| Title: One Who Endures
Rating: PG Spoilers: Some for Season 7 Summary: Andrew and his Mbuna visit Xander in Africa Disclaimers: It's all about the Joss. Author's Note: This is an answer to Kaz's challenge issued for a summer drabble. It's a bit more than 300 words but I don’t think anyone will mind. Kaz asked for a summer fic and offered many options. I chose the Mbuna fish and a first kiss. Thanks to grace for the quick beta and Jenn for an inspirational photo. _____________________________________________________________________ It looks like a scene from The Mummy. Xander's hair has grown almost to his shoulders and he's standing in tall boots, brown pants. He's wearing a white shirt that's a bit too large and rather threadbare; Andrew can almost see through it. The thin shirt is stuffed into his pants and red suspenders flop lazily down his back. Xander's been too busy to pull them up, Andrew guesses. Too busy training and teaching. Too busy loving Africa to call or write or…pull up his suspenders. He's crouching in the crook of a tree, talking to a dozen dark-skinned girls from under the brim of a wide hat. Their gazes are adoring and Andrew wonders how much of what they're taking in is about slaying and how much is pure idol worship. He doesn't judge them, though. Xander's as good an idol as any. Giles gets out of the car first and waves. Andrew slips out the other door unnoticed, clutching two glass bowls with white, pinched fingers. He steps slowly because even though the bowls are covered in plastic, he still might jar their precious cargo. When Xander notices the car, he smiles and takes off his hat, waving it in the air. With a few quick words, the girls—slayers, Andrew reminds himself—are scattered to the wind, some into the house, others to the small, dry patch of lawn that looks like it's gotten a lot of use. Xander wipes his forehead with the back of the hand still holding the hat, then replaces it on his head and leaps from the tree. It's not a long drop, but to Andrew he looks like a superhero in disguise. Xander crosses the land in a few quick strides and embraces Giles before the older man can retract the hand he's put out to shake. Hesitantly at first, then with affection, Giles returns the hug, searching Xander's remaining eye for concerns. Is the training going well? Are you homesick? What about the slayers? Are they homesick? Are there demons rising? Vampires? An apocalypse? Should I be worried? But Xander smiles then, honest and happy, and Giles' shoulders sag with unmentioned relief. Then Xander spins on his heel and beckons for Giles to come into the house. It's a monstrous thing, three stories tall and in the middle of nowhere, with room enough for two dozen slayers should the need arise. Andrew stands awkwardly next to Giles and then Xander's remaining eye blinks in surprise. He didn't know Andrew was coming. It's the first time Andrew's been to Africa and the first time he's seen Xander since London. And wasn't *that* a sorry time? Two rushed days of preparation and shouted orders and Andrew trying to find the time to tell Xander that he hoped he'd have a good flight and, oh by the way, I love you. Giles flaps his hand, indicating that Andrew should follow and Andrew does, with slow steps. The sky has grown cloudy; it will rain soon. He's annoyed because in all of the books he's read on Africa since Xander moved, he doesn’t remember them mentioning that it rains in June in Kenya. Inside is dark and tidy. Xander tells them about Nasha, the woman who cleans the house twice a week. He tells them how her name means "rainy season" and Andrew grins to himself with the irony of it. He catches Xander looking at him and the small grin slides away. His hands are still full and Xander doesn’t seem to notice. He leads them to the wide porch that circles the house and calls for the another slayer, Takiyah, to bring them lemonade. "Her name means 'righteousness'," he adds, obviously pleased at his knowledge of African culture. She smiles slyly, then cuffs his head as she passes. He may be their Watcher, but he's still their friend. Andrew settles into a chair with the two bowls on his lap. Later, when the rain comes, Giles looks almost surprised. Andrew wonders if he thought that it only rained in London. Xander offers to bring him a coat or blanket to shield him from the light drizzle but Giles begs off and goes inside. There is luggage to be brought in and it's up to him to convince twelve girls with super strength to help a middle-aged man out. Alone at long last, Andrew starts. "I brought you—" "—I see you have a—" Xander tries, then realized Andrew is trying to speak, too. "You first," Andrew offers. "I see you have the fish I sent you." It's hard to tell