey!  I need that!  After all, I've got to fight you off and then go do battle with the evil horde of paperwork for the final site stuff."  He took it back and ate it, shaking his head as he walked off.  "There were more in the kitchen."

"Sure."  Vinnie smirked at Modo.  "So what's going on?"

"Shell's pregnant," Modo said with a grin.

"Congrats, doc," Vinnie said with a smile.  "Need any help trying to fight the frustration when your daughter picks on you, just yell.  I'm nearly an expert at it now."   He looked at his bro.  "I caught him saying daddy last night to Charley, then he saw me and called me a poof again with this bright, tail nibbling grin."

"Well, you do want Xander, bro," Modo teased.  Vinnie pounced him to beat the snot out of him, but Modo just laughed and pinned him down.  "Out of practice, Vinnie?"

"Guys, I didn't get any last night, I've got a headache," Dawn said as she came up the ramp.  She came over to tuck Enamel in then went to find breakfast.  "Hey, there's only six left!" she complained.

"Then run to McDonald's and make up the difference," Vinnie called, kneeing Modo since he was distracted by the tiny running shorts Dawn was wearing.  He went 'ha' and nearly made it but Dawn pounced him to help her uncle-in-law and he was soon pinned under both of them and being poked repeatedly by a sharp nail.  "Meany!"

"Keep it up and I won't give you my poetry book from my English class," she taunted.  "Then you'll have to keep writing your own poetry."

"Can I borrow it?" he asked quickly, grabbing her with his tail to flip her onto her back so he could look at her.  "That would make Charley giggle at me again."

"Sure.  Just as soon as I'm done with the class, Vincent.  Now would you kindly get off me?"  Someone knocked on the door.  "Someone get that!  I'm pinned under an insane white mouse!"

"I'm not insane, just horny," he offered with a bright grin.

"Then get the hell off me, man," she said dryly, kicking at him until he moved, snickering the whole way.  "Thank you.  I don't need to think about you four together.  Though I'm sure all of you would have trouble sitting once the Xander monster came out.  I've never known anyone else who could wear out three pros in one night."  She got up and grabbed two of the sandwiches.  "Someone needs to run out to get more."

"There's more in the oven, keeping warm and melting the cheese slowly," Enamel offered with a yawn, grinning at them.  "I would have offered but you look like you were having too much fun."

"She is a fun toy," Vinnie agreed happily.  "It makes Rimfire insanely jealous too."  The knock came again.  "Okay, I'm coming," he called, getting up to go down and answer it. He looked at the man standing there.  "You don't *look* like the ordinary military.  Collecting for something?" he offered. "Dawn's got stuff she can give away.  She's got three bulging closets."

"No, sir.  I'm here to speak to Mr. Harris."

"Already headed for work," Dawn called.  She peeked out.  "Hey, dear.  He's at work.  So either go to the site or come back around seven.  Either's fine."

He nodded.  "Thank you kindly, I'll be back tonight. It's not that important really.  Just some information he wanted to know if it came up."  He tipped his hat.  "Have a nice day."

"You too, Constable."  She smiled as he disappeared, then looked at Vinnie.  "He works with Ray and Stan."

"Oh."  Vinnie nodded, shutting the door.  "Okay.  I guess."  He shrugged and went to find Charley and get her up for a cuddle and a kiss.  He could wonder about strange, overly polite guys in uniform later.  He really could.  He saw his baby cuddled in with his momma and grinned, laying down behind him.  "Morning, son.  It's daddy," he cooed.

"Daddy!" he said sleepily, grinning at him.

"Good boy!"  He cuddled him, making his son one happy morning mouse for a little bit.  "Just keep calling me that and we'll be the best of buds, son.  We'll show Enamel how to be a really good daddy."

"When is he going to start having kids?" Charley asked tiredly, not opening her eyes.

"Shell's with mouse right now," he said happily.  "So you've got someone to get sick and moan with."

"Cool.  Wonderful.  Let me go back to sleep," she said with a yawn.

"Someone made homemade egg mcmuffins."

"Hmm.  Go steal me about three or four and some coffee.  I'll get up for that."

"Sure thing, sweetheart."  He got up, taking Vic with him.  The baby beamed and reached for Modo when he saw him so he was temporarily handed over while Vinnie hit the kitchen, then he gathered him back up and took him back to mommy.  "Come on, let's go help mommy and the future sister eat."

"We've got to check that later," Enamel called after him.  "At this stage, it's easily reabsorbed if there was anything wrong."

"Sure.  We'll do it after you nap."  He carried his precious cargo back to his girl and handed them over, then sat down with his son to chat with him, grinning.  "We're going to learn how to use the check machine today, son.  That way we can check on your future sister.  Won't that be fun?"

"At least it doesn't hurt," Charley said, sitting up to eat.  "Coffee?"

"Empty, sorry.  I started a new pot but not yet."  He grinned at her.  "By the time you're ready to get up and get dressed it should be ready."

"Fine."  She finished that first sandwich and started on the second one.  "When did Shell come in?"

"Apparently last night but I guess she had to go back today," he sighed.  "He could really use the attention and pampering of his girl.  This has got to be eating him."

She touched the mask he wore over half his face.  "For him, it's like when you got that, only it'll hopefully reverse itself fully some day," she said gently.   He nodded, understanding that.  "That's why he's grumpy and fighting everything Xander does for him."

Vinnie gave her a smirk.  "That's more that all mice are horrible patients, sweetheart.  There's not a one of us who are good when we're sick."

"Oh, I remember," she promised, flicking him on the end of the nose.  "Go get junior cleaned up and ready for the day."

"Sure.  We're going to the park today."

"Not with Limburger active and ranting you're not," she said firmly.  "I don't want him in the crossfire."

"He won't be.  I'm not going to endanger my son."

She gave him a stare.  "Vinnie, with you being who and what you are, if he shows up and has mischief in mind, it won't stop him if Vic's there.  He'll hurt him too and laugh about it.  Not while he's still here."

"You can't coddle him like that, or else he'll never get out of the house again," Throttle said from the doorway, walking in and handing over a cup of coffee fixed just the way she liked it.  "Here you go, Charley girl.  I figured you'd need some since I hadn't seen you and Modo said that he was bringing you food."

"I'm not trying to coddle him."

"I know," he agreed. "But you've got to take advantage of the low threat days.  Today's probably one.  He just got Junior back after having some allies ambush Chassis."  Vinnie opened his mouth.  "She's fine."  He looked at Charley again.  "They're probably off licking their wounds.  Attacking today would be dumb of them."

"Limburger isn't the brightest cookie in MENSA," she said sarcastically.

"No, but he's not that dumb or that suicidal.  We're still hot from the battle.  He's never attacked this soon before.  Neither one of them like to attack right after the last one."

"Usually they're rebuilding their tower and have to wait," she complained.

"Yeah, well, not really.  Junior always had a fallback position," Throttle said, sitting on the foot of the bed.  Vic cooed at him.  "Hey, little mouse.  Are you going to play with Enamel and Shell's baby when it's big enough?"  Vic beamed at him and stuck a finger in his mouth.  "You're a good boy, Victor."  He looked at Charley again, losing the smile.  "They could have in the past and didn't.  The pattern should hold."

"It was going to be a group outing anyway," Vinnie offered.  "The bros going out to do guy stuff with the new guy."

"Not until we know if he's going to break the pattern or not," she said firmly.

"It's one of the last nice days of fall," Vinnie whined.

"Yeah, but..."

"Charley girl, we'll be right there with him.  All the time.  All three of us, and Xander if he gets done early.  It's a reward before we go to the building's opening in a few days.  We need to get out and play and we'll watch him."

"I know you will, but what happens if there's an attack?"

"Then whoever manages to grab him rushes him back here, or to Xander, whichever one's closer," he assured her.  "He's at work until at least lunch.  We were going to head out this morning and join him for lunch."

"I still don't like this idea," she said bitterly, glaring at him.

He gave her his usual boyish grin and shrugged a bit.  "None of us like the fish faces being back, Charley girl.  It's not like we can't make 'em go away again."  Someone downstairs slammed a door.  "We're up here!"

"I'm going to kill the rest of our relatives," Chassis announced as she stomped up the stairs and leaned into the bedroom.  "Vinnie, mind if I start with your aunt?"

"What'd she do this time?" he asked with a small sigh.

"I told her what we'd done down here and all the neat and fun stuff I'd seen while waiting on Pit to get done.  She's decided that no Van Wham, you included, should be mating with humans.  Even if there were no mice left, even if I was the last person on Mars, I'm not allowed near the humans because it's a perversion and she doesn't want me to foul our bloodline."

"Hmm, sounds like auntie needs her shins kicked again," Vinnie said dryly.  "Want me to take Vic up to visit?"

"Nope, she knows he's not totally Martian.  She swore to me that she would destroy that abomination one way or another if it entered her house and if I brought one home she'd kill the both of us."

Vinnie just nodded and handed Throttle his son.  "I'll be right back," he said dryly, heading off to grab his bike and head up to Mars to talk to his family.  He decided to come back and take his son with him, he could use some time among the true family and he could clap while he whipped his aunt's tail.  He turned on the transporter and hummed while it warmed up, then rode through it, stopping when he saw the wreckage around him.  "I hope I'm in another world."

"Earthquake," a mouse said from the doorway.  "Everyone's fine, sir.  Why are you back again?  We're all on break."

"I'm here to kill someone," he said honestly.  He smiled.  "How bad's the damage, kid?"

"Not too bad.  How soon before Pit comes back up?"

"Chassis just made it back down there.  Xander got the call that the order was waiting on them last night. Probably not more than a couple of days.  I'll need a list of anything extra that might have to be sent."  The guard nodded and let him out the ruined doors.  "Come on, son.  Let's go talk to some of the family."  He rode off, jumping over the ruined steps and down toward the base.  He found Cell waiting at the gate, smirking at him, so he smirked back.  "Awww, was I too irresistible and on the 'net again?"

She nodded.  "Kinda, yeah, but we knew you'd be up anyway, Vincent.  Your aunt's in protective custody."

"So?  If I could break out of a Plutarkian prison, I can break her out of a Martian one."  Cell opened her mouth.  "Besides, I just wanted to see all the decent relatives.  Why would I want my precious son tainted with her crap?"

"Point," she said dryly.  "Tell Modo and Throttle we're all fine and we did find Throttle's younger sister.  She's fine too, mostly.  She's not going to like Xander either."

"Eh," he said with a small shrug.  Vic chuckled and bit him.  "Ow, son!"  He pulled him out of his carrier and turned him around.  "Here, babble at the auntie."

"Hey, Victor," she said, coming out to pat the baby on the head.  He pulled her hand down to nibble on it, grinning at her.  "Ah, teething," she said fondly.  "I remember that. Rimfire teethed on my left ear.  Primer did it on my neck."  She looked at him.  "We can't let you hurt her.  We don't have enough mice as is."

"Whine.  She said she'd kill my son!"

"Yeah, that was overheard.  When we found Map, she was put with the family to help her for now.   So some of your other cousins and Chassis's brother were there at that time."  She frowned a bit.  "She said she met a very nice earther."

"Stan.  He's one of the detectives Xander has to help now and then."

"Ah."  She nodded.  "At least that makes him a good human."  She smiled at the baby, handing him back.  "There you go.  Most of your family is gathering out by the bluffs."

"Good."  He grimaced.  "Have Rotor call the rest, 'kay?  I really wanna talk to them."  He looked at his son, then took off the pack to put him back into it before putting it back.  "There we go.  All safe so your momma don't complain."  He sighed and took off for the bluffs, an area nearer to where he and most of the family used to live.  By the time he got there, Vic was taking a nap and he was about ready to.  It was like Mars was sucking his energy today.  He yawned as he parked, looking at the others gathered.  Everyone stared back and he glanced around.  Nearly everyone was there but his aunt and two others.  "So, anyone else wanna kill my son too?  If so, we're gonna go a round now."  He stood up, walking over there. He looked at his cousin Starlight.  "Chassis came back nearly crying.  Where is the bitch?"

"Vin, man, I promise, none of the rest of us feel that way," Bullet, one of the more scarred mice in the family offered gently, patting him on the arm.  "The rest of us like little Victor and Charley girl.  She's a nice lady.  You could have done a hell of a lot worse and we like her."

Vinnie looked at him.  "Aunt Kismet threatened to kill Vic and Charley, and Chassis if she ever brought home a human or a partial mouse.  That's not cool or the family way."

"No, it's not," one of his other aunts offered gently.  She came over to look at the baby.  "I missed the last one.  How is he?"  Vinnie pulled his son out and handed him over.  "Ooooh, you're an adorable mouse!" she cooed.  "Just so precious and cute!"  Vic blinked up at her, then pulled a finger up to suck.  "I'm your Auntie Terrain, little guy. You are always welcome in my house.  Mine and most of the rest of my siblings."  She kissed Vinnie on the cheek.  "Your uncle doesn't really like the thought of partial mice but he figures they're no worse than those who were changed into mice."

"Actually, we have more DNA than humans so he and Xander are both almost completely mice."

"Xander?" she asked, looking confused. "You had a second one already?"

"No, I adopted him into the family," he said with a shy grin.  "He's a lot like me and a white mouse.  He's Throttle's boy."

"He's behind you," Bullet said, smirking at Xander.  "Oooooh," he said with a shiver.  "You've got one hell of a bike, babe."  He came over to pat it.  "That's one shocking and strong guy."

Xander beamed.  "I know."  He got off and patted his bike.  "Go chat with the family."  He walked Bullet back.  "Sorry I'm a bit late, I was at work doing make work.  Vinnie, we've got that opening tonight."

"Sure, bro," he agreed, pulling him closer with his tail.  "This is Xander, everyone. He used to be human and was changed by Willow, the spirit that Wrench and his people protect."

Wrench nodded from his spot on a rock.  "Howdy.  Back again?"

"Of course.  I'm always going to protect my clan.  That includes these two."  He pinched Vinnie.  "You could let me go."

"Why?" he asked with a grin for his bro, and a quick wink.  "You're so much fun to grab."

"Did you want to tell us that you adopted him for more than one reason?" Starlight asked bluntly.

"We were hit with a lust ray," Vinnie said, screwing up his face a bit.  "We're pretty close anyway but welllllll."  He shrugged.  "We're dealing at the moment."  He looked back when he heard more bikes.  "You told the others?"

"No, they told me," he said, grinning back at Throttle.  "He's my man," he said happily.  He took Vic back, making him squeal.  "Hi, baby mouse.  Are you being loved?"

"He's quite adorable," a female cousin said to Wrench.  "Especially with the baby in his arms.  Think he'd like to have some fully Martian ones?"

"Ask his spouse, Pin.  Throttle is a jealous mouse.  Xander's even worse when you take what's his."  He looked at her.  "He might as well be mine but he's not."

"Shoot.  I need someone more normal than you."  She walked over to take the baby, making him squeal at her.  "Hi, Victor.  I'm Pin. I'm one of your many cousins."

"Ohmygod!" he squealed, kicking a bit, his tail flicking around.

Starlight broke down, leaning on Bullet's shoulder.  "Oh, damn.  I've heard that before!"

"Rimfire's girl taught him that, that was his first word," Throttle said as he hopped off. He came to repossess Xander, kissing him on the back of the neck.  "You okay?"

"Just fine," he offered with a grin.  "They didn't get to meet me last time."

"No, I didn't get a chance to bring you to that reunion," Vinnie admitted.  "He's been slowly aging into a studly mouse.  He's now his proper age."

"Go, pussycat, go," Wrench said dryly, waving at them.  "I see he's *still* not shielded."

Xander laid a hand on the baby's head and worked that small spell, then stuck his tongue out at him.  "So there."  He grinned at the aunt again.  "Where is this person of dubious taste so we can paint her another color?  From what Vinnie's instructed me about the fine art of being a white mouse, she's broken about every rule by threatening my godson."

Most of the family broke out laughing and he was hugged and clapped on the back by the greater majority, who decided he definitely was a member of the family VanWham.

***

Oz looked up as Xander and the others walked back inside, raising an eyebrow.  "There are times when you guys make a guy feel inadequate because he doesn't have enough muscles," he greeted.  "Then again, I have a son so I'm good with my manhood again."

"Congrats!" Xander squealed, coming over to hug him.  "Oooh, was he born or just the ultrasound?  If so, I wanna see the baby Oz!  He's got to be nearly as cute as Victor was, all furless and everything."

"Stop bouncing," Throttle said, pulling him off Oz.  "Sorry.  They just had a family reunion."

"Hmm."  Oz looked at Vinnie.  "I'm hoping yours since his father is in Fresno."

"What?" Vinnie asked.

"Huh?" Xander echoed, looking very confused.  "He's alive?"

"Eeeeeehhhhh," Oz said with a sigh at the end.  "Not fully.  He's fully brain damaged.  Thinks that you're now a God of a furry pantheon."  He got comfortable.  "It was the ultrasound.  She's not due until next month.  Then you guys can coo over mine."  He looked at Xander.  "Lorne found out and emailed that to me.  You haven't checked your mail recently."

"Oh."  He sighed and turned, sitting beside his bestest buddy.  "Is he being taken care of?"

"Yup, but they did want his relatives found.  They want you to sign custody over to the state if you don't want him."

"Sure.  How badly damaged?"

"We can help you take care of him," Throttle promised.

Xander looked at him.  "My father should have worn a sheet to work, Throttle, and he was definitely against guys getting it on.  If we bring him here, he's only going to cause problems and I doubt he'd want me to take care of him anyway."

"He thinks you can heal him," Oz offered.  He handed over the ticket he had been sent.  "You need to head over there."

"Wonderful.  When?"

"Tomorrow.  Best to get it out of the way."  Oz gave him a shoulder nudge.  "It'll be fine.  They've got him in a special place because he likes to throw fits because he prays to you and you don't heal him."  Xander nodded at that.  "He's not aware of very much at the moment."

"Can we go too?" Vinnie asked.  "This isn't something we'd let just one of us go on."

Oz shook his head.  "Nope, sorry.  Lorne only sent the one ticket.  The facility he's in is about jail-like from what he said.  He's apparently been assaulting a lot of people, including sexually assaulting one nurse."  Throttle winced at that but Xander snorted.  "You knew?"

"That he was suspected in a rape at the college?  Yeah, he was pretty drunk that night and came in smelling like perfume.  My mother just screamed and threw him out onto the lawn."  He looked at the ticket.  "I've got that opening tonight.  You wanna come?"

"No thanks, we're celebrating tonight."  He gave him a gentle hug then stood up.  "Let me know for the report how it goes."

"Sure.  Thanks, Oz."

"Welcome, Xander."  He left them alone.

"Your father did what?" Vinnie asked.

"Suspected, and we kinda figured it was him," Xander admitted bitterly.  "He was so blindly drunk and the report said that the guy stunk of gin and kept calling her by my mother's name.  From the picture in the paper she looked a lot like her when she was younger."  Throttle winced and hissed, shaking his head.  "So we kinda figured it was him.  He was so drunk he almost walked into the wrong house twice in a row.  One of them Willow's and she lived a few blocks away."

"Damn," Modo sighed, shaking his head.

"So he's not coming back.  Even if he's suddenly reformed and won't scream about me and Throttle being together, I don't want him near Vic.  I don't trust him not to hurt him, especially if he's been hurting the nurses."  He stood up.  "So, nope, sorry."  He shrugged.  "Want a picture?"

"No, that's okay," Throttle said, giving him a hug.  Vinnie piled on behind him and Modo got them both.

"What's going on?" Charley asked as she walked in.  "Where's Vic?"

"Napping on my bike, Charley," Xander said, getting free.  He grinned at them. "Thanks, bros."  He looked at her.  "My father was found alive."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" she said, kissing him on the cheek.  "When is he visiting?"

"When hell freezes and I did it," he said dryly.  He shook his head.  "He's not in his right mind, he's dangerous, and he's got violence and tolerance issues.  Not a chance in hell."

"Fine.  I can accept that.  Still, at least he's alive."

Xander nodded.  "True."  He looked back at Throttle.  "So I'm heading out tomorrow to sign his custody over to the state.  With what Lorne told Oz, it's probably a better idea."  He went to the computer, going to check his email.  "When was the last time I logged on," he complained.  "I've got over a thousand messages."

"How?" Vinnie asked.

"Mostly spam," he admitted, starting to weed it out.  "I'll probably still have about two hundred when I'm done."  He continued to check and weed out messages, coming down to nearly a hundred left before he ran into Lorne's email. He wrote him back, telling him that Oz had briefed him and he understood.  He wouldn't let someone violent near Vic anyway and he knew about the rape charge, outlining what had happened.  Then he sent it and went on, feeling arms go around his neck.  "Thanks, bro."

"Welcome," Throttle said quietly.  Xander looked up at him.  "I beat Vinnie and tied him down.  This is a mate's job, not just for bros."  He pulled a chair over with his tail and settled in to sit next to him.

"Good thing I think of you as both," Xander offered with a small grin.  He went back to his email, finding something from his insurance agent.  He wrote him a note saying he'd be calling in a few days.  That something had happened and he needed to verify it first. Then he went back to reading the spam for humor.

Episode 60:

Xander walked off the small plastic tubing and looked at the man on the bed at the end of the room.  "Hey," he said, nodding at him.  "You're allowed to see me as long as you don't get violent, father."

"Son?" he asked, looking at him.  "I knew it!  You're a god!"

"Not hardly," he said dryly, dragging a chair over.  "Why the Magneto treatment?" he asked with a nod back toward the tubing.

"Oh, them, they're being fussy.  They said I hurt some people and they needed some extra space between me and the world."  He sat up, looking at his son.  "You're quite pale."

"Yeah, well, that's kinda a good thing in my life."  He stared at him.  "I'm not a God."

"You are."

"Only of chaos and mayhem.  I don't heal.  I protect.  I have to fight.  I don't heal."

His father sighed.  "You have no idea what's within you, boy.  You never did."  Xander quirked an eyebrow up.  "We knew, son."

Xander shrugged.  "I figured if you did, you didn't give enough of a damn to worry."  He crossed his legs and looked his father over.  "So, they say that you're now mentally deficient.  You hiding in here?"  He gave a negligent shrug.  "Ah."  He stood up to look at him.  "They want me to bring you home, father, but you're not going to be happy.  There's a young child there and I'm taking care of a friend's sister since her needed me.  There's two older teenagers in the house, we've got other kids who visit, and we're generally a heavy working bunch.   And most of them are like me," he said quietly.

"Why would I care about you being furry?"

Xander nodded.  "Including my husband."  His father glared at him.  "It's my house with them.  I own it but I gave it to him and his bros.  We're all bikers."  His father's glare got hotter.  "I'm not going to dispute anything, but you have to know since they want me to drag you home with me."

"There's no one normal?"

"Yeah, a few.  They're still like me.  Well, except for Charley.  She's still human."  He crossed his arms, looking down at him.  "You know they found mom, right?"  He shrugged again.  "Fine.  They did.  We thought both of you were dead."

"No, I went into that place and some blond whiny guy got me out."

"Spike saved you?" he asked dryly.  "Why?"

"To torture you."  He stood up and looked at his son, facing him down.  "Do you have any idea what you are?"

Xander nodded.  "I do actually.  I have for a while now.  It was my changing that allowed me to see what I was.  Then again, I don't worry about that too much.  I've got other things that are more important.  My husband, our godson and his family, the other bros.  My job with the construction company and my weapons designs.  If you do come, it'd be a joint effort to take care of you and I won't have you drunk and I won't have you hurting Victor or Charley or anyone else in the house.  There are going to be limits.  I work hard for what's mine and we're presently under assault."

"Why?"

"Stinky assholes from Siberia."  His father sneered at him.  "Why?  Wanted to meet one?"

"I already did.  He paid me thirty grand to get you here."

Xander flipped open his phone and pushed the button, his earbud had already been in.  "Throttle, he was paid to get me here.  Watch out."  He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.  "Handled."  His father sneered at him.  "Up to you, father," he said calmly.  "Did you want to come to Chicago and live with my bros and husband?"

His father roared and lunged for him but Xander calmly flipped him onto his back and held him down until the attendants ran in.  "I won't have you living like this!" he shouted, struggling to get free.  He finally managed it and grabbed the other thing he had been given by the man who paid him, pointing it at his son.  "Say goodbye to your husband," he sneered and pulled the trigger.

Xander ducked, only getting a graze, and hit him, knocking him out cold.  He took the laser, putting it in his waistband.  Then he helped the nearest attendant up.  "He's out cold for at least an hour.  He's got a glass jaw," he said calmly.

"How did you not die!"

"Easy, I ducked."  He looked at him.  "You might want to think about having him examined again.  This is how he always was.  And yeah, that warrant is valid and we do believe it was him but we couldn't prove it."  The man gaped and someone came through the tubing, making Xander glance at him.  "You his doc?"

"Yes, I am, Mr. Harris.  What are you?"

"Busy."  He looked at him.  "He's not damaged.  This is how he's always been."  He heard the bed creak, the attendant move, and ducked, wincing as he was stabbed with a shiv.  "Fuck me," he said, kicking it away from his father's hand, then hitting him again, twice this time.  His father went down under the doctor and the second attendant.  Xander continued to hold the spot on his left side, barely on his back.  "Do you need me to sign something to commit him as violently insane?"

"Please," the doctor agreed, sedating him.  He stood up to look at him.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine.  I could use a bandage."  He looked at his father, then at the doctor again.  "I don't want that around my godson or my husband."  His father moaned.  "I won't have that around either of them or my bros."

"I understand.  He was always like this?"

"Only more drunk."  He shrugged a bit and winced, hissing as he forced himself to relax.  "Okay.  Let's get that paperwork."

"Of course.  I wouldn't want someone that violent around my family either.  Tell me, where is your mother?"

"Dead.  They found her under some rubble in Sunnydale about a year ago.  They were both presumed dead.  The court order went through last year."  The doctor nodded, walking him to his office.  He sat down with another wince.  "I don't know who it was that paid him."

"I heard that part," he admitted.  "Do you have enemies, Mr. Harris?"

"Everyone has enemies, I have lawyer enemies because I stopped them from doing a human sacrifice.  Wolfram and Hart hate me.  I figure it was them or someone who hates my husband and wants to kill him.  That's why I called to warn him."

"I heard that.  I had wondered why you had your phone on."

"For my safety.  I know what he was like."  The folder was handed over and he looked it over, then looked at him.  "I have to pay to have him committed?  Can't I just press charges?"

"That would require you to appear in court and describe what happened."

"Not really.  If he's here, there's a good chance he'll be found mentally incompetent."  He looked at the paperwork again.  "Let me talk to my husband.  I don't have the cash to care for him anymore.  I had to use it for some emergency situations."  The doctor nodded so he got up and went outside to sit in the smoking area and call home.  "Hey, me," he greeted when Dawn answered the phone.  "Did he attack?"  He nodded, smirking a bit.  One of the attendants offered him a cigarette and he took it with a nod and a slight grin, letting him light it for him.  "Thanks, man."

"Not a problem.  Looks like you just had to deal with Harris too."

"Yeah, I'm his spawn," he sighed, taking a long drag.  "Thanks."  The guy nodded, heading off to give him some privacy.  He took another long drag, calming himself down.  "Hey," he greeted Vinnie.  "Was there an attack?"  He listened to the attempt that had happened.  "Wonderful.  Throttle all right?"  He nodded slowly.  "No, they want me to pay them to keep him.  About ten grand a month."  He took another drag.  "No I don't."  He let it out slowly.  "It's a former habit, Vinnie, I promise.  I'm just stressed."  He finished it and put it out, then hissed a bit as he moved.  "No, he stabbed me.  Tried to shoot me but the graze doesn't hurt.  He got paid thirty grand to bring me here.  They gave him a laser pistol and he had a shiv."  He smirked a bit as Throttle wrestled the phone away from Vinnie.  "I'm fine."  He let a small smile come out when his mate disagreed with him.  "I'm fine.  It's a small stab.  On my side.  It didn't hit anything.  It'll quit bleeding pretty soon."  He checked his hand, it was mostly older blood.  "Looks like it's nearly done bleeding."  He wiped his hand off, then sniffed the blood.  "Not even any poison that I can tell."

He wiped his hand again.  "No, they want me to pay them.  I'd rather press charges."  He nodded, listening to the wise advice.  "No, he's playing, Throttle.  He's not mentally damaged.  He's just evil."  He sighed and nodded.  "I know.  Still....."  He sighed again and nodded.  "I can't.  So they'll let him go if I don't press charges or pay them for him.  Personally I'd rather he died at the moment."  He heard a scream and looked around, then dropped his phone and ran for the guy with the gun pointing at the attendants, not even realizing who it was.  He tackled him, breaking his arm in the process, and held him down.  "Get me some damn cuffs!" he shouted.  They ran to get him something to restrain the patient with.  More people came running and Xander shifted out of the way but continued to hold him down, pressing his cheek against the pavement.  The attendants got him restrained and he backed off, heading back to the table.  He picked up his phone, hearing the yelling.  "I'm fine," he reported.  "Someone else had a gun too."  He sat down, patting the one on his back.  It was still there.  He looked over as a cop stormed his way.  "Gotta go.  Tell him I'm fine.  I'll be home tonight."  He hung up and looked at the officer, who looked really pissed.  "Sorry, didn't see you coming to respond."

"That was dangerous!" he shouted.

"I'm a combat veteran, officer.  I've seen worse in Sunnydale and LA."  The man backed off, staring at him so he stood up.  "I wasn't about to let him shoot the attendants.  Sorry if I usurped your authority.  I do need some advice if you've got a few moments."

"What?" he asked hesitantly.

"My father's here, they want me to pay for his commitment.  He stabbed me and tried to kill me earlier.  If I press charges, would they keep him without it?"

"You're serious?"

Xander lifted up the side of his shirt, showing off the wound.  "He had a shiv."

"What are you?"

"Odd."  He put down his shirt.  "If I had the money I might pay for it but I don't.  I also don't think he needs to be this coddled.  They've got him in a special cell here."

"You're Harris' son?" he asked.

Xander nodded, holding out his hand.  "Xander Harris.  Now of Chicago."

The cop shook it.  "I've heard your name."

"I used to work in LA against some bad things.  It's entirely possible," he offered quietly.  He sat down again.  "If I press charges what would happen to him?"

"They found him criminally incompetent after the first assault, they'll just move him to a more secure facility."  He sat down across from him.  "You didn't know he was alive?"

"We used to live in Sunnydale.  I got out, as far as I knew then he had refused to evacuate.  He and my mother both.  My mother's body was found about a year ago.  The courts declared them both legally dead."

The cop considered it.  "I'd say press charges.  They'll just move him higher.  There won't be a trial."  He looked at Xander's arm on the table.  "You're furry?"  Xander shrugged.  "Okay.  I used to work in LA but I changed to the state cops a few years ago."

Xander nodded.  "I worked with Angel and his crew now and then."

"That's where I heard about you," he decided.  "Thank you for clearing it up.  I take it that work doesn't pay well?"

"It did, but I've had some emergencies over the years."  His phone rang and he checked the number then hit the 'ignore' button.  He looked at him again.  "Sorry, my husband."

"That's fine."  He sighed and looked at the building, then at him.  "You can have him moved without having to pay anything.  He is officially under the state's care."

"They never said that."  He handed over the folder.  "This is what they gave me."

The cop looked it over, then shook his head.  "As far as I know, your father is under perpetual arrest until he's competent to stand trial.  You're not the first he's assaulted."  He looked over as someone came running out the door, being chased by Xander's father.  "Speaking of him."

"Yeah, well, he's not really mentally deficient.  He's pretending, officer.  He's always been like this, only more drunk."  His father caught sight of him and he tensed up, handing over the gun.  "So I don't use it.  He had it earlier."

"Sure.  I'll hold it."  He checked it over.  "What is this?"

"Don't ask."  He stood up, stepping away from the table.  "Don't, father.   You're not going to sucker money out of me.  I'm not giving up my life to pamper and bless yours.  You've already lost."

"You're nothing," he sneered, stopping to glare at him.  "Without me, you'd have died."

"Actually, the guy who taught me how to fight turned against me for turning furry," he sneered.  His phone rang again.  "Later," he answered, then hung up.  He continued to stare at him, noticing the cop had gotten up.  "I'm not doing this.  You won't make me kill you.  You won't make me hurt you except to defend myself or an innocent.  I don't have the money you want, it's been spent for better reasons.  You've already lost so just put the weapon down."

"You spent it on pansy-assed shit probably," his father sneered.

"I don't consider helping a city rebuild itself after a tragedy to be that, but if you do I'm sorry for you.  I'm not going to let the people who give a damn about me starve or go without a roof over their heads."

"Oh, so you're doing charity?  They'll dump you once you're broke."

"Really?  I doubt my husband's family will do that.  They think I'm taking it out of my paycheck."  His father sneered more.  Xander shrugged a bit.  "They liked me even before I changed.  They cared long before I started to date my man.  They're the ones who helped me calm down after Sunnydale."  His father lunged and Xander moved, putting him onto the ground.  "No, you're not going to hurt me.  I'm not going to allow it."  He looked at the officer.  "Can I have him arrested?"

"I can, he'll just go back inside."   He pulled out his cuffs.

Xander's father got up and moved away from him, waving the shock rod in front of him.  "You're not taking me."

"I don't care one way or another, father," Xander said calmly.  His phone rang again and he turned it off with his thumb.  "You're not going to hit me with that and you're not going to hurt the officer either.  He told me you've been confined here until you're fit to go to jail.  By the way, I can testify in that rape," Xander told him.  "My mother and I were fairly sure he did do it.  There's too many coincidences."  He glared at his father as he moved.  "Not happening, pops.  Drop it.  My godson is better with weapons than you are."

"Did you know that you were the last hope?" he sneered.  "You're the last hope of a lot of people."

"Yay.  I've been the last hope before but it was always for good reasons.  If it's for a good reason then I'm happy.  If not, then I'm sorry.  Consider me however you want.  I don't have the money you want.  I helped rebuild a lot of lives with it.  That's more important to me.  I'm like that, I always have been."

"I tried to beat it out of you."

"Yeah, well, you failed, old man.  The same as you failed to beat the gay out of me.  Did you know that Jessie and I were going to get together when he was killed?"

"When you killed him!" his father spat.

"Yeah, well, I was protecting someone from him in his drugged state," he said grimly, using the old excuse.  "He slammed into that breaker box.  I wish like hell most every day that I hadn't had to do that.  I'd be a lot different now.  I'd be happier, which my mate does deserve.  He deserves more than I can give him because of how Sunnydale damaged me."  He stepped closer.  "What you and Sunnydale did to me," he said quietly.  "Now, put it down.  You won't win.  You won't kill me and get the money.  It all goes to him and Dawn."

"You filthy beast!"  He lunged, trying to shock him with the pain rod, but Xander grabbed it, weathering the pain to capture him.  He struggled, reopening Xander's side wound.  He finally managed to break free and the cop tried but he kicked him under the chin, snapping his head back.

"Shit.  Officer down!" he yelled.  "He needs medical!  His neck just broke!"  Someone in the doorway went running and Xander looked at his father again, using his tail to pick up the cuffs.  "You're not getting away with that.  Most cops won't let you."  His father sneered and backed up.  Xander summoned the pain rod, turning it off and tossing it aside when it burned his hand again.  He flexed his fingers and stared him down.  "Give it up, father.  You're not going anywhere and there's nothing for you."

"You probably live in a mansion," he sneered.  "I live here!" he shouted.

"I live in a nice house but it's not a mansion.  It's a former industrial building that I had renovated and added onto.  I did a lot of the work myself and I designed it."  His father gaped so he smirked a bit.  "I'm talented that way.  Go me."  He lunged and his father backhanded him but Xander just shook it off and caught him by the wrist, getting a handcuff on him.  Then he swung him around by it, into the table so he could finish cuffing him.  He nodded the paramedic waiting closer.  "He kicked him under the chin.  I heard it snap."

"That's fine, sir.  Are you all right?"

"Take him first.  I've got a burn on my hand and a stab wound.  Nothing major."  The paramedic gaped at him.  "I've had worse. Get him stable."  He looked at his father, noticing he was moving off.  "Someone come get him!" he yelled.  "Before he hurts himself!  He's cuffed!"

A few attendants hurried out to grab him.  One of them nodded at him.  "I'm sorry, sir."

"Not your fault.  He's always been this way.  He's not mental, he's evil."  He turned his back on his father, looking at the cop.  "Can I help?"

"No, sir, I've got it."  He glanced up at him.  "I've called for an ambulance.  I was on my way in."  Xander nodded, getting down to help any way he could.  "You really do need looked at."

"I've had worse," he said quietly.  "I'll live with a few bandages and some cream."  He looked up as someone else came running, glaring at him.  "You are?"

"His partner!"  He stopped, staring at him.  "What happened!"

"My father, Harris."  He went back to helping.  "Got a board in your car?"

"No, sir.  Like I said, the ambulance is coming."

"It was right behind me," the second cop said, going to wave them closer.  "They need a board.  They've got a collar on him!"  The paramedics nodded and rushed over to help.  He went to pull Xander away, watching him hiss.  "You need medical attention, sir?"

"Yeah, a few bandages," he said, showing his hand.  "I've got a minor stab wound on my back too."  He popped his neck.  "My father is Harris.  I was told to come see him.  They wanted me to pay for his care."  The cop gaped and Xander looked at him.  "Sorry if I sound kinda cold.  This is post-battle me."  The cop nodded, swallowing a bit.  "I found out my father was paid thirty grand to get me out here so my family could be attacked back in Chicago.  He's the one who stabbed me.  We struggled in there, the director handed me the paperwork to commit him.  I came out here since they wanted substantial money to keep him.  I talked with your partner about what my options were since he had tried to kill me.  He said my father was already committed."  The cop nodded at that, quickly.  "My father chased someone out.  I kept him occupied.  Your partner pulled his cuffs.  My father went for him and kicked him under the chin, I heard a snapping sound so I yelled for them to call someone while I subdued my father."  He looked at the officer again.  "I hope he's fine."

"Me too."  He swallowed as his partner was loaded up.  "I really should take a formal statement."

Xander handed him a business card for the company.  "I work for them.  They can get me at home or on-site.  Whenever you're ready for one, yell."  He walked off, going to get into his rental car and head for the airport.  He could pick up some bandages on the way.

***

Modo met Xander coming off the plane, staring at him.  "What happened!"

"My father."  He looked at him.  "What happened here?"

"They managed to hit Throttle with a bullet.  Enamel had to instruct someone how to take it out."  He walked him out to the parking garage.  "You all right, bro?"

"Hell no," he said bitterly. "Just get me there, I'll be fine."  Modo nodded at that, and whistled for his bike.  They were in the shadowy area.  His bike came up and Modo handed Xander his helmet.  "Thanks, Modo."  He got onto the back, holding on while he rode and thought.  His phone rang and he checked the number, hitting the key to answer it.  "Better be good, we're having a family crisis," he responded.  He listened to the quiet report from Max.  "That's his thing, Max.  Let the state bury him.  I want nothing to do with him.  Thank you."  He hung up and made sure the phone would stay in his pocket.  "My father killed himself when he figured out I had escaped and not paid him."  Modo shivered at that.  "That's what that was about.  That and he was paid to get me there."

"We know.  Throttle hung up with you and was basically shot the next minute.  A sniper from across the street into the office."  He took the corner onto the interstate and sped up.  "Come on, Lil' Hoss, we've got to get him to the hospital and Throttle's side.  You can go better."

"Sounds like she's ready for some gas and an oil change," Xander said tiredly.  "I'll help you with that once he's home."

"Don't worry, bro, we can do that," Vinnie said over the radio.  "You okay?"

"No, but I'll live.  How is my man?"

"Doing better.  He's woken once.  It was in the side of his neck.  The guy who did it did get caught.  Rimfire was outside."  Xander sighed in relief.  "We even handed him over."

"Wonderful.  Someone paid my father thirty grand and gave him a blaster to get me out there," he reported.  "Tell whichever cop is over the case that."

"Done."  He hung up.

Xander rested against Modo's back.  "How's Enamel doing?"

"He's fine.  He just stood there and ordered this time.  The docs looked at his hands and arms and said if they knew it'd wear off that he'd be fine and to make sure he didn't do anything like burn himself."

"Yeah, I've been good about that so far," Xander admitted, clutching tighter as Modo took the off-ramp.  He sped across the street to the hospital.  "Why this one?"

"The other was full and they transferred him on Micah's orders after treating him."

"Fine."  They stopped in front of the doors and Xander got off. "Thanks, big guy, I'll see you up there."  He headed inside.  "I'm here to see my husband."

The receptionist looked at him, then at his bare arm.  "Up in ICU, sir, floor three.  The others like you are up there.  You can take off the helmet.  We've already been shocked by the other white guy."

"Thanks."  He took off his helmet and headed up there.   He came off the elevator and walked into the ICU, weathering the nurse's stares.  "I'm his husband."  He walked into where he could hear Charley crying and gave her a pat on the back, then leaned down to kiss his mate on the nose.  "You'd better be all right or else I'm going to kill people over this," he whispered.

"He's fine, bro, they just need him to nap," Vinnie said from the corner.  He walked over to hug him.  "He's fine."

Xander pulled back to look at him.  "What about you?"

"I'm fine.  It's his blood.  I haven't cleaned up yet."

Xander nodded.  "Go do that."  He gave him a clap on the back.  "Go clean up, get Charley calmed down.  Give me ten minutes.  No one's coming in while I'm here."  Vinnie nodded and helped Charley up and out to his bike so they could head back and clean up a bit.  Xander pulled Charley's chair over, sitting down in it the wrong way so he could rest on the back of it and still hold his mate's hand.  "Hey, babe.  It's me.  I'm home.  I didn't want to blow you off earlier but there were a few small problems."  The hand in his squeezed gently and he squeezed back. "I'm here, babe.  Get better sooner."

Modo walked in and closed the curtains across the doorway.  "Vinnie and Charley?"

"He had blood in his fur so I told him to go clean up and calm her down."  He looked at him.  "Tell the nurse to come tell me what's wrong?"  Modo nodded, going to do that. The nurse came in a moment later.  "I'm his spouse."

"It's been noted, sir.  Generally speaking, he's fine.  We're keeping him under light sedation so he doesn't struggle or scratch."  She checked Throttle's vitals from the machines around him.  "He's doing just fine.  He should be able to go home later today.  We only have him up here because it's easier to quarantine him from the general public."  Xander nodded at that.  "Are you all right?"

"Small burn.  I've had worse.  I'll get stuff for it later."

"Of course."  She gave him a gentle smile and brushed his hair off his forehead.  "He's a very strong man, sir.  He'll be fine and back to cuddling you within a few days."  Xander nodded at that, giving her a faint smile.  "I'll let you stay in here.  You're all allowed in here all hours.  I think the other white gentleman would destroy things if he wasn't allowed."

"Probably," Modo agreed dryly.  "Vinnie's very protective of us, ma'am."

She smiled at him.  "That's fine, I understand that."  She left them alone, going to report that he was the spouse and what she had told him, plus make notes on his chart.

***

Xander looked up as the curtain opened, looking at the detective standing there.  "They handed it to you because it was us?"  He nodded.  "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Ray admitted, coming in and closing the curtain again.  "How is he?"

"Better.  He's healing.  Dawn and I did a small healing spell to speed it up.  They're keeping him under light sedation."  He yawned and stretched, then winced. "Sorry, funny position."

Ray looked him over, then shook his head. "Then why are you bleeding, kid?"

"My father tried to stab me," he said honestly.  "He had a shiv.  I'm fine."  He looked at Throttle again.  "It's been a long day, detective.  Who did it?"

"Wolfram and Hart.  They paid for it and had another inmate kill their assassin."  Xander nodded at that.  "And another cop."

Xander looked at him again.  "I wish you the best of luck catching them, detective.  I hope like hell they suffer in general population."

Ray smirked a bit at that.  "Sure, kid.  If we can manage it.  They fled.  We're working with the Mounties to catch them before they leave Canada."  He moved closer.  "Are you sure you're okay?  You look really pissed."

Xander looked at him.  "My father was paid to get me out there.  It was all a ruse to get me to pay him off to keep quiet.  He was the same evil bastard he was before, only now he wasn't drunk.  He assaulted a few people, he might have snapped a cop's neck when he was trying to help me subdue him outside, after he had chased someone else outside.  He had a stun rod and tried to kill me with it. I took it from him.  The same as I took the blaster from him earlier in the day.  He also committed suicide instead of going to prison because I did note that he wasn't mentally damaged, he was always like that."  Ray nodded once.  "I'll be fine. This isn't the time for this.  Throttle needs me more."

"I get it, kid."  He looked at the hand Throttle was holding, then at the other one.  "That's a burn, kid."

"I'm fine."

"Bull."  He came around to look at the hand, watching the boy hiss in pain.  "Nurse!"  She came rushing in. "He's got a burn on his hand that I can see muscle through."  He pried Xander out of the chair and pushed him toward her.  "He also said he got stabbed earlier.  Bandage him so he can sit."

"Yes, detective.  Did we get the person?"  He nodded.  "Thank you."  She walked Xander off.  "You should have told us!  We would have bandaged it for you!"

"I didn't even pay any attention to it," Xander told her honestly.  "He needed me more.  It's nothing."

"It's not nothing!"  She sat him down in a chair.  "Where were you stabbed?"  He took off his shirt and she blinked a few times at his body, then looked at the bloody spot on his side, finding the hole.  "A shiv?"

"My father was in a criminal mental hospital.  He stabbed me and used a stun rod on me.  I grabbed it to get it away from him, twice."

"Stupid idiot!" she said, slapping him on the shoulder.  "How dumb can you be!"

"He nearly killed a cop, nurse.  He kicked him under the chin and broke his neck.  It was necessary."

"And he wasn't?  How do you think your husband would go on if you had died!"

"I'm not that badly hurt," he said, standing up.  "It's not that serious."

"Sit!" she ordered and he flinched.  "Now!"  He shook his head, heading back to Throttle's side.  She followed after grabbing some bandages and gauze, plus the burn cream they used.  She got him on the chair and went to work on him.  "You stubborn bastard, he would have died if you hadn't come back."

"There's not a chance I wouldn't come back and I'm fine."

"Shut up, kid," Vecchio ordered calmly.  He looked at the injury, then winced.  "I've seen prettier wounds."

"It was a shiv, detective.  It happens.  He was in a mental place for being a bastard."  He hissed and flinched.  "Can you please quit?" he snapped.  "I'm fine!  Take care of Throttle."

"I hear stubborn people," Staff said as she walked in, looking at Xander's back, then at the hand Ray was holding open.  "What happened to you!" she shrieked.

"My father.  He tried a few times to kill me. I'm fine.  They're being fussy."

"Modo, come hold Xander down!  He's got a stab wound and a burn plus a graze!"  He came trotting in and helped Ray hold Xander still so he could be bandaged.

"I'm fine!"

"You're not, bro.  Now calm down before you wake Throttle."  Xander hissed.  "You sound like the cats.  Calm down.  We're trying to help you."

"I'm fine," he said, breaking free and getting up.  "I've been fine all day.  I'm fine.  It's nothing."

Vinnie walked in and slugged him, knocking him out.  He flexed his hand a few times.  "It won't last that long."  He took the chair, stroking Throttle's arm.  "He's fine, just stubborn.  I just knocked him out for them."

The nurse snorted and got to work on him, bandaging his side and wrapping gauze around his waist to hold the bandage in place.  Then she got to work on his hand.  It was a bad burn but it should heal fine.  "He'll need to have someone more experienced look at this later.  Your own doctor should be good enough, he can order him around."

"When Throttle's awake, Xander will snap back to being his normal self," Vinnie assured her.  "He'll be in pain then."  He looked over as Enamel walked in.  "He got hurt too.  He said he's fine."

"He's got a second degree burn on his hand," the nurse told him, letting him see what she was doing.  "I can unwrap it if you want."

"No, I'll look at it after his bandage change.  How did it happen?"

"He said something about a stun rod," Vecchio admitted.  "He also said the wound on his back was a stab wound from a shiv."

"Hmm.  I thought my brother was bad," he said dryly.

"He's alive and on Mars too," Vinnie told him.  "Rimfire was told to watch out about him."

"Hmm.  Another good reason not to go back."   He looked at the machines.  "He's starting to come around."  He looked at the bandage.  "Go ahead and peel up a side, Vincent, let's look at it."  Vinnie did so carefully and he nodded.  "Good job.  Nurse, the wound's nearly closed.  We can let him wake up this time."  She nodded, making note of that on the chart once she had Xander's hand bandaged.  "Thank you," he said with a small grin for her.  "He's just like that when Throttle is hurt."

"That's fine," she agreed, patting her hair back into place.  "Watch him better."  She walked out, going to tell the shift supervisor what was going on and the new orders.

Enamel nodded at Modo.  "Wake him up."  Modo slapped Xander's face a few times.  He looked down at him.  "How bad was it, kid?"

"I'm fine," he growled, getting up.  He looked at his waist.  "It didn't need that much cloth."

"Shut up," Vinnie told him, looking at him.  "You can't be injured while he is.  You're the only one he'll let spoil and baby him."

"Which is why I'm not hurting," he said patiently.  "Move."

"Nope, it's my turn.  Go get something to eat.  You're grumpy."  Xander growled.  Vinnie got up to walk him off, taking him down to the cafeteria.  He caught the shirt Modo tossed at his back, forcing it on Xander in the elevator.  He walked him into the cafeteria and got him a tray, paying for it.  Then he slammed him down in a chair, putting the food in front of him.  "Eat it all," he ordered firmly, then he headed back upstairs.

Xander glared at him but did as ordered.  He knew he'd pass out if he didn't eat and Throttle didn't need that.

***

Throttle woke up and blinked at his mate.  He was sitting in a chair, chin resting on the back of it, and was holding his hand tightly.  He gave it a gentle squeeze and Xander squeezed backed but didn't wake up.  He looked over at the other mouse in the corner.  "Why is he bruised, Stoker?"

"Vincent had to knock him out so he'd allow himself to be treated.  It seems he got stabbed earlier."  Throttle moaned.  "He also got a burned hand from a stun rod."  He moved closer.  "He's fine. Just asleep.  He's exhausted and needs it."  He looked at Throttle.  "He and Dawn did something to make your neck heal faster."

"I figured as much or else I'd still be asleep.  Is it the same day?"  Stoker nodded.  "Is he okay?"

"He claims he is, but he's been a chilly mouse to everyone.  Vinnie had to drag him off to make him eat."  He looked at Xander, then at Throttle.  "He'll be fine, Throttle."

"He'd better be.  Or else I'm going to have to hurt that puss sucker."

"He killed himself since he couldn't get the money he wanted from Xander."  He stroked the boy's hair, making him relax again.  "When did he use it all?"  Throttle looked at him.  "You've got to be kidding me."  Throttle shook his head.  "How much did he spend on us?"

"About twelve million.  He's down to about two. We mostly live off his paychecks.  Except for things like vacations and taxes."

"We don't need him to break himself."

"He did it without having to be asked," Throttle pointed out.  "You guys needed it so he was there.  It's the sorta mouse he is," he said tiredly.  He yawned.  "I hate being hurt."

"I know, Throttle."  He stroked his hair.  "I told your momma you're fine.  That Dawn and Xander healed you."  He nodded at that, letting out a small grin.  "We don't need a patron.  Things are starting to go well again.  Make him back off and take a vacation."

"He won't do it even if I really want to," Throttle pointed out sarcastically.  "He sees needs and decided he's going to help you meet them.  That's the sorta guy he is."

"I know.  Just tell him to quit for a bit.  Except for the groceries for your families, let us handle it on our own."

"I'm good," Xander muttered.

"Yeah, but we don't need a patron like that," Stoker said quietly, stroking the back of the kid's head.  "We've got it, Xander.  We're back on firmer footing again and we've got it.  So just let us handle it. You take care of the family down here first and the moms next.  Let me worry about Mars for a while so we can see what we can and can't do.  It's time for us to walk without some help."  Xander looked up at him.  "Really, it is.  You helped us when we needed it and now it's time to watch us toddle on our own for a bit.  You can't ruin yourself for us, kid."  He patted him on the back of the head.  "So just let us struggle for a bit.  It'll give us a reason to find some more solutions to some problems."

"What problems?"

"Oh, drilling problems."

"We have those drilling tips," Throttle pointed out.  "They go through rock."

"See, I like that sort of solution."  He grinned at Xander.  "Let us toddle on our own.  The cities are finally starting to work together and we're doing okay.  Just take care of my boys down here and the moms."  Xander nodded at that.  "Got me?  No more surprise stuff up there is needed."

Xander snorted.  "Shut up and go away, Stoker.  I'm going to do more than that anyway and you know it.  Even if I do send up stuff they won't eat so they pass it on."

Stoker smirked at that.  "That I don't mind, mini-punk.  Just no more big things for the time being.  Take care of your own family for right now.  This is going to be costly.  Even for only being a few days."  Xander nodded at that.  "So take care of the boys down here and I'm going to stop Carbine from adding you into the thought of holiday presents."

"I can buy holiday presents."

"No, you can't."

"I can so."

"Fine, you can for your families.  And the kids because they'd pout otherwise, but no playing Santa to the orphanages on Mars.  There's too many of them.  You're stretching yourself so you're in danger of tipping the scale into poverty."  He gave him another pat.  "Though I'm impressed and amazed you did it for so long without us finding everything you did, mini-punk.  Just let us handle it for now.  We're a proud race and only getting more proud and stubborn."  Xander nodded at that.  "Good boy.  By the way, there'll be a new ambassador next week.  Tailpipe is getting recalled in favor of a more political mouse, Winch.  She's a bit tougher but also knows what it's like being a Freedom Fighter from the front of the pack.  We'll let her handle the shopping stuff most of the time and let you do the fun and the family stuff."  He grinned at him.  "Got it?"  Xander nodded, not looking the least bit upset.  "Good kid."  He smirked at Throttle.  "How about you?"

"I'm good with that.  It's time to focus on home."  He looked at Xander's hand, then at him.  "You okay?"  He nodded.  "Are you sure?"  Xander nodded again.  "Then why are you bandaged?"

"He had a stun rod, I ended up grabbing it twice to keep myself from being hurt."

"You grabbed a *stun rod*?" Throttle asked blandly.  Xander nodded.  "Uh-huh.  And that small injury?"

"They found a graze and a stab," Stoker told him.  "I don't know why no one's done a quick healing on them."

"They're fine.  I'm not in any pain."

"You should be screaming in pain," the nurse said as she came in.  "I heard talking and I thought I'd give you a few minutes to kiss good morning," she offered with a gentle smile.  "Let me check your neck, Throttle."  He nodded, tipping his head out of the way for her.  She pried up the bandage to look under it.  "Well, you're a very quick healer.  Extraordinary.  It's nearly fully closed."  She taped it back down.  "Now, for you, sir," she said impatiently.  Xander opened his mouth and Stoker took his shirt off him before he could protest.  "Thank you.  He seems a bit stubborn.  How do you make him do this at home?"

"I usually sweet talk him into it," Throttle admitted.  "Babe, let them check them so I can see how uninjured you are and I'll reward you with a cuddle."

"Not in that bed you won't," the nurse said firmly.  She checked his hole on his back, and then the graze.  "He looks all right.  We might want to get him an antibiotic or something though.  That wound doesn't look that superficial."  She held out her hand.  "Let's see the burn."

"Let me see his back," Throttle ordered. Xander sighed and turned around so he could see it.  "Up."  Xander stood up, the chair was in the way and he knew it.  "Who did that?"

"Father."  He sat down and held out his hand.  "It's not that bad.  It was a shiv.  He had a blaster."

"Who gave him a blaster or a shiv?" Stoker asked.

"The same guys who gave him thirty grand to make me come out there," Xander said bitterly.  He winced as the nurse moved his hand.  "Do you have to do that?"

She showed it to Throttle.  "This is pretty bad.  He needs someone good to look at it."

"Can you get him someone?  I'm not sure our doc can do burns."

"If not, Mayflower can," Stoker assured him.  "I'll have her down here by tomorrow."  Throttle nodded his thanks.  He looked at the burn and winced.  "That's not that nice looking.  Why aren't you feeling that?"

"I'm suppressing it," he said dryly.  "I figured out how to do that after I got bitten by that thing."  He looked at the nurse.  "Should I rewrap it?"

"Smart ass," she snorted, getting the cream to put on there and changing his bandage.  Then she made a note on Throttle's chart and walked away shaking her head.  "The spouse needs some antibiotics.  Remind the day shift to ask his doctor to prescribe some."  The nurse made a note on a sticky pad and put it next to the time clock.  "Thanks.  That burn's looking pretty rank but they were talking about getting another of their doctors down tomorrow."

"That's fine.  They seem pretty nice, if a bit stubborn and loud," the other nurse offered.  "I wouldn't mind working with more of them."

"Me either, as long as it's not that one white mouse."  She went to do a check on another patient.

"Yes, that one definitely needs a leash, even though it's only because he's upset about his mate," the second nurse noted calmly.  She smiled as the older mouse came out.  "Do you guys allow human nurses and doctors to train to help you?  Plenty of us wouldn't mind the change."

"Right now we're working on getting our own people properly trained," he admitted.  "We're just coming off a multi-generation war, miss."

She nodded.  "I can understand that.  Well, remember, if you need that sort of help quite a few of us would volunteer."  She smiled at him.  "Most of you seem quite nice and I'm sure the other is because he's worried about his husband."

Stoker grinned, nodding a bit.  "True.  Xander's usually the nicer one."  She smiled at that.  "I'm headed back to their place.  Call us if there's any problem.  Xander's curled up next to him while Throttle becomes reasonable and makes him take care of himself."  He headed off, taking his bike home.  He rode up the ramp and stopped in the lounge area, making everyone look at him.  "Throttle's awake and we just showed him Xander's injuries.  He's pointing out that he can be hurt too.  That they can baby each other for a bit."  He got off his bike and gave her a pat.  "Go rest, girl.  Plug in if you can find a spare one."  She beeped and headed back to the garage to snuggle in against Xander's bike.  "The nurses are very nice.  They wanted to know if we could use a few of them on Mars."  He sat down beside Dawn.  "How've things been here?"

"I got the window fixed," Modo offered.

"I got everyone fed and watered, including Vic and Charley," Vinnie told him.

"Good.  Throttle can probably come home tomorrow night but he's supposed to be on bed rest."  They all nodded at that.  "Need help with the stink fishes?"

"No, send Pit and Chassis home, that way nothing gets ruined," Vinnie told him.  "We can handle it and they won't help against Wolfram and Hart anyway.  It's better to get that stuff home so you can use it."

Dawn poked Stoker on the side.  "Is Xander bankrupt yet?"  He shook his head.  "I'm transferring some of my money to the new Mars account too."

"Don't," he told her, giving her a hug.  "We appreciate it, but we need to stand on our own for a bit.  We've got most everything settled in now.  We've got trade agreements worked out and everything.  The new ambassador, Winch, is very good at that stuff and she was a Freedom Fighter from the front ranks.  We can easily trust her to handle that stuff.  Save it for your future.  After all, you've got a good few years down here before you come up to live."  He pinched her on the nose.  "Got it?"  She nodded.  "Good.  Keep Xander from doing it too.  We need to struggle a bit to innovate."

Rimfire looked at him.  "Does that mean I'm not supposed to ship more books back?"

"No, please do.  They've been very helpful so far," Stoker promised.  He smirked at him.  "The engineers have been going nuts over those and the ones Xander included from his weapons design stuff. We'll be to replicate where we were a few decades ago pretty soon.  The remaining problems are water and getting things settled and slightly back toward normal."

"That's fine.  Let me know if there's any other subjects I can find books for you on," Rimfire offered gently.  Stoker nodded at that.  "How is Xander?"

"We'll need someone to look at that burn on his hand, the nurse described it as rank."  They all shuddered.  "He grabbed a *stun rod*?" he asked.  "Does he not know those things hurt you?"

"He was probably trying to keep it from hurting him," Modo offered.

"And he did it twice," Vinnie sighed, shaking his head.  "My little brother has 'brave, yet stupid' syndrome."

"Well, at that age, you did too," Stoker reminded.    Vinnie nodded at that.  "You can help him cure his with Throttle.  How goes the other stuff?"  He looked over as Enamel came up the ramp.  "You still okay?"

"I could use another massage but I'll be fine," he admitted.  "Thank you for asking instead of sneering."

Stoker looked at him.  "I would but Xander's just proven to be more arrogant than you."  Enamel stopped moving to look at him.  "He's got a bad burn on one hand and an open hole on his back, plus a graze.  He was ignoring them in favor of Throttle."

"Of course.  If he's injured he can't take care of Throttle like he needs to.  Xander's just as fussy of a mouse as Shell is."  He sat down beside Staff on the floor.  "What were we doing tonight?"  Everyone stared at him.  "I'll have the nurse check his hand tomorrow when I go in to check on them."

"I was thinking that Mayflower could come down.  It's a burn and she's excellent at them," Stoker offered.

Enamel shook his head.  "I've seen plenty and I doubt it's as bad as the ones from licking the light socket and things."  Stoker shuddered at that.  "I saw all sorts of injuries as a pediatrician, Stoker.  Kids are creative in how they hurt themselves and each other.  It's not the first burn I've seen."  He looked at Vinnie.  "Can I get you to work on my arms so I might make it through a shower?"

"Sure."  He nodded him over and Enamel scooted over, unable to stand up without using his hands.  He had to swing his shoulders to make one of his arms move and Modo picked up the other one.  He hissed and winced as they worked on him but he was getting some limited feeling back.  "Thanks, guys.  I'm sorry I'm in the way with him hurting too."

"Not an issue," Modo promised.  "This is the sort of thing that you need to be babied a bit over."

"When's Shell coming back?" Staff asked as she moved to work on the back of his neck and his shoulders.  It could only help.  He let out a visceral moan and she blushed but kept going. "This way there's no block here," she assured him gently.

"She'll be back in a few days.  She had to go clear her schedule and things."  He tipped his head forward.  "Thank you, guys.  You too, Staff.  You're a damn special girl and Modo is damn lucky to have you."  She giggled and patted him on the back of the head before finishing him off.  The other two let him go when his hands twitched.  "Thanks, guys."  He got up with a hiss of pain and went to take a quick shower and change clothes.  It wouldn't last long but maybe he'd get long enough to have a leisurely shower this time.  Shell would make him take baths with her so she could scrub him.  He looked down at his erection and let out a bitter snort.  "Sorry, I can't do that.  Not yet, old boy."  He finished up his shower and barely made it into clothes before his nerves started to cramp and shut down again.  He couldn't tie the drawstrings on his sweats but they weren't that loose.  They'd hopefully stay up long enough for him to get to bed.  He toed open the door, having left it slightly open so he wouldn't have to call for help when he couldn't work the knob, and headed back to his room.  He flopped down on his bed, looking over as someone knocked.  "Good, come change the tape for me," he offered.  Dawn walked in and changed the tape and put down the large mug with the straw for him.  "Juice?"

She smiled and patted him on the ear.  "Of course.  You've got to keep your strength up or else Shell will maul you to death."  She started the tape and grinned at the story.  "I've got books two and three, Doc, you can borrow them from Rimfire when you're done with this one."  He nodded.  "You rest.  It'll be another long day tomorrow."  She left him, closing his door most of the way.  That way he could get out if he had to.

Enamel leaned over to sip his juice, then went back to listening to the book on tape.  Now he understand the twins joke that Vinnie and Xander had been using recently.  He could see him as the Weasley twins, definitely.

***

Xander woke up in his chair, looking at the doctor standing beside the bed and her big needle that she was drawing out of a vial.  "Who're you?" he asked sleepily.

"I'm the person who's going to be cleaning your hand up," she told him, sticking him quickly in the arm.  She checked Throttle. He was still asleep so she walked around and got Xander up and onto the gurney she had drug in with her, walking him out.  "I'm taking him to look at his hand."

The nurses looked at her and one nodded.  "Sure.  It's a serious second degree but not the most horrible I've seen."

The doctor smiled.  "Of course.  Thank you, nurse."  She walked the gurney off, taking him to the elevators.  She smiled at the mouse coming off the elevator.  "I'm taking him to work on his hand."

"Then I'm coming with you," Vinnie told her.  "Otherwise he'll be waking up within a few minutes."  She looked stunned.  "Pain killers and sedatives don't work right on him.  Actually, he's listed as 'do not sedate' on his husband's files because he can die from them."  He smirked at her.  "So I'm going with you.  He has a tendency to wake up violent if he doesn't know you."  The elevator dinged and Enamel walked off.  "She's taking him to look at his hand."

"Good, I need to look at it as well so I can prescribe the correct antibiotic."

The doctor looked at him.  "Are you one of us, sir?"  He nodded.  "Do you have credentials here?"  He nodded again.  "May I see them?"

"Sure, but I can't move my hands at the moment.  Vincent?"  Vinnie pulled them out of his pocket and held them up for her.  Her face fell and she turned him over to him.  "Thanks.  Who are you anyway?"

"Just one of the burn center's docs.  Let's go look at his hand."  She got them onto the elevator and down to an exam room in the burn unit, undoing his hand to look at it.  "It's not that bad," she promised.

Enamel looked at it.  "Move his fingers for me?  He gripped a stun rod."  She manipulated the hand. "He's going to be stiff.  I'm going to have to get him to do PT for that."  He frowned and looked at the cream she had pulled out.  "That doesn't work well with us, but generic neosporin does.  Use that instead."  She nodded, getting some of that instead.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome."  She rebandaged the hand after creaming it down then helped get him back upstairs and into the chair.  She walked away, pulling out her phone to call her boss.  "I failed.  The other white one and their doctor showed up," she hissed. "I couldn't.  The burn is severe but not that bad."  She pushed the button for the elevator.  "No, he'll be fine but he won't be using that hand for a bit."  The elevator opened and she blinked up at the huge gray mouse standing there.  "I just brought Xander Harris back," she offered, getting out of his way.

"Thank you, miss."  He walked off with the mouse behind him.

Staff stopped to look at her.  "NID?" she asked.  She shuddered and shook her head.  "Wolfram and Hart?"  She nodded, looking stunned.  "I'd quit.  They like to steal souls and sacrifice people.  Especially those who fail.  They have in the past from what Xander said of his time in LA."  She walked off, leaving her there.

The doctor got onto the elevator, shaking as she hung up.   She was not touching this case again.  Too many things were going wrong.

Staff walked into the room and smiled at Modo.  "She worked for Wolfram and Hart.  I warned her off."

"I wondered why she had him knocked out and was moving him herself," Vinnie agreed, sitting down and putting Xander in his lap.  "Need to look at his stab wound too, Enamel?"

"Please."  Vinnie pried off the tape and he looked at the small hole.  "It's not too deep or bad.  It could have probably used stitched when it happened, but it's been too long now."  He nodded at the hole. "Press gently around the edges."  Vinnie did so.  "No, no infection yet.  I'll be getting him an antibiotic for his hand but nothing for this but bandages.  Go ahead and tape it back down."

"I can change that for you if you want," a nurse offered from the doorway.

"We're pretty good at that stuff," Modo offered with a small grin for her.  "Let us tape it down.  He's asleep again."

"Sure."  She handed over the necessities and checked on Throttle while they worked on the small wound.  "How is his hand?"

"He'll need some PT for it because it affected the joints," Enamel offered, watching her.  "Is he sedated?  His heart rate's pretty low."

"We didn't, but the doctor may have," she admitted, checking his chart.  "Yup, here we go.  Night shift did add a small one to his IV because he was having some nightmares."  She looked at him.  "He should wake up fairly quickly.  It was a quarter of what we had been giving him before.  The same medicine even."

"That's fine."  She smiled and made a note of that on his chart then took back the scissors and the tape, going back to the desk to tell the others they were all in and what had been said about the young man's hand.

Enamel looked at Xander, who was still on Vinnie's lap.  "He'll pounce you for that."

"He won't," Vinnie said smugly.  "Xander will have nightmares and thrash soon."

"He probably woke up because she was in here," Staff told him.  "That's why she sedated him."

"Hopefully she takes the warning you gave her," Modo offered with a kiss to her temple.  "When can they come home, doc?"

"Soon," he promised.  "Throttle should be able to come home tonight.  Then Xander should be able to handle most of it at home.  We'll just have to watch his hand."  He looked over as two more mice walked in, both in lab coats.  "Morning, gents.  You're Proxima and Heat?"

"I'm Heat, sir," the one on the left said, shaking his hand.  "Do you have any feeling at all?  We were told to make notes about the possible treatments you've been using."

"Right afterward, for about a half-hour," he advised.  "If I get a massage right after another acupuncture treatment then it's a bit longer and it fades instead of suddenly cramping up and no longer moving."

"That's fine," Proxima noted, writing that down.  "We'll want to watch some of the treatments to see if it's something that can benefit the others.  How can we help you today?"

"What sort of patients do we have to look at today?" Heat asked.

"Just these guys for the most part," Enamel offered.  "At home there's a mother and a baby mouse as well."

"We saw her, sir," Heat agreed.  "She directed us this way."

Vinnie looked at him, then at Enamel.  "I think you're right and the baby reabsorbed.  She smells different to me today."

"That's fine, we'll check later," Enamel promised. "Have they gotten a disc system working?"

"Three sets, sir.  They did have to trade for some of the monitors since we couldn't manufacture them, but we're doing okay with them so far.  They're in the main ER and one outpost mostly," Proxima offered.  "What's the status of these two patients?"

"Throttle was shot in the neck," Vinnie told him.  "Human style bullets.  Dawn and Xander did a small healing spell to speed the healing up.  The wound's nearly closed."  Xander shifted so he stroked his back.  "I've got you, bro, just calm down," he whispered.  Xander settled in on his shoulder.  "This one was in a serious battle yesterday with someone who lured him away from the main group.  He has a graze, a minor stab wound, and burns on one hand from grabbing a stun rod twice."

"The burns are technically yellow-tagged, or what humans consider second degree," Enamel told them.  "They do go into the joints since he was grabbing it when he was burned by it.  The stab wound is about three centimeters diameter and not looking too horrible.  It's open, not stitched.  Apparently he didn't have it seen to until late last night when he got them that morning."

"Can you use a glue to seal it?" Heat asked.

"Won't work on him, son," Enamel told him.  "Xander's a tough old mouse.  He was ignoring the pain yesterday so that his mate wouldn't have to worry."

"You must have to worry about him often, sir," Proxima told Vinnie.

Modo chuckled.  "They're bros, boys, his mate's on the bed. The baby mouse and human are Vinnie's."

"Our mistake, we're very sorry," Heat told him, blushing a bit.

"Not an issue, kid.  We got hit with a lust ray," Vinnie told him.  "We were pretty close before this."  They nodded at that and made a note to themselves.  Vinnie looked at Enamel.  "No Shell?"

"She said three to four days and then I can get out of your fur."

"You're more fun than those two will be when they start to fuss about bed rest," Staff assured him with a small grin.  Throttle suddenly flailed and woke up.  "Hey!" she complained, coming over to steady him.  "Don't do that, you'll reopen it and have to stay here longer.  You'll hate yourself if you do that and it messes up your fur with another scar."  He calmed down, letting her put his glasses on him.  "There, how's that?" she asked with a small grin.

"Better, thanks.  Water?" he asked hoarsely.  She nodded, going to get him some from the fountain up the hall.  He looked at Vinnie and Xander.  "What happened?"

"A doc tried to take him, bro.  He's fine.  They rebandaged his hand. She was working for Wolfram and Hart."

"Wonderful," he groaned, forcing himself to sit up.  He looked at the two new mice, nodding a bit.  "You are?"

"Proxima and Heat, sir, the new doctors Enamel is mentoring," Heat offered, shaking his non-IV'd hand.

"We'll be his hands until he can use his again," Proxima said, shaking his hand.  "I'm Proxima, he's Heat."

"Wonderful," Throttle agreed.  He looked at Enamel.  "When can I get sprung?"

"Probably tonight.  We're waiting for another scan of your neck," he offered.  "Then you'll get the chore of keeping Xander calm and making him help his hand by doing the exercises he'll have to do."

"It's that bad?" Throttle demanded.

"He grabbed a stun rod *twice*," Vinnie told him simply.

"Shit," Throttle said bitterly, taking the water from Staff.  "Thanks, dear."

"Welcome."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "One was probably to yank it from his father's hand and the other was probably to block it.  He'll be fine in a few weeks."  She smoothed some of his fur back off his forehead.  "Now, you should probably be lying down, Throttle.  Don't make me get mean and tell your mother you're being a bad patient."  She smiled at him.  "She'll fuss worse'n Xander."

"Point," he admitted, finishing his water and lying back down.  "Can we do the scan?"

"It's scheduled for about eleven," Enamel assured him.  He looked at his students.  "Later today we'll be going over what you know and what you can do, and then we'll start going over the textbooks from down here, that way you've got a good foundation of both sciences."  They nodded in unison.  "You two military?"

"I was, sir," Proxima offered.  "I lied to get in early.  Heat here was going to go to the Freedom Fighters base nearest his house but his mother made him take medic lessons and they moved him on."

"I can speak," Heat said firmly, glaring at his fellow student.

"Boys," Enamel said dryly, looking at them.  "No fighting.  It's juvenile and you'll get enough of that from some of your patients.  Xander will pout you to death."  They let out a small whimper at that. "Mice are not good patients to have under your care, but some are worse than others.  Two of them are in that chair.  Stoker's another one."

"Hey!" Vinnie complained. "I'm an angel compared to Xander and his pouting."

"Vincent, we nearly tied you down the last time you were in the hospital."

"I knocked him out, it stopped the headache," Throttle offered, sipping more of his water.  The nurse came back in.  "Can I eat?"

"We'll get you some soft food for lunch," she promised, checking him over and tucking him back in.  "Should we get him a cot?" she asked Vinnie.

"No, I'm comfy and he's fine," he assured her, patting Xander on the back.  "He'll only have nightmares otherwise.  Unless you want him to rest in Throttle's bed with him."

"No, the hospital would probably not like that.  It might cause a situation where his tubes would come free or something else horrible like sex between patients.  The hospital frowns on that," she said seriously, bustling back out after doing a bit of cleaning up around the bed.

"So I get to go home right after lunch, right?" Throttle said after a moment's silence.  "Xander will definitely need cuddled to avoid the dreaded whining."

Enamel looked at him and shook his head.  "When we've got the results back and the human doctor and I agree, Throttle.  Until then, you can have cuddles; we'll just watch out for you in case they fuss."  He looked at his two students.  "Start by checking everyone's vitals so I know you can, then we'll move on from there."  They got to work, Heat taking Modo and Staff while Proxima got the other two.

***

Xander walked into the house and glared at the man standing there.  "You needed something?" he growled at his boss.

Boris looked stunned.  "I'm sorry if I offended you by dropping by, Xander.  I hadn't heard from you in a few weeks and I wanted to make sure you were still all right," he said stiffly.

"Forgive him, he's in pain," Throttle complained as he walked up the ramp and took Xander to the couch with him. He was on orders to make both of them rest.  "He's got a pretty painful burn on one hand and a stab wound.  I'm just getting out of the hospital too."  He laid down with a sigh and pulled Xander against his chest to cuddle him.  He picked up Xander's hand and held it up.  "See?"

