Notes and disclaimers in part 1

****

Chapter 2: Witness

Xander helped Graham to his feet. "Are you going to be
ok?" He asked gently.

Graham nodded nervously. "I'll be all right, thanks
Xan… for everything. I
feel much more relaxed now. This place is so… calm."

"Yeah, this is paradise compared to that awful
courtroom." The young
brunette said, looking around the park, his hands in
his pocket and his foot
taping the ground nervously. "We still have a few more
minutes if you want…"

Graham shook his head. "I need to talk to my lawyer,
it's… procedure."

Xander nodded, biting his bottom lip. "Yeah, ok. Come
on, we'd better get
going." He was feeling incredibly nervous as he was
suppose to testify that
afternoon.

"It's gonna be all right Xan. Just remember what
Captain Halliway told you.
Facts and truth." Graham said as they walked back to
the courtroom, trying
not to let his own fears to the surface.

Xander looked at his friend and smiled akwardly.
"Yeah, I know. I just hope
I don't start babbling incoherently. Happens often you
know."

Graham chuckled. "Yeah, I noticed, but just answer the
questions clearly and
you'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know what your lawyer's gonna ask me, but I
have no idea what that
bastard's gonna ask me though." Xander shook his head.
"That's what I'm
afraid of. He's so… I don't know what word to use, but
what he said to you,
that was downright mean and nasty."

Graham felt something stir up in his stomach at
Xander's words and repressed
the need to smile by replying: "That's the military
Xan. And he was right,
by stating I was gay, I did go against the Military
Code of conduct." Graham
sighed. "I've been in the military for 6 years, it was
my life. I thought
that maybe I could… I know article 125 by heart
Xander. 'Any person subject
to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal
copulation with another
person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal
is guilty of sodomy.
Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete
the offense. Any
person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as
court-martial may
direct.'"

Xander stopped walking, looking at Graham
incredulously. "This is insane.
And I thought America was 'open' to that sort of
thing."

Graham shook his head. "It is, to a certain extent,
but not in the military.
The perfect all American boys are not supposed to have
such unnatural
behaviour, they set the example… or so they say. The
thing is, when I was
sworn in, I knew about that article, but… no matter
how many sexual
encounters I've had since I've become a marine,
penetration was never a part
of it." Graham finished, looking down, he could feel
his cheek burning, but
somehow, he felt comfortable enough around Xander to
have this conversation.

"You mean you…" Xander shook his head and then looked
straight before him,
his eyes cold with rage. "The fucking bastard." He
growled and then turned
back to Graham, calming himself down. "God, I'm
nervous. But I won't break
down, I promise you that."

Graham nodded and smiled lightly at his friend. "You
know, Captain Kawk is
more likely to ask you embarrassing questions about
your sex life."

Xander frowned. "Huh?"

"You're my friend, and I said as much, he'll
automatically think you're gay
too and he'll play with that." Graham sighed.

Xander grinned. "Let him try, Gray, he won't get me."

Graham smiled back at him and entered the building,
going directly to the
room where he knew he would find his lawyer.

Xander walked back into the courtroom and sat beside
Giles, who squeezed his
shoulder in support.

****

"The court calls Alexander LaVelle Harris to the
witness stand."

Xander stood up, taking a deep breath, and walked to
the box. After the
necessary swearing of telling the truth and only the
truth, he finally sat
and waited for the lawyers to attack him with
questions.

"The witness is yours Captain Halliway." Colonel White
said, as he looked up
from his files.

"Thank you Sir." Graham's lawyer stood up and looked
at Xander, smiling
lightly. "Mr. Harris, what is your relationship with
Agent Miller?"

"We're friends, Sir, have been for three months."

"How did you meet him?"

****Flashback

Xander sat at the bar, sipping his beer. Anya had come
around again that
evening. Little round of sex and then she had left.
She got what she came
for, I guess, Xander thought as he looked up to see a
man sitting beside
him.

"Hi," The man said, waving sadly at Xander. "Name's
Graham, mind if I sit?"

"No, go on, you look even more depressed than me."

"Yeah. Rough day."

"Problem with the loved one?" Xander asked,
recognizing the signs.

"How did you know?"

"Luck, I guess." Xander shrugged. "Having problems of
that kind myself."

Graham nodded, ordering a beer.

"Name's Xander, by the way."

****End flashback

"We kept meeting at the same bar, two or three times a
week." Xander
continued.

The lawyer nodded. "Mr. Harris, where were you on the
night of the 30th of
July 2000?"

Xander looked straight at Graham and took a deep
breath. "I was at that same
bar, with Graham."

"So, you were WITH Graham that night?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Did you know, at the time, that Riley was Graham's
boyfriend?"

"No Sir, I knew Graham had a boyfriend, but I didn't
know who he was. Graham
wouldn't say."

"After Riley came to the bar and Graham followed him,
what did you do?"

"I… I was shocked, at first I couldn't move…"

****Flashback

"Hey, Xander," Andy, the barman, shook Xander's
shoulder. "That guy look
pretty pissed, you sure Graham'll be all right?"

