Xander maintained his death grip on the pile of paperwork he'd been forced to fill out, in triplicate. He'd had no idea that getting into college was so hard, or that they'd ask so many questions. He had no idea what some of those questions had to do with college, but he answered them anyway.

Now he was waiting, again, to see someone else in administration. The first two people had looked over his paperwork, made a couple of notes, made phone calls and made him wait. Xander really wished Tony could have stayed with him, but there were problems at the office and he'd had to go. Now, he was waiting for the Dean of Admissions, Dr. Wyatt, to find time to see him, this was going to be a long day.

*****

Tony put down the phone very, very gently, refusing to give in to the urge to throw it across the room and feed the shattered pieces to his supposedly competent staff. Hitting the intercom with a little more force than absolutely necessary, Tony snarled at his secretary, "Get everyone into the conference room, now." Tony slid back from his desk and strode across the room, stopping halfway to the door. Turning, he went back to his desk and pushed the intercom once more, "Jane? Sorry. Please have everyone gather in the conference room, and have media set up a vid conference with New York, Hong Kong and Dallas."

Tony could hear the smile in Jane's voice as she replied, "Of course, Sir. Will there be anything else?"

"No...wait...yes there is. I'm expecting a call from Xander Harris, please put him through, right away. In fact, anytime he calls, he gets priority."

"I'm logging his name into the database now, Sir. Would you like me to set up the coffee service in the conference room for the meeting?"

"Yes. Thank you, Jane. I'll be there in ten minutes." Tony sat back down at his desk and tried to get his temper under control. "I hope Xander's day is going better than mine." he muttered to himself, wishing he could have stayed with his young lover. This was not the way he'd wanted the first day of Xander's training to go.

*****

Xander forced himself not to flinch as Dr. Wyatt's tirade continued.

"Mr. Harris, not only are your grades pathetic, but we don't want your kind here at Seaver College. As part of Pepperdine University, we pride ourselves on accepting only the best. Which you are not. This is a private Christian college, we hold to Christian values and norms. I see here, according to your forms, that you live with that pervert, Antony DiBlasi." Dr. Wyatt closed Xander's file with a snap and glared at the young man sitting across from him. "Frankly, Mr. Harris, I find it hard to believe that you would even be willing to apply to our institution. And don't think that DiBlasi's money will buy you any favors with me."

Xander's face had gone pale when the older man had started in on his tirade, but now it was blood red from humiliation. Xander pulled his file away from the other man and stood up. "I'm sorry I bothered you. I'll be leaving now."

*****

Vo and Kaiya were hanging out in Jane's office waiting for Tony when the secretary received a call. "One moment please, Mr. Harris, I'll put you right through."

Vo snagged the phone before Jane could put the line of hold, "Hey, Xander, how's my favorite brother-in-law doing?"

Kaiya couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but whatever it was, it obviously wasn't good. Vo had that look on her face. The look that usually meant that someone was going to be praying for death.

"Stay where you are, Xander. I'm going to pick you up. No, Xander, it's not a problem or I wouldn't have offered, but if it would make you feel better I'll go get Tony for you. Okay, we'll be there in twenty minutes." Vo hung up the phone and smiled at Jane. "When Tony gets done, please tell him that we went to pick up Xander."

"Of course, Ms. DiBlasi. Is everything all right?"

"Not yet, but it will be." Collecting her bag, Vo turned to her friend. "Come on, Kaiya, we gotta go." she said as she strode out of the office.

"Is death and destruction in the immediate future, Vo?" her friend asked