"What happened!"

"His father was a lure to get him away from us," Vinnie complained as he walked up the stairs.  "Sorry but he's not going to be working for quite some time.  Enamel said months."  Xander growled at that.  "Well, next time don't *grab* the stun rod!"

"You wanted me to let him hit me with it?"

"No, kick it next time," Vinnie offered with a grin.  "That's what I usually do."  He flopped down on the chair, then got up to put a blanket over them.  "They're on mandatory rest."

"I had wondered why I hadn't heard anything for a while," Boris offered, looking at Xander.  "Did you want to look at the newest designs and see what you can do to make them better?  It'd give you something sedate to do."

"That depends, are you going to offer my man money to sleep with me again?"

Boris grimaced. "I'm sorry, Xander.  I was teasing him.  I would never disrespect your union that way.  He makes you happy in ways I could never hope to."

"Ease off him, babe," Throttle said gently.  "It's the pain," he explained.  "Usually he'd be teasing."

"I know.  If he wants I will bring those new designs over so he can have something to do."  Xander shrugged. "All up to you."

"Fine.  Since I won't be using my hand for months."

"That's fine, Xander.  I hope you heal well enough to be able to use it again."  He walked over and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead.  "I want you well.  You're a very important person in the city and in my life and I'd hate to see you handicapped by this."

Vinnie coughed.  "Another thing, Boris."  The vampire looked at him.  "Did you hear Limburger got us for a bit?"  He slowly shook his head.  "Xander's now both of ours.  So no more picking on Throttle by offering to sleep with him for two million."

"I'm worth much more," Xander said dryly.

Boris smirked at him.  "I could only base it on the vampire you's performance and he didn't have the training you did."  He smoothed out the blanket over them.  "I'll bring those designs over.  No hurry on them, dear one.  I hope Vinnie can make you just as happy as Throttle is."

"They got hit with a lust ray, it's not a confirmed quad," Throttle said dryly. "He's still mine, Vinnie's just possessive."

"I see."  He smiled at Throttle.  "They must be a handful for you.  They are quite adorable together as well.  I'm sure he's just as good as Xander is.  I'd offer three but I think Xander would get quite pissed at me."  Xander growled and Vinnie just smirked at him.  "I'll send over those designs and file for the temporary insurance claim for him.  He was coming back to work, correct?"

"I'm not sure, I don't like him working where he's so wanted," Throttle said blandly.  "That's a lot like harassment.   I don't want to make Xander go where he has to fight off being pinched every day."

"I'd never pinch him, Throttle.  If I got him, he'd never feel anything worse than a mild nibble.  I pamper what's mine.  Even if it'd only be mine for a night.  Look how well I treated Carbine."  He grinned and walked off, going to plan on what he could do for Xander.  That poor boy.  He got into the car and called his contacts.  "Meg, dear, find out what happened to Xander's hand and his father for me.  Yes, dear.  He's terribly burned."  His driver started him home, making him smile.  "Head to the club, Fred.  I need to see someone there."

"Yes, master."

"Good boy, Fred.  I'll let Willow and Xander play with you again tonight."

"Oooh!  Thank you, master!" he said happily, beaming as he ran a red light and caused a crash behind him.

"Fred, traffic laws," he snapped.

"Sorry, master.  I'll be more careful.  I know you don't want to be in a car crash.  It won't be as fun for you."  He did drive more carefully.  His master could give and take away his pain at will and he wanted to stay on his good side.  After all, Willow and Xander were quite a treat for him. Usually they played with his maker instead.

Episode 61:

NC-17

Xander looked over at Vinnie, then down at his hand.  "I hate being injured."

"I know," he soothed, smiling at the silly look of the plastic bag over Xander's hand so it wouldn't get wet in the pool.  "It won't be too much longer.  Dawn's tired of it too and she's looking at healing spells just for burns."  He shifted closer to hug him.  "At least Throttle hasn't snapped at you for being miserable today."

"True," Xander admitted.  "I'm sorry I got so hurt."

"It's not your fault. You were trying to protect yourself, little brother."  He smoothed some of his hair back.  Then he got back into his seat.  He had promised Throttle he wouldn't touch the boy without him being present.  He heard the bikes come back.  "Sounds like your man and Modo are back."

"We're in here," Xander called.

Throttle came in and stripped, then climbed in between them.  "Were you two good little mice?" he asked as he pulled Xander in for a cuddle.  Vinnie got his other side and he grinned at him.  "Cuddling by proxy?"

"Hell yeah."

"I tried so very hard but I still itched," Xander said miserably. He held up the plastic bag.  "I hate this thing.  Can I cut it off?"

"No," Throttle said patiently.  "We can't replace it down here, babe."  He gave him a gentle kiss. "I saw Micah out roaming around."

"Yay," he said flatly.  "He'll make fun of me."

"I doubt it," Vinnie said, trying to make him quit pouting.  "He won't if he knows what's good for him."  He reached over to give Xander a gentle squeeze to the arm.  "Is it aching too?"  Xander sighed and nodded.  "You know, we could probably get you something for that."

"I'm a tough mouse, I can survive," Xander assured him.  "I did when my eye was popped."  He shifted, cuddling between them, looking up at Throttle.  "I'll still be good but I'm chilly."

"I am too," he promised, cuddling him with Vinnie.  Xander was so pitiful when he was injured.  It was enough to make him wanna give him treats and baby him.  Then again, it appeared the magic pout was working on Vinnie too with the way he was cuddling the Xander.  He looked at Vinnie.  "Don't forget, he's still mine."

"I know.  Keep your tail on.  I'm not stealing him yet," Vinnie assured him.  "I'm taking this time to get to know Xander better so we'll have a deeper and more meaningful quad when you and Charley girl give in."

Throttle groaned.  "Not gonna happen, bro.  Never gonna happen."

"Bet me.  Who can resist my manly and studly charms," Vinnie said with a bright and sassy grin.

Throttle reached over and dunked him, then pulled Xander into his lap.  "Just for that, you've lost your Xander cuddling privileges for the rest of the week."

***

Micah rode into the garage, looking at Charley, who was scowling at the doorway.  He looked behind him, no one there.  "Did I come at a bad time to yell at Xander?"

She snorted.  "You could say that."  She threw the towel she had been using to clean her tools at the table and turned to look at him.  "Let's see.  He's injured.  He's whiny.  He's also been hit with a lust ray so he wants *my* mouse.  You tell me, Micah."

He looked at her for a moment.  "How about the other way around and you start from the top?" he suggested dryly. She glared at him.  "I haven't heard a thing about this other than he had to go check on his father.  Who then died."  He swung his leg over his seat, leaning against his bike instead.  She beeped and he patted her.  "Sorry, girl, let me put down my kickstand."

"You might want to get her out of the way too," she said patiently.  He nodded, moving her out of the way and plugging her in, then walking Charley into her office to talk to her.  She flopped down and looked at him.  "What was the last thing you heard?"

"He got a bonus for them using his design again and for the early completion of his last building."

"That was about two weeks ago.  Since then," she said, kicking the door shut.  "Since then," she started again.  "We've had Limburgers come back.  We've had Dawn and Rimfire starting school.  We've been attacked here once and Xander and Vinnie both got captured while they were out training Xander.  They got hit with a lust ray.  They found Enamel there and he had been hit with a paralyzer beam of some sort that took the feelings from his hands and arms for the next six months.  We found Staff's sister there with Detail after the kid made her crash.  Then we come back and things start getting back to normal but then Xander gets called and told his father is alive, he's to come see him so they can do something about him.  He goes out there, it's a ruse," she said bitterly.  "He was paid thirty grand to get Xander out there.  He only wanted the money.  Throttle was shot through the office window while Xander and his father got into it a few times and Xander got injured.  Xander comes back and becomes a bastard in the hospital, ignoring the second degree burn on his hand since Throttle was unconscious, and then they come home so they're both injured and whiny, and Vinnie still wants them both," she finished bitterly.

He considered it for a moment.  "Why did I not get a report about this?" he asked finally.

"Dawn said she didn't think you wanted to know that my mouse was writing bad poetry."

Micah walked over and gave her a hug.  "It's all right.  You know he'd never totally leave you with as long as he chased you."  He patted her on the back once he let her go.  "So, where are they?"

"Enamel's laying on his bed listening to the Harry Potter books on tape because that's about all he can do without his medical helpers.  They gave him two trainees to help train."  Micah nodded at that.  "He can't do anything with his hands and arms and I don't begrudge him the help, but it's all just at the same time."

"I understand," he promised.  He gave her another pat.  "So, which Limburger is back?"

"Both of them," she said bitterly.  "They've started a genetics research center on the same campus the kids are going to."  Micah winced at that.  "The bros blew the hell out of it when they went to get Xander and Vinnie."

"Good.  I can see that.  Now, lust ray?"

"Yeah, lust ray," she said grimly.  She heard a splash and groaned.  "Guys!"  The splashing stopped.  "Sorry, they must have moved to the hot tub.  They were in the mineral pool."

"Let me go over there and talk to Enamel first then I'll come back and finish taking the report to type up later."  She nodded, going back to her puttering.  "She's got a funny engine knocking.  Any idea what that is?"

"Yeah, her oil cap's not on tight enough," she said, going to fix that for him.

Micah walked next door, smiling at Vic since he was playing in the patio area.  "Should you be outside alone?"  Tara meowed.  "That's fine then, I'm sure you're a great sitter, Tara."  He patted her then headed inside, running into Enamel, who was staring at the kid.  "Something wrong with him?"

"No, just watching the clouds."  He looked at him.  "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Getting captured.  They got me while I was out riding and did it to me.  I went to do laundry."

"It happens.  I'll pop around and tell your landlord that you're injured and recovering at a friend's house."  He looked him over.  "You okay?  You look like you're losing weight."

"I'm fine," he sighed, walking off.  "Just tired and hoping it's nearly done with."

"I'm sure it'll be sooner than they think."  He went toward the garage, hearing the splashing, and found Rimfire and Dawn in there.  "Guys, reports, what you're paid to do," he said impatiently.

Dawn smirked at him.  "We weren't sure what to report and we were waiting on some definitive closing information for it.  We have no idea whether or not Enamel's going to be okay by the end of six months or not."

"He will be.  He's a stubborn mouse, Dawn."  He looked at them.  "Even if it's not the whole situation, I still want preliminary and during-problem reports about things this big.  I can't help and cover for you guys if I don't know."

"Not much to cover for," Rimfire offered dryly. "Enamel's got two almost-docs down to learn from him and help him for now.  Xander's burn is making it so he can't work.  We're doing random patrols out near the college to look for more goons."

"By tonight, I want a report for my bedtime reading pleasure, kids.  I want it to be as full as possible and spelling mistake free, Dawn."  She nodded, giving him that same patient look.  "Or else I'm making you two buy your own books next year."

"Yes, sir," they complained in unison, and Rimfire got out of the hot tub to grab his backpack and their new laptop to start on it.

"Thank you."  He went to check on the others, tapping on the mineral pool's door before walking in.  "Hey.  I came to check on everyone since I hadn't heard anything and Meg is presently off line due to maternal stress."  He looked at Xander's hand.  "That's got water in there, kiddo."  He came to sit on the side of the tub and take the plastic bag off, looking at the bandages.  "You need to change that."

"I hate doing it," he said sweetly, grinning at him.  "Get off!"  Micah chuckled but let his hand go.  "Thank you."

"We should let Enamel look at it anyway," Throttle offered gently.  Vinnie pouted from his seat.  "You can help me wind the bandage for him if you want."

"How bad is it?" Micah asked.

"He grabbed a stun rod," Vinnie told him.

"Twice," Throttle added.

"I didn't think the rod part was going to burn me," Xander defended. "I thought only the tip did that."

"Well, now ya know," Vinnie teased.  "Next time, kick it."

"Sure, next time I'll bring a weapon and shoot him first," Xander said grimly.

"So....what happened?" Micah asked.  "Since I don't have a single report, verbal or otherwise, from anyone in this clan of yours, Xander."

"Hmm.  Where to start," Xander mused, looking back at Vinnie. "Got any clue, Gred?"

"Nope, Forge, not a single idea where to start."

"Well, Charley told me the general outline, so how about some details?" Micah suggested dryly.

"I'll fill you in later," Throttle promised.  "Let's go change that bandage."

"But I wanted to soak and it can't hurt it," Xander whined.

"Kid," Enamel said from the doorway.  "Quit whining."  He sniffed.  "No, not in this water.  It could make the burn infect and then you'd hate me because I'd have to have one of the kids scrub it out for you daily."  Xander shuddered and curled around his poor hand.  "So behave.  Did it get wet?"  Throttle nodded.  "That's fine.  Let's change the bandage and recream it.  We'll figure out better waterproofing solutions later."  Xander sighed and got out, making Enamel blush and turn around.  "I didn't need to see that.  I really didn't need to see that. Please put on a towel."  He walked off, heading back to the lounge area since that's where most of the bandages were.

"I'm average for my height," Xander defended.

"And then some, kid," Enamel called back, blushing brighter.  He ran into Modo, who was also blushing.  "Got out in front of me," he complained as he walked past him.  "The bandages still in here?"

"Yeah, I just put them back in the basket.  He up for another change?"

"He got 'em wet," Enamel offered, flopping down on the couch.  "Heat!"  He knew he was hanging around while Proxima took the opportunity to go to the local medical library and do some research.  "We're changing Xander's hand."

"Sure, boss."  He came out of the study.  "That internet is a really neat thing.  I've found all sorts of stuff."  He coughed and blushed a bit when he saw Modo.  "Who was doing the sexuality research?  They had a bunch of very unusual practices bookmarked.  I never knew some of those things were possible."

"Oh, momma," Modo moaned, heading downstairs.  He saw Rimfire and Dawn snuggled up while they typed and blushed brighter.  They were obviously naked in the hot tub.  "Don't you own suits?"

"You said my bikini was worse than me being naked," Dawn offered as she typed.   Modo moaned.  "What's wrong?"

"Heat got into your bookmarks."

"Huh.  Hopefully he had the same sort of fun I do," she said with a shrug, going back to writing.  "Which Limburger hit them?  It's for the report."

"Marshall had the older one do it," Vinnie said as he came out in a towel.  "You're doing a report for Micah?"  She sighed and nodded.  He beamed.  "Have fun with that."

"Yay me.  Wanna do my English homework tonight?"

He snorted.  "Nope.  Have fun with that too."  He walked Xander up the stairs, grinning at him.  "She's letting me have her poetry book when she's done with it."

"Wonderful."  He shook his head.  "I suck at poetry."

"We can't all be the romantic people that Vinnie is," Throttle said from behind them, taking his Xander back.  "Remember, you lost your Xander cuddling privileges."

"Fine," he pouted, leading the way up there.  He pouted at Enamel.  "Tell him I've been good."

"As opposed to what?" he suggested dryly.  Vinnie glared at him so he smirked.  "I've never seen you this sappy in the past, Vincent.  Did you read poetry to Charley too?"

"She wouldn't let me," he complained, sitting down in the chair.  He adjusted his towel at Heat's look.  "Don't even think about it, kid.  I'm cute and the most studly mammajammer in the universe but I've got plenty of worshipers."

"You mean I've got to put up an altar to your ego?" Xander demanded, frowning at him.  "You never told me that!"

Throttle just moaned and sat down, putting Xander in his lap.  "Hush.  Before I send Vinnie out for a day-long scouting mission."

"Yes, dear.  You know I loved you first," he offered with a shy grin, kissing him gently.  "Think what sort of mouse I'd be if I had loved him first."

"You wouldn't have the spots," he said dryly, teasing one with a fingertip.  "Okay, go ahead while he's in a good mood."

"If you don't hit Heat this time, kid, I'll even give you a candy bar," Enamel promised.  Xander snickered and shook his head.  "I know it hurts, but he's trying to be gentle."

"I really do," Heat promised, sitting down across from Xander, the basket now next to him thanks to Modo coming back and handing it over.  "Let's see what's going on now.  Did you get it wet?"

"The bag leaked," Xander said grimly.

"That happens sometimes, Xander."  He cut open the taped portion and then worked to unwind it, wincing a bit as some of the gauze stuck.  "Sorry."

"It happens.  Sores and burns leak lymph fluid and blood," Enamel assured him.  "You should try wrapping a tail injury."

"Don't tell him that story!" Vinnie whined.

"I wasn't going to, but if you continue to piss Throttle off, he does know it too," Enamel reminded him dryly.  Vinnie curled up a bit at that and Enamel blushed and looked away from him, glancing at Xander, who he could also see right up the towel of.  "Um, Throttle, maybe some towel management lessons would be in order," he said, forcing himself to look at Modo, who was shaking his head.  "You okay, Modo?  You look tired."

"I'm a bit sore.  Heat, can you do those deep tissue massage thingies for backs?"

"Unfortunately my hands aren't strong enough for that," he said, glancing back at him.  "Proxima can.  I can't even get Enamel's arms to tingle a bit."

"That's fine. I can work on your back for you," Vinnie promised.  "What's wrong?"

"I slept funny."

"The bed's too short so he's got to curl up," Xander told him.

"Not my fault the humans don't make bigger beds," Modo said dryly.

"They make them for basketball players, they should make them to fit you too," Xander said patiently.  "Let me look online, Modo."  He looked at him.  "You know, if I had any sense at all, I'd have put in suites for each of you guys."

"I like our room, babe," Throttle assured him, his breath tickling Xander's ear and making him shiver.  "The room can be smaller, that's why there's the rest of the house."

"Yeah, but a bigger bed won't fit in Modo's present room.  Hey, big guy, wanna take this room up here?  That way I can get you a bigger bed?"

"I'm fine, Xander.  I just haven't had Staff to curl up on recently."

Xander stared at him for a moment.  "With a bigger bed, you wouldn't have to curl up around her, you could pounce her in the finest hyper-mouse fashion, Modo.  I'm sure she'd enjoy that and having a desk of her own in your room."  Modo blushed at that.  "Good, then we'll plan on moving you up here.  I'll go looking for the bed once my hand's redone."  He looked down at his hand and blanched, then looked away quickly.  "Eww."

"Sorry, Xander," Heat offered gently.  "I'm trying to be as gentle as I can."  He looked at Enamel. "There's a bit of peeling."

"Take off any loose skin.  It could trap bacteria down there."  He nodded, working as gently as he could to take off the peeling pieces and then he put on some new neosporin and rebandaged it. "Good job, Heat.  Pretty soon we'll let you practice on tails."  He looked at Xander as he got up.  "There's a candy bar in the fridge."

"Thanks, Enamel."  He headed in there to get it and a rootbeer, then went back to the computer.  He came out to look at Heat.  "You were watching Dawnie porn?"

"I thought she was doing research for a class," he said with a blush.  "I was curious at how humans did it."

"The same way, only we don't have tails or antennas, and we're much more oral," Xander said with a grin once everyone had moaned at that.  He went in to search for massive beds, finding a few good sites.  "Modo, how tall are you?"

"Just under seven feet," he called back, coming in to look.  Since it was going to be his bed and all.  Xander clicked on the first site, making him blink a bit.  "Why are there horses in those beds?"

"Just don't ask, big man.  Just don't ask," he advised.  "It does mean that they'll hold up even if you and Vinnie start to bounce around during a fight so it's a good thing."  He clicked on the first thing he found 'find a bed for me'.  He selected what he wanted and it came up with a chat window, the guy asking him what sort of horse he had.  He snickered and wrote that he had a very large friend and that they needed something that large and sturdy, that Modo was over seven feet tall and weighed about three hundred pounds.  The guy came back with two links.  Xander clicked on the first one.  It took him to a new site but it was the same bed, just without the kink added in.  "Well, this one's really firm.  It does come in the king size in the ten foot.  That'll give you enough room to really stretch out, even when you're not up on the pillows."  He let him read the description, then went back to click the second link. "How about that one?  A pillow top would add a bit of softness but it still appears firm."

Modo looked at the price tag.  "That's way too expensive."

Xander swatted him with his bandaged hand, then winced.  "Shut up.  You can't be at peak efficiency without having a good night's sleep.  Curling around Staff is wonderful, but sometimes a guy's got to stretch out."  He looked back at him.  "Do you want some softness to smoosh her into or not, Modo?"

He blushed.  "I'd prefer it but it's still too much."

"You'll pay me back someday."  He clicked on that one.  "Go play with Staff so we can move the stuff around."  He sighed and nodded, heading out.  "Bring me my wallet too."

"Yes, dear," Throttle called, tossing it from the doorway.  "You found a bed that'll fit Modo?"

"I found the site that people use when they want to take their horses to bed, dear.  It'll fit him too."  He looked inside his wallet, sighing when his first card didn't go through.  He pulled out his emergency card and dialed the number on the sticker to activate it.  He wetn through all the steps, then went back to work, buying him the bed.  "What type of frame does it have right now?" he asked.

"Headboard only."

Xander glanced at him. "Is Modo a footboard sorta guy?"  Throttle shrugged.  "Sure.  We're redecorating that room. You guys have got to move furniture and stuff for him since I can't.  Send him to go play with Staff for the next week."

"Sure," he agreed dryly.  "The rest of the stuff is stained cherry if it helps."

"It does," he admitted. He found that they sold frames and sheets, which made him very happy.  "Hmm.  Would he want a headboard with sliding doors and a squarer look or a sleigh bed type?" he called.

"Sleigh bed," Vinnie called back.  He looked at the bed and whistled.  "How are we fitting that in there?"

Xander pulled out some paper and sketched a square with his good hand, then another one for the bed, that was now kitty-corner facing the doorway.  The armoire and dressers were also put in as squares and labeled, plus a desk.  "Here, find Dawn's old desk and put it in there too.  Then get to moving her dresser and things."  Vinnie gaped.  "Please?" he asked with a slight grin.

"Sure, bro."  He went to do that.

"Staff said she wanted her old dresser," Dawn called a few minutes later.  "Both of them."

"Sure.  That'll just make it a bit more eclectic than matching," Xander called back, going back to looking at the furniture he wanted.  He finished that up and went to sheets.  "Hmm, soft t-shirt, regular sheets, and satin sheets."  He looked at the satin sheets.  "Honey, black or red satin?"

"He'll kill you," Vinnie called back then he chuckled.  "I can't imagine Modo sleeping on red satin sheets without feeling like he's in a brothel."

"Point.  There's pale pink."

"Modo's too much of a guy for that," Throttle said as he came in to look over his shoulder.  "If you have to, get him the white ones."

Xander clicked on that and most of the others as well.  Then he finalized the order, clicking on 'ship overnight'.  The total made him wince, but Modo's happiness and health was worth it.  He heard the hiss from Throttle.  "He needed the larger bed. His back's always hurting these days."

"True, but that's a lot for shipping."

"It's a huge bed," Xander told him, going back to that page.  "See!"

"King sized.  Ten feet long," Throttle read.  "Wow.  Yeah, that'll fit him even if he's scooting off the pillows.  He'll need some more probably."

"We can get that cheaper somewhere else," Xander admitted, going to search for one last thing.  "Corner tables for the bedside tables," he said at the confused look.  "They'll fit better since the bed's going to be angled."

"I saw the plans.  Shouldn't the armoire be on the other side?"

"No, that'll look more unbalanced," Xander admitted, searching for what he wanted.  "What color are her dressers?"

"White."

He nodded and chose two in white, then went back and went for something more functional that came in white.  That got ordered and then the pillows and throw pillows and a comforter for overtop of everything else.  "This way he can still have his quilt but he doesn't have to put it out so the cats won't shed on it so much," he said to ease the confused look.  "Besides, I think Modo will like chenille.  It's nearly as soft as his heart is.  Something very suitable to seduce your lady on."  He logged off and shut down the computer, then went to check on the rooms.  "Dawn, Rimfire, you're helping us move Modo and Staff's room upstairs!" he yelled when he saw the stuff spread around their room.

"Let me finish the report and my homework first," Dawn called back.  "We'll do it tomorrow, Xander.  When is whatever getting here?"

"Two days."

"Sure."

"Plenty of time," Rimfire agreed. He looked at Dawn.  "Why are they getting moved?"

"Because their bed isn't big enough and your uncle always has a backache," she said, kissing him on the cheek.  "He's a big mouse, dear. He needs an enormous bed."

"Where would you find a bed to hold Uncle Modo?" he asked.

She grinned at him.  "I found a few but they were at kink sites.  Either that or you could put two kings side-by-side and then another one width-wise at the foot of those two."

Xander leaned into the garage area.  "I went with a pony bed."

"Like for horses?"

"No, like for those who want to sleep with their horses," Xander said dryly, smirking at him.  "Because it'll hold him no matter what he does.  Such a big lover needs a big bed to practice his arts in."  He disappeared again, heading back into the mineral pool.  Vinnie was in there pouting so he curled up next to him, nuzzling him on the cheek.  "Missed you."

Vinnie gave him a look.  "I'm not allowed to cuddle you."

Xander nuzzled him again, wrapping his arms around him.  "That's fine, I'll cuddle you instead."  Vinnie grinned at that and kissed him gently.  "So, you said you wanted to talk.  What about?"

"I want to know you better.  It'll give the other two time to get used to it, and us."  He nuzzled him back. "So we should talk."

"We should," Xander agreed happily. "Where did you wanna start?"

"Hmm, I know some about your childhood.  Did you get to see some of mine?"  Xander shook his head, still grinning.  So Vinnie leaned closer, letting their antennas touch.  "Lower your shields, bro."  Xander concentrated and lowered his shields, letting Vinnie inside.

***

Up on Mars, Wrench looked around, looking very confused.  "What just happened?" he called.

"Someone got Spike with something," Willow called back.  "He's not feeling very well.  I led his mommy to him."  She floated into his office, grinning at him.  "I'm sure he'll be fine.  Why?  What did you feel?"

"Something like a ripple in the magic."  He grimaced a bit then shook his head.  "I'm sure it'll work out, Goddess willing."

"True, it usually does," Willow agreed happily.  She leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek.  "You work too hard. You need a nice girl mouse."

"Yeah, but the only ones I've ever liked have been my cousins," he said dryly, smirking at her. "Sorry to burst the dynastic bubble and all, Willow."

"Poo.  How else am I ever going to be a mommy if you don't have kids?"

He snorted.  "Um, find a male ghost?"  She gave him a 'get real' look.  "I know, go find those elf mice again and offer to help them."

"Sure."  She beamed and faded out.  She liked the elf mice.  They were kinda stuck up but kinda fun.  Like really stiff versions of Vinnie and Wrench.

***

Xander shook his head, pulling back to look at his big brother.  Then he kissed him gently on the end of the nose, cuddling him tighter.  "Wow."

"Yeah, very.  Now I know how Throttle got sucked in while doing your life review."  He pinched him under the water, grinning at him.  "We should move on."

"We should," Xander agreed.  "Hmm.  How about first times?  That should pass over most of the awkward and nasty teen years.  Unless you were hurt?" he offered at the hesitant look.

"No, nothing like that, lil' bro," he promised, pulling Xander closer so they could share some more memories.

***

Xander looked around, he could see everything like he was watching a movie.  He wasn't *in* the picture, but he was watching it, like through a two-way mirror.  He could almost imagine having some mental popcorn while he watched, but this was a special moment and it deserved his full attention.  Vinnie was spread out across a few pillows, on top of a bed, in front of him.  Vinnie's tail was waving slowly as the tan mouse behind him stroked his back and shoulders, saying something.  Vinnie grinned back at him and it was a much younger Vinnie.  Probably a late teenager if that old.  The older mouse moved and bent down to blow across his hole, making the younger mouse shiver and shake as a finger was added.  Xander shifted a bit in his seat, but it was a good thing.  He felt Vinnie pop in beside him and pulled him down to kiss him.  "Did you love him?"

"No, he was using me to break in someone cute and have a young lover no one else could touch," he admitted, sitting beside him.  "I was so young."

Xander grinned at him.  "So was I, mine was just quick and after the heat of battle."

"I saw.  That's why I'm done already.  She wasn't that good either."

"Nope," Xander said dryly.  He went back to watching the memory.  The older mouse was up to two fingers now and Vinnie was nearly vibrating like he'd had a whole pot of coffee again.   The mouse chuckled and spanked him lightly, telling him to hold still.  It'd get better.  He took some stuff out of a small pot that was beside his hand and rubbed it on himself, then slowly forced his way inside the prepared body.  Vinnie let out a howl but he just stroked his back and hips until he calmed down and then started to move slowly.  "Is that special lube?" he whispered.

"It's called sun dust.  It's one hell of a stimulant and used like that, it's something to make you so horny you'd rip yourself open to scratch that itch."  He stroked Xander's tail when it came down to lay across his shoulders.  "I'm fine, bro.  I agreed to it beforehand.  That's how he played with the younger mice.  It made us more relaxed."  He watched his performance, it wasn't too bad, but he was howling as his lover pounded him with little finesse.  "I'm better than he ever was."

"Yes, you are," Xander agreed.  "You can get Charley to that point without the use of any drugs."

"I can," Vinnie agreed smugly.  "I'm damn good."  They shared a grin then they watched as the bigger mouse got off and flipped Vinnie over, helping him to ease that pressure.  Vinnie sighed and got up.  "That's all there was.  At least he cuddled me afterward.  His prize possession and his lover."  He hauled Xander up and shoved him back into his own head.  He woke up to find Throttle across from them.  "Just sharing memories."

"I saw."  He leaned over to kiss him.  "You both deserved better for your first time."

"Well, yeah, but I wasn't that picky at that age," Vinnie admitted sheepishly.  "I got better taste and skills as I aged."

Xander snuggled against his side. "It still sucked that he had to use the drugs to make you that insane.  My second time was so much better and I learned a lot more."

Vinnie grinned at him.  "I was his for about six months, and I did learn a lot.  He's the one who taught me how to pleasure myself and women."  He nuzzled Xander's chin and neck, making him shiver.  "It wasn't so bad.  That stuff is incredible.  It felt wonderful at the time."  He sent over the more direct memories, sharing in Xander's.  Throttle coughed to break them up.  "Just letting him see what it was like, bro."

"He doesn't need to know what sun dust was like, Vinnie.  We can't get any even if I were so inclined.  I'd never sit if I used it on him."  He leaned over to grab Xander and pull him into his lap, letting Xander kiss him.  "Thanks, babe.  Need cuddled?"

"No, I'm good," he promised, grinning wickedly at him.  "Then again, I could use something *else*."

Throttle snickered.  "You don't want cuddled but you want sex?  How typical is that?"  He teased Xander's opening, making him flex it and show that he could take him.  "Hmm, prepared and alone in here with Vinnie?  Naughty mouse, Xander."  He turned him around and slid him down his cock, making Xander moan.  "Say you're sorry for teasing him."

"Sorry," Xander said breathlessly, grabbing onto Vinnie to hold on.

"Ah! You know better!  He can only watch, Xander.  If he wants sex, he's got to grab Charley girl."  Vinnie got out and went to steal Charley, bringing her back and into the pool.  She was quickly taken in the same position and he and Vinnie set up a mirror rhythm.  He'd push up into Xander and he'd push up into Charley.  Xander would moan and Charley would groan and they kept going.  "This is how it's supposed to be, Xander.  No more teasing Vinnie."  He pushed up really hard and Xander yelped, but whimpered as he pulled out and went back up him.  He started to work himself but Throttle's tail captured his hands, holding them away from his body.  "No, from me, babe. You can have anything you want."

"Please!" Xander demanded, tipping his head back.

"Turn around," Throttle ordered, helping him do that so he could play with his antennas.  Xander was sobbing in need now.  He knew he had teased and deserved it, but Throttle wasn't going to be that mean to him.  He inhaled one of the slim red antenna and worked it gently with his tongue, adding a slight pressure as he sucked.  Xander arched up and came with a needy sounding whimper and a sob of relief.  "Whose are you?" he demanded gently.

"Yours.  All yours."

"Good boy," Throttle soothed, stroking his back.  Xander rested against his chest.  "Too much temptation.  No more being alone with Vinnie, Xander.  It's not fair to him."  Xander nodded, looking over as Vinnie and Charley finished off.  She was clawing up his arms and panting hard, then suddenly stiffened and went limp in his arms.  Vinnie kissed the back of her neck, nuzzling and murmuring to her as he finished off.  Then he let her curl up in his lap.  Throttle leaned over, kissing Vinnie on the end of the nose.  "You okay?  He's sorry he teased."

"No, he didn't tease, Throttle.  We agreed to share some memories to get to know each other better."  He stroked Charley's side.  "He cuddled me, not the other way around."

"I know.  I saw," he pointed out dryly.  He shifted so he and Vinnie were sitting next to each other and Charley and Xander were lying facing each other.  "We need to talk, Bro.  This is getting too hard."  Vinnie nodded at that, going back to soothing his lover. Throttle leaned down to kiss the top of Charley's head.  "She's asleep."

"She is," he agreed with a touch of smugness.  "I'm that good.  So's Xander."  He gave him a gentle kiss on the head, then looked at his former lover.  "I think we can handle it, Throttle," he said quietly.

"I know you two could, even with me being there, but we can't hurt Charley girl, Vinnie.  She deserves better."  Vinnie nodded at that, looking down at the fragile body in his arms.  "Until she says so, no more playing like that.  You've got to take it a bit slower."

"We would have done this same thing before the ray," Vinnie protested.

"Yeah, but that ray changed things, Vinnie.  I felt him getting hard watching you take it."  He nuzzled him in a slightly more than friendly manner, making the younger mouse blush.  "I won't hurt Charley girl and you two are already really close.  Let's face it, she's bothered by times like this now and then."  Vinnie nodded at that, giving him another gentle kiss.  "Enough," he ordered.

Vinnie looked at him.  "You were affected too."

"I was," he admitted, grinning a bit.  "Then again, I've been addicted to you in the past."

Vinnie grinned at him. "If you had said mushy stuff like that when we were together, we'd still be together."

Throttle shrugged a bit, shifting Xander a bit in his lap.  "It wouldn't have mattered.  We'd still have broken up because I needed someone I could be possessive over."  He looked down at Xander, watching him not sleep.  "You okay?" he asked gently, stroking his side.  Xander nodded and yawned, blinking up at him.  "I was a bit affected," he admitted, "but it's still not fair to Charley girl to even do this stuff, Xander.  I won't have her hurt."

"I don't want to hurt her either," he promised, staring at his mate.  "I really don't."

"I know, babe, but you two are already so close.  The stuff you used to do is so much worse now and it will hurt her.  She's been hurt already.  She was throwing stuff around earlier."

"I just don't want to be left alone," she said quietly.

Vinnie kissed her on the top of the head.  "Babe, even if we went for the foursome, you'd never be left alone."  He pulled her up and around to face him, grinning a bit at her.  "I promise.  We're not gonna leave you alone.  You're gonna be the sandwich between two white mice and Throttle can save you all he wants."  She blushed at that.  He kissed her, then kissed Throttle, then Xander, then kissed her again.  "It'll be all of us, sweetheart.  I promise.  Even if Xander and I do take off for a weekend to be alone, you'll still be with Throttle and you can jump him and make comparisons, which I'll come out on top of, of course."  She swatted at him for that.  "See, you're not going to be alone.  I'm never leaving you.  I fought way too hard to get you to ever leave you.  Even when we move back to Mars full time, you're coming with us."

"The garage...."

Vinnie kissed her gently.  "We'll come to that when we get to it, sweetheart."

Xander leaned over to nuzzle her chin.   "We'll find someone who'll love it just as much as your family has," he promised gently.  "We'll start looking the year before.  Or maybe Staff and Modo will want it.  Who knows.  That's a bit away from now.  We've got to get the kids through at least college first."  She nodded, letting him pull her over to hold her.

"Being crushed," Throttle complained, letting Xander go to sit between them.  "It'll be just like when we go dancing, only we'll both be the white mouse sandwich filling."

"The bun in Vinnie's hotdog?" Xander teased.

She looked at him, pushing back some.  "Get those dirty and smutty thoughts out of your head, Xander.  Not while I'm on your lap.  I'm not a toy to share."

"I know."  He kissed her, making her moan and go limp again.  "You're much too good to ever be bed candy.  That's Vinnie.   You're a more filling meal and should be savored like it with the wine of your juices flowing freely among us."  She shivered and clutched at his shoulders as his tail stroked the inside of her thigh.  "You'll never be just a quick treat, Charley.  We'd never treat you like that.  We're two really close couples with a bond between us that makes us want to sleep together.  You're still Vinnie's, but I might come over to tease you now and then."  He stole another kiss and handed her to Throttle so he could pull Vinnie into his lap.  The way he fell made it easy enough to spank him.  "We'll even help you keep this one in line."

"Sure you will," she said dryly.  "You're one of the causes of him being bad."

Xander winked.  "Thank you."  Vinnie wiggled until he was sitting up, staring at Xander.  Xander beamed up at him.  "Can't we agree to be good for her?"

"I'm always good for her."  He leaned down to steal a real kiss, making Xander clutch at him and return it.

Throttle looked down at Charley, who was staring at those two go at it.  "See, you're not alone."  He stroked her hair and let her curl up on his chest.  "I'm not pushy either, Charley girl," he said gently.  "If you wanted it, it's there for you.  You can even help me punish Xander when he's being naughty."  He gave Vinnie a shove, making him back off.  "Let him breathe, bro.  I want him living."

"Sorry," he panted, staring at Xander.  "You're good."

"Yes, I am," he agreed smugly.  He grinned at Charley.  "Aren't I?"

"You're doing okay so far," she admitted.  "I still don't want to be a full quad.  I'd feel odd about it.  That's not the normal human way."

"I get it," Xander agreed, nodding a bit.  "You were raised to be a good girl with one boy for the rest of your life.  We can keep it at the usual level, I hope, most of the time.  If and when it happens, it does, but not permanently.  I treat you pretty close already."  She nodded that was true.  "So we're good?"

"You're very good," she promised, leaning over to kiss him.  "Just wear Vinnie out for a bit."

Xander beamed and looked at Throttle, who nodded.  "He could use a nap."

"I don't need a nap yet," Vinnie said dryly.  Xander grabbed him and pulled him back into a kiss, making him moan and grab on.  Xander was like fire over his skin.  Everywhere he stroked a burning itch followed to have the hands back there.  He pulled back to pant.  "Xander?  Magic?"

"I don't need any, Vinnie.  You?" he asked smugly, putting Vinnie back into a seat, then standing up and heaving him up onto the side of the pool.  He got some clean water to rinse his boy off, making him shiver at the cool touch over his warmed skin, then leaned down to lick him dry.  Vinnie was clutching at him, arching up into his touch, and Xander was loving this.

"Why are they so hot?" Charley asked.

"It's the beam, babe.  That and probably the magic stuff.  Remember Rimfire and Dawnie's first few weeks?"  She snorted and nodded.  "It's the same thing."  Vinnie howled in pleasure as Xander deep throated him, leaning back and clutching whatever he could reach.  Throttle pulled him over so he was laying on the padded edge of the tub and Xander was now on top of him.  Vinnie grabbed onto Throttle's neck with a death grip, holding on for dear life as Xander showed him how skilled he was.  Throttle sighed.  "He's very good at that.  Just wait until he strips for you."  She looked up at him, smirking a bit.  "He's very, very good at teasing."

"I've noticed in the past," she promised, kissing him with a grin.  "Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"I'll have him afterward," Throttle said smugly.  "You can reclaim Vinnie however you want.  I'll have Xander begging and pleading for mercy and to go ahead and permanently open him for my pleasure."  She chuckled at that.  "You think I'm kidding?"  They looked at Vinnie as he let out another howl.  Xander was sinking down on him and looked blissed out.  "Ride him, babe.  He's all yours until Charley wants to tail him herself."  She shivered at that.  "You've got a present in our closet," he whispered in her ear.  "Vinnie told me what happened and asked to borrow some stuff for you.  Xander found you your own set."  She shivered again, clutching his arms.  He chuckled in her ear, watching as her nipples got hard.  "All you have to do is ask, Charley girl."  He shifted her a bit so she could do whatever she wanted, and she let him have her.  He groaned as she slid down him and then moved to lean her against the tub, taking her from behind this time.  She clutched Vinnie's arms, sharing a kiss with him as he rode her back to pleasure.  She was definitely wanting this and was very wet for him.  He felt her shaking increase and felt one of Vinnie's hands come down to help her and memorized that spot.  He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about human girls.  She came in his arms and he growled in her ear, working himself faster.  Xander leaned over to kiss him and he pulled back to pant, going faster and harder.  Xander and he locked eyes and Xander started to speed up, making Vinnie wiggle and beg and plead.  He matched Xander's speed and felt her get started again, going over after her this time.  Xander came right after Vinnie did and he pulled his mate over for another hard kiss. "You're mine tonight, Xander, and your tail is in our sling all night."

"Yes, love," he whispered, climbing off and helping Vinnie back into the water.  He plucked Charley off his mate's body and put her back in Vinnie's lap then took his rightful spot, wincing a bit.  "Go easy on me."

"Not a chance," he growled, nipping him on the neck.  "You're all mine, all night and all of tomorrow."  Xander shivered and nodded, teasing his chest fur.  "Good boy, Xander."

"Man," Vinnie said in awe.  "You've got more stamina than I do, bro," he said, swatting at him.  "Go claim your boy."  Throttle got out and took his boy back to their room, setting up the sling with familiarity and practice, then putting his mate into it and tying him down.  Vinnie kissed and nuzzled his mate, making her push at his nose.  "You okay?"

"Yeah," she offered, looking up at him.  "Wow."

"Very wow.  He needs someone like Throttle to keep up with him.  I prefer my girls and boys to like it slow and gentle now and then."  He kissed her and cuddled her better.  She smiled and pinched him, but he let it go this time.  They both needed cuddled.

***

Throttle found the special pot of lube he had picked up on Mars the last time, putting it on the dresser.  "Babe.  Look at me."  Xander looked up at him and shifted some.  "Are you going to do that without permission?"  Xander shook his head.  "Are you sure?  When I came in, you two were all-but having psychic sex."

"We traded memories of our first time."

"And he was nearly in your lap and your hand was making stroking motions near his hip," Throttle told him.  Xander blushed a bit so he walked around to kiss him.  "I understand, but with permission only."

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy.  Now, who owns you?"

"You do," Xander said with a small grin.  "What's that?"

"Something special.  Something I like now and then.  It'll make you itch if you don't soak it out later," he warned.  Xander shrugged.  "You're sure?  I can let it go for another time."

"You've got me. I'm yours, Throttle.  Anything and everything, up to injury."

Throttle kissed him again.  "I'd never do that on purpose."

"I know."  He leaned up and stole another kiss. "Can I please be touched?"

"Sure."  He ran his fingers through the soft chest and stomach fur, finding some mild shedding.  "You need to be brushed.  I'll do that later."  He slowly moved lower, finding Xander coming out of his sheathe again.  He leaned down to tease the hard cock, tasting him.  Nothing of Vinnie had touched him there.  He decided to be a bit kinky and undid the leg ties but left his hands tied, carrying him into the bathroom to clean him out.  He wanted a totally clean Xander.  He was his, he didn't want to smell or taste Vinnie inside him. He brushed his boy's teeth while the water was warming up, then got the enema hose out.  Xander let out a quiet moan.  He'd only done this once before and Xander hadn't sat the next day.  He attached it and ran it in the right direction, sitting down so Xander was bent over his lap.  Still standing, but bent over his lap, his arms hanging loosely off the other side of his legs.

He inserted the hose and stroked his boy's back with the other hand, timing it mentally.  Xander shifted so his legs were farther apart but let it happen.  When he could feel the water start to slosh and puddle against his thigh, he spanked him once, making him tense up.  He withdrew the hose without warning and tossed it back into the sink and stood up, putting Xander down on the toilet.  He turned off the water, crossing his arms while watching his boy remove the water.  When he was done he cleaned him up.  He knew Xander realized this meant he'd always take care of him.   He was embarrassed but even if Xander was paralyzed from the neck down he'd be taken care of.  He sniffed the opening, then looked at him.  "I should do it again," he warned.  Xander swallowed and spread his feet apart.  "Are you sure?"

"If you want," he offered gently, looking up at him.  "I promise."

"Good boy.  You know I'll always take care of you."  Throttle started the water again and sat back down.  Xander went limp across him and Throttle inserted it again, going back to his stroking and soothing.  He let it go longer this time, waiting until Xander was trying to shift and not let any out before taking it out.  His boy clamped down and he let him get rid of it, then cleaned him up again.  The hose was put into the cleaning basket and he walked Xander back.  He didn't care who saw his boy naked since Vic would be out of sight right now.  He got Xander back into the sling and closed and locked the door, just looking at him.  He tied his ankles back into place and Xander shifted his hips a bit to get more comfortable but otherwise he was perfectly still.  "Good boy."  He walked around to stroke his stomach again.  Xander tensed up but let him have his tease.  He slowly soothed him until he was hard again.  Then he went back to look at his open body.  He scooped out some lube and looked at him.  "Last chance."

"Please," he begged.  "I want it."

"I know you.  I'm in a claiming mood, Xander."  Xander let out a small whimper. "Last chance to back out."  Xander shook his head and watched him as he went to work preparing him.  Slowly, one finger at a time, he was lubed and stretched.  He watched as the special juice in the lube started to make Xander writhe in his bonds.  He smirked at him.  "I thought you might like that.  It's premarta oil.  It's like palm oil down here but a lot stronger than muir juice.  Does it tingle?"  Xander nodded hard.  "A good tingle?"  He nodded again and let out a small moan as Throttle teased his prostate.  He knew Xander would be begging if they were in bed but they were here and he knew what his mate wanted.  Throttle coated himself, letting the tingle start in his body too.  He stiffened and moaned a bit, grabbing onto the nearest strap.  At least until he calmed himself down.  Then he moved into position.  "Ready?"

"Please?  Throttle, I NEED this!"

"I know.  Calm down or I'm not going to start."

"It just keeps growing," he growled, shifting his hips.  "I can't stop."

Throttle got their lone cockring and put it on him, then smirked at him.  "You need better

control, Xander."  He slid into him and Xander howled.  He didn't care if everyone in the house stared in shock at the noise, Xander was his and staying his.  He started slowly, just easing his way in.  Xander was ready to beg and sob with need.  He was in the same state he had brought Vinnie to earlier.  Throttle started to move, spreading the lube back a bit more.  Xander arched up and howled again.  Throttle leaned down to lick across the head of his cock, making Xander swear.  "Ah!" he warned.  "That's one."  Xander forced himself to calm back down.  He knew swearing in bed during sex would get it stopped for at least ten minutes.  Throttle went back to his gentle, easy going claiming.  He didn't need to be that hard today.  Xander was going to be screaming in need and begging him to do anything to him.  He was nearly there and he wanted to see it.

"Gods!  Throttle!  Please!"

"Shh, I've got you," he soothed, stroking his chest while he worked himself a bit harder.  Xander was going over too quickly and he needed him to last.  "I can back off."

"If you do, I'm magicing the toys!" he shouted.

"Fine."  He grinned and grabbed onto the mobile hips, slamming into him.  Xander howled and the swing brought him back to so it again.  Over and over, claiming his mate.  That lube was driving them both insane and Throttle didn't have much more control than Xander did.  He knew what he wanted.  Xander wanted more than he could ever possibly give and he could do something about that with something he had bought.  Xander let out another swear and he pulled out, going to get the larger toy.  They had talked about this in the past but he had never dared to use it on him before.  He'd never been this insane before.  He slid it inside the wet, slippery spot and Xander's eyes bugged out.  He smirked at him.  "You wanted more."

"You more!  Not that more!"  He pushed it out and wiggled, trying to get his mate.  "Please, Throttle, babe!  Anything!  Now!  Yours!"  He smirked a bit and leaned on his hips.  "Please!" he pleaded.

"Fine."  He slid back in, going slowly.  Xander was already out of his mind.  He could play all he wanted and it would only get better.  Xander was howling and screaming in pleasure and he hoped the sound proofing spell held.  He didn't need to explain this to the cops tonight.  He finally worked back up to his usual hard, fast, sweet rhythm, making Xander pass out from it as he came.  Throttle let himself go over too, leaning down to bite Xander on the neck.  "Mine," he growled.  Xander sighed in pleasure.  He pulled out and walked around, waking him up gently.  "Mine?"

"Yours," he promised, and got kissed for it.  He got free and leaned his head over, biting Throttle on the neck.  That got a howl of pleasure.  "Mine?"

"Yours," Throttle assured him, kissing him again.  He stroked his stomach.  "I should clean you."

"Untie me.  It'll be there later when I can do more."  Throttle untied him and he pounced his mate, sliding back down him.  He was still slightly hard and he wanted more.  Throttle rolled them over, going back to what he had been doing.  He was getting a whole new second wind.  Xander was scratching and clawing up his back and he was enjoying every minute of it.  So what if he needed bandages.  He glanced at Xander's hand but apparently he wasn't feeling any pain.  Xander let out another howl of pleasure as he worked and flipped them back over, smirking down at his mate.  "Never leaving me," he stated, riding him as hard as he could.  Squeezing on the upstroke, slamming his hips back down to take it all, smirking the whole time.  "Swear it."

"Never gonna leave you," he promised, stroking up the firm chest to tweak the tender nipples.  Xander shivered and leaned down to kiss him again.  "Never leave me?"

"Never."  He stole another kiss and went back to it, making Throttle howl in pleasure as he got off this time.  "Oooh, looks like you've got to go back to work," he said smartly.

Throttle pushed him back down onto the bed and went to work on his cock orally.  Then he let it go and pulled his head down, going down on his antenna.  "There's more than one way to make love to a white mouse," he growled.  He needed Xander to be limper than he was.  He needed to come out on top this time.  Xander was wiggling and writhing under him, begging and pleading noises coming freely now.  He tailed him and Xander let out a scream of pleasure, going limp under him as he passed out again.  Throttle smirked and worked himself off one last time, on Xander's stomach this time, then laid down beside him.  "All mine.  Forever mine."  Xander curled into his side, clutching him for strength and sanity.  He felt some energy pass between them.  "All mine," he soothed, stroking his back.  He yawned, letting himself fall asleep now that he had proven his claim this time.

What did he care if Micah had to take Vic for a long ride and Vinnie and Charley were getting the bleedover and going at it again.  They deserved as good as he had.  Rimfire and Dawn were going at it in the hot tub but they didn't really care at the moment.  Micah came back for a few minutes, then took the baby out for dinner.  He'd bring back food.  Someone would probably need a lot of it, and some tlc.

Enamel sighed and rolled onto his side, wishing his mate was back.  It's not like he could help himself with his hands not working.  He concentrated on her and felt her heated mental touch.  She came running back and jumped him, making him feel more alive than she ever had.  He'd have to claim her some day soon.  If he had bros who'd care.  Then again, the family said he could consider them like that.  He nudged up into her and she clutched his shoulders, riding him until she was mindless and he was insane with needing more.  Then she twitched her tail and shifted just right, bringing him off and bringing herself over.  He settled in to nap on her with a contented sigh, she even wrapped his arms around her.  "Love you."

"I love you too, Enamel."  She kissed his forehead. "Soon you'll get to touch me again.  I'm going to be wild and insane by then," she whispered.  He shivered and she smiled, going down to taste him.  "I'll miss you touching me," she said, looking up at him.

"Shift your tail this way.  I can do other things," he promised.  She switched around, letting him have her lower half so he could pleasure her.

***

Heat and Proxima met out outside the back of the garage, staring at each other.  "Lots of sex," he told his fellow student.  "We should check on everyone, make sure they've got enough fluid and no one's injured."

"Was it that good?"

Heat swallowed and nodded.  "Oh, yes.  I checked on Xander and Throttle.  He had premarta oil on his dresser."  His hands shook as he lit a cigarette.  "Thank you for lending me one."

"Not an issue.  We'll check everyone later.  Where's the baby?"

"Their human contact, Micah, took him for a long ride."

"Oh, good.  They do have some sense."  He looked around again.  "Fine.  You get the juice, I'll get the glasses.  We'll leave some beside each couple."  His comrade nodded and they went to sneak juice into each couple's room.  When they got to Enamel and Shell's room, Shell grinned at them and nodded.  "We thought it might be needed," he whispered, then he backed out.  They had been told Enamel had a fierce temper about what was his.

She grabbed the juice and gulped it straight down, then settled in for a nap.  She hoped her last client didn't get too upset.  Not that she cared at the moment, but she hoped Stoker didn't get too upset with her.

Episode 62:

Notes: some angst here.  Refuges coming home sort of angst, but nothing graphic.

Throttle woke up and looked at the man sleeping next to him. He was having some serious second thoughts about the thing last night.  He looked over as the door cracked, waving Charley in.  "Are you all right?" he whispered.

"Just fine," she said with a smile.  She kissed him on the nose.  "Don't doubt yourself, Throttle.  I know you would."  He nodded.  "We can set limits, that's all I care about."

"Yeah, but I'm not the most sharing mouse."

She smiled at him.  "Really?  I didn't realize that about you."  Xander yawned an shifted so she paused.  "It'll be fine," she whispered.  "We can work out boundaries and rules."  She stoked down Xander's back.  "Vinnie didn't have any nightmares last night," she said quietly.

"Me either, but I still feel like a cavemouse about to claim my mate by hitting him over the head," Throttle admitted.

"Just sit him in your lap again, we all know who he belongs to, including him."  She grinned at him.  "It's going to be very rare and we all have to agree to it.  That good with you?"  He nodded.  "Good.  Then get your tail up and have him make breakfast, it's his turn."  She grinned at him.  "I deserve such spoiling."

"You do," Throttle agreed, smirking back, "but he can't walk, Charley girl.  I was a bit...playful with him last night."  She laughed at that.  "We've got this stuff called permarta oil.  I used some on him and it drove him wild.  He's sore.  I'm sore and I only topped.  Make Dawn or Rimfire cook today.  It's about time they learned."

"Sure, Throttle.  Be up within the hour."  She winked and got up, leaving them alone.

Throttle rolled over, cuddling Xander until he fully woke up.  "Morning."

"Morning," he said tiredly, kissing him.  "Damn I'm sore."

"Me too.  My thighs are screaming at me."  Xander grinned shyly at that.  "We need to get up and eat."  He kissed him again.  "First, I want to say that it's going to be very rare and everyone has to agree."

"I heard Charley say that," he agreed.  "I agree, we shouldn't feel that strongly about it for maybe the rest of the six months."  He stole another kiss, then a nuzzle.  "I'm sorry if we upset you."

"No, I'm good, now," Throttle admitted, kissing him and adding in a belly stroke.  Xander's stomach grumbled and he grinned.  "Naughty mouse.  You need to eat."

"I do, but so do you."  He wrapped him in his arms.  "I will do my best to avoid my lust for Vinnie.  I will try not to tease him or be too playful with him in ways that could hurt you or Charley, and I still think that if it does happen, not only will we all have to agree, we'll all have to be together.  Just because you watching the two of us together gets you hotter than the sun," he finished in a whisper.  "Watching you with both of us will get Charley hot. You'll be a true Martian king by having your own set of white mice."  Throttle groaned at that image.  "Now, until we can all agree and want it again, I'm better than good with just you.  You blow my mind each and every time and there's no such thing as mediocre sex with you, babe.  You're mine and only mine.  You're my personal sex god."  Throttle chuckled at that.  "So I doubt I'll be needing Vinnie for more than a surrogate.  Why would I need Tigger when I've got Pooh here to cuddle all to myself."

"I love you too, Xander.  You can quit babbling now."  He stroked his cheek, then grinned. "Your Pooh?"

"You never heard of Winnie the Pooh?"

"I have," he admitted.  "Am I that cuddly?"

"In a very adult way," Xander said with all seriousness.  He gave him a trial squeeze.  "Stuffed just right and with the perfect teddy mouse accessories. Because only teddy mice have muscles like yours, babe."  He stroked down the arm over him and Throttle flexed for him.  "See?  No regular teddy mouse could ever have those.  Only the very special Throttle edition, special limited adult edition, teddy mice have those."

"You're babbling again but you're cute," he assured him.  "They're yours anytime you want them, Xander."

"I know.  That's what makes them so special."  He grinned.  "You can lift and tote and haul crap for me all the time when you want."

Throttle gave him a squeeze.  "I think I've got the better teddy mouse.   You need a bit more stuffing but there's so much love in you to share with those who seem to be a bit short on it."

"You had more than enough, it was the receptacle that was lacking," he said dryly.

"Knock off Carbine," he sighed.

"I wasn't talking about her.  I was talking about your lady.  She was more than worthy of it, but she couldn't cuddle you back.  Now you've got a lady and a naughty brat.  One who enjoys your lady too."

"I'm glad.  And you're right, being with her is satisfying but being with you suits me on whole other levels my bike can't reach."  He gave him another kiss.  "We should get up."  Both their stomachs rumbled this time.  "We really should fill those voids."

"You're making me nauseous," Dawn called before opening the door. She walked in the tray.  "Here.  Eat in here so we don't have to watch you claim him again and we don't have to watch him wince.  By the way, what was so special?" she asked, looking around.

"Ask Rimfire about premarta oil," Throttle said dryly, taking the tray. "Thanks, Dawn.  We'll do his bandage change in a bit."

"Sure.  It's not like I'm going to be doing it for him."  She walked out, closing the door behind her.

Throttle settled himself in a sitting position and Xander cuddled up on his chest, letting him feed them.  It was good for them.  They understood each other very well, even if Xander did have to babble to tell him he loved him.

***

Xander looked up as Vinnie moaned, seeing an impatient looking white female mouse floating next to him.  "Hey.  You must be my adopted mom.  Hi."  He grinned and waved.  He looked at the groaning mouse.  "It must be important for her to manifest," he told him.  "So listen if it's good advice and ignore it if it's not, for now."  He left, heading to the computer to give Vinnie and his former mother some privacy.

"Son," she started.

"Hi, mom."

She smiled and floated closer.  "You're a very generous mouse, son.  I've always loved that about you, how you spread love around.  But must you with a human?  Not that I don't think she's a wonderful young woman," she assured him.  "I'd just be happier if you were with a mouse."

"Mom, you know I'm going to kill one of the aunts for saying stuff about Charley, right?" he asked dryly.  She shook her head.  "You're not watching me?"

"Not always.  Sometimes I watch a few of your uncles, sometimes some of your cousins. Someone's got to watch over this clan."

He smiled.  "You're right about that," he agreed.  "Mom, Charley and I are in love.  I love her.  I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but she's my lady."

"Fine, son, but what about carrying on the family line?"

He blinked at her.  "Mom, when was the last time you were down here?  Have you not seen the baby?"

"Well, yes, dear, but he's that other mouse's son," she said patiently.

He shook his head and raised a hand.  "Mine, mom."

"Then why is he always holding him?"

"Because he's like that since he can't have his own," Vinnie said.  "Xander, is there a way that she won't fade in and out?"

"Well, we could trap her spirit and force it to manifest but I hear that hurts a lot."  He came out of the study, looking at his big brother.  "Or there are spells to let you see and speak with the dead.  Of course, using them attunes you to the dead and then you become me."

"Okay," he agreed.  "Give me a few minutes, Mom.  Let me do this so you don't wear the last of your energy out."

"At least you're a thoughtful son," she said, looking at Xander.  "Are you naturally a mouse?"

"No, and frankly I usually don't count that against myself."

"Be nice," Vinnie complained.

"Sorry.  I'm tired of that particular record, I think it's time people started to change tunes."  He headed to the library, then down to Dawn's storeroom to get the stuff he needed.  He came back and set it up on the coffee table, then looked at Vinnie.  "Get really relaxed, big brother."

"Sure."  He kicked his feet up and got comfortable, calming his mind and body down to the point where he was nearly meditating.  He heard Xander chanting and felt something touch his face, then his eyelids.  He blinked and looked at him when it was done.  "Okay, this is very cool," he told him, grinning a bit.

"Thanks.  Just remember, next time you've got to put it on something or else you'll start to be like me and see them a lot more often."  He blew out the candle and handed him the book.  "It's in there.  Dawn's, formerly Willow's."  He got up and nodded at her.  "Nice meeting you, Vinnie's mom."

Vinnie was looking around, looking for more spirits, and saw his son.  He tugged on Xander's shirt, pointing at the baby.  "Vic!"

Xander walked into the library again, that's where he was curled up and tickled him until he woke up.  "No more out of body traveling, nephew.  It's not safe.  You can be eaten."  He headed back to the living room.  "Did he disappear?"  Vinnie nodded, taking his son, but Xander stole him back.  "I'm going to stop his astral projection problem.  My shields will wrap around him.  Talk to your mom. It's not everyone who can do that."  He headed into the library, dialing Mars.  "Carbine, can you please be a sweetie and connect me to Wrench?"

"Is this official business?"

"Well, actually I need to talk to Willow and the easiest way is to talk to Wrench since she's usually in his office.  And since this little guy decided to try some projection exercises....."

"Never mind," she interrupted.  "I don't want to know.  We've got to get you hooked into the main system instead of to my desk," she complained as she transferred him.

Wrench jumped and glared at him.  "Warn a mouse next time!"

"Sorry, cousin, but this one was just out of his body and freaked his father out since he's talking to his former mother."  He held up the sleepy baby, then wrapped him in his arms again.  "No, no sleeping, Victor.  Not until we get this fixed."  He looked at him again.  "By the index in that one set of books, that would be in a missing book.  I don't know how humans do it either.  We don't usually project by accident unless we're in comas and stuff."

"For now, keep him in your shields," he ordered.  "I'll call back in ten minutes.  I know where I can find a copy of that."  He looked Xander over.  "What happened to you and Vinnie?"

"I just cast the spell to let him see his mother so she wouldn't be worn out."  He shook his head.  "Then it's probably where Limburger hit us with a lust ray.  He was trying to drive a wedge in the group."

"Ah."  He shook his head quickly.  "I don't want that mental image."

"You know, we get a lot of that," Vinnie admitted.  He grinned at him.  "Can we stop him again?"  Xander pinched him and Victor wailed but he woke up and quit projecting. "Thanks a lot.  Even Mom's freaked out about it."   He looked back at his mother, something was bothering him. "Which uncles have you been chatting with on that side, mom?"

"No, dear, your uncle Turbine.  He's still alive.  Well, mostly.  The ship they're on is starting to fail and I'm not quite sure where it is," she admitted.  "Being on this side does so mess with your sense of direction and I can't figure out a way to set a distress call."

"The anti-obvious answer is to have someone who is gifted and still alive follow you," Wrench offered, kicking back now.  "I told Willow, she's bringing the copy of the spell for you."  He looked at Vinnie's mother again.  "Hey, Auntie."

"Wrench, dear.  I had no idea you were the Highest now."  He nodded.  "Oh, good!  Can you help me find him?"

"I can.  Or you can link with someone there, someone who's closer to you like Vinnie is, have him follow you and send up a psychic banner of 'there's a mouse here' and I can track that," he offered.  "That's usually easier.  I suck at oob."  He looked at Xander.  "Then again, that's a medium's job."

Xander nodded.  "Sure.  Get someone to come hold the kid in his shields.  There's too many nasty things on the astral and partially physical planes."  Wrench nodded.  "Can you come down here to map it?  That way we can make sure he can't do it."

"Um, it'd be easier up here.  I've got everything set up.  I was trying to find them myself actually.  Dad's somewhere in the Horeshead nebula but that's not exact enough according to Carbine.  Plus she didn't believe me."

"Sure," Xander agreed.  "Fine.  Okay.  We can do that."  He handed the baby to his daddy.  "Either keep him awake or keep him inside your shields.  Very tightly inside your shields.  He was trying to get out of mine just now."  He got up.  "Give me ten minutes, Vinnie's mom."

"Dear, if he adopted you, you might as well call me momma too," she offered patiently.

"Thanks."  He grinned at her.  "It'll take me about ten minutes to get that deep and out of my body.  I've only done it once, unintentionally."  She nodded so he went out to the couch, stretching out.  "Trance.  Trance.  Trance," he muttered over and over, lowering himself into his mind.  He felt Throttle's shields brush his and sent a thought at him about what he was doing.  "I need an anchor!" he called.  "Not Throttle, I'm too familiar with him and he'll let me slip away.  He's not paranoid enough."

"I can," Rimfire called back, hurrying up the ramp.  "What's up?"

"I'm going out of my body to help Vinnie's mom find her brother," he said, holding out a hand.  "Sit beside me, hold my hand.  You're perfect, I can't feel your mind most of the time so I'll be more aware of the string back to myself."  He started dropping himself again, doing it the quick method instead of the perfectly, formally correct method.  It was good that Willow had hypnotized him a few times.  It was a good shortcut.  He finally dropped down and let himself out of his body, floating through Rimfire.  It made him shiver, but that was a good thing.  He took the white mouse's hand and nodded.  "Okay, lead me to him.  We can stop at any other family members on the way back."

"Of course."  She floated off with him.  "So, Victor isn't yours?"

"No, he's Vinnie and Charley's.  Martians have more DNA so he's more mouse than not."

"Oh, good.  I was worried about the family line continuing.  I *like* the girl, she's very sweet and nice to my baby boy, but I really wanted some grandbabies to watch over and someone to carry on the family name."  She looked at him, noticing he was more human this way.  "What happened to you?"

"Rosenburg."  He grinned at her.  "It was a favor situation."  Willow popped up, looking really confused.  "There's some mice floating in a ship.  Wrench is mapping where we yell from.  Go help him and get that spell to Vinnie so he can guard Vic before he tries to follow us."  She nodded, going to do that.  He pointed at the spot she had been in.  "Rosenburg.  Now, think really hard about this uncle of mine."  She did and they traveled across some galaxies, ending up on a ship.  "Wow.  This is ancient," he said in awe. He floated up to the bridge, finding it empty.  "Did they all jettison?" he asked her.  She shrugged.  "Okay.  Lead me down there."  He sent up a psychic version of a flare, which made many telepaths and empaths across Mars and Earth, plus a few closer planets, grab their heads.  He floated down to the hold with her, looking at the mice.  "They should be okay for the time it'll take to rescue them," he decided.   A dead mouse looked their way.  "Hey.  I'm working with VanWham to rescue you guys.  We had to map your location.  Were you part of a fleet fleeing Mars or were you stolen?"

"Stolen," she said, frowning at him.  "I don't know you.  Are you Martian?"

"Mostly," he offered with a grin.   "I recently changed over.  I work with Modo, Throttle, and Vinnie."

"I know Throttle.  What's he to you?" another mouse asked, this one mostly alive.

Xander looked at him.  "My mate.  I just sent up a psychic spike to show them where you were.  Did the Plutarkians jettison themselves?"

"They ran away screaming when the ship started to fail," the dead mouse told him.  "Who won the war?"

"Mars, barely.  They're starting the rebuilding."  She sighed and nodded, fading out.  He looked at the other mouse.  "There's help coming.  Wrench and I are working together to get someone here.  Just hold on for a few more days, hopefully not more than a week."  He nodded, bowing his head.  "Can I do anything since I'm only here this way?"

"No," he said, shaking his head.  "Some of us will still be alive then.  Thank you."

"Anything I can do to help," he promised.  He and she floated off, and he felt some more Martians nearby.  He checked his tether to Rimfire, it was still holding strong so he went for the nearest one, finding that ship in not so good of shape.  This time the flare included a message of 'they're running out of air and food.  There's only a few mice left, help them first, they're near the other ones'.  He felt Wrench note that and the position.  He also noted it was starting to drift.  Then he moved on to the next spot she had felt.  It was a moon, but it had an atmosphere.  He sent up one there and moved on, pinging a few more ships.  "Is this on the route to Plutark?"

She shrugged.  "I don't know, young man.  By the way, what's your name?"

"Xander."  He shot a grin at her.  Then he concentrated.  "Willow, I need to know, is this a route to Plutark or should I not go further?"  He got back a very faint 'go further, it was an escape route for a group of ships and Plutarkians'.   So he continued, pinging as many as he could.  He felt Rimfire getting anxious and sent a calming thought down the thread, then kept going.  He could feel two more.  He sent out flares toward them, hoping someone dead there touched it.  He felt one go off.  "Please, just touch it," he pleaded.  He prayed as hard as he could.  The other one went off and he relaxed, feeling some more going off where he hadn't found any.  He bowed his head.  "As you will it, use my strength," he vowed.  He felt himself weaken and relaxed.  "Okay, time to go home," he said, taking her hand and twitching the string.  It wound itself like a winch into his body, pulling him back to his body and his mind.  He floated into the house, noticing it was really light out, like it was sunrise.  "Ooops."  He floated through Rimfire, making him hop up and head to the bathroom, then laid down over his body, floating back into it.  He opened his eyes and yawned.  "Damn, I hate doing that.  I woke up tired the last time too," he complained, yawning again and falling asleep.

Vinnie came up the ramp, staring at him.  "He's back."  He looked around, putting on the glasses he had spelled with the spell.  "Momma?"  She faded into view.  "Are you okay?"

"Of course, son.  Xander was very helpful.  Did Wrench get all that?"

"Oh, yeah, and every other person with gifts on this planet and Mars.   Stoker's already there with Exhaust trying to figure out the best route.  That one ship, will they survive long enough?"

"Maybe, son.  There's so few left.  The Plutarkians left it drifting."  He nodded at that, swallowing.  "It'll get to them in time.  I know it will."  She came over to lay a hand against his cheek.  "So, why can't the new son have his own child and stop spoiling yours?"

"Have you seen any blue skinned Powers recently?" Dawn asked as she joined them, holding Vic.  She nodded.  "Them.  They want to take his kids and use them as pawns.  Mine too.  Xander's just closer to the source."  The mother's face suddenly changed and she glared at her son.  "It's not his fault, ma'am.  We've been trying but they've liked Xander for years."

"When I see them again, I'm going to whip their tails," she promised.  "How dare they!  I don't care if they are higher elemental spirits!  That's quite wrong and I will stop it!" she vowed.

"Hey, please, kick 'em for me too," Dawn offered.  She grinned.  "I'm Rimfire's girl."

"His mother and grandmother aren't throwing a fit?"

"No, not where he can hear it," she admitted.

"Fine, then I can accept my son's girl.  She is very sweet and nice, but I'd still rather you were with a mouse," she said gently.  "I will talk to your aunt and make her see how dangerous her life has just become, son."  She glanced back at Xander, then at him.  "You have a very strong connection to him?"

"He's my bro and my little brother, momma.  Plus, well, one of the stinkfishes hit us with a lust beam."

"Did it make a difference?"

"Well, no," he offered with a grin.  "He's still Throttle's boy though."

"That's fine, son.  May I see my grandson?"  Dawn held him up and she morphed into a scary image, making him cry.  "It's things like this that wait for you on this plane I live on, grandson.  Do you want to have them eat you like a piece of fruit?"  He continued to wail so she changed back, smiling gently and humming to him.  "Now then, be a good boy and stay in your own body until you're old enough to do otherwise."  She laid a kiss on his forehead then faded out.  "I'll be around, son.  I'm going to check on Wrench."

"He's got a really bad headache, momma," he called.  He shook his head and took off the glasses, handing them to Dawn.  "So do I."  He rubbed his eyes, heading to the couch. He covered Xander and tapped on the bathroom door. "Rimfire, did you fall in?"

"Not yet," he called, and the toilet flushed.  He came out wiping off his hands.  "I washed them," he said at Dawn's look.  He took the baby, snuggling him.  "Like she said, little mouse, you can't go out there like that.  You're not big enough yet.  It's bad enough when the big mice go out because they can get eaten too.  We'd hate to see you eaten."  He looked over as Throttle came up the stairs.  "He's back."

"Good.  I felt him come back and then fall asleep."  He picked Xander up, carrying him back to bed.  "Don't think about trying to save him later."

"Sure, bro," Vinnie agreed, smirking at Throttle's waving tail.  Xander was going to be getting a lecture later.  Right after Throttle loved him back into the bed.  He looked at Dawn, grinning at her.  "Maybe you should head to the bathroom next," he suggested.

"Quit doing that!" she shrieked, glaring at him while stamping a foot.  "I hate it when you do that!"  She stomped into the kitchen.  "Where's the damn grocery list?  I might as well go to the grocery store too so I get some good chocolate along with the midol and tampons."

"I don't know," Rimfire said.  "Get some milk, we're out."

Xander came up the ramp and gave her some cash.  She gave him a dirty look.  "Get me some too," he ordered, putting it in her pocket.  "You're totally out?"

"Yes, thank you for reminding me yet again I'm female!"  He flinched and ran back down the ramp.  She stomped out.  "I'll be back soon."  She stomped off, heading for her bike.

Rimfire looked at Vinnie.  "Is that normal?"

He nodded, sitting down with Vic.  "Apparently.  Charley does the same thing."

Charley came up the ramp.  "Your women don't have monthly cycles?"

"No, we have one every few months, about the same time as we go into heat," Rimfire told her.  "Don't you guys do that?"  She shook her head.  "Every month?  It's only been...."  He counted back.  "Well, I guess it has been a lunar month.  Huh."  He looked really confused.  "Why do you women down here do that?"

"Because we're fertile every month," she told him. "That's how the human body works, kid.  Is Xander finally back in his body?"  He nodded.  "Why was Vic crying?"

"My momma scared him to stay in his body."

"Good!  I like that idea much better."  She went into the kitchen, coming out with a microwaved set of hot pockets a few minutes later.  "We'll need to go grocery shopping later for real, Vinnie.  He's nearly out of diapers."

"Sure, sweetheart," he offered with a grin.  "Can't she stop that?"

"Messing with the womanly flows can mess with her magic," Rimfire said grimly.  "I asked her that after the last one.  She said before major rites, like healing the planet ones, she can't even use tampons, she's got to use pads and that means it'll get even worse.  How much do you guys gush?"

"Supposedly a few tablespoons," Charley said dryly, sitting down to nibble breakfast.  "Some women do a lot more."

"Doesn't that make you sick?" he demanded.

"That's the way the body's made," she offered.  "That's also why there's a lot more meat around this time of the month.   I do have to agree with her on something.  It's really gross when you guys remind her to go change her tampon."  She ate another bite.  "Most women like to keep their cycles hidden.  I'm sure we're both like that."

"Fine," Vinnie said, nuzzling his son.  Vic woke up and blinked at him.  "Hi, son."  Vic gave him a grin.  "We're going to have to enforce that ban, aren't we?"

"Yes, you are," his mother yelled.  She appeared.  "Where's the Anya spirit?  That nice Willow girl wants to chat with her."  Vinnie and Rimfire both pointed downstairs.  "What's she doing?"

"Watching Throttle and Xander have sex, like always," Rimfire said dryly.  "Anya?  Visitor!"  She came up through the floor.  "Willow wants you on Mars.  Go with Vinnie's momma."

"Sure."  She beamed at him.  "Xander used to be mine but I died."

"I understand that happens sometimes, dear.  At least he's happy now."  She took the girl's hand and led her off.  Willow could apparently keep her on Mars since she was disturbing Throttle so much.

Vinnie looked at Rimfire.  "Did you ever want a normal life?"

"Yeah, but I'm married to Dawn," he pointed out.  "Charley's the one who should be wanting a normal life.  She's married to you."  He hopped up and hurried off before Vinnie could retaliate.