Xander shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
Finally everything
clicked into place. "No, he's not." Xander finally
said, grabbing his coat
and running out of the bar. Riley had already taken
off, but Xander somehow
knew where he would go. The brunette ran to his car
and started the engine.
The ride to Lowell house seemed to take forever.
Xander tried not to panic,
but there had been something in Riley's eyes that sent
shivers through his
body at the memory.

"Come on, we're almost there." He muttered. He quickly
parked his car next
to Riley's and ran to the frat house. The door was
locked. "Dammit!" He
yelled, kicking and punching at the door, trying to
get it to open. "Open
up! Open the fuck up!!"

"Hey!" Someone opened the door, just as Xander was
about to land another
punch. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"No time for explanations. Where's Riley Finn's room?
Quick!"

"Second floor, last room on the right. What do you
think you're doing?" The
guy yelled back, as Xander ran up the stairs. "Fuck!"
He swore and followed
the other young man.

Xander ran all the way down the hall to Riley's room,
he could hear muffled
sounds from behind the door, but couldn't make out
what they were saying. He
tried to open it, but no chance. "Figures…" He
muttered. "Riley, open the
damn door!" Xander yelled, banging on the door.

"Hey! Stay away from…" The other guy started, but a
loud scream came from
inside, interrupting whatever he'd been about to say.
"What the hell is
going on?"

Xander kicked on the door with as much force as he
could manage. "One of
your friends, and mine for that matter, is being
assaulted by Riley Finn,
inside this damn room! Now, you're gonna try to help
me or not?" Xander
yelled back, panting.

"Fuck!"

"Hey, what's with the noise Walt?" Another guy poked
his head out of his
room.

"Get over here Tyler, Finn's gone off his rocker,
messing one of us up. Who
the hell's in there with him?" Walter asked, looking
back at Xander.

"Graham Miller. Now help me open this goddamn door?"
Xander growled back at
Tyler.

Tyler looked at the door and at the two men and
finally came to help.
Muffled screams of pain still drifted to their ears
and a third man joined
them.

"We're not gonna open this fucking door." Walter,
said, panting.

"Damn military," Xander muttered, the three guys
turning to face him. "What?
You think I don't know who you are? I work with the
slayer guys, think
again. Now, you're the ones with the weapons and the
strength, how the hell
are we gonna open this?"

Tyler shook his head. "We need to blow up the handle,
or the whole door, but
there's a high risk that it might… hurt one of them."

"But what's the other solution, we stay here and wait
till Riley is done?
What are the odds that Graham will still be alive at
that point?" Xander was
starting to feel incredibly helpless. "Come on, do it.
It's better to have
them hurt slightly than to have to collect Graham's
body. I saw Riley, he
was in fury. Nothing will stop him."

Walter and Tyler nodded, the third guy having already
left to get a gun.

"There guys," He said as he came back. "That should do
it."

"Yeah, you do it Fred." Tyler nodded to his friend,
all of them stepping out
of the way.

Just after the gun fired, Xander kicked the door
opened and stopped dead in
his tracks.

****End flashback

"There was blood everywhere, on the bed, on the floor.
Graham was… he was…
leaning over the edge of the bed, whimpering and he
kept saying stuff like:
no, stop, don't… I saw Riley leaning over him and he
was… God, it was
horrible, he was raping him and hitting him. He kept
calling Graham 'bitch'
and other stuff like that. I… I froze. The other three
guys reacted rapidly,
but it was a bit like slow motion for me. They grabbed
Riley and pulled him
off Graham, who just fell on the floor. He looked so
broken. I… I grabbed a
blanket from the bed and wrapped it over him. I don't
think he recognized me
at first. I made sure the other guys had Riley
restrained and then I took
Graham out." Xander stopped. Emotionally drained.

Captain Halliway looked thoughful, then he looked back
at Xander. "What did
you do after that, Mr. Harris?"

Xander took a deep breath. "I took him to my car. He
had trouble walking and
just plain staying on his feet so I had to support
almost all of him. I
helped him lie down on the back seat and then I
decided to head to the
hospital. He was still bleeding and… well, I didn't
know what else to do, so
I took him to the emergency room."

"Very good Mr. Harris. I have no more questions,
Colonel." Captain Halliway
said, looking at the senior judge.

Colonel White nodded. "Witness is yours, Captain
Kawk."

The lawyer stood up and walked to Xander, a feral grin
on his face. "Mr.
Harris, are you gay?"

Xander's eyes opened wide. Ok, Graham had told him
this question would come,
but… so fast? He shook his head. "No, Sir."

"Objection Colonel." Captain Halliway said, just as
Xander answered. "I
don't see what interest this court has in knowing the
witness' sexual
orientation. He is not a marine, therefore not subject
to our laws and code
of conduct."

Colonel White sighed. "Objection sustained. Captain
Kawk, please reformulate
your question."

Riley's lawyer glared at Captain Halliway, but nodded.
"Mr. Harris, have you
ever had any sexual encounter with a man before?"

"Objection Colonel…"

"Sustained. Captain Kawk, please reformulate your
question again."

Glaring back at Graham's lawyer again, Captain Kawk
tried one last time.
"Mr. Harris, are you or are you not Agent Miller's
current boyfriend?"