what Xander feels behind the words. Why are you lugging that fish all over two continents, Andrew? It means so much to me that you care about the gift I gave you? I'm trying to be polite and I can no longer ignore the giant pieces of glassware you've been toting around? "Yeah…Um, about that." Andrew stands awkwardly and places the bowls on the wicker table between them. "Thanks for the fish!" he suddenly says. He thinks he may have thanked Xander before, but it never hurts to do it again. "She's really great! I named her Mulder 'cause I thought, you know, it was all sleek and stealthy and aggressive and stuff. But then he had babies so I changed it to Scully. This is one of her babies," he says, shifting the other bowl closer to Xander. "I didn't want them to be apart. He's for you. I couldn't put them together because of the whole 'aggression' thing. I tried it once and, well…let's move on to happier topics, shall we? How have you been?" "Good. I'm good. Africa's good. Great, to tell you the truth." He runs his hands through his hair and sighs heavily. "You look good." Andrew grins in pleasure. Xander thinks he looks good. "I do?" "Yeah. You look…taller." Taller. Xander looks like a god and Andrew looks…taller. It's not like he expected Xander to turn cartwheels and profess undying love, but…taller? Okay, so maybe too much Italian food and not enough sun has made Andrew paler and heavier, but Dawn said he looked really good with the extra weight. And she'd promised she wasn't lying when he was standing with Giles in the airport getting ready to come to Nairobi. "Well…thanks." An awkward silence falls over them. The rain begins to let up just as the silence becomes too much. "The rains come and go here. If you look carefully, you'll see a rainbow in a minute," Xander says quietly. Andrew feels the sudden need to sing about the "…rains down in Africa…" but refrains from busting into the Toto song. Instead he watches Xander watching the sky. Even though it's only late afternoon, the clouds obscure the sun and the blue/gray light makes Xander look pale. And older. Tired. "How are you really?" A smile, pained but honest. "Really good. Things are quiet here. But…" He doesn’t finish, but Andrew knows the word that would have finished that thought. Oh, how he knows that word. Lonely. "I know." He means so much more with those two words. I understand. I get it. I get you. I'm lonely too. Xander's hand is resting on the table, his fingers pressed to the bowl where the aggressive little Mbuna swims in circles. Andrew wonders if Xander ever feels like that; if he feels he's swimming in circles. Maybe then they would have something else in common. Andrew presses his own fingers to Scully's bowl and remembers how things surprise us sometimes. "See? A rainbow." Xander's pointing to a patch between the clouds; it looks like a hole in the sky. "I'm sorry, Xander," Andrew rushes out suddenly, in too much anguish to let it rest any longer. "I shouldn’t have said that stuff before you moved. I know you didn't need me acting like that just when you were getting ready to search for a whole continent's slayer population and I'm going to be here for a while and I don’t want it to be all weird or anything—" "Do you think fish have a good life?" The words come so suddenly, so softly, that Andrew's not sure what to say. "I mean, they just swim and sleep and poop. Their food is given to them. They don't have any responsibility. It might be…nice." Xander's fingers, once pressed to the glass, now drop down. The scarred tips seek out Andrew's own fingers and rest on them. "I don’t know. It's probably pretty lonely, though. For a Mbuna at least. And what if someone decides not to feed you? Or not to clean your bowl? I think it's better to be me. Or you, you know? Us." It's an honest answer, if not eloquent. Andrew's so take back by Xander's hand on his hand that he's not really thinking before he speaks. "You're probably right. I'd hate to swim around in my own poop water." Andrew laughs out loud. It's not something he's done in a long time, laugh out loud. It brings a smile to Xander's face and before he knows what's happening, Xander has stood and leaned across the small table to leave a soft kiss on Andrew's lips. He's back in his seat before Andrew has fully registered the kiss, but it doesn't matter. Andrew's heart is full. Full of hope and expectation and explanations to come. "So…what are you going to name him?" Andrew asks, when the quiet seems a bit too long again. Xander strokes the glass while he considers. "Tabansi," he says at last. "Tabansi?" "Yeah," he says, as the rain begins again. "It means 'one who endures'." ~The End~ |
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| One Who Endures |