"I'll get you later, when I'm not holding my son," he called after him.  He looked at his girl.  "Mom said you're very nice and sweet, but she did wish I was with a mouse.  Then I told her Vic was my son and not Xander's, all evidence to the contrary according to her, and she said it was fine.  As long as there were grandbabies."

She snorted, shaking her head.  "Not for quite a while, Vinnie.  I mean it."

"Sure, sweetheart.  Can I try again tonight?" he asked with a bright grin.

"Quite a while is usually more than twelve hours, Vincent," she said patiently.

"Only for those who wait well," he said smugly.  "Which I don't."

"I know," she sighed.  "We'll see."  She got up and stole her son to feed him some of her ham and cheese hot pocket, making him a happy mouse. "There, you eat so you grow up better than Xander did.  That way the strange stuff stops."

"It's never planned," Vinnie reminded her.  "Be thankful we can deal with it when it does happen."

"Point, but still."  She looked at him.  "We've got enough dead people around here, okay?"  He nodded. "Thank you."  She looked down and fed Vic another bite of ham.  "There, that's ham.  It's one of your uncle's favorite meats.  That and pork chops."  She got up to get some out of the freezer, putting them on the stove to thaw.  She and Dawn would both need them tonight.

***

Chassis landed and was led into the new, temporary, council chamber, not giving her any time at all.  "What's up, bosses?" she asked, nodding at Carbine.

"Someone found out where some ships with some mice are," Carbine told her.  "One's drifting, it's got about six mice left alive.  The others are at these coordinates.  Your squadron is going.  I want you to go after the most critical first.  You can take the stolen Plutarkian warship with you."

"Cool.  Do I get a medic at least?"

"You can hop down to steal either Heat or Proxima from Earth," Stoker told her.  "We can't spare the others.  It's a fair jump but you're a good pilot."

"Done," she assured him, looking at the list, with the one red starred.  "Red one?"  They nodded.  "How did we get this?"

"Wrench."

She shook her head.  "Excuse me?  Did you say my cousin Wrench?  Highest of the M'dreth?"  Everyone nodded.  "How?"

"Someone on board floated over to talk to Willow," Stoker told her.  "Fly fast, Chassis."

"On it."  She headed for the transporter, still shaking her head.  She walked out and whistled.  "Yo, one of you medics is coming with me.  We've found new ships full of mice."  Heat came running with Proxima behind him.  "Good.  One of you is flying with me.  The other can go help the local hospitals."  She led them back through and Heat out to the docks.  He was carrying the bag of gear.  She supposed it was him.  "You're not squeamish, right?  These are probably prisoners.  I know the one I'm hitting was set adrift."  He shuddered.  "Change out if you can't handle it."

"I can," he assured her.  She nodded, letting him onto the ship.  She started the takeoff procedure.  "How far out are we going?"

"Halfway to Plutark.  How one of the dead got all the way back here, I'm not sure, but the M'dreth heard from them."

"Okay.  I guess they deal with dead people too."   He strapped in and watched as she lifted them off, heading into space.  "Are we jumping?" he asked, grabbing the cushions under him as she initiated the jump.

"Fastest way. This ship is running out of time. The rest of the squadron is heading out more normally."  She finished the inputting and sat back.  "Computer says an hour.  Make sure you've got everything you need for emergency transporting."

"Yes, ma'am."  He unstrapped and sat down with his kit and then went to find the local medical bay.  It was near the airlock so that was something at least.  "Ma'am...."

"Chassis, sweetheart.  I'm one of Vinnie's cousins."

"All right then, Chassis.  How many are we expecting.  I can clear out the landing bay.  It's empty."

"Go for it.  The sheet says probably six left surviving.  I'm not leaving the bodies though.  If we have to, I can tow it back to Mars."

"Yes, ma'am."  He went to clean out the landing bay of the odds and ends, like tools, and make sure they had some blankets in there.  There were some and that's all he needed.  They could steal off the other ship if he had to.  He felt the ship shudder and grabbed the nearest wall, holding on for dear life.  Jumping through the middle of an asteroid patch was never pleasant.  He felt the ship slow out of time.  "Is it time?" he called.

"Nearly, I'm searching for the ship."  She scanned.  "There's a ship, not ours or Plutarkian."  She considered it, then hailed them.  "Greetings.  I'm a Martian mouse looking for a ship with some of our refugees on it.  It's supposedly adrift around here.  Have you seen it?"

"It's about half a parsec behind us," the other ship responded.  "It is drifting.  It wasn't sending out a distress call."

"That's because they're probably still being held prisoner," she admitted.  "Mars thanks you for your assistance, citizen."

"You'll need more help, mouse.  It's in a gravity well."

"Cheese!" she complained.  "Please.  If you can help us it would be appreciated.  They're victims and prisoners of our war with Plutark.  Apparently the stupid fishes left them in the ship to die."

"That's fine.  Follow us back please."

"Right on your tail, mate."  She followed the ship back, gasping at the size of the carrier.  "Shit!  It's a cruiser.  Heat, prepare for a lot of possible bodies.  I don't want to leave that ship here."  She moved up to scan it while docking.  Her air compressors would help fill the stale air in there.  It also slowed the other ship's tumble, and her engines were enough to break it free with a bit of help from the other ship.  "Thanks, mate.  Mars really thanks you for this."

"Who are these Plutarkians you spoke of?" one of them demanded.

"Blue skinned fishes who like to dig up everything.  They're mostly extinct after a tragedy on their world last year.  Most of the remaining are on Earth in our solar system.  If you contact Mars, they can give you the whole file on the war.  I've got to get in there."

"Of course.  Do you need assistance?"

"I've got a medic on board with me.  Thank you though.  I'll be towing the ship back.  Expect a few more like us coming for the other ships on this vector and in this range."

"I've seen a few of them.  Our people will help where we can."

"Thanks, citizen," Heat said as he came out.  "Can we pass through?"

"Let me check atmosphere," she ordered.  She checked and then opened the airlock.  "Got a weapon?"  He gave her a dry look.  "Never mind.  You wouldn't."  She strapped on her blaster and walked over there, hearing a few mutterings.  "Heat, get the lights on, babe.  We'll need to see to rescue properly.  People, I'm Chassis, I'm a mouse from Mars.  Make some noise if you're alive please.  I've got a medic with me!"  There came the most beautiful sound, a lot of complaints as the lights came on.  "Thanks, Heat.  Get your kit."

"Already on me," he promised, coming over to check the first cage.  "How do we open them?"

"Easy," she said, shooting at the control panel.  All the cells but two opened.  "The old fashioned way, with the all-purpose key."  She went to blast those two cell's doors, finding people there waiting.  "My ship's tethered with this one," she promised.  "Go ahead over and hit the landing bay."

"Who won?" one woman begged.

"We did," Chassis told her.  "We're barely alive but you'll add to that."  She started to cry and hugged her.  "Shhh, ma'am, go ahead and hit the landing bay.  It's a stolen cruiser but it works for now.  We'll tow this wreck with us."  She nodded, heading out, helping another mouse without legs.  She sent up a prayer to the old Gods.  "Thank you," she said, looking up.  She hurried to check the rest of the ship, finding a few more cells.  They were opened and the mice led back to her ship.  She called back to Mars.  "They're mostly priests I think," she reported to Exhaust.  "There were more than you thought, they were tranced and things. Heat's doing what he can and I'm towing the ship."

"Good girl.  Leave the dead on there and we'll put the dead from the other ships we can't tow.  Come home as soon as you can."  He smiled over her shoulder. "Welcome home, Citizen.  It'll be a few more hours or a day at the most."

"Thank you," she said.  "We really won?"  He nodded.  "Is Carbine still alive?"  The scene switched to the wider Council view.  "Carbine," she said, reaching out.  "Oh, Gods, General!"  She burst out crying.  "We really won?"

"We did, soldier.  You'll be home soon.  Just rest and heal for now.  Chassis should have some energy bars."

"They'll do for now but they're not the most tasty," Chassis told her, going to the storage bay to haul out a case of them.  She handed them to the soldier.  "Eat 'em now.  We'll be home as soon as I can.  I'm not leaving a single body here, ma'am."  She nodded, going back to the others.  She looked at the screen.  "How many more ships in this area?  I found a friendly who helped pull this one from a gravity well."

"How far off course was it?" Carbine asked.

"Half a parsec.  It was fully engulfed.  How many more?"

"We've gotten reports from two other ships, they've found them. There's also a small moon landing colony that was on an escape vector.  They're on your list too. Get with the squadron."

"Deal.  I don't know who helped, but I told them to contact you guys about the Plutarkians since they're mostly gone now."

"They have," Exhaust said smugly.  He winked at her.  "Good job on that as well, Chassis.  Come home soon, before the medals go up."

She shuddered.  "No thanks.  I'd rather side with Xander and have hugs."  Arms went around her and she looked back, frowning at the dark brown mouse.  "Uncle Source?"  He nodded, hugging her again.  She turned and hugged him.  "You'll be fine, Uncle.  I promise you will," she soothed.  The connection was cut and she didn't realize it.  She slowly let him go.  "We've got to rendevous with the rest of the squadron and go help the others.  Can you guys hold on for a bit longer?"  He nodded.  "Good."  She went back to pilot it, contacting her commander.  "Sir, I've got my ship on tow.  It was in a gravity well."

"Agreed.  We can move the dead to your ship if we find some we can't tow.  How are you for space?"

"They'll squeeze in if they have to," she vowed.  "We're using our landing bays."  He nodded.  "Good.  Which one's my next one?"

"The moon.  They'll probably have some stuff to bring back, they were escapees."

"Good deal, sir.  On my way."  She hung up and headed for the new location, it wasn't that far away from her. "People, we're going to another world to pick up more people.  Sorry if you get cramped," she called.

"We're doing fine," Heat promised.  "Add more.  I'm good."  He went back to treating the injuries he could, making notes about the others and pinning it to their rags.  That way they could be treated as soon as they got back.   Someone was going to be having a party later when these mice got back.  Him included once he was off duty.

***

Stoker called down to Earth, getting Throttle.  "I need Enamel up here pronto. We've found more survivors than we can deal with.  He can instruct Heat and Proxima if need be.  Or he can deputize and that stuff.  But we need him now."

"Sure," Throttle agreed.  "Let me get him up.  He's napping."  He hung up and hurried downstairs, tapping on his door. "Enamel, there's new refugees and they're overloaded.  They need you to go deputize and administrate."

"Going," he groaned, forcing himself up.  He headed for the transporter, letting Throttle dial it for him.  Then he stepped through and nodded at the council.  "What can I do to help without having use of my hands?"

"Go administrate.  You've got idiots in charge who've never seen a trauma scene," Carbine told him.

"Fine with me.  I get to yell, right?" he asked with a smirk as he walked.  He walked into the hospital and looked around. "Mayflower!" he shouted.  She poked her head out. "I'm here to order and restore order!  Where am I!"

"Here!  We've got trainees."  He nodded, heading that way.  "This is Enamel.  You give him shit, I whip your tail and then let the Biker Mice on Earth come do it," she said firmly.  "Yes, he's been hit with a paralyzer beam.  If he says you move, you move."  They nodded.  "We're setting up for triage."

"Good. Open a bigger center.  From the way the council looked, it's a lot of refugees."  She looked stunned.  "Now."  She nodded, going to do that.  "All right.  As ships come in, any that have already been treated get separated out if possible. I know at least one of my proteges has went.  Any he can't treat directly on that ship he'll tag.  Read the tags.  It'll be coded.  Surgical head to one area Mayflower will be marking.  Amputees and the burn victims go separately.  Starvation and other injuries are put into another area.  Most of them will be more easily cured.  Understood?"  Everyone nodded. "Good.  Anyone who's unsure if something is surgical or not for an unmarked patient ASK!"  That got another nod.  "Good, kids.  Go now, help Mayflower set up the areas."  They headed out.  He turned and went back into the hospital, seeing the shocked looks. "I was hit with a paralyzer, I'm doing admin.  Mayflower, what's the body count?"

"Close to a thousand refugees so far, you were right," she offered.  "We're opening the center at the landing field."  Everyone stared at her.

"That means only those who absolutely triage as red right this moment head back here, people.  We've got regional centers, use them for the starvation and minor injuries like breaks.  Get the surgical people back here.  I told the kids we're separating out.  I'm sure at least Heat or Proxima marked."

"The others were ordered to before they left," she assured him.  "Okay, teams.  Let's split up.  Surgeons, we'll need you here!  Half the nurses, follow me.  If we have to, we'll coopt some of the Freedom Fighters to bandage.  Pack and let's head, people.  Enamel is in charge of the admin stuff while we're doctors and nurses."

"Why him?" a nurse whined.

"I was hit with a paralyzer beam, I can't move my hands or arms," he told that nurse.  "Besides, kid, I was here when that school was blown up.  I treated that one too.  Go, now. You're at the center."  She nodded, heading after Mayflower.  "Any who aren't surgeons, head over there to help triage.  I'm sure you can identify what's a critical surgery and what's not."  They nodded, heading out with what gear they had.  He went back to the Council chambers.  "Call Micah," he ordered.  "We'll need more supplies than we've been able to send up."

"We just got a shipment," Stoker told him.  "Bandages and everything.  Where's the main triage center?"

"The landing field.  Mayflower's heading over there with everyone but the surgeons and some nurses.  The starvation and lesser injuries, which I'm sure will be most of them, go to the regional health centers.  They can be rehydrated there."  That got some nods and people calling.  "We'll load the dead onto a single ship for now," he promised, heading out to go back to them.  "How soon?"

"An hour for the first ship.  Further out at ten hours present speed," someone yelled back.

"Fuck, we'll be exhausted by then," he complained.  "Someone tell Mayflower how long before the last ship so she can rotate out staff for breaks."  Everyone nodded and they went to work on things.  "Let the regional health centers handle the starvation and minor injuries," he told someone calling.  "Unless they're a surgeon."  He nodded.  "That's fine, then bring any surgeons in.  We'll send out the lesser ones there, they'll be the bulk if we're lucky."  He went to check on other things, finding everyone ready and waiting.  "One hour, people.  Possibly up to ten for the last one at present estimates.  Take breaks when you can."  Everyone prepping the surgical suites nodded at that.  They'd be working the longest hours. He went back to wait, pacing a bit.  Then he decided to head over there.  He walked that way, catching a ride with a nice Freedom Fighter.  "Are your units on standby?"

"We're there as body handlers, sir," he said grimly.

"Good. Unload the living first.  The dead can wait on the ships."  He nodded.  "I'm sorry about them, but we'll need to hit the living first."

"Of course."  He dropped him off.  "Thank you, doctor."

"Son, it's going to be a long day," he said gently.  "It'll make you wanna bawl and cry.  Can you hold it in for a few hours?"  He nodded.  "Then try your best.  It's going to be enough to make a man pray."  He walked inside, seeing the energy going.  "Less than an hour," he called.  "Where are we?"

"Nearly there," Mayflower called back.  She looked at him as he walked over.  "I was at the school as a trainee."

"I was only two years out myself," he admitted quietly.  "It's going to be one of those situations where you'll need to pray later.  You do what you have to do.  I'll expect some of these people to quit after this," he said honestly.  "Let me know when we run out of things so we can get word back to Earth."  She nodded, giving him a hug and hurrying off.  He saw his girl busting around.  "Shell!"  She looked up, looking guilty.  "I know you're a doc, be careful."  She nodded, smiling at him.  He heard the ship's engine above them and said a silent prayer to get through this.  The ship landed. "Head's up, people!"  The fighters went to start offloading bodies, and the students went to tell them where to send everyone.  Within ten minutes there was a 'cheese, I don't know how to treat this' yelp.  He hurried that way, looking at the patient.  "What is it?"

"It's a growth in her chest."  He pressed on the mass.  "It's moving."

He looked at it.  "Press again."  The student looked at him.  "I got hit with a paralyzer, kid."  The student pressed again. "Now outward."  He did that.  "It's treatable, it'll be a later surgery. Tag her and note it's a fluid tumor.  Yellow tag.  She's a later surgery."  He nodded, doing that.   He found his student working on a patient and looked. "Clip that vein, Proxima."

"I'm trying to clip it together so we don't have to amputate."

"There's alternate routes.  If she loses too much blood, she'll die."  He clipped them together then beamed.  "Good, now tape it and red tag her.  It's an easier fix."  He nodded, tagging her and whistling for someone to come get her.  The next patient was brought before he could even sip the soda sitting next to his table.  He walked on, going to look at the other students.  He heard another ship and moaned.  "We've got the second one already!"

"We're nearly done with this lot," Mayflower yelled back.  She ran out to start checking bodies, she was free and others weren't.  "Cheese!" she said, sniffling the bodies.  "Where's the Plutarkian?"

"A mother has a halfling," the pilot reported.  "I couldn't get her to let go.  She's delirious."

"It happened many times."  She nodded.  "Is she stable?"  He nodded.  "Then you send her directly to Carbine.  First thing."  He nodded, going to take her personally while the others offloaded the patients the medic with him had marked.  She wasn't about to deal with that situation.  Let the politicians deal with that stuff.  "Here's one, take him to surgery immediately," she called.  Someone came in and grabbed the body, taking it off. Enamel came in.  "A halfling," she said at his expression.

"She's not the first," he said bitterly.  He moved toward the back.  "We've got them stacked by importance it looks like," he offered, nudging one with a foot.  He recognized him.  "Can you move?"  The doctor nodded, standing up.  "You and any other medics or docs are needed.  We're in triage.  We'll do what we can for you before we put you to work."

"What about you?"  He saw the futile movements in his arms and winced.  "I'm sorry."

"It's getting better.  I'm trying alternatives.  Get them and head out first.  We need more of us."  He nodded, tapping a few others to come with him.  He said a silent prayer of thanks, hoping more were coming.  He noticed this ship was tethered and headed over there to check, not finding any others alive.  He found a few more people he had worked with, but he couldn't help them.  He would mourn later.  He hurried back out to help get people where they needed to go.  "Proxima!" he shouted. "Come help me, damn it!"

"Coming!" he yelled back, rushing that way.  He saw the reason and clamped the bleeding artery with his fingers.  "Surgical, now!" he shouted.  "We'll need to clamp him!"  He got that one clamped once someone brought him one and they were off.  He went to work in here.  "It gets better, right?" he pleaded quietly as he checked. A few more were put back onto the ship.

"Not today it don't, kid," he said bitterly.  "This is one of those situations where you bear down and do it, then you mourn and break down later.  I'll buy you a drink when you're done."  He nodded, going to help someone who had just fallen.  Enamel followed out a body.  "How are we for supplies?" he asked the nurse digging into them.

"So far we're on target," she offered.  "How many more ships is the real question."

Enamel looked at her. "I'll find out."  He headed back to the council chambers, running into Stoker to stop him.  "How many more ships?  We've got enough for ten."

"There's close to twenty or more," he offered.

"Then we need more stuff immediately if not sooner."

"Micah said he can't get it right this moment.  Something about money being transferred."

"Then call Dawn and Xander.  Have them buy it and have it sent to them!  People will die."  He walked off, going to check on the hospital.  It was mostly quiet, only a few people crying.  He stopped beside a child.  "Shh, little one. You're home now. It'll be okay tomorrow."  The child looked up at him. "I'd cuddle you but I can't move my hands. You're home and safe now."  The kid nodded, giving him a trusting look.  He heard running, smaller, feet and turned, finding Racer and Spike there. "Out!  This is nowhere for kids!"

"Good, then we're bandaging," Racer said firmly.  "This is my future and I can damn well tie a bandage!  So can Spike."  He led his friend off, going to help with some of the people coming out of surgery.  "We can bandage," he told a nurse.  "I learned because my big sisters are mean and I had some of my own.  This is Spike. He'll help me."  She looked at him.  "Enamel said so."  She nodded, letting them do it.  She checked that first one and it was proper so she left them at it for the more minor things.  She was needed elsewhere.

Enamel came in a minute later and nuzzled him. "You're too young, kid."

"So?"  He looked at him.  "People got hurt like I did.  I can and Spike has in the past.  We can bandage.  I won't go near the dead."  Enamel sighed and nodded.  "Momma don't know but I don't care."

"Fine.  I'm telling her.  It'll be a bit before she can get here."  He nodded, accepting that.  He knew he was going to have limits.  "Good boy, Racer, you too, Spike.  Good job too."  He headed off to check on the council.  He found the woman sobbing, holding her child.  "Put her somewhere safe for Mars' sake," he demanded.  "Now's not the time to make this decision and the kid's not the first we've seen!"  Carbine flinched and looked at him, glaring.  "I don't care.  It's a child. That's a mother.  We've got worse problems. Exhaust, can you bandage?"  He nodded.  "Good, then go help Racer and Spike, call Momma soon too."  He looked at Carbine.  "She's hysterical.  It won't help.  Put her somewhere safe and quiet so she can calm down."

"Fine," she ground out.  "I don't want them...."

"It's half Martian if it's hers, Carbine.  Right now, we need you and everyone else to either be bandaging, helping, or getting us supplies.  Do it now!"  She nodded, going to do that.  He looked at the guard coming in.  "It's her kid, guys.  I doubt she actually wanted it but it's still her child.  Put her and the child somewhere safe, dry, and warm so she can calm down.  We'll figure it out later."  He nodded, taking her upstairs to the older chamber.  There were cells by it and she and the child would be safe in one of those.  Or an office.  Enamel went back to the landing center, seeing two ships being unloaded now.  He mentally groaned and walked back into the chamber.  "Someone dial earth."  One of the guards did, getting Throttle. "We've got over a thousand refugees.  We need supplies pronto and Micah can't.  I don't care if you steal 'em, and we need you guys up here to help."

"Xander's still knocked out.  I'll be right up.  Could some of the vamps help?  Boris is here."

"Fine.  Whatever.  Bring 'em up with bandages and stuff, or they can go buy bandages and send them.  Either way."

"Sure.  Be right there."  He hung up and went through the house. "There's over a thousand refugees.  We're needed, bros."

"Coming," Rimfire shouted, coming out of their room putting on a shirt.  "Sorry, I was changing.  Let's go.  Bikes?"

"Not needed to lift and tote people."  Everyone, including Xander, came to the transporter.  "Babe, we need bandages bad.  You and the vamp you and Boris help with that for right now. Get with Micah, see what the hold up is."

"Fine."  He went back to call him, bringing the vampires with him.  "Micah, what's the hold up with the medical supplies and how can Boris and I help?"  He looked at Boris, then handed over the phone.  "Here, it's going to be political."  He went to use the house phone to call the vampire bar.  "It's Xander.  There's been a refugee flux on Mars.  They need medical supplies like now.  Can you send out everyone to go buy stuff like right now and bring it here?  No, no attention needed, just get it here."  He smiled.  "If they can pull it off. Yeah.  I don't to rob them of it though.  Decent enough.  Thanks, babe."  He hung up and called Boris' house.  "Megan, me.  We've had a new influx of injured refugees on Mars.  Medical stuff mostly.  Yeah, like right now.  Sure.  Thanks."  He hung up.  "The bar's sending out people to get supplies quietly.  They're bringing them here.  When they get here, shove them through the transporter," he ordered the vampire him.  That got a nod and the kid ran off.  "Damn I was young then," he sighed, shaking his head.  "Not even graduation to temper me."

He called Meg and Oz.  "Hey, me.  There's been an influx of refugees to Mars.  We need shit now.  Yes, that stuff too.  Water and food.  Everyone else is getting bandages.  That's fine, take my new card if you have to.  I'll pay it off somehow.  Take it, get granola bars and stuff.  Most of them were prisoners and on slim rations if they got anything.  Hey, Sam's is good.  Get there and get here.  Now if possible.  Thanks, babe."  He hung up.  "Okay, I've got Meg and Oz getting food and water supplies," he called.

"Micah's getting supplies but it's off the military," Boris called, coming up to the office.  "There's already vampires dropping off bags and the vampire you is sending them through."

"Good.  Let's hope they're going to right spot," he sighed, heading down to check on it and handle the incoming stuff.  He was still exhausted. He found Detail, Shot, the new baby, Anya, and her baby sister coming through.  "Head upstairs, play nicely, and don't touch the computer.  Got it?"  They nodded, heading up there.  "Where's Vic?" he called after them.

"In bed.  Auntie said to tell you," Shot yelled back.  "She's doing supplies on their end."

"Good.  Thanks.  Listen for him and come get me if he starts to fuss."

"I've got the kids," Boris called. "I can't do much else."

"Sure.  Make sure Vic's not astral crawling again.  He accepted some more bags with a nod.  "Drop the slips on the counter, man.  Put your name on it."  He sent them through, making sure it was going to the right spot.  It was, they had left it on.

Oz pulled up a few minutes later, getting out to unload stuff.  "How are they doing?"

"Bad.  They're on ship six out of maybe twenty-six.  They didn't plan to find this many survivors," he said as he helped him offload stuff and toss it through the transporter.  "Thanks for this, man.  Go ahead and put the slip on the counter and make sure it's marked."

"Not an issue.  We took the rent money we owe you."

"Fine.  Again, not an issue," he offered with a small smirk.  "How's Meg?" he asked as he hefted some water.

"Fat and complaining.  Apparently usual."  He shrugged and grabbed more water, sending it through.  "This won't be breaking anything, right?"

"Charley's there to catch," he promised. "You can head over if you want."

"She's got it.  Meg would skin me alive if I went to Mars without her."  He finished the trunk and opened the back seat, handing over bags of medical stuff.  "They had some there too.  I explained it as a road trip with my frat to go camping on a manly man survival thing.  They just nodded and pointed out bandaids."  He handed that bag over too.  Xander grinned and tossed them through.  He checked the car, handing over one last bag.  "Fragile stuff, to celebrate when it's over and everyone's safe.  I figure someone will need the drink."  He got into the car and headed off, letting someone else have the spot.

Boris came down the ramp.  "Micah said they need you to shut off for a minute so they can get their stuff through."

"Sure," Xander agreed.  He tossed the last bag and shut it down, taking the chance to sigh and wipe his forehead off with his shirt.  "Damn I hope this is going to be enough."

"It will be. Have some faith, Xander."  He patted him on the cheek.  "Have a lot of faith and it'll be fine."  Xander nodded, sending a silent prayer that everyone who could be saved would be.  Then he checked the machine.  "They're sending it to the wrong realm," he said grimly.  "It's showing an active connection."   He watched it for another minute.  "No, there it goes, from off realm.  I'm guessing he set it for Throttle like I did once. The connection shut and he turned on his, taking the stuff that had been brought and chucking it through.  He could see the picture of Charley and a guard moving stuff.  It was a good thing.

***

Enamel came out of the transporter with Heat and Proxima very early the next morning.  They were all about to collapse.  He saw the bag with his name on it.  "Someone grab that," he ordered tiredly.  Heat grabbed it and looked inside, then burst out laughing. "What?"  He looked.  "Gotta love Xander.  He's been there before during the battles.  Bring it and find some cups, guys."

"Fuck it, I can drink out of a bottle," Proxima said, taking the bottle to open and taking his first taste of earth liquor.  He shuddered.  "Ooh, burns," he gasped, handing it off.  "Come on, boss.   Let's get you to bed.  Shell will be coming once she's awake.  Her work starts tomorrow."

"She'll be working before then.  We had a mother come in with a halfling."  He let Heat pour him a drink and gulped it.  Then he nodded as he swallowed.  "Damn, the good stuff too," he gasped, shaking his head.  "One more and then you guys both go to bed."  He got his second one and headed in there to sleep it off.  He'd probably be called back tomorrow.

Heat and Proxima sat outside to watch the sun rise from the patio area, sharing the bottle between them.  All the students were off for the next eight hours.  They had time to sleep.

Throttle came stumbling out and headed for his room, finding Xander had already pulled back the covers and was waiting for him.  "Babe," he groaned.

"Shh, I've seen aftermath before," he soothed, helping him out of his clothes.  He got him into bed and laid beside him on top of the covers to hold him.  "Shh, I'm here.  You can rest, Throttle.  You saved who you could.  You helped a lot.  It's all right."  Throttle nodded and sighed, relaxing so he could fall into an exhaustion nap. Xander smoothed his fur, soothing any nightmares from coming forward.  He heard Modo talking to someone and got up once he was sure Throttle was going to sleep for a bit, heading up to check on him.  "Are you all right?"

Modo nodded.  "Fine, Xander.  Thanks for not making me move furniture on my first day back."  He looked at his nephew.  "He was helping bandage with Spike."

Xander hugged him.  "I'm very proud of you, Racer.  You and Spike both.  When you're ready to cry and talk, you can come to me or Modo.  Got it?"  He nodded, sniffling a bit.  "Shh, it's all right. You helped a lot, little man."  He sat down to cuddle him.  "Go to bed, Modo, I caught a nap earlier."  He nodded, heading that way.  Staff walked past him and Modo grabbed her, tossing her onto the bed so he could have the best medicine for pain, his lady's touch.  Xander looked down at Racer, stroking his back.  "I know it was bad, but we saved that many mice today."

"So many died," he sobbed.

Xander kissed him on the ear.  "You saved who you could, Racer.  That's the important thing.  Being a doctor is very hard because sometimes you can't save someone, no matter how much you want it and need it."  He nuzzled him and Racer hiccuped, making him grin down at him.  "You better now?"  He nodded.  "Good boy.  You go find an empty spot and rest, baby boy.  Proxima and Heat are probably feeling the same way.  So's Enamel.  So you go rest and sleep.  When you get up, we'll talk some more with Enamel and them, okay?"  He nodded, wiping off his fur.  "Hey, never be ashamed to cry, Racer.  It's an emotion and you should be thankful you have them.  It's a good reason to cry.  Mourning the lost always is."  The boy nodded and got down, heading for the rooms the kids usually used.  Xander got up and headed back downstairs.  He checked on Enamel but Shell was curled in his arms.  He shut the door for them and headed back to his room.  "I'm back," he soothed as he walked in.  "Racer was helping and he needed a cuddle too."  He laid down next to his mate. "He'll be fine."

"Where was he?" Throttle asked quietly.

"He and Spike were bandaging people.  He's a bit upset but I told him he did good work and that he helped save some people and that crying was okay in this situation."  He cuddled his mate closer.  "I'm damn impressed."

"Me too," Throttle agreed quietly, snuggling in.  "Vinnie and Charley are with Momma.  Where's Vic?"

"Boris was reading him a bedtime story when I was upstairs. Since he's stuck here for the day."  He kissed him, then nuzzled him.  "Rest. You need rest."  Throttle hummed at that, clutching him.  "I'm here.  No nightmares would be brave enough to come near you when I'm here."  That got a small chuckle but Throttle did fall asleep again.  Xander continued to soothe him, falling asleep himself after a while. There was time enough to pay back everyone tomorrow.

Episode 63:

Staff walked out of her bedroom a few days after everyone had gotten home from Mars, blushing heavily when she saw her two targets in the lounge.  "Can I talk to you two?" she hissed.   Vinnie turned off the tv and Xander put down his explosives manual, both of them looking at her.  She blushed brighter.  "Oh," she moaned, holding her head.  She sat down between the two on the end of the couch.  "I need some advice."

"Sure, sweetheart," Vinnie promised.  "You're Modo's lady, anything for my bro and his lady."  Xander nodded at that, leaning forward.

She swallowed and looked at them.  "I don't want to be naughty or anything, but I need some advice," she offered, looking really unsure of herself.

"What part of sex did you want helped with?" Xander asked quietly, patting her on the arm.  "We've pretty well done it all between us, Staff."

She blushed bright red and nodded.  "I know.  That's why I came to you.  I don't think I could ask Charley or...or Dawn.  It's embarrassing."

"He gives Charley wicked ideas anyway," Vinnie assured her, beaming at Xander.  Then he looked at her.  "Okay, so naughty?  Are we talking like tailing, or something more kinky?"  She looked shocked.  "Okay, or less naughty."

"Um, oral stuff," she whispered, then covered her face with her hands, leaning forward.  "I can't believe I'm asking."

Xander patted her on the back, moving over to sit next to her, shifting her so she was between them.  "Listen, Staff, it's not that naughty."

"It is for me," she wailed, looking at him.  "I've never been that naughty and he likes to be the one in control and he didn't even really want me to touch him."

"The cure to that is a nap," Vinnie told her.  She looked confused.

"Waking him up," Xander added, making her blush and nod.  "You need to calm down or else your cheeks will never unblush, honey."  He patted her on the back.  "All right, the first thing you'll want to do is explore a bit.  Everyone's a bit different.   That's a big bundle of nerves, just like your spot is."

"Martian women don't have a clit, they have an internal spot," Vinnie told him.

"Oh.  Damn, that's no fun."  He shrugged.  "Okay, so it's like that spot inside, only stretched out."  She nodded at that, turning to look at him.  Vinnie started working on her shoulders to keep her calm.  "That sort of thing isn't just oral.  It's also touching, teasing, tasting, and sucking.  So go down and look at it, touch it a bit.  Then take a few licks.  It'll probably drive him nuts.  And the first time he grabs you by the hair, forcefully make him grab the bed instead.   Hair pulling is accidental but it hurts, a lot."  She nodded quickly, letting out a little moan.  "When you're ready, just start small.  Do the top.  Get comfortable with it.  By the way, your jaw will hurt, trust me."  Vinnie nodded at that.   "Especially with a guy his size."  She blushed down her neck and onto her chest.  "Sorry.  Would you rather I show you with an impractical demonstration?"

"Huh?" she squeaked.

"I can imagine a human one and the same things, showing it you, sweetie."

She shook her head.  "No thanks.  I'd rather not.  That's a bit too naughty for me."

"Sure," he agreed, patting her on the arm.  "Okay, so you're tasting, you're playing with it.  It's a great big sensitive toy.  Like a giant sucker or a giant freezer pop.  Like the ones on the sticks.  You know how you move those in to get more?"  She nodded, getting that.  "Same thing, only you can go past that gag spot of yours."

"How would you breathe?" she hissed.

"As you're inhaling, but before he gets that deep," Xander said patiently.  "Then exhale as he's pulling back.  That way you don't choke and it's easier."

Vinnie nodded.  "That's not my best art.  I have trouble with my gag reflex unless I've been drinking cold stuff first."

"There's the neat idea of using an oral anesthetic," Xander offered.

"That cuts off some of the sensation," Vinnie said, shaking his head.  "Not worth it.  Besides, the cold teases them too."  He went back to work on her shoulders.  "Now, if you get that far, and don't worry if you don't.  Modo's a really big guy and you might not be able to handle him that far."  She covered her face again but she nodded.  "So just concentrate on what you can do and play with the rest.  Remember, your tongue is a good thing as well."

She looked at them, shifting to look at Vinnie.  "Is that all?"  They both nodded.  "And I should just wake him up from a nap that way?"

"That's one of Throttle's favorite ways to wake up," Xander assured her. "Then he usually has to take another nap," he offered smugly.  She blushed down her chest and onto her shoulders and upper arms.  "Where is he now?"

"Out for a ride," she whispered, looking around the empty house.  She cleared her throat.  "What about the antenna thing?"

"They're very sensitive," Vinnie reminded her.  "Have you ever hit yours with your brush?"  She nodded, rubbing one.  "Good girl.  Now imagine Modo doing that to you."  Her blush went further down her arms and disappeared under her top.  He patted her on the back.  "It's all right.  They're very sensitive.  You can touch them, tease them, or just lick them.  Charley and Xander both like to suck and lick on them."

"I like tails too," Xander said smugly.  "Also a good spot to play with.  There's that spot at the base and the whole thing is like a great big penis in it's own right," he told her.  The blush was now dark red.  "Honey, calm down.  You won't have blood in your veins soon."  She giggled, sounding a bit hysterical.  "Just try stroking either one gently.  Use your fingertips.  Remember, all three are very sensitive.  All you have to do is give the lightest of touches and they respond.  Anything more than that and it's a bit painful, like your comb."  She nodded at that.  "Anything else we can help with?"

"When do you think a good time is?" she asked quietly.

"Whenever you're ready and he's ready," Vinnie told her.

"He stopped me from touching it."

Vinnie raised an eyebrow.  Then he put an arm around her shoulders.  "Staff, when we were younger, back during our training days, we used to club a lot.  Even Modo.  Now, his momma told him to be a nice boy one too many times so he wasn't as wild as Throttle and I were, or even some of the other cadets, but he's had some fairly wild things happen when he was younger. I can assure you he wants you to be a good girl and stay that way.  All you have to do is come up with a good reason and he'll let you."

"Tell him you want to experiment, just the once, and that it's still a good girl thing since you're together.  What made them naughty was the number of boys or that they got paid for it but that you wanted to try this once with him to make him be a bit naughty himself.  Offer to let him do anything he wants if he'll let you try it that once.  Either that or tell him you wanted a slightly naughty day and that you're in charge so he has to lay there and take it and just moan for now.  Tell him you got the idea off Oprah."  He heard a bike outside.  "Either that's Micah or Modo.  They've got the same size engine."  He looked at her and grinned.  "Calm down, before he sees the blush and guesses at your surprise."  She nodded, forcing herself to calm down.  "Now, go kiss your man hello and make him a happy stud."

She blushed again and hurried down to the garage, kissing him.  "Hi."

"Why are you blushing?"

"Xander told me to come make my stud happy," she offered with a blush.

"Ah."  He grinned at her.  "I'd hope you were here to kiss me instead."  She swatted at him.  "What?" he asked innocently.

"You are a stud, Modo.  A very big one.  Is Lil' Hoss all right?"

"Sure, babe.  I was just taking her out for some sun.  Want to go for a ride?"

"Please?"  She grabbed her helmet off the rack and got on behind him, wrapping her arms around him.  This would take some careful planning but she could do that.  She was a sneaky female mouse.  Cell had assured her she could be with a bit of effort.

Upstairs, Vinnie was making Xander laugh.  "Seriously!  She did, the whole tail.  I guess she had something to coat her stomach, but she did the whole tail.  All the way to the root."

"I'm good but I'm not that good," Xander said in awe.

"Me either.  I guess it's not so bad the first foot or so, but then there's too much."

Xander nodded.  "Way too much, especially if it stretches."  He shivered.  "I'll have to figure out how she did that later.  You think she'll be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Vinnie assured him with a grin.  "She'll make him let her.  Modo won't let his lady turn into you or I, but he will let her be a bit naughty now and then.  He's always been one of those 'one position, under the covers' guys.  Even back in his wilder days."

Xander nodded, sighing a bit.  "I know people like that.  I always want to spice things up for them."  He shrugged. "Hopefully she'll do okay.  The big guy deserves it."  He grinned at him.  "I'll have to tell her where we put the spare sheets."

"I already did," he promised.  "I didn't tell her what you got her though.  Those cream colored satin ones will look great under her."  Xander nodded at that.  "We've got to get them a special dinner that night too."

"When one of us hears them, we'll do a picnic for them," Xander offered.  Vinnie beamed and nodded.  "Since I'm not leaving for a while, it won't be that hard to catch when they do it."  He heard the bike returning.  "Already?"  He got up and headed down the ramp, frowning at Micah as he rode in.  "What're you doing here?"

"How are the refugees?"

"We still ran out of stuff but it was on the last batch," he admitted.  "They had about a thousand refugees."  Micah shuddered at that.  "Mostly starved and abuse and neglect injuries.  The last one got operated on yesterday and everyone's starting to settle in.  Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome."  He took off his helmet and shook out his hair.  "How are you, kid?"  Xander held up his hand.  "What's that?"

"A second degree burn."  He looked at the dirty bandage.  "It's time to change it anyway if you wanted to see."  He headed back to Enamel's room, tapping gently.  Enamel grunted so he stuck his head in.  "The bandage is dirty.  Did you want to look at it before I changed it?  Micah's here."

"Sure.  Give me a minute."  He rolled off the bed and looked down at his shirtless state. "I'm good enough," he decided.

"The bros wear about the same thing," he agreed with a small grin.  "Come on.  Everything's still upstairs."

"Sure."  He followed Xander up, nodding at Micah.  "How's my place?"

"You need to pay the rent," he said, handing over the eviction notice he had found.  "Today."

"Damn it.  I thought it was on autodraw."  He groaned and sat down.  "I'll head to the bank after this."  He sat down in front of Xander.  "Okay, Vincent, let's work on your bandaging skills again."  He heard little feet and looked back as Racer came hopping out of the library.  "Hey, squirt."

"Can I help?"

"Burns are really nasty looking," Vinnie told him.

"So?  I saw some in the textbooks."  He sat on Enamel's lap, taking Xander's hand to look at it.  "I cut the tape, right?"  Enamel nodded.  So he carefully picked up the bandage scissors and cut the top layer of tape off.  Then he slowly unwound it, dropping it onto the table beside them.  "It's sticky."

"It can do that.  That's lymph fluid," Micah told him.  He went to get some sterile water from the basket in the corner, handing it over.  "Soak it down, that helps."

"You were a medic?"

"First aid training for field agents," Micah admitted. "It's a bit more advanced."  He took the hand to hold while Racer squirted water all over it and down onto the rug and down Xander's arm.  "That should be good, Racer."  He peeled off the remaining bandages, listening to Xander hiss.   "What did this?  A stun rod?"  That got a nod.  "Damn."  He looked at the burn once it was uncovered.

"Eww," Racer said.  "That's very icky looking.  Anya and Dawn would say grossening and ickacious."

Enamel patted him on the back.  "We warned you, kid."  He looked.  "It's not too bad.  That's mostly scar tissue forming.  Go ahead and bend his fingers a few times, Micah."  He did so and Xander hissed again.  "Looks like it's time to start using those fingers.  We'll wrap it lightly and let you start some mild PT for it, Xander."  Xander sighed and nodded.  "Nothing too bad.  Squeezy ball stuff for now."  He looked at it, tipping his head.  "Tip it into the light."  Micah did so.  "Yeah, that'll be fine.  Okay, go ahead and spread some new cream and let's wrap it gently."

"Sure," Racer agreed, picking up the cream and opening it.  "Do I squirt it on him and then rub, or do I put it on my fingers and then rub?"

"Put it on your fingers with something this delicate."

"Shouldn't he have on gloves?"

"We don't have many of those on Mars and less than half the diseases you've got that can be caught that way," Enamel assured him.  "Good thought though.  Racer, down here, you would normally be doing that with gloves.  That would protect you from any nasty germs infecting you and protect your patient from any you might carry."  That got a nod as the boy rubbed the cream in.  "Just coat it, kid, it's not wax for your bike."  Racer nodded and left it at that. "Get the joints too."  He went back to get those then put the tube down and picked up the new roll of sterile bandages.  He started to bite it open but Enamel coughed so he picked up the scissors and opened it with a shy grin for him.  "Good job."  He watched as the kid wrapped it.  "Around, Racer."  He wrapped it around the base of the thumb this time.  "Now under."  He nodded.  "Good job!  Now tape it down and cut the excess."  Racer carefully did that and then taped down the hanging edge he had created.  "Excellent job.  I'd give you a hug but I can't."

"I can," Vinnie said, pulling him into his lap.  "Good job, Racer.  You'll be one of the best docs some day soon."  Racer beamed at him and got down to put everything back up, then got back in the lap to cuddle some more.

Micah grinned at Xander.  "So, how long before you can get back to work?"  Xander pointed at Enamel.  "When?"

"Maybe six more weeks, if he's lucky and nothing happens and he's got strength and function back," he offered.  "Possibly eight."

"That's fine.  There's temporary disability insurance through work.  I'm getting my first check this week," Xander told him.  "We can live on it."  He looked at Racer.  "When did Spike come and then leave?"

"Yesterday."  He beamed at him.  "You were napping like an old mouse."

"I was," Xander agreed as Vinnie laughed.  "I had a tiring day.  I had to go do paperwork for the insurance."  He looked at Micah.  "The shiv wound is now closed and the graze is long gone."

"Good.  I'm glad.  Now, what happened?  I only got a partial report from Max and Dawn's made *no* sense."

"They found my father alive.  He was committed for being mentally incompetent.  The facility called you guys to get me out there.  Lorne ended up calling Oz since I hadn't answered his email in a while.  Oz told me, I flew out the next day.  Oh, did he tell you it's a baby Oz?"  He shook his head so Xander grinned.  "It is, it's a boy."  He lost his grin.  "I got out there, went to see the dirtbag.  Same old same old, only without the liquor this time.  He was paid to get me out there.  I'm guessing Wolfram and Hart but I can't be sure.  They tried to get me in the hospital so it could just be a happy coincidence.   He had a blaster, I got a graze as I ducked and took it away from him.  He pulled a shiv and got me on my side.  They got him restrained.  The administrator took me back to the office to shake me down for money.  They wanted ten grand a month to keep him there.  I told him I didn't have the money anymore and went outside to think for a bit.

"Once out there, I called home to talk to Throttle and Vinnie.  I saw someone being attacked and pounced him to save the person from the patient.  A cop came over to yell at me for it.  I talked to him about my options since he had just tried to kill me.  He said my father was already committed, they would just move him to a higher facility for this.  My father ran out with a stun rod after one of the guards.  I stepped in to stop him.  The cop tried to help, my father tried to snap his neck by kicking him.  I grabbed the rod to stop him from using it on me, then another to summon it and turn it off before he could grab it again.  I took the cop's cuffs to subdue him.  I got him cuffed, then the paramedic came in to start working on the cop since I had yelled about it."  He shrugged.  "I flew home to handle the situation here and help Throttle heal."

"Where he was a bastard in the hospital and ignored his own wounds for hours on end," Vinnie finished.  "The nurse had to get forceful with him when Vecchio noticed the darker stain on his black t-shirt from the stab wound and his hand.  They ended up bandaging it for him.  Someone from Wolfram and Hart tried to snatch him the next morning after sedating him."

"She was?" Enamel asked.  Vinnie nodded.  "Huh.  I didn't think she was."

"Yeah, docs down here don't move their own patients unless it's an emergency," Vinnie told him. "That's what orderlies are for."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "I followed her down to check his hand.  It wasn't that bad and I advised her to cream and bandage it for me.  Then we went back up to check on Throttle and Xander's back since he was still asleep."

"You slept through that?" Micah asked.

"She sedated me."

"Oh, wonderful."  He shook his head.  "Fine, can you do a report?"

"Dawn has a more coherent one that I dictated but she's in class."

"Fine.  You're expected to be back to top form, right?"

"He is," Enamel agreed. "Guys, I've got to hit the bank."

"Want a ride?" Vinnie asked.

"No, I can ride my own girl.  She knows the way.  I have no idea how to explain this to them."

"Easy.  You tell them you've had an injury to your back," Xander told him.  "Or your neck.  It's temporarily causing muscle paralysis."  He shrugged.  "Then you have them help you back onto your bike again at the end and put your hands back on your handlebars.  You go pay the landlord."  Enamel nodded at that.  "We can escort you if you wanted."

"No, I'll be fine.  Thanks though."  He got up and headed down there, letting Racer follow him and put his hands on his handlebars for him.  "Okay, girl, let's start up," he ordered.  She started, purring at him.  "Good girl.  I can't drive so you'll have to go on voice input."  She beeped.  "No, I'm still in bad shape but we've got to hit the bank and then the apartment for a few hours."  She beeped twice and started out of the garage.  "Okay, turn right onto the street.  We're heading to the place with the awkward parking lot."  The bike beeped and headed that way.  It knew the bank, a bit. He walked inside once they got there and he had parked.  He looked at the guard.  "The customer service desk?"  He pointed.  "Thank you.  The bike's mine."  He headed that way, looking at the register to sign in.  Then he looked at the secretary, giving her a pitiful smile.  "I've recently had a severe neck injury.  I can't use my hands."  She came over to sign him in. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're welcome, sir.  Sit down, it'll only be a few minutes," she offered with a smile.  "Do you need anything?"

"Two working hands," he said honestly.  "They said another five months and I'd have 'em back but not yet."

She cooed and patted him on the shoulder, then headed back to her desk.  They knew about him, but they didn't gossip about him. They figured he had some horrible birth defect to have the tail and fur.

One of the reps came out and smiled at him.  "Enamel, right this way."  She watched him struggle to get up and came over to help him.  "What happened?"

"A neck injury.  I can't use my hands or arms," he admitted, following her to her office.  "Um, paper, my back pocket?" he offered.  She took it out and sighed, then nodded.  "It's a bad thing with how I am right now."

"I understand," she promised, sitting down behind her desk.  "Let me pull up your account."  She pulled it up by name, no one remembered their account numbers these days, and looked it over.  "Well, I see you've got more than enough in checking, barely.  That investment of yours is really paying off as well."

"I should have recently gotten about two million from my overseas bank."

She tapped a few keys then nodded.  "We have it on hold.  It looked like a hacker to us and we're very careful about such things."  She looked at him.  "The Bank of Meg?"

He smirked. "It's an online account.  That's her handle.  She does it for me most of the time.  Go ahead and let that through."  She nodded and took the hold off.  "Thank you.  Can you cut a cashier's check for that?"  She nodded, smiling at him.  "Good.  Can we set up something about my utilities?"

"You already have those listed.  Let me call this number on here and see if we can set up an autodraft with your landlord.  That way you don't have to deal with this until you're better."  He nodded, grinning at that.  She grinned back, it was infectious.  "I heard you had a girl, how is she?" she asked as she dialed.

"Pregnant," he said dryly.  "I found out the day I got home from being held hostage by the people who were watching the effects."

She clicked her tongue.  "Oh, yes, is this Mr. Holloway?  No, this is Natalie Persher down at National Bank, sir.  I handle the accounts for one Enamel ...."  She smiled.  "No, sir, he's here with me right now.  He's had a horrible injury to his hands and arms.  He can't use them.  So we're going to cut you a cashier's check today for the full amount due plus his current and next month's rent, then set up an autodraft.  Would that be all right?"  She grimaced.  "Well it can be mailed if we have an address.  Yes, our system will do that still.  Of course."  She wrote down the address and typed it into the computer from her notes. "That's apartment E, correct?"  She smiled.  "Thank you for being so understanding.  No, I believe he's staying with friends.   No, horrible really.  Thank you for being so understanding and I'll send that cashier's check over today for you, sir.  The same address?"  She smiled.  "Of course.  Thank you.  No, it's a pleasure doing business with you."  She hung up.  "Slime bag.  By the way, your rent was just raised," she told him, going back to fixing that autodraft while he chuckled.  "It's another hundred a month by what he quoted me."

"That's fine.  I'd move but it's a pain in the tail at the moment."

"They have these wonderful movers," she offered with a smile.  "I used some myself.  They're expensive, but they can even pack for you."

"Yeah, but with Shell being pregnant, it's probably a bad time.   She likes the view and the bathroom."

"Ah."  She nodded.  "I wouldn't have wanted to move when I had my two either.  Any idea what it is yet?"

"All the scans say male," he said with a beam.  "Hopefully he'll look more like his momma.  She's a beautiful lady."

"I saw her the day she was here with you," she offered, smiling at him.  She clicked on the 'finalize this' button and watched it take.  "There, starting the month after next, it'll go through on the first, Enamel."  She looked at him.  "I'll send this by courier so you don't have to worry or ride over there.  How did you get here?"

"My bike.  My friend Meg's a technophile.  It's voice guided at the moment."  She just gaped and he smirked at her.  "That's why I let her handle my internet and online banking stuff."

She beamed at him.  "You truly do have good and trustworthy friends.  Where should we send things until you can go home?"

"Um, the Last Chance Garage.  I'm staying with her family and friends."

"Oh, you know Xander?"

He shook his head.  "Xander banks here?"  She nodded, smiling at him.  "Yeah, I'm staying with Xander.  He's doing some deep tissue massages to help me when he can.  He's got a burned hand.  His father attacked him."

"Oh, that poor thing!" she cooed.  "You tell him I said to get better and to call us.  Is he fixing up some of that property he bought last year?"

"He's a softy and they've been doing some charitable donations and the like," he offered. "Throttle's family needed some stuff.   They've recently told him to quit fussing and to quit doing it."

"Oh, that poor man.  That's fine.  Tell him to call us please. We should probably rearrange things again if it's going to continue anyway."  He nodded.  "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Can you get me about three hundred bucks so I can buy dinner?"  She smiled and nodded, filling out a slip for that.  "Thanks, ma'am."

"You're welcome, dear."  She went to do that and then came back to tuck it into his pants pocket.  "Come on, I'll help you back to your bike."  She helped him up and she stroked his arm.  "That's very soft."

"Xander and his adopted daughter Dawn found this great shampoo," he told her.  "It's a wonderful thing."  She smiled at him and walked him out.  "Can you put my hands on the handlebars?"  She nodded and did that.  "Thank you, dear.  Okay, bike, let's head back to the lair.  Start please."  She started and he smiled and nodded, heading off.  He was pulling onto the street when he saw a ship coming in, looking confused.  "Who could that be?" he muttered.  He sped up a bit, heading into the back lot.  "Okay, park."  His bike slowed and parked in her normal spot.  "Good job!"  He got off and walked upstairs.  "I can buy dinner," he called.

"Sure," Vinnie called back.  "Call Chef Andy someone."

Enamel walked into the lounge.  "Can't we have other food?"

Vinnie snorted. "Only when Xander cooks.  It's the house rule," he offered smugly.  "Whose ship?"

"Not a clue."  He looked up as a bike started.  "You can ride down.  The kids aren't in the way."  He flopped down.  "Whenever we're ready for dinner."  Vinnie nodded at that. Charley came up the stairs.  "I've got dinner."

"I called and put in an order. You can pay Modo back," she offered, heading up the ramp.  She saw a fair haired, light tan mouse standing up there looking around.  "You could come down.  Everyone else is inside and it's prettier at night."

"Sure."  The mouse looked at her.  "Who're you?"

"Charley Davidson," she said, shaking her hand.  "I own the garage and Vinnie."

She smirked at her.  "I heard about you and Victor.  Congratulations."  She walked down, her bike following.  "Is there a good spot for her?"

"Sure.  There's a garage at the other end of the house."  She pointed.  "Go down that ramp, bike.  Bottom floor, all the way at the end."  It revved and went that way carefully.  She led the way into the lounge, flopping down beside Vinnie.  "Hey."

He grinned at her and kissed her.  "Racer's watching Vic."

"Good.  He's a good uncle to our mayhem causer."  The female chuckled.  "So, which mouse are you?"

"Winch, the new ambassador.  Where's everyone else?"

"Racer's in the library with Vic.  Xander and Throttle were napping.  Modo and Staff are out riding," Vinnie told her.  "Rimfire and Dawn are at classes for the next hour."

"Cool."  She sat down, looking at Enamel.  "You're allowed to associate?"

"Yeah, he's our doc," Vinnie told her.  "The only one down here who could handle Xander."  He smirked at her.  "Welcome to Earth.  You know you're in the wrong city, right?"

She smirked and nodded.  "I thought I'd check in and then head there. Someone named Micah said it wouldn't be a problem."

"He's in the garage using my office," Charley told her.  "Stuff about Xander's injury."

"He's injured?"

"Yellow tagged burn on one hand," Enamel told her.  She winced.  "Very.  The palm of his hand."  He looked over as he heard dragging footsteps.  "It's Winch."

"Hey," Xander said as he came up, leading Throttle up the stairs.  "He's still mostly asleep," he told Charley as he put him down next to her.  "I'm headed for the kitchen, anyone need anything?  Winch, we're pretty informal and only Modo and Staff have manners."

She chuckled at that.  "I like you already."  She smiled at him.  "If you've got anything with a sleep suppressant it'd be helpful.  I left late last night."

"Sure."  He went into the kitchen.  "Anyone else?"

"I could use a rootbeer, bro," Vinnie called.

"Bring me a water, Xander," Charley called.  "Get Throttle a soda too.  He's snoring."

"He's a tired mouse."  He came back with the drinks against his chest. "Grab a red can," he told her.  She plucked one from his arm.  "Thanks."  He handed over the others and flopped down next to his mate, letting Tara cat curl up around the back of his head.  "Hey, lovie," he cooed, reaching back to pet her with his good hand.  "How're you?"  She purred.  "Good.  We'll go get new litter later."  She nibbled his hair then settled down.

"Sure, I'll get litter later," Vinnie agreed, popping his rootbeer.  He looked at Winch.  Then he looked next door.  "Micah!" he yelled.  Everyone flinched at that.

He walked up the ramp a few minutes later. "I heard her land.  I was finishing a report to the president," he sighed, shaking her hand.  "Welcome to Earth, Winch.  I'm Micah Simms."

"And you're adorable," she offered with a grin.  "You needed to give me a report on how things were down here?"

"That and make sure you're acclimating okay," he offered, taking his own seat.  Xander tossed over Throttle's soda since there was no way he was waking up soon.  "Thanks, kid."  He looked at her.  "Okay, what did you need to know?"

"The little connection things," she admitted, getting comfortable.  "I'm sure everyone here already knows."

"They made them," Micah agreed.  "Xander works for me now and then while being a construction foreman and crew chief.  Dawn and Rimfire are totally mine outside of their classes.  The guys here are handling the lone Plutarkian that's ventured outside of Siberia."  He groaned.  "The president said to drive them back but we're not allowed to overtly harm them since they're endangered species."

"Since when has he cared about endangered species?" Xander asked dryly before taking a drink.

"Since they give him money, Xander.  If PETA gave him money like the Plutarkians did, he'd be anti-fur and meat too."  He opened his and took a sip.  "Money drives politics and politics drives the world."

"How many are left?"

"They *said* they had about a hundred left plus some offspring in tanks.  We know the two Limburgers have escaped and come back here.  They've already rumbled with him once."

"Twice.  There was the minor assault at the college with his goons," Xander corrected.  "He doesn't get anyone who's smart enough for self-action."

Micah nodded at that.  "Twice then."  He sipped his soda, looking at her.  "There's a very select few who know you're down here and even less know they're down here.  There are some people in the police department in Vegas who know about you.  We had an incident where they found some mouse hairs at a crime scene from a visit a month prior and had to be told the minimal facts."

"That's fine.  I can live with that."  She opened her soda and took a drink, looking at it.  "What is that?"

"Coke," Charley told her.  "Caffeinated."

"I'm supposing that's good?"

"It's to keep you awake," Vinnie told her with a small grin.  Modo and his lady rode up.  "There you are.  This is Winch.  She's the new politician on the block."

"Welcome," Modo said, taking off his helmet and getting off his bike.  He helped Staff off and put the bags on the table.  Enamel wiggled up and Xander reached into his pocket, handing over a fifty.  "Thanks, bros."  He sat down, pulling his girl into his lap.  "Why're you here instead of Vegas?"

"Because I needed to get briefed first and I figured you guys could do that," she admitted.  "Plus, some technology I'm not familiar with."  She pointed at the tv.  "What's that?"

"The idiot box," Charley said dryly.  "A tv," she said at the confused look.  "This time of year, it's all crap on there though."

"That's fine.  I've caught many radio broadcasts from Earth."

Vinnie picked up the stereo's remote and turned it on, then turned it down.  "Our fav dj's on."

"Wonderful," she agreed, smiling at them.  "I'm not mean, guys.  I was one of you, remember?"  Everyone awake nodded but Xander.  "I'm not like the last guy.  As far as I'm concerned, even half mice are okay, even one drop is good.  All except that one half Plutarkian child and that just bothers me," she said honestly.  "I'm definitely not against Xander and Throttle.  I heard a lot about you two from Carbine and Stoker.  And Stoker's kids," she admitted with a small grin.  "Vic and Xander are more than Martian enough for me and I've been told about some of the things that Xander's done for Mars.  If I could, I'd give you a medal."  He shuddered.  "Or not," she offered with a small grin.  Throttle woke up with a snort.  "Morning, sunshine."

"Winch," he said.  He glared at her. "You're in the wrong city."

"I came to get briefed and informed on the technology front."  She sipped her soda.  "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I had late night and dawn patrols to make sure Limburger isn't playing right now."  He yawned and sat up, stretching.  "Oh, I needed that nap."  He looked at Xander, stealing a kiss and his soda.  "Thanks, babe."

"Welcome."  He snuggled into his side, taking his soda back once Throttle had a few good drinks. "You left me some, I'm impressed," he teased.

"I'll be spanking you for that later," he said dryly.

"Can I watch?" Charley asked.  "I need to see how to control Vinnie sometimes."

"Sure, Charley girl.  Of course, there might be naughtiness afterward."  He heard the transporter go off and groaned.  "We're up here!"  Spike ran up the ramp and came to pounce Xander.  Stoker and Chassis came after him.  "Back again?" he joked.

"Well, yeah," Stoker admitted.  "Escaping the shit on the council."  He flopped down beside Modo on the floor, letting Chassis worm her way next to Xander.  "Hey, Winch.  This is our favorite vacation destination."

"That's fine.  It's a great house."

"Xander built it," Micah said with a grin.  "Designed it too."

"Then I'm doubly impressed.  I can't pound a screw in straight or fix a circuit board."

Stoker snorted and looked at Xander.  "We're all a bit impressed with him."  He noticed the bandage.  "What the cheese happened to you?"

"Burns."  He held it up.  "Dirtbag father came at me with a stun rod."

"He grabbed it, twice," Vinnie said proudly.

Stoker groaned.  "Those you kick, Xander."

"Hey, I had to turn it off," he said dryly.  "That was the second time."  Stoker just rolled his eyes.  "That's why I was here instead of moving bodies."

"That's fine.  I wondered about that since no one saw you.  I'll be shutting Carbine up later about it too," he muttered.

"'Scuse me?" Throttle demanded.  "She said what?"

"Something about happy day trippers doing charity work."

Throttle got up.  "I'll be right back."  He went into the office and came out with the packet from the insurance company, heading back to Mars for a minute.  He found Modo's momma arguing with Carbine anyway.  "Don't argue with her, she's always right," he sneered, slapping the packet down.  "Say one more damn word about my mate and I will roast your fucking tail," he snarled.  She flinched and looked at him.  "Xander is injured.  He's got a very bad burn.  I didn't allow him to come help."  She backed away from him.  "You want proof to stop this shit, it's in the envelope."

"Calm down, baby," Modo's momma soothed, pulling him into a hug.  "Is he all right?"

"He's still got a burn.  When he came back from talking to the paternal unit, he had a stab and a graze too," he said bitterly.  He glared at Carbine.  "Some people's shit needs to stop against him.  Xander's nearly bankrupted himself to help Mars, including during that.  Where do you think those extra supplies came from?"  He turned to her.  "What's going on, momma?"

"Where's Racer, dear?"

"Taking some lessons from Enamel since he came to help bandage during the refugees coming in," he said honestly.  "Someone was supposed to call you."  She gaped and he nodded.  "He and Spike both.  I went to relieve them at one point.  Vinnie and I both did.  He did a damn fine job, Momma.  He'll make a good doc some day."

She sighed and nodded.  "Where was he working?"

"Post op," Carbine offered. "I sent them through with the older mice to calm down.  I thought you knew." She looked at Throttle.  "He can't have."

"Bullshit."  She flinched and backed up farther.  "Leave my man alone, Carbine.  I mean it."  He walked Momma back through the transporter, taking her upstairs and into the study.  "Hey," he said, patting Racer on the head.  He and Vic were napping together.  "Momma's here."

He swallowed and looked up at her.  "Hi, Momma.  Didn't anyone call you?"

"No, dear," she said patiently, picking him up to hug.  "Are you all right?"

He nodded, pulling back to kiss her on the nose.  "Uncle Xander and Enamel both helped me the next day, Momma.  Uncle Xander got me calmed down and reasonable and Enamel's been teaching me stuff since then."

"Then I'm proud of you, boy, but next time call.  You will be grounded because you didn't call at all.  It's been a week!"

"Sorry, momma, I was gonna call tonight," he promised, looking miserable.  "How long am I grounded for?"

"A week, to the house," she said, cuddling him.  "It's only because you worried me, boy.  I'm still very proud that you disobeyed orders to help, even though you're much too young."  She walked him out, patting Spike on the head.  "How long did you ground that one for?" she asked Stoker.

"Why would I have?"  He watched as Xander slid into Throttle's lap to give Momma some space on the couch.  "What did you do?" he asked his son.

"He and Racer came in to bandage," Enamel told him.  "They demanded, Stoker.  Racer demanded and Spike nodded to back him up.  We put them in post op and rotated them with some of the healers and freedom fighters with a clue."

"I did a few hours with them," Throttle admitted.  "I thought someone had called you, Momma, or I would have the next day."

"That's all right, dear.  Racer knows enough to call me.  He should have called the next morning."  She patted his back, smiling down at him. "I'm still very proud of him."  Racer beamed at her.  "Of both of you, Spike.  You did very good too, dear."  Spike beamed at her.

Stoker looked down at his son.  "I'm damn impressed," he offered.  Spike beamed at him too.  "You still get to tell your mother you did that though.  She was worried sick that you were being exposed to some of the worst injuries."

"Seen worse," Spike admitted.  He looked over as Vic crawled out, getting his devious look on his face.  He pounced him, smirking down at him.  "Hi, Vic."

"Baddy!" he said happily, patting him.  "Go bye-bye?"

"His first sentence," Vinnie said proudly.  "No, son, you can't go to Mars with Spike today."  He grinned at his girl, pulling her into his lap.  "He's a good boy part of the time."

"Tell that to my butt.  He climbed in this morning and tried to nurse from it."  She clapped her hands and her son squealed, coming over to hug her.  "Good boy.  Can you say more words?"

"Daddy!" he said proudly, beaming at Throttle and Xander.

"No, son, I'm Daddy," Vincent sighed, picking him up to cuddle. "I'm daddy."

"Poof," he said, kissing him on the nose.  Then he grinned his most shit eating baby grin at him.  "Poof poof go bye bye?"

"No, I'm not going anywhere either, son," he said, shaking his head.  He elbowed Enamel when he started to laugh. "How many more months before we can get Xander to warp your kid?"

"Six," he said proudly.

"She is?" Stoker demanded, sitting up straighter.  Enamel smirked and nodded.  "Congratulations, doc.  I still don't see what a nice lady like Shell sees in you, but you obviously did something right sometime."

"I can whip your tail," Xander hissed.  "Leave Enamel alone!"

"Fine," he said, holding up a hand.  "Sorry, Xander.  I know the house rules."

"If he didn't insult me, I wouldn't know he wanted my tail," Enamel told him.

"Sorry, I'm not like that and if I was, it'd have to be someone like Modo.  He'd have to be bigger than I am."  Modo chuckled at that.

"I'm not sharing," Staff told him firmly, scowling at him.  "Remember, Enamel will be delivering a lot of babies down here some day soon.  So you might as well play nice with him. Otherwise you'll have to find another doctor to deliver your next one."

"Who'll be just like me," Xander promised, smirking at him.  "Only gayer."

"Don't wish that on my kid," he whined.  "Unless it's another girl, then she can be that swishy."  Rimfire rode up and he looked at the duo.  "Hey."

"Salutations," Dawn greeted.  She grinned at everyone.  "I passed the english test.  There will be clubbing tonight by us.  So we're grabbing and going."

"Homework?" Xander and Vinnie demanded.

"Chill!  I've already done it."  She rolled her eyes as she dismounted, then kissed Rimfire once they had their helmets off.  "Tell 'em, babe."

Rimfire tossed something at Stoker.  "I found a dissertation on how to do a mass greenhouse in the desert.  Proven with test results included.  The teacher I've got for Ag 1 did it.  Low water, recycled system, and filters."

"Thanks, punk.  This'll go over very well."  He put it inside his shirt.  "So, how are classes otherwise?"

"Boring," they said in unison.

"Been there, done that in history of the US, yet again," Dawn sighed. "But it's mandatory."

Xander shrugged. "Wish I could help you but it might add a new facet."

"It's the same book!" she complained.

"Did you tell the teacher that?"

She nodded.  "He told me not to hand in the same papers."  Everyone snorted at that.  "Can I?"

"As long as you pass with a very good grade," Xander told her.

"No, that's cheating," Throttle said firmly.

"Actually, it's not.  She did the work the first time. It's not like she bought the papers."

"You can buy papers?" Rimfire asked.

"Illegally," she said dryly.

"Ah."  He nodded.  "Okay then.  I'll look there for more ag stuff, Stoker."

"That's fine, Rimfire."  He looked at Dawn.  "Do you have classes you *need* the extra time in?"

"I'm still being stumped by some of the Russian grammar issues I'm having," she admitted.

"You can cite the old reports, but you will at least rewrite them and make them better than your last ones," Throttle told her.  "Otherwise I would consider that cheating and you will end up living in separate, noisy dorms."

She nodded.  "That's fine, I can do that and expand.  I usually had to cut down for page length anyway."  He nodded that was acceptable.  "We'll be at the normal spot.  Can I wear the blue outfit?"  Rimfire let out a growl.  "Um, never mind.  The stretchy blue one?" she asked with a cute grin.

"Dawn, since I can't throw you down and have you at the moment, maybe you should wear normal pants," Rimfire suggested patiently.  "And a top that doesn't make you bounce that much."  She pouted.  "Babe, if you wear teasing stuff, I'll need you later.  You said I can't."

"Point," she admitted.  "Fine, I'll wear my green pants and black t-shirt.  How about that?"

"Better.  Not the leathers?"  She shook her head.  "Then I'm one happy mouse," he assured her.  He pulled her into a deep kiss, with tongue.  "After you're done, you can wear that blue outfit for me," he whispered.  She smiled and tweaked him on the cheek before heading down to change.  He calmed himself and then looked at everyone.  "Sorry."  He looked at his grandmother.  "Hi, grandmomma.  I see you finally found Racer."

"I told someone to call her that day," Enamel offered.

"Racer knew he was supposed to call himself," Rimfire told him.  "We all have."  Modo nodded at that, cracking Vinnie up at the look on his face.  "Should I start finding medical texts for him?"

"He can borrow mine," Enamel promised him.  "I've got a pretty comprehensive set."  Rimfire nodded at that.  "Are my two interns outside?"  Rimfire nodded again.  "Drinking?"

"Margaritas and lounging in the sun.  I take it they're off today?"  He nodded, rolling his eyes.  "Should we force them to come with us?"

"No.  It's fine," Enamel promised him.  "Thanks anyway, Rimfire."

"I'd like to go," Chassis offered.  "I wanted to take Stan out for a burger in thanks for the nice date the last time."

"Sure," Rimfire agreed.  "Call the station first to make sure he's not working tonight."  She nodded, going to hunt down the phone.  She had his number on the card in her wallet.  He looked around.  "Anyone else?  Winch? To get used to human style clubs?"

"I've got to be a bit more serious than that, Rimfire, but I thank you."

"Sure, not an issue."  He headed down to change into something non-sweaty that might tease Dawn instead of her teasing him this time.  He saw Chassis' frown.  "He not in?"

"No, he's working tonight."

He put an arm around her shoulders.  "They have this great stuff called take out down here," he offered dryly.  "Where you pick stuff up and eat it somewhere away from the restaurant."  She beamed at him.  "Come on, I'll slip you some of my allowance.  Speaking of.  Dawn, did I get an allowance this week?"

"Yeah, babe.  We'll have to hit the ATM."  She came out of their room, grinning at him.  "Working?"  She nodded.  "Come on.  You can borrow clothes and a hoodie sweatshirt."  She followed along, smiling at the young woman.  "You really like Stan?  He's a great guy.  I had to help him a few times with some strange stuff."

"He's a really nice guy and he's got this *tongue*," she moaned.  Dawn snickered and nodded.  "You don't think there's anything wrong?"

"Why would I, sweetie.  Look at who I'm mated to."

Chassis gave her a long stare.  Then she opened the door.  "Rimfire, why wasn't I invited to the bonding?" she demanded.

"That was the day of the Braveheart idiot, as Xander called him, who wanted us all to go back to clans."

"Ah.  No wonder you were there.  So when's the bonding?"

"Ask her," he said dryly.  "Like Vinnie, I'm letting her decide that.  We'll be up right before the holidays down here though, so maybe then."  He shrugged and grabbed some clothes, heading into the bathroom.

"Dear, if you wear those, I'll have to jump you," Dawn complained.

"Good.  About time," he joked. "You do it to me every time we go out, it's my turn, baby."  He winked and slipped into the bathroom, kicking Vic and Spike out since they were playing with the water. "And I thought the twin menaces were bad," he muttered as he stripped off.

***

Chassis walked up to the front desk at the station, smiling at the woman standing there.  "Hi, I brought food for Kowalski?"

"Detective Kowalski or DA Kowalski since she's up there?" the woman asked.

"Stanley."  She got a funny look and shrugged, grinning a bit.  "Tell him it's Chassis."

"Sure, Miss.  Wait there."  She went to make the call and within half a minute heard running footsteps down the stairs. "Well, that's interesting," she noted quietly to her coworker, Ray's sister.

"Hmm.  Ray said she knows that Xander guy," she admitted. They shared a look.

Stan pounced her, hugging her.  "Hey, Chassis.  Give me ten minutes to do something and I can head out for lunch.  Wanna come up and wait?"

"Sure."  She smiled and handed over the bag.  "Rimfire and Dawn suggested I go here for takeout."

"It's all good to me," he offered with a grin, walking her up the stairs.  Vecchio looked up.  "This is Chassis," he introduced.  "That's Ray, he knows Xander."

"Dawn said she had helped you a few times," she offered, sitting down in the chair he pointed out.  "No criminals like on Law and Order?" she teased, pouting a bit.

"Earlier.  That's why I didn't get lunch and haven't made it home yet."  He grinned at her and sat down to finish the report he was working on, then tossed it at his boss's office door.  "Come on, let's go."

"I brought my bike.  I can follow wherever you wanted to eat.  The park, the lakeside, anywhere."

He beamed.  "The park's great."  She waved at Ray and followed him out.  He had to come back up for the food, but then went out to his car.  "Do you know the way?"

"Sure do.  Rimfire told me where to hit for the park the last time I was in."  He grinned at that.  "I'll still follow you.  You're cute to follow behind and watch."  He blushed and ducked into his car.  She got onto her bike and started it, heading after him.

"Well," Frannie said from the doorway, smirking as the pair left. "They're adorable!"  Ray coughed from behind her.  "Are you done yet?  We'll be late for dinner."

"Sure.  Let me get my jacket.  Do not tell Ma. Not until he does.  There's stuff you don't know about that group."

"You mean like Xander's big mouse and Ma knows?"  Ray stopped and stared at her, mouth open.  "Ma asked if I knew anything about the big mice in the city.  She saw the one who followed you home, which I'm supposing is Xander.   Then she saw one riding the other day while we were out shopping with Maria.  Maria told her they're massive good guys in costumes.  I told her they weren't costumes, their tails waved."

"Frannie, don't you even think about getting involved."

"So, who are they?" she asked with a sweet grin.  "Or you might want to tell Ma before she asks you.  I think she was about to tonight.  Especially if someone sees the adopted son with that one."

Ray moaned and headed back to his desk to take something for his headache.  But he did grab his jacket.  You didn't keep his mother holding dinner without a very good reason.  He came out to drive her home, sighing in misery.  By the time he got home, he was still trying to think up a good lie.  Frannie walked in and Ma grinned and hugged her.  She gave Ray a knowing look.  Ray looked at his mother, seeing the devious look.  "What?"  He mentally winced.