"No, I am not, Sir." Xander answered straight away,
somehow, he knew Riley's
lawyer would get his answer one way or another, it was
easier to say no now,
than to wait for him to stop asking.

"Then please explain to us what your relationship with
Agent Miller is."

"We're friends, good friends."

"Mr. Harris, when you first met Agent Miller, were you
aware that he was
gay?"

What kind of question is that? Xander thought,
frowning. "Not right away
Sir, I didn't know."

"Did you know special agent Finn before, Mr. Harris?"

Ok, Xander thought again, he's playing rebound, why
won't his questions make
sense? "Yes, Sir."

"You knew him before you met Agent Miller, am I
correct?"

"Yes, Sir."

"How would you qualify your relationship with Special
Agent Finn, Mr.
Harris?"

"He was my best friend's boyfriend, that's it Sir. We
weren't close friends,
we just… knew each other." Xander answered.

Riley's lawyer smiled. "Ah! What's your best friend's
name, Mr. Harris?"

"Buffy Anne Summers, Sir." Xander answered, trying to
keep his calm.

"A woman, Mr. Harris?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And she was Riley Finn's girlfriend?"

"Yes, Sir, for about 6 months."

"All right, Mr. Harris. So you're saying that this
man, who I must state has
several years of faultless service, had a girlfriend,
but still went to
Agent Miller for sexual pleasure?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Before the alleged rape, had you seen special Agent
Finn with Agent Miller,
Mr. Harris?"

"Once or twice, Sir, but never… in a sexual way."
Xander answered, trying to
not start babbling, which was sounding so tempting. "I
knew they were
friends."

"Then, how can you say what you saw was rape, Mr.
Harris? You had no
knowledge or proof of their relationship before that
day, so on what do you
base your assumption that what was going on was
actually rape?" Captain Kawk
glared at Xander as he asked the question, making the
brunette squirm.

"I know what I saw, Sir. There was blood on the floor,
on the bed, on Riley
and on Graham. Riley had his dick up Graham's ass and
he kept saying
something about 'showing that damn bitch'. Also, Sir,
Graham was sobbing,
whimpering and crying for Riley to stop, not to do it.
He pleaded. There was
no doubt as to what was going on, Sir."

The lawyer shook his head. "I have no more questions,
Colonel." He said,
going back to his seat, looking a bit defeated in
Xander's eyes. That was
good.

"Witness dismissed. Mr. Harris, you can go back to
your seat."

Xander stood up and walked back to his place, at
Giles' side. He glanced at
Graham on the way back and smiled shyly. Graham smiled
back, happy that
Xander had gone through the whole process without so
much as a flinch.

"Captain Halliway, you can call your next witness."
Colonel White said, as
soon as Xander had sat down.

"The prosecution call Doctor Mercer to the witness
stand, Colonel."

****

"The pictures were so gross!" Buffy exclaimed,
shuddering.

"Yeah and the way the doctor explained everything in
details, had me
nauseated." Willow replied.

"Indeed." Giles said simply, taking off his glasses.
"Xander? Are you all
right?"

The four of them were waiting outside the building for
Graham to come out.
The afternoon had been hell, as pictures of Graham's
mutilated body were
shown and the doctor explained the injuries and how
they had been caused. It
had been hard on all of them, especially Graham. After
the court had been
adjourned until the next morning, the marine had
stayed behind, to talk with
his lawyer.

"Yes, I'll be ok." Xander answered. "I'm… a bit
shaken. I mean… I saw most
of these injuries for real, but… I didn't know… God,
how much it must have
hurt." He sighed, passing a hand through his hair.
"I'll be better once
Graham is here. Even more so when Riley's finally
behind bars and not to be
seen for at least the next century or so."

"You know, Xander, odds are he might… not be punished
for his actions."
Giles said, sitting down beside the younger man. "This
is the US military
Xander. Graham, just by being gay and saying it to the
whole court and for
the record, is also 'punishable'."

Xander nodded. "I know, Graham told me earlier. But…
They have so much
evidence of what happened, so many people saw it,
testified against Riley. I
mean, even Captain Kawk was down at the end."

Giles smiled. "You're right, they do have evidence and
proof. Though that
doesn't change the possible consequences for Graham,
it almost ensures that
Riley will serve time."

Silence fell on the group as they pondered on what
would happen the next
day. "It's Riley's turn tomorrow." Willow stated,
matter-of-factly.

"Yeah." Xander replied, taking his best-friend's hand
in his. She and Buffy
had both been approached by Riley's lawyer to testify
for him, but they had
refused categorically.

"Hey." Graham said, as he approached them.

They turned at once and smiled. "Hey Gray, are you
ok?"

The marine smiled lightly at Xander. "Yeah, I'm good.
Can… can we go now?"

Xander nodded. "See you tomorrow girls… and Giles.
Thanks for keeping me
company." He said as he stood up.

"Thanks for just being here." Graham whispered.

Willow and Buffy nodded, hugging him gently, while
Giles shook his hand. "It
is no hardship Graham, we're here for you."

Finally the two young men left the court.

****

TBC