Mom and I actually had a good day.  We shopped a bit, we talked about her
different books, she told me about her friends.  I was glad my mom was
finally getting out of the house.  No matter what happened, no matter if I
decided I was gay or not, this was a good thing, that my mom made friends
over something other than alcohol, and she had a place to go now when my dad
got too bad.

I saw a different side to my mother that day, a side I'd never seen before.
She had no clue about any of this, and still approached it in a way that
made me cringe, but she cared.  That was the thing.  She finally found
something about me that she could care about.

I began to understand that it wasn't that I wasn't a good person, but the
reason why she never cared about me was because I'd always closed both of
them out of my life.  With my *father* the way he was and my mother as a
lush, there wasn't any real reason to let them know who I really was.  Dad
would have beat the hell out of me because it wasn't good enough, and mom
would have just muttered angrily from the couch, telling us both to shut up
because she was too drunk to realize that he was hurting me.

"Mom," I said softly, "you should leave dad.  He's a bastard."

She looked at me in horror.  "I can't leave your father, Alexander!  I
couldn't survive without him."

I turned to her, angry that she would dismiss herself like that.  "Mom,
seriously!  He's a bastard!  He hurts you, and he hurt me.  You can do so
much better than that."

"Alexander, I've been with him for *years*.  I can't imagine what it would
be like to not be with him," she murmured softly, taking my arm.

I reached up and squeezed her hand.  "Much better than what it is now.
Listen, why don't you come to the apartment tonight. . .I'll cook us
dinner - it won't be much, mind you, but I'm learning - and we can talk more
and you can sleep in the bed and I'll take the couch."

"Alexander, I. . ."

"Nope, mom, you are going to," I insisted.  "It'll be good gay son - mother
bonding time," I nodded.

She turned to me, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.  "You admitted it!"

I blinked.  "Admitted what, mom?"

"That you are gay," she grinned, hugging me.

Oh my god.  I did.  I ran a quick check on all my body parts - the same one
I did after every fight with a demon.  Yep, everything was still there.
Hmm.  Maybe it wasn't all that bad.  I still found women attractive, but
men. . .

Oh, I couldn't wait to get home and call Wills and Tara!  They'd be so
pleased!  "Mom, we should invite Willow and Tara over for dinner, what do
you think?"

My mother smiled at me.  "I think that would be wonderful, Alexander.  I'd
like to meet this girl that has captured Willow's heart - she's sweet, you
say?"

"One of the sweetest."  I glanced around, noting that it was now night.
"Come on, mom, let's get home."  The last thing I wanted to do was try to
explain to my mom about the demons of the night.

"Sounds good.  I don't like being out after dark anyway.  Have you ever
noticed that there are some pretty strange things that happen in this town
after dark?"

I chuckled.  "If you only knew," I murmured.

She took my hand and we started walking down the sidewalk once again.  It
was nice, bonding with my mom.  She really was a great person.  Very
intelligent when she wasn't drunk, and I was proud of her.  Apparently, she'd
been so busy the last few days, running around town trying to set me up
with someone, or going to a meeting, or going to one of her friend's houses
she'd forgotten to drink.

I was especially proud when we passed the liquor store and she didn't even
notice.  My mom was well onto the road to healing.  If only I could convince
her to leave my bastard of a father. . .

"Well, well, look who we have here."

We both turned and I groaned.  Of course, it *had* to be my dad.  My mom
stepped back slightly, and I stepped forward, shielding her from him.  He
was drunk - my guess was that he'd just stepped out of the liquor store.
"Dad, go home," I said.

"What, you think you are going to stand up to me now, boy?  You think you
are something now that you have this new apartment and all your little
friends can come over whenever they want to now?"  He stepped forward.

My mother whimpered slightly, clutching my arm in a death grip.  She was
even more scared of him than I was.

"Dad, *go* *home*."

"You know, boy, I found all the books that your mom stashed, hoping to hide
from me," he said, the grin on his face far worse than any evil grin Angelus
could ever have.