"You know about those nice mice, caro.  I'm sure all the police do," she said, leading him into the living room and closing the door.  "You will tell me.  Father Behan saw Stanley with one the last time he saw him.  They were going out for breakfast and she looked rumpled according to the Father."  She sat down next to him and patted his hand, smiling at him.  "So tell your Ma all about it, Raimundo."

He groaned and shook his head.  "Ma, it's a long story and I can't," he told her.  "It's not my story to tell and there's security issues involved and all sorts of things.  I wish I could."

"Dear, you can.  I will tell no one," she promised.

"Ma!  I could lose my job!"

She patted his cheek.  "Poor caro.  Are they human?"  He shook his head.  "No?"  He shook his head again.  "Then it must truly be love for Stanley to rumple her that way."

"She just showed up to bring him dinner, Ma.  Everyone thinks they're cute together."

"Then it's only right he bring her over to meet me," she said firmly.

"Ma, he can't.  There's some serious security issues here.  Like guys in Fed suits security issues.  Worse than the FBI that time I went undercover issues."

She snorted.  "They do not bother ones like me, caro.  Who believes foolish old women?"  She got up and hauled him up. "Come, it's time for dinner.  We will call Stanley later and have him bring her over for coffee.  She is female?"

"Yeah.  Her name's Chassis, Ma," he sighed, shaking his head.  This was a bad idea.  He knew this was a bad idea.  Someone had reported that Simms guy was back in town to his lieutenant.  This was going to get him fired.  He knew it was.  He sat down, said Grace, then got up to take an antacid first.  He'd need the whole roll tonight.

"Caro, call Stanley and tell him to come for dessert," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma," he sighed.  He took his plate with him, he had to call Xander first and warn him.  If Simms was in town, he'd be there somewhere.  He tried the garage, then the number Xander had given him.  He got a giggling teenager.  "Dawn?"  She agreed.  "It's Ray Vecchio.  You know Chassis' down here, right?  Well, Ma wants to meet her.  Yeah, like tonight.  Anything we can't do?"  He winced.  "That's what I thought you'd say.  I can't tell my mother no.  No good Italian boy can."  He snorted.  "He's my next call.  I was trying to get Xander.  Thanks."  He hung up and called Stanley.  "Ma wants to meet your girl tonight for dessert but we're not sure about the security risks.  Dawn's getting Xander and that Simms guy involved since he's in town.  Sure.  Dessert?  We just sat down, Stanley.  Fine.  Sure."  He hung up and went back there.  "They're deciding if we can have her over, Ma.  The security guy over them is in town.  If he says no, there's no way."

The house phone rang and he got up to get it.  "Vecchio."  He listened.  "No, my Ma.  Someone told her they saw Chassis and Stanley Kowalski together."  He groaned.  "Fine.  No, no, that's fine.  Sure, this weekend's good.  Thanks, man.  No, I called Stan to warn him.  I can tell him that."  He grinned. "Sure.  I figured you might.  Yeah, that's him.  Thanks, sir."  He hung up.  "Ma, no go, but we can go over for snacks and tea on Sunday after church," he called, heading back to the table.  She was frowning.  "Ma, they've got to make sure we can clear security first," he soothed.  "They did say you and I and Stan could go."  She nodded at that.  "They'll deal with the rest of the family after that, once you clear her."

"Of course.  That's only proper," she agreed.  "I should meet the new daughter-in-law first."

"Ma, they were so cute," Frannie told her with a grin.  "Stan was bouncing hard when he heard it was her.  He *ran* down those stairs to come get her.  Brought her upstairs and everything."  Her mother smiled at that.

"Who's this new girl?" Maria demanded.  "Why can't we all meet her tonight?"

"You remember those bikers we saw at the store?" Frannie asked.  Maria nodded.  "She's one of them."

"A biker?" Tony, Maria's husband, demanded.

"Very polite bikers," Ray assured him, sounding tired.  "I've met most of the family over the last year.  They're good guys.  Xander's helped me in the past on some things.  Dawn's helped both of us with some strange stuff too.  They're nice people and one of them likes to talk about his Ma all the time."  Ma looked impressed at that.  "So, Sunday after church, probably around two.  That good for you, Ma?"

"Just fine, caro.  Will the others be there?"  He nodded.  "The whole family?"

"I'm not sure about the family structure, Ma.  I'm not the one to ask. She might be related to Vinnie or Xander by her coloring."

"Yeah, was one of them really pale?" Maria asked.  Ray nodded.  "Then there was the tanned guy and then some guy that almost looked gray with metal parts."

Ray groaned and held his head.  "No more.  Not until everything clears, people.  I'm not risking time in prison over this discussion."

"Yes, Ray," Maria sighed, shaking her head.  "How long after Sunday can we meet her?"

"I don't know," he told her.  "Not a clue.  Ask then."  She nodded, dropping it.  He dug in, eating heartily, because he knew he wasn't going to be eating much between now and then. This was going to be so bad.  Just so wrong!

Episode 64:

Xander pulled up beside Ray's car, since he had parked and gotten out, leaning on his handlebars while his bike idled.  "Your Ma's a lot like Modo's momma," he told him.  "She wants to meet Stanley too."  Ray groaned and shook his head.  "It'll be fine.  Did you tell them anything?"

"Not a bit.  Well, Ma knows she's not human."

"Good.  Wonderful.  Less shocking that way."  He smiled at him.  "It'll be fine.  Where should we get stuff from since I doubt the usual hotdogs and rootbeer would be acceptable."

"Get some dessert type stuff.  Some coffee."  Xander nodded. "Nothing too heavy or fancy."

"Modo's momma said something about some sort of braided bread thingy."  He shrugged.  "I guess it's about the same.  She's going shopping today to find out what she needs from home."

"That's fine," Ray agreed.  He shook his head.  "Do you have that 'disaster' feeling in the pit of your stomach too?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted.  Then he grinned.  "Then again, I'm a bit paranoid since the Plutarkians are back."

"The what?"

"Limburger's race.  Plutarkians. Blue, smelly fish."

"Oh, okay.  Are they all named cheeses?"  Xander nodded. "Then I think we've got a young one in the precinct as a helper.  We just got a guy name Gouda in and he does smell."

"Quite possibly," Xander agreed.  "We can check him if you want."

"Nah, I can do that.  I'm pretty good and Benny's even better at the strange stuff anymore."  He looked at him.  "Why aren't you working?"  Xander held up his hand.  "What happened?"

"Dirtbag parent."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault.  You might wanna warn your momma that Chassis' momma is not friendly.  She won't be there, but she's threatened to kill Chassis and any human or less than fully Martian child."

"Good to know.  Can she?"

"Vinnie's got a pretty extensive clan back home.  We've already talked to most of them and they're behind her and me and Vic and Charley."  He shrugged.  "It's her mom and one uncle if I remember right.  Then again, a few new have just returned and we're not sure about them but how could you resist a baby like Victor for very long," he offered with a grin.  "And if not, I'll injure them myself and play Barney and sensitivity lectures until they scream from the torture and change their minds," he finished sweetly.  Ray snorted, shaking his head, but he was smirking.  "Who's kidding?"

Ray chuckled at that.  "Fine, Xander.  By the way, Ma saw you when you followed me home and she saw all you guys out biking one day."

"Who wouldn't want to stare at me and Vinnie?  We gleam in the sun nearly as much as our bikes do."  He winked and rode off.  "Three, Ray.  Sunday."

"Sure."  He got back into his car and headed to work so he could call his mother.

***

Xander looked around the place Saturday afternoon then looked at the lounging mice.  "Has it occurred to anyone we're having visitors tomorrow afternoon?  Human ones?  Motherly ones?"  They groaned and up to hit their assigned chores for the month.  "Thank you, people.  I do not want to make this harder for Chassis than it already is."  Chassis looked at him from the office.  "Yes, you.  You can help by straightening the library."

"Sure.  Not a problem.  Vic's been rearranging the books again."  She headed that way, shaking her head. She had no idea this was such a big production.  Xander was going to clean the bathrooms.  That really meant something to her.  She'd have to call Stan later and see if she was expected to put on a dress and buy a present.

Xander winced as he cleaned, switching hands.  "I forgot about the burn," he told himself.  "It's nothing.  I can rinse it off before I do a bandage change."  He continued to clean the tub he was working on.  It was important for them and Chassis to make a good impression and they'd have to so Ma would love them enough to protect Chassis from people.  He wasn't going to smite anyone's love.  Even if Chassis did live on another planet.  He heard the transporter go off and groaned.  "Not today," he moaned.  He headed down there, finding Carbine.  "Throttle should be working at the garage to clean it up.  We're having visitors tomorrow."  He went back to cleaning the tub. He walked past Vinnie's tub room and sniffed. "Vincent, you had better be cleaning that.  Italian mothers are notorious for being fussy about such things."

"I'll clean it later.  I'm soaking away a cramp," he called.  "I had patrol this morning."

"Fine, as long as it gets done."  He went back up to the bathroom, finding Modo lounging again and frowned at him.  "Don't make me find Dawn's bullwhip," he warned.  "If we ruin this for Chassis she'll never forgive us and neither will Stan.  This would be like Staff meeting your mother."  He groaned and got up, going back to work.  Xander got back into the tub to clean some more.  At least the cleaner was cutting the accumulated crud.  Maybe a housekeeper once a week wasn't so bad.  Then again, they couldn't afford it right now.  So not at the moment.  Unless he hired a Martian to come down here and go to school, giving them room and board in return for that and letting them go to the college.  He'd have to consider that idea.

Throttle looked at Modo, who was looking around.  "What's wrong?"

"He said this was like Staff meeting my momma for the first time."

"More like Staff's family meeting your mother for the first time," he admitted.

"He said Italian mothers are fussy about cleaning things."  He looked at him.  "I figure it's only polite, but how straightened out do we have to do?  Do we need to take the bike mags off the coffee table?"

"No," Throttle said, shaking his head.  "We bike, she knows that."  He clapped him on the back.  "Just the general straightening up stuff, Modo.  Vacuum, that stuff."  He went to talk to Xander.  "Babe, can you maybe quit scaring people?"  He got frowned at.  "What?"

"Who had the bathrooms last month?"

"Oops.  Knew I forgot something.  You know, we could get a housekeeper and support some of the local infrastructure."

"Sure, if you pay for her," Xander agreed dryly.

Throttle nodded. "Fine.  Sorry I forgot.  Need help?"

"I'm good."

"Then why is your bandage orange and being eaten through?  Get out here."  He hauled him out into the lounge, sitting him at the table to look at it.  "You got cleaner on it, didn't you?"

"I forgot, that's my usual scrubbing hand. I did dishes last night too."  Throttle swatted him and went to get some bandages and some clean water to rinse it off.  Then he got him some plastic gloves to put over it.  "Thanks, babe."  He kissed him, waiting while his bandage was cleaned.  He looked around. "No naked women on the coffee table, otherwise just make 'em look neat, Modo."  He nodded, removing one that had a semi-naked girl on the cover.  "Like you were showing your mother the new place."  He removed another one and they went into the library, which Chassis was straightening with Vic's 'assistance'.  Modo picked up the baby and took him to help him, making Chassis chuckle at him for it and put back the Mechanis books.  Xander finished his change and Throttle slid the glove down for him so he went back to work after a quick kiss. "Thanks, babe."

"Welcome," he sighed, shaking his head.  "I'm married to a tornado."  He went to the list to see what he was supposed to be doing this month and groaned.  Dishes, again.  At least he could just load and unload the dishwasher.  He walked into the kitchen, finding the mess.  "It'll take many loads for this," Throttle moaned, holding his head.  At least he could sit down and read in between them.  Of course, he probably should go clean their room and hide the sex toys and stuff.  Just in case she did an inspection too.

***

Ma smiled and walked in on her son's arm, shaking Throttle's hand.  "Hello, dear."

"Hi, Mrs. Vecchio.  Welcome to our house.  We're all upstairs in the lounge except for Victor, he's hiding because he pulled off all his clothes."

She smiled at that.  "Many bambinos do that," she assured him, patting him on the cheek.  "Where are the stairs?"

"Oh, the ramp's at the back of the house," he said, pointing the way.  "I'm waiting on Stanley."

She smiled.  "He had to stop to get gas and something for his stomach."

"I understand fully," Ray complained, walking his mother that way.  He hadn't really been in here before.  It was a great place. Well used spaces and you could tell someone really lived here.  He helped his mother onto the ramp and up to the lounge.  "We're here," he called.

Modo stood up and nodded, shaking her hand.  "Hi, Mrs. Vecchio.  I'm Modo.  Chassis' getting changed.  Go ahead and sit down, please.  My own momma's around here somewhere in the kitchen."  He shook Ray's hand.  "I'll try to find Vinnie and Vic."

Xander came up the ramp, grinning at them.  "Hi, Ray, Ray's Ma."  He shook Ray's hand and kissed her on the cheek.  "Welcome to our home."  He looked around.  "Victor, if you're not up here within one minute, I'm not telling your tail a bedtime story tonight, I'll call Spike and tell one to him instead."  Vic ran up the stairs and he grinned, capturing the baby.  "Sorry."  He went to change him and put him back into clothes.  He found Chassis fussing in the bathroom.  "You look fine," he said calmly.  "She's a nice lady.  Ray's a nice guy.  Go.  Either that or wait for Stanley."  She nodded, going to do that so Throttle could come help.  He got Victor redressed and carried him up with him, letting him cling to his back.  "Sorry."  He went to check on things, finding Momma sniffing the coffee.  "Yes, I know."  He measured some out and started it brewing then the water for tea.  He let her take Victor and carried out snacks, putting them on the nice, clean coffee table since both mothers had cleaned it off and then went behind them to clean. Only the bathrooms had gotten any approval.  "Here, coffee and hot water's brewing, it'll just be a moment longer."  Momma came out.  "Where's mom?"

"The library.  She's doing some last minute fussing."  She smiled and shook hands, kissing Ma's cheek "It's wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Vecchio.  Is Stanley your child?"

"I adopted him into my family.  He was so lonely and had to pretend to be my caro Raimundo when he was undercover."

"We've got a lot of families like that on Mars right now," she agreed.  "I've got a new son because of that actually."  She sat down.

"Mars?"

"Ray," Xander said dryly.

"Hey, I told you weren't human," he offered.  "Yeah, Ma, they're Martians."

"Oh, that's fine then," she offered with a smile.  "I didn't think we could produce people with such gorgeous furs without people abusing them down here."  She heard someone knock and smiled.  "That must be Stanley."

"Chassis' down there," Xander offered.  "Bring him up here, do not dare run away," he yelled after a minute.

"Cheese, you read my mind," Chassis muttered as she walked up the stairs with Stan.  She nodded politely at Ray and shook his mother's hand.  "Hi, Mrs. Vecchio.  I'm Chassis."

"Come sit, cara.  Let us talk while the others chat and fuss over things.  It's most important that you like my adopted son."  She sat beside her, nervously pushing down her skirt again.  "Relax," she offered with a smile.  "Stanley would only go for a very nice young lady."

"Well, actually I'm a squadron leader in my Freedom Fighter unit," she told her.  "I'm not always nice, but I like Stan enough to pretend for him."  Ma chuckled at that joke and she grinned back.  Hopefully the older lady liked her.

Throttle's momma came through the kitchen carrying the whole coffee maker and putting it on the table, along with the tea kettle.  Then she went back to get her bread from the fridge, bringing it out to put in front of everyone.  "Where are the other boys, Xander?"

"Throttle was at the door," he admitted.  "Vinnie, Rimfire, Dawn, and Charley may be next door."

"Hmm.  That'll change."  She moved to the back door, opening it.  "Get your tails up here now!" she yelled. They came rushing back, straightening out clothes on the way.  "Thank you, dears.  It's important for Chassis you know."  She followed them, stopping Vic from going out to play.  "No, you'll get messy later, dear."  She found her son hiding in his room and pulled him out by his ear, then swatted him.  "Now, son."

"Yes, momma."  He headed up there, taking the baby and handing him to Xander so he'd have someone to fuss over.

"Oh, is the bambino yours?" Ma asked.

"No, he's Vinnie's, they think I'm going to start cleaning and rearranging things again," he offered dryly.  She giggled and swatted at him, taking the baby to hold.  The baby stared up at her.  "That's Ray's Ma.  She adopted Stan, who's dating your cousin Chassis, Victor."

"Victor.  A strong name," she offered, smiling at the baby.  He just smiled sweetly and pulled his tail up to suck his thumb with, realizing this was an other person who would cuddle and spoil him rotten. He saw the treats and grunted, pointing.

"Son, you can speak," Vinnie said dryly.  "Let me get the cups."  He went to get the coffee cups Xander had found, since they only had three before, and brought them out.  "We've also got soda, rootbeer, and diet soda from Dawn's latest diet rampage," he offered.  "There's coffee and milk, sugar's minimal because Vic will eat from the bowl again."

"Relax," Ma promised.  "I'm not that mean."  She made a shooing motion.  "Go so we can chat.  Stanley, stay here."  He nodded, sitting down behind Chassis with a cup of coffee to hide behind.  Xander handed Ma a cup of coffee on a saucer and she smiled.  "Thank you, dear.  Go fuss."

"Yes, ma'am."  He went to fuss over Throttle, taking him into the kitchen to hug and cuddle.

"They're together?" Ma asked Stan, who nodded.  "Then they must love each other very much to get past those sort of things."  She looked at Chassis.  "Are there churches on Mars?"

"Some temples to the old Gods," she offered quietly.  "I'm not particularly religious so whatever Stan likes is good for him."  Ma nodded at that.  "How did you meet Stan anyway?"

"He was pretending to be my son while he was undercover," she sighed.  "Such a bad time.  The house burned.  Things were going horribly wrong.  He was as good of a son as my Ray would have been had he been there.  We leaned on him a lot and adopted him into the family."  Chassis nodded at that.  "So, Mars?"  She smiled and nodded.  "That's fine.  Would you consider relocating?"

"Certainly.  I'm sure the fusser in the kitchen has plans of asking if I could come down here to study or something if you let me keep dating him."  Ma smiled at that.  "Our mothers are the law on Mars," she said, patting her on the hand.  "They are the end and the beginning of the law on Mars.  Unfortunately my mother thinks I'm insane, but most of the rest of my family has no problem with me dating him."  Stan choked at that.  "Vinnie brought it up at the last family meeting when he went on a rant about my mother threatening his son," she admitted with a half-shrug.

"She did what?"

"She said that if I brought home a human or anything less than a fully Martian grandchild she would kill me and then them.  She also threatened little Victor there because his momma is Charley."  She pointed her out.  "Needless to say, Vinnie and Xander went up and ripped the family a new tail opening over it.  Most of them don't care but the few who do know they don't come near this group or most of the rest of the family.  My daddy would just be proud that I found someone who likes me."

"Every family has someone like that, child, you shouldn't worry about it overly much," she assured her, patting her on the knee.  "Now, children?  Do you want children?"

"Some decade."  Stan chuckled at that, nodding.  "It's not really my first priority at the moment.  Right now, we're rebuilding Mars after a horrible war.  Most of my job is to help with that and to run errands for the Council, which gets me down here often."

"Hmm.  Interesting.  You would come down here though?"

"If asked, yes.  I can't demand.  Mars needs every mouse we can get."

"Would Stanley be welcome up there to live?"

"By about eighty percent of the population but there's still some paranoid people who think any outsiders are going to hurt us again.  I understand why, but I'd be protecting him from them."  Ma nodded at that, giving her knee a squeeze.  "It's not been easy but I love Mars.  I'll end up retiring there some year.  For now, I'll do what I can to help and balance my own life with that.  The same as Rimfire and Dawn are. He's down here taking classes in agriculture and stuff to come back and help us."

"That's very forward thinking," Ma congratulated.

Chassis smiled. "Not really my idea.  My direct boss, Stoker, and Xander here thought it up."  She smiled as Xander handed her a glass of rootbeer.  "Thanks, Xander.  Any word from home?"

"Yeah, Wrench said most of the new refugees are settled in well and searching for their families.  The database project is still being worked on but it's helping so far.   The memorial's tomorrow night, which is about three am our time."  She nodded at that.  "We've got to get a clock set to Martian time somewhere around here."  She smiled at that.  "So if you want, he can come back for that.  I've already cleared it with Stoker.  Micah's coming too."

"Sure," she agreed.  She looked at Stanley.  "Would you like to come?"  He nodded, stroking her shoulder.  "Thanks, Stan."

"Welcome," he offered, kissing her gently.   Dawn whooped and Xander drug her off, making him laugh.  "She can appreciate Chassis' beauty, Xander."

"No she can't.  She took stupid candy today."

Rimfire shook his head.  "Late night studying," he apologized, smiling at Ma.  "Hi.  I'm Rimfire, I date Dawn and I'm Modo's nephew."  He heard the transporter go off and groaned.  "Not now.  Xander!"  He headed down there with Throttle.  He found Stoker panting.  "Problems?"  He sipped his rootbeer.  "Ray's Ma is here."

"Dirt!"  He looked at Xander.  "Someone's coming in driving a Plutarkian ship."

"I don't have artillery that big," he said dryly.  Stoker scowled.  "Sorry.  Friends?"

"We can't tell.  They can't answer."

"Well, let's see if they land, crash, or detonate," Xander told him. "If they crash they're certainly mice.  If they land, they're female mice, and if they detonate, they're Plutarkians we missed in the sweeps."

Stoker nodded.  "That does make sense.  Is she bringing him tomorrow?"  Rimfire nodded.  "That's fine.  Dawn's allowed too."  He went back to check, then came back.  "They're going to crash by the mountains."

Chassis came down the stairs.  "Stoker, Cell's unit is out there right now," she reminded him.  He nodded, calming down.  "Send them.  If it's a threat, they'll kill 'em quick.  If not, they've got a field medic and transport to an older base they can reactivate."

"Good point."  He nodded, going back to check on that.  He came back a moment later, smirking.  "Did they land?"

"They did.  A bit hard.  It's mice."  He breathed deeper.  "And it's your brother according to Cell.  She was not happy to be called back but she just reported in."

"Wonderful.  I'll see him tomorrow when I come up."  He nodded.  "Do you...."  He shrugged.  "Then clean up and come upstairs and meet Stan's adoptive mother."  She went back up there, smiling.  "No stand needed," she announced.  "More mice coming home in a Plutarkian ship.  Crashed into the mountains.  My brother's there."  Vinnie whooped and hugged her, spinning her around. "Cousin, you're making me dizzy!"  He laughed but put her down.  "Thanks.  Stoker's staying since Cell's got it."  Modo, Rimfire, and their momma nodded and Throttle's momma grinned at that.  She sat down, smoothing out her skirt again.  "Sorry.  We're on alert for anyone coming home or new attacks since the last ones are down here."

"They are?"

"There's only two or three in the city and we've got them under watch," Rimfire assured her.

"That's why I followed Ray home that night, ma'am, so none of them would find out where he lives.  We don't want the normal people involved.  They'll get hurt."

"Is that how you hurt you hand?" Ma asked.

He looked at it, then shook his head. "Paternal contributor."  He sipped his coffee. "He's dead, he decided to commit suicide when his plan to commit fraud went wrong."  She nodded, accepting that.  "This is all the family I've had for years.  You don't mind if I cuddle my man, right?"  She shook her head, giving him a tolerant smile. "Thanks."  He pounced Throttle to hug him.  "More mice."

"More mice," he agreed, stealing a kiss.  "Calm down.  You're in super bounce mode again.  I thought last night was bad."  He gave him another kiss and let him go, watching as Stoker came up the ramp.  "Hey, Coach.  Hi, Anya, Spike.  No baby and momma?"

"Momma's puking her toenails up," Anya said bitterly.  "I'm going to have a baby brother.  Another one."  She glared at Spike, who stuck his tongue out.

"Spike, behave," Xander said without having to look.  "If you do, I'll give you mine and Jessie's old journal to copy from."  Spike growled and came over to tap him on the leg so he looked down at him, smirking at bit.  "We tormented all of Sunnydale from the time we were eight until he was staked," he said quietly.  Then he sipped his coffee.  "So you can *copy* it but you may not have it."  Spike beamed at him.  "Got it?  It's precious to me."  Spike nodded, looking around.  He saw the treats and gravitated that way.

"Oh, no you don't," Stoker said, catching him before he could snatch a cookie.  "No more sugar for either of you."  He shook Ray's hand.  "Hi, I've heard a lot about you from Xander.  He said you're a very good detective."

"Thanks. He says you're going to yell at him now and then when he does stuff."  Stoker nodded.  "That's my Ma, and Stanley's hiding on the other side of Chassis."

"I figured it had to be him.  If she actually picked a man who would sit that far away from her, I'd whip her tail and check for mental coercion."  He shook the older lady's hand.  "Hi.  I'm Stoker.  I trained most of this insanity and Chassis' my aid."

"It's nice to meet you."  She smiled at Spike.  "You are nearly as adorable as the bambino in my lap."

"Oh, this is Spike.  He's having another growl and pounce day."  He shook Stan's hand, then sat down across from them.  "Chassis, your mother did want to see you tomorrow as well. She left a comm message for me. I sent back an 'if you get to come'.  If you're serious about him, we'll see what we can do about getting you down here more often."  She smiled and nodded.  "By the way, you look very nice today and please don't yell at me like Shell did."

"I won't," she offered with a grin.  "Give me Spike, Stoker."  He was handed over and Stoker got up to go bug Throttle for a bit and make sure his daughter was behaving under the influence of Dawn and both mothers.  She handed him a cookie and got a pleased growl for it.  "Just don't tell anyone and behave until you get home," she said quietly.  He nodded, nibbling.  She handed Vic some too, earning one of those Van Wham family smirks.  "Yeah, you're a cousin, little one. You'll be hell on Mars some day soon."  Ma chuckled at that and Stanley snorted, shaking his head.

"When Rimfire and Dawn come up, we'll probably be coming too," Vinnie said.  "Here, let me take him, Mrs. Vecchio.  It's time for someone's nap."  He stole a bite of the bread and stuffed it in his mouth, then took the baby from her, holding him up when he wiggled.  "Behave," he said once he swallowed.  "She'll be here when you get up most likely."  He walked him into Modo's bedroom and put him down.  "There, you rest in the really big bed so we know you can't get into trouble."  He looked out there.  "Spike, Modo got a new bed.  Come jump on it and help Vic nap."  He wiggled down and came in with his usual wicked chuckle, staring in awe at the bed.  "Xander found it."  He tossed him onto the bed.  "Don't break anything, don't touch anything, and behave.  Help him nap and you can have some cookies to take home."  He closed the door, grinning at Modo.  "So, is it hard enough for your back, bro?"

"It's really firm but it's nice," he said with a smile.  "Staff loves it too.  Somehow she manages to hog most of it."  Stoker gave them an amused look.  "Xander found me a bed to fit my body."  He opened the door to let him look.  Stoker whistled, making the boys laugh. "It's a good bed, coach.  Cost a fortune, but it's a great bed."

"Where did he find it?"

Modo blushed.  "Online at a less than kindly and polite site."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "Well, that would certainly fit you, Modo."  He clapped him on the arm.  "No cookies for them."

"Fat chance," he taunted, leading him out and shutting the door again.  He looked inside, then shook his head and closed the door again.  "We have satin sheets?"  Xander nodded, holding up a finger as he drank.  "Why?"

"Because you need special sheets sometimes?" he offered. "Like after you go make it official in front of Carbine."

Modo blushed and nodded.  "Thanks, Xander."  He gave him a strong hug.  "We appreciate you and your fussy nature."  He let him go and went to talk to his mother, giving her a hug too.

Ma smiled at Chassis.  "You have a very tight family here."

"We're more a clan but you're right.  Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo were bros before this, but with the addition of Xander and all his insanity things have only gotten tighter."  She smiled at her.  "So, Stan said you've got grandbabies?  How many?"

Ma pulled out her wallet and showed off the pictures, leaning closer to tell her something about each one.  Then Chassis pulled out her pictures to show off the many numerous cousins and tell her about them.  Needless to say, it went well.

***

Throttle walked Micah up to where Exhaust was standing, coughing to get his attention.  "I brought our human helper."

Exhaust smiled and shook his hand.  "Welcome to Mars, Micah.  Come this way."  He led him to the rest of the councilors, getting some shocked looks.  "This is Micah Simms.  He's our go-between on Earth for official matters.  He helps Xander and runs the agency Rimfire and Dawn work in."

"Hi," Micah said, shaking the hands offered.  "I don't want to intrude but I was invited."

"Of course," Carbine agreed.  "Thank you for coming, Micah."  She kissed him on the cheek.  She let him into their conversation group.  "We just got a few more refugees the other day but they're in quarantine at the moment.  They weren't in bad shape and we weren't sure about them."  He nodded about that.  "Is everyone else here?"

"Everyone.  Even Xander."

"I didn't see him during the refugee incoming," Mayflower noted quietly.

"He's got a second degree burn on his hand.  He stayed on earth to coordinate getting some extra supplies up here," Micah told her.  "It was more useful since he can't use that hand."

"That poor thing!"  She looked at Carbine, who shrugged.  "When did you find out?"

"When Throttle came to yell at me the other day."  Mayflower pursed her lips.  "I see Enamel was drug by Shell."

"As he should be.  He did a lot of work during it, dear."  She went over there to kiss him on the cheek and lead those to toward the other doctors.  "Carbine's becoming rabid about Xander," she whispered.

"I heard," he admitted.  "Any idea why?"  She shook her head.  "Shell?"

"Jealousy. Vinnie's family grew."  She smiled at her fellow doctors, shaking hands.  "I drug him with me, as promised."

"Thank you, dear."  The doctors looked at Enamel.

Mayflower coughed.  "Enamel, would you consider coming back?"

He sighed and looked at her.  "Not now," he said honestly.  "When the others do, maybe.  Right now, they need me and you've got more than me."  She nodded at that and some looked disappointed.  "Frankly, a lot of people wouldn't welcome me.  There's a lot of people who would blame me for surviving when doctors like Ty Rod didn't."  That got some more nods.  "I'm here whenever you need me once I get my hands back.  I have been since I got ordered to take care of Xander."

"You're under orders?" one of them asked.  "Why?"

"I was protecting an orphanage from some soldiers and more came up, I wasn't picky about my shots," he said honestly.  "Technically I'm under house arrest for the rest of my life or until they leave if they want to bring me back with them."

"Would they let you out if asked?" one of them demanded.

Enamel nodded.  "Probably.  But again, they need me.  There's no other docs down there and Earth is one of those places we crash on."  That got some nods and some grins.  "That's how I found my lady here.  She crashed really hard."  Shell pinkened and he grinned at her.  "You did."

"I did," she admitted.  She curled around his arm.  "Like him, I'm here to help Mars, but until he comes home I'm not coming and staying permanently.  I'll do what I do now and travel back and forth."

"With a new baby on the way?"

"I don't do much all day," Enamel promised dryly.  That got some snickers.  "Besides, this way I can make sure Spike doesn't influence my kid like he did VanWham's."  That got a lot of snickers and some confused looks. "You've just got to see them in action," he offered. He looked down when someone tugged on his arm.  "Hey, Racer.  Hug me, little man."  He hugged him, looking sad.  "What's wrong?"

"Momma Cell's missing," he said quietly.

"Honey, you go right to Xander and tell him that.  All right?"

"Not allowed."

"Fine.  I'll be right back," he offered.  "This is Racer, he wants to follow in my footsteps."  He walked him off, taking him to Modo, who was closest, and Vinnie, who was behind him.  "Modo, has your mother said anything about Cell being missing?"  He slowly shook his head.

"'Scuse me?" Vinnie demanded, turning around.  "Who's missing?"

"Momma Cell," Racer said.  "I'm not allowed to tell you or Xander."

"Well, you didn't, little mouse cadet.  Enamel did."  He grinned and patted him on the head.  "You let me handle this."  He walked off, whistling happily as he took the baby to Xander, who made him squeal.  "Xander, did you know Cell's missing?"

"Someone's in fucking trouble," he snarled.  He looked at their bikes, who were inching closer.  "Where?"

"Not a clue.  Racer wasn't allowed to tell us."

Xander smirked and walked over to where Stoker and Carbine were standing, putting an arm around her neck and walking her off.  "Where's Cell and who else is missing?" he said sweetly, squeezing her throat.  "You don't do that to my family, Carbine," he hissed.  "Where is she?"

"Two of the crashed mice disappeared from quarantine and there's a ship missing, but it's still on planet," she gasped.  "They're up in the northern mountains."

"Where?"

"By Cede."

"Thank you, dear heart.  I want a map and an accurate count of the missing by the time this is done with so we can go looking for our family.  Or else I'm going to pull all your fur out hair by hair for the petty shit you're trying on my man," he hissed in her ear, seeming to be smiling to everyone else.  She let out a nervous chuckle.  "I won't let you hurt this family and I refuse to let you harm them by not looking for her."

"No one wants to go up there.  It's cursed."

"Yay.  This family isn't no one or anyone; we're heading after this.  Got me?"  She nodded.  "Now, maps, rations if we've got 'em.  An accurate count."

"Fine.  We can't condone this action."

He gave her another squeeze, making her pass out.  He smiled at those nearby.  "Sorry, she's a bit faint from hunger. All that work on Mars' behalf," he offered with a sheepish grin, carrying her back to his bike.  "She can call someone after this," he whispered.  "We're going on a mission."  His bike beeped quietly. "I don't know who's coming besides Modo."   He went back to his mate's side, sending the whole conversation to him in one burst.  Throttle looked at him.  "Sorry.  She's a bit faint."

"You need to test how strong you are, she's not that light," he offered, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you, but quit," he whispered.  "We'll go after this."

"Fine."  He stole a kiss and then grinned, heading over to lean on Modo's arm.  "Later, will you help me test my strength, when we get home?" he asked.

Modo nodded, smirking down at him. "Smooth, bro," he offered.

Stoker coughed from behind them.  "What happened to Carbine?"

"She fainted," Xander said, smiling at him.  "How's Anya and the new one?  Are they getting along yet?" he asked, walking him off since Rimfire was coming and Modo had to tell him about his mother.  The kid was smiling too much with his bros at the moment.  "So, is Carbine's change of attitude because she's with mouse, or just needing a mouse?"

"We think she just needs a mouse," he said dryly.  "I would have told you if you asked."

"You told Racer not to tell us."

"I was going to brief you after this."

"Feel free too.  Carbine said they couldn't sanction it and they were up by Cede."  Stoker shook his head.  "No?"

"No.  Not that close to Cede.  Her whole unit," he said when he saw Rimfire storming his way.  "You're heading with them?"

"Damn right I am," he said firmly.  "Her whole unit?"  He nodded.  "Carbine?"

"Is being watched for aberrant behavior.  Or else we'd all think she had just passed out."  He saluted Xander.  "After this, my house, kids.  It'll just be your guys.  I'll make sure Micah and the ladies get home."

"Fine," Xander agreed.

"You too," Stoker told him.  "You're injured," he said, seeing the bandage.  He had forgotten about that.

"Stoker, do the words 'tail yourself' mean anything?" he hissed with a sweet smile.  "I'm going.  They'll need me too and I don't need that hand to ride."  He walked off, going to tell Vinnie and Modo, hugging both mothers on the way and whispering to them.  Enamel caught him by getting in his way and bumping into him. "I'm going."

"You could lose that hand if it infects," he said quietly, glancing around.

"And?  They'd come for me, even her."  He shrugged.  "It's fine.  It's nearly scabbed over, you said so yourself."  He walked off, going to get a drink from the buffet, then head back to his mate's side.  Throttle gave him a look.  "I'm still going."

"You're injured."

"Hasn't mattered in the past."

"It does this time.  I'm in charge and you're injured.  What happens if we're attacked at home?"

"The other me's house and kitty sitting.  With that Willow.  I'm more worried they'll do obvious damage to the others."  He smiled sweetly.  "I'm going."

"I can order you."

"This ain't the military and I don't take orders that well.  Just ask Buffy."  He smiled sweetly and walked off to talk to some others he had met.  He found Spike with his friends and grinned at them.  "Hey, guys."  Ramjet looked up at him and sniffled. "What's wrong, mouse cadet?" he asked, patting her on the head.  He squatted down to get on her level.   "What's wrong?" he asked, wiping some tears off.

"Spike said you can't play with us this time."

"Oh, I can, just not until we're on the way back.  We've got to visit some big mice before we can do any fun stuff.  Work before fun and all that," he offered with a grin, tweaking her braid.  "Then we'll come play.  I might even get Vinnie to bring Vic in for the day so you can meet him and play with him."

"You promise?"

"Unless I die in a rockslide or something, yeah," he agreed.  "I promise. We'll come play with you and I'll do my best to bring Vinnie with me and Victor."  She smiled and hugged him.  "That's a good girl, Ramjet."  He patted her on the back.  "You guys should probably find your parents so no one thinks you're up to mischief.  Learn tail and hand code, guys.  Like sign language."  He winked at Spike, who cackled at that.  "I'll see if I can find you guys a book."  He winked and walked the group back toward the parents.  He coughed and interrupted one woman, who glared at her daughter.  "The kids were gathering and trying to sneak off to play.  I thought I'd be nice and bring them back."

"Do you work in the daycare?"

"No, I'm Xander," he said.  She looked stunned and he grinned.  "Ramjet asked if I could come back and play one day and hopefully bring Victor with me."

"That would be fine," she agreed, smiling at him.  "Thank you by the way."

"It's what I do, ma'am.  It always has been."  He grinned at the kids.  "Give us a few days to visit with some big mice and do work stuff, then I'll be in, okay?"  They beamed and nodded and he looked at Vinnie, nodding at the kids, mouthing, 'they want us to come in and play one day with Vic on the way back, good for you?'.  Vinnie nodded back and grinned.  "He said it's fine.  So just be a bit patient.  We'll be there."  He winked at Spike and went back to Vinnie's side.  "They wanted me to come play."

"You play very well," Charley assured him.  "Plus, Victor could get to know some normal mice."

Xander beamed at that.  "You mean I'm not a normal mouse?"

"Um, no," she said firmly, smirking at him.  "Behave, Xander."  He shrugged and nodded, glancing around.  "Do you need me?"

"I hope not.  You can be our backup if you want.  I'll instruct my guy to break free and come for you."  She nodded, accepting that.  "Dawn?"

"Not ready for it," she said.

"Bet me," Dawn said as she walked over on Rimfire's arm.  "Fat chance you're leaving me behind.  Women on Mars get to go all sorts of places we don't on Earth."  She gave Throttle a meaningful look and he shook his head. "That's fine, we'll meet you up there."

"You don't know the playbook, that's a liability we can't allow in the field," Modo said from behind them. "Until you do, you and Xander are staying here.  Stoker's orders."

Xander beamed at him.  "Fat chance.  You'd go for me.  I'm going for her."  He punched him on the arm.  "Like she said, we'll meet you there if we have to.  It's not like we don't have combat training, Modo."

"Point," Throttle admitted, moving closer.  "But no.  You don't know the playbook."  Xander recited one move to him and he blinked.  "Memorized and practiced are two different things," he said calmly.

Xander stared him down.  "I'm going.  If you try to stop me, I'm going to whip your tail, tie you up in a closet, and then go without you."  They all gaped at him.  "I'm going.  Dawn may go if she wants.  She's my daughter first and foremost.  She's got enough combat experience to at least be the lookout if we need one. She's going if she wants."

"I want.  It's the only way to gain the experience."  She sipped her drink. "Besides you'll need me anyway in that area."  She looked at him.  "I did get to start hunting at fifteen.  Did I forget to mention that?"

"You went hunting when you were that untrained?" he demanded.

"Talk to the sister, man.  Talk to the sister."  She walked off, smiling at the woman there.  "Hi.  You look like you're a relative to Rimfire.  I'm Dawn."

She squealed and hugged her.  "I am.  I'm Rimfire's daddy's sister."  She looked her over.  "Well, I was told you were a pretty human and you are."  She smiled at her.  "Come, tell me everything about what's going on down there."  She walked her off, going to introduce her to that side of the family.

"Cheese," Rimfire said, watching.  "Auntie's got Dawn," he reported to his uncle.  He groaned.  "I don't know which is worse.  Momma or this."  An arm went around his neck and he looked back, finding his sister standing there.  "Aunty's got Dawn."

"Wonderful.  They'll squeal together."  She looked at him.  "Where's Momma?"

"Ask Stoker."

"Uh-huh."  She smiled at him. "I'm going too, Rimfire."

He smiled and patted the baby she was carrying.  "Ya know what, you're not," he said, smirking at her.  "You, Charley, and Dawn can go protect Earth for a bit.  You see, there's some Plutarkians that've snuck out and we're doing daily patrols for them."  She frowned.  "Seriously.  It's what you're trained for.  It's only slightly dangerous, because I'm not raising those horrible twins of yours as my own without grandmomma and momma whipping them good a few times so they behave and don't torture Racer the way you did me. Plus it'd be damn helpful and protecting my lady, Dawn."

"Your lady?" she snorted.

"Dawn, come meet my sister, dear," he called. She squealed and waved at his aunt, coming bouncing back.  "Dawn, my mate, this is Primer, my bitch sister."

Dawn smiled and shook her hand.  "He calls me the same thing now and then when it's first thing in the morning.  We must be kinda alike."  She smiled at him.  "I'm going."

"You should go protect the house.  We do have a threat down there and with us up here, it'll just be you, Charley, and Xander.  You can take Primer and her kids with you and find out just how horrible I was to my sister when she was a terror."

"Dear, do you *really* want to sleep alone for the rest of your very short life," she asked with a smile.

"Kids, no fighting tonight," Micah ordered from behind them.  "What's going on?"

"There's a raid and they're going," Primer told him. "Who're you?"

"This is Micah, he runs the agency we work for and he's the other guy who ships stuff up here."

"Oh."  Primer shook his hand.  "Welcome to Mars.  I've heard a bit about you."  A deep bell tolled.  "I'm going too, Rimfire.  You can't keep me from this."

Rimfire looked at his uncle, who shook his head.  He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Later," he promised himself. "It'll only be a few hours."  He walked with everyone else to the point of the chasm that was the burial place for most of the mice who couldn't be rescued.  There was a plaque there with their names and things had been piling up now for a few days.  The plaque had space in case any of those in recovery would cross over so they could join them.  He bowed his head, sending a silent prayer for those souls already gone and to rescue any remaining ones. Then he looked up at the moons rising, thanking the Goddess he had who he still had, making a vow he would be helping to get his mother back.

He knelt with everyone else, going through the motions.  He knew and the Gods knew, that's all that mattered to him.  He looked over at Dawn, who was beside him.  She glanced at him then down, concentrating.  He took her hand and she squeezed it. Around the plaque, a set of flowery grasses native to the area bloomed.  Some people sobbed and let it go, what she had been going for.  When everyone got up, he and Dawn moved closer.  He whispered in her ear.  "I need you to guard our home, Dawn.  Not because you're female or my lady, but because you're only half trained.  I'm just as likely to be sent back but I'm a full Freedom Fighter and Stoker can order me to shove you through.  Besides, someone's got to guard Charley and Vic.  She'll be too busy to."  She shook her head slowly.  "Yes, dear.  Think about what happens if Limburger attacks while we're up here and she's down there with the baby."  She shuddered.  "So go guard the most precious thing we've got.  The baby."  She looked at him. "Please."

She sighed.  "If I must," she whispered back.

"Yeah, you got to," he said, nuzzling her gently.  They walked away with most everyone else.  He looked at Charley.  "Dawn's going to be guarding you while we're gone," he said firmly.  "There's still a threat and this is a good time to act.  I'm betting they're watching us too.   Oz can't come help, Meg's due any day now."  She nodded at that.  "So therefore Dawn will be guarding you and Vic, including shoving you into the weapons closet again."  He looked at his sister as she joined them.  "Go guard the kid and my lady," he ordered.  She opened her mouth.  "Shut up, Primer, or I'm knocking you out.  You're a new mother, you're not in shape to fight.  We need good, skilled people for low impact and low risk scouting and patrols.  You can do that even with the baby.  Argue with me and I'll be swatted by grandmomma."  Primer opened her mouth and he punched her, knocking her out.  He put her across the back of Dawn's bike, handing Charley the baby with a grin.  "There you go, another guard."  He kissed Dawn, then headed to his bike after the others.

Stoker made it back to his house first, he knew all the shortcuts, and was waiting for them.  He counted noses.  "Xander, how well do you know the playbook?"

"I've only got kindergartners's understanding of Martian but the diagrams helped," he said dryly.

"That's fine.  I'm going to test you.  If you don't pass, you don't go."

"Then I'll meet them up there."  Stoker stared at him.  "I go after my family, Stoker, every damn time.  No matter the odds.  Now, we're wasting time while there's lives in danger.  If you want, I can start ahead and get it from Throttle's mind."

"You can't block him out?" Stoker asked Throttle, who glared at his mate but shook his head.  "Damn it."

Vinnie shrugged.  "We could use him since Rimfire knocked out Primer and sent her with Charley and Dawn."

"How?" Stoker asked.

"We've still got Plutarkians and that would leave Charley all by herself.  Anyone here wanna bet they're not gonna take advantage of that?"  No one raised their hands.  He looked at Stoker.  "He's right, time's wasting and we need to change too."

"I have the feeling Wrench is heading back to Earth too," Vinnie said, looking toward the wall in confusion.  "I don't know how."

"He said he's going to research in the Mechanis books," Xander told him.  "I saw him there."  He gave Stoker a look.  "So, plans, numbers, where, coach?"

"You're a smart ass punk, Xander."

"And you're just now figuring this out?"  He stared him down.  "I've fought with worse than a damn burn.  I don't need that hand to do anything but shift, and I can still do that.  My weapons are on my other side.  I'm a damn good rider, you can ask Vinnie about that.  I'm damn good in tactics on my own.  Gee, what a shock for someone like me, huh?  I'm going.  Now, let's get on with it before someone dies."  Stoker sighed and nodded.  "Thank you."  He glared at his mate.  "Not one word," he warned.

"I don't want you going, you're injured."

"So?  Did you think I wasn't injured at graduation and still fought?  I was injured when I went into the hellmouth and fought too.  Oooh, yay, a burn!" he said sarcastically.  "I'd be going even if it was infected, dripping puss, and my side was still bleeding.  This is family, you don't leave family.  I don't care what anyone says or tries, I'm going."

"Even if we threaten more medals?" Stoker asked.

"Even then.  I'd just run away again."  He took the map to look over.  "Okay, straight shot or any natural barriers?"

"There's two chasms," Stoker said, pointing at them.  Xander nodded.  "Can't read that?"

"A bit beyond me and someone has crappy handwriting."  He leaned closer, pointing at something.  "Quicksand?"  Stoker nodded.  He studied it.  "How's this path?" he asked, tracing one.

"Way out of the way.  You've to end up over here," Stoker said, tapping a dot.  "Xander, can you see at all?"

"It'd be easier if Willow would lay off me."  He traced a new path, identical to one they took to get his bike and the books.  "This way, then we'll cut across here after the quicksand.  It looks like there's some bridges there."

"There are."  He looked at Throttle, who moved closer to take the map.

"I lead, Xander."

"Yup, you do."  He grinned and looked at the map again, mentally swearing at Willow and Anya to leave him alone.  Suddenly his vision cleared and he was in a temple.  "Uh-huh.  Not happening.  Not right now, dear."

The Seal came down and handed him a pack.  "Necessary.  Including some gum," she offered with a grin.  "Tell Stoker to let you take the back path through the temples."  She winked and he faded out.

Xander came back, holding the pack and looked at them.  "We can take the back path by the temples, the Seal said so."  He set down the pack, looking inside it.  "Yes, clothes. I knew handing Willow an emergency pack would help."  He pulled out something and held it up.  "When did I give her that?"  He tossed it at Rimfire, who was wearing dress pants.  "Those should fit you too."

"Where did you go?" Stoker asked.

"The Hellmouth Seal."

"Ahhhhhh...."

Xander looked at him.  "Was that an intelligent question, coach?"  He found his gum and his leathers and grinned.  "Where can Rimfire and I change?"

"My bedroom if Anya's not in there with Switch."  He pointed.  They went that way.  "You guys go ahead," he said.

Vinnie dug around in the bag, finding Xander's discman.  He took the batteries.  Then he headed for his bike.

Xander and Rimfire both came out, Xander finding his shades and his gum, then putting on his discman and turning it on, smiling when it still played.  "Willow taught me that," he said with a grin.  "Rimfire, they're leaving us behind."

"Coming."  He came out tying the pants.  "Thanks for the clothes.  I'll try not to wreck 'em."

"That's fine."  Xander popped in a piece of gum and headed out to his bike, watching the others' dust tail.  "Seal, path?"  It was shown to him in the dirt at his feet.  "Rimfire?"

"Got it," he agreed.  "Thanks, dear."  He got onto his bike and Xander put on his sunglasses and helmet, heading out after them.  Rimfire headed off too, nodding him to veer off.  He led them past the M'dreth temple and off into the night.  He heard Xander's radio come on and smiled.  "How many songs do you have stored?" he called.

"I've got my I-Pod hooked in.  It's got everything on the computer and then some.  Most of the Beatle's collection too."  He turned it up a bit so Rimfire could hear it.  "Who'll get there first?"

"We will."  He heard bikes and smirked at him, shrugging as he sped up.  Xander sped up too, keeping pace with him.  "Ahead, once we get into the cliffs, it'll be single file."

"Sure. Lead the way, Rimfire."   They sped up to get further ahead of the engines they could hear, Xander looking back to check their lead.  "Sand Raiders."

"Excuse me?"  Rimfire slid his bike to turn around, looking at the two Sand Raiders coming their way.  "Death to Rats," he said, opening fire.  Xander took the other one and they blew them up.  Rimfire turned his bike back around and headed off again.  "Okay, so it's not going to be a boring trip."  Xander's laugh followed him like he was. "When we get to the Beatle's, turn it up."

"Sure."  He flipped through it and then turned it up.  He patted his bike.  "You're fully charged and gassed, right?"  It beeped.  "Good boy.  We're going on a rescue mission.  If something happens and I'm dead or captured, I want you to go get Dawn and Charley, all right?"  The bike beeped an affirmative.  "Thanks, bike.  Let's hope this goes easier."

***

Xander woke up on his bike, looking down at an encampment.  He looked over at Rimfire, who only smirked.  "He's that smart.  I trust him more than enough to take a nap.  What happened to the tunes?"

"I killed 'em when we got close.  There was a lookout.  Pity."  He looked down there, then handed over the binoculars.  Xander waved them off.  "Those are field specs like Throttle's?"

"Um, not exactly.  More like Micah's."  He studied the heat readings on one lense, the other watching it.  He switched input.  "Most everyone's in that square central part," he offered. "There's some roving guards.  There's only two escapees, right?"  He nodded.  "There's six guards by heat.  And one behind us."

Rimfire looked back, nodding at his uncle.  "We're thinking brainwashing.  Six guards, Xander?"

"Yeah, six by heat signature.  Um, the figures are moving in the center thingy.  But they're lining up and heading out to the...."  He took them off. "The yard," he said, pointing at it.  They watched as more figures came out.  He checked the heat signatures again, finding less guards. "We're down to four."

"Where?" Vinnie asked.  Xander handed him the glasses.  "Whoa, these are cool.  Ours?"

"Micah's.  Prototypes so don't break them."  He looked at Throttle, who had taken them to look through.  "Up to you, leader.  Do we go now, when it's good, or reconnoiters for a bit longer?"

"We go," he admitted.  "Weapons at stun, people.  There's too many down there."  Xander nodded and patted his bike.  "Single file down the gully," he ordered sternly.  "Quietly.  Backup power only."

Xander nodded, looking at Rimfire.  "You want point?"

"No, take it," he offered.  Xander nodded and turned his bike to backup power, heading down the small ravine on the slope below them.  He could see the facility through most of it.  He came out and stopped, finding a figure out in front with a weapon.  "Don't do this to him," he moaned.  "Bike, stun power only.  Knockout cyclone beam," he sighed.  The bike shot and Cell went down.  "Thanks."  He looked back at Modo.  "She'll have a headache."  He got a nod and moved forward, listening to the sounds from inside.  "Shit.  It's a sacrifice," he said, taking off his helmet.  They were chanting to..."Dajun?"   He looked at Rimfire.  "Dajun?"

"Higher elemental being on Plutark," he said, looking confused.  He stopped to check his mother, then shrugged and went on.  He looked at Throttle, who nodded. So they switched back to their engines and blew the gate to hell. Someone screamed.  "In," Rimfire ordered.  "They're moving!"

Xander headed for the barrier wall back into the building, cutting them off.  The others circled the group.  Xander got off his bike.  "Don't let anyone inside, I don't care who," he ordered.  He got up onto his seat and pulled his blaster, hitting the one sneaking on the walls.  He shot at another window and the thing moving there stopped but he wasn't sure what it was. He turned to glare at the ones coming near him.  He hissed in Martian, making them glare.  He leapt off when someone grabbed for him, landing on the wall to hit the guards coming running from the outside.  The other one on the walls came at him and he fired, hitting him on the calf.  He swore and did it again, hitting him in the stomach this time.  He looked at the window.  "Deal with it," he called down.  "There's something not registering."  He hopped up and grabbed that wall, putting his blaster between his teeth.  He climbed the few feet into the room and faced off.  "Oh, wonderful.  What, you're too cold blooded to register on heat scans too?"  The Plutarkian showed off his vest with a smirk.  "Pity for you."  He shot him in the head, killing him.  "Really big pity."

He threw the plutarkian out the window and then looked around.  He could hear machinery and followed it.  This was something he was good at.  He found the machines and stared.  No off switch.  No control panel.  "Huh."  He looked around, then took a flying leap and landed on it, crushing the moving things in front of him.  He stomped a few more times, then ripped something out and threw it.  Then he kicked a spinning part.  By the time he was done, the room was trashed. He calmly walked out, finding the doorway out.  Throttle glared at him so he dusted off the small bits and pieces of metal.  "The running machine is now broken, leader.  Are they sane now? Or do we need to do other things?"

"Where's the bikes?" Vinnie demanded to one person.

"What bikes?" he whimpered.

"Your bikes, stupid!"  He shook him.  "Where are your bikes!"

"Dajun does not like bikes," he whimpered.

"I'd say not straight in the head yet," Xander quipped. "Bike, find the other bikes."  He beeped negative.  "There's none?"

"Maybe they left them where they were captured," Rimfire offered from his post.  "Did it feel good?"

"Very.  He made a pleasing squish sound when he went out the window, and considering how heavy it was, that's a good thing."  He pulled one mouse up, slapping her across the face a few times.  She cried out.  "Where are your bikes?" he demanded.  "The Great and Mighty Othra demands that you show your true mouseness by showing him your bike."

"Othra is dead," she whimpered.  "Dajun killed him."

"Do I look dead?" he demanded, shaking her.  "Do I?"  She whimpered and shook her head.  "Then where are your bikes?  Or are you Plutarkian now?"

"They're at the delta base," she whimpered.  "We were instructed to leave them there and walk this way as a show of devotion."  He shook her again and she cried out.  "Dajun!  Protect us!"

"How?  We're already here," Modo said, removing her from Xander's grip.  "Calm down.  Please."  He looked at her.

"Tenra?"  She looked at Throttle and gasped, crying.  "No!  We were wrong!"  The others moaned and gasped, holding themselves and crying.

"Just delusional," Xander assured her.  "You can be forgiven for this, if you break this delusion and accept your mouseness again.  We will march you back to Delta base. You will retrieve your bikes.  You will prove yourself to Stoker, for he is one of us in hiding."  She nodded, bowing to him.  "Do not do that until you are normal."  She whimpered and nodded, lowering her head.  "Good girl.  Gather whatever you came with and let's go."

"What of the jewels, High One?"

"What jewels?" Throttle demanded.

"They had jewels here, we were digging them for the glory of Dajun's offerings."

"We'll come back for those so we may cleanse them of their taint," Rimfire told her.  "Now, go pack."  They nodded, hurrying off.  He looked at Xander.  "What about the others?"

"How many do we have unconscious?"

"Five," Rimfire said, smirking at him.  "Surely you don't suggest we ride with them."

"Their friends can help them, that way they know about the delusion," Throttle told him.  "How did you know this was a cult?"

"Because Stoker said only cults ever came out of this area.  The Seal intervened.  And they took directly from the movie about Jim Jones for the patterns of movement and the prayers."  He looked over as they walked back out.  "Line up, pick up the other mice and instruct them on the way there. Are their things packed?"  Everyone nodded.  "Good. Then let's go."

"Highest, your clothes mark you as a Highest of Othra.  Are they returning?"

"Mars must heal before the Gods can fully come back.  Until then they can only answer those who pray and are worthy, those who need it."  That didn't sound too bad for off the top of his head.  Rimfire looked at him.  "Don't you concur?"

"I do," he agreed dryly, smirking at him.  "You're so bad," he mouthed.  Xander shrugged. "They don't require priests like in the old days, they require those who believe and those who are working to make Mars great again so they can rejoin the general public.  That is the devotion they need to help us help ourselves."

"Which path do you follow?" one male asked timidly.

Rimfire looked at him.  "The Goddess."  He gaped.  He shrugged.  "As does my mate."

"The Goddess and Othra work together?" a few murmured.  It was unheard of.  Those two were enemies.  That gave them thought on the way back to their bikes.  Once at that base, late that night, they took off their robes and put them aside, putting back on their Freedom Fighter gear.  They found their bikes and most of them were welcomed back.  A few wouldn't let their riders mount and those riders cried and pled.

Xander coughed.  "They'll need transport anyway and they were deluded by Dajun," he offered.  "Let them at least ride back and then you can see whether or not they can be healed."  Most of the bikes relented but one would not.  "Fine, baby love.  You follow the group."  It beeped.  "Good girl.  You can ride with someone."  She nodded, getting onto another bike's back.  "Let's go.  It's a long ride back and Rimfire and I took out some Sand Raiders."  He looked at Throttle.  "Do you still have the glasses?"  They were tossed back and Xander put them back on to check them, then hit his I-Pod, which was playing the Beatle's _Come Together_.  He smiled.  How appropriate.  "Let's ride, crew.  We'll drop you off at one of the old temples and you can be treated there so you can't hurt anyone else."  That got some nods.  "Leader?"

"Let's Rock...."

"And Ride," the others agreed, heading out with the five behind them.  The bikes knew the way home even if the mice didn't.

***

Xander walked into the hospital, finding Shell and kissing her on the cheek.  "In Othra's old temple, the one out in the valley."  He grinned and walked off.  "I slid the report into your pocket."

"Xander?  What?" she called, pulling it out of her pocket.  She read it, then shrieked.  "What in the hell is going on!" she yelled after him but he was gone.  She stomped to the Council's chambers, glaring at Stoker as she threw it at him.  "That's for you!  They're in Othra's temple in the valley?"

"They are?" he asked.  She nodded, and then pointed at Carbine.  "Fine, take her with you."  He looked at it, it was written in very basic Martian.  "We'll have to work on that with the boy.  Where did he go?"

"Hell if I know!  He kissed me on the cheek, slipped me that, and then left!"

"Fine, calm down before you miscarry," Stoker ordered.  "Guards."  They came in.  "Take Carbine and Shell out to the temple of Othra in the valley.  Carbine is unfortunately showing signs of mental coercion by the same group.  The missing mice are there.  Shell, call for whoever you need on the way out there, dear," he ordered more gently. "I'm sure they did what they could to reform them."  She stomped out, eyes still blazing.  He groaned and put his head down.  "Someone *please* let me shoot Xander?"

"Hell no," Exhaust said, smirking as he got up to come get the report.  He read it over and laughed.  "Ah, I remember that cult," he said fondly.  "It won't be too hard, especially if they think the Old Ones came back to save them.  They'll probably be some very devout mice until they're quite old."  He handed it back.  "Weren't they due to go play?"

"Shit!  Spike," he said, hopping up to go save his son from getting weirder.  He couldn't stand his son if he got more weird. He heard giggling from his backyard and went back there, finding his youngest daughter walking and smiled.  "Good job."  He picked her up to kiss her, startling her.

She let out a squeak, then grinned and batted at his nose.  "Poof!"

"No," he moaned/whimpered.  "No, honey, daddy.  Daddy."  He smiled at her.  "I'm daddy!"

"Poof! Bloody hell!"

"Oooh, that's so cute!" Switch cooed.  "She talks just like Vic and Spike."  She took her daughter to tickle, earning many baby laughs.  "You're such a good girl," she cooed.

"Are you INSANE!" he shouted.  "That's not sweet!"

She swatted at him. "Lower your voice or I'm shouting back, Stoker.  It is so sweet!"  She went back to cooing at her daughter.

"Did Xander start a cult and suck you in?" he demanded.  She gave him a dirty look.  "I'm serious, woman!"

"No, you're in serious trouble now," she said dryly. "I say it's cute and I say it's sweet and she's my daughter so if you don't like it go knock up some other woman."  He just gaped.  "Do you understand me?"

He blinked a few times.  "You're exactly like your sister," he complained, sitting down.  "She was brainwashed by that damn cult and now you're nearly as bad."

"Someone has to be the bitch in this relationship," she said dryly.  She looked at her daughter.  "Tell him the other one, sweetie."

"Puppy!"  The dogs both barked at her and she beamed at them.

"See, it's cute and sweet," Switch said firmly.

Stoker stole his daughter to cuddle, glaring at her.  "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll make sure you grow up as normal as possible without being odd like Xander."

"Xander is perfectly nice!"

"For a smartass who can't follow orders."

"Why would he follow stupid orders?" she demanded.  "You knew he was going before he stated it.  It's the sort of man he is, Stoker.  Pull your antenna out of your tail.  Xander didn't change but you're acting like an old man, which you're not.  So quit!"  She walked inside, slamming the door.  Then she came back out and threw something at him. "I hope this son is the gay little fairy boy Xander predicted.  I'm naming it after him too!"

"I doubt it, woman!"  She shrieked and he got up, putting their daughter into his former seat.  "I don't name kids after people who are alive.  Or else she'd have been named after Modo's mother."

"Oh, shut up!" Dawn shouted from the gate.  "Gods, you two are louder than Xander and Rimfire together when they get into an argument about weapons!"  Stoker glared at her. "Try it, old guy.  I can feed you that mechanical tail of yours."  He gaped.  "Switch, honey, which way to the daycare?  They wanted to have Vic for a while."

"Oh, just up the street, the red brick one, Dawnie.  Thanks.  Can you take her too?"

"Sure.  Come on, pumpkin," she cooed, opening the gate.  "We'll go play with Vic and Spike and all his buddies."

She squealed.  "Bloody hell!"

"Oooh, that's so cute!  Did the little vampire mouse teach his favorite words?"

"That's still Xander's fault," he shouted after her.  He looked at his wife.  "I respect Xander, but he's a trying nuisance some days."

"And you're not?" she shot back.  "By the way, *what* happened to my sister?"

"That damn cult got her.  Xander told them the Old Gods were working together to bring them back.  Something about Othra and the Goddess."  She whimpered, sitting down.  "It was a lie."

"So?  He kicked!"  She rubbed her stomach, calming herself down.  "Stoker, the kids will be who they are.  Spike's a little thug, Anya's a princess, and this new one'll probably be just as tough as Spike since he likes her so much.  You're not going to change it.  Kids come born this way."  He flopped down, looking miserable.  "It's not Xander, or me, or you.  It's them.  That's how they are.  Learn some acceptance, okay?"  She got up and went inside, slamming the door again.

"All I want are kids like me," he called.

"Well, the world is a wider place than your family tree, Stoker!   Anya's just like my mother!"

"Don't you hate your mother?"

"So!" she shrieked.

"Fine, sorry."  He got up and headed inside to calm her down.  It wasn't good for her to fight with him.  He knew that.  "I'm sorry.  I'm the typical wrenchhead father.  I should enjoy my kids being themselves and not molding them into perfect freedom fighters.  You're right."

She looked up at him.  "And you're right, people look at Anya and wonder why she's not riding and blasting things already.  They figure she was the odd one in the family gotten out of the way early.  We still have to let the kids be themselves.  Xander isn't the one influencing this."  He snorted.  "He's not.  He loves the kids, Stoker, and he's never going to have any of his own.  Of course he treats the kids around him like they're special.  It's the only chance he's got for a family," she said, starting to sniffle.  "If it weren't for him, Spike really would be a thug.  He's kept Spike from becoming a bad guy over and over by deflating that ego you keep giving him.  He's kept Anya from being the spoiled princess my mother was and kept her from going out and getting hurt.  Hell, dear, Spike kept her from trying to go help him and Racer."  He sighed and nodded, cuddling her. "Lay off Xander, Stoker.  He's the mouse he is.  He's the same as the man he used to be and you said when you first met him that he was going to drive you insane but that you admired him for what he was like."  He nodded at that, resting his forehead against hers.  "So what's changed?  He's not a Freedom Fighter.  You can't fire him, Stoker.  He's not your trainee, he's Throttle's problem boy.  They're going to have a loud fight later, I'm hoping it's not at the daycare."

He smirked.  "Is that where the lunatic is?"

"Ramjet wanted him to come play for the day, he promised he would," she said with a small smile.  "Be thankful he's as protective of our kids as he is, Stoker, or else we'd be missing Spike because of that invasion or because he'd be off doing stupid shit because he was lonely."

"So he's a blessing on this family?"

"On Mars, dear.  On Mars.  Think about all he's done for us.  No matter how often we tell him not to."  Stoker nodded and groaned, kissing her gently.  "Are you calmer now?"  He nodded.  "Good.  Then I heard Spike whispering bloody hell into her ears for the last week and a half.  It's his fault."  She gave him a real kiss.  "You never know, it could be some sort of foresight.  After all, he knew about Spike.  He knew about Anya's temperament."  She stroked her stomach and he added a hand, getting kicked gently.  "He could be right about this one.  Then what will you do?"

"Whine, moan, hold my head, and find him a nice boy mouse to settle down with as quickly as possible," he assured her.  "That way we don't have to watch him experiment."

She giggled and hugged him.  "Can we name him after Vinnie?"

He smirked at her.  "That's a mean thought," he taunted, kissing her.  "Not after anyone living."

"Fine.  Not after anyone living."  They shared a smile.  "Are you glad?"

"Nope," he said, shaking his head but he was grinning.  "I love our kids, but I was more than happy with one."  She swatted him and went into the kitchen.  "Did you get any of those granola bars Xander had sent up?"  She tossed him a box and he sat down to pick out what he wanted.  "Thanks, dear."

"You're welcome.   How much longer before they can finalize the plaque and Dawn can release the flowers?"

"She did?"

"Who do you think did it, Stoker?  The Goddess?" she asked patiently.

"Who knows around that group. Dawn, Vinnie, and Rimfire all follow her and I'm told Vic will be some day too."

She smiled at him.  "Good!  Because Anya wants lessons with Wrench."  He choked on the bite he was taking, making her coo over him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

"Yes you did.  You like to see me choke and speechless."  He kissed her, then wiped off his eyes.  "Hell no.  Absolutely not."

"She can float a pencil.  Willow showed her how to."

"Hell no and I'm going to go burn down that temple if she doesn't leave our kids alone," he said firmly. "She's nearly as bad as Xander is."  He took another bite even though she swatted him. "She is.  She brings strange crap, like finding those ships.  How did that happen?"

She looked at him.  "Do you want the story they told or the truth?" Anya asked from the doorway.  "Unclie Xander floated off after Unclie Vinnie's momma when she came to talk about her brother.  He's the one who sent up the flares and spotted the ships."  She came in and curled up on her father's lap, cuddling him. "I love you."

"What did you do?" he asked, taking another bite.

"Ramjet's a meany so I shoved her into a sink.  She made fun of my hair."

"Anya," he sighed, then shook his head.  "Honey, there's more important things to worry about on Mars than your hair."

"Daddy, me being pretty makes me feel important and I can do more things when I feel important."  She looked at him.  "I don't want to let the ugly times take over.  Or else I'll end up bitter like Auntie Carbine."  She put her head back down.  "I can't go back tomorrow either."

"Fine," he sighed, shaking his head. "The note?"  She pulled out the crumpled ball and handed it over.  "We've got to work this out, daughter.  You can't beat up on the other girls because they're not in the mood to feel pretty."

"So?  They shouldn't pick on me either."

"They shouldn't," he agreed, "but you still can't beat them up for it, darlin'."  He looked at his wife, who nodded.  "I'm sending you to talk to Modo's momma later tonight.  I want you to listen to her about this stuff.  She's pretty wise and I think she can help you figure out how to deal with this stuff in a better way than beating up on people, Anya."

"Yes, daddy.  Do you think I'm too fri.... friv....whatever that word is to find a good boy?"

"No, dear. I think you're seeing an area that not many other mice are concerned about yet," he said honestly.  "Who told you that you were too frivolous to get a boyfriend?"

"The teacher," she said quietly.

"I'll have a talk with her while you talk with Modo's mother," he promised.  "Agreed?"  She nodded. "Good girl, call her now."  She got up and went to call her to see if she could come over. He looked at his wife.  "You want this one?"

"I have twice," she said firmly.

"Fine."  He got up and headed down to the daycare, walking in and heading to his daughter's room.  He found the teacher and watched her wince.  "Just because my daughter wants to look ahead and wants to help people find prettiness that may still exist on this ruined world does not mean you can tell her she's too frivolous to get a boyfriend.  She's artistic, lady.  Something you clearly can't appreciate."  She opened her mouth and he held up a hand.  "I don't care.  I've heard you had this talk already with my wife, twice, and I'm not putting up with it.  Anya likes pretty things because it makes her feel more secure and that the ugliness of rationing and things will be ending within her lifetime.  I consider that something other than frivolous.  Even at the height of the war, we still had artists and honored them.  Now, lay off my daughter."

"Did you see what she did to Ramjet!" she shrieked.

Xander came out of the room, glaring at her.  "Ramjet's fine.  She's also aware that she shouldn't be picking on Anya and why.  Those who can find some amount of beauty in the world are the ones that won't end up dying in a meaningless bar brawl, get depressed and kill themselves, or end up a bitter human being.  Maybe you should take some time to go stare at the desert and the sunsets and stuff.  I find that helps me when the world starts to drag on me after ten years of combat.  Anya's a happy little girl and she had better stay that way.  It's wrong, fundamentally wrong, to ruin a little girl just because she can still find some beauty in the world.  She's right, a bit of beauty makes the ugliness easier to bear.  So lay off my godchildren."  She burst out in tears and ran off.  "Wonderful," he said dryly.  "Do I apologize for that too?" he asked dryly.

"No, I agree with you, mini-punk.  Good work out there."  Xander shrugged and went back to playing with the kids.  He walked in, watching his son playing with other kids.  They were staring at some book Dawn had brought and working on something with their hands.   Ramjet did have a black eye, but nothing too tragic. He was sure her mother had been told already and he'd hear about it from her too.  He let them play, Xander never taught them anything harmful.  He decided to go find Throttle, who was at his mother's.  He tapped then walked in, looking at him.  "Your boy looks miserable," he said, flopping down next to him.  "He just yelled at the daycare worker for upsetting Anya and telling her she was too frivolous to find a boyfriend."

"No, she's just artistic," Throttle said dryly, sipping his rootbeer.  "I can't have him ignoring orders in the field."

"Throttle, consider it.  He's a field commander.  You're a field commander.  Would you take his?"  He shook his head.  "Why?"

"Because he's not as trained."

"Then you're not counting all his prior years of slaying?"  Throttle glared at him.  "Tough, punk.  Your boy's the same as a ten-year combat veteran.  He's got experiences in another area.  You're great at field maneuvers, but he's great at small group combat and getting into places.  You've let him do it in the past."

"Yeah, on my orders as part of the plan.  This time he disobeyed orders.  He's injured, he shouldn't be in the field."

"When did you go into the field after you were hurt, Throttle?" he asked quietly.  "The three of you were back out there nearly as soon as you could walk."  He sighed and nodded.  "You and Xander are a lot alike.  Switch today reminded me that I told her I was going to be driven nuts by the kid because of his nature to jump in and help, but that I'd come to respect him.  Damned if I wasn't right."  Throttle looked at him again.  "He's your equal in the fight, Throttle.  Even though he's younger.  Yeah, he's not a Martian naturally.  This is a whole new method of fighting for him, but it's the same thing at the same time.  It's still fighting.  He still has to finish learning the playbook, but he'll be fine."

"I think that's the most wise I've heard you, dear," Throttle's momma said, coming out to hand him a soda and kiss him on the cheek.  "How is poor Anya?"

"Depressed.  The teacher told her she was too frivolous to find a mate when she was grown.  Xander tore her down and told her it was the people who couldn't find beauty in the world who died in bar brawls and committed suicide."  She nodded.  "What do you think about what Xander did?"

"Dear, you knew he was going to go.  Before you even opened your mouth you knew.  That's the sort of mouse Xander is.  He would have been up here helping move people if he could have."

"I stopped him and made him organize stuff down there," Throttle admitted. He finished his soda and handed her the can.  "He still disobeyed an order in the field."

"This is why spouses aren't allowed on the same team," Stoker assured him.  "You're going to have to work this out or he's going to hand back that earring and then head off and leave."

"He won't.  We're his family," Throttle said quietly, considering it. "He might walk off but he'd have to come back."

"No, honey, he won't," his mother assured him.  "Even Willow said it.  Xander only gives one chance and he's easily hurt by people not dealing well with him.  Even Winch saw that, dear."  He flinched.  "Now, go get your boy and play with the kids.  It's time for you to see some beauty in the world too."

"I still can't have him countermanding my orders in the field," he said bitterly.  "That's what really hurts."

"So you had two different approaches to the battle.  Good.   Was yours working?"

"I didn't get time to tell them mine."

"We were both dumb, Throttle.  Vinnie should have stopped us.  To Xander, his family is his world.  If they're that mad at him, he's going to feel abandoned.  Which we both did.  Which group got there first?"

"Them, even though they had to take on some Sand Raiders."

"That wasn't in the report."

"What did the report say?"

"That the group arrived, they moved in upon Xander's noticing they were praying to a Plutarkian deity.  They baffled the group and someone suggested he was from one of the older religions, Othra's.  He played the part and Rimfire noted he was there representing the Goddess.  They talked the brainwashed mice partially out of their delusion, got them moving back to delta base, where the bikes were, and then dropped them at the temple of Othra in the valley.  He did mention something about diamonds too."

"They were mining diamonds to offer to Dajun, the deity the Plutarkian brainwashing them was playing.  And he's an elemental spirit."  He took Stoker's soda to drink.  "We got there and found them scouting.  Xander hadn't been awake that long, he still sounded tired."

"They got there in enough time to nap?"

"He could have napped on his bike.  I'm not sure.  All I know is that he had some prototype glasses from Micah.  He was scouting with the heat scan setting when we pulled up."  He killed that can and threw it.  "They still disobeyed orders."

"Yeah, and they're the ones who solved it, Throttle.  What would have happened if you went with your plan?"

"There probably would have been deaths.  That Plutarkian had something that hid him from the scan."  He looked at him.  "So I'm at fault?"

"No.  This was a clash of methods.  The same as we had now and then.  Remember?"  He nodded, grimacing, not looking any happier.  "Xander has a different style.  The guy could be a cult leader himself.  People follow him.  Rimfire followed him and he knew I had ordered him not to go."

"Yeah, but it was his mother."

"So?  According to Xander, she's family too."

"Oh."  He slumped.  "So I'm at fault."

"No.  We were at fault for not realizing that the fundamental nature of the mouse was going to show through this time.  Any other time would he have *demanded* to go, up to the point of hurting Carbine and others?"

"No," he said, thinking some more.  "No, he's taken himself off patrols until he's better.  Of course he said his weapons were on that side," he said, glaring a bit again.  "That liar!"

"Only in a good cause, kid.  He obviously used them.  He shot someone by the look of his bike when I passed it."  Throttle stared at him and he nodded.  "Seriously.  Where did he head after dropping off the people?"

"He said he was going to hand in the official report and then tell Shell before going to play with the kids."

"Which he did.  He handed the official report to Shell, didn't tell her anything, then skipped out.  Can you think of anything that would have kept him out of that battle?"  He shook his head.  "Then realize the nature of your mouse and plan on it.  Include that in the plans.  He's saved your tail how many times?" he asked when Throttle looked at him.  "Some people think he's some sort of saint in the making."

"He's a reborn black mouse," he said grimly, putting his head down on his hands and his elbows on his knees.  "I can't make plans for the vacuum that's Xander's soul when someone he loves is hurt."

"You can so.  You know what the others would do.  What would Modo have done if it came down to shooting his sister or dying?"

"He would have died.  Vinnie might have."

"Xander?"

"Xander would do what he did.  He hit her some weapon that knocked her out and when she came too she was seeing sense."

"What if it were Dawn?"

"He'd go off, like Vinnie would," Throttle said quietly.  He looked at him.  "I can plan for that?"

"I'd make it part of the contingency plan," he offered dryly.  "I always planned for Vinnie's wildness.  That's why he got those spots he did."

"Point," Throttle agreed.  "Maybe I wasn't thinking straight because it was someone so close to us," he admitted, shaking his head.  He looked at his mentor.  "You're a good coach, old man."

"I try," he admitted.  "It keeps me sane after dealing with my daughter, who's first words were 'poof' and 'bloody hell'."  Throttle cracked a grin at that.  "And Puppy.  She showed that one later.  Switch reamed my tail over my bitching about Xander influencing the kids. When are you having some so I can have a normal kid?"

Throttle chuckled.  "Not anytime soon.  We're all working on Vic and hoping for Staff's sake."

"Those'll be some sweet kids.  Easy to handle.  Not at all like Primer's.  Did Enamel tell you what Racer said?"  He shook his head.  "That he had learned to bandage because he had been injured and his sisters tortured him."  Throttle chuckled and nodded at that.  "Modo's kids you won't have to worry about.  It's yours and Vinnie's.  They're going to rule Mars some day.  Remember, Vic will be a Freedom Fighter some day.  Maybe he'll even take my spot some day."

"Don't wish that on Mars," he said dryly.  "Can we put him in Spike's unit?"  Stoker nodded at that. "That'll be fine with us.  Of course, by the time the kid's twelve Rimfire and Xander will have him mostly trained."  He sat upright.  "Vic's the next Rimfire."

Stoker chuckled. "Quite possibly, punk."  He clapped him on the back.  "Want to ride back with me to the daycare?  I'm not sure what Xander is teaching the kids today."

"He called to ask Dawn if she could get a book on sign language and morse code," Momma called from upstairs. "Whatever they are."

"Sign language is how deaf people communicate," Throttle said, looking really confused.  "Morse code is like dots and dashes in a ...code.  Oh, cheese, he gave them a way to communicate without the adults knowing."  He rushed for his bike.  Stoker was right behind him.

"How many versions are there ?"

"Flags, lights, bunches of them," he called back as he rode off.  He put his helmet on as an afterthought.  Xander was giving those kids the tools to become hellions and destroy Mars before they grew up.  He, Vinnie, and Modo knew tail code, but not all mice did, and look what they had done.  Rimfire hadn't even needed help to nearly drive the Freedom Fighters insane. Stoker pulled up along side him.  "Think about it, coach.  They can communicate without you knowing about it by now.  Think of Rimfire and that."

"Oh, cheese," he said, shuddering.  They sped up and pulled into the lot, finding the kids outside, laughing and chasing Xander around the yard.  He patted Xander's bike.  "You okay, guy?"  It beeped tiredly.  "Need plugged in?"  It beeped again.  "I'll have him do that.  Xander, your bike needs a plug!"

"It needs gas too and I'm doing that just as soon as I get home, in a few hours.  Can you wait, babe?"  It beeped affirmatively.  "Thanks.  I'll get you here in a few minutes."  The kids whined en masse.  He grinned at them.  "A true mouse always takes care of his bike before himself.  After all, they don't have arms to plug themselves in."

"We can run a cord," the room attendant offered.  He grinned and nodded.  "Let me get mine off my bike, Xander."  She smiled at Stoker.  "He was good enough to help the rest of the kids learn that sign language alphabet too.  It's an interesting idea and probably quite helpful."  She got her charging extension and plugged his bike in, patting it gently.  "There you go, big boy.  Just rest sweet and he'll get you some gas once you get home."  The bike beeped, leaning toward her.  "Oooh, you're just a lover."

"His rider's still mine though," Throttle told her.  "How's your little brother?"

"Pouting.  His girl left him."  She shrugged.  "She was a tart anyway."

Throttle nodded.  "I've dated a few of those in my day."  He walked in to help Xander play with the kids.  He caught him and grinned at them.  "There you go, one Xander helplessly on the ground."  They pounced them both, making him laugh and tickle a few of them.  He was bitten and yelped, swatting at Spike.  "Don't bite!  Especially not me.  I won't get you books on light codes if you don't."  Spike growled at him.  "What?"  He gave Xander a look, then glared at Throttle again.  "I'm here to apologize."

"Bloody well better," Spike agreed, going to pull Ramjet off Xander's ear.  "Let's go practice," he told her.  "We'll take Vic."  She nodded and got Piston and Thruster, taking them to play in the shaded corner.

The teacher looked at them, then at Stoker.  "I remember Rimfire doing that same move with a book," she said dryly.  He hurried that way and she smirked. "Good."  She pulled Throttle up and then Xander, grinning at the kids.  "Go clean up for lunch."  They ran inside.  "You four, lunch," she called. "Go clean up!"  They ran inside with Stoker following, having confiscated their book.  "It's really pretty neat, Stoker."

"Good.  The rest of us could use it too, just so they can't get into the 'net and cripple it for ten hours like Rimfire did."  He headed inside to help out.  Spike never voluntarily washed.

Throttle pulled Xander closer, staring into his eyes.  "I love you and I was stupid to not realize you would be there anyway.  Especially after you said it.  I was trying to protect you, Xander."

"I didn't need it."

"I know, but you're injured and it's my right and job to fuss. That's what mates do."  Xander got free, glaring at him.  "I'm trying to apologize."

"No, you demeaned me.  How dare you think I can't fight just because I have a *burn*!"  Throttle nodded.  "No, don't just *nod*," he said angrily, waving that hand. "You've done this before.  You do it to Charley and Dawn all the damn time, Throttle."

"No swearing," someone yelled.

"Just kiss and make up," a younger sounding male voice called.

"Inside," Throttle yelled.  He pulled Xander out into the street, facing him again.  "I'm sorry.  I should have known.  She's family and you go after family."  Xander nodded at that but he wasn't relenting.  "As for Charley, we include her when it's safe."

"Why can't you just teach her and make it safe more often?  She's not a bimbo and neither is Dawn.  For that matter, neither am I."

"I know you're not and I'm working on training Dawn.  I didn't want her to go because she's not fully trained.  The same as you're not.  At least not in Martian tactics," he said at the disbelieving gasp.   He grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him closer.  "If I had to call a play in the middle of a battle, could you follow it?"

"Probably about eighty percent of the time once I saw what the others were doing."

"Good.  When you know it by heart, without that hesitation, then you can join in," he said firmly.  "The same as Rimfire could when he was old enough and knew the playbook.  The same as Dawn can and Charley can if she wants to be trained now.  Yes, we pull macho crap on her all the time, Xander.  I admit that.  Is that better?"  He shook his head.  "You're a great field commander and I admire your strengths, but this is a weakness and you're going to have to fix it."

"I still can't read the damn playbook, Throttle!"

"Then we'll work on your Martian," he agreed.  "All you have to do is ask.  We'll run drills and teach you, Xander.  We learned most of them by teaching too.  That's why there's *training*."  Xander glared at him.  "So let us train you since we're not doing it the other way effectively.  We can work on Dawn and Charley at the same time and it won't hurt us to go over them either."  Xander relaxed a bit at that.  "Is that agreeable?"  He nodded. "Good.  When your hand is healed, to Enamel's satisfaction, then we can start that."  Xander opened his mouth.  "I will not allow someone injured into the field unless it's a last ditch effort.  Unless they're the only person with that knowledge.  While you're injured, that's you.  You'd do the same thing in your plans."

"I didn't have the extra people to do that with, Throttle.  I went out, broken, bruised, and bleeding.  So did the rest of us."  Willow appeared and he glared at her.  "Butt out!"  She faded back out.  He looked at his mate again.  "If I feel there's a need for me to go, then there is!  You're not stopping me!"

"Then some day you'll end up dying on me," he shouted. "Do you really want to leave me that soon?"

Xander glared at him and reached for his ear, but his hand made him wince. "Fuck you," he said, stomping off.

Throttle caught him and forced him to face him.  "No Freedom Fighter goes into the field without medical clearance.  We've had to be lax in the past, but I wouldn't send someone with an open wound.  Never.  I can change plans.  An injured solider is a liability in the field.  You know that.  I'm sure you know that."

"It hasn't mattered in the past."

"It has.  If you've been going out injured, I'm going to tan your tail," he hissed, stepping closer.

"You do, every day."

"Mine's to the point where I'm not going to heal, infect, or suddenly burst open from it," he said sharply.  "Unlike your hand.  You could lose that hand for this, Xander. Then what?  You go to Karbunkle and ask politely for a fake one?"  Xander glared at him.  "Sorry, that was mean."  He calmed himself down.  "Those are the rules.  All armies fight by those rules, even in the worst of times.  Even when it's only a small group.  The only thing injured are good for is a last stand where they demand to go out in honor.  Since I'm not losing you that way, it's a moot point. You will get medical clearance to go out.  The same as I had to.  Enamel had to make sure I wasn't going to pass out.  It sucks that yours is lasting longer than being out of the hospital, but now it's your duty to heal and let the rest of us do the work."

"I'm not feeble."

Throttle squeezed his hand gently, watching him wince.  "That's the normal pressure I give you when we're dancing, Xander.  Until you don't wince, there's no going into the field unless it's an absolute emergency.  Yes, Cell is family.  I probably couldn't have stopped you for anything."

"Let go," he hissed, his teeth clenched.  Throttle let his hand go.  "That was not..."

"It was."  He held both hands and squeezed just the fingers, watching him hiss.  "The same pressure, babe."  He pulled him closer again, letting go of his hand.  "Yeah, you were right to want to go get Cell with us."

"Do you mind terribly, you're in the middle of the road," someone called.

Throttle glared back at him.  "Ride off," he warned.  The mouse smirked.  "I mean it."  He looked at Xander again, taking him back to his bike and sitting him on it, taking out his boot knife to open his bandages.  It was filthy anyway.  He looked at the burn, then at his mate.  "Look at that."  Xander looked down but didn't show anything.  "Really, look at it, Xander.  Study it.  That's your skin hanging off."  Xander went paler, then he leaned over and got sick.  Throttle leaned on Stoker's bike, looking at him and waiting while he kicked dust over it.  "You done?"  Xander glared at him again.  "Sometimes people have to be forced to quit ignoring things.  I don't know how you suppressed pain on that level but most people want drugs for it.  Even in the hospitals they want drugs.  They give them morphine for that and you're not even taking Tylenol."

"I deadened the pain."

"And slowed your reflexes, which can get you dead," Throttle said coolly.  "Or get me dead or get Vic dead."  Xander flinched at that. "Would you have let Buffy out with something like that?"  Xander looked up and nodded.  "You would have?"

"Did I have a choice?" he retorted.

Throttle calmed himself down.  "No, you probably didn't.  I do.  Therefore we follow the injury rules, Xander.  Each and every time.  No more of this.  I will not accept it.  Ever."  Xander glared at him.  "Unless it's a world-ending emergency or backup, you're grounded each and every time you ache.  Even if it's a papercut, I want proof it's healed."

"Then I can't ever go out, can I," he asked bitterly.

"You can.  Why do you ache?"  Xander glared at him.  "Something about the change?"  Xander nodded.  "Since when?"

"Always."

"Enamel knows about this?"

"I told him, he said it'd get better."

"Then you're talking to him again.  I'm not having you injured and fighting unless you have to, Xander.  Not even sparring.  I'm sorry, I'm going to have to set this rule as the leader of the group.  You joined us, you acknowledged that I do have some skills as a leader.  You agreed to follow my lead into battle.  Yeah, you're a damn good leader yourself.  You've got training in things I could never dream of.  You've handled things I couldn't have imagined."  He leaned forward.  "Now you don't have to most of the time.  In those situations I'm letting you lead and I follow you.  As the Biker Mice, you follow me.  And the rules I follow say no injured people in the field."

"Gee, then I can't go back out?" Modo asked as he parked.

"You're as healed as you're getting, bro.  We're talking Xander's hand."

Modo nodded.  "I've been wondering what he's used to kill the pain."

"I developed a way to shut off pain when I was younger," Xander admitted. "We didn't have enough people to leave the injured benched."  He looked at his mate.  "I can still handle it."

"You may be able to, but what does that do to the rest of your body, Xander?" Xander sighed and shook his head.  "I want to swat you so bad," he groaned.  "I do.  I very muchly do.  You're ignoring your body's signals.  You have pain sensors for a reason.  They're there to tell you you're injured."  Xander glared at him and Throttle lunged over, getting into his mind to find out what was making this keep going.  Usually Xander would have given up by now.   He pulled back snarling.  "If he wasn't dead, I'd kill him myself," he said quietly, his voice dripping ice.  Xander shivered and Throttle pulled him into his arms.  "You survived and I love that abut you," he whispered.  "I won't have you die on me now because you're being a badass.  You're my mate and I want you around for a long time."  Xander shrugged. "Don't you want that too?"

"I want to quit aching every day."

"Maybe that's those pain receptors firing off to make sure you know they're still there," he said impatiently.  "Come on, I'm taking you to see someone."  He shook his head.  "I will swat you, Xander.  We're going."

"I don't need...."  Modo knocked him out.

"Sorry, I can't stand to see people hurt themselves. What's he doing?"

"He's in pain all the time from something in his chest," he admitted.  "I don't think the muscles aligned properly."  Modo nodded at that.  "Tell Stoker I'm taking him to see someone."

"Sure, bro.  Where are the kids?"

"Having lunch.  Stoker's in there too."

Modo grinned. "Lunch was always my favorite subject."  He walked inside.

Episode 65:

Throttle got Xander in front of him.  "Yo, bike, stay here.  I'll come get you later with Vinnie.  Got it?"  It beeped inquisitively.  "His hand's getting worse.  Until I tell you, he's not to fight unless he's got to.  Got it?"  The bike snorted.  "Don't go against me.  He's not to fight until he heals."  He drove off, taking Xander to the hospital.  The regional clinics were good but they couldn't fix it there if it needed fixing.  He parked and got off, picking Xander up over his shoulder to carry inside.  Someone got the door and he nodded. "Thanks.  The ER still in the same place?"  The guard nodded.  "Thanks."  He headed that way, giving the nurse staring at him a dirty look.  "His burn's infected, he's suppressing the pain he's in constantly.  He's got something wrong with his right pec and just under it that's causing chronic pain."  She got him a wheelchair and he put Xander down, putting his hand in his lap.  She looked and hissed.  "He's been suppressing the pain.  He isn't taking anything for it.  The bandage was really nasty so I took it off."

"Is he a relative, sir?"

"He's my husband, nurse.  I'm bonded to him and stuck in his head."

"Is that a separate problem?"

"Not to us."  He casually knocked Xander back out again when he groaned.  "He's Xander Harris. You've got his file around here somewhere from the medical board."

"Okay.  Let me get you into a room and I'll find it."  She led him that way, going to call the senior doctor on the floor.  There was a note about him somewhere, something about a doctor named Enamel.  She tugged on the doctor's coat, making him look at her.  "There's a Xander Harris here, sir.  His...husband?  Said his hand's not looking good.  It's an older looking burn.  He said he removed the bandages because they were dirty.  Something about chronic pain on the right side of his chest in the pectoral area and he was suppressing the pain?  He knocked him back out."

He blinked a few times.  "Go up to the board, get his records for me.  No one else sees him but me and Enamel, that guy who was paralyzed temporarily."  She nodded, hurrying off. He went to find the mouse, finding Throttle first.  He looked at him. "You're his spouse?"

"Bonded mate and he's stuck in my head," Throttle said dryly.  He held up his hand.  "Enamel's been taking care of it but it's been a few days.  The bandage was filthy so I took it off. He's doing something mentally to suppress all the pain he's in.  He's got a chronic pain here," he said, touching the right area.  "He has since he changed into a mouse. Enamel said he'd grow out of it but he never told me and he's been shoving that down for a while now."

"Okay.  Let me do a few things and I'll call him up.  I've sent for his records.  You are aware our hearts are over there?"  Throttle nodded.  "Is it related to that?  Human's hearts are on the other side of their bodies."  Throttle shuddered.  "I'm guessing it might have something to do with that."  He listened to his chest, then smiled and nodded.  "I think it could be something about that.  Perhaps a muscle stopping that from moving properly into place."  He moved onto his hand, wincing a bit.  "He can make himself not feel that?"

"His father once beat him with a piece of barbed wire."  The doctor shuddered. "He had to manage it without drugs and figured out how to stomp on his pain centers.  He ignored that and the stab wound he had at the time for almost twelve hours before it got treated if that gives you a clue."

"It does.  That could also be some of the pain."  He waved the nurse in, taking the file.  "Thank you, dear.  You may go."  She nodded, heading off.  "She's still fairly new."  He sat down to read over the notes, frowning at what he saw.  "Enamel was what sort of doctor?"

"Pediatrician," Xander moaned, sitting up.  Throttle shoved him back down and knocked him back out.

"I have something I can give him.  Even with that marking on his chart."

"As long as it won't hurt him.  He reacts very badly to sedatives."

"It's actually a pain killer."  He went to get some, coming back to inject Xander in the arm. Then he went back to reading.  "Ah, here it is."  He read over that section, nodding a few times.  "He thought it should correct but I don't see where he's ever went back to check it again.  There's a muscle in the way of it shifting over properly."

"Can it be fixed?"

"Easily," he assured him.  "It'll just take some open chest surgery."  Throttle winced at that.  "It won't be pretty," he assured him.  "There may be a way around it but I'm not sure yet.  Let me continue looking this over.  I'm going to call him to talk to him."

"He's with Shell," Throttle told him.  "Wherever she is."

"That's fine.  I know, roughly, where she is.  She's always hungry about this time of day," he offered with a small smile.  "I'll be right back.  Keep him calm and push the blue button if there's any change.  He shouldn't wake up for a bit."  Throttle nodded at that so he walked down to the cafeteria, finding Shell and Enamel.  Everyone else was ignoring her because she was eating pickles on her hotdogs.  He sat down across from Enamel, pushing over the folder open to the right spot.  "Did you ever go back to check that?"

He read it, then shook his head.  "I thought it'd fix itself and he quit complaining after the first two times.  Why?"

"He's in chronic pain from it.  He's also been stomping on his pain receptors mentally."

"Since he was six," Shell agreed, wiping her mouth off.  "That's why he isn't feeling his hand and isn't taking anything for it."  Enamel gaped and she shrugged, smirking at him.  "That's part of what makes him a Xander mouse."

"Damn it," he muttered, getting up and heading up there.  He found the right room and glared at Throttle.  "He quit complaining about it."

"He never told me at all," he admitted.  "By the way, look at his hand."  Enamel looked then flinched.  "It hasn't been changed in a few days.  Mostly on a rescue and things.  From now on, I'm going by the medical clearance rule."

"Sure, I agree totally.  Especially with this one being the way he is.  Can you help me?"  Throttle put the stethoscope in his ears, then on his chest.  "Lower. Turn it around too."  Throttle turned it over and then moved it.  "Lower and to the right."  He listened, his eyes closed, then nodded.  "Now back to the center."  It moved and he listened again.  "That bastard, he never told me!"  He shook the earpieces off then looked at him.  "It's not uncommon, but it's not too usual," he warned. "It can be fixed. We will have to go in and move whatever is blocking it.  Part of that pain is probably low blood flow to some spots."  Throttle shuddered again.  "It could be a lot worse.  Someone will have to crack his chest, then move it."  He licked his buck teeth, looking over as the doctor came back with a cardiologist, the last on Mars.  "He's a changed one."

"I saw."  He moved the stethoscope and listened, then frowned a bit, listening to the wrist above the burn."  He looked at Throttle.  "Can you go in and remove the pain blocks?"  He shrugged.  "You are his spouse, right?"

"Yeah and he's in my head permanently.  I don't know where they are or how he does it, just that he does it.  I only found out today."

"I can if he'll lead me in," Shell said from the doorway.  "I've had to tamper a bit in there in the past, nudging aside some stuff."  She walked in and made the mistake of looking at Xander's hand, then getting sick in the corner. "Sorry.  Baby didn't like that."

"Hell, I don't like it and I'm not a baby," Enamel muttered, giving her a 'sorry' look.  "I'll get you more later, dear."

"Sure.  Okay, we'll need you and Vinnie here, Throttle."  He raised an eyebrow.  "It might take him instead of you.   You saw, but he can hide things from you.  He can't from Vinnie.  Vinnie's got that brother's trust from him, while you're just his spouse."  Throttle scrunched up his face and Vinnie came running in a few minutes later, making her smile.  "That's damn handy.  Vinnie, come help me.  We're taking off that part that's stomping on his pain."  He nodded, coming in to help, but looking away from the burn.  "That's next."

"Can't you bandage it first?"

"You mean clean it off totally and add some healing salve," the first doctor suggested.  "Yes, but if we do that, then the pain can linger for a bit.  This way it'll be a cleaner pain."

"Fine.  You're the docs.  I'll warn you now, he hates being treated."

"We all do," Enamel assured him. "Do it as fast as you can.  There's other problems he didn't tell me about."

Vinnie looked at him.  "Color me shocked."

"Did you know about the chest pains?"  He nodded and Throttle swatted him.

"It was back when he was eight or so," he defended.  "He let everything drop for a few minutes when he was so exhausted.  Remember?"  Throttle nodded.  "He let it drop then and I felt it.  He said it was nothing, part of the change.  I told him I hope I never have to change from myself."  He leaned down, merging with Xander's mind but running into his shield.  "Crap."  He found the emergency switch Xander had put in to lower it if he was caught outside his body- mostly in case he was forced out by a spirit.  They cruised inside, going to where she knew it was.  She found the box and handed him a blaster.  He blew up the box and felt the pain started.  He got out of there.  He didn't need more pain.  He looked at Shell, she was back too and holding onto her stomach while Throttle held her up.  "Okay, he's in real pain and he's got a problem with his shin."

Enamel nudged one of the doctors.  "My disc's in my pocket.  I've been training the kids with it.  They should have picked it up too."

"The discs are programmed to not track old problems unless you make it," the cardiologist noted.  "I remembered that and noticed it on the new ones as well.  By the way, thank you for letting us take one to work on."  Enamel nodded.  "I'd shake your hand but I heard you can't move?"

"Paralyzer beam.  It's temporary."

"Good.  We need more skilled people."

"He's our doc on earth," Vinnie told him.  "He's the only doc on earth."

"That's fine, I understand that," he admitted.  "I heard about you but then again, we're not Gods."  He got out of the way, letting them attach the disc and the scanner, then looked at it.  "We have a bone growth from a formerly broken rib apparently and a muscle in the way.  This does happen a lot when you have to switch sides of the heart in a changeling.  It's not too hard to do.  Challenging but not too difficult."  He paged down.  "His shin is a deep bruise.  It'll be fine.  His hand is listed as a red flagged injury."  He tapped on that and it came up.  "It's not infected."  They all sighed at that.  "So, what should we do?"

Throttle looked down at his mate.  "How long to fix it and how much?"

"We can actually use it to teach others," the cardiologist offered.  "We need more people trained.  I'm careful but I can always be in an accident."  Enamel nodded at that.  "We also have other changlings here that we need to check this on.  There's a bunch of usual problems that a pediatrician wouldn't know about.  This one, there's a neuro problem associated with the growing lobes."

"He got some migraines," Enamel told him.  "He didn't seem to have the digestive problem."

"His body's odd," Vinnie told him, leaning against the wall.  "He doesn't like hotdogs either."

"We have a few more feet of intestine," Enamel told him.  Vinnie looked upset at that. "It's nothing unusual.  It happens.  When did he break his ribs?"

"I didn't know he had," Throttle told him.  All the doctors looked at him.  "We've been together since he started to change, but he's only been locked in my head for the last six months or so and he can still hide things from me."

Shell ran a hand across Xander's forehead.  "Hmm.  Second bout of bungee jumping?" she asked Vinnie, who shrugged. Throttle was muttering about that being dangerous, he knew it was.  She read it again, looking at her lover.  "About eight months ago.  Six weeks after the first time. The cable snapped him funny and it cracked on him."

"Sure.  Remind me to never do that.  Okay?"  She smiled and nodded.  "Thanks.  I don't care how safe they say it is."  The other doctors chuckled.  "Jumping off somewhere really high with just a big rubber band around your ankles."  They all winced and shuddered.  "That's that white mouse and Vincent both."

"The first two times were fun but he didn't take me on the second one."

"That would have been while you were fussing with Charley over the baby," Enamel reminded him.  "I remember him complaining about being really bored and no one to play with."  He looked at the cardiologist.  "So, can we fix that while he's healing from the burn?  The less time we have to keep him knocked out the better."

"You're sure you want to go that way?"

"He'll escape otherwise."

"Damn, he's one of those," he muttered.  "Okay.  We can do it today if we can get someone to deal with his hand."

"Done," the first doctor offered.  "We've seen plenty of burns recently."  He looked at the other mice. "Are you both staying?"

"I know I am.  Vinnie can come and go," Throttle told him.  "We've got a bro, Modo."

"I've met Rimfire," one of them admitted

"Many of us did," Throttle said dryly.  "He made many of us vow to never have kids."  That got some laughs.  "Seriously."  He kissed his mate on the forehead.  "Xander, I'm going to get your bike and bring it home, babe.  We'll be right back.  Shell's here if you panic.  Reach out for her.  I'll be right back.  They're very good doctors."  He looked at Shell.  "Do you mind?"

"Not in the least.  Go.  Shoo."  He nodded, taking Vinnie with him to take Xander's bike back to his mother's.  She moved closer and stroked his forehead.  "I'm right here," she soothed.  A nurse came in with some bandages and cleaning supplies. She focused since he heard that thought.  "He was cleaning the tub so Ray's mother could visit and got his hand with the tub cleaner?" she asked her mate.

"I never heard that one either," he admitted.  "I was living there and never heard about that."

"He said Throttle fixed it when he saw the orange bandage."

"Oh, good."  He turned and hit his head against the wall.  "You're my reward, right, Shell?"

"Yup, sure am," she said happily.  She smiled at the other doctors and shrugged a bit.  "It's been a long month."

"I can tell," the cardiologist admitted.  "Let me go prep a room and gather the students so they're no longer idiots."  He walked out, going to get them all, including Enamel's two.

The other doctor smiled at her and moved around to help that hand.  It wasn't the worst he'd seen but it needed to be cleaned up a bit and some of that new healing salve put on it so it'd heal faster.

***

Xander woke up and blinked at the industrial ceiling.  "Fuck," he muttered hoarsely.

"So, does it hurt?" Enamel asked from his position on the foot of the bed, reading over the chart.  He was still having to blow the pages to turn them.  "Xander.  I know you can hear me if you can talk."

Xander lifted his head with a wince.  "Does what ache?  I ache all over," he complained, putting his head back down.  "What train hit me and can I sue?"

"Nope and nope."  He flipped it closed with his knee, then leaned forward.  "You know that chest pain you've been hiding from everyone?"  He smirked at him.  "Good job, I'm impressed."  Xander moaned and reached up, noticing his hand was only lightly bandaged.  He looked at him and Enamel burst out laughing.  "It's been two weeks.  With very good care I might add."  He smirked at him again.  "Is the chest pain gone?"

"I can't tell, it all hurts."  He sighed and closed his eyes but felt something hit him.  "Does that mean you work?"

"Nope.  That wasn't me."  He nodded at Vinnie, who wiggled his fingers at him. "Your boy's at home dealing with Victor.  Vic didn't want to leave one of you and refused his daddy or mommy this time because you were sick."

"And then some," Vinnie agreed dryly.  "So, what hurts?"

"Everything.  Can't I deaden it for a little while."  Another bouncy ball hit him on the side of the head.  "I need a headache too?"

"We had Shell remove that reflex for you," Enamel told him.  "Since it was killing you."  Xander flinched at that.  "Your husband would like to talk to you about that when he gets back by the way."  He grinned.  "Now, what hurts?"

"Everything."

"Everything isn't descriptive enough, Xander.  Specifics?"

"My chest, here," he said, holding a hand over the spot.  "It's like it slides over, and then there's my hand.  Can't I just lose it if I have to feel that much pain?"

"Not unless you're going to either magic a new one or build a new one," Vinnie said dryly. "What else?"

"Why is there a pain in my ankle?"

"You were trying to wander in your sleep and turned it."  Vinnie grinned this time.  "Good job too.  You nearly made it outside before you were found and pounced by Spike."

"Remind me to feed him worms next time."  He shifted and grimaced.  "What's wrong with my back?"

"Being on it asleep for two weeks," Enamel told him.  "That'll be fine soon.  Describe the pain in your chest."  He got glared at and suddenly felt it.  "Oh, hey, that was you!"  He patted him on the uninjured foot.  "That's normal.  We had to remove a piece of bone sticking next to your lung and then let your heart move where it's supposed to go.  That's what the chest pains were. For future reference, that's something to nag about, Xander."

"I'll remember that if I don't kill myself from the pain," he complained, closing his eyes again.  "I can leave when?"

"About another week since you've proven you won't take care of your injuries properly," Enamel told him. "By the way, you can only sleep on your back until the incision heals.  You don't want those to pop open."  He looked at Vinnie, then slid off the bed.  "Let him sit up for a bit."  Xander waved a hand.  "Going back to sleep?"  Xander nodded.  "That's fine.  We've got you on a mild sedative and a light pain killer."

"I want more," he demanded. He cracked an eye in time to see the smug look.  "Why did we open my chest again?"

"Your heart had to shift over.  It was being stopped by a piece of bone and a muscle.  We went in and removed it, letting a bunch of students watch so they could see the procedure and the chest cavity."

"I'm not a cadaver, doc.  You know I hate to have people see me sick."

"Yay," he said dryly.  "There was no other way to teach them, Xander.  The way the US does it is forbidden."  Xander thumped his head back down.  "If it helps, they don't know you're you. Heat and Proxima are doing your after care and Shell's been stopping by to mother you for practice."   He saw the heated glare under the half-closed eyes.  "Give us a minute, Vincent."

"Nope.  He's like me.  He doesn't want people to see him as weak."

Enamel looked at him.  "For different reasons.  Out."  He sighed and got up, heading out and closing the door behind him.  He moved closer.  "I've seen you worse than this, Xander.  Including that time you wrecked and didn't want anyone to know.  It was the only way to teach those students how to do this, and how to stitch.  Your head and face were covered the whole time.  All they know is that you're a white, changeling mouse.  There's about eight of those on Mars at the moment.  This is a problem that only changelings have or else you'd have just been a white mouse.  None of them cared that you're momentarily weak from being injured.  None of them realize who you were or are.  The same as almost none of them saw the burn on your hand.  One wanted to do burns as a career and he did help a bandage change on it, but again your face was covered."  He stepped closer.  "You would have died without this," he said more quietly.  "It was starting to impair the blood flow to your left hand."

"I was getting some pins and needles."

"I figured you might have been," he agreed. "Now you won't."  He stared down at him.  "Throttle's not mad at you.  He's not going to see you as weaker."

"He already does."

"That's not why he tried to keep you out of the field, kid.  He tried because of your hand.  He said he did."  Xander stared him down.  "When did he say this, Xander?  You could be reading him wrong."

"I'm not."

"You are."  He moved right next to the head of the bed, leaning against the wall.  "Listen, kid, I've seen commanders like Throttle and Stoker before.  They only want the best and most fully trained people in the field because they know they've got a better chance of living longer to fight again.   That's why Stoker drilled so mercilessly.  It used to be said that joining the Freedom Fighters was worse than being in the military because of all the training.  Throttle learned that from him.  I'm sure he and his bros drill now and then."  Xander shook his head.  "No?  Not at all?"

"I'm figuring they got plenty of practical practice."

"True," Enamel agreed.  "By the way, Dawn and Primer showed their asses twice now.  Junior's been trying the garage and the lair.  Primer was a bit impressed with the girl."  He looked down at him.  "An injury doesn't weaken you more than temporarily.  Even that burn will heal and you'll have full use of your hand again with some work.  Fortunately it didn't get that deep.  The joints may be stiff but that's easily rebuilt."  He looked at his chest.  "That other thing was slowing you down. It was dangerous enough to not need permission to correct."  Xander sighed and shifted.  "Not onto your side, kid."  He looked down at him.  "You and I share some traits, Xander.  Neither of us is the weak person, even when we're ill.  It's been drummed into us we don't get seriously sick, even if we're dying.  You couldn't afford to get sick and I couldn't either when I was working up here, and later when I was hell bent on surviving without anyone.  There were not many forces in the universe that would get me to say anything other than 'I'm fine' when asked.  You had to be that way because you were one of the few warriors.  Willow didn't fight physically.  Buffy's an airhead about half the time from what I've seen and heard from you and Dawn.  I know you went out on your own to fight many things without having to see a single moment of that time."  Xander nodded about that. "Does he know?"  Xander nodded again, looking up at him.

"Good.  Throttle is one of those guys who understands being stronger after injuries.  He and his bros all did.  They had to be.  He won't see you as weaker because of this.  He might baby you while you're sick, but nothing else.  That's the job of a lover.  I nearly drove Shell off the first time she fussed over me because I had a cold.  She'll even tell you that, but then she realized it's a defense mechanism used for survival."  He looked in the eyes again.  "Throttle may not *realize* how much survival means at this moment in time.  You do.  I have in the past.  He survived, but being held by Karbunkle wasn't as bad as being held by some others in the universe."  Xander opened his mouth.  "Don't ask, kid.  It was after I was banished."  Xander nodded, letting it drop.  He leaned down to get into his face.  "So let's ease up on yourself.  You will heal from this.  You'll have almost no scar.  Proxima's really good at stitching as it turns out.  Give it a month and you'll be better than new."

"What about the other pains?"

"Those are because you were stomping on them so much.  That and your skin's a bit more sensitive.  It's a hallmark of having to live by your wits and survive.  I'm guessing you're very tactile because you needed it and never got it.  You're so sensitive because you needed it to survive.  The same as you needed that pain suppression more times than you probably knew.  How many bones did you break in Sunnydale?"

"According to them, one, my arm."

"And in reality?"

"Eight, maybe nine."  He looked at him.  "I needed to be that way."

"Yeah, and you were.  Now you don't need it so much. You can come down off that peak to about halfway down the mountain.  Let's face it, you're not the only one here."

"I wasn't the only one there."

"You were in many ways.  You can't tell me Buffy saw the warrior you were becoming."

"She started out seeing me," he complained, flipping onto his side. "Then Willow got magic and it was the special girls' society."

"Didn't I tell you not to do that?"

"If I didn't, I'd be screaming because my back's cramping."

"Oh.  Well, flip on the other side, I can sit on the bed."

"This side hurts less.  It's numbing the pain."

"It's also cutting off the blood supply to that burn, which isn't good.  Come on, flip over.  I'll sit on the foot of the bed again."  Xander moaned and flipped over.  "Good boy."  He hopped back up onto the end of the bed, smirking at him.  "I need to do more agility work."  Xander snorted at that.  "I do.  It'll take me about a week to get back to where I was with my hands.  I've been warned they'll be more sensitive but I'll live with it.  The same way you were living with that chest pain."  He stared the kid down.  "I know you'll never tell Throttle about that crash and other things, but you can't keep your doctor in the dark, Xander.  How am I supposed to be able to fix you if you don't tell me?"

"I told you."

"And I was a dumbass not to keep pressing about it.  I had forgotten it was a common problem with changelings.  I thought it had been fixed.  Otherwise we would have done this on Earth, when you got stabbed."  Xander snorted, then rubbed his chest.  "Yeah, laughing will hurt.  Just like your bruised ribs did."  He stared him down.  "I want you to promise me in the future that you're not going to keep things like this from me again.  I can't tell Throttle by ethical rules.  Not without your permission."  He looked over as the door opened.  "Out.  Give me five more minutes."

"No."  He closed the door and let Vic down on the bed.  "He's still refusing to let Vinnie do more than kiss him on the head.  See, there's the other uncle, Victor."

Vic sniffed Xander's nose, then licked it with a grin, snuggling in to be held.  Xander wrapped his injured hand around him, patting him gently.  "Hey, Vic.  Did you miss the uncle?"  The baby nodded.  "I missed you too.  You rest, little guy."  Vic snorted and shook his head.  "Well, I'm sure I'll be napping again soon so you can nap with me then, how about that?"

"No."

Xander chuckled.  "Fine.  You can watch me nap."  He nuzzled him on the top of the head, looking at him.  "Deal."

"No deal," Throttle said patiently.  "I need to know these things, Xander.  If you're injured, I'm supposed to want to baby you.  That's what a husband does."

Xander looked back at him.  "I don't need it."

"So?"

Enamel coughed.  "Throttle, have you ever seen a mouse who's had to survive most of their life?  Someone like Modo's uncle?"  He nodded.  "Xander's like that for a very good reason."  Throttle groaned and sat down.  "He and I are both like that.  We will never admit to being weakened by anything."

"He let me baby him in the past when he was sick."

"That wasn't sick, that was miserable," Xander said dryly.  "I had the flu."

Enamel nodded.  "I remember.  You were miserable.  You let him cuddle?"

"And feed me."  He looked over at his mate.  "I can't turn that way."  Throttle got up and pulled the chair to the other side of the bed.  "Thanks."  He looked at him, then sighed.  "Throttle, how many times do you think I've wrecked my bike since I got him?"

"None.  No, hold on, I saw you fixing a scratch but you said that was traffic."

"It was.  A grocery cart actually."  He blinked at him.  "Try more like five."  Throttle winced.  "Yeah, I'm still a bit dizzy now and then and we worked it out between us."

"Need more botox in that ear tube?" Enamel suggested.  Xander nodded.  "Then we'll do that once we're ready to let you out, or when you get back on earth."  He slid off the end of the bed, looking at Xander, who shrugged.  "I only had to treat two of those, and that was mostly road rash he couldn't reach to put stuff on."

"You never mentioned it and I didn't realize?"

"We didn't have sex those weeks," Xander said dryly.  Throttle stared him down.  "I'm never anything but fine, Throttle.  It's not allowed in my life.  If I was that sick, things started to get worse because there weren't enough people to cover."

Willow appeared.  "Uh-huh.  I'd have known," she said firmly, glaring at him.  "I used to be able to tell your blood pressure from across the room."

Xander nodded.  "Until you got magic."  She gaped and he shrugged a bit. "Then you took up with Oz.....  Sounding slightly familiar?"  She nodded, but then shook her head.  "Willow, where was I when you were taking on the kraken?"

"Home, hopefully."

"Stopping the bomb making zombies," he said flatly.  "Where was I the night after graduation?"

"On your road trip.  Buffy was already gone, I was surfing the web for magical sites, you had left earlier that day."

"I left about midnight or one after doing another turn through the four most active cemeteries."   She made another dissenting noise and shook her head.  "Go back and view."  She faded out so he looked at his mate.  "See what I put up with and why?"

"I did before," he admitted.  He leaned forward.  "It's a bad thing, Xander. You don't have to do that now.  You can relax some of that vigilance.  There's the rest of us there too.  We like whipping tail just as much as you do."  Xander shrugged then winced.  "I understand why you had to fight injured and alone in the past. I get that.  But now you're not alone and I need you to let me know these things.  Especially now that you can't block off the pain anymore."

"I'll have that back by tonight, I'll make sure it's specific points and to let it go every day," he promised at the hurt look.  "This is me, Throttle.  You knew this about me.  You know me better than anyone."

"No, apparently I don't," he said bitterly, leaning back again.  "I watched you, Xander.  I saw you doing some incredible stuff in Sunnydale.  Maybe I should have seen it from your point of view.  Vinnie seems to be able to do that."

"Vinnie somehow manages to get past the last few shields without me knowing how," Xander said dryly.

"It's that thing that makes you like twins," Enamel told him.  He looked at Throttle.  "I've been in that same place.  Doctors are trained that way."  Throttle stared at him.  "I got captured after I was banished.  The Riosan I was traveling with decided I was a fun game."  Throttle shuddered and curled up a bit.  "So I do know where he's coming from.  Yes, he needs to calm it down some.  He knows he can trust you, he knows he's got fighters who are as good, if not better in their specialized areas, than he is.  It takes time to do that.  It's only been a year and a half."  He looked at Xander.  "It's time to start relaxing that and no, not until your hand is healed.  I need you to be able to tell me the slightest change in it.  That slight itching is a good thing but if it gets worse, it could signal an infection."  Xander sighed and nodded, letting go of what he was working on, Enamel could see it.

"Use it during the battles when you *have* to go.  I agreed with you about going after Cell.  She's family to you.  You had to go."  Xander nodded at that, staring him down.  "Right now, you're to stand down.  You'll need time to regrow your strength and I'm sure you will regrow it.  They can help you with that because I don't want you doing more than playing with the kids at home when we go back."  Xander sighed and nodded.  "Good.  Now, while you're getting stronger, they can work on your training.  They could probably use the drills again.  It'll only help your riding and your strength to do that.  Until then, you're under my care.  It's unfortunate, but you're injured.  At least you will get better."  Xander nodded at that, sighing again.  "Now let him see, Xander.  He has to see it to understand.  You noticed Vinnie didn't fight with you about going and Modo didn't fight with you about going. Let Throttle see inside those last few shields."

"I..."

"Babe, it's not going to do more than make me love you more," Throttle promised.  He leaned forward to kiss him. "Even the times you were scared, there were probably good reasons."

"There's no good reason."

Throttle took the baby and went to hand him to his father.  "Hold him, I'm going into his head."  He went back in there and laid down facing him, handing Enamel his field specs.  He couldn't see anything beyond a blur, but he knew Xander and trusted him to protect them, and he kinda trusted Enamel enough to let him watch them.  "Let me in."  Xander dropped his shields and he felt the others.  "Those too," he whispered, going in there.  He was in the same starting spot as before.  But next to him was Xander.  "I want inside, Xander.  I *need* to see the real you. Fears and all. It won't hurt us.  I promise it won't hurt us." Xander nodded.  Throttle felt a nudge and then Vinnie was there.  "I don't need the help."

"You do temporarily," he said, putting his hands on Xander's head. "Now merge with this one.  This is the inner Xander."  Throttle leaned forward to merge their minds, feeling the strength but the alien feel around him.  He was still definitely human in here.  He forced the merge, and felt Vinnie ease the transition. Suddenly he was seeing things as Xander.  He blinked and felt the body respond. He felt another nudge and retreated back some, letting the kid be in control of his own memories. They were earlier now. He watched the things like he had before, but now he had a running soundtrack.  Before it had been like subtitles on an anime, not always an exact translation.  Now he had it in surround sound and pain. They moved forward and he felt the calm mental touch of Enamel a few times, but ignored it in favor of this.  He had to learn his mate this way.  It was a need of his.  Not only to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly in their lives and hid it from him, but also because he was his mate.  He watched the indoctrination going on, how his father had told him that men weren't scared of anything as he grabbed a harmless snake out of the grass. Then got bit by it for trying to touch her nest.  Everything going on explained so much about Xander to him.  He nudged him to go forward and the memories started running at less than double speed, but still faster than normal.  He could process that fast and he was used to the mental babble by now. He slowed it when he started to fight, listening to Giles' words to him and how Xander took them.

All the little 'it's only a minor thing, here have a bandaid' times became worse and slowly morphed into the 'I'm fine' mentality of survival.  He heard Xander berate himself over and over for being scared, and heard Giles tell him that fear was normal, fighting it was what was important.  Xander still had that fear of cowardice running through him though.  He kept going, all the way up until Modo knocked his husband out in front of the daycare.  His boy really did need to do something about his ear.  He flipped them to his mind, showing him the important parts of the training lectures again, the parts about fear being normal. Stoker wanted his people to be slightly afraid, it made them more cautious.  He especially rode Vinnie and him about that because they did stupid stuff that seemed fearless.  He felt Enamel's touch again and came out, just looking at his mate, who still looked like a big white blur.  "Giles had better pray that you and Dawn get him first," he whispered, and Xander relaxed.  "And your dad had better pray that my momma never meets him."  He kissed him gently.  Then more firmly until Xander moaned.  He felt the thread of worry.  "I love you, Xander, but I'm not letting you go out injured.  Never again.  Promise me, never again unless it's necessary."

"It was.  I took myself off patrols."

"I'm impressed and proud of you for it," Throttle said gently.  "I won't argue about the rescue.  In the future, you will not go out while injured.  Not even hunting vampires.  I saw that."  Xander sighed and nodded.  "Promise me.  Make it part of your bonding promise to me.  I'll do the same," he said at the hurt look.  "I vow to my mate that I will not go out while I'm injured and get into a fight of any kind unless there's no other option or unless I'm absolutely needed."

Xander stared at him.   "You....."  Throttle kissed him again, pulling him closer to hold him.  "I promise to my mate I won't go out and do stupid stuff unless it's an emergency or I'm absolutely needed."  Throttle nuzzled him.  "This is still me though."

"I know.  I realize that now.  I'm glad your dad got an infection from that snake too."  Xander swallowed so he smirked at him.  "Now all we have to do is make Vinnie promise Charley girl the same thing."  He kissed him on the forehead.  "By the way, that stunt jump you were trying?  You've got to lean back a little bit more to keep your balance."  Xander blushed at that and he grinned.  "We're good?"  Xander nodded.  "Good boy."  He kissed him again.

"I'm not a dog."

"No, you're definitely not a dog. I like to praise you, it makes you do more good things, like eat."  He shifted a bit, giving him a gentle squeeze.  "I like finding little rewards for you.  I feel like I should reward the good stuff so that you quit bouncing around in a panic now and then."

"That's me too."

"Did you want me to stop?"

"No, just stop talking to me like I'm the puppies."

"Fine.  No more 'good boys' for you."  He grinned.  "Better?"  Xander nodded and he could feel him relaxing.  "Good.  Then one other thing?  Those leather pants of yours?  Waaaayyyy too tight to be out in public without an armed guard. Remember, I'm a jealous and possessive mouse, Xander.  Only I get to stare at your tail in those pants unless I'm out with you and you wanted to tease everyone.  Because even Vinnie's cousin looked and she's married."  Xander snorted and shook his head.  "You're very hot in them."

"They're comfortable."

"They're nearly obscene," Enamel offered from the end of the bed.  "I have to agree there, Xander.  They're nearly as bad as Dawn's black leather and velvet outfit."

Xander stuck his tongue out at him.  "You still want to take my tail and tie it up."

"Hell yeah!  Everyone should have their own Xander toy.  It'd make the world a happier place and Shell wouldn't have to work as hard."  He handed the baby over, letting him crawl in between them to give them that same VanWham shit-eating grin and get his cuddles. "When are you going to start with his ego?"

"Too late," Throttle said dryly.  "My specs?"  Modo handed them over from the chair.  "Thanks, bro.  Where's Vinnie?"

"Pouting because Vic still wants Xander more.  He ran into Wrench outside and they're talking."  He looked at Xander.  "I'm going to enforce that ban, little bro.  You're not fighting while injured again.  Never, ever again. You get scary when you're in pain."  He stood up and patted Xander on the ear.  "Cell said thank you for coming after her and considering her that sort of family."

"She's your sister, of course she's family," Xander said, yawning a bit.

"I'll let you rest.  Momma wanted a progress report since neither one are allowed in here."

"Why not?" Xander asked.

"They caused way too much fuss while others were trying to sleep," Enamel said dryly.  "That's about when you came out of surgery."  He stretched his back.  "So can I leave you here tonight and have you behave?"

"I'm not moving," Throttle assured him.

"The nurse will make you move," he said blandly.  "She's already tried twice."  He looked at Xander. "I'll be back tomorrow. You continue to heal.  Eat the gruel they feed you tonight without a lot of complaint.  I'll be back right before lunch because Shell's got an appointment with the only OB on Mars."  He slid off the bed and headed out, nodding at the nurse.  "Try to let them stay together," he told her.  "He sleeps better when Throttle's there and won't try to sneak out tonight."  She pursed her lips.  "Him and VanWham."  He headed out to his bike, finding Wrench and Vinnie waiting on him.  "They're out, Xander's agreed to eat the gruel tonight and Throttle said he's staying."

"Good," Wrench agreed, putting his arm around the doctor to pull him closer.  He put a small cube on the back of his neck, watching him as he flinched then twitched.  "Sorry, seeing if that could help."

"Damn it, now I know why the cruciatius is so painful," he moaned.  "Oh, damn, pins and needles!"

Vinnie pulled him closer to work on his arms for him.  "Wrench said there's an account of using a nerve zapper to reawaken the feeling for a bit but it's dangerous. You could get some damage if you use it over a half-hour."  Enamel looked at him.  "That's once, not every day."  He smirked at him.  "Every guy should be able to feel his baby kick now and then."  He let him go and nodded at his bike.  "Shell's at her brother's for dinner.  The romantic stuff package Xander set up for Modo is on the back."

"I owe you one, VanWham.  Thanks."  He headed to his bike, going to get his girl.  He worked on his hands there, getting real feeling back into them instead of the pins and needles he had.  He tapped on the door and smiled when she opened the door.  "Come on, we've got a picnic basket and the moons are about to rise, plus I've got an hour."  She looked stunned so he showed off the block.  "Wrench found it in the histories.  We've only got an hour."  She followed him out, taking him to her favorite spot to watch the city and the stars.  He got to feel the baby kick and move, and she got to be touched again for a little while.  He'd take any damage for the two hours with her.

Episode 66:

Enamel walked into Xander's room and smiled since he was alone.  "Where's the baby this time?"

"Modo's got him.  He said he wanted to see if he'd potty train.  The nurses got very upset that I fed him my oatmeal."

"They tend to do that," he agreed.   "Don't worry, this is a phase.  He's basically protecting you for the daddy and mommy and hoping to get into trouble.  I've already told Vinnie that."  He settled in on the bed, looking at his favorite patient.  "Is the pain less today?"

"Some.  My hand is still one big throb."  Enamel nodded at that.  "Some of the pain in my chest is easing though. They itch more now."

"It should. Wait until the hair grows back," he offered with a small smirk.  Xander shuddered at that.  "No man?"

"His momma wanted to see him again.  Apparently he hadn't been home in three days?"

Enamel shook his head.  "He was here and when the nurses kicked him out he was with his bros whining about being kicked out.  You haven't really been alone since you got out."

"Oh."  He looked at him.  "I got visited by Cell earlier.  She said to thank you for being an arrogant bastard when she gave me a kiss on the cheek for helping save her."

He snorted.  "I used to date Cell."

"I thought you were Stoker's age."

"I am.  She's ten years older than Modo and she hunted me, Xander.  I wasn't into cradle robbing back then."  He got comfortable, crossing his legs in front of him.  "She was just barely of age, I was working as the top pediatrician in the city.  She hit on me. I thought she'd be a one-night thing, but she came back and got stubborn about it," he said dryly. "Modo was about nine at the time."  He tried to shrug and nearly made it, making Xander smile.  "Wrench found something that could cure it for a few hours, but it could also cause nerve damage.  So I got to feel the baby kick."

"Congratulations," Modo said as he walked back in.  "Cell still calls you arrogant and sometimes even spoiled."  He grinned as he handed over the baby.  "He got the point of the toilet and used it, then grinned at me.  Hopefully he'll like potty training so there's no more diapers for a bit."

"Until you and Staff have one," Xander teased, patting the baby on the back.  "That was a very good boy, Victor, to go potty like a big boy.  Yes it was, a very good boy."  Vic smiled at him and snuggled in.  "Why did you and Cell break up?"

"Because my patients had to come first and she couldn't understand that," Enamel said honestly.  "She was eighteen.  She wanted someone to cling to and to go around with her and I was pretty well tied to the city by my duties.  A doctor can't get further than ten miles away if they're on call.  She didn't want to understand that this meant more to me than she did.  She ....  You know how Rimfire is with Dawn?"  Xander and Modo both nodded.  "Well, that's almost exactly how his momma was with me.  Unfortunately I worked long hours and had to be on-call a lot.  She hated it.  She couldn't understand why I couldn't blow off my duties.  Then she joined the Freedom Fighters.  Back then the age was nineteen.  She figured out the sense of duty I had eventually, but then again all Modo's family was involved in that movement.  I'm not sure how his mother managed to not raise him in a houseful of fighters all day and all night, but they were all helping where they could at times."

"Momma tried so hard to let us have a normal childhood, even with everything going on," Modo sighed.  "She didn't let any of the fighters come in to eat with us until I was twelve.  That way I wouldn't get any foolish notions like Rimfire did."  He looked at Xander. "I love my nephew but I wish he had waited a bit more patiently."  Xander nodded at that.  "The time Momma had invited him over for dinner to meet him, Enamel here had to call off."

"I was patching together Vinnie's head for the second time," Enamel admitted.  "Your mother understood but your sister threw an incredible fit the next day.  Until she found out it was your friend, then she whined about me finding someone to take over for me now and then.  I pointed out we were already short of doctors on Mars.  She didn't like that."  He snorted.  "The very last straw came when she was captured on a mission and I got tapped to go on the rescue to do the field treatment.  Stoker didn't like me, hasn't since we were in school together.  I was a smartass with brains back then.  A great rider, including stunts, a pretty decent shot, and I had the brains on top of it.  He knew one of them had a severe chest injury so he had to send a real doc and the medics all nominated me.  So I rode out with the group, they got them free, and I healed her and the others.  It came down to her and one other person who needed attention and she got upset that I went to help them.  I tried to tell her that one was more injured, she didn't want to hear it.  She thought I was playing God and doing it just to hurt her.  I sighed and told her that the other patient needed me more for a bit and that she had better pipe down before anyone heard her.  She broke up with me.  That seems to be the story of my life though.  My last girlfriend, the one right before I was banished, decided to tell me to let the patient die."  Xander gaped at him and he nodded.  "She tried to reason it out as it not being fair to the kid and all that, but she basically tried to talk me into letting the child slip into the Great Beyond so I could go on vacation with her.  I told her off and she threw a fit and broke it off with me.  About a month later, the kid died and she sent me an 'I told you so' card."

"I saw the note you sent Cell," Modo admitted.

"Hey, she wrote me when she found her husband about six months later.  I simply wrote her back and told her I hoped she was happier, to have a good life, and that I hoped she had many kids who were just like her.  I'm not sure how I meant that last bit, but I'm sure she took it the negative way."  Modo nodded. "She wrote the first one, man.  Not me.  She sent me a note to gloat about finding a man she could cling to and cart around with her.  I was happy for her, she deserved happiness."

"I bet you were lonely," Modo offered gently.

Enamel shook his head.  "I've been a survivor all my life, Modo.  I didn't have time for more than lovers.  That's why some days I hate Xander for making me feel things instead of my isolation.  Letting people close means you can get hurt and that you have to pay attention to things other than your duty.  When you're a doctor, especially one of the top ones, you don't have time for anyone else.  When you're banished, letting others closer can be problematic and dangerous.  I was happily content in my isolation and anger and then Xander comes along and makes me like him.  Then he makes me like the others of you, including Vincent. Then Shell comes and I realize I'm not that alone anymore and she's more stubborn than your sister because I can't push her away with a digging machine."  Modo snickered at that.  "Seriously.  I got so mad at Xander for a few months because suddenly I *cared* and it wasn't right   I thought I had been content but Shell makes me happy and stuff.  Occasionally insane, but mostly happy," he admitted at the knowing look from Xander.  "Then again, she's pregnant.  That's another thing I hadn't anticipated and wasn't really sure I wanted, kids.  If a wife takes time away from your duty, a kid definitely does.  I wouldn't have even considered a child before I was banished and afterward I couldn't take care of one reliably.  At least until I crashed on earth.  Then I cared about *peoples* but not individuals.  Xander's got a special gift for healing those around him.  After all, who else could have made Vincent settle down?"

Modo smirked at that.  "He hasn't, he's just got whole new ways to cause trouble and be loud."  He looked at his friend.  "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I ache," he said blandly.  "I'm tired of the pain."

"There's worse here," Enamel told him patiently. "If I was sure we wouldn't need it, I'd gladly give you stronger drugs."  Xander sighed and nodded.  "Sorry."

"No, I'm being selfish, I just can't stand pain."

"I don't particularly like it myself," Modo offered.  "Can't we use the herbal stuff we used to have?" he asked Enamel.  Who shook his head.  "Why not?"

"It's out of date and he's allergic.  Otherwise there wouldn't be so many people in pain up here."  He looked at Xander again.  "If I could, I would," he reminded him.  Someone tapped on the door and walked in.  He looked at the clock.  "Hey, it's time anyway."

"Please, Goddess, make it quit hurting," Xander begged the nurse.  She smiled and handed him a mug.  "Oral?"  Enamel nodded.  "Crap."  He forced himself to sit up, then flopped backward.  "Straw?" he asked.

Modo came over and hefted him up, holding him while the nurse helped him drink the medicine.  "Should I move him for the sheets or anything, ma'am?"

"No, that's tomorrow and he can go outside for some fresh air during that."  She walked out, heading back to the desk.

Enamel watched her go, then looked at Xander.  "It's experimental. Don't ask what's in it."

"I've seen others make potions."  He grinned up at Modo.  "Hey."

"Hi."  He settled him down and tucked him back in, with the baby since he was hiding under the sheets now.  "Can you handle him for an hour?  Vinnie's due in but he's late and Momma wanted me home for lunch.  I can stay if I need to."

"If we have to, we can get help changing him," Enamel promised.  "Shoo. Tell Cell to get her arm checked again too.  Nag her if it helps."

"What's wrong with her arm?"

"A deep tissue bruise on the back where she hit a rock after being knocked out and something's wrong with her shoulder joint itself."

"Oh, she's so going to get it if she doesn't get it checked," he said with a grimace.  "Thanks, Doc."

"Hey, she's not my patient, I can let out those things ethically."  Modo chuckled and left.

Vic lifted his head.  "Go bye-bye?"

"He went back for lunch and you're staying here with me, little mouse."  Vic smiled and snuggled in again.   "Good boy."  He looked at Enamel.  "I really have to stay another week?"

"If I could be sure you would be a good boy at home and let Throttle take care of you and change your bandages, no.  Since you're not and you won't, hell yeah."  Xander muttered something and he smirked.  "No, I like my mother but she's not my sort.  She was a socialite."

"Have you seen your brother?"

"I did.  Wrench was beating the snot out of him at the remembrance for trying to get near Vic. He's up the hall with a broken jaw and nose.  I'm very impressed," he said smugly.

"Can we go visit?" Xander offered.

Enamel giggled, leaning forward shaking his head.  "When you're better if he's still here."

"Go bye-bye?" Vic asked from his hidden spot.

"Maybe later," he promised.  He smiled at Xander.  "So, are you going to give me any more problems or can you agree to tell me these things?"

"I can tell you these things," he admitted.  "But if I ask you can't tell him."

"Of course not.  That's not ethical.  Now, if it's something *harmful* I might have to hint.  Got me?"  Xander nodded.  "Good."  He smirked at him and looked down the halls.  Then he looked at him.  "Let's go for a stroll.  I want to see his face when he sees you."  He went to get a nurse and a wheelchair.  "Hi," he said, smiling at her.  "Xander wanted to meet my brother since he's in here."

"Sure," she offered.  "Is he all right?"

"So far."  The nurse smiled.  "That doesn't have that little green flower, right?"  She shook her head.  "Good.  He's allergic to that and it's helping.  He quit whining about the pain."  She chuckled and got a chair, coming in to help him into it. Then she helped roll him down the hall, patting the baby on the head when he tried to ride on her patient's shoulders.  Enamel pushed the door open, holding it for them.  "Hi, brother.  This is Xander, he wanted to meet you."

His brother looked at him, frowning as much as he could.  He looked at Vic and tried to smile, then he saw Xander.  He looked at his brother again, writing a note on his board.  "You know someone who follows that path?"

"Depends on which path we're talking about," Xander said dryly, rolling himself further in.  "Thank you, nurse."

"Of course, dear.  Only ten minutes though."  She closed the door after him and went back to make a note on his chart.

Xander looked at the man on the bed.  "Technically, chaos loves me, I don't love it.  Then again, I was born and raised on the Sunnydale hellmouth."  The mouse on the bed shivered and Vic chuckled.  "So, why did you want to meet my godchild and about the only kid I'm having?"

The mouse erased the board.  "I won't go near him," it stated.

Xander beamed.  "Good!"  He smirked at him.  "So, why did you want him anyway?  I know why Rosenburg watches him and has most of the M'dreth watching him and me.  Why are you, who is clearly a very dark chaos person, doing it?"

"Power," was written.  He looked at the mouse, then shrugged.

"Ah, innocent power.  It won't help.  It won't heal Mars either.  Rosenburg's been working on that."  The mouse swallowed and he grinned again.  "She's actually a very interesting spirit.  I grew up with her.  Best friends for *years*."  Willow faded in, still sniffling from where she had been crying.  "What were you watching this time?"

"You," she sniffled, trying to hug him.  "I'm sorry I sucked.  I was a big meany."  She sniffled and looked at Enamel. "Thank you for helping my Xander-shaped friend."  She looked at the mouse on the bed, then at Vic, then at him.  "Try it, buster!  I protect what's his!  Me and the Seal!"  The mouse whimpered and shivered, nodding quickly.  "Good.  Then when you get out of here, you're coming to my temple and you're going to have a long talk with the Seal.  Anything other than that and we get to come find you.  Got me here?"  He whimpered and nodded.  "Good."  She smiled and cooed at Vic.  "You're so adorable!"  Vic just gave her that same VanWham grin.  "God, I remember that look on Jesse," she sniffled, wiping off her eyes.  "Xander, can I help you any?"

"Heal me," he said simply. "I ache like hell."

"I'm trying to find one," she promised.  She smiled at the baby.  "You should come see Wrench.  The Seal's afraid of babies."  She looked at the mouse on the bed.  "Understood?"  He nodded quickly.  "Good.  That's a good mouse."  She flicked him on the forehead, making him shiver.  She winked at Enamel then faded out.

Enamel checked his brother, watching him breathe through it.  "Are you all right?"  His brother whimpered but nodded.  "Cool.  I'll check on you tomorrow."  He tapped the door with his foot and the nurse came in.  "He's a bit tired."

"I saw that spirit come in."

"She likes Vic because he's cute," Xander offered with a grin.  "She wanted him to come play with Wrench for a bit."

She snorted. "I'm sure the Highest would be most pleased with that.  Speaking of, he's in your room, dear."  She rolled Xander back into his room, letting Wrench help her settle her patient back into bed.  "There you go."  She patted the baby on the head, getting a grin.  "You're adorable."  He nodded.  She laughed, leaving them alone and taking the chair.

Enamel took his usual perch on the end of the bed.  "My brother was just met and talked to," he offered.

Wrench looked at him, then at Xander, who just smirked at him.  "All right then."  He nodded.  "That's cool."  He leaned down.  "Vinnie's asleep in my office."

"Again?"

"Yeah.  The Seal knocked him out."  He smirked at him.  "So, what can the rest of the family do to help you, Xander?"

"Help me escape?"

Wrench chuckled and nodded.  "Sure.  Got any healing spells?"

"Give me the damn book, I'll figure it out," he vowed.  "Enamel, you can tell them the pain's not any less."  He nodded, shrugging a bit.  "How much longer?"

"Four hours."

"Hell no," Xander said, shaking his head.  "No, no no no no nonononono!"  He sat up, looking at Wrench.  "Is there a handy book of healing spells?  Demon byproducts that help heal?  Anything?"

"A mystical crystal that we need found," he offered.  "No idea otherwise."

"Please?"

"Fine," Wrench agreed, dropping something on the floor.  Smoke started and he took Xander out to his bike, putting him onto it.  Vic clung to his fur and Enamel was still laughing his ass off back in the hospital by the time Xander roared away.  He looked at his cousin.  "Think I should have told him the Seal is going to steal him?"  Vic cackled.  "I didn't think so."  He walked over to his bike, getting on and moving the baby to his front.  "Okay, let's head to the house, baby mouse.  I'll fix you a good lunch with hotdogs and everything."  The baby beamed at him, that same VanWham smile, which Wrench returned.  Then they shared a cackle and sped off.

***

Throttle sat up suddenly, frowning at his mother.  "Wrench helped him escape!"

She patted him on the leg.  "It's all right, dear.  Go back to your nap.  I'm sure we'll see Xander very soon."

"He's going to find the Seal's temple.  He thinks she's got a healing spell around for him."  He swung his legs around to sit up, shaking his head.  "My husband is insane. I should chase him."  He got up to call Wrench's office, knowing Vinnie was supposedly there.  The screen answered itself and he saw Vinnie napping on the desk.  "VanWham!" he snapped.  Vinnie snapped awake and looked around.  "Your little brother just escaped from the hospital and is heading the Seal."

"Damn, I'm impressed.  How did he do that?"

"Wrench."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "Okay.  She was talking about a healing spell to make him heal faster."  He stretched then grinned.  "If he's on his bike, he'll be fine."

"He's still got an open wound!"

"He'll be fine," Vinnie said firmly.  "Willow said so.  She's on the other side of the desk grinning brightly."

"Oh, we went to threaten Enamel's brother about Vic," she offered just audibly.

"Hmm.  Then where is Xander heading?"

"Oh, to find Seal a crystal."  The screen cut out.

"Fuck," Throttle snarled, heading out to his bike.  He hated chasing Xander.  He really did.

***

Xander rode back into town a week later, pulling into his mother-in-law's house.  She came outside and gaped at him so he took off his glasses.  "Hi, mom."

"Dear," she started calmly.  "Where were you?"

"Oh, Throttle found me that first night.  He had to stop to get something for the Seal."  He got off his bike and patted him.  "We'll go home tomorrow, big guy.  Let's plug you in."  He plugged his bike in then stroked a handlebar.  "Good boy.  Need anything else?"  His bike beeped, sounding like he was chuckling.  "Seriously?"  His bike shook his front wheel. "Cool."  He walked up the few stairs and kissed his mother-in-law on the cheek.  "I'm better now."

"I can see that.  Dear, where did you get the sand colored leathers?"  She walked him inside, looking at his Martian red leather pants and vest, then looked at her boy's mate.  "What did you do?"

"Throttle and I found a Plutarkian storage cave that was hiding something the Seal wanted.  She was working on a healing spell for me," he said with a happy grin.  He heard Throttle roar up and grinned. "See, he's home."

"Good."  She walked out there, finding her boy pulling a cart behind his bike. "What's that, dear?"

"The stuff Stoker just looked at and moaned over, Momma."  He parked and plugged his bike in, then hauled off two boxes, handing her one.  "Dried rations. Stoker's just moaning about being old."  He grabbed a bag and carried it inside, tossing it at his mate.  "You forgot that."

"Sorry."  He put it beside him and dug out his I-Pod, starting it with a touch to the button.  "Willow charmed it for me," he said proudly.  "No more having to do it myself."

"Baby, are you sure you're all right?" she asked patiently.

"I asked that too.  This is playful Xander, mom.  Like playful Vinnie, you've got to deal with him."  He walked into the kitchen and put the box down on the counter, then came to get the other one, putting it down too.  "There, the rest really should go to Stoker but he was whining.  He said to give the rest to you, but....."  He smirked at her and kissed her on the cheek.  "I'm leading one of Vinnie's other cousins back there later but that'll be after dinner.  It's easier to get to at night."  She just nodded.  "Don't worry, momma, it's all good.  He's okay.  I made sure of it.  We emptied out another cave complex that they left."  Someone pounded on the door and he walked over there, looking at Stoker and Carbine.  "Morning."

"Bastard," he muttered, walking past him.  "What else was there?"

"The stuff on the cart that you said Momma could have."

Carbine looked at him.  "Was that all?"

"Well, he said Momma could have some of it, so I gave her some of the stuff."  He smiled at her.  "Why, Carbine?"

"You've been infected by your mate's odd mood," she sneered. Xander reached over and slapped her across the back of the head.  "Hey!"  She turned and stopped, finding a grinning Xander sitting there.  "You hit me!"

"I told you to leave my man alone, Carbine.  I'm in a playful mood."   She went pale and backed out.  "I take it she's not fully healed?"  Stoker shook his head.  "Bike, cyclone beam, half stun," he called.  "Hit the bitch."  He heard his bike discharge and looked at him.  "It worked on Cell very well.  She woke up normal."

"Thanks," he said dryly, going out to put Carbine on her bike since it was facing off with Xander's.  "It was to heal her.  It helped on Cell," he told the bike.  "She's still wrong in the head."  He put her on the bike and then went back inside after looking at the cart.  "What was on that?" he asked.

"Some survival supplies, a few cases of rootbeer, some books."

"Stoker, dear, you take whatever you want," Momma instructed.  "The other two are in the kitchen."  He nodded, kissing her on the cheek.  "Son!"  He ducked his head, looking sheepish.  Xander cackled. "You too!"

"He bitched me out, momma.  He said to take it, so we did."

"You were driving people insane, Xander."

"I'm still driving people insane, your fur's standing on end.  Just think, I'm only playful.  Today."  Stoker shivered. "By the way, Stoker, you wanted to test me on the playbook?"  He nodded once.  "When and where?"

"Two hours, let your bike charge.  Local base."  He headed out to look at the cart, taking it all with him.  Throttle had left the really important stuff.  He wondered if Throttle knew one of those boxes was marked 'dried worms'.  Not that it wouldn't serve him right.

Throttle popped open the case and pulled out the pack of dried fruit, smirking at his mother.  "It was an empty box."  She swatted him and took the fruit, nibbling as she went back into the kitchen to put things up.  He looked at Xander.  "Are you *sure*?"  Xander nodded.  "Absolutely certain?"  He nodded again.  "Because if you flunk, he's never going to let you live it down or go on missions with us."

"I'm sure.  I know what I'm doing now."

"Fine.   Do you want an audience?"

"Hell no."

"Fine."  He walked over to give his mate a kiss.  "Want to be sore when you ride?" he teased.  Xander purred and pulled him down to kiss him again.

"Upstairs!" Momma called without having to look.  "Not on my couch.  I'll be sitting on that later."  She heard two sets of footsteps running up the stairs and sighed, shaking her head.  "I love my son, and his mate," she told herself while she worked.  She called Modo's Momma.  "They're back and in a playful mood but Xander's got to go in about two hours and Throttle's got to hit somewhere tonight.  Plus he brought some dried fruit.  Want half?" she asked with a smile.  A very loud moan drifted down and across the bond from the way Modo was laughing.  "We can make that salad again if you want."

"I'll be over after lunch, dear.  Remember, a playful Xander and a playful Vinnie are the same mouse," she said patiently, swatting Vinnie on the ear with her tail.

"Where were they?" Modo asked.  Another moan came down and he chuckled. "I take it they're desperate?"

"Throttle's being a good son and saving me from having to deal with a playful white mouse."  Vinnie cackled at that and Vic joined in from his booster seat.  "Should we come over tonight?" she offered.

"Sure," Modo's Momma offered.  She smiled at Throttle's yell of Xander's name in outrage.  "What are they doing?"

"I find I usually don't want to know," she admitted, turning off the call and heading back to unpack her half of the stuff.  Throttle wobbled down the stairs a few minutes later and collapsed on the couch.  "Son, are you alive?" she called.  He grunted and then snored.

Xander bounced down the stairs, kissing her on the cheek.  "He needed it," he said with a grin.  "Should I haul stuff around for you, momma?"

"Dear, did you worry my son?"

"No, Momma.  He caught me about ten minutes after I left the hospital. He chased me for a bit but he did catch me."  She stared him down and he just gave her his version of the sweet and innocent boyish grin.  "I promise.  He wasn't worried about me and we did a lot of connecting and I got to practice some of the playbook and we got a lot closer and talked and stuff," he offered.  She snorted, crossing her arms.  "Okay, and I got to have sex in a really old ruin with him and we redid our vows, including the one where I wouldn't go out if I was injured.  See, my hand's fine," he said, showing it off.

"Where did the leathers come from?"

"From the storehouse.  We ran into a mine field and accidentally set it off, and followed the path that was cleared to a cave complex.  It's huge!" he said, grinning at her.  "They were storing stuff from way back when, like the start of the war, and we broke into it and looked at everything, then did the good thing and called."  Someone pounded on the door and he looked that way.  "Give me a minute."  He looked at her again.  "Then, since I was still in hospital stuff, Throttle let me pick out some clothes since there was so much.  He said something about an arena full of clothes."

"Fine."  She walked over to open the door, finding a light gray mouse dressed like a cop there.  "What's he done?"

"Unless it's about where I knocked out Carbine to scramble the programming she was under, I've been an angel for the last week."   He looked at the cop.  "Am I in trouble?"

"No, sir.   I was looking for my cousin Vincent?"

"He's at Modo's, son," Momma said patiently.  "We'll be going over later."

Xander moved closer. "I didn't meet you at any of the reunions.  Did you just come home?"  He nodded.  "I'm Xander," he said, shaking his hand.  "Vinnie adopted me."

"Welcome to the family," he said, shaking his hand.  "I'm Diesel."  He walked in.  "Who's Vic?  Chassis and Lightening told me about him."

"Vic is Vinnie's son with Charley."

"He's dating a guy?"

"Charley's our human mechanic friend.  And no, she's all girl."

"Oh."  He shook his head.  "I never figured him for being that kinky."  Momma glared at him and he flinched.  "Sorry, ma'am."

Xander smirked and looked the comm, then at Momma, who dialed them.  "Vinnie!"  He came to the screen.  "Do you know this mouse?  He claims he's one of our many cousins."

Vinnie looked.  "Diesel?"  He nodded, giving him an impatient look.  "Meet you in town at the market, by the bar, cuz.  I'll even bring the kid."

"You're dating a human?"

"No, I married a human.  You do know Chassis' mom is under death threat for threatening him, right?"