I paled slightly.  "W. . .What books?"

"So you are a fag now, is that it?" he growled slightly, gripping the bag of
liquor in his hand.  "You know, I've decided that I need to beat the gayness
out of you, and then beat your mother for allowing it to happen and
encouraging it.  How could you?  How could you support your son for being a
pansy?"

"Because I love him!" she cried from behind me.  "No matter who he is, he's
still *my* son!"

"Well," he roared, "no son of mine is going to be gay!"  He lunged, pushing
me out of the way.  I fell to the ground, slamming my shoulder pretty hard
against the concrete.  I cried out in pain, but ignored it, thinking only
about mom.  I couldn't let him hurt her.  I could see the rage that was in
his eyes, and it really *scared* me. . .he was liable to kill us.

She shrieked and I stood up, glaring at my father's back.  He had a handful
of her hair, and had her pressed against the wall.  I glanced around.
Unfortunately, there was *no* one on the street.  Damn!  I was going to have
to take the old man out myself.

"You *stupid* *bitch*," he growled, slapping her.

"Alexander, run!" she cried, obviously wanting to save me from his wrath.
But I couldn't - I wouldn't leave her alone with him.

"Sorry, mom, but when he starts to hurt you, that hurts me."  I punched him
in the back, right around where his kidneys were.

He roared in pain and spun around, launching at me.  I grunted when I went
down, his hands around my throat, choking me.  I struggled against him,
trying to punch him, but I could tell I was losing consciousness.  I couldn't
believe I was going to die like that, on the street, my dad beating the
hell out of me.

Suddenly, there was a roar, and my dad was lifted off of me.  I blinked, and
looked up into the amber eyes of my savior.  "Spike?" I asked softly,
groaning as a wave of pain washed over me.

He grabbed my shirt and hauled me up.  "No one bloody hurts you but me," he
growled.  "You are *mine*, you understand?"

I nodded weakly.  He turned to attack my father and I grabbed his arm,
stopping him.  "Spike. . .you can't hurt him.  The chip, remember?" I
murmured.

"Sod the pain!  The bloody bastard has gone too far this time!" he roared.
He turned, grabbing my father by the front of his shirt.  My father cringed
at what I'm sure he figured was a deformity of his face.  "If you *ever* lay
a hand on my Xander or Mrs. H again, I swear to bloody god, I'll kill you,"
he hissed, slamming my father into the wall.

The contact with the wall knocked my father unconscious.  Spike cried out,
bending over in agonizing pain.  I glanced at my mother, making sure she was
ok.  She was watching us all with wide eyes - and from the angle Spike kept
his body, I didn't think she saw his face.  I knew she was ok.  I slowly
moved to Spike.  "Spike?  Are you ok?" I asked, putting my hand on his back.

He stood, looking at me.  I reached out and brushed the tears away from his
cheeks, glad he had his human mask on.  He grabbed my shoulders and pulled
me to him, kissing me hard and possessively.

I turned to jelly.

I even moaned.

When he pulled away, I was gasping for air.  He rested his forehead against
mine.  "You are *mine*, Harris," he growled.  "I got you away from that
bloke you were seeing last night, and your bloody father thought he was
going to hurt you?  Not going to happen.  If you are going to be a Ponce,
that's fine, but you are *my* Ponce."

I closed my eyes, reliving the kiss in my head.  I nodded, a warm feeling
traveling through my body.  Spike *wanted* *me*!  Not Harmony, not Drusilla,
but *me*!

Mom walked over to us.  "William?" she asked softly.

Spike turned to her, smiling.  "Mrs. H!  Are you ok?"  He looked her over,
making sure that she wasn't hurt.

"I'm fine, but I think we need to get Alexander back to the apartment.  I
think he's hurt," she said softly.  "Are you hurt, baby?"

I smiled at Spike.  "I'm going to be ok, mom."  Spike grinned, the lust
flaring in his blues.  Oh, yea.  I was going to be fine.

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