"Lightening and Chassis told me."  He smiled suddenly.  "Is that him?"  Vinnie looked, then nodded.  "Meet you there in about fifteen?"

"About thirty.  Modo's momma lives a bit out," he pointed out.  "Just wait on me."  He looked at Xander, then opened his mouth. "Where!"

Xander beamed.  "We found a *huge* storage cave," he said proudly.  "Throttle said I could have an outfit since I was wearing hospital stuff."

"I'm borrowing those some day."

"Sure, the pants are a bit loose on me. They should fit you great."  He beamed at him.  "I've got a trial this afternoon at the base.  He's leading Lightening back there tonight.  We were planning on heading home tomorrow.  Oh, I used Cell's cure on Carbine because she started on me again."  Vinnie snickered.  "Laters."  He hung up and grinned at his cousin. "Go ahead.  Shoo."  He smiled.  "You'll like Vic.  He's a true member of the family from what everyone says."

"I'm sure he is.  Vinnie's got enough charisma to infect normal mice."  Throttle let out a loud snore and he looked at him.  "Is that Throttle?"

"My mouse," Xander said proudly.  "Sorry, I'm bouncy today."

"I can see that."  He grinned and nodded at the mother.  "Thank you, ma'am.  There's a few more of us and he leaves this address to most of the family to find him."  He left, heading out to his tryke.

Xander watched him go.  "I didn't know some of us rode those."  Momma grabbed his ear and he winced. "Ow, mom!"

"Son," she said, sitting him down.  "No more bouncing, son."

Throttle lifted his head and looked at her.  "Momma, are you feeling all right?"

"I was worried sick!"

"I called," Xander defended.  "You weren't home and Modo's momma wasn't home when I called her.  I got Racer."

"He said so."  She swatted him across the ear.  "You need to behave and quit dragging my son off."

"I was going to come back here the next morning, he's the one who wanted the vacation," Xander defended.  She glared at Throttle, who just grinned and put his head back down.  "Besides, he wanted to talk about who to give you grandbabies."

Her eyes went wide. "Already!"

"Not yet, momma.  We agreed on some things," Throttle said through a yawn.  "She's got to either be a Freedom Fighter, or Chassis. It won't be Carbine.  It will be done medically.  It's got to be someone we both like and respect. We will be sharing custody, if not keeping total custody."

"We agreed most of Vinnie's cousins were okay.  We eliminated almost three-quarters of Mars."  He grinned at her.  "Got any good suggestions?"

"Chassis' boy would be heartbroken," she said firmly.

"Actually, I don't get that from him," Xander noted.  "It'd be like his stepkid, but I don't take him as one who'd mind.  I wouldn't do it without talking with him first," Xander noted dryly.

"We agreed to eliminate Mythica," Throttle admitted.  "There's enough strange stuff and putting the mother from Wrench's part of the family would just make it worse."  He yawned again then closed his eyes.  "Babe, can I have a shoulder rub?  You wore me out."

"Sure."  Xander came over to work on his shoulders, making him moan and go limp under him.  "When you figure out who, you just tell me," he whispered.  "I'm looking forward to a little tan blur running around chasing Vic all the time."  Throttle smiled at that. He was soon asleep and Xander got off him, looking at his mother-in-law.  "So if you've got any suggestions, we'll gladly take them."

She considered who she knew in that family.  "Actually, I like Mythica's sister, Repel.  She's a nice girl, but deadly. Unmated but thinking about a child from what I heard her sister muttering about in the marketplace."  She nudged Throttle.  "Honey, what about Repel?  Mythica's sister."

"I never met her," he admitted, blinking at her.  "How odd is she?"

"She's the normal one in the family, and she's a deadly shot," she offered with a smile.  "I heard Mythica muttering that she wanted a child."

"I can ask Wrench for the gossip," Xander offered.

"I'd like to meet her first," Throttle admitted.  "I think the last time I saw her, she had pigtails and braces on her leg."

"Sure.  We can meet informally tonight if you want, before you go."  Throttle nodded.  "Okay, let me call Wrench and then I'm heading to the base."  He stole a kiss and called Wrench, smiling at him.  "I hear you have a normal sister.  I'm seriously shocked."

"That's okay, the rest of us are usually offended by Repel."  He looked at him, then stared at him.  "I want to look like that in leathers," he complained.  He put down his pen.  "Why the questions?"

"Throttle and I were talking about future little tan blurs."

Wrench smiled.  "Repel is *exactly* like Throttle when he was twenty."  Throttle moaned at that.  "But she is thinking about a kid.  Sometime in the next three or four years."

"Which is about our timeline too," Xander admitted. "Not this year.  We'll need Modo and Staff to have one first so they can help calm ours down."  Wrench smiled at that.  "Think you could drag her to dinner tonight?  Throttle's got to head out for a while, but before then's a good time for dinner."

"Sure.  Lightening can come too.  That way they can leave together."  He looked at Xander again, then gave him his most dry look.  "Are you going for pinup?"

Xander smirked.  "The pants are too loose.  That's my black set."   Then he grinned and hung up.  "Should I change before I go?"

"You said those were riding up your tail.  I would," Throttle admitted.  He looked at him.  "Fine, you can wear the black leathers.  Just be careful.  No letting anyone pinch."  Xander kissed him and grabbed the bag, heading up to the room.  "Momma, you might wanna sit down when he comes back down."  She sat down and Xander hopped down a few minutes later, making her stare in open-mouthed shock.  "Are they tighter?"

"I've gained a bit of weight back," he defended. He sat down to put on his boots, then stood up and ran a hand over the vest.  "Should I wear a shirt?"

"No," Throttle said, shaking his head.  "Not needed up here.  Go.  Be good and try your best.  Be the wicked white mouse I practiced with."  Xander kissed him, making him moan.  "Go, before I make you sore."  Xander hopped out, going to unplug his bike then head out.  He put his head back down, shaking it.  "I don't think I'll be able to keep up with him later if Stoker doesn't wear him out on the course."

"Those were real pants and not fur paint?" she demanded.  Throttle smirked and nodded. "He can ride in those?"

"He can ride and fight in those," he admitted.  "Those are his fighting clothes, momma."  He closed his eyes.  "I'm gonna take a nap and rest up for later.  He's going to wear my tail out once we get home."  She nodded and he smirked, he could hear her doing it.  "Just think, momma, it's not like I took up with Vinnie."

"No, dear, you took up with his little brother.  Xander's just as bad in his own way."  She went back into the kitchen, going to find him something to nibble on later.  He'd need it from the way Xander looked.

***

Xander found his mate's bike and parked, then patted him.  "We did great today, baby love.  Remind me to spoil you rotten when we get home."  His bike beeped smugly.  "Yeah, we're the bestest there are."  He stroked his tank, then got up and headed inside, pushing open the door and striding in.

"You let him out in that!" Vinnie demanded from the corner table.

"They fit him better.  The red ones need some adjusting, they ride up his tail," Throttle said.  "Over here, Xander."

"Let me get a drink."

"You've already got one," a female called.

"Cool."  He walked over and climbed over the back of the seat to take his spot, grinning at them.  He pulled something out of his vest and put it on the table.  "Stoker's got a headache."  Then he smiled sweetly at Vinnie.  "Record busted."

"Cheese, how did you do that!"

"I'm good," he said smugly.

Chassis hugged him around the neck.  "I'm damn proud of you, cousin."  She grinned at Repel and Lightening. "Have you two met Xander?"

"We met earlier," Lightening said, nodding at him with a grin.  He looked at the pin.  "Cavalry?"  Xander nodded, giving him a smug look.  "Good job."

"Thank you."  He grinned at Vinnie.  "I should say both records busted.  Most difficult dismount from the physical course and best run through the bike course.  Next to last standing during the battle drill.  It came down to me and one other, I heard the whistle and the other guy shot.  Stoker yelled at me but I pointed out he had ended it and then punched the smug little brat, who's only sixteen anyway."  Vinnie just groaned and shook his head.  He smirked at Chassis next.  "When you come back, you've got to teach me how to fly."

"Sure," she said, nodding.  "You and Vic both.  And Rimfire, so he doesn't crash."  The others snickered at that.  She shook her head quickly.  "You're so bad, Xander."

He grinned. "I know."  He grinned at Repel.  "So, you're Wrench's little sister.  How much did you traumatize him as a kid?"

"Every day if possible," she offered, smirking at him.  "You're the missing husband?"  He nodded, shaking her hand.  She looked him over.  "I like you.  We'll be talking later."

"It'll still be his kids.  I have to deal in stuff Wrench does and I've got elemental powers on my tail."

"I heard.  We'll see.  Willow's throwing a fit according to him."

"She's good at that," Xander admitted.  "We went to talk to Enamel's brother."  Vinnie choked at that.  "Willow came too and he decided he's not going to go anywhere near my godson."  He beamed at him.  "Who's babysitting?"

"His momma.  We're going back tomorrow and he wanted her."  Vinnie looked at him.  "I'm still upset my son wanted you more."

"I let him get away with stuff you won't."

"So?"  He pouted.  "He's my son."

Xander leaned over the table to kiss him on the nose.  "I tell you what.  We'll work together on his education stuff.  He just likes me because I let him be naughty and Spike likes me."  He sat down, pushing his plate back into place.  "Together we'll turn my godson into a younger me."

"Hey!" Vinnie protested.

Xander beamed.  "Okay, a younger you," he sighed, looking at Throttle, then back at Vinnie.  "And we'll teach him together."

"Fine," he agreed, then couldn't hide his smirk.  "We need more kids around the house."

"Hey, you've got a lady," Xander said dryly.  "Talk to Modo too, that way his kids can calm down ours."

Throttle looked at him.  "We're not making a new Biker Mice crew, Xander."

"We are so.  Besides, Spike said Vic's going into his unit."  He looked at Repel.  "A problem for you?"  She shook her head.  "How about the fact that we want at least half of the custody, including the nasty stuff?"

"No, I'm good with that.  You can change as many diapers as you want."

"He changed about three-quarters of Vic's," Vinnie said dryly.   "You saw my son and how he turned out.  That's what any kid around him is like.  That or Spike and Anya."

"Stoker's two terrors?"  Xander just beamed at her.  "What's wrong with the daughter?"

"Anya has a firm belief that being able to find something pretty in the world makes the ugliness easier to bear."

"Oh!"  She nodded.  "The world could always use more artists and hairdressers.  Can we eat now?"  Everyone nodded and dug in.   "Xander, how were your range scores?"

"He didn't make me," he said with a small shrug.  "I have no idea. I haven't been on a range in a while."

"He's a very good shot," Throttle told her.  "He's also a very quick learner when you show him something, Chassis.  Books and he don't always get along."

"That's fine," she agreed. "There's not much in the books on good piloting.  I can bring down the simulator, right?  Your home computer's got the space?"

"Honey, I've got a six terabyte external harddrive," Xander said dryly, smirking at her.  "It's my toy."  She just gaped and he grinned and winked.  "Enough space?"

"More than the central command computer," she said, swatting him on the arm.  Then she stopped to feel the muscle.  "Damn," she said, squeezing again.  "Those give Modo a run for the money, cousin."

"Not really.  His are bigger."

"No, he's got more definition and he might be stronger, but yours are just as nice."

Throttle felt the one nearest him.  "Very nice," he agreed.  "Flex for me, babe.  We haven't seen you to judge that recently."  Xander wiggled up to sit on the back of the bench seat and took off his vest to flex and pose.  "More than good enough.  Vinnie?"

"He could use some definition on his arms and legs, but his abs are great.  We'll have to make sure he doesn't blur them when he regains all that weight he's lost.  Sit down and eat."  He put more food on Xander's plate, making him grin as he sat down again.  "We need to go through our closets.  I've got about six pairs of jeans I can't wear."

"Gained some mass have you?" Repel teased.

Vinnie snorted. "No.  Cheese, Xander won't eat hot dogs.  He feeds us stuff like pork chops and ham and vegetables.  Which is good for the son and him, but I need more hotdogs.  No, I've got stuff that's the wrong size.  Stuff Modo's momma bought that's the wrong size.  I think she gave me the wrong bag and that was meant for the general fund."

"Sure," Xander agreed. "I've got to clean out my closet anyway."  He looked at his husband.  "I've got all those jeans I can't wear because they're too long and then the ones that are way too loose now. Plus about ten pairs that got suddenly too tight when I changed."  Throttle nodded at that.  "Are they still taking donations to the clothing fund?"  He nodded.  "After all we found?"

"Yeah.  Or if not, we'll find one down there.  I agree, your closet is a wreck, Xander."  He kissed him on the cheek.  "Eat."  Xander dug in, eating heartily.  "Then we're going over the bank statements tonight.  The bank wanted you to call about the way you've been spending money."

"Yay."

"How much do you have left?" Vinnie asked.  Xander looked at him.  "Never mind, that's being nosy."

"Enough to live on if we're careful and I go back to work sometime in the near future.  Or I design more stuff in the near future.  Speaking of, did I ever get back to Boris with those design modifications?"  Everyone shook their heads.  "He's got to be swearing at me."

"Charley called him to tell him about the surgery.  She said she's never had a vampire pounce her and shake her to find out how you were.  He's going to be expecting you when you get back, but he's still going to try to play cool and calm about it."

"I'll pop around tomorrow night."

"Sure.  By the way, Faith's due soon too."  Xander nodded at that, eating another bite.  "You're fully healed?"  He grinned and nodded.  "Let's see the hand then."  Xander held it out for him to look at.  "Yeah, that's healed."  He touched it, looking for a flinch.  Nothing.  So he squeezed.  Xander did wince a bit at that.

"You're still sore?" Chassis demanded.  He shrugged and ate another bite.

"He's a bit more sensitive there," Throttle told her.  "He might ache now and then on it.  It was a pretty deep burn."

"I remember seeing it during a bandage change."

"You were burned?" Repel asked.

Xander nodded.  "Someone came after me with a stun rod.  I had to block it once and then had to grab it to turn it off."  He held up his hand.  "Second degree."  She winced.  "So, yeah, I'm just now healing."  He grinned at her.  "You?"

"Oh, I've never been burned, but I've had broken bones, grazes, a few good shots into me.  I'm a sniper."

"I've done that job," he admitted.

"That's what Wrench said."  She smiled at him.  "We'll be talking while Lightening is gone, cousin."

"Sure."  He grinned at her.  "Are you at the local base?"

"I'm not on duty today.  Eat, dear.  You need to eat. Your mate is giving you this 'you'd better eat' look."

"I'm going to sic Momma on him," Throttle assured her.  He handed Xander his fork, getting a sheepish look in return.  Xander started to eat again. "Usually we can't stop you from eating."

"I'm not that hungry since I quit growing."

"Eat anyway.  You still need to maintain the general guidelines for good health."  Xander scraped his plate a moment later and gave him a kiss, making him moan.  "Easy, Xander.  Tomorrow night."  That got a grin.  "And no naughty stuff, mate."

"Yes, dear."  He looked at Vinnie.  "How's Spike doing on his sign language?"

"He's getting really good at the alphabet.  Piston's a bit slower, but Ramjet and Thruster are great too, bro.  The morse code is going well too.  I practiced that with them a bit."

"You know you're giving those kids a way to talk without any adults knowing, right?" Throttle demanded between bites.  He handed Xander his roll and got another kiss for it.  "Keep it up."  Xander just beamed and nibbled for him.

Vinnie smirked at him.  "Stoker should have a really smart kid who can communicate with others when they're held captive by the evil parents of doom.  He deserves a kid just like us."  Xander cackled and nodded, giving him his most evil smirk.  "Oh, no, what else did you give them?"

Xander beamed.  "In mine and Jesse's journal was our own private code.  I copied the journal for Spike as promised."  Every mouse there groaned.

"Cheese, those kids are going to be horrible," Vinnie complained, shaking his head.  "My poor son."

"Oh, don't worry, they'll initiate him as soon as he's old enough.  Spike promised me."

Throttle got up and pulled his mate away.  "We'll be right back."  He took him into the bathroom to 'talk' to him and calm him down again. About ten minutes later he led Xander back out and slid his new insignia into his pocket.  He put Xander back in his seat, patting him down to find the other one.  He pulled out his rank pin and looked at it, then flipped it at Vinnie.  "He outranks you, bro."  He sat down and let Xander nap against his shoulder. "Sorry, had to have a discussion."

"Stan and I have had a few of those," Chassis offered with a grin.  "What'd he get?"

"Commander, unit second," he said, tossing it to her.  "Just what they gave him after that medal thing."

"It's got the reserve marking," she said, holding it up.  She handed it to Throttle.  "There ya go, babe.  You hold that for him.  Maybe he'll be over my unit.  We could use it since Cell's not back yet."

"Don't say that," Vinnie said, shuddering.  "Remember his focus is small group combat."

"Why?" Repel asked.

"He lived and learned on the Sunnydale hellmouth," Throttle told her.  She dropped her fork and he nodded, smirking at her.  "He had about eight years before he met us of combat training with the slayer there.  He wasn't a watcher, like Wrench basically is, but he was her warrior.

"He used to have short, dark hair.  Brown eyes.  Construction worker?"  Everyone who knew nodded.  "The Seal was cooing over him while I was with Wrench the other day.  She said we'd be good together."

"She likes Xander.  That's why the kids would all be mine," he told her.

"Damn," she said in awe.  "Oh, she said he'll have a daughter some day.  They're working out how."  Throttle nodded at that then sighed.  "Not Rivet's next holder."

"That's fine.  As long as I know about it beforehand," he said dryly.  She nodded at that, picking back up her fork.  "You can back out.  We don't want the Seal to force anyone into anything."

"Hell, I like the Seal.  She's a practical being most of the time.  Unlike the human bound to her.  That Willow girl is a bit flighty."

"They were best friends when he was younger."

"Then he's definitely a stronger bloke than me," she offered dryly.  Throttle and Vinnie both nodded at that.  "Then we're good, mate.  It's all good to me.  I know enough about him just from watching Vic to know he's a good daddy.  You'll temper that urge in him since he turned Victor into a white mouse with dyed fur." Vinnie snickered at that.  "He is!  He's got the family bouncing problem."  She looked at him.  "So whenever you're ready, you just call me, or I'll call you now and then to see if you're ready.  I agree, let Modo have one first, it can only help calm yours down."  Everyone cracked up at that.  "Cousin, when's the next one?" she asked Vinnie.

"Charley says never but we had a close call and a miscarriage already," he admitted. "I want a daughter.  Someone like Chassis is, only like me."

"I'm sure it'll happen," Repel told him, grinning at him.  "Welcoming home celebrations often help those things."  He beamed at that.  "Did he tell you Vic potty trained finally?"

"Really?" Throttle asked.  "Good job, bro."

"Mostly Modo.  He said he didn't want to change any more.  Vic's at that age where he's wanting to rip it off and run around naked.  He said this way he can run around naked and traumatize him all he wanted without having accidents for him to sit on."  Throttle chuckled at that.  "Fully potty trained, even at night.  I called Charley and she just smiled at that news.  Apparently she hated diapers anyway."

"Just wait until you're all old and need them," Chassis teased.

Lightening looked at her.  "If we do, we're getting you to change them.  Since you're younger."

"I can whip your tail," she promised.

He smirked.  "Ya think?"

"No, honey, I know."

"No whipping tail without me," Xander mumbled, curling around Throttle's arm and putting his feet in Chassis' lap.  He sighed and smiled.

"Are you quite comfy?" Chassis asked blandly.  She moved the feet off her legs and dusted herself off.  "Next time don't make him nap."

"That's what cures that," Vinnie said with a bright grin. "Consider it a compliment.  He usually only does that to me."

"Yeah, but I'm not you and I like my human."

"Human?" Repel asked.  "Another one?"  She nodded, pulling out her wallet to show off his picture.  "He's cute," she offered, looking at her.  "Are you serious?"

"So far.  I'm going to enjoy dating for a while."  She cleared her throat.  "Speaking of bondings, we've got to get Rimfire in front of Carbine.  The crabby one needs to do more weddings."

"Is she normal again?"

"When she woke up," Chassis said with a smirk.  "What did he hit her with?"  Throttle and Vinnie both shrugged. "You don't know the weapons on his bike?"

"Xander designs weapons, cuz.  We're not sure he hasn't figured out how to interchange them."  Vinnie looked over as the music started.  "When did you have to go, Throttle?  I'll make sure he gets home."

Throttle looked at Lightening.  "Up to you.  It's about twenty miles out of town."

"How did we miss that?"

"It's on the other side of a mine field."

"Oh, I know where that is.  Why go in at night?"

"It's easier to see the cleared area."

"Ah." He nodded.  "I hadn't realized they glow."

"Heat readings," he said, tapping his specs.  "Active mines glow."

"That's pretty cool," he agreed.  "Whenever you're ready, Throttle."

Throttle finished his dinner and got up, letting Xander lay down in his spot.  "We'll be back later tonight, Vinnie.   Take care of my boy and make sure he makes it home unpinched from the club."  He walked out with Lightening, talking quietly.  He really wanted to explore the rest of that complex.  He found Wrench waiting on him outside with Rivet.  "Group outing?" he joked.

"It's an old temple the Plutarkians built to one of their Gods.  Just in case, ya know?" Wrench offered.  Throttle nodded at that.  "Lightening, this is Rivet."

"Hey.  Xander's inside," he offered, shaking her hand.

She squealed and hurried in to hug him, then bounced back out.  "The Seal told me about him."

"I think she considers him some wayward son," Throttle told her.  "Come on, let's head."  He turned his bike around and headed out, the others following.

"What did Xander do that was so famous?" Lightening called to Wrench, who just grinned.  "Do I even want to know?"  He shook his head. "Okay.  I'm sure I'll find it out through the family grapevine.  Speaking of, when did you give Vinnie that tattoo, Throttle?"

"What tattoo?" he called back.

"He got a set of vines just under his beltline," Wrench told him.  "I went with him to hold his hands."  Throttle looked at him.  "Not ivy vines, man, not ours."  Throttle nodded at that.  "Grape vines actually.  He said something about Dionysus and Dawnie."  He shrugged at the snort he could hear over the radio.  "Rimfire, where are you?" he called.

"Meeting you there, Wrench.  Dawn said so.  Hey, Throttle.  Mind much?"

"Not an issue.  We've got Lightening and Rivet with us too."

"Hey," Dawn called, waving as they came closer to where they were riding.  Rivet waved back, beaming at her.  "We'll talk later, sister."

"Okay," she chirped.

"Rimfire, you're with a human too?"

"Yup, sure am.  She blew my mind that first night and she still teases me to this day," he called back, smirking at him.  "Hey, Lightening.  Long time no see."

"Man, I've got some serious catching up to do.  Get taken off Mars for a year and look what I miss."

Everyone laughed at that, it'd take him all night to catch up with the gossip.

Episode 67:

NC-17, Modo/Staff

Modo sighed as he walked back into the lair, nodding at his niece as he flopped down in his usual chair.  "We still good?"

"We're fine, Uncle Modo.  Is Rimfire with you?"  He groaned and nodded.  "What happened?  All I know is that suddenly Dawn grabbed her head and rushed off to find him.  Is she like Wrench?"  He nodded, moaning a bit.  "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Xander and Throttle found an old storehouse in the badlands."  He grimaced.  "It was housed in a former temple that the stinkfish built to one of their Gods.  That's where they went.  Just in case."  He gave her a long look.  "The rest of us had a normal trip."  She chuckled and hugged him around the neck.  "Thanks, love.  How are your kids?"

"Doing better since Momma Cell stepped in to whip tail on the twins.  The baby's doing all right," she said, glancing at him on the couch.  "The twins went home last night."

"I heard.  They jumped on me this morning," he said dryly, smirking at her.  "School, niece.  They need to be smarter and as capable as you and Momma."

She snorted, sitting down.  "I don't want my kids to turn into Rimfire.  I love my brother, Uncle Modo, but I don't want my daughters to turn into him."

"Oh, they won't," he assured her.  "The women in the family are just different, niece.  They'll probably be more like your momma."

"I'd rather have them want to be like grandmomma in her youth; that nice, womanly, motherly sort who just want to be married."

"That might happen," he offered.  "My grandmomma was like that.  Shot looks a lot like her according to Momma.  There's every chance, but the kids will still have to know how to ride and fight, even if they end up little and delicate.  All mice need to learn how to ride and fight."

She sighed and nodded.  "I know.  I've seen Anya on the kiddie course.  She's not too bad for being a princess."

"Anya's artistic, Primer.  She likes beautiful things to help her make the ugliness go faster."  She nodded at that.  "That's just how she is.  She's still Stoker's daughter.  She'll do something to bring some of the beauty back to Mars.  By the time she's grown hopefully someone will appreciate that and help her."

"Oh, I understand.  She told me that herself once.  It's just that she's got such a hard time with the other kids."

"Yeah, well, she's her own worst enemy sometimes," he admitted. "Though she proves she can fight very well each and every time."  They shared a smile at that.  "Momma and Cell were working on that with her over the last week.  Cell thinks she should be the one to reopen some of the old pools.  That way everyone could relax now and then."

"I can see that.  I know someone suggested her momma do it."  She shrugged and turned to pick up her son.  "Look who's here, lovey.  It's Uncle Modo."  She handed him over and Modo smiled down at his great-nephew.  "When are you having some?"

"When Staff's ready, darlin'.  I've got to wait for her.  I'm not rushing her any."  He looked at her.  "It might not happen.  We'll have to wait and see."  He heard a door slam and winced.  "Who's that?"

"Charley's been on a rip for the last two days," she said about the same time as Charley screamed.

"Vincent VanWham, get your tail here now!"

"Sounds like Vic's getting a sibling," he said happily, smiling down at the baby.  "Hi."  The baby blinked and grabbed his metal finger, holding onto it while he blinked.  "I know, I kinda want a real one for you to play with too, but you wouldn't want to lay on that one, darlin'.  It's cold and hard."  The baby cooed at him, kicking a bit.  "You're precious."  He looked at her.  "You might ask your Momma, she might be giving you a sibling.  Either that or she's got the flu.  Momma wasn't sure."

"Oh, I am," she said dryly.  "The commander wanted one of his own."  She looked at her son. "Fortunately my man thinks we've got enough."  Modo laughed and handed him back.  "Thanks, Uncle Modo.  Think about it, my sister or brother playing with my kids and your kids at the same time.  Plus Racer.  Three generations of kids together."

"And Vic," he offered, grinning at her.  "After all, someone's got to calm down that mouse."  Vinnie ran up the ramp and up to the roof, a white blur.  "Yup, she's with mouse."  They shared a grin.  "You should go home, niece.  Momma's waiting on you."

"Sure, Uncle Modo."  She kissed him on the cheek, then grabbed her backpack and the baby's bag, taking it with her. Her bike was already waiting with Rimfire.  "You coming home soon?"

"The holidays.  Another few months."  He kissed her on the cheek then patted the baby on the head.  "I heard you did great work, Primer.  Thank you for protecting my lady."

"She's a lot tougher than I expected with how fashionable she is."  She got on her bike, tying down the bags behind her.  "Come on, squirt.  Let's go see grandmomma.  We'll expect the bonding while you're up there, Rimfire."

"Yes, dear."  He waved as she disappeared.  Charley stormed in.  "He ran to hide somewhere upstairs or on the roof."

"He'd better hide!"  She glared at Xander as he came out of the transporter, then at Throttle since he was last. "Do you know what he did!"

"I just got home," Xander defended. "I haven't even had the chance to get into trouble!"

"Not you, your older brother," she said with a glare.

Xander squealed and hugged her, bouncing her around.  "I'm so happy!"

"Let me go!"  She got free and punched him on the arm. "Don't be so happy."  She looked at Throttle.  "I don't know how."

"I do.  That thing fell out," Dawn called from the library.  She came down the stairs, holding up the baggie she had found.  "He was worrying about it falling out and telling you."

"How?"

"Not a clue," she admitted, then she grinned and patted her tummy.  "Hi, there, future hellion.  You grow big and strong.  We'll make you a normal mouse."  Vic spit at her.  "You are in such trouble."

"What did he do?" Charley sighed.

"He decided to shave Detail last night."  Charley blinked at that.  She nodded, smirking at her.  "Momma had some clippers out to trim Racer's fur.  Vic saw them when he was up and wandering that night.  Detail woke up to the sound of the clippers and one bare leg.  Apparently he was helping her be like his own mommy."

Charley moaned, holding her head.  She felt arms go around her and looked back at her husband, turning to hit him but he caught her hand and kissed her.  "You couldn't tell me?"

"I thought it'd be okay and I told Enamel while we were on Mars.  He said he'd put another one in."  He gave her a sheepish look. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"You're going to be."

He kissed her deeply, making her moan. "I love you.  The newly returned cousins all want to meet you, sweetheart.  They all think Vic is adorable."  Chassis came off the transporter with Enamel and Shell.  "Back again?"

"Yup," she said smugly.  "After all, someone has to teach Xander how to fly."   Charley looked horrified.  "He passed his field tests.  Broke two records of Vinnie's."  Charley moaned, holding her head again.  She beamed at her.  "I've only got a simulator and I'm to get Rimfire on it too since he can't do more than aim and crash."  Rimfire snorted. "Plus I'm to teach you and Dawn as well if you want.  Stoker wants you up to date on the playbook by the end of next year."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because Xander pointed out that we're treated like helpless bimbos and if I train you get to train if you want," Dawn told her.

"Okay."  She nodded.  "Sure, I could use it."  She looked at Vinnie.  "Not one word."

"Training is fine, sweetheart, it means you'll be safer when we've got to go roast stinkfish."  He grinned at her. "Besides it's a momma's job to make sure her baby boy can ride and shoot at least as well as she can."

"Otherwise I get to," Xander said cheerfully, waving as Throttle pulled him off.  "But, babe....."

"You wanted a reward for breaking those two records."

"Oooh."  Xander picked up Throttle and carried him to their bedroom, then kicked the door shut and locked it.

"He really did?" Charley asked.  Vinnie let out a little sigh and nodded.  "I guess that's pretty good then.  Come on, hot shot, we've got to talk."

"Yes, dear."  He followed her over to the garage and their room, leaving Vic there.  He could find someone to play with him or play with the cats.  He also locked up the garage before heading up there.  He wanted no interruptions during his celebration.

Shell looked at her mate.  "I could use a nap."

"Me too," Enamel offered.  "Chassis, can you handle Vic?"

"I'll be up," Dawn assured him.  "I've got homework to get done."  That got a grin and that couple headed for their room.  "Chassis, I called, Stan's off tonight."  Chassis let out a wicked smirk.  "He's at home.  Address is up on the counter in the kitchen."  She raced that way then back down to her bike, hopping off to head over there.  She smirked at Rimfire.  "English?"

"Must I?"  She nodded.  "Fine."  He walked off with her, taking the baby with them.  "So, anything come up?"

She pinched him. "I'm staying the next time."

"Just as soon as you're fully trained, Dawn. You know that."  He kissed her.  "The same as Xander can't fight while injured."

"They got him to stop that?"  He smirked and nodded.  "How?"

"The surgery.  Throttle went back into his head and helped him see that he was good and all that but they made it part of their vows."  He kissed her again.  "Where's the textbook?  I did the assignments I knew about."

"I printed them off for you," she sighed, finding the graded papers for him.  "She thinks you had chicken pox."

"That's fine.  Thanks, babe."  He settled in to do the homework with her, pulling Vic into his lap to help him.  It was good enough to teach him so he could use it to teach the baby. "This is a haiku," he said gently.  "It's got three lines...."

***

Modo woke up from his nap to a soft and gentle touch below his belt.  He moaned and pulled his girl up to kiss her.  "Don't do that, Staff.  You don't have to."

"What if I want to?" she asked, smiling down at him.  "Can't I try it, just once, Modo?"  He shivered and she nipped his nose, making him moan.  "It's not going to make me a bad girl or anywhere close to the white menaces.  After all, bad girls charge, I'm doing it because I want to and because I love you.  Just the once?"  He whimpered so she kissed him gently.  "I just wanna know, dear.  Please?"

"Sure," he agreed, kissing her again.  "Go ahead and do whatever you want."

She smiled.  "Then you get up and strip.  I couldn't get your pants off you without waking you."  He smiled and blushed but got up and stripped off his jeans and socks, laying down for her.  He even spread out a bit.  She stared, making his blush move down his chest.  She giggled and kissed the edge of it, then looked up at him.  "You're so handsome."

"If you say so."

She stroked his metal arm.  "This does nothing to make you any less, my biker stud.  It really doesn't."  She moved down to his chest to feel it up, running her fingers through the soft fur. She had done this before and he loved it.  She found a nipple and licked it gently before nipping it, making him arch up with a new moan.  "Shh.  Let me play, Modo.  I want to make you lose your mind."

"Too late," he moaned.  She giggled and he looked at her.  "I did.  I lost my mind the first time I saw you.  You were polite enough to hand it back though."

"You say some of the sweetest things."  She moved down further, teasing his stomach, making him wiggle a bit.  She licked that spot and he wiggled for different reasons.  She moved backward to kneel between his legs, looking at him. "You're bigger than I thought," she offered, stroking him on the side showing.  He was already hard and the furry back of her hand just made him shiver.  Her palm made him arch up his hips a bit.  She looked up at him.  "Deep breath."  Then she leaned down to taste him. Just a gentle, soft, kitten lick across the edge of the bulb.

"Oh, momma!  Staff!"

"Shh," she ordered.  "Let me, Modo.  I want this."  She leaned down to lick him again, this time tasting something different.  She pulled back to taste it, then went back there to lick it again.  She ended up licking him all over, moving it into her hand to get the side laying against his stomach.  She sniffed his balls and gave them a small lick, which made him twitch.  She went back to the first thing she had tasted.  "Can...can I go on?" she asked, nearly pleading.

"If you want.  I don't need it, just touching your hair is enough for me most days."  She blushed and ducked her head so he pulled her up to kiss her.  "What gave you this naughty idea?" he teased, kissing her again.

"I saw an article about it in some magazine of Dawn's.  It said men like that sort of thing."

"We do, darlin', but it's not necessary for this mouse. Not that I don't like it," he offered at her gaze into his eye.  "I did.  You're very gentle with me.  I just don't need it.  You don't have to turn naughty to please me."

"But I wanted to find out if I could and if you liked it," she offered, teasing his chest fur with her fingers.  She ran her hand up through the fur, ending up on his cheek.  "Maybe for special things, like anniversaries?" she asked hopefully.

"You're one special lady," he said, his voice deeper than normal before kissing her.  "You do whatever you want, Staff.  I'll lay here and take it all.  I'd never stop you from pleasing me any way you wanted."  She smiled.  "But then I get to do the same to you."  She blushed dark red and he smiled, nuzzling her under the chin.  "I did learn some things back when I was dating the wrong women."

"You don't...." she squeaked.  He kissed her and she calmed down. "For special stuff?"

"For special stuff," he promised, smiling at her. He flipped back onto his back and put her hands back on his chest.  "Do whatever you want, Staff.  I'm all yours."

She blushed darker and went back to what she had been doing, finding him still really hard.  She gently stroked him, slowly encircling him with her hand.  He let out a moan and grabbed the headboard, making her smile.  She leaned back down to taste him, taking the head into her mouth.  His breath hitched and he shivered, so she teased it, pulling back to breathe.  Now she understood what Xander had said.  She moved lower, sucking on that spot where he had thrust when she had licked, putting a sucking kiss there. He pushed up again, letting out this deep, manly moan that made her ache inside for him to touch her.  She moved back up to lick the head again, letting it slide back into her mouth while she did that.  She looked up, he had his eye closed tightly and he was bitting himself to keep from interrupting her.  "Not good enough?" she asked.

"Staff, I love you, darlin', but you're driving me insane," he panted.  "Please."  She did it again and he let out another moan, involuntarily thrusting.  He forced his hips back onto the bed and she followed it down, going deeper on him.  "Staff, momma, please," he pleaded.  "Oh, please!"  She teased him with her hand while she worked him over.  He had to let go of the headboard before he broke it, trying to grab the wall.  He found a bar above it, looking up.  It held up the lamps hanging on the wall, but it was sturdy and probably wouldn't break.  He reached up and grabbed it with both hands.  He didn't want to hurt her.  She went farther down this time, then slowly moved back up while using her tongue and he squeezed the bar.  He felt it dent but that was fine.  The lights were still on, it was all good.  She moved lower and he couldn't help himself, he had to thrust.  He felt her swallow, the suction coming, and he whimpered.  She pulled back and he shook, the breeze from her breathe teasing him.  "Staff," he whimpered. "Please."  He didn't get to see her grin before going back down.  Not as deeply this time but she did go down and she was stroking the rest of him and he didn't want to hurt her, but he wasn't finding his control at all.  He was going to come and all he could do was let out another moan of her name.  He felt her pull up to taste it and shivered, letting her have it all. He was left limp, shaking, totally destroyed by the love she had shown.  She came up and kissed him and he tasted himself, but he didn't care.  He pulled her into his arms, kissing her deeply.  "Love you," he whispered.

She smiled.  "I'm glad. It was okay?"

"There's no words to describe it, Staff."  He pulled away to look at her. "Love, I'm a weak man," he moaned, kissing her again.  "Anytime you want to do that, you may.  I don't have the words.  Rimfire's got the smooth tongue in the family, but momma, Staff, I loved it and I love you."

She kissed him again, laying a finger over his mouth.  She smiled at him.  "You're babbling," she said with a delighted grin.  "That was all me?"  He nodded, pulling her in for a deep kiss again. "Wow."  He chuckled at that and pushed her onto her back, moving down to kiss her breasts.  "What are you doing?"

"I told you I'd do the same thing for you and I'm a mouse of my word," he offered with a shy grin.  He moved down to play and tease her.  She had very sensitive breasts and he loved that about her.  "So pretty."  He saw the blush come creeping back and kissed that spot. Then he moved lower to tease her stomach, listening to her gasp in shock.  He'd never done more than tease her stomach before, now he was nipping and licking all those spots.  He saw the blush come down further.  "Calm down."  He moved backward, diving in to taste her.  Any teasing here, any hesitation, and he was going to drive himself insane.  He was already hard again and she had driven him to this desperation.  All he wanted was her.  She was making these shocked little noises that he loved from their first night together.  She had told him she'd had one boyfriend before him and he had touched her but nothing further. Apparently he didn't do enough touching.  He went deeper with his tongue, making her shiver around him and arch up to meet his tongue.  He chuckled and moved to tease her a bit now that she was ready to explode.  She whimpered and shifted her legs outward, giving him more room.  He pushed her feet down onto the bed, bending her knees up.  She blushed even further but he was already diving back in, one finger teasing and touching her while he licked and played.  Just like she had done to him.

He felt the tremor start and continued to play until he felt her go across, using his fingers to stroke in and out of her to ease her back down.  Then he pulled her up to kiss her, making her moan because he was pulling her into his lap and letting her slide down him.  She wrapped her legs around him, letting him do whatever he wanted.  "My lady," he moaned.   She nodded, gasping his name as he stroked in and out of her.  "This is how it's supposed to be."  He laid her back onto her back and did everything he could to drive her mad.  He felt her come around him and released, then laid down, pulling her into his arms to let her cuddle.  "This doesn't make you naughty, Staff.  No more than liking what I did to you does.  It's natural for two people in love like we are to give each other pleasure.  You give me the greatest pleasure and the greatest joys."

She smiled up at him, kissing him again.  "That's good.  I, um, liked doing that."

He smiled.  "You made me lose control, sweetheart.  No one's ever made me do that.  Some made me lose my temper," he offered when someone knocked on the door.  "Go away!"

"Sure, ordering dinner," Vinnie called.  "Chinese, the usual?"

"Please."  He grinned at her.  "Forgive my bros, they're trying to take care of us."  She smiled and snuggled into his chest, wrapping herself around him.  He felt that urge hit him again and felt himself get hard.  "Oh, momma, again?" he moaned.  He slid back into her, working himself gently.  He knew he was a big guy and that he could hurt her, but he wanted so much to claim her.  That urge to do naughty things was back and he wanted so bad to flip her over and claim her properly.  She moaned and gripped his arms, her lips moving up until she found his mouth. He pulled back to pant, speeding up some.  She latched back on and he felt his head swell, like the universe was coming in to watch, and then he felt it explode.  Her fingers were teasing his fur when he woke up, and he blinked at her.  "Are you all right?  Did I pass out?"  She blushed and nodded, smiling shyly at him.  He hummed as he pulled her closer, just holding her.  "We should clean up and go eat.  I want to take you out for a moonlight ride tonight."

She smiled.  "Vinnie made us a picnic of the chinese food."  He grinned at that.  "They decided we need some time alone."  She kissed him.  "No headache?"  He shook his head, pulling her closer to hold and cuddle.  "I love this part," she sighed, sinking against his chest.

"It's my favorite too," he promised, holding her as tightly as he dared.  She gave him a squeeze so he tried a bit harder.  She moaned but in a good way.  They stayed cuddled together for a bit, needing this time alone.  His momma had a room alone for them but there were others around.  He heard something hit the floor outside their room and groaned.  "We need to go for a ride."

"Sure," she agreed, grinning at him.  "Whenever you're ready to let me go."  He chuckled and let her go, giving her a kiss as she crawled over him to put on some clothes.  He forced himself to get up and put back on his jeans, socks, and boots, but left the armor there.  She smiled as she did up her sneakers, then grabbed her helmet and opened the door, nearly tripping over the basket lying there.  She picked it up and winked at him, leading him down to his bike.  "Lil' Hoss, can we go for a moonlight ride on you, darling?" she asked, stroking her gently.  The bike beeped happily.  "Thanks, love."  She tied down the basket, then got on, letting him slide on in front of her. "We'll need gas if we're going farther than the park."

"Sure."  He checked, he had his wallet.  He backed out of the garage and then pulled out of the alley, heading down the smoother roads toward one of his favorite places, with a stop for gas since it was nearly sixty miles away.  When they finally stopped, he got off and grabbed the basket, then her hand, walking her toward the small hill overlooking the small field.  Xander had shown him this spot and he pulled her out there to let her look at the cows.  He looked in the basket, smiling at his bro's touch.  Vinnie must have packed it.  He pulled out the small tent and put it up, then put the warm fleece blanket down as the floor.  He put the lantern down.  He helped her sit down and then grabbed the food, handing everything to her so he could join her.  He wiggled in beside her, lighting the lamp with a single knob turn and a push of a button.  Warm light glowed from it and he smiled, kissing her.  "This is one of Xander's thinking spots.  He told me about it and it's pretty here.  Nearly as pretty as you are."  She giggled and kissed him.  "Staff, you know what I meant earlier, right?  That I don't need fancy stuff to stay with you.  I'm satisfied with the cuddling if that's all I could have."

She stopped him from babbling by kissing him again. "I know.  I wanted to do it for you anyway.  I know you don't need anything fancy or anything like that.  But I wanted to do it for you, just to see what it was like.  Sometimes I'm a curious mouse."

He smiled at her renewed blush.  "I know you are, love."  He heard a footstep and looked at the older man walking their way.  "Xander said this was one of his thinking spots.  I don't mean to intrude, citizen."

"You're not, son.  I heard the bike and figured it'd be him."  He grinned at the obvious couple.  "Pretty night for a picnic.  I'll be back around dawn to move the cows out into the pasture.  There's no wild animals around here but a demon dog now and then.  Just shoot at it and it'll yip off like the cur it is."  He winked at Modo.  "It's due to get a might chilly tonight too, son.  So be careful."  He headed back to the barn, going to check on his herd.

Modo checked the basket, there was another blanket in there on the bottom.  He blushed.  "He's a nice older man."

She kissed him, making him forget everything but her and earlier. "Modo, I want a baby," she whispered.  "Tonight?"  He repacked the basket to get the food out of the way and then moved the lantern, getting the second blanket.  If she wanted one, he was ready for that too.  He covered them up and she smiled. "We can eat if you want."

"My momma told me to never mix food and sex.  Food was for before and after," he joked, kissing her.  She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him do whatever he wanted.  He did his best time and again, as long as he could.  Then they settled in to eat some dinner and go again a few times.  He hoped it was from tonight.  It'd make it very special for her.  He loved doing special things for her.

***

Enamel was woken up by his lady, getting a kiss for opening his eyes.  "What time is it?" he asked tiredly.

"Three.  Vinnie wanted to borrow your disc and scanner."

"He can wait until tomorrow."

"She's cramping, honey.  They had sex and he's paranoid because she did what I did earlier."

"Sure."   He sat up and she helped him into a pair of pajama bottoms, then grabbed things for him.  He walked over there with her, finding Heat listening to her stomach. "Can you hear the heartbeat?"  He smiled and nodded.  "Good."  He sat beside her, letting Shell set up things for him. "Lower, babe.  They carry lower."

"I heard the heartbeat here," Heat said, pointing at a spot.  He moved the disc and looked over his teacher's shoulder. "So that's what a baby human looks like."

Enamel nodded, smirking at him.  "You can look at my son tomorrow, kid.  Run a new scan.  Select it as 'new patient'."  He did that for him and he looked, then smirked at Vinnie.  "Not an issue, kid.  Looks like the baby kicked because she liked it a bit.  Just some expansion pains."  Vinnie relaxed against the wall, coming over to kiss his wife.  He grinned at him.

It only took Vinnie a minute to pull back and look at him. "Girl?  You're sure?"  He took the screen.  "Where's it say that?"  Heat got up to point to that spot.  "Whoa.  That's amazing."  He sat down beside her, letting her see it.  "See, our daughter."

"Who will be the most spoiled princess on earth," she said dryly.  She patted him on the head.  "I love you.  Let the nice doctors go back to bed now, dear."

Enamel looked at her.  "Repeat after me, daily vitamins, eat better, try to keep it down, and no violence if you can help it for the next two months."

She muttered, "Nasty vitamins, eat like Xander, watch out for morning sickness, and being the helpless bimbo," making him smile and nod.  "We're sure it's a girl?"

"I'm quite sure."  He nodded for Heat to take it back.  "Give it a week, Vincent, we'll do a full scan then.  It looks like she'll be about three months then.   Remember how she carried Vic, nothing too hard or too drastic.  No more hot pools for now.  Gentle and cuddling for the next six months."

"What about oral sex?" he asked.

"Sure.  It won't hurt the kid.  Practice that all she wants, Vincent."  Charley snickered at that.  "Just no violently whipping orgasms that would normally make her throw out her back.  Gentle releases only."

"Yes, sir."  He kissed his wife, moving to touch her.

"At least let us leave first," Heat said, packing everything away again and hurrying out.

Shell smiled at Charley.  "You're so lucky."  She took the bag and her mate's hand, walking him back to their room.  "He loves her so much."

"He does," he agreed.  "He and Xander are going to drive her insane protecting her."  He kissed her. "You know, you're lucky too, even if I can't use my hands.  I can take his advice," he offered smoothly.

She smiled and knocked him onto the bed, leaning down to kiss him.  "So can I, dear.  Just you wait.  Remember, you can't grab me and flip me over this time."  He groaned and let her do whatever she wanted, though he did prove her wrong.  He did manage to flip her over without his arms and have her that way too.

***

Xander tapped on Boris' door, smiling at the man as he answered it.  "Hey."

"You're back?"

"Yeah, and fully healed," he said, holding up his hand and the folder it was carrying.  "I made notes and never got them back to you."

Boris looked at him.  "Okay.   The designers made some too.  Let's go compare."

"One of your designers has a problem with circuits running properly."

"I just hired an electrical engineer to work with him," he admitted, letting him into the study.  He took the folder.  "You look good, Xander."

"Thanks, Boris.  I feel pretty good too.  The day after I got back from healing I got to take my Freedom Fighter test and passed, breaking two of Vinnie's records."  He grinned at the smile he got.  "Those were just preliminary.  I couldn't draw worth a damn with that burn."

"I can see that."  He looked it over, then nodded, putting a few aside.  "Those are interesting but what my guys did basically."  He looked at him.  "Are you ready to go back to work?"

"Next week.  I've got to hit an educational bookstore for some serious time researching.  Vic's about to start hitting that baby genius-making phase.  Vinnie and I need to go pick up the starter sets and decide on what we're teaching him."  Boris blinked at that.  "It's not like we can send him to Mars for daycare."

"True," he admitted.  He looked at the building in there.  "What's this one?"  Xander looked and shrugged.  "Yours?"

"Yeah, but I was just fooling around," he admitted. He leaned back again.  "I do that to relieve stress and my hand was driving me insane.  They also took the time to fix the heart defect I had while I was healing from it."

"What heart defect?"

"Martian hearts are on the other side of the chest," he said dryly.  "I was starting to get lack of circulation in one hand."  Boris shuddered at that.  He shrugged.  "Throttle knocked me out after a rescue mission to find Modo's sister and carried me into the ER.  They found it there and kept me sedated for two weeks.  I woke up with my hand nearly healed and my chest healing from the surgery.  I was told it was severe enough that they hadn't needed permission."

Boris shuddered, gripping his own chest.  "Eww."  He shook his head. "Are you sure you're healed?"

"Willow did a healing spell to take away the rest of the incision.  My hand was nearly healed already."  He let him see it.  "See?"

"I do."  He stroked the tougher flesh, watching him shiver.  "Sensitive?"

"Very.  I'll be wearing gloves to work in for a while."

"That's fine."  He pulled over the folder for the construction company, flipping through it.  "All the jobs are filled.  This is our down season," he reminded him. "What about your other buildings?"

"I've got to finish destroying things inside," he admitted. "Of course, that takes money."

"You bankrupted yourself helping Mars?"

"Nearly," Xander admitted.  "I'm down to just under two now."  Boris gaped at him.  "They needed it, boss.  They're to the point where they're back on their feet most of the time.  The last big thing was an influx of refugees."

"Wow.  How many?"

"You were there for that."

"Oh, that one."  He nodded.  "I remember.  I didn't realize Victor was that old."

"He's starting to speak in sentences and he's a few months away from where he'd start daycare on Mars.  They usually work on their agility and flexibility and stuff like that at his age, but I figure showing him some things now isn't a bad thing.  Working on his colors, his shapes.  I don't expect him to *realize* what they are, but it can only make him smarter."

"It can," he agreed.  "I want to know how he's done.  I might be following you when my one is born," he admitted, smiling at him.  Xander beamed at him.  "She's fine by the way."

"I know.  Willow told me."  Boris chuckled at that.   "So, nothing?"

"Not at the moment," he sighed.  "If it were a week ago, definitely.  She staked me again."  Xander shuddered.  "But I'm back now and everything's fine.  The next job that comes up that's not a direct request, I'll put you on it."

"I don't want to take anyone's place.  Who's running my last crew?"

"Your second. You're right, Brad did a good job on that mess up and he's doing a great job as your second."  He leaned on the desk, looking at him.  "Do you think you'd like to continue to design over the winter?  That's usually a bit more profitable."

"I can.  It's not that hard for me to do.  Did you need something specifically?  Oh."  He pulled something out of his vest and handed it over.  "From Vinnie's cousin Wrench, who's basically a Martian Watcher over their Chosen One.  That's what she's been using."

"Is it modifiable?" he asked, undoing the plans.  He drooled.  "Oh, that's like your toothpick system."  Xander just beamed.  "Did you get it off them?"

"Nope.  Not in the least.  I thought she was just using a stake and a crossbow, like we do down here."  He pulled something else out and tossed it over.  "I was fantasizing while on Mars."

He looked at the crossbow gun hybrid and laughed.  "Well, it's a nice clip idea," he offered, grinning at him.  "Totally impractical."

"Yeah, but there's people who like things like that."

"True, I know a vampire who loves odd things like this.  I'll ask him if he wants to buy the plans."  Xander smirked at him.  "Did you build it?"

"I don't have the shop to do that, boss.  I can't manufacture and cut barrels or anything."

"Good point," he admitted. He put that one aside, smiling at him.  "I wish I had something for you to do, Xander.  Did you wear the leathers for me?"

"No, I didn't get a chance to change.  I was wearing them earlier.  Actually for the last two days," he offered dryly.  "I put them back on after sex with Throttle earlier."

"Oh, well, I enjoy the view anyway."  He grinned at him.  "How is everything up there?"

"Going well, boss.  They're still actively looking for wells and filtration systems but I don't know enough about them to work on anything.  They've got the engineers on that right now."

"Wonderful."  He leaned back.  "Let me look at the weapons and the electronics companies, Xander.   I may have something that can be worked on by you, but you've got to get it back to me faster."

"I know," he sighed.  "I'm sorry."

"I know, it was unavoidable this time, but that's a higher turnover business. What about Micah?"

"I called to report I'm healed and ready and he said they're bored. Even Cleveland's bored, which I'm assuming means that something major is coming."  Boris nodded.  "Any ideas what?"

"Not a clue, but we're getting the apocalypse shudders through the communities."

"Wonderful," he said dryly, standing up.  "I can definitely live through the winter if you'll have a spot for me this spring."

"Oh, I'm sure I will," he promised.  "Unless the total destruction of the company happens.  Oh, Wolfram and Hart has switched leadership in town.  They hate you even more."

"Any idea if it was them who paid the paternal unit or Limburger?"  He shook his head.  "That's fine.  I told you he's back, right?"  Boris sighed and nodded.  "Okay, so I'm going to be bouncing around the house.  Charley's with mouse again," he offered with a grin.  "Then I'll be working with Vic and taking out some of the unnecessary stuff in those wrecks behind the house.  I'm hoping I remembered to pay the taxes this year."  He shook his head.  "I can check on that tomorrow," he muttered.  "Okay, need anything else from me?"

"No, go home, Xander."  He smiled at him, watching him walk out.  Those pants were *very* form fitting. He could almost tell individual muscles.  The two vampires out there squealed and pounced him and he heard him hug them back and tell them what had happened, in brief, then he heard the door shut.  He got up and walked out there.  He saw Willow leaning against a wall fanning herself.  "No one can split him and Throttle apart," he reminded her.

"I don't want to, I want to be the creamy filling," she moaned.

The Xander vampire tugged on her arm, pulling her away from the wall to spank her.  "Go wait in our room, do not touch yourself until I get there."  She moaned and headed off.  He looked at Boris.  "Is he still employed?"

"More or less.  There's nothing on the construction side.  I was thinking about letting him look at some of the more odd ideas to see if he could work on them."  He shrugged. "It'll get him a small paycheck since he's short on money."

"How?  I heard he was loaded."

"Mars needed it," he said simply.

Xander took a deep breath, then nodded.  "Yeah, the human me was like that.  Does he have any left?"

"Some," he admitted.  "Nothing too drastic.  A couple mil at the most."  Xander moaned and shook his head.  "So he's back to working.  He was a good worker before, got everything in on time.  We only had problems when he had to go fight."  He shrugged.  "It's nothing that I haven't put up with in the other workers now and then."  He headed up to check on Faith, finding her napping.  He laid down beside her, stroking her arm.  "You missed Xander," he whispered when she woke up.

"He still here?"

"No, he just got home today and dropped off the things I had him working on."  He kissed her on the cheek.  "He's all better."

"Willow said she healed him about three days ago."  She flipped over to cuddle him.  "Then he had to ride home, take his tests, and then came back today."

"It doesn't sound like a very restful vacation."  She snorted and shook her head.  "Do you want him there when the babies are born?"  She shook her head, looking up at him. "Are you sure, Faith?"  She nodded, staring at him.  "That's fine.  I'll be putting guards around the house and the room in case something is tried."  He kissed her gently, then stroked her stomach.  "I don't want anything to happen to you or them.  They're precious to many but you're precious to me."  She smiled at that.  "You should try to rest some more.  They've got to be sapping your strength."  She nodded, curling up on his chest.  While she napped he stroked her back and thought about what he could toss Xander's way.   Then again, he really wanted a good look at the boy's bike.  He knew he had some modifications on it.  He had seen a plan for one in the office that night.

***

Xander sat down on the couch, looking at the phone.  He looked at Tara, who meowed and nudged his hand so he petted her.  She moved and nudged his hand again.  He nodded, dialing Cleveland.  "Fred, me.  We're getting apocalypse shivers through the locals here," he reported.  "No idea why.  Do you?"  He listened, holding his head. "Okay, then what abut the obvious.  Faith's about due to pop."  He listened to her checking it.  "Fine. No, let me know if you hear anything.  I'll be floating around to help Faith since I won't have too much to do for a while.  No, fine," he admitted, leaning back and running into Joyce.  He smiled and petted her.  She meowed quietly.  "Tell Buffy her mom says hi."  She squealed and told Buffy that, getting a question.  "She's like the Andrew and the Tara cats.  She's been nagging Dawn now for a while."  He grinned.  "Sure, sorry I brought things too weird to your doorstep.  I don't know if Spike would like a cat.  Why?"  He listened to the story of this one cat who would lay there and stare at Spike's portrait.  "Huh.  I can ask.  You might to warn it, he's got two dogs."  He smirked.  "Sure."  He put the phone next to Joyce's ear.  "Your other daughter."  She meowed and then let out a kitty snort when her daughter said something, chatting with her for a moment.  Finally she nudged the phone back.  "I'm back."  He grinned.  "No, she's one of the top females in the house, Buffy.  She's loved and well taken care of by Dawn.  No, I'm good."

He raised an eyebrow at Wes's question.  "Why would it matter how much I have left?  Some of it is."  He rolled his eyes.  "Buffy, I had to help them.  Thousands of people were going to die if I didn't.  Besides, I did use some of it to up the house's defenses, the computer system here, and my bike's defenses.  Yeah, I've been working on designing weapons. Because a bored white mouse is a horrible thing on society," he joked.  "Just like a bored Xander was."  He smirked.  "True.  Very true.  But even he's got to sleep sometimes, dear. No, we've got some spare buildings and I can tear the inside out of those.  We're working on getting Vic ready to read and stuff too.  Helping Dawnie in college when I can.  It's the little things that don't take enough time.  Tell him to quit worrying about it.  Why does he want to know?"  He listened to the complaint about his spending habits.  "Wesley, they had a flood of incoming refugees, mostly starved and broken.  Yes, I bought some supplies.  It's the sort of man I am."  Wesley complained.  "They're my people now, Wesley.  They needed it.  End of discussion.  Yes it is, Wesley.  I don't care.  They needed it."  He rubbed his forehead.  "Buffy, hit him."  She heard the hit and her tell him to leave him alone.  That Xanders were nice like that.  "I did save enough for the family to live off of, Wesley.  Yay."  He looked at the phone.  Then he put it back to his ear.  "Are you sure you're not Giles in disguise?"  That end got really quiet.

"Oh, wonderful.  Where is he?"  He nodded at that information.  "Thanks ever so muchly.  Good.  He deserves worse, Fred.  Really?  I don't care if he's gone straight.  Like I said, he could have found God and Jesus up his ass and be doing them in the backseat of Meg's Civic.  He turned on me, Fred. He turned on me and Dawn.  He hurt Dawn.  No, no, Buffy.  Because Martians go through even the Pill, honey.  He made her miscarry before she knew she was pregnant."  He sighed.  "Yeah, with that.  Did you get those?"  He smirked.  "I didn't think so.  No, nor am I forgiving him.  I don't care, Buffy.  He turned on me.  He decided I'm a traitor because I've got fur.  He can kiss my ass.  I'd rather go peddle my ass on a streetcorner than deal with Rupert Giles as a human being.  Do we understand each other?"  He nodded.  "That's fine, that's your option.  If he's in Chicago, he's gonna feel mine and Dawn's wrath.  Really?  Do you think I'm a traitor because I've got fur too, Buffy?  And don't lie."  He listened to her rationalize it.   "No, that's not why.  Willow did.  Ask her then.  We see her all the time."  He looked up.

"Willow, go see Buffy.  She believes the Powers granted my change for a plan of theirs."  He listened as Buffy squealed and then Willow told her off.  Or maybe the Seal.  Willow wasn't usually that aggressive.   He smirked as Fred hung up, hanging up his end.  He looked at Joyce.  "Your daughter's still the same," he told her.  She meowed sadly.  "I know.  I wish she'd grow up too."  He put the phone down and settled in to pet them.  "Did anyone call to say that the machining of the new part was ready?"  Tara meowed and nodded at the answering machine. "Thanks, ladies.  I wish you were still human."  He walked over there and hit the button, listening to the messages.  A few he wrote down.  Someone had sent him money via Western Union.  He could have it deposited directly into his account.  Since it was Meg he wasn't sure where it was coming from.  He settled in to email her, then noticed the extra wire behind his computer.  He traced it to the phone jack and sneered.  He called ECHO directly, getting the night duty officer.  "This is Xander Harris.  Did Micah bug our place?  Yeah, I need to know.  There's an extra wire coming out of my system.  Thanks, man.  First thing.  I'll be up."  He hung up and went to find his bug detector.  He found all of Micah's by easy familiarity and then a few more.  "Huh," he said dryly.  "Interesting."  He put them into a baggie and in the freezer for now.

Episode 68:

Micah woke up to a ringing phone and swore loudly.  He grabbed it.  "What?" he growled.  He listened to the night duty officer, then sighed.  "Is he sure?  No, I'll call him.  Thanks."  He dialed Xander's cell, getting Rimfire.  "Why do you have Xander's cellphone?"  He raised an eyebrow.  "Fine. No, you need to fix hers. Because my number's in there?"  He smirked at that cover. "Fine. Get me to Xander, Rimfire.  Yeah, now, he just called."  He laid back down, listening as the kid hopped up to the lounge and then the office. "Hey, you yelled in the middle of the night?"  He listened to the evidence, then groaned, rubbing his face.  "Describe the bugs."  He listened as the kid got them out of something that sounded like the refrigerator.  "Cold doesn't usually affect them.  True, you can't hear much in the freezer," he admitted with a grin.  He listened as Xander found the model number and described them.  "Those are usually police issue," he admitted.  "I don't know.  Let me check."  He hung up and got up with a groan, going over to his computer.  He paused when someone knocked on his door.  "Hendrix, you know where the key is," he called.  He turned on his computer, finding it unbootable.  Someone knocked again and he opened it, glaring at the IFU agent there.  "The problem is?" he demanded.

"Mr. Simms, we have reason to believe one of your agents has been involved in illegal money redistribution," he said grimly.

Micah considered it.  "Only on orders."  The agent gaped.  "Come on, kid."  He slammed the door behind him but his boss walked in.  "I knew you knew where the key was.  You'd better not erase any of the porn on my system either."  He flopped down, looking at the kid.  "What do you know about the group in Chicago, kid?"

Hendrix looked at him.  "You can't be serious."

"It's one way to cripple Limburger. *She* did it before she joined with her *mate* and the sheepdog."  Hendrix gaped and he smirked at him.  "Like I said, it was one way to cripple it so he couldn't come back.  It stopped Marshall Limburger for over six months."

"But..." Hendrix said, shaking his head.  "That's outside of protocol."

"I got verbal permission and made a decision.  By the way, they are back.  Xander and Vinnie have both run into them personally."  Hendrix shuddered at that.  "Also, they're large contributors."

"I saw that from your computer, Simms."  Hendrix looked at his man.  Then at him.  "Do you have it written?"

"I had it taped on the machine."

"Okay.  Under what name?"

"In the hidden files, under 'orders'."  Hendrix pulled out his phone and called.  "By the way, who's bugging Xander's house?  He found some police issue bugs."

"Chicago.  There's one in the system and they've turned him in as a possible hacker and arms dealer."

"Ah."  He nodded.  He looked at the kid.  "You?"  He shook his head.  "You might as well sit down, this is going to be an all nighter.  Unless you make good coffee."

Hendrix looked at him.  "Where did Enamel get his from?"

Micah shrugged.  "Long before I met him and was doing this job, Hendrix.  I'm assuming he sold some technology.  Either that or he was a secret doctor and doing odd things.  Your choice."

"What's he doing now?"

"Suffering, his arms and hands were temporarily paralyzed by the Limburgers," Micah told him.  Hendrix dropped his phone, staring at him.  He nodded.  "Yeah.  When Vinnie and Xander were rescued, they found him there and a few others."   His phone rang and he answered it.  "Yeah, Xander?"  He listened.  "This isn't a secure line.   Yeah, there's a Plutarkian in Chicago PD.  I'm talking to Hendrix."  He smirked at him, handing him the phone.  "For you.  An ethical issue."   He looked at the kid.  "So, how much do you know?"

"Enough to have nightmares, sir.  I helped bring down the NID for you."

"Good.  Good job.  I'm sorry you had to do that."  The kid nodded.  "How much do you know about Chicago and Cleveland?"

"Enough to never go to Cleveland and enough about your agents in Chicago to shudder in horror, sir."

Micah smirked at him.  "I can do that too.  Xander's one who does what's necessary."  Hendrix hung up the phone and tossed it back to him.  "And the verdict is?"

"That he's got to ask them.  He wanted to do a raid on their lab to disable, destroy, and sell to his boss, who has a weapons company?"

"Yeah, Boris does.  I've done some business with him.  Tell him to keep it instead."

"That's stolen property."

"True," he sighed, grimacing a bit.  He looked at the kid.  "So, you've got two super powerful and technologically advanced races fighting each other, and we've got to side with one or else we lose our planet.  Where do you draw the line?"

"I ..."   The kid coughed and glanced at his boss, then looked at him.  "I don't have one, sir.  That's why I'm in IFU."

"Good answer, kid.  Xander keeps trying to find his.  He has ethics unless he's in the middle of a battle."  He looked at him.  "So?"

"I told him he had to ask the others, especially whoever's leading the group back on Mars."  The kid moaned. He picked up his phone and listened to the recording they were playing.  "No, he said it's called orders."  Another one was played.  "That one."  He nodded. "Fine.  Thank you.  Please return his system."  He hung up.  "It's on there.  It does authorize any and all measures necessary."  Micah nodded.  "Did he recant?"

"He wants them to drive them back to Siberia without killing them.  They're an endangered species," he said dryly.  Hendrix gaped then turned and hit the wall.  "Now you see where Xander's frustration is coming from."

"Oh, I definitely do," he admitted.  "What do we do?"

"We need those bugs removed from his house.  We need the Plutarkians off this planet.  We need them out of this solar system as well.  That way they can't hit Mars again."  He looked at him.  "I'm not the General of planning.  That's Throttle and Xander.  Oh, and their boss is Stoker."

"The old gray mouse?"  Micah nodded.  "Why?"

"He's the head of the Freedom Fighters.  He's also their trainer."

"Ohkay," he said, shaking his head.  "Was it pretty?"

"Very.  They found about sixteen hundred mice and lost about four hundred."  Hendrix let a small smile come out because of that.  "Of course, Xander almost bankrupted himself helping them since he could."  He shrugged. "Oh, Hendrix, he does design weapons.  He only sells to Boris or myself."  The IFU investigator nodded at that.  "What's the present rule about buying weapons and classifying them?"

"Don't if you can help it.  The budget's too tight."

"Not mine and I've got to use about six million in the next three months"

"They've got some nice weapons on their bikes," he offered.

"Yeah, but then I'd have to confiscate them."

"Or say that you gave them to an agent for use.  Just never repossess them or mark them as destroyed.  The military does it all the time."

"They don't have to answer for it."

"Good point.  I don't know.  Get any odd weapons that aren't standard and buy the plans for future use.  After all, you've got that stupid car."

"True.  But the Tech department wants that back too."

"Let her ride your bike?"  Micah gave him a cold glare. "It's like theirs?"

"Only built by Charley a few years back, yeah.  Not as intelligent but still very smart.  I heard Jack McCyber did the brain for her."

"Wonderful. Well, buy weapons for your bike and say it's a new trial weapon.  It is."  He nodded for his guy to go.  "I need to know beforehand what you're doing, Simms.  If they're becoming buddies, the sails could start the ships in the other direction.  No more looting the funds."

"Fine.  Get me my computer back with all the porn attached and get them free of the bugs."

"I'll do that."  He left, closing and locking the door behind him.

Micah called Xander back.  "Just hold on two days," he said quietly.  "We're working on it.  Also, I know you modified your bike.  I want to talk to you about that for my bike.  Well, it is *technically* mine but it's used in the service of the Government.  I'll only get flamed a bit."  He grinned.  "Thanks."  He hung up, going back to bed.

***

Xander sat down at his computer.   He debated doing this, but he felt he should warn anyone who was surfing his way about this.  He looked out in the hall as Throttle came looking for him.  "We've got some problems," he said, opening his chat program.  "I found bugs."

"Bugs, like roaches?"

"Bugs like the one in the freezer," he admitted.  Throttle went to go look and came back looking pissed.  "There's one in the local PD.  I'm being accused of being an arms dealer and a money launderer. I've already called Micah.  Also, I want your opinion on doing a raid through those idiot's labs to stop them from coming after us again."  He looked at his computer, seeing Oz on.  He looked at his husband again.  "I'm warning the paranoid ones."

"Good.  I'll consider sending a mission that way."  He kissed him on the back of the head.  "Come to bed soon."

"Probably not.  Oh, there's no open sites.  So I'm stuck until spring.  Did I pay the property taxes already?"  Throttle nodded.  "You're sure?"

"I went while you paid them."  He kissed him again.  "Chat with Oz."   He sat down to watch him type.  "We need this at home."

"It'd be easier.  It can record a message too."  He clicked on Oz's name then typed in an 'Oz?' to make sure.

/Yup/

/I found bugs earlier. I already called the exterminator/

/Which company? We've got ants./

/Simms./

/those guys are good.  Why?/

/oily, slimy, smelly people who believe I sell arms and launder money.  Btw, who sent me stuff western union?/

/not a clue, destructo./ Xander smiled at that, he knew who that was.  It was his name for the new baby. /let me check into that.  You okay?/

/so far.  I'm healed, that's good.  Open heart surgery sucks.  So did waking up two weeks later.  Horrible backache./

/lol.  Heart surgery?  You only had a burn./

/they found a defect where it wasn't in the right spot and fixed it while I healed.  Less stress on the medical community putting up with me.  Throttle says hi. He's napping next to me./  He gave his lover a grin then went back to typing. /how's my newest godchild?/

/active.  He hasn't let mom sleep all night.  She's upset with the kid.  How's Charley?  She was scowling bad./

/preggers./

/you sure you want that out in the open?/

/anyone who hurts her dies.  You know me.  The rest of the world can go to hell as long as my family's safe. Oh, yeah, the town's doing the sunnydale remembrance soon, no idea what date.  Plus faith's due soon.  No clue if they're around the same time.  Giles has been in Cleveland telling them I'm overreacting too./

/wonderful.  Hear the sarcasm?   You tell yet?/

/forgot.  I'm probably off until this spring.  No open sites for me to take over./

/bummer.  The stomach of doom says hi, uncle.  The mother is frowning at me.  Laters./

Xander smirked and typed in his own 'later' then closed the program, leaning back for a moment to stretch his stomach.  If anyone was eavesdropping, they'd know not to touch his family.  He got into his email, finding the withdrawal notice from western union and nodded, deleting it.  He went through the rest, making sure nothing important had been waiting on him.  Nothing much so he went to his surfing, finding some nice smut.  Maybe he'd get some ideas for when he finally went to bed.

***

Dawn woke up as her private line rang, moaning into it.  She sat up.  "What?"  She listened.  "What's wrong now, Buffy?"  She listened to her again.  "No, he's not.  He designs for Micah and his boss here, who owns a company.  Tell them I said that.  Yay.  Really?  Do you remember that discussion we had about smelly blue creatures?  Possibly those too but I'm talking the local ones here?  Hmm, well they're back.  They're pressing hard.  Sure."  She smiled sweetly.  "Agent, what's your name?  Ah, Special Agent Dorder.  I'm Agent Dawn Summers with ECHO."  She heard his shudder.  "You're trespassing and pissing us off.  No, he designs for his boss, who owns a weapons company, and for ECHO itself since he's an agent.  I'm sure the IFU would have gotten onto him by now if he was."  He stuttered something.  "So?  That's not illegal or arms dealing.  That's being a designer, agent.  He's under no authority but ours. If we don't want it, he's got free and clear sale rights."  She listened to him complain.  "Ties to a terrorist cell?  What have you been smoking!  I'm ordering your boss to piss test you!"  Rimfire sat up to look at her.  "Listen, you little punk ass bitch.  Not only is it *way* too early for this shit, but you're in deep now.  Really?  Tell me why you think he's a danger to the United States?"

She listened to Xander's resume of destruction.  "Okay, pause.  Sunnydale's high school blew up due to a gas leak.  That's the official reason given by the fire chief.  At that same time, something was trying to invade the school during his and Miss Buffy Summer's graduation.  They blew up the school if you want to get technical about it.  Yes, that crap on the walls?  That was them.  Honey, look up ECHO in your neat little database.  Does it say anything beyond classified above your head?" she asked with venom dripping from her voice.  Rimfire shuddered and got up, handing her her robe before heading to the bathroom.  "Secondly, Xander Harris is the reason that most of Sunnydale got out of there.  Yeah, he is, dumbass.  A true psychic of the old lines.  Traceable back generations.  As we have.  He had one.  He could prove what was going on to those in charge because things started to happen in a sequence he had predicted.  They called the evac from the town.  And gee, look, he was right."  She smirked.  "Now, as for Wolfram and Hart here?  He was in the building because he was getting their file on how they were going to kill him.  Again, not the only one in the building and it was ruled a structural issue by those who have a damn clue.  Of course he does, dumbass, he's in construction.  He's a crew chief.   It adds an extra ten grand a year to his paycheck.  Who wouldn't go for their explosives license with that sort of incentive?"

She listened to him splutter.  "Now, who the hell is making shit up about my fellow agent?"  She listened to him stutter about a person in the local PD.  "Name?  Because there are people here who want to kill him, Agent Dorder. Yay.  I'm guessing they're in the employ of them.  Gee, let's see.  Someone found his father alive and paid them thirty grand to trick him into coming out there to see him, where he was nearly killed by his father.  There is a pending fraud investigation from that incident as far as I'm aware since the hospital tried to shake him down for money . I also know that the law firm of Wolfram and Hart have tried to snatch him at least once, right after that incident.   It was stopped by his personal physician at that time.  I know that they had plans to kill him for the last year.  There is also a restraining order against them coming anywhere near him."  She stood up and cracked her neck, putting on her robe.  "Yay, Agent Dorder.  Now, who's the idiot compromising one of our inventors?  Honey, do I care?" she asked coldly.  "You're out of which office?"  The phone was hung up and she found a number she had gotten off Micah in the phone.

"Hendrix, it's Dawn Summers.  I know it's asscrack early, sorry.  No, I just got a call from Cleveland.  They had an FBI and Homeland Security guy there.  Special Agent Ronald Dorder.  He's decided Xander is now a threat to the US.  I refuted, I told them that it's someone in the employ of Wolfram and Hart.  Yeah, him. He said there's an information source in the local PD and that ..."  She trailed off.  "Can you at least piss test him?  I did promise I was going to do that."  She smirked.  "Thanks, man.  No, he was bothering Buffy and them.  She called me to help Xander.  Yeah.  Definitely.  Thanks, man.  No, from the text message on my phone when I answer it, Meg said we're being watched and they're not coming over for a while.  Thanks.  Let me know.  Got the guy's name?  Because we do have a contact or two down there.  Yeah."  She smiled.  "Thanks muchly, Hendrix.  Have a nicer morning.  I hope you get to chew a tail off or three."  She hung up and headed for the shower, she'd have to look respectable.  "Babe, I can't make classes," she called as she walked.  "The FBI thinks Xander's a danger to the US."

"Then he's heading to Mars," Throttle yelled back from upstairs.

"Up to you, big man.  We've got an unfriendly in the screws."

"We've got bugs too," Xander called.  "No one open the freezer."

Dawn went in to hop into the shower, making her mate smile and scrub her back.  "Thanks, babe.  I've got to look respectable at the least."

***

Dawn walked into the twenty-seventh precinct, holding up her badge.  "Agent Dawn Summers here to speak to Lieutenant Welsh.  Is he in?"

"Let me call, Agent Summers."

"Dawn?" Ray asked, looking astonished.

She looked at him and nodded, smirking as she held up her badge.  "Yuppers. Long story.  I'll tell you later, somewhere that's not bugged, like my house."  He shuddered.  "Is he in?"

"He is.  Tell him I'm bringing her."

"Of course, detective.  Have a nice day, agent."

She smiled. "You too, sweetie.  It's gotta get better than how I woke up to a phone call."  The officer nodded, understanding that.  She followed Ray up the stairs, hissing in his ear about what was going on and that she was an agent.  He just groaned.  "Got any ideas?"

"Yeah, two.  One in dispatch, on in the DA's office."  He tapped on the door and opened it.  "Her, sir."  He walked in behind her and closed the door.  "She's verifying my hunch."

"You're very young to be an agent."  Dawn tossed him her badge as she sat down. "Where is this from?"

"ECHO.  They deal with us," she said dryly, smirking at him.  "Plus people like Xander and Limburger."

"Oh."  He tossed it back.  "What's going on?"

"I got woken up this morning by an idiot in the FBI and Homeland saying that Xander's a threat to the US because he designs weapons.  It seems you've got someone here in the department who turned him in for it.  We know that Limburger's back with Marshall.   Since we know they're bad guys and we know Wolfram and Hart are bad guys and both are after Xander...."  She shrugged.  "Ray says he's got a clue."  She looked at her watch.  "Oh, expect more company by later today.  I did report this to the nice guy in charge of IFU."

"That means you're a covert group," Ray said dryly.

"Ya think?" Dawn asked dryly, smirking at him.  "Do you think the general public wouldn't want to pet the guys?"  He snickered at that, sitting down as well.  She looked at Welsh.  "Personally, a lot of people think the knowledge would make a lot of teenage girls take science and math to get into space so they could go there and pet them, but we're still pretty wary about it."

Welsh smiled at that.  "I can see that actually."  He looked at Ray.  "You told me one name.  Gouda or something?"

"All the Plutarkians are cheeses," she said grimly.  "Who's the other?"

"D'odor.  He's a new DA intern."

"Well, he's smelly sounding," she said dryly, crossing her legs.  She looked over as someone knocked on the door. "Enter, Hendrix."  He walked in and shut it behind him.  "We've got two in the system.  Is my imbecile from this morning related?"  He nodded, handing over the folder.  "Aawww," she said, handing it to Welsh. "Ray Vecchio here and Stan Kowalski both know," she reported.  "Ray found out by problems coming for him and Xander intervening."

"I've got the report on that.  What about Kowalski?"

"He was involved in that and he's dating Chassis. We had Ray and his Ma over for tea before we had to go up there."

"That's fine.  What does Welsh know?"

"That Xander's a furry and handy guy," he said honestly.  "That's all I need to know."  He went back to reading the dossiers. "What are they going for?"

"Arms dealing, money laundering, and now a threat to the US."

"Which he's so not," Dawn sighed. "He's one of the damn protectors."  Hendrix nodded at that.  "Don't like us, do you?" she teased with a grin.

"My life was so much less complicated before Simms got moved over to handle you guys and I got sucked in," he admitted. He looked down at her.  "Did you identify yourself?"

"As an agent.  I said the name of the agency in front of this select group but Kowalski met and talked with Micah recently."

"So did most of my family since we adopted Kowalski," Vecchio offered.  "Ma really likes Chassis with him.  She didn't even say anything to him about," he coughed, "rumpling her before marriage as she put it."  Dawn snickered at that.  "She's a nice kid."

"She is, and quite deadly when necessary.  You better hope she never sees him in a standoff."  Ray nodded at that.  She looked at Welsh.  "So, can we have them?"

"Subtlety, Miss Summers," Hendrix ordered quietly.

"That's fine.  Can I expose him in a limited way?" she asked.  He frowned at her so she stood up and whispered in his ear, getting a tired sounding sigh and a nod.  "Thank you."  She grinned at Ray.  "You wanna help?"

"No."  He grinned back.  "I don't wanna know most days."

"Good idea."  Her phone rang and she looked at it, sighing in defeat.  "Yeah, Agent Summers?"  She listened, then groaned. Then she turned and kicked the chair.  "Okay, Winch.  Calm down.  What are they doing?"  She listened.  "You're sure it's them?  They're in the open?"  She looked up and mouthed prayer for patience. "True, they can get away with that in Vegas.  Okay, in the stuff I gave you was a card for Gil Grissom.  Hold on."  She looked at Hendrix.  "There's two Plutarkians destroying an older casino downtown Vegas in their actual skins."  He just gaped so she handed the phone over.  "Trust him," she called.  She looked at Welsh. "Have you seen this DA?"

"No, not yet.  Vecchio?"

"Once, from a distance.  He didn't seem to stink."

"Then he could be from W&H.  If so, then we've got bigger problems and some of us may end up on Mars permanently for a bit."  She looked over as Hendrix nudged her and handed her back the phone.  "Was I right?"

"Yeah, you were.  She's going to call and meet with him to tell him about that menace, filling in the gaps we left.  Then she's going to warn him of any upcoming action.  Just so he can clue people in to avoid it."  She nodded at that.  "Good thinking."

"Thanks.  I try but it's still damn early."  He let out a small smirk at that.  "I got woken up about ten minutes before I called you.  I don't have class until four and I had a late night of homework and sex last night."

"I don't need to know that either," Welsh said quickly.

"Sorry, Lieutenant."  She smiled at him.  "How would you like to help us deal with that?"

"With as little involvement as possible."  Someone else knocked on his door and both agents looked clueless.  "Enter!"

"Hi, Lieutenant Welsh, I'm Charity Pierson from IAD."  She flashed her badge.  "I've had a call about two of your detectives."  She looked at the others.

"Agent Dawn Summers," she said, holding up hers.

"IFU, Hendrix," he said, holding up his.  She looked like she wanted to wet herself.  "Get in here, close the door, and tell me you're here about either Vechio or Kowalski."

"Actually, I am," she admitted, closing the door.  Someone knocked and she opened it.  "In a moment, detective."

"Stan?"  He walked in and shut the door, leaning against it.  "Dearie," she said, walking over and leading her to a chair.  "We're here because you've got two people within the local admin, including the cops, who are giving false information on another federal agent to discredit him and get him out of the way of their plans.  Did something come from a DA D'odor or an officer named Gouda perhaps?"  She blanched and handed over the files.  "Thank you."   She gave Stan a small smirk.  "Morning.  How was your night?"

"Good until I got here," he admitted.

"Feel the same way.  The idiots might be working together."

"Agent as in FBI?" Pierson asked.

"No, they're being fed lies too," Dawn assured her.  She handed it to Hendrix, then looked at the poor officer again.  "Dear.  Officer, sorry, bad habit and all that.  The two people who have been doing this are either in the employ of one of the Limburgers, who are a criminal syndicate bent on taking over the city, or Wolfram and Hart.  They recently had a great majority of their local office arrested for human sacrifice and various corruption and homicide charges."  She looked stunned.  "We believe they're working together.  We know Gouda is in the employ of Limburger.  We know this because I know he's his people."

"Are they Italian or Russian mafia?"

"Neither.  Free agent mafia, though the greater majority recently voluntarily moved to Siberia.  They're bent on power, corruption, and control of the city, moving up the chain until they get to the white house.  They like weapons and real estate."  She nodded, taking some paper to write this down.  "The Goudas have been a connected and integral family to the Limburger syndicate now for many years.  We've had our suspicions but until this nothing concrete.  The DA in this case, I believe, is either part of that same group or with Wolfram and Hart.  If so, then they've merged their operations and it's going to get messy.  Now, there are those who have fought them in the past.  My family is one, including one Xander Harris."

"I've heard of him.  He had something about an abuse shelter?"

"He's a crew chief with a local construction company and he designs weapons in his spare time.  Which he sells to his boss, who owns a legitimate company, or my boss, who runs a covert agency."  That got a whimper and a nod.  "There's also the owner of the Last Chance Garage, Charley Davidson.  She resisted Limburger for years when he was trying to buy her out to own her block.  There is a restraining order against all of those people for her and Mr. Harris and our family because they have issued death threats."  She nodded quickly at that.  "Detective Vecchio has needed help from Mr. Harris and myself in the past to deal not only with Wolfram and Hart but also a few cases here that he had some specialist information on.  They do know each other and Ray's mother came over for tea recently.  Detective Kowalski is dating one of us.  She brought him food a few weeks back if you need to check that."  She wrote that down.  "I seriously doubt either one have even shady records."

"No, not really.  Things that are easily explained," she promised.  "That's why they sent me."  She looked at Welsh.  "You knew about this?"

"Some of it," he admitted.  "I didn't butt into Kowalski's love life.  I knew Harris, I've talked with him in the past.  He's a very handy and nice guy. I didn't know he did weapons design stuff.  I do know that he had a few practical models mocked up and someone complained so I sent Vecchio over to talk to him and to get him to take down the models. He did so in a timely manner."  She nodded, writing that down as well.  "He's a very nice guy.  Rides a huge motorcycle.  A bit pale but otherwise a very nice guy."

She looked at him.  "Is he part of that bike club next to the Last Chance?"

"That's our home," Dawn said dryly.  "Most of us ride bikes.  Charley fixes them."

"Oh."  She nodded, marking that down as well. She gave Hendrix a look and got a wave to go on.

"Now, do you have any serious allegations about either detective that they can clear up here and now?"

"No, ma'am, that does explain a few things.  We did have Detective Kowalski making furtive phone calls on the station's time to someone not in the phone book.  We did have reports of meetings going on in parking lots with Detective Vecchio and a very pale biker."

"My Ma adopted Kowalski during that time I was undercover and he was being me.  We were setting up a meet and greet thing for her to meet his girlfriend, who's their family."

"Oh.  Thank you, detective."  She wrote that down and looked at the other one.  "Just calling your girlfriend?"

"Possibly my exwife as well," he admitted.  "I had to chew her a new one over something.  I definitely didn't want anyone to hear."  Someone else knocked on the door.  "We're full!"

"FBI, sir."

"Oh, do let the imbecile in," Dawn said snidely.  Stan smirked and got out of the way, letting him in.

"Special Agent Ronald D'odor," he said in greeting holding up his badge.

Hendrix smirked.  "I'm Hendrix, IFU," he said, holding up his.  The guy fainted.  "Yeah, I believe he'll be drug tested soon," he told Dawn. She just smiled sweetly.  "How are classes?"

"Sucky.  Homework out the ass at the moment for midterms and history's a repeat."

"You got in early?" Welsh asked.

"I did the work before, I've got practical experience but they said I need a degree so I'm going for languages and computer stuff.  Rimfire, my mate, is going for ag and computer stuff.  We're a team.  He's a lot like Xander, only gray."  She smiled. "We're cute."

"They are," Stan agreed, slamming the door when he heard footsteps.  He heard the detective mutter.  "You don't want involved, Huey, there's three Feds in here."  The detective walked away.  He looked at Ray, then at Dawn.  "Can I come over for dinner?"

"Sure, if we're still there.  There's the thought of sending some of us back to the old home."

"Sure.  I'll call first," he offered with a grin.  "Am I done?  There's stupid people who need to be caught."

"Go, detective. You as well, Detective Vecchio, and I thank you for clearing this up."

"Not an issue," he assured her, giving Dawn a look.  "Stop by before you leave."  She nodded and smiled, walking over to kiss him on the cheek.  "Thanks, Dawn.  I've got another case of theirs."  He left.

"With Wolfram and Hart?"

"Strange crap," Dawn told her.  "I deal with that sometimes.  It's part of my prior training."  She kicked the FBI agent in the side, making him moan and get up.  "On your feet, soldier," she snapped.  He jumped up and went to attention.  "Nice.  Which branch, private?"

"Branches Military Academy, ma'am.  Yourself?"

She walked around to face him. "Agent Dawn Summers," she sneered.  He swallowed.  "And there had better not be a strike force on the way to my house, private.  By the way, is it you or your brother who's in big with Wolfram and Hart?"  He swallowed again.  "Let me remind you, my sister is still my sister and what she is," she hissed in his face.  "And I'm just as good because I trained under her."  He let out a small whimper. She locked the door.  "What are you?  I know you're not Plutarkian."

He shook his head.  "I'm a bracken," he admitted, shooting out his spikes.  She took a swing and knocked him back out.

Hendrix looked at him, then at her.  "Nice technique, but you still overextend.  You'll end up overbalancing if you do that, Miss Summers."

"Yay.  He's sullying the memory of a friend and cohort."  She looked at Welsh, then the shocked IAD officer.  "It's only going to get worse.  May we please use your office?  We promise to clean up any biological deposits."

"Sure," Welsh agreed, walking the officer out.  "Let me show you our coffeemaker and a free desk, officer."

"Thank you.  I'll have those two brought here, shall I?"

"Oh, sure."  He heard a crack that sounded like thunder, but a look outside showed it was cloudy.  "I hope everyone's windows are up."  A few people went to check that.

Up the hall, a young plutarkian suddenly had his mask and his pants fall off.  His shriek of fear made everyone look and stare at him as he scuttled off.

"That had better not be a halloween costume," the supervisor called, following him.  He grabbed his ear and tugged but it wasn't a mask.  He backed off, wiping off his hands.  "What are you?"

"Leaving.  I promise I'm leaving.  Just let me leave," he begged. "Please."

Ray Vecchio was lounging in the doorway, looking bored. "He's wanted in Welsh's office by some Feds," he admitted.  "Get your pants and your mask, *boy*.  You've fucked up badly this time."

"MIB exists?" someone asked.

"I don't ask those questions.  I don't need to be visited by any more Feds in my life."  He waited until the guy had his pants and his face back on, then escorted him.

Stanley walked into the DA's office, listening to the screaming.  He coughed when it stopped.  "I need D'odor to go to the twenty-seventh.  There's evidence he's been giving information to a law firm known as Wolfram and Hart and making false accusations to the FBI.  They want to talk to him."

"Fine, just make whatever those things are go away," he exwife snarled, pointing at him.

"It's a costume, Stella."

"It's not, I pulled on one and it didn't move."

He moved closer to her, catching her arm.  "There are *Feds* there for him, Stella Kowalski.  I don't ask those questions.  You don't ask those questions.  Comprende?"  She blanched and nodded quickly.  "Good.  Now, he's been handing shit to Wolfram and Hart, those guys we got doing the human sacrifice last year."  She nodded at that.  "He's also been making accusations about one Alexander Harris and his family, who are federal agents.  He is a weapon's designer."  She went a bit more pale.  "This one either works for Wolfram and Hart, who like to kill people as they've proven, or for Limburger, who runs a multi-city syndicate bent on weapons and a clean city with only themselves in it.  From what I've heard, he's got a new genetics center at the university.  Not only are they doing legit stuff, they...."  He glared at the demon. "Move again," he offered.  "Summers is coming for you if I don't bring you back."  The guy wailed and sank to his knees."  He looked at his ex again.  "They're also working on genetic manipulations of humans and others against their will.  They've had human guinea pigs, like Mr. Harris.  You've just stepped into the middle of a war and I'd appreciate you living to at least meet my new lady friend.  Can we at least agree on that much?"  He kicked the moving demon in the head, knocking him down.  "Yes?"

"Yes," she said quietly, glancing at him.  "That's not legal."

"He's wanted by the Feds for this shit, do I care?  Besides, he tried to turn me into IAD for dating.  Ray for knowing Mr. Harris.  He's fish food for all I care."  She nodded, sitting back down again and he stepped back.  "Like I said, it's a costume, Stella."  He picked up the demon and walked him off, taking him back to the precinct.  Then he and Ray went to take Welsh for a long lunch, far, far away from his office.

***

Dawn walked in the front door and slammed it.  "Family meeting!" she yelled. "Gather upstairs!  Someone call Oz and get him on speaker!" she yelled as she walked.  Charley was coming through the back door and this gave them enough time to actually get there. She walked up the ramp after Charley and she looked at everyone, even the baby and Chassis, waiting on her.  "I just got done with Hendrix and some idiots.  Wolfram and Hart and Limburger have teamed up."  They all gaped at her.  "I have also let the people who needed to know know about the Limburger criminal syndicate that keeps attacking us because Xander is a weapon's *designer*."  She looked at him and he nodded at that.  She looked at the others.  "The charge of him being a threat to the US has been withdraw by sworn statement that's already been faxed back to the right people in Washington.  Within a day all the bugs should magically disappear as well as the wire tap and the tap on the computer.  I have also clued the correct people into the nature of the illegal genetics manipulations the Limburger Syndicate is paying for on kidnaped people because they are into weapons and real estate.  Hendrix and I felt it was necessary.  Chassis, sweetie, they tried to get Stan for talking to you.  He got a bit pissed at someone and said he's introducing you to his exwife the next time you can come over, which should be tonight.  IAD agreed, there's nothing wrong with him dating you."

She looked at Throttle.  "None of us felt any desire to say anything about any altered people within the group or how they got that way.  Or why there was suddenly a very blue person unmasked and unpanted in the dispatch office at that precinct.  Or why there was someone in the DA's office drug out by his very spiky balls."  She looked at Xander.  "I think he was one of that guy Doyle's cousins or something."  He nodded, catching the clue.  "We are on alert, but not high alert.  Hendrix and Micah have already talked to some people.  They were not pleased at the Limburger syndicate either.  Or at the known murderers in Wolfram and Hart, who again, have teamed up."  She waved a hand.  "End of briefing. Start of limited discussion since I'm sure we haven't found all the bugs yet but they'll be magically disappearing within a day or else. Oh, and I got to scare the guy who called me this morning after bothering Buffy enough that he passed out upon seeing me."  She smiled sweetly.  "Any comments, concerns, details I might have missed?"

"Damn, sweetie, it's only one in the afternoon," Vinnie said in awe.  "Usually you're just getting up."

"Yeah, well, they woke me at six this morning," she complained.  "Someone should have known better."  That got some limited snickers.  "Seriously.  Waking me before at least nine is usually detrimental to someone's mental status at the very least."  She looked at Throttle.  "I did have to clue some of them in about the restraining order and why Xander was in the building at that time.  That he is under perpetual death threat from them."

"I think you did great," Throttle assured her, pulling her over with his tail to give her a hug.  "Thank you."

"It's not often I have to pull the badge and become the bitch but when I do, people seem to listen," she said sweetly, smiling at him.  "Oh, Chassis, he said pizza tonight unless you're going to fuss about the cheese."

"Cheese?" she asked hesitantly.

"Call him and tell him no cheese, dear.  I told him you might."  She nodded, going to call him. She looked at the others.  "Any other concerns?"

"How did we explain away his 'death'?" Modo asked.

"No one asked."  He smiled at that.  "I left Hendrix dealing with the final paperwork after working up a report for Micah at Stan's desk since he was out to lunch.  Oh, Welsh said he wanted to meet Chassis too," she admitted.  "Hey, Oz, did you get the report I sent?"

"I did, I included it in mine after doing some searching.  Oh, Xander, Micah said he wanted to talk to you about the weapons on his bike.  He wanted to see if you could upgrade some of them and work on the shield thingy."

"I can try.  I can't get it to work outside the bikes," he admitted.  He looked at them.  "By the way, Modo, your bike does now have a shield feature.  Vinnie, you've had one it was just disconnected in favor of the radio, so I switched it around with Charley's help, and dear, I'll get to yours as soon as I get more parts, which could be a few weeks."  That got a lot of nodding.  "Anything else, dear?"

"No, not at the moment.  Oz, how's Meg?"

"Huffing and puffing through another false pain.  She said so."

"Oz, take her to the ER," Charley ordered.  "Just in case she's wrong.  I had some of those too and they transitioned pretty quickly."

"Sure.  How are you?"

"It's a girl according to Enamel."

Xander squealed and hugged her. "I'm so happy!"

"You, no spoiling this one.  We want one normal kid."  He pouted and she stared him down.  "I mean it.  My daughter will be just like me."

Everyone nodded at that delusion.  There was no way one of Vinnie's kids would ever be *normal*.

Episode 69:

The time came as it always did for the winter to move on and for Halloween to come.  Xander had explained it to the guys, who after four years on earth were still confused about this holiday.  "Okay, tonight we can hit the neighbors, since there's not that many, hit the mall about an hour before they end their trick-or-treating if traffic isn't too bad, and then there's a big thing at the park but the lines are going to be atrocious."  He looked at Charley, who only smiled and shook her head.  "Then back here to do a costume change, head to the movies, initiate the bros, then back home?"

"Or clubbing, could be a lot of fun in the costumes," Dawn offered.

"True, or clubbing," Xander agreed with a grin.  "Our usual place is doing a costume thing."  She beamed at that.  "We'll still only get about an hour and a half before they shut for the night."

"So?"

"Point," he admitted.

"Why are we doing this again?" Modo asked.

Okay, so at least one of them was still confused. Xander looked at him.  "Personally, I go out for the candy and to play pranks.  You can just go out for the candy and to see all the costumes, big guy."  He patted him on his arm.  "Then again, I've got a pretty good costume of you going in the finest low-tech fashion."  Dawn snickered at that.  "I do. What're you going as for the kiddy part?  And is Meg babysitting?"

"She sure is," Dawn agreed happily.

"She is?" Vinnie asked.

"Yup.  Oz is going to wolf-out just enough to be a good costume for the kiddies, then we're dropping Vic off after the park thing.  We can go get him in the morning."

"Fine," Vinnie agreed, smirking at him.  "What are you going as, Dawn?"

"I thought about going as Wonder Woman but I'll get cold."  Rimfire just gave her a look so she grinned at him.  "So I'm going as a cheetah instead.  I've already got my grease paints and they're easy enough to clean off.  Costume's already in the closet with the print tights, skirt, and shirt."

"You own cheetah print clothes?" Vinnie asked.  "Why?"

"Separates, please.  I'd never normally wear them together."  She smirked at him.  "You've told me before the top looks good on me, Vincent."

He snorted.  "We'll see."  He looked at Xander again.  "What are you going as?"

"Modo."  Modo blushed at that.  "Well, the tradition is that you go as something supernatural, mythological, or famous.  He fits.  And I've got a cardboard version of his arm and everything."  He smirked at them.  "What's Vic going as, Charley?"

"I got him a lamb outfit but it doesn't fit him."  She looked at her son.  "He could go as a ghost."

"We can make him go as a little Modo," Dawn teased.  Now both Modo and Rimfire were blushing brightly.  "He'd be very cute."  She looked over as Chassis walked up the ramp.  "Are you going trick-or-treating with us?"  She looked perplexed.  "It's a holiday where you go out and ask for candy."

"Does it have special significance?"

"Candy and pranks," Xander told her.  "You could see if Stan's going anywhere."  He grinned at her.  "I'm not sure if detectives have to pull that night or not. According to the paper, the regular officers are going to be at fuller-than-noon strength."

"Okay," Chassis said dryly, going to call him.  She smiled when he picked up his phone and hit someone with it before answering.  "Stan, babe, I was just told something about trick-or-treating? It sounds scary, should I plan on hiding with you or going out to keep Vinnie and Xander from pulling pranks?"  She smiled.  "I wouldn't mind in the least, Stan.  Sure.  Love you too.  Need lunch?"  She chuckled.  "I would if Welsh would let me but after I had to subdue the last one for you he told me I'm not allowed to do that just to get kisses."  He groaned.  "I'll see you tonight."  She blew a kiss and hung up.  "He said he does a scary movie marathon.  We'll be at his place with Benny and his wolf."

"Say hi to the spirit for me then," Xander said dryly.  She gave him a funny look.  "Diefenbaker's not a normal wolf."

"Are you sure Wrench didn't adopt you into the family?"

"Usually.  Though you can go ask him if you want," he offered with a grin.  She just looked alarmed and backed off.  "Go play, Chassis."

She nodded and hurried off, taking Vic with her so he had the chance to become a normal member of the family.  She'd have to try really hard to help the boy be a normal VanWham mouse.  "Come on, Victor, let's head to the playground.  That way you can see other kids."  She made sure his hat was down over his ears and his baby biker jacket was on before she slid him into the chest carrier and took off with him.

Xander and Vinnie smirked at each other.  "Okay, since it looks like we may not have any sorcerers that night after all, maybe, we can be fun and play."

"Why don't the demonic like halloween?" Dawn asked.

"Not a clue beyond the fact it's a pretty neutral night, kiddo.   Maybe they think everyone else is doing it so they don't."  He shrugged. "Why argue with a free night a year?"

"Good point."  She snuggled into her corner with her laptop.  "He wants me to do a what?" she asked, looking at the email she had clicked on.  "Rimfire, why are we doing a paper on the Mayans for US history?"

"I don't know who they are so I can't answer that," he offered, coming over to look at it.  "Huh.  Not a clue.  Call?"

"Yes.  Please."  He went to call for them, then came back shrugging.  "Did he give a reason?"

"No. He just said it was our final paper topic and to please let it be relevant."

"Okay, how do you make a civilization that died centuries before there was a US even thought about into a relevant US history topic?"  He shrugged.  "Give me the phone."  She got up, going to the office to call him herself.  "Sir," she said when the teacher answered.  "This is Dawn Summers, from US History.  You just told us to do something on the Mayan's history for a US History, freshman level, class?  How am I supposed to make that relevant?"  She listened to him.  "Yay, I'm a Wiccan, but I follow Brit traditions.  Unless you're funding an expedition down there for me to study the ruins and find magical markings on their temples and things, I can't relate them back.  There's no sources."  She glared at the table the phone was sitting on.  "Really?  I'm not a major, sir.  I'm a languages, Middle Eastern languages, major.  Again, not really relevant."

She heard his ultimatum and growled.  "By Halloween?  That's in a week!  You want me to do a major research paper in a week!  Fine, I'm going to the damn chair of the department."  She slammed the phone down and printed off the email, heading down to her bike.  This was not right or fair!  On the way she called Micah.  "Why am I doing a paper on Mayan culture and their magic relating back to the current US, very diverse, ideas about mysticism for my US history class?"  She listened to Lorne sounding confused.  "Me either.  Ask Micah if it was him."  She waited, listening while she rode.  "Fine.  No, I'm going to lodge a fucking complaint about the asshole."  She hung up and took her ear bud out, going a bit faster.  She pulled into the college and the parking lot right next to the building, heading to the elevators.  She saw the teacher in question sneering at her and glared back.  "You will be punished for this," she sneered back.  "Watch me go complain."

"He won't take it off.  It's the teacher's responsibility to give relevant homework."

"This is US History up to the Civil War.  There's no relevance to the topic you gave me."  She hit the button and headed up to the Chair's office, smiling sweetly at the woman.  "I need to lodge a complaint about a teacher."

"For?"

"For giving irrelevant homework."  She handed that email to her and the copy of her syllabus she had stopped to grab.  "I'm in US history to the Civil War.  How is that relevant?  And he gave me a week."

"You know, many students complain about such matters," she started delicately.

"Lady, I'm not a damn major.  I could care less," she snarled.  "I'm a languages major.  This isn't my area there either and the paper is not relevant to the class.  I'm filing a damn complaint or else I'm going to the fucking dean."  She handed over the form and Dawn filled it out, and then she went to the Dean.  There was no way she was letting this continue.  By the time she got home, there had been six phone calls, and she was in the right.  She walked in and looked at Rimfire.  "The Dean had to step in," she told him.  He shivered.  "Yeah, well, he didn't think it was real relevant for a non-graduate class either.  That this was master's thesis work, not freshman history work.  He sided with me and the chair fell over himself to agree once he heard."  He nodded, letting her vent.  "So now we're doing one on the mystical properties of early american magic beliefs."

"Huh?"

"Yeah.  He's still bent on that.  Since it's *relevant* and I'm a known Pagan, they didn't think I'd have any trouble with that."

"Uh-huh.  This is a joint paper, right?"  She nodded. "You're sure?"

"If not, I'm sure we'll uncover enough stuff about Salem and the witch trials for you to do your own."  She headed up to the library, then called Fred from up there.  "I need sources and a list of books for a paper on early american mysticism.  Because the teacher tried to get me to link Mayan traditions to american magic for US history to the Civil War.  I had to go to the dean."  She sat down with some paper, taking notes.  "Thanks, babe.  Can I quote you as a knowledgeable source?"  She smiled and wrote down the book's name.  "Any others?  It's a joint paper but he might still try to get Rimfire."  She wrote down more and smiled.  "Thanks. I know we have at least two of those."  She hung up and went to find what she could.  Fred said she'd Fed Ex the rest as soon as she pulled them.

***

Xander came out of his bedroom a week later, smoothing out his gray shirt, and putting on the cardboard arm.  He grinned at Modo, who only blushed.  "What?"

"You look good as me, Xander. The arm's turned funny though."  Xander looked, then adjusted it, then he saw Vic, who was wearing bunny ears.  He groaned and grabbed the baby, taking him to get him dressed too. He came out holding him, making Modo grin.  "Well, I feel loved."  He patted Vic on the head.  "Hey, little guy."

Vic grabbed his fingers to gnaw on, beaming at him.  "Grumpy."

"No, little bro, Staff cured me being grumpy earlier," he promised, taking him to carry upstairs.  "Okay, are we ready?"

"Charley's sick so she'll meet us at the park," Vinnie announced, grinning at his son.  "Oooh, don't you look so cute," he offered, getting baby chuckles.  "Is it time?"

"Five more minutes," Dawn called as she came up the stairs.  "Hair up or down?"

"Down," Xander told her.

"Cheetahs don't have ruffs."

"There's a wind."

"Sure, hair down."  She looked over as Rimfire drug himself up the stairs, smiling at him.  "See, you'll have fun too."  She pinched his cheek.  "Come on, let's head.  We've only got ten neighbors.  It should be fairly quick.   The mall gave out great stuff last year."  She took Xander's arm and walked him out, letting the other mice follow.  Throttle was down leaning on his bike and she grinned.  "Nope, we can walk the first part.  Sorry, baby," she said when Rimfire's bike backfired.  "We're only going around the neighborhood.  We'll be back in a half-hour."  She stroked her and walked on, taking her playmates outside to have some fun.

Xander beamed and caught Throttle's hand, making him sigh and follow.  He was a giant mouse, he didn't have to dress up.  Even though Vinnie had on a cape and fangs.   Six of their neighbors were hit, they had their lights on, and then they headed back to the garage to gather bikes and head off for the mall. Throttle watched all the kids in costumes, eyes bright with sugar already, and mentally shuddered.  They were feeding Vic, Vinnie, and Xander candy.  Were they insane?  "I'm confiscating the bags when we get home," he ordered.

Vinnie and Xander both cackled and everyone around them looked, then smiled.   Modo moaned.  "Please, no bouncing mice tonight, guys?"

"Sure," Xander called, beaming back at him.  He rushed ahead to a goth shop, grinning at her.  "Trick or treat!"

"You're a bit big," the salesgirl said tolerantly, looking him over.  "Who are you supposed to be?"

"Modo," he said, pointing at him.  "A hero of the Martian war for Freedom."

She just grinned and shook her head.  "At least you've got an imagination, you big kid."  She grinned at Vic.  "And you brought a miniature one too.  Cute."  She looked at Modo.  "Wow, you went all out for your costume, man.  I'm damn impressed."  She handed out full size candybars with a wink for each of them.  "There ya go.  Hit the music store, they're giving out sample CD's too."  They all beamed and headed over there. Up one side of the mall and down the other.  She saw them as they were on their way out, just smiling at them.  They were the most imaginative costumes she'd seen that year. She saw the bigger one's ears twitch when someone called a name over the loud speaker, then the middle sized one squealed and hugged them, dragging them back to the desk.  She looked out, they were just up the floor from her.  Apparently they had won the mega basket of candy from the bulk shop.  "Wicked," she said fondly, grinning and waving.  They all waved back and she got a good bar for the kid coming in. "Here ya go, kid.  Next year, try to go as them.  That's a really cool costume," she told the little witch.   One came in wearing Harry Potter gear and she had to chuckle and give him some too.  "There ya go."  The middle sized mouse went running past with the really white vampire mouse and the others following at a dead run to try to get the candy from him, making a lot of the parents either sigh, or laugh.

***

Charley looked up as the family joined her at the parking lot, smiling at them.  "The line's not too long yet."  Xander kissed her and handed over the baby, making her smile at the chocolate-rimmed mouth.  "What did you eat?"

"A hershey bar," Xander said innocently.  "We won the mega cauldron of candy!" he said happily.  "The mall thought we had the best group concept costumes."  He beamed proudly and drug Vinnie away from his candy.  "Mine! I entered us."  Vinnie pouted.  "I'll share when we get home.  It's got gift certificates to the bulk place too."  Vinnie's already bright, sugar-high eyes lit up at that and they shared a conspiratorial evil look.

"Come on, before you make us wait longer to get Vic candy," Charley said, dragging the others away, pushing the two 'adult' mice in front of her.  It was the one holiday she could let Vic and Vinnie get sugar sick.  After all, it's not like she was sleeping with Vinnie tonight.  Not for a very long time, not until he was worn out completely from walking the floor with his son, who was also cackling and waving his cardboard arm.  She adjusted it and smiled at him. "Did you have fun?"  He let out his version of the wicked chuckle and she kissed him on the ear.  "It's all right.  We'll ration it the rest of the week and your daddy will be up anyway."

"Yeah, but I wanted cuddles tonight," Throttle complained.  "I'll never get Xander to calm down."

Rimfire coughed and pointed at the dias. "Plutarkians without a mask.  Even they take advantage of the holiday."

They all turned and waved when he noticed them, beaming brightly.  Vinnie and Xander were already bouncing.  Marshall Limburger just whispered in someone's ear and the formerly chemical smelling candy was replaced with good stuff.  He continued to watch them but they simply stared back.  He shivered and got up, heading back to his limo.  The plan was busted for tonight.  He called his father, who instructed him to wait, and he told him the whole group was there already.  They talked about an assault on the garage but by the time he had looked out, they were through the lines and there was one waiting patiently.  The youngest mouse.  Damnation and scale rot!  He was eating chocolate too!  They decided it was too risky and left it there.

***

Xander came out of his bedroom adjusting the tight gold speedo and flipped back his wig, smiling at Modo.  "Hey."

"Why are you making toast?  By the way, thanks for the snack."

"Go make more, we'll need it later," he complained, giving him a nudge.  "Trust me."

"Why would we need toast?  Don't they sell popcorn?"

Xander just sighed.  "It's a part of the playfulness of the movie, Modo.  Go make more toast for whatever you ate."  He sighed and went up to do that.  Xander followed to grab the kits for that evening, handing them to Charley once they were fully toasted again.  "Here ya go."  He smiled at Vic, who was smiling sweetly at him.  "We need to drop you off."

"Meg's in labor."  She shrugged.  "He can be indoctrinated early."  She smiled and he grinned.  They looked at the others.  "Let's go!  Xander, tickets?"  He went to get them from the desk, handing them over.

"There is no way you're going out in that outfit!" Rimfire said in outrage, following Dawn up the stairs.

"It's a costume, and yes, I am!" she shouted back.  She handed Xander the cloak he was borrowing.  "There ya go, Rocky.  Let's go, people, I don't want to wait all night to get in!"

"Go put on some clothes!" Vinnie demanded.

"This is the appropriate costume, you'll see why soon.  Right, Charley?"

She looked it over.  "Not the usual stockings."

"They had a run."  She shrugged. "I substituted the best I could."  She twirled her cloak around her shoulders and put up her hood, taking the baby mouse.  "Tickets?"  Charley patted her purse.  "Good, then let's head."  She looked at Rimfire.  "I can ride on my own."

He growled. "There is no way you're leaving the house in that!"

She smiled and pinched him on the cheek, then walked off.  "Come on.  Who am I riding with or am I taking my own bike?"

"Bring your own, just in case," Charley called.  "I'll ride it back if I must."  She followed, Xander forcing everyone else to follow them out and down to the bikes, then take off with them.  He really did look good in the black velvet cloak on his dark bike.  She almost teased him about mage bikers but he winked back at her and pointed ahead of them.  Wrench was there.  She giggled and pulled up beside him, nodding.  "Coming with us?"

"Yeah.  He got me a ticket."  He looked at Dawn's outfit, then smirked.  "Nice job.  I'm surprised he let you out in that. "

"He didn't," Rimfire said grimly.  "Quit looking at her, Wrench."

"Fine, Rimfire.  Shall we?"  They all nodded and only had to make one more stop to pick up Enamel.   Who was drug out by Shell.  He was all-but kicking and screaming but she was bouncy and happy so he allowed it.  Apparently she'd been on candy stroll too.  Xander just cackled and headed for the old theater, leading the way.

Vinnie looked up at the marquis.  "The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Well, at least it sounds like something we can watch," he offered.  He parked and got off, following his girl's tail to the line.  Xander wiggled his way up front and took the tickets, counting them out.  She handed off the baby when he gave her puppy eyes, digging out the one that had slipped.  He kept Vic and they moved up slowly.  Vinnie looked at the guy taking tickets and pointed at Xander.  "He's got all ours."

"So he said.  Hey, Rocky?"  Xander beamed back at him. "How many virgins?"

"All the big mice.  Everyone not in costume.  Little Vic here can go through it when he's older."

"There's a mounting rite too?" Rimfire asked, curling his tail around himself.

"No, kid, calm down," the usher said fondly, smirking at him. "College boy?"  Dawn smirked and nodded, leading Rimfire inside.  He shook his head and marked the tally on the sheet.  They were going to have a lot of fun.  He always did.

Xander got them a whole row and plopped down.  "Okay, guys, when they call for the virgins, that's you guys.  You go up there and play along.  It's fun.  Not dangerous or anything."  The 'adult' mice gave him an odd look, even Vinnie did.

"Trust me," Charley ordered.  Dawn headed out to get them popcorn and drinks.  She came back and Charley waited until the MC's for the evening showed up to hand out the packages.  "Don't open them yet.  You'll know what order to throw them in.  He put them in order.  So start at the top when everyone else does."  They just looked really confused, especially Enamel.  "Don't worry, it's fun.  It's not the sort of movie you'd normally go to, but it's fun."

"I've seen it on tv," he admitted.  "I've never been to one of these before."  She just beamed at him. "They have no idea, do they?"  She smirked and shook her head.  "Oh, well."  Now everyone was giving him odd and 'help us' looks.  "Don't worry, guys.  It's all in fun.  Just play along and no one gets hurt."  That got a group nod.  He looked at Shell.  "You could have warned me."

She kissed him.  "Shut up, dear."

"Fine."  He slunk down a bit, smiling as the MC called for all the virgins to come up. "That's us, people.  Move."  Most of the mice moved but Modo had to be pinched by Dawn.  Shell grabbed his arm and drug him up there, herding the mice in front of her.  Enamel looked at her.  "Have I told you today you're going to make a scary mother?"  She just smiled and kissed him again. "Fine."  They were led up onto the stage and had the balloon put between their knees.  He nearly jumped when his was popped but it didn't hurt him or anything, just the noise.  They were finally let go and headed back to their seats.  Throttle had to move to Xander's other side so Modo and Staff could get between Charley and Vinnie and those two.  Charley was worried about the evils of two white mice hyped on sugar.  "How much trick or treating did you guys do?" he asked Dawn.

"The six neighbors.  The mall, where they won the mega cauldron.  The park, where Limburger decided to hand out normal candy instead of the other stuff he had planned on.  Then home to change and here."

"I noticed the grease paint in your hair.  What were you earlier?"

She grinned.  "A cheetah."  She kissed him on the cheek.  "Be good, doc.  No being nosy tonight and we're clubbing after this at the usual spot."  He just whimpered. "Think about the desperate call you'll get if Vinnie isn't calm by the time he crawls into bed with Charley tonight."

"No, clubbing's good. That'll wear out some of the sugar."  He nodded, showing he supported that idea.   "We'll go too just to make sure he's calmer."  She snickered and Shell snorted, kissing him stupid for a few minutes.  "Why is the little bit here?  I didn't think this was suitable for babies."

"It's not, but Meg's in long-term labor."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "I've seen a few of those."  He looked over as the screen came to life, the actors on the stage taking their places.

"Is this a play or a movie?" Modo hissed to Charley.

"Just watch, Modo. This is to experience, not complain," she said patiently.  She grabbed the first thing and so did Xander and Dawn.  The others took their cues from them.  She looked at Vinnie, who was looking a bit bored and smiled at him, winking a bit.  "Just wait," she whispered in his ear.  It twitched and he put an arm around her shoulders.  He even kissed the side of her head.  They threw the rice when it was time, prompting the others to do it.  The others were still looking confused, but they'd perk up soon.

"It's that guy from Muppet Treasure Island," Staff whispered to her mate, pointing at the guy up on the screen.  He nodded. "Wow, he's so different."  She heard Xander chuckle and grinned at him, he winked back and mouthed, 'just wait'.  She shivered and leaned into Modo's arm.  She didn't like horror movies but so far this one wasn't *so* bad.  A bit of a slow start for the ones Vinnie usually liked.  She heard Vinnie yawn, then they were doing a ...dance number?  Everyone stopped fidgeting to look at that.  Xander and Charley were up in the aisle doing it with some people.  She looked up at her mate. "Huh?" she asked.

"She said it was something to experience," he said with a shrug.  The movie moved on and they just watched.  They ran into Xander's character next.  Throttle looked at the guy on the screen, then his mate.  Then he groaned and shook his head.  His head came up at the rock music and apparently it was all right again.

Wrench looked down at Xander.  Then he smirked and shook his head.  He couldn't see Xander as a monster like that, but he was cute in the speedo.  He felt someone flick him on the ear and grinned at his cousin, who was glaring at him.  So he winked and went back to watching, noticing Dawn was plucking out her next thing.  He did so too.  It was a bit this time, but that was fine.  He choked on his bite of popcorn at the 'sex scene' but so did Modo and Staff.  "Subtle," he murmured.  Charley just beamed at him.

The movie kept going and they got to the part where everyone was dressed like Dawn.  And Rimfire was still growling.  She laid a hand on his arm.  "You know, Xander could have done that too," she whispered.  "He used to play Frank all the time when he was a human.  He introduced me to this."  He just gave her an odd look and slunk down a bit more, hiding his smirk at that image.

"Man, I miss my old corset," Xander whispered just loud enough for them to hear.  Throttle just gave him this alarmed look.  "I used to go as Frank."

"I'm cleaning out your closet myself when we get home, Xander."

At the end, the MC came up and took off his hood, showing himself as the bro's favorite DJ, Sweet Georgie Brown.  "That's all folks.  You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"  That got a round of loud applause and whistles.

Xander looked at Charley.  "I'm still not sure I like Meatloaf as Eddy.  I know there wasn't anyone else of his stature back then, but something's always bothered me about how he played it."

She kissed him on the cheek.  "At least it wasn't a Gibbs brother, Xander."

"True.  Anyone wanna watch Sgt. Pepper with me when we finally get home?"

"No," everyone said, Vinnie looking a bit panicked at that thought.

"Okay, how about The Wall?"

Wrench looked at him.  "Don't you have to be stoned to watch that?"

"I do okay up until I lose which is the reality and which is his fantasy in the last half hour.  About when he shaves off his eyebrows," Xander assured him. Then he grinned. "Chassis said she thought you brought me into the family recently."

"No, sweetie, if you were my choice, you'd have been mated to me and kept on a light chain in my bedroom," he said sweetly.

"I'll whip your tail," Vinnie said firmly.

"Bros," Georgie said as he came up to them.  He looked at Xander.  "Xander, right?"  He beamed and shook his head.  "You actually got them all here?"

Xander smirked.  "Blackmail."  Charley chuckled at that.  "I used to go as Frank but I haven't been able to since I grew fur."

He looked at him, then at Throttle.  "I don't think I can imagine a horrified enough look on bright boy's face if you came out in thigh highs, a corset, panties, and heels," he admitted, cackling a bit with the pictures he had.

"Three inch stilettos, thank you," he said with a curtsy.  "We're heading out to club.  Any word if anyone got Limburger-tainted candy this year?"

"Nah, not that I've heard.  Have a nice night, guys."

"That was weirder than any Sapphic art movie," Rimfire complained. Georgie looked at him.  "We've had to watch a few in Sensitivity to Women class."

"It's called Gender Sensitivity," Dawn sighed, looking up and praying for patience.  "It's a good Sociology elective, Rimfire, and we're covering men the rest of the year.  We spent longer on women so you'd have a hope in Hades of understanding us."   She smiled at the DJ.  "Nice work tonight."  She shook his hand and drug Rimfire off.  "Come on, we're heading to the club."

"Sure," Charley called.  She shook the DJ's hand.  "Thanks, it was wonderful."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

"I'm Charley.  This is Vic.  He's the white blur's son."  She smirked and walked out.

Vinnie shook his hand.  "His birthday's next week, I'll call in to get the usual then."

"Sure.  It's a classic song.  It'll go over well."  He clapped Modo and Staff on the arms after shaking their hands.  "Hey, guys, I see you're still together."  Staff blushed and nodded, clinging to his arm.  "She's a sweetie, Modo."  He leaned closer.  "Who was the hottie earlier?"

"Dawn.  My nephew Rimfire's girl," he said with a grin.  "She vexes him to no end."  They shared a laugh and then Throttle drug Xander out, talking about how to clean his closet while Xander was going to be tied to the bed.

Georgie watched, just laughing at that.  He checked the row, they had picked up their own trash and everything.  He found a jacket and brought it up to the front booth, and to the mouse waiting there. "Yours?" he asked her.  She smiled and took it. "Did you have fun?"

"I did," she agreed happily, hugging him a bit.  She whispered in his ear and he nodded.  "Sometime during the afternoon is fine.  It's our special song and it's our anniversary tomorrow."  He grinned and nodded again.  She hurried off, putting Enamel's jacket on for him.

"Now that's love," Georgie told the girl working the booth.  She nodded and sighed. "They cleaned up their own mess."

"Yeah, but almost no one else did," she said with a grin.  "They were going clubbing."

"I don't know, Throttle seemed pretty sure he was going to be cleaning out Xander's closet since he said he used to go as Frank n'Furter."  She gaped, then giggled at that.  He nodded.  "He has the body for it too.  And man, that hottie," he moaned, hissing through his teeth.  "I'd tap that in a heartbeat if she wasn't taken."

"Me too," she agreed, and they shared a grin.  He went to help with the cleanup.   It had been a charity event after all.

***

Vinnie parked in front of the club and took off his helmet.  "Babe, I love you, but that was stranger than Sartian movies," he complained.

She grinned and kissed him gently.  "I told you it was to experience. Did you have fun?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "It was still odd."

She just grinned.  "So?"  She got off and walked up to the door, watching as Xander and then Throttle pulled in. Modo and Staff were right behind them, and then Dawn drove up with Rimfire chasing.  She smiled at him.  Shell and Enamel parked and brought up the last of the group.  "It's all of us tonight."

"I can see that."  He looked at Xander's outfit.  "Keep the cloak on, please."  He patted the baby.  "Taking him out for his first turns on the floor?"

"Our babysitter was in labor," she said with a grin.  He let them in with a smile for them.

One of the people in line complained. "How come they get automatic entrance?"

"Because people buy drinks instead of jumping them," he told her.

"Yeah, but it's still not Studio 54," another complained.

"They were at the Rocky Horror showing," another one behind her sighed.  "I see why they buy drinks though.  Rocky there had *nice* abs."

The guard smirked.  "Just don't hit on them. They're a really tight group."  He let in the next bunch at the nod from inside.  He could see the owner beaming at the group on the floor and caught his eye.  "The white one's Rocky," he called.  That got a scared look but he calmed down, remembering the others were still there.  No one would be damaging the club tonight.

Rimfire looked at his girl as people came up to steal her, even though he had her in his arms and she was wearing her cloak over her outfit.  "Dawn," he moaned.  She just kissed him.  "I get the point of the costume, babe, but you're driving everyone insane."

She just smiled at him.  "Surely a big, strong mouse like you can handle that," she offered coyly.

"We're not supposed to cause property damage, babe.  Or commit homicide," he growled at the newest woman to try to take her.  "It's a costume."  She wandered off.  He looked down at her.  "I need to mark you better as mine," he growled in her ear.  "You need a big sign that says 'taken by a jealous mouse' flashing over you."

She held up her ring.  "That does this."

"Not well enough."  He kissed her ring, then her.  He looked down at her.  "Fuck this.  That place we were at, we can do that there, right?"  She looked startled.  He drug her out, nodding at the bouncer.  "Tell them not to wait up, we're fine," he ordered, dragging her to his bike.  He looked at her bike, then her.  "Get on.  Follow me."

"R..Rimfire?"

"Now, Dawn.  Right now."  She nodded, getting onto her bike and starting it.  She followed him out to the airport, letting him drag her inside and to the nearest ticket counter.  He put down his wallet and their credit card.  "Two for that Vegas place," he ordered. The girl behind the desk smiled.  "How long?"

"The flight is three hours long," she offered quietly, smiling at him.  "Did you need help out there?"

"No, I've got it," he promised, smirking at her.  "Thank you, ma'am."

She looked at them.  "Well, most of the security questions won't apply to you since you don't have any bags and I can tell you're not hiding anything explosive," she offered dryly, handing over the tickets.  "No weapons, sir?"

"No," he said, taking the wallet back and shoving the card inside.  "Thank you for your help, ma'am."

"You're welcome.  You might stop by that big green bulletin board, sir.  They've got some things, like car rentals and planning agencies on there."  He nodded, dragging Dawn off.  She smiled at them, they were so cute.  He did stop and picked up something to read on the way.  She looked at her nearest coworker, smirking at her.  "They're heading for Vegas."

"I could see that.  Why was she dressed like that?" she asked in a clipped British accent.

"You've never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show?"  She shook her head. "I'll show you sometime soon, dear.  Come over tonight."  That got a nod and a grin and another customer came in.  It wasn't often that you got a lot of customers at three in the morning.

***

Rimfire came off the plane, finding someone waiting for them with a sign.  He smirked at him and walked Dawn with him.  "Hi."  He smiled and shook the guy's hand.  "Are we all set?"

"Yes, sir.  We've got just enough time to get there.  You did bring your birth certificates, right?"

"I've got 'em," Dawn admitted, pulling out the emergency pack she carried in her purse.  She checked, she did have Rimfire's fibbed one on her.  She smiled at him.  "Why?"

The driver smirked at him. "You didn't tell her you were marrying her today, sir?"

"Not yet."  He walked her off, smiling at the people staring.  "That's why I'm marrying her," he called at a few gaping ones.  She giggled at that and he beamed at her, walking her outside.  He winced at the coolness, but it was nothing compared to home right now.  They were let into the limo.  "We're going to this nice place.  You can pick out a dress.  I'm going to pick out something to wear too.  We'll be married, then we'll make it back in time for our class, all right?"  She just stared and he kissed her.  "Okay?"  She nodded, bursting out in tears and hugging him around the neck.  "Shh, Dawnie.  I love you."  He stroked her back. "Any wrenchhead who comes near you had better be warned off now."  He kissed her on the nose, grinning at her. "Besides, now you can participate in the discussion next week on marriage in gender whining."  She swatted him and leaned back.  "Go ahead," he told the driver.

"Just waiting on the cab in front of me, sir."  He looked back at them.  "Is she going to be changing back into that later?"

"Not if I can help it," Rimfire growled. The driver beamed and put up the separating window.  He saw some champagne and held up the bottle and she shrugged.  He popped it and poured some for them, kissing her gently as he handed over her glass.  "To us."

"To us," she agreed, smiling at him.  "I'm really happy."

"I know you are," he agreed, smirking at her.  "I so wanna brag like Vinnie at the moment," he said happily.

She laughed and kissed him. "You'd better not ever get that sort of ego, Rimfire, or else I'll have to start spanking you again."  He blushed and ducked his head, nodding.  "Good boy."  The limo moved and they were off.  It wasn't a long ride to the chapel, but it was pleasant.  She got out and walked inside with Rimfire, stopping at the desk. "He got too stunned and got demanding during the night," she said with a small blush.

"That's fine, we see it all the time," the older woman said, smiling at her.  She pulled out the paperwork, taking their birth certificates.  She filled out their wedding license and stamped it, then handed it over.  Rimfire handed over his card and she ran it, then smiled at him. "Right this way, dears.  Lets get you something more suitable.  Unless you really want to be Magenta and Eddy to get married?"

"No, I want her in something fantastic to show what a queen she is," Rimfire assured her.  "Is this a rental or a buy?"

"We do rent them, but some brides have wanted to keep their special dresses so we do offer that service as well," she offered with a smile.  She opened a door.  "In there please, Rimfire."  He walked in there, closing the door behind him.  "Come on, dear.  I'll help you find something to make you look like a princess instead of a punk rocker."  She led her into the dress room, turning on the lights.  "Let's see, you're a what size?"

"Six or eight. My prom gown was a six."

"All right."  She smiled and led her to that rack, letting her look.  She looked as well, finding a corset ballgown in ivory silk with gold ribbon embroidery.  She held it up.  "How about this?"

She touched it and smiled.  "I don't know.  Gold and my complexion?"  The woman looked then nodded, going to find something else.  Dawn found one, it was white with silver tracings on the top.  It was another strapless model and she held it up.  "How about this one?"

"Is it in the right size, dear?  It looks small."  She came over to check.  "That's a size two."  Dawn grimaced and put it on the correct rack, earning a smile.  "We can see if there's one like that though."  She searched, coming up with a fairly plain gown.  It was white, had a tight bodice and a full skirt.  It had the pointed waistline.  She held it up and Dawn shook her head.  "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, the shoulders never fit me on those things."

"Ah."  She found another one and brought it over.  "Off the shoulder," she offered, holding it out.  Again, long sleeved.  It had a fur trim around the top neckline. It had silver tracings along the bodice and an unattached skirt that was white with flecks of glitter on it.  "Let's try this one, dear.  I think you'll like this one."  She led her to the changing room, letting her try it on.  She looked as Dawn came out.  "I think you're an eight after all."  Dawn nodded and went to hand it back out.  She came back with another dress, handing it over. "Try that."

Dawn came out on the cloud of silk and velvet.  It was off the shoulders too, but the top was in a off-white stretchy velvet.  The skirt was in off-white silk.  She looked at herself and nodded.  "Perfect," she decided.  "Shoes?"  A pair was found and she stepped into them, smiling. "Good.  Now, veil."  A tiara was found and she arranged her hair to support it and highlight it, leaving it a loosely woven sideways braid on the back of her head.  She smiled.  "Good?"

"Take your hair down, dear.  Maidens always get to go unbound."

"Um, not exactly that pure," she admitted with a small grin.  She took down her hair, then rearranged it, finding a style she liked better.  Then she smiled and looked at her helper.  Who nodded. "Good.  Rings!" she said, patting herself on the head.  She looked at herself again, catching sight of her face and her new shiny, oily spots.  "And eww, powder?"

She winked and got her a makeup bag, watching as she retreated to do her makeup.  She was very skillful and it made her look delicate.  She walked her to the options case, finding her a pair of leather gloves in off-white and a necklace and earrings.  Then she was ready.  They walked out, and Dawn was handed a trio of roses, all part of the package.  The credit card was run for the amount of the dress and things since Dawn had checked the 'I'll keep it' box on the slip.  "So, what do you do, dear?"

"I'm in a language degree.  Rimfire does computers."  She took the card back and it went down her top, then she was led to the room, smiling and nodding at those people around them.  She waited in the back area while Rimfire was led in.  She smiled as the traditional music started, walking up to him slowly.  He gaped, then smiled and waved her forward.  She walked up and took his hand, smiling at his classic tux with ascot look.  He kissed the back of her hand, holding her hand in his leather gloved one.  The minister smiled. Dawn smiled back.  "Oh, rings," she said, handing them over.

He smiled and took them.  "We are here to mate this very cute couple, Rimfire and Dawn, in holy matrimony.  Let no one come between them."  He opened his book.

***

Dawn came off the plane and blanched at the time on the wall.  "We're going to be late to class.  We won't have time to change," she called.

"Hell," he muttered, grabbing a burger as they passed a vendor, then following her.  "So go to class like that," he told her.  She gave him an odd look. "I'm sure the professor has seen more odd things than a young woman in a wedding dress in class."  She rolled her eyes but got onto her bike and headed out.  She had a test, he just had to show up.  His farming teacher would only clap him on the back and smile at him for it.

Dawn parked and paid the meter, then ran up to her classroom, including across a busy street.  She panted as she burst into the room. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Dear, is that your halloween costume?" she demanded.

"Um, no, professor, Rimfire and I just got back from Vegas," she admitted with a blush, showing her rings.  "Sorry.  We were a bit later than we thought."  She took her usual seat, arranging her skirt around her.  "I didn't mean to cause an interruption."

"No, dear, that's all right.  Congratulations.  Also, Professor Myers was looking for you earlier.  He said to stop by about next semester's schedule?"

She nodded at that, smiling and letting the professor get back to their discussion.  She took the offered pen with another blush when it was test time.

***

Xander hung up the phone, looking confused.  "Dawn was wearing a wedding dress to class," he noted.  Modo choked and spluttered.  He looked at him.  Then he handed over his wallet after checking it. "Go find them a cake and food.  Throttle, honey, were you planning on dinner?"

"I was.  Why?"  He came out, looking at him, cute in his apron Xander had made him wear.  "Why?"

"Dawn was wearing a wedding dress to class."

"I can make dinner tomorrow.  Modo, bro, go to that nice place up the street from Chef Andy's and get him to make some of those things for them."  Modo nodded, going to get that for them.  "You're sure?"

"Yeah, pretty sure.  Doctor Myers just called gushing about how pretty she was in her wedding dress and how the rings suited her and Rimfire, who was waiting impatiently for her to get done."  They shared a look and Xander looked up.  "Hey, Wills, or Seal?"  The Seal appeared, smirking and arms crossed. "Any way to get Buffy here?  Dawn just went to her Russian class in a wedding dress."  The Seal squealed and hugged him, then nodded, going to use the transporter to steal Buffy.  She babbled and Buffy let out a wordless scream.  "We didn't know, Buffy!  She left while we were clubbing last night, after Rocky Horror."

"I still say that movie warps brains," she complained as she came up the ramp.  "She did? You're sure?"

"Her advisor just called to tell me how cute she was in her wedding dress."

"Mom is *so* going to kill her. Mommy!"  Joyce meowed from her spot watching the fish.  "Dawn got married, mom."  Joyce looked at her and meowed calmly again. "Huh?"

"She said they did a Martian style bonding earlier this year while they were going at it," Xander admitted.  "They hadn't made it official on Mars yet."

"You didn't tell me this!"

He shrugged. "It's like a handfasting, Buffy.  They did it as Martian witches."

"Oh."  She sat down to scowl, waiting on the bikers she could hear coming back.  Xander flopped back down and she looked at Throttle.  "Hi again.  It's me.  Are you guys coming for Thanksgiving?"

"We can if you want.  Staff might be here for Modo this year though.  Or he might hit Mars for a few days.  We're not sure.  The Plutarkians are back."

"I heard."  She looked over as the bikes parked downstairs.  "Get up here, Dawn Rachel Summers!"  Dawn walked up the ramp looking sheepish. "You couldn't tell me so I could come!"

"He didn't tell me!" she defended.  "He drug me out of the club and to the airport and suddenly we're on our way to Vegas and he's growly and soft and nice and sweet, and look," she said, tossing over the DVD.  "The wedding."  She smiled hopefully at them all. "Hi, guys."

"Uh-huh," Throttle said, looking her over.  "You do look pretty, Dawn."

"I'd look better if I could redo my makeup."  She pulled her credit card out and put it on the table.  "Sorry, it was poking me."  She looked at Xander and Buffy.  " Hi."  Her mother meowed and she bounced over to kiss her and scratch her ears.  "Hi, mommy.  I made sure they taped it for you.  Sorry."  She meowed patiently and gave her hand a gentle lick.  "Thanks, mom."  She went to sit beside Buffy, hugging her. "How did you know?"

"Doctor Myers called and said you were adorable in your wedding dress," Xander told her.  Modo came up the stairs dragging Rimfire.  "That was quick."

"He had everything ready," he admitted, looking at her.  "Well, you look wonderful, Dawn."  He pulled her up to look at her. "You do look good.  I'm very proud but you're still going to do this on Mars. Tonight."

"Yes, Uncle Modo."  She kissed him on the cheek and smiled. "Thank you."

"Welcome, dear."  He looked around. "No Vinnie or Charley."

Buffy looked at her sister.  Then at Rimfire, who had the grace to at least blush. "We'll be talking, young man.  I never got a chance to properly threaten you."  The house phone rang and she answered it.  "Xander's house'o'love."  Xander snickered at that. "It is."  She listened to Wesley complain.  "Chill, Wes.  Dawn went out and got married last night. I'm being a big sister. You can take Faith out tonight."  She hung up on his spluttering.  "There, settled.  I'm sure I can get home somehow.  Willow!"  She appeared, grinning already.  "That Seal of yours is pretty happy now."

"Of course," she offered with a grin.  "She's not in Sunnydale anymore."  She squealed and floated over to kiss Dawn on the cheek and try to hug her.  "Oooh, you look so pretty!  That is *such* a great dress," she squealed.

"Bro, food?" Throttle suggested dryly. "Find Vinnie and Charley too."  He nodded, going to do that while Throttle went to call Mars.  The kids could tell Micah themselves.  He got a very sleepy Exhaust.  "What time is it up there?"

"Nearly dawn.  Why?"

"Dawn and Rimfire are coming up for their bonding soon.  After dinner for us.  We're going to have to bring her sister too."  Exhaust raised an eyebrow at that.  "The Slayer.  She already knows about us.  Xander told her."

"I see.  Why?"

"So she wouldn't try to kill him for being a furry demon.  Anyway, a few hours good?"

"Fine," he agreed.  "Hopefully nothing interrupts this time."

"It had better not," Throttle said dryly.  He shook his head.  "It's been a long, strange 24 hours, Exhaust."  He hung up, then went to tell the others.  "We're heading to Mars after dinner. It's nearly sunrise there."

"Sure," Modo agreed, smiling at Dawn.  "Should we invite Stan and Chassis over since none of us have seen her recently?"

"Probably," he admitted, going to call but Dawn already had the phone.  "Sure, you do it."

Dawn beamed.  "Detective, I love you, but would you please send Stan and Chassis home tonight?  Because there's a wedding celebration and we need to bring them home," she offered with a grin.  "No, he drug me off while we were clubbing and surprised me," she offered with a sappy grin.  "I went as Magenta during the corset dancing and he growled all night and got possessive and drug me off," she admitted.  "Oh, but it was sweet, Ray.  Really, it was.  Sure, I don't care."  She grinned at him yelling at Stan across the room to head to Xander's for wedding cake soon and to take Chassis with him.  "Thanks, dear.  No, it's on DVD.  Sure.  Laters."  She hung up.  "Rimfire, remind me I need to go see him tomorrow sometime."  He nodded and sat down beside him.  She stroked his knee.  "Buffy, there's no shovel talk needed."

"I was thinking more a steam roller.  Xander's guy I could see beating with a shovel but you're my only sister, Dawnie.  He gets the slow, painful, inching steamroller treatment."

"You mean like in _Roger Rabbit_?" he teased, grinning at her. "I'm very protective of my Dawn.  I love my Dawn.  She drives me insane."  Buffy smiled at that.  "It really was spur of the moment on my part, Buffy.  I decided I couldn't stand anyone else staring at her."  She nodded, accepting that.  "At least we remembered to have them tape it."

"I heard.  We can watch during dinner."  Everyone smiled at that.

"Okay, why did I close the garage early," Charley demanded as she came up the ramp.  She stopped to stare at Dawn, who wiggled her fingers.  "Oh, please let that be a costume," she moaned.  Dawn smiled and shook her head, stroking Rimfire's thigh.  "You know he's going to use you to force me, kid."

"Sorry, Charley, but it was a spur of the moment thing," Rimfire offered sheepishly.  "I had to mark her as mine and I wanted the full package.  I took her to Vegas."

"We got a call from her advisor saying how cute she was in the wedding dress she wore to class," Xander told her.  "Bro?"

"Coming.  Chasing Vic inside," he called, slamming the door. He carried his son up and stopped, then squealed and rushed over to hug her.  "I'm so happy!  Wrench!"  He came out of the library and grinned, waving at her.  "Isn't she adorable!"

"She is.  That wedding dress is truly adorable on her," he agreed.

"Wedding dress?  I thought it was another thing like the prom," he said dryly.

"No, we've already had Homecoming," Dawn told him.  "No proms in college, Vin.  No, he drug me to Vegas last night."  His eyes started to sparkle as he looked at his woman.

"Don't you even think about it, Vincent," she warned. "Enamel said no stress."

"But it's good for the baby to feel love," Wrench offered.

"You hush," Charley ordered.  "No input from the Martian Watchers."  She stared her mate down.  "No, Vincent."

He smirked and grabbed her, kissing her deeply until she couldn't breathe.  Then he looked at Rimfire. "How did you do this?"  He got up to write out notes, handing them and Dawn's credit card over with her hand-wave.   "Thanks, guys."

"Uh-huh," Xander demanded.  "In front of the rest of us, Vinnie.  We want to help!"  Vinnie pouted.  "You can do it here!  I mean it."

"Fine," he pouted.  "But she'll agree right now."

"She'll agree over Solstice too," Xander said dryly.  "Or Beltane."

"No, no more babies," Charley said, shaking her head.  "We don't need to be married during a fertility holiday!"

Dawn snickered at that.  "Well, Solstice is the restarting of the world, a new life."  She smiled at them. "Sure, we can do that."  Someone pounded on the door and she sighed, getting up to answer it.  "Oh, it's you," she said, grimacing at Greasepit.  "If you so much as *think* about dripping on my wedding dress, I'll smear you into DNA samples."  He backed up, eyes wide.  "What?"

"We wanted to challenge youse mousies and the bunch'a youse to a battle," he said grimly.  "Please?"

"Not tonight, I just got married," Dawn said, slamming the door in his face.  She checked, nothing on her dress.  She headed back to the ramp, hearing Chassis pull in. She smiled at her and Stan, kissing him on the cheek.  "Hi.  We snuck off," she offered with a grin.  "Come on, we're just waiting on you guys."  She walked up the ramp.  "Chassis and Stan are here.  Greasepit said he wanted to challenge us to a battle but I told him it couldn't be tonight and slammed the door in his face.  He looked really hurt."  She sat down on Rimfire's lap, smiling when Xander took her picture.  "Thanks, babe."  She looked around.  "Food?  He fed me treats for lunch."  Throttle snorted and put out the food, letting everyone come up and get their own and sit wherever.  The DVD of the wedding was put on and almost everyone decided to sit and stare at it.  Except Vic, who was watching the fish.

***

Carbine walked in and saw people waiting, wincing a bit.  "What happened this time?"

"It's time for their formal bonding," Modo told her.  "They did it Earth style and now it's our turn.  Were Momma and Cell out there?"  She nodded and the older women came in with Stoker.  "Momma.  He ran off with her to do it.  We've got a DVD of the wedding."

"Rimfire!"  He ducked his head, giving her a sheepish look. "Couldn't you wait a day?"

"No, Grandmomma.  Sorry.  She's mine though."  He hugged Dawn to her.

"I like the mating dress, dear," Cell offered, kissing her on the cheek and pulling her away from her son.  "Well, Primer said you were a woman worthy of this family and I seem to like you more and more each time I see you."  She looked at the other human.  "Your sister?"  She nodded.  Cell smirked at her. "I'm Rimfire's Momma."

"Hi.  Buffy Summers," she said, shaking her hand.  "I got summoned by the Seal."

Stoker coughed.  "Finally, punk?"

"Finally, coach," Rimfire agreed happily.  "Oh, and they made us watch this strange ritualistic movie last night too."

Dawn sighed. "It's a cult classic, Rimfire, not a ritualist movie."

"It has dances, it's a ritual," he said dryly.  "You wear special clothes to it, you do odd things to add to the energy of the night, you do the ritual dances, you do it in groups, it's a ritual."

"Well, then it was a ritual for charity," she said dryly.  She looked at the others.  "We made them all go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show after trick or treating."

"Fortunately some of us stole the candy and hid it," Staff noted dryly.

"Oh, don't worry, honey, I've found it and gotten it back.  It's hidden in my special spot," Xander said happily.  "It's not a ritual, Rimfire, there's no prayers to a deity."

"Fine, I still stay it's a ritual."  He looked at the elders.  "Can we do this so Buffy can head back to Cleveland?  We've already been yelled at about taking her."

"Sure," Stoker agreed.  "Carbine?"

"No."  She shook her head. "I won't."

Chassis glared at her.  "Because she's human?"

"No, because she hasn't asked his mother for permission yet," she said bitterly.  She looked at Stoker, then at Exhaust. "You can."

"I can.  Dawn and Rimfire, front and center," he ordered.  He looked around.  "We can wait for everyone else if you want."

"They'll either be an attack or an interruption again," Rimfire said dryly.  The doors slammed open and he pulled his weapon, making the guy walking in whimper.  "Sorry, doc.  Having a wedding here."

"Oh, that's fine, I can wait," he promised, sitting down on a bench against the wall.  "Go for it, kids."  He smiled.

"Momma?" Dawn asked her.  "Grandmomma?"

"Go for it, dear," Cell said, turning her around. "Don't make me frisk you like Xander did me."

She snorted.  "I doubt you'd like it."  She took Rimfire's hand and smiled at the Councilor.

"Do you take him to be yours, to honor and listen to him when he's being reasonable?  To treat him as well as you do your bikes?"

"Sure," she agreed.  He pinched her.  "I do."

"Rimfire, do you take Dawn to cherish and honor, will you listen to her when she's being reasonable and you're not?  Will you treat her as well as you do your bikes?"

"Yes, sir, I will."

"Good.  Any issue forthcoming?"

"Oh, hell no, there'd better not be," Dawn said smartly.

Exhaust smirked at that.  "We have to ask, dear. You're now married by Martian standards as well."  She squealed and kissed Rimfire, then hugged him.  "Thank you, dear.

Go have your honeymoon night."  She winked and drug Rimfire off with her.

"I don't need that mental image," Buffy called after her.  She shook her head and shook his hand. "Thank you.  Do they need to pay for it?"

"No, we like weddings, we do them for free," he offered with a smile.  "Nice meeting you, Miss Summers."  She smiled back and let Throttle send her home.  "Xander, why did you tell her?" he demanded.

"So she wouldn't stake my ass," he defended.  "I didn't tell her until we got there for Thanksgiving.  I was guilted into coming and got told to bring Modo and Throttle.  You try dealing with a houseful of twenty slayers waiting for dessert."

He shook his head.  "No thank you.  Fine.  You were preserving life and limb."

"Yeah, mine," he said dryly, walking Throttle off and back home.  He found someone in his way and smirked.  "Hi, Ray.  He's right behind us."

"Sure.  We've got to go beat the snot out of someone who tried to blow up the college."

"Hey, maybe we don't have classes tomorrow," Dawn called.  She smiled at them.  "I don't care what's happening, do not come wake us up unless it's a life-threatening emergency."

"Then go to a hotel, Dawnie," Xander said patiently.  She squealed and grabbed a small bag, heading off with her tolerant mate in tow.  "She runs off and gets married last night, heads to class in her wedding dress, and doesn't think about a hotel," he said, shaking his head.  "Stan, Ray's here!" he called.  Chassis and Stan came out last, with Wrench hurrying through after a minute.   "Good.  Go have fun.  Chassis, sweetie, if you're that serious, you can borrow hers."  He walked off, going to pounce his mate.

"Xander!  I want to clean out your closet!  I don't want any sort of corset in here!"

Ray moaned and rubbed his head.  "I didn't need to know that."

"For Rocky Horror showings," Stan told him, patting him on the back.  "Who?"

"Not an idea.  He's sitting there crying that no one will play with him."  He nodded. "Let's go."  Stan gave Chassis a deep kiss then hurried out.  "You're really that serious?"

"Yeah, I think I am," he admitted, smiling at him.  "Benny likes her too.  Turnbull came over for our movie thing last night and he adored her, wanted to try to keep her."

"Turnbull needs a wolf of his own," Ray complained, getting in to drive.

Stan just chuckled at that mental image.  Turnbull with a wolf of his own.  Yeah, right.

Episode 70:

Xander finished listening to the order of the songs he wanted and smirked, clicking on the button to burn it.  It was perfect.  He heard a noise and looked out, watching Enamel wander up onto the roof.  Xander had woken up in a mushy mood this morning, so he was helping others be just as mushy as he was at the moment.  It was making him happy, even though him grinning had driven the other mice out of the house and on patrol.  Even Rimfire, which said something with how mushy that mouse was.  The CD popped out and he got an error message so he put it back in and erased it, trying it again.  This time it went through and he set the CD player to play, listening to make sure the songs were clear and fully there.  When he was satisfied, he found his old discman and stuck it in there, making sure it'd play.  Then he checked the batteries and got up after starting the second CD burning.  That one was for Vinnie and Charley.  He walked up onto the roof, coughing to get Enamel's attention.  "If you jump, I won't give you the thing I just made for you."

"You made me something?" he asked, looking over at him.  "Why?"

"Because I heard these few songs and thought of you and Shell," he said, grinning a bit.

"No wonder the other mice left, you're in a soft and sappy mood."  He looked at the discman, then at him.  "Go ahead and put it on me, Xander," he sighed.  Xander started it and put the headphones on his ears, then turned down the volume when he realized how loud it was.  Enamel listened, just blinking a few times until it got to the pertinent part.  Xander bounced around for a bit but he let it play, listening to the messages. Finally he shook off the headphones and looked at him. "You made me a CD for my anniversary?"

"Of course.  Every girl should be serenaded at least once, even if her man is tone deaf and unable to do more than sing to her while laying on his back and making her a happy mouse."  He gave him a gentle nudge and a grin.  "I know you'd be doing something special for her for your first anniversary anyway, and now I'm helping.  It gives me something to do while I'm waiting on something to do."  He got up and grinned, heading back down to the office.  "I'll come help you up in a while.  You sit and plan," he called as he walked.

"Sure.  Thanks."  He waited until he was alone to grin.  Xander was one special mouse and he had found the perfect songs for them.  It was kind of neat how he could read people that well and find something that made things special to them.  Modo's first date with Staff was just one version of that and how he had a more gentle version.  He heard the bikes coming back and smirked, just getting comfortable.  Throttle rode up and parked, looking around.  "Should I move?"

"No.  I'm trying to find the other white mouse," he said dryly.  "Have you seen my meat?"

"He was burning stuff in the office and I think he probably went next door."  He looked at him.  "He's making CD's," he said at the worried look.

"So he's still on his mushy kick?"

Enamel smirked.  "He found the perfect song for my anniversary this week," he admitted.  "He burned the CD in order so I could play it for her."

"Cool.  Should we expect to see you two roaring off into the night?" he teased.

"Probably," Enamel agreed smugly.  "Or at least hopefully.  She's been working a lot of hours with the new refugees and those kids who were brainwashed."  He rolled to his feet.  "Can you maybe help me with the player?"

"Sure."  He grabbed it with his tail and then caught it with his hands, putting it in the doctor's pocket loosely.  "There ya go."  Enamel smirked.  "What else were you planning?"

"Pouncing.  Lots and lots of pouncing," he said smugly, walking off.  "Having no hands is reminding me a lot of what I was taking for granted, even with her and cuddling."  He headed down to their room, wiggling so the player fell out again.  At least he still had his tail, even if it wasn't as dextrous as the other mice's.  That's what happened when you had improperly healed breaks that were left for too long.  He laid down on his back, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about his girl.  She would love it if he sung those to her and that was probably Xander's idea too since he suggested serenading.  Well, he wasn't always on- pitch, but he could do that.  Even if he did have to go to Mars and do it while she was busy so she'd remember their anniversary.  He heard the quiet knock.  "What?"  Charley opened the door.  "Hey.  Are you all right?"

"Upset with Xander. He's being more mushy than most girls," she admitted.  "I came to check on you.  How are you holding up?"

"Well enough," he admitted.  He shifted his feet and wiggled until he was sitting up.  "Go ahead and sit.  You look like you want to be nosy."

"Well, I do," she admitted, sitting on the foot of his bed.  "The other guys, well Vinnie, thought you'd be using your tail more by now."

"I would be, but I have an old break that never healed right, Charley.  It's not that capable."

"Oh."  She looked at it. "I don't see any knots."

"It's near the top."  He shifted to let her see.  "There, that blue spot.  It's pressing a vein nearer to the surface."  She nodded and he relaxed, shifting back to face her.  "It's an old injury that never really got treated."

"Before or after you were banished?" she asked.

He smirked.  "None of your business."

She looked at him.  "Do you need to talk about it?"  He shook his head.  "You're sure?"

"Very.  I've already accepted and forced myself to move on.  Besides, how did you know I was captured or anything?"

"Because you're uptight and tense whenever you meet new people," she said dryly.  "Ever since I met you, you've had this air of resignation about being arrested and captured - the way you were and about your arms.  Besides, I was wandering last night and I heard your nightmares."

"I felt someone come in to check on me.  Thanks."

"Not an issue.  We all have nightmares, some people just have worse ones."  She stood up.  "Need anything?"

"Only my arms back."

"One month down," she offered.  He nodded at that.  "Do you think you'll manage it in time to catch the baby?" she asked with a grin.

"I don't want to deliver my own kid," he said seriously.  "There's a reason why doctors aren't allowed to take care of their own family; it's because we panic and imagine the worst is happening so we overreact and cause more problems. I'll be more than happy just to be able to hold him while he's still slimy."

She smiled at that. "The tradition around here has been that the father catches so far," she teased.

"She's not delivering down here, I want her up on Mars, in case her special gifts come into play and try to block the labor or something," he said firmly.  "If not, we'll have to mentally stun her if something happens."

"So we'll have Xander zap her," she offered with a naughty grin.  "Payback for taking his pain block."  She left, leaving him to think.

"No, if she delivers down here, I'll have one of the docs catch and then Throttle can play priest," he told himself.  "It won't be the first time.  Speaking of.  Heat, Proxima?" he called.  They both opened his door.  "Go up and follow that OB around for a bit, just in case something happens and Shell has to deliver down here or Charley goes really early."  They both nodded and headed back to Mars for the day, going to soak up more information.  "At least we have an OB now," he told himself.  "No more getting that headset from Xander and making Stoker do all the work.  You'd think he'd be okay with it since he had helped with his own, but no, he had to nearly puke on the patient.  I should put a word in someone's ear that everyone should have the basics of medical training in the Freedom Fighters and the Army," he mused, smirking to himself about how evil that would be to a great many mice. He could make all sorts of mice puke and choke for at least a week.

***

Enamel walked through the transporter, nodding at everyone.  "Where is Shell hiding?" he asked.

"Somewhere near her offices," Carbine offered.  "Why?"

"It's our anniversary.  She's obviously forgot," he said dryly.  "Oh, Carbine, I had a thought.  We need more medics for first response, right?"  She groaned and nodded.  "So, why not make every single Freedom Fighter and every single person in the Army take the basic medical training.  That way no matter who gets there first, someone could be saved."  She perked up at that, her tail swishing behind her.  "It should take about a week. You can add it to the basic training they all do and run refresher courses for everyone else.  Nothing like drawing blood or laying an IV line maybe, but basics of splinting, bandaging, applying pressure, and how to know when to panic."

"That's not a bad idea," Stoker admitted from where he was kicked back in his seat.  "We should make that mandatory before you graduate too," he offered.

"We can do that, it's something we already teach," Carbine agreed.  "It wouldn't cost us any extra."

"Plus, most of us already carry some sort of first aid pack when we go out," Stoker admitted.  "Nice job, doc.  She's up in the counseling room on the third floor working with that mother."

"Thanks."  He walked off, smirking at the guards.  "Going to kidnap my girl," he told the one giving him an odd look.  "It's our anniversary."  That got a small grin and he walked on, the headphones already ready.  His hand was in about the right spot and he could turn on the player with a flick of a finger, which he could move.  Kinda.  He turned it on, waiting until it started to start singing.  How Xander knew that Bon Jovi was what would speak to them he still wasn't sure but _I'll Be There For You_ suited them very well. He cleared his throat as the guitar intro started and used his tail to open the pull door, he'd be stuck if it wasn't, and walked in, singing to her.  Shell looked up, just staring in shock and awe at him.  He grinned as he let it out, following it up with _Always_ then knelt down beside where she was curled up on the floor, giving her a long kiss.

The mother Shell had been counseling sniffled and smiled at her little girl.  "That's the sort of love I'd like for you, dear, but I know we won't find it here.  Too many have bad memories of what your daddy did."

"There's a colony of them," Shell gasped, pulling back to breathe.  "Enamel?"  He dove in again, kissing her again.  She winced as the baby kicked, but he leaned down to kiss him too, making her smile and stroke through his hair when he curled up in her lap.  "I was coming home after I talked to this patient."

"I'm impatient," he offered, smiling up at her.

"You're *that* Enamel?" the mother asked dryly.

He looked at her.  "I tried my best with that patient."

"I know.  Do you think that anything we used to have could change her more mouse?"

He considered it, then shook his head.  "Nothing right off that I know we have now.  They could have done some splicing maybe thirty or so years ago, but not now."  She nodded, sighing at that.  "Then again, like Shell said, the others have formed their own colony.  You'd be safe.  You'd be welcomed.  There'd be other kids just like her."

She nodded.  "I know but it's in a bad part of Mars."

"Ma'am, it's pretty muchly all a bad part of Mars at the moment," he said dryly.  "It will be for at least the next five or ten years."

"They're up by the Mountains, sweetie," Shell said gently.

He hummed and nodded.  "Xander said they're pretty and there's still some green stuff up there."  He looked up at her.  "Just because odd things used to go on up there and a few cults started doesn't mean it's cursed.  If so, call Wrench. That's what I learned this week.  Call Wrench for anything strange like that on Mars.  Call Xander for anything like that on Earth."  Shell giggled at that.  "Seriously.  Oh, what happened to his ex?"

"Willow said she was upsetting Throttle so she had her moved up here."  She smiled down at him, then at her patient.  "The Council and I both think that the move would do you good.  There are counselors up there to talk to as well," she promised. "I won't lie, a few said they went willingly and bedded willingly, but most of them don't.  It was for their own safety."

She nodded, looking at her daughter, who just grinned up at her.  "Fine, we can go up there."  She looked at the couple.  "What about the remaining Plutarkians?"

"Being bastards and living it up on Earth," he admitted.  "Most of them are in a cold, snowy place, but we know three have snuck away.  One was caught by the Russian military and escorted back but both Limburgers made it back to Chicago.  The guys down there are still working on sending them into space without an air tank."  The mother nodded at that.  "Then again, Karbunkle, the original, is with them and he's just as deranged as ever.  He'd have to do it for them and he'd make her like his former little alien experiment."

"Good point," she sighed.  "Fine, we'll agree to move."

"We'll call them and get you an escort," Shell promised.  "Would you want to go tonight or did you need to tell some people goodbye?"

She slumped a bit.  "Most of the mice I know look at me with either pity or horror."

"I know that feeling," Enamel offered.

"What's wrong with your arms?" the girl asked him, her voice barely above a whisper.

He gave her a gentle smile.  "I got hit with a paralyzer beam a few times about a month ago. It'll wear off sometime soon."  She nodded, clutching her mother's arm.  "Did she?" he asked quietly.  The mother nodded.  "Did you get to kick his tail?"

"No.  Unfortunately not," she said bitterly.  "Then again, I saw him eaten."  She shrugged.  "Should I go?"

"No, most of the Council would just shudder and look at you with pity or horror," Shell admitted.  The mother sighed again.  "Let me go talk to them and I'll be right back."  She smiled down at her mate.  "That means you've got to move, studly."

"Yes, dear."  He sat up and kissed her again, but she pulled away and got up, heading out of the room.  "We hate that these things happened to you, ma'am.  No one wanted to think that these things happened during the war.  Unfortunately there's about fifty parents in that colony and just a few more kids."  She shivered and nodded.  "Don't let those who say they wanted it throw you.  There's a syndrome called Stockholm syndrome.  It's basically where you start to identify and like your captors.  You start to believe they're right and what they're doing to you was your idea.  I figure most of them have that and will probably heal some day."  The door opened and his shadow walked in.  "Racer, what are you doing here?"

Racer looked at him.  "I saw you come up on the 'net and I came up to get a hug."  He came over to hug him, then beamed at him.  "I'm taking a real science class and my teacher is very impressed."

"Good job, Racer," he congratulated.  "Very good job.  Biology or chemistry?"

"Physics," he said with a grimace.  "He said it's still needed."

"It can be.  Sometimes the treatments we do count on the laws of physics.  Besides, you can't understand a body without understanding what forces are acting on it."  Racer nodded at that and caught sight of the kid.  "Not one word," he hissed.

"I wasn't going to say anything mean."  He looked at the little girl, then the mother.  "Is she part mouse?"  The mother pursed her lips and nodded.  "Why?  I don't want to be rude, but I don't understand and I want to be a doctor some day so I should."

Enamel sighed and looked at him.  "Ask your mother, Racer."

"Momma just purses her lips whenever part Plutarkians are mentioned around her by Momma Cell," he admitted.  "I really don't understand."

"They wanted to be mean and try stuff on her," the mother said gently.  "This is their idea of a sick game, child.  Were you captured?"  He nodded.  "What did they do to you?"

"Staff kept Karbunkle from hurting me a whole lot," he said honestly.  "I was already pretty sick.  She protected us."

"Then she's a saint and deserves your affection."

Racer blushed.  "She's my new aunt, ma'am."  He sat down in front of the kid, waving at her.  "Hi.  I'm Racer.  Do you have a name?"

"Terror."

He grinned.  "That's pretty cool.  Spike would love that name."  Enamel snickered at that.  "He would," he defended.

"That's because Spike is a terror."

"Is he the little mouse that growls?" the girl asked.  Racer nodded.  "I've seen him watching us."

"Spike's really kinda smart, even though he hides it.  He's learning all sorts of neat stuff, like codes and stuff, so he and his friends can talk without the adults trying to stop their fun."  The girl grinned at that.  "Are you going to live in this city?"

"We're moving to a village where there's a lot more like me," she admitted quietly, staring at him.  "You're not scared of me?"  He shook his head.  "Why not?"

"Because you're a kid.  Other kids might pick on you but they're only scared if they were hurt.  The others would just do it to be mean.  I was only hurt by Karbunkle."  He shrugged.  "You're not a mad scientist, are you?"  She giggled and shook her head. "Then why should I be afraid of you?"

Shell walked in with Stoker.  "Racer, what are you doing!" she snapped.

"Telling her that I'm not afraid of her because she's not a mad scientist," he said honestly, standing up.  "Spike's been watching her too."  Terror nodded.  "I don't think he understands either, Uncle Stoker.  I know I didn't, that's why I asked."

"He did," Enamel promised. "I would have kicked him in the tail if he were rude or obnoxious."

"True," Stoker admitted.  He looked at Racer.  "Why didn't you ask your momma?"

"She just purses her lips and glares at Momma Cell whenever she brings it up.  Her name is Terror, I think Spike would like that name," he pointed out. Then he grinned at the girl.  "I'm sure you'll have more fun up there anyway.  At least you won't shed when it gets *really* hot like I do.  It's kinda nasty and your fur itches and then your tail itches and your antenna itch but if you scratch hard enough to fix it, it hurts."  She giggled at that.  "Seriously, it does."

"There's stuff for that, it's called a good brushing and a bath," Enamel said dryly.

"Eww."

"Doctors always have to be as clean as possible, squirt.  That's why I had to remove my earrings.  I had to sterilize them each time I went into surgery when I was younger.  I got tired of taking them out and putting them back in ten times a day."  Racer just looked at him.  "I did bike even back then, kid," he offered with a small smirk.

"He wasn't even that horrible.  He barely met up to Freedom Fighter standards, but he was decent enough for a duffer," Stoker admitted.

Racer glared at him and stomped a foot. "You be nicer to him!  He's helpless and nice to me!  If it weren't for him, a lot of people would be dead, including me!"  He looked at Terror.  "If you come back this way, stop in and play, okay?  Even Shot would like to play with you."  He shook her hand then gave an impish grin and a wink before heading off at a run.

"Oooh, I'm gonna tell his momma on him," Stoker complained.  "Did he upset you, citizen?"

"No, he was very polite, he admitted he didn't understand and as a future doctor he should," she admitted.  "He told me Karbunkle had him but Staff protected him for the most part."

"Yeah, she did," Enamel agreed.  "He was found on Earth and we did a lot of fixing of the ulcers he had."  He wiggled to his knees, then forced himself to stand up.  "Need them now?"

"Yeah.  I'm assigning Cell's group to take her.  They're heading that way on patrol anyway."

"They won't mind?" the mother asked.

"If they did, they're smart enough not to say it," Stoker admitted.  "Cell would kill them.  Cell's that kid's adopted aunt."  She nodded, putting an arm around her daughter's shoulders.  "Trust me, citizen, it'll be fine.  You'll like it up there.  Terror there will have a lot of playmates who understand her and a doc who's training just for specific medical problems they could have."  She smiled and nodded, hugging her daughter.  "Okay, let's get you packed and loaded.  Come on and follow me."  She nodded, standing up and bringing her daughter with her.  "Shell, bright and early?"

"I doubt it," Enamel called smugly.  "It's our anniversary.  She'll be in by lunch."  Stoker snorted and walked out shaking his head.  He smiled at his girl.  "I had no idea he was going to do that but he was very delicate.  He even invited her to come play if she came back."

"At least he's not scared of her," she offered, kissing him gently.  "What did you have planned for tonight?"

"Singing you the rest of this CD and then whispering in your ear for a few hours," he offered with a grin.  "Maybe doing some other stuff if you beg prettily."  She shivered and he winked.  "Up for it?"

"I can feel you are," she teased, swatting him on the chest.  He moaned and his arm moved.  "Did I unblock you some more?"  He nodded and pulled her close, one hand on her stomach.  "Are you groping the baby instead of me?" she teased.

"For however long this lasts, I'm groping both of you," he promised, kissing her again.  He pulled a blaster and shot the camera he heard click on, then went back to kissing her.  "Woman, you're better than a healing spring," he said in awe, nibbling now.  He looked around and lowered her to her nest of pillows, having her right there.  He wasn't going to wait since he didn't know when they'd shut off again.

***

Enamel woke up from where they were camped, staring across the valley they were overlooking.  It was a beautiful sight, one he had adored when he was younger, and sharing it with her made her sigh in pleasure and curl up against him.  Anything that got him cuddled was worthy in his book to be done over and over again.  He looked around, trying to find the reason he had woken up.  There wasn't any noise.  Shell was asleep.  His arms were tingling but they were still mostly working. He didn't have any feeling in his fingertips so he knew they'd be going out again soon.  He did another scan around them.  No engines.  No dust trails below them to show someone had recently ridden past.  No noise. That's what was making him shiver.  There had been noise last night.  There had been noise the last time he had camped here.  He stood up and grabbed the emergency pack they had stopped at the base to pick up, looking around once he had the rifle out.  He moved around and outcropping of rocks, looking further up the valley toward those old temples, and stopped to stare in horror.  "Oh, fuck me," he murmured, backing into the shadows.   He walked back to where his woman was sleeping, nudging her awake with a foot.  "Shell, we've got problems."

She woke up, yawning up at him.  "Again?  Honey, three times was too much for the baby, he's tired."

"Shell, there's Plutarkians up by your patients," he said patiently.  He knew she didn't wake up that quickly so he made it simple for her sleep-fuzzy mind to catch.  She snapped alert and stared at him.  He nodded.  "I need you to go back and warn the base."

"But...."

"Now.  My hands are working and you're still pregnant."

"I can help!"

"Shell, if you argue, I'm tying you to the damn bed tonight," he growled.  "Not in the fun way."  She whimpered and nodded.  "Now, get on your bike and head back."  She got up and pulled back on her clothes and boots, heading down to her bike.  She was off within minutes and he heard the most hated sound of his life, laser fire.  He took aim at the one going for her, hitting his gun but not him since he was hidden.  That got him fired on.  Enamel looked up at the night sky.  "You wanted my help this time?" he asked dryly.  Then he fell back into his mind, the old survival skills coming out.  He had done this before.  He could do it again and still survive.  He had survived worse things than a Plutarkian crew.  He would be this time because of his son and Shell.  At least this time he had something to focus on and a reason to make it home.  He hit that one Plutarkian, making him scream.  That drew more of them.  "Where in the hell did they come from?" he growled as he fired on the others.  They would have been warned if a ship had taken off from Siberia.   The base wouldn't have let them come out this way if they had known about a threat.  He checked the charge on his rifle and grimaced.  It was low.  He'd have to report someone.  He found the radio and clicked it on.  Nothing.  Not even static.

Oh, yeah, he was going to be reporting someone to Stoker for not doing their job.

***

Shell rode up to the base and got off, grabbing the nearest soldier.  "We were camped overlooking the temple valley.  There's Plutarkians."

He just stared.  "Ma'am, were you drinking?" he asked.  "We'd know if there were Plutarkians back on Mars."

She socked him and stomped inside, getting a few mice following her.  She knew this base's commander and she kicked in her door.  "Get your tail out of bed!" she hollered.  The woman, her former schoolmate, jumped up, hand grabbing the blaster she slept with.  "Enamel and I were camped overlooking the temple valley.  There's Plutarkians."

"How?"

"Do I care?" she demanded.  "Enamel's still back there.  I did something and his hands are working for a few hours.  Now!" she said, stomping a foot.  She groaned and held her stomach when the baby kicked.  "Sorry, son."

The commander looked at the mice in the doorway.  "Who's on patrol?"

"Hendrix, and he's not checked in yet," one reported.  "I sent someone to check on him and haven't heard back yet, sir."

"Fine.  Let's head to the office.  Shell, honey, are you all right?"

"The baby's not a happy mouse," she ground out.  "He doesn't like daddy being in danger."

"I can't say as I like it either.  What happened to his hands?"

"Paralyzer beam.  I swatted him last night and they're working for a bit, but they'll be going out again later."  She straightened up.  "We were on a shelf overlooking the open end of the valley.  I watched a few of my patients at Othra's temple doing some bike exercises in the twilight."

"Sure.  Let's go to my office.  Let me put on some clothes."  She headed back into her bedroom, coming out in her uniform.  "Did you hear anything about one taking off from Earth?  I know you're down there thanks to your man about every week."  She walked her old friend up to her office, stopping to look at her bike.  "You're damn lucky, Shell.  Someone shot your gas tank."  She whistled.  "Bike master, come check her bike, it got hit in the tank!"  An older male mouse came running and walked her bike off.  She walked her up to her office, looking at her assistant.  "Any word yet?"

"No, ma'am, we're unable to reach Hendrix at all, and his partner came back to base over an hour ago.  He said Hendrix split off to check on the mice stored at the temple."

"And that's right where the Plutarkians were," she decided.  "All right.  She said there's a friendly mouse up on a shelf overlooking the open end of the temple.  They could see Othra's from there."  He nodded, making notes about that.

Shell looked at him.  "Enamel's had to survive in the past," she said gently.  "He got caught on Earth after having shot some friendlies for coming to help him save an orphanage because he wasn't that careful with his shots."

"Okay, so we've got a good shot, who will shoot at anything who moves," the commander noted dryly.  "Good to know, thank you.  If you have to knock him out, just knock him out, don't kill the doctor, corporal."  He nodded again, writing that down too.  "Take a team, go look."  He hurried out, going to pass on the orders.  "I don't know if I should wake up Stoker or Carbine," she said suddenly, then let out a small chuckle.  "Usually it's Stoker telling us."

"Oh, let me," she said, turning on the comm.  She knew Spike was up if no one else was. He still didn't like to sleep at night.  He answered with a small growl.  "There's Plutarkians up by the temple I've got patients in," she told him.  "Go get up your father."

Spike looked at her for a moment, one eyebrow going up.  "Bloody hell, woman, why now?  They're trying to make one another one even though she's pregnant."

Shell let out a small chuckle at that.  "Hate that for him, Spike, but it's a bad thing.  He needs to know."

He smirked his most evil smirk.  "Sure.  Call Auntie Nibbles."  He hung up and chuckled his most evil chuckle, sneaking into his parents' room.  He watched them, at least they were under the sheets this time.  He timed it just right, just when daddy was starting to get loud, then he leapt up and pounced his shoulders, making him scream, but get off.  "Smelly bits up by the temples," he told his mommy, smirking evilly at her.  "Auntie Shell called from the base."

"Son," Stoker panted.

"Plutarkians?" Switch asked.  Spike nodded, smirking at her.  "I know, you had fun, son.  Don't do it again or I'll swat you and make you go live with Carbine for a week."  Spike let out a whimper at that.  "Dear, that sounds like we've got some who were kicked off their old planet and were heading for here and Earth."

"Does," he agreed, getting up and handing her Spike.  He put on a pair of pants and looked at his son.  "Don't do that again.  I will whip your tail until it blisters.   You're so grounded tomorrow."

Spike snickered.  "I'll work on the baby's words," he said proudly.

"To your room, son, not even the dogs with you once this is over with.  Go get your older sister up and make sure the animals are inside."  He hurried out to his bike, pulling on a shirt as he stomped that way.  His boots were beside the door and he slid into them, stomping down as he walked on.  He made it to the base about the same time Carbine did.  "We're sending Spike to you next week," he warned.  "He's lacking manners again.  He just pounced me."

She looked at him. "I'm supposed to do what with your parenting failure?"

He glared.  "I'm a good parent, Carbine, it's his last life that's bothering him."  He walked in, slamming open the door.  "Shell?"  She looked up and nodded. "Why are you here?"

"We were camping," she said grimly.  "Enamel woke me up and got me on my bike to come up.  I did something to him earlier and his arms are kind of working, but he's got low feeling."

"Oh, wonderful," Carbine said bitterly. "Any other good news?"

Shell looked at Stoker.  "Do you remember why he got busted on Earth?"

He groaned and nodded.  "Yeah, I do.  They'll only knock him out if he's too far gone into his head this time, Shell.  They know not to kill a mouse, even if he's brainwashed."  He gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder.  "How many did you see?"

"The one who shot at me, but he was shooting at him."  She shrugged.  "He woke me up and told me."

"Sure."  He gave her another pat.  "I want you to head to the infirmary, make sure someone's up down there just in case.  Then I want you down there.  When and if we find Enamel, we'll bring him down there to you.  That way you can check on him."  She nodded, going to do that.  He looked at a nearby cadet.  "Follow her, you're her escort and guard.  She's a Martian treasure.  Do not lose her."  He saluted and hurried off.  The commander came out.  "How many Plutarkians and what sort of ship was it?"

"The ship's been found in one of the temples by one of Shell's patients.  She said it's like nothing they've seen before.  I'm guessing it's one that was heading in to the new home world from further out."

"We did share information on them with some aliens who helped us retrieve those refugees," Carbine said calmly.  "Do we have a report yet, commander?"

"Enamel has shot three.  Then his rifle went silent when the others rode up.  Someone checked their camping spot and he's gone.  They found another ten and sixteen very drugged mice. I've already sent out a medic to check them over for transport after the patrol I sent out, and sent her with another patrol."  Stoker nodded at that.  "How many more of these are we getting?  We need another defense satellite, Stoker."

"It's being built," he soothed.   "It'll be in the air within two months."   She sighed and looked up and he smirked.  "I know.  They're rewiring the old one."

"Why can't we build a new one?"

"We have no idea how we built the last one," he pointed out.  "The person who did is dead."

"We've got some plans off the internet on Earth," Carbine offered dryly.  "There's a big push towards robotics down there and I've been doing searches on that."  He smirked at her.  "Yes, I was doing useful things."  She heard the door bang open and someone walked in carrying something struggling.  "Hmm, your other failure's here."

Stoker punched her, knocking her out.  "I've had enough of you," he decided.  He looked back.  "Let my daughter go."

"Sir, I found her on your wife's bike with a rifle."

Stoker looked at his daughter. "Anya?"

"They're bad and they're ruining Mars further.  They should die!" she shrieked. "I'm going to help if Spike is!"

"No, oh, hell no!" he shouted back.  "I want you and Spike to be guarding your mother and little sister!"

"No!"  She stared him down.  "Mommy said no too.  She said we could go to the edge of town and no further.  Modo's momma's there too."

He raised an eyebrow and growled.  "Daughter, I am countermanding my wife.  You will go home.  You will go guard your mother and sister.  I will not have you or them hurt.  Do you understand me?"

"But, daddy...."

"No!" he roared.  "Now!"  He pointed and she sighed, nodding and heading back.  "And I will be checking, Anya!"

"Yes, daddy.  Mommy said it'd be somewhere safe though."

"I do not give a damn!  Find your brother too!"

"He and Racer took off after Uncle Enamel," she called as she stomped back to the bike.  "They're taking him to Uncle Wrench's house."

"Fine.  Thank you!"  He took a deep breath and glared at the commander when she started to giggle. "It's not funny."

"Yes it is," she assured him, beaming at him.  "We were worried about her, Stoker.  Now we know she's just artistic but she can still whip tail with the best of them.  She's definitely your little girl."

He gave her a sheepish grin.  "She is, isn't she?"  He called Modo's Momma's bike.  "What the hell are you doing out there with those children?"

"Do not snap at me, Stoker.  This is a totally protected spot.  They're gathering the children here to be removed if necessary."

"Wonderful. You seem to be missing a few.  I just saw my daughter, who was apparently heading off on her mother's bike with a rifle."

Modo's momma moaned.  "She's just like Rimfire some days," she complained.

"Good.  Now where's my son and Racer?"

"Racer!" she hollered.  No answer.  She let out a growl worthy of Spike.  "Where?"

"She said they headed after Enamel.  We're going to have to have a talk with those kids."

"No doubt.  Well, I see Piston.  I don't see Ramjet, but I see Thruster.  Thruster!  Where is your sister?"  Something too quiet to be heard over the radio was said.  "Excuse me!" she demanded.  "Get her back here, right now!"  Thruster apparently told her no because she growled again.

"Wait there, momma, I'm sending some cadets out to help."  He looked at the base commander, who just nodded and went to do that, still giggling.  "Sorry, she thought it was cute Anya took off to go help."

"Well, we knew she was your daughter, Stoker.  It doesn't surprise me at all. I'll have Xander talk with the children later."

"Sure.  Like that'll help."

"Oh, it will. He'll point out the need for training for now.  They're only young."

"Yeah, it's a good thing mice age faster than humans.  Human kids at that age are barely speaking in sentences."

"Yes, well, we're still more animal than humans are.  We're closer to our animal past and prior relatives.  How they would have put up with our kids I have no idea.  I thought Rimfire was bad."

"He was," Stoker assured her.  "Move the kids to a safer, protected location, momma, and we'll keep in touch.  Tell me who else is missing.  Base out."  He hung up and hung his head, shaking it.  His son was in so much trouble when he got hold of his tail.

***

Wrench opened the door when he heard bikes, only wearing a pair of sweat shorts.  "Huh," he said, letting the boys and the older mouse inside.  "What happened?  The guest room is the one on the right, Racer."  He nodded, leading the injured mouse that way.  He looked out, then slammed the door, heading after them once he got some water and a cloth.  He came in and found Spike forcing Enamel down, bending over to help him.  "Spike, I need the stitching kit from the temple.  Go get it.  It's in the undecorated silver box."  He nodded.  "Racer, go get me the med pack from my office.  It's in my right desk drawer."  He ran off to get it and Wrench slapped Enamel's face a few times, bringing him back. "Howdy.  More of them?"

Enamel groaned and held his injured arm, nodding.  "About half a platoon from what I saw."  He laid down with some help.  "Shell?"

"The boys didn't bring her.  I'm assuming she made it to wherever you sent her. I'll call her later, man.  Let's get you cleaned up first."  He got to work cleaning the wounds.  Someone had gotten his upper right arm very well and deeply.  "I'm going to have to stitch that."  Enamel looked, then grimaced and nodded.  "I'm sure you do it better than I do but sorry, man."

"No, I'm good with you doing it," he admitted quietly.  Spike came back and he looked at him.  "What were you doing out there?"

"Coming for you," he said honestly.

"Your father's going to have you eating your tail," Wrench told him, taking the box.  "Thanks, Spike.  Now go sit and be a normal little boy mouse."  Spike snorted, giving him a look.  "I don't care.  At least call your mother from the office.  You too, Racer," he said, taking the medical pack from him.  "Now.  I'm not getting yelled at for you two."

"They're heading this way anyway," Racer told him.

"The parents or the Plutarkians?"

"The Plutarkians.  They're heading for the temple," Racer told him. "Otherwise we'd have taken him back to the base."

Wrench nodded, looking at Enamel.  "Think you can hold on for an hour?"

"No, but I can't feel it any more."

"Fine.  Racer, you wanna be a doc, come hold some pressure on his wound.  I'll stitch him in a few minutes."  He got up and headed back to his room, pulling open his secondary closet.  He saw his rifle, his old Freedom Fighter uniform was still all together.  Willow had quit trying it on apparently.  He grabbed his rifle and his field specs, heading up through the passageway to the temple.  He bowed at the altar.  "Yet again, they're coming for your power, My Lady.  Let me get on the roof."  The door opened and he walked up them, calming himself.  He hated these things.  He really did.  He saw a few bikers out in the distance and put on the specs.  They were nice, they were like binoculars, letting him see out there.  His rifle was modified for longer distances too.  It was all part of being a sniper.   His sister Repel wasn't the only one in the family.  He settled in, shooting the Plutarkians trying to run his way.  Two fell immediately and one kept coming.  He got that one with a simple, uncomplicated chest shot, watching as he fell.  "Lady, any more?"  He scanned, seeing some moving shadows, but he wasn't going to risk hitting a hiding mouse.  He sent up a prayer, getting an answer.  He shot above the moving shadow, making it jump out and become his youngest sister.  "Hey, Repel?" he called.  "Want my specs?"

"No, got my own.  Thanks anyway," she called back, looking at him.  "How many more?"

"Enamel said he saw half a platoon.  No idea otherwise."

"Cool.  I'll call it in that we've got bodies."  She shot them again to make sure then went to call it in and take back up her position.

Wrench did another scan, looking around.  He saw another moving spot and took aim, but it was one of the local kids.  "Get your tail back in the house!" he called.  It ran back inside.  His word was law in this part of town.  The M'dreth's Highest was known to be cute, fun to play with, and smart, but he was also known to be a former Freedom Fighter and one who could and did command.  He saw a large explosion and winced.  "Well, Xander's not going to be happy that the temple just fell in," he said dryly, taking aim at someone else headed their way.  It came into focus as a bike, with a Plutarkian riding it.  "How on earth?" he muttered, considering it.  "Repel?  Do you see what I see?"

She shot the tire.  A good compromise if the bike was tainted or if there was a mouse under the blubber.  Someone else could figure that out later.  "Yeah, I saw.  Go back inside.  I'm assuming you've got guests."

"Yeah, I've got Enamel, Spike, and Racer if anyone calls.  I'm forwarding calls, Enamel's got an injury."  He stood up and was fired at so he turned and shot the one doing the shooting.  "Oh, wonderful.  Repel, you missed some."

"Oh, fuck yourself, big brother."  She turned and they worked together to get the ones who had swung behind them and were trying to hit the town from that side.  It was messy but only one mouse died.  She walked up to her big brother's front door, taking the gun from Spike's hands.  "Not for you, little mouse."

He leaned over and bit her, making her shriek, then took the gun back and hit her in the leg.  "Bet me."  He shot at something moving, hitting the predatory little furry creature before it could bite her too.  Then he smirked at her.  "Name's Spike, love.  You?"

"I've heard of you," she said, holding her arm.  Then she smirked.  "I'm Repel.  I'm going to be having Throttle's kids."

He gave her this look of awe.  "More kids for me to corrupt."  Then he cackled evilly.

"Spike, quit, we've got to help Enamel, be evil later," Racer called.  "Besides, your sister got caught by the patrol.  Your dad's livid."

"Yay.  Sissy can protect momma and she's a good shot too.  Xander made sure of it."  He winked at Repel.  "Want something to drink, love?"

"Nope.  I'm going to report in and do a sweep with the patrol when it gets here.  Go back inside, little mouse."  She shoved him inside then shut the door, walking off shaking her head.  Wait until she told Xander about this.  He'd get a good laugh and would probably help Spike with his training.  At least until he was old enough to join.

Wrench walked back into Enamel's room, putting his rifle and field specs aside.  "We're safe."  He looked at his arm, then at Racer, who was cleaning up a more minor wound.  "Nice stitching pattern, little man."  He patted him on the head, grinning at him. "You'll make an excellent doc some day, Racer."  That got a small smile. "I'm still not tellin' your momma where you are though."

"I called, without video, and told her we had found Enamel injured and brought him back into town.  That Spike and I were safe."  He looked at his friend as he walked in.  "Come put pressure on this."

"I've got it," Wrench assured him.  "Go wait in the temple for the adults."  They headed that way.  He looked at the doc on the bed, who only groaned.  "You've got one hell of a protege there, doc."  He sat down beside him, working on getting that bleeding stopped.  "Did you ever hear about Saint Ixthias?"

"No," he said quietly.  "Which one was he?"

"He was the guy who was a punk in his former life," he said dryly.  "Former member of the family," he offered with a bright grin.  "Used to be one hell of a troublemaker.   Even his momma used to call him 'that arrogant, pretty boy bastard son of mine'."  Enamel laughed, holding his chest.  "Here, let me see.  I doubt you wanted Racer to see anything truly nasty."

"I'm fine, just some pain."

"You need to laugh more, doc, you're too serious."  He looked at him.  "Anyway, Ixthias was way back when, long before we had a king or anything."  Enamel nodded, letting him check his chest, then the other bleeding spots.  "This was back when we were invaded the first time," he offered.  "They formed a Freedom Fighter unit, there weren't too many of us in the cities and a lot more scared people back then.  So they fought.  Ixthias started out such a punk.  But he knew how to cause his enemies hell.  The Freedom Fighter commander back then refused, flat out refused, to let him join because of his rep."  He smirked at him. "Probably a good idea.  If there was ever a mouse who wouldn't take orders, it was him."  Enamel nodded at that.  "So Ixthias did it on his own.  He and his gang, for want of a better word, headed out to deal with the invaders.  Ixthias had a real knack with explosives you see, and they were quickly running out of supplies in the enemy camp.  The commander back then had him arrested and brought up on charges."

"Idiot," Enamel muttered.

"Basically, yeah, and the judge told him that and gave Ixthias a commendation for him and one for everyone in his gang.  Now, of course, it doesn't have a happy ending.  The invaders at the time heard about why he was captured and put it together with their supply and ship problems."

"They attacked the courthouse?"

"Oooh, that's putting it mildly," Wrench said mildly, tying off the bandage he was using with another one overtop of it.  "That should help that.  He does stitch pretty.  I'll have to get Repel to work on his needlepoint somehow."

Enamel smirked.  "I did that during my training.  They sell kits on Earth."

"I'll have to tell her that.  She's another good field stitcher, but she hates playing medic.  She said she can't see those who are near death and going over in pain without wanting to help them not feel pain."

"I remember that feeling," Enamel agreed quietly.  "So, who survived?"

"Ixthias heard the engines of the ship they were using. They were going to bomb the hell out of the courthouse.  He yelled, and a few people made it to safety in an underground hatch.  It was only big enough for six or seven people.  The judge.  Two of our earlier members.  One of his crew, and his girl," he offered with a small grin.  "She was heavily pregnant and he shoved her in there and stood on top of the hatch to keep it closed because she had overfilled it."  Enamel nodded at that.  "Everyone else died, and then the tail whipping really began," he said dryly.  "Then, the earlier members, brought Ixthias to the Order's attention and they made him a Saint."  He grinned.  "It's an honor to be asked to join that group.  For some reason I saw a new medal sitting on the altar as I walked past."  He checked the bleeding spots again.  "You'll live and only have a few new scars, doc."

"I don't want it."

"So?  It's like a knighthood.  You can't refuse it."  He smirked.  "It's not a medal even Xander can run away from."  That got a small smirk, then a hiss as Enamel shifted some.  "Got another one?"

"A bite on my leg."

Wrench looked and winced.  "Eww, one of those furry creatures."  He opened the medical pack and pulled out the antidote, not even warning before he injected it.  Enamel kicked him and he chuckled.  "I heard you ambushed Xander when he got eaten by the sucker."

"Yeah, well, I had to.  I was sitting on his back, but at least I warned him."  He scowled.  "How's Shell?"

"Probably fine."  Someone pounded on the door. "Spike, go bite them."

"Sure," he called, going to answer the door.  He smirked at the soldier.  "I got told I could bite you."

"Your father's nibbling his tail," he growled, pulling the kid outside and taking him back to the base.

A female knocked and walked in. "Highest, might you know where Racer is?  Or Anya?  She never quite made it home."

He concentrated.  "Racer's in the temple.  Anya's at home, she's just up on the roof."  He looked back at her.  "You can tell her mother she's in her looking spot."

"Thank you, Highest.  Is he all right?  His wife wanted to know."

"She said we could bond after the baby was born," Enamel said with another hiss as the puss started to run out of the bite.  "Think you could bandage that too?" he complained.  "It looks gross."

"It does," Wrench said, giving it an odd look.  "Eww."  He looked at him.  "I'm not sure I should."  He looked at her.  "Love, can you please tell Shell to bring her pretty tail here to look at this and fuss over him?"

"Please, no fussing," Enamel whined.  "I hate being fussed over."

"Like Xander, you must get used to it," Wrench said dryly.  "Or a medic," he offered.

"Sure. I can do the medic.  He's up the street with someone who claims Spike shot him."  She went to call him in then went to grab Racer and cart him home.  They had their orders for when they ran into the kids.   She didn't even want to mess with Cell or Modo over this one's tail.  He wasn't kicking or biting like the other at least.  "You're in so deep," she said when she found him.

He looked at her.  "She knew I came out here.  I told her.  I called afterward," he said smugly.  "She can't really complain."

"Bet me, son.  Your Aunt Cell is about to chew tails like you've never seen before.  Including the ones of the patrol you got past."

"They were noisy, it wasn't hard."  He followed her out, getting his own bike.  It was Modo's old one but it fit him pretty well, even though he was a lot smaller than his Uncle Modo had been.  Rimfire had used it when he was his age too.  "Home, the base, or elsewhere, ma'am?"

"Home, son.  Cell's there with the kids."

"Damn.  That means Primer's there," he complained, heading that way with her following.  "I can make it home."

"I'm not having her chew my tail too, kid.  But you did good getting around the patrol and getting him back."

"Thank you."  On the way, he started building his arguments for why it was necessary.  If he could get a word in edgewise, he'd be okay, eventually.  Even if he was grounded or sent to Earth for a few weeks.  He pulled up outside the house and parked with a sigh, getting off and heading to the now open door.  "Hey, Auntie Primer.  Were they your unit?  They were really loud."  He slid around her and looked at his Momma Cell, then smirked.  "I did what I felt I had to do, I did it without endangering me or Spike, and he's fine now because I stitched his arm while Wrench was shooting from the top of the temple."

She blinked then pulled him over and put him over her knee, paddling him until he cried.  Then she stood him in front of him. "You're still only a child and I will not have that. You worried Momma sick and I'm telling Modo and Rimfire on you," she growled.  He sniffled and hugged her.  "I love you, Racer, but you've got more guts than brains and I don't want to have to pick up what brains you have from the ground some day," she sighed, hugging him back.  "How did you get past the patrol?"

"They were noisy."  He pulled back, wiping his eyes.  "I knew they weren't going to get Enamel to safety first.  He's already injured, Momma Cell."

"I know that, son, but you're still in deep shit."

He winced.  She never swore.  He was tail deep.  If not antenna deep.  "I'm sorry but we had to!"

"No, you didn't, son. You could have let the big mice handle it.  That's why we're *trained*."

"I know, I watched."  She glared.

"If two kids can get past that unit, they're not trained," Primer told her.  "I agree, Racer, you're in tail deep and sinking fast.  I'd hush now.  I really would."

He swallowed and nodded.  "I did what I had to do.  They would have killed him!  A few were talking about how to do it since he was one of the banished ones!  They were saying he was tainting Auntie Shell and it was a shame a good mouse was tied to him and how they should probably kill him and the baby!  It's not like he could protect himself!"

"Son, you're either from a long-lost branch of the family or you're a VanWham by birth," Cell said dryly.  "Stop.  Now."  He nodded, hanging his head.  "Go up to your room and wait on Momma."

"Yes, ma'am.  Can I be left alone by the twin terror mongers?"

"Yes, you're going to be all alone in your room," Cell said firmly.  "I wouldn't expect to see any of your crew in the next few weeks, if not months, either."  He nodded at that, heading upstairs to work on his codes.  He'd apparently be needing them shortly.  She leaned back and looked at Primer.  "You're right about their lack of training but that was a bad time to offer that advice," she said grimly.

"Sorry, momma."  She shrugged and looked outside.  "Grandmomma's back."  She went to open the door.  "Racer's in his room.  Momma just tanned his tail for you."

Cell looked at her mother.  "His excuse was that they were noisy so therefore easy to get around, and that they were plotting how to kill Enamel, who is helpless."

"All true," Momma offered grimly, "but that don't make it right.  Racer!"  He came running down the stairs and hugged her.  "That's not going to get you unpunished, son."

"No, momma, but you were out doing dangerous stuff too and you deserve a hug," he said, looking up at her.  "I stitched Enamel's arm."

"I'm proud of you, boy, but you're in deep."

"I called," he reminded her.  She spanked him again and he howled.  "I did!" he whined.

"Son, you're not the military and you're not old enough to be a Freedom Fighter.  There's a reason why I'm a *gray* mouse and it's Rimfire doing this stuff!  I will not have you doing it too!"

He whimpered and looked up at her.  "I had to, momma.  They were gonna kill him because he had been banished."

She pursed her lips together, staring him down.  "That don't make it right. You could have told us.  We would have went instead."

"You had the kids, Primer's got the baby, and Cell's injured," he defended.  "I'm a growing mouse and I didn't take any chances with Spike.  We all know he's not the normal mouse.  I'm just glad they caught Anya.  She'd hate herself if she had to hurt something.  Even a smelly Plutarkian."

She hugged him again.  "Son, you're making me more gray by the hour.  I want you to go talk with Modo today.  That's the only reason you're going to be allowed out of this house for the next two months.  That and school.  Do you understand?  No talking with Spike, nothing in codes, nothing, Racer.  You'd better not get into trouble either. I figured out how to make Rimfire stop too late to stop him but I will stop you since we're no longer really at war."  She stared him in the eyes.  "Do you understand me?"  He nodded, looking serious.  "If I see one spot of mischief coming for you, I'll not hesitate to tan your tail and make you go live with Wrench for a week and keep his prayer schedule, or go live with Carbine with Spike and Anya."

"They'd just torture her into insanity," he offered dryly.  She swatted his ear and he grinned.  "I did what you ordered, momma.  I called.  I snuck around and was very careful about it.  We had to change our direction three times because of the Plutarkians moving around, and Spike called it in.  Not that anyone believed him," he offered.  "But we did."

"I heard, son.  Stoker's throwing a fit with a great many people."

"Good, make him make that patrol unnoisy.  It was really easy to slip around them because they were joking and laughing about skinning Plutarkians to make boots and flags, and how to kill Enamel."

She pursed her lips.  "I'll leave that to Cell, son.  You're going up to your room and clean it.  I'll have all those code books on my bed within an hour.  Then you'll sit down and start doing your homework ahead."  He nodded, going to do that.  It wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Momma could've spanked him for real too or sent him to live with Modo and Rimfire.  Momma looked at Cell.  "That is a valid complaint.  I've said so in the past."

"Me too," she admitted, getting up with a sigh. "I'm heading in there to take back over training.  I'll be home in a few days."  She kissed her mother on the cheek.  "He was good, momma, and we'll have to train him soon," she said quietly.  "Or else he'll really turn into Rimfire."

"I know, dear, and I'm working on it.  Modo and Xander will be training Spike, I have no doubt of that."  She nodded.  "So we'll let Racer do that too.  They'll make sure the boys know it's not a game, it's not fun, and how to be safe and careful.  After all, Xander managed to survive a demon-infested town before he knew about them and then survived while hunting them for years with only two little girls by his side.  Even if one was that Buffy girl."

Primer looked at them. "You're kidding.  Please tell me you're kidding?"

Cell looked at her daughter and shook her head.  "Nope.  Xander grew up in Sunnydale, where Willow's from.  It used to be him, her, and their slayer Buffy who cleaned up that town and held it together.  Xander's got a lot of combat under his belt, and not a bit of it official or welcome by most people.  He's also sneaky.  He gave the boys, and Ramjet of course, a code he and his former best friend worked out while they were pranking and terrorizing the town.  We can't break it.  Stoker found a copy and gave it to one of the trainee code breakers to work on and he can't."

Willow faded in.  "Speaking as someone who used to watch them plot the overthrow of the Sunnydale library system so they could have free comic books, I never figured it out.  I don't think any girl ever could and most guys would have to be able to think like Xander and Jessie."  She shrugged.  "Do you want me to call Rimfire back up here?  He's presently pacing.  Someone told him," she offered dryly.  "He said he's more than willing to turn the kid into him."

"I'd rather they turned the boy into Modo," Momma offered grimly.  "At least he's cautious.  Something Rimfire never learned."

"So you want him to be Xander?" Willow asked, making sure.

"With a bit more caution, dear. Turn him into Throttle."

"Sure!  I can do that," she offered with a grin and a wink.  "We'll get started on his training right away down there.  That'll at least give Xander something to do since he's off work for the winter, or until another site opens."  She faded out, going to send that message down there.

Momma and Cell both winced.  A bored white mouse like Xander?  That was worse than two bored Vinnies!

***

Enamel looked up as Wrench brought him some soup.  "How's Shell?"

"She's fine.  They made her go check her patients out there.  Most of them are okay now. She's doing another session with them and she'll be here late tonight to come cuddle you."  He sat down beside him, handing him his mug while he sipped from his own.  "How are you doing?"

"My leg still aches," he admitted.  "But I've got two doctors probably pacing at home with Xander."

"They're both here.  There were a few injuries and they jumped in to help. They're a damn good set, doc.  Good job.  On Racer too by the way."  Enamel smirked at that and took a sip.  "How are the hands?"

"Better."  He took another sip.  "Still no feeling so I'm waiting for the nerve impulses to die again."

"Probably while you're scrubbing your back," he offered dryly.

Enamel looked at him.  "You have your antenna trimmed?"

"Order dictates," he said with a mild shrug.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Hell.  Yes."  He finished his soup and settled in on the end of the bed, looking at his leg.  "Well, it's no longer leaking.  I should probably give you another anti-toxin just in case."

"Yeah, probably," Enamel sighed.  "Do it before I finish the soup so I don't puke it back up.  You cook kinda well."

Wrench smirked.  "I do many things well, doc.  I'm a man of many talents."

"I noticed the rifle.  You were a Freedom Fighter?"

Wrench sighed, pulling out the shot to give it.  This time the doctor only hissed so apparently it was working well.  "I was."  He looked at him.  "You know I'm a bit younger than Vinnie, right?"  Enamel nodded at that.  "Well, Vinnie was kinda my idol growing up.  He was my nearest cousin and the one who taught me how to raise pretty hell around town."  That got a small smirk.  "I was in training to join the Freedom Fighters when he disappeared."  He curled up a bit, putting his chin on his knees.  "You gotta understand some things about the family.  Vinnie lost his momma about four years before he disappeared.  That left one of three candidates to take over the clan because they've got to be stronger than the others.  They've basically got to be the powerful ones.  That left me, who was about ten at the time, Starlight, who was fucking destroyed when Vinnie and his mother both died together, and Vinnie."  Enamel nodded, he had heard something about that apparently.  "So Vinnie took over like a true head of the family.  He helped those of us in training along.  He helped some of us run our own sorties against the Plutarkians."  Wrench sighed and curled up a bit, then stretched his back and relaxed.  "I was a punk assed bitch then, doc.  No maybes about it.  I was so punk even Vinnie used to caution me and try to get me to calm down.  I was such a bitch not even Stoker wanted to let me use the training course.  He told me once he could see a use for me, but it wasn't a long term use because guys like me died pretty quickly."  He looked at him.  "I was a damn fine sniper in my day.  I was also one who'd sneak out and lay explosives under any ship."  He nodded at the soup.  "Drink it all."

"I am," he defended, draining it.  "I was waiting for my stomach to calm down first."  He put the mug aside, noticing his hands were losing control. "Well, there goes my hands."

"You should probably get a bath then, doc."

"I should," he admitted, getting up.  He stretched and winced.  "I'll be right back."

"Sure.  I'll be here.  I'm done for the night and almost no one ever visits."  He grinned, watching him head for the bathroom.  Wrench got up and changed the bed, taking the bloody sheets out to soak them clean so they could be washed. He came back when he heard Enamel yell, helping him back up.  "Gave out totally?"

"Yeah, right when I was trying to stand up," he said grimly.  He looked down at his knee, then shrugged and awkwardly splashed some water on the scrape.  "That'll heal faster than my arm."  He let the other man help him into a pair of sweats and back to bed.  "Thanks."

"Not an issue, doc. You might as well be family."  He tucked him in and grinned.  "There, all set for your lady to come join you tonight."

"You can stay," he offered.  "I noticed you needed to talk."

"I don't mind. You should probably rest."

Enamel smirked.  "You were trying to share the wisdom of your youth, kid.  I've got to be able to pass on some to my own."

"Oh, I think you've got plenty and of course your kid will be trained by Xander too," he said dryly.  He sat back down.  "If you insist."  He smirked at him.  "Stoker used to ride my tail, man.  He tried so hard to turn me into a good little Freedom Fighter. I had the skills.  Vinnie made sure I had all the skills I could ever need, including my riding.  There for the longest time I was doing stuff he wouldn't attempt.  I'm one of those idiots who made it over the canyon that time we all jumped it."  Enamel shivered at that.  "Starlight crashed.  Vinnie barely made it to the other side.  I landed on firm ground and turned to smirk at him. That's why I didn't see Chassis' momma come up before she grabbed me by the ear to yell and scream at us.  Oooh, momma, could that woman yell!"  He shook his head.  "Anyway, I was hard in training.  I was running my own missions.  The whole clan was.  Most of us weren't joiners and the ones who had got unlimited support by the family.  Vin noticed I was pretty good at field tactics so he started to nudge me that way when he could.  I got to work a bit with Throttle now and then when he was feeling charitable and helping Vinnie train us.  Hell, half the time Throttle thought Vinnie was off at the pools or with a lady when he was with me and Starlight and the others our age."

He shivered and curled up again.  "Anyway, I was about sixteen when Vinnie disappeared.  I was on the course when the news was announced.  The whole base knew Vinnie and them.  Everyone just stopped to stare at us.  Chassis burst out crying.  That's the last time I saw her cry.  Starlight went rigid and then lost it, totally went catatonic.  You could move him and make him move but you weren't getting a response from him.  I finished the course, an anger burning through me.  Stoker stopped me to talk to me," he said quietly, staring at him. "He was kind.  He was really kind and nice, he offered help us finish our training when we were ready, but to take a few days off and to mourn.  I told him Vinnie wasn't dead.  That we could tell.  That got Chassis calmed down and those of us with the power searched.  We could feel Vinnie.  We're the ones who told Stoker they had taken off for Plutark."  Enamel moaned a bit, shaking his head.  "They did.  They found a ship and took off for Plutark.  Just the three of them."   He shook his own head, then smiled a bit.  "I got Starlight out by making him see Vinnie wasn't dead.  We weren't sure where he was but he wasn't dead.  The others weren't dead. That small thread back into Vinnie kept him sane.  He was never meant to lead the family.  He's got the power but he needs a leader in front of him.  Vinnie and I were a lot alike back then."  He shrugged a bit.

"Then Stoker accepted me.  He was still trying to get me to calm down but I was too useful not to use when I needed to go wild.  I was heading the family by that time.  Chassis' mother was basically the momma to the whole clan but the rest of the clan knew I was leading.  We found a little cuz who could lead later, he had the power and the will to do it.  Starlight took him in to help him, which his daddy hated.  They ended up leaving the clan and were shot a few months later out on their own."  He sighed.  "We didn't have a next generation of leader until Vic and Xander.  I tell you what, Xander is the best decision Throttle ever made and if he hadn't, we would have pushed Vinnie into taking him too."  He smirked a bit at that.  "That would have been one loud relationship though."  His grin fell.

"Anyway, I was working as a sniper, and sometimes going out to freelance some minor havoc now and then in the finest VanWham family style.  Vinnie would have been so proud of me, but sighing in defeat because I still hadn't calmed down any.  I was letting my anger guide me.  Finally, and it was a finally, Stoker slammed my tail into a chair and got into my face about the anger and the rage.  He made me break totally.  Then he got me working on field tactics again.  Apparently Vinnie had told him I showed some promise, either that or Throttle had let it slip that I had a clue.  So I became the high-ground guy.  The sniper who calls the shots because he can see the whole field.  Repel's got some of that too."  He shifted some, letting his legs fall so they could be crossed 'indian style' in front of him.  "So I'm working and going well.  I've got a team I'm working with.  Then a new hotshit general comes in.  Stupid bastard had apparently heard about me when I was younger, decided I hadn't changed even though it was clear to everyone I had, and sent me out on a suicide mission with a team I hadn't worked with before."

"Why?"

"They needed Southern base back, man.  They needed it badly.  Southern base was in the middle of the lower asteroid plain and those temples."  Enamel shuddered at that, that ground was said to be haunted.  "Stoker and Carbine both complained and countermanded, but the team he picked was guys who had seen four too many battles and were ready to go die in glorious combat because he had done that to them.  He decided I was too hot not to use and too powerful not to scare him.  It's the sort of guy Vinnie would have popped in the nose, and I did too.  So I got court-marshaled and sent as punishment.   The judge was his buddy and said, in the transcripts, that I was too reckless and too badass to be a Freedom Fighter so the military should use my death to further its cause.  Stoker about killed him.  Carbine shot him in the throat for it."  Enamel shivered at that.  "I think that's the last time they worked really well together too."  He sighed and shifted again.  "So we went.  We had a brief meeting beforehand, but the others knew they were going to die. The general told them so.  He had conditioned them to think it was the highest honor and that they should want it.  I knew better and I made my own plans.  That general couldn't plan an assault to get out of a box canyon with only grass facing him.

"We headed down there.  I was in charge. I had cut the link back to base quite blatantly after telling Stoker that I was going to make Vinnie proud and bring my tail home with as many of these old guys as I could.  That was the last message they heard from us.  What the general and no one else had told us was that Southern base was the new launching pad for their next assault on Mars and had recently been used as the landing pad for the Pluarkian nation."  Enamel gaped and Wrench nodded.  "There were about fifty ships there.  They 'sploded very pretty," he said dryly, smirking a bit.  "The old guys took notice of that. They had declared it hopeless.  So I went and worked the old me family style magic.  I blew the crap out of anything that could be blown up.  I only brought a canteen, a clean shirt, and fifty pounds of explosives on my bike.  And I used every bit of it.  I collapsed everything but the main base, including their barracks.  That saved a lot of us from dying.  We were down to nearly a platoon and a half.  Another ship was coming in.  Chassis' unit was flying cover to try to take it down.  I could feel her doing it.  I also felt her crash when her ship was hit, but I knew she was fine.  It distracted me though.  I missed a shot.  One of my guys died.  That got the others fired up and they rushed the lines.  Against orders."

"Oh, momma," Enamel hissed.  "How many survived?"

"Not a one," he sighed.  "I was backed into a corner, and I did the only thing I could think of.  I prayed hard.  The base had been one of Othra's old temples.  I felt someone answer.  I didn't care who.  I offered them anything they wanted.  My life, my soul, my liver, my antenna, anything, if they would make those guys be okay and take out the Plutarkians, and make Chassis be found in time.  And I was answered," he said quietly.  "You know how Xander went on a dream quest to find his bike?"

"No. I hadn't heard anything other than the official story."

Wrench nodded.  "You probably wouldn't have.  The Gods like Xander.  He found a Martian temple in Sunnydale to our Protector of Innocents.  They sheltered him many times when he was human and it stood," he said quietly.  Enamel nodded, that sounded a lot like the Xander he knew and liked.  "Anyway, I was answered.  I felt Othra's power come down and surround me, shielding me from harm and keeping me from being found.  And then I felt The Lady.  The protector spirit of the M'dreth.  She came down, she whispered in my ear about what I could do.  Why I was one of the few who had the power to protect the clan.  And how I could use it.  I felt her possess me.  I felt her take over my mind and wipe out the invaders at that moment.  And then I felt the knowledge she left.  We weren't alone, it was just a bad thing that we had to handle more or less on our own.  They couldn't drive the Plutarkians off the physical planet for us.

"So I helped.  I burned the temple clean.  Then I called them back to help my team.  Ten of the thirty-eight lived.  Chassis lived, obviously, and was found before she had more than really bad bruising.  She spent nearly six months in the hospital.  But it left me so weak, man.  I walked out of that temple barely, and my bike rejected me.  It had liked me for the wild kid I was and it had seen what I had done.  It saw how I was now tempered and reforged, and it rejected me out of hand.  So I let it go.  I stayed to hold the base while they went back to get reinforcements.  I was captured by the next ship that came in because I was still so weak.  I was barely moving by that time.  They grabbed me for nearly two weeks.  Gordon had me.  Stoker's team saved my tail by showing up when he did.  I was minutes away from being executed for the crime of clearing our base.

"At the end of the day, I was safe, I was in the hospital, and I prayed harder than ever, asking what I should do now.  I felt Othra tell me to go be his for now, but I'd be the Lady's always.  And I did.  Repeatedly."  He smiled gently.  "Then I got the news that Vinnie was safe, he had escaped with the bros.  I called a family meeting and went to tell them, dragging Stoker with me.  He broke then.  The rest of the family just stared at me.  Starlight announced he wasn't heading back here, he was headed the wrong direction, basically.  They were still out hunting.  The clan was still mine and I made sure everyone knew as soon as Vinnie could take back over, I was handing it over.  I announced them that I was becoming M'dreth and the family pitched a damn fit.  Especially Starlight and Chassis."

"Because you're not the cocky kid you were?"

"Because they thought I'd never have a mouse of my own.  They needed the next generation to lead the clan.  Starlight was made infertile due to some torture he took here on Mars, long before he got captured a few years back.  Chassis said she'd be having kids when and if Mars got free in her lifetime, or she'd have one before she got too old and let one of the aunts raise it.  Most of the rest of us agreed to something like that and I agreed to father at least one mouse of my own before I died.  They took me out that night and found me a girl and had me knock her up because they weren't sure I wasn't going to die the next battle.  He's a cute little mouse."  He smirked a bit.  "I finally got fed up though.  I had too much.  I looked at Stoker about four years ago and said I'd had enough, I'd rather be tortured again than go back out there.  He just nodded, shook my hand, and did the paperwork.  I took off for the mountains and the old temples that way.  I found my present bike up there.  We're happy and she understands me."

"Do you see your son?"

"All the time," he said dryly, smirking at him.  "He's a great warrior.  One of the uncles took him in and raised him right.  He's just as reckless as I was and is just as smart and obnoxious too.  He's got the same skills with explosives too," he offered with a grin. Enamel chuckled at that.  "At any family gathering you'll see a little tan guy off to the side with his nose in a book, that's my kid.  He knows.  He knew when he was five or six.  His momma told him right before she died.  She had some sort of cancer or something in her stomach.  A fluid tumor basically and it ate her inside out.  I was there when she died and so was he.  He just looked at me and asked why so I told him the truth, the family wanted me to have a son and I wasn't against it.  Besides, he was pretty neat and I was a dangerous mouse.  He just grinned at that and decided I'm a pretty neat cousin, and that was close enough really.  Every now and then he comes over but we're not that close.  We're kinda buddies really.  He's a lot like Chassis though.  He idolizes her.  I'm expecting him to threaten Stan soon."  Enamel grinned and nodded at that.  "He did?"  He nodded.  "When?"

"Halloween.  I saw him sneaking around when we came home from the club.  He was reading some philosophy book.  Kant Versus Niche or something."  He shrugged.  "He seemed pretty nice, just kinda grunted and turned on the transporter, heading off.  I'm not sure if Chassis saw him or not."

"No, Turbine is not subtle," he said dryly. "She must have seen him.  Trust me on this, she saw him."  He shook his head.  "Anyway, I found my bike.  I came back to the temple down here.  The Highest here was moving into the city.  I took over the temple and started my research and when he died last year, I prayed to become Highest.  It's the only way we could fix things so they'd work.  So much history was lost, even in the mystical arts, and someone's got to do it.  But every now and then, that itch comes back to go out and cause harm and mayhem.  Especially around Xander.  He brings it out so much.  That's the one urge she makes me temper.  Because I can't cause harm and mayhem as the Highest, or even as one of hers.  But I can teach others how to.  So I'm waiting on the training to start.  Then I'll start slipping in my influence with Vinnie's.  We agreed at the last meeting, Vinnie won't be training his son like he did us.  He'll be a lot more cautious with him.  So we got Xander on our side to work with him and Ramjet and them.  There will be one group of Freedom Fighters who will not ever be separated and will not ever fall.  Even if they do fall from grace, they'll never fall.  The only thing I'm wondering is if Ramjet and Piston were found by inspiration or just dumb luck."

"Xander reads people," Enamel told him gently.  "For our anniversary, Xander made us a CD for me to sing to her.  It suits us perfectly.  That first song about made me cry the first time I listened to it because it is perfectly how I feel about her.  I brought my pack, right?"  That got a nod.  "Go listen to it.  Xander's a damn good reader of people."

"Then I'll take that into account," Stoker said from the doorway, lounging against the frame.  "Don't train my kid any more, Wrench."

"I haven't started on him yet, Stoker," he said, looking back at him.  "And tough."  Stoker glared.  "You're not taking advantage of his skills.  Those two boys got around one of your units."

"Racer said they were noisy."

"Then you're falling down on the job, old fart," Wrench said, standing up to face him.  "I've seen Racer and Spike sneak around you, Carbine, and Modo's momma all at once.  Successfully."  Stoker shivered, remembering that incident a little too well.  Ramjet's mother had not been very pleased with her daughter's redecorated room.  "Vinnie was working with us when we were Racer's age.  Spike's got a leg up with his old memories.  I'm just glad he finally hit that mentality spike that'll carry him from two until he's nine.  Racer's about to hit his next one.  You'll need them some day, Stoker, and someone's got to train them.  The clan has trained many of us in the service of Mars.  They're next even if you move to Plutark to run that old wreck of a planet."

"Xander would figure out how to train Spike from a distance," Enamel agreed dryly.  "He's already working with Victor and those new buildings."  He stared him down.  "At least you know he'll be well trained, Stoker.  It's not like you were, where you had to do most of your own.   You think Xander's Othra's, don't you?" he asked Wrench.

Wrench nodded.  "Heart, body, and soul.  I don't think Othra would mind too much if he broke the chastity vow either, not with how those two make each other stronger.  Then again, he could be an offshoot of the Goddess' path. She does have a militant side, but it's hardly ever heard about and they were known for drinking, pillaging, and starting their own kingdoms."  He shrugged.  "He's probably in one of those two."  He looked at Stoker.  "You can't even say you don't like his training style since you like the kid and he trained himself."

"He's never trained anyone but himself," Stoker complained.

"Actually, you like who he trained first, when he was only a teenager himself," Enamel said smugly.  "He started working on Dawn when she was fourteen. He was only nineteen at the time."  Stoker shivered at that.  "She wasn't fully trained but Xander had to take a lot of time off her training to work on his own and go do stuff for her sister.  The full time training he's going to be giving Victor will be something else.  Has anyone told Charley about that mental spike yet?"

"Not yet," Wrench admitted.  "I was hoping Vinnie would.  Then again, he's getting happy with the thoughts of a daughter like Chassis."

"She is?"

"No power in her," Wrench admitted.  "Which means she'll be like Repel and Chassis.  She'll be a hard-riding sweetheart of a girl."  He smirked at him.  "It was foreseen.  Her and Spike actually."  He looked at Stoker again, then grinned.  "Welcome to the family, Stoker."

"Fat.  Chance."  He glared at him.  "Spike's getting enough training from me."

"Stoker, you've got other duties and no parent can train their kid fully," Enamel reminded him.  "The same as Vinnie can't because he *won't*.  Each and every parent's scared of their kid getting hurt.  They won't teach them how to do the bigger things because they might fall off their bikes during a stunt jump.  Fighting is a bad thing and sometimes you've got to get a bit hurt to win and no parent wants to think about that.  Besides, someone's got to calm your son and Racer down before they get into *real* trouble.  How many Plutarkians did they have to go around to come get me?"

"Racer admitted to three," he said tiredly, rubbing his left ear.  "What about your kid, doc.  Gonna let Xander train him too?"

"If he shows the skills.  I'm hoping like hell my son is a lot like his momma and has her gentle nature instead of my temper and focus. I want my son to be a healer, not a fighter. But yeah, if Xander shows promise in the education stuff too, he's getting my kids too.  By then, they'll have Vic to work out any kinks and he can go through with the new one."  He smirked.  "What better way to make sure he's going to be a brain and see the error of fighting than to let him watch Vic hurt himself time and again and teach him how to heal him while I teach Racer the same thing?"

"Point, but I still think I can do it."

"Stoker, who taught Spike how to ride?" Wrench asked.

"Me."

"And how to shoot?"

"I took him out to do targets."

"Uh-huh.  And he stood in my doorway earlier and shot at the Plutarkians," Wrench told him.  "Who's bright idea was that, Stoker?"

"I'm going to tan his ass this time," he growled.  "He did what!"

"Before I could stop him," Wrench admitted.  "He bit Lariat too."  He smirked.  "Face it, Stoker, your son is a hellbeast.  You're doing good, but you're not going to let him go fight.  You don't want to see your son with scars any more than Enamel wants to see his son with scars."

"My son had better not have scars," Enamel said firmly. "Did you see something about him?"

Wrench looked up, then smirked at him. "The Seal says he'll temper Anya some year, but until then he's going to have her brains, her skills, and your focus.  Plus he's going to be a player.  Just like you when you were younger."

"Wonderful," Enamel said dryly.  "How old will he be when he settles down?"

"She'll be about ready to move past child bearing."  He looked at Stoker again.  Then back at Enamel.  "He'll have a love earlier but his broken heart will mean he won't commit for a very long time she said."  He looked at Stoker again.  "You said it yourself, Stoker, family doesn't train family fully.  That's why you took Chassis from Vinnie's care so young.  Why you kept trying to keep me from turning into Vinnie myself."  Stoker nodded at that.  "So we're going to do the same for Spike.  He's going to be all the mouse he can be.  You know Xander can train.  He trained himself.  He trained Dawn then handed her to Throttle to finish when he realized she was still a bit girly.  Had she been around as a younger child, he would have started much younger on her.  Fourteen or not, she'd have been in that battle inside the Hellmouth with him.  Consciously or not, Xander was training his replacement.  Dawn is Xander TNG."  Enamel snickered at that.  "Isn't she?"

"Definitely, and when he needed help with her, he found her someone to help her.  Xander is very good at reading people, Stoker, and he's very good at finding people who can help him when he can't do it himself."  He shrugged, then winced.  "Ow."

"What did she do to you?"

"She swatted me on the chest.  I have no feeling and now limited movement. It's slowly going away again."  He shrugged again, then winced and hissed.  "Ow.  He made some of those stitches way too tight."

"Eh, he's young, he'll know better on the next person he's got to stitch," Wrench offered with a smirk.  "Racer stitched him while I was up on the roof."

"Fine, but I still say I can train my own son," he complained.

"Just like every other parent who drops their kids off at defense lessons," Enamel reminded him.

"Just wait, doc."

"Hey, Xander's getting mine from birth but I'm making sure he knows I want my son to be a brain instead of a jock.  Shell already knows and agreed, we can't send them to school up here every day when I'm not living here."

"You're allowed back now," Stoker assured him.

"Then who'd make Xander take care of himself?"

"Throttle?" Wrench suggested.  Enamel gave him a 'get real' look.  "I know, the boy hides it so very well, but he's still got that insecure layer about him.  The boy never learned how to love, only to cling and fuss.  He's learning, it's just taking him a while.  By the time they're old mice, like Stoker here, he'll be secure in the love he's got."

"Hopefully before then," Vinnie said as he slammed the door.  "Where's Enamel?"

"In here.  Bandaged, stitched courtesy of Racer, and fed.  Where's Shell?"

"In labor, early.  He's wanted.  She called Xander and he suddenly sat up in the middle of _Men in Tights_ and said I've got to come find him and get him there."  He shrugged and walked in, helping him up.  He looked at the outfit, then snorted.  "It'll due for now, doc.  Come on.  You can ride with me."  He walked him out, taking him back to the hospital on the base.  They hadn't wanted to move her.  He got stopped by the guard and sneered at so he punched him.  "His wife's in labor.  You're not stopping him."  He rode on, walking Enamel to the infirmary, only having to hit a few more people on the way.  "Now I know why he sent me," he joked as he led the way in.  "One spouse, doc.  Need anything else?"

"Pain killers," she growled.

He chuckled.  "You and Charley both," he offered with a grin. "Just think, you wanted *how* many?"

"I'll gut you later, when I can get up from this bed!"

Enamel leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.  "Make Xander pounce him instead, that way he can be teased and left hanging," he whispered.  She looked up at him.  "It's all right. This is the easy part of labor."  She whimpered and he stroked her forehead clumsily.  "Sorry, it's starting to go again."

"Doc, here," Vinnie said, sticking the thing on his neck.

"Ooooooh, shit!"  He winced and wiggled.  "Down, lower and to the right."  Vinnie moved it and Enamel grabbed his chest.  "Too far."  It was shifted again and someone swatted him, moving it for him.  "Thanks."  He gripped the side of the bed, panting hard.  "Oooh, that hurt."  He shook his head, then kissed his girl, letting her soothe his pain while he distracted her from hers.  "Better now."  She smiled and stroked his cheek.  "Thanks, Vinnie."

"He left while you were sucking all the oxygen from her body," the nurse said dryly.  "What does that do?"

"Temporarily gives me back feeling in my hands and arms," he said, looking at her.  "Wrench found an older account.  It can be used for half an hour, once, safely.  So I'll let someone take it off after I hold my son."

"What about the nerve damage," Shell whispered, stroking his cheek.

"Fuck it, honey.  I'm helping you through this and holding my son," he said firmly.  "Argue with me, have twins next time."

She snorted.  "There's no way we're ever having sex again," she assured him, gripping his arm as another one started.  "Damn it, it's too fast!"

"Actually, it's kinda normal," he offered.  He didn't mind the pain, it was part of the process and he was happy to feel it too.

***

Enamel walked through the transporter, letting Wrench get his girl while he had the more precious burden in his arms.  He walked him into his room and carefully put him in his crib, then settled his girl in the bed and tucked her in, stroking her hair and kissing her gently, then he removed the little zapper and hissed, his arms going mostly limp.

"You're not getting out of diapers that easily," Xander called from somewhere near the library.  Shell and another female up the hall laughed.  He came in and smiled, handing her a mug of something.  "Here you go, herbal stuff to help the ache, and you can have the hot tub all to yourself later, Shell.  You deserve it and Charley said it helped."

"Thanks."  She sipped her mug of laced tea, looking at her mate.  She noticed the twitching and stared at his hands, then at him.  "You'd better not be more hurt or my very last mood swing will be yelling at you for being so dumb."

"I'm sentimental, get it right, woman," he snapped, glaring down at her.  "I'll gladly take any nerve damage to be able to hold you and our son."

"Fine, but when you start to ache...."

"She's just cranky, doc," Xander said, moving to look at his back.  "You know, if you didn't have this huge knot right here, I bet you'd be better."  He tapped it a few times then got to work on it, making Enamel hiss and wiggle, but he got it out.  Then the doctor groaned and gripped his hands as full feeling shot back into them.  "Welcome," he said cheerfully.  "So I hear I'm turning this one into a future doctor?"  Shell nodded.  "Cool."  Then he smirked.  "I'm getting the exercise stuff set up tomorrow."  He smiled down at the baby. "Hi, baby.  I'm Uncle Xander.  You'll have so much fun playing with me!"  He teased his little belly then let him sleep, heading back to brag he had gotten to tickle the baby first.

"We're moving home when?" Enamel asked quietly.

"When you find us a bigger place to live so we have our own bedroom?" she suggested lightly.  "With a bigger bathroom too please, dear."  Then she smiled.  "Please?"

He groaned and nodded.  "Yes, dear.  If you insist."  He kissed her again, laying down next to her to cuddle her, now that he could do that again.

Table of Contents

Episode 43: 2

Episode 44: 18

Episode 45: 44

Episode 46: 60

Episode 47: 80

Episode 48: 96

Episode 49: 114

Episode 50: 135

Episode 51: 154

Episode 52: 168

Episode 53: 184

Episode 54: 196

Episode 55: 213

Episode 56: 234

Episode 57: 262

Episode 58: 276

Episode 59: 291

Episode 60: 307

Episode 61: 326

Episode 62: 342

Episode 63: 360

Episode 64: 376

Episode 65: 405

Episode 66: 417

Episode 67: 433

Episode 68: 445

Episode 69: 457

Episode 70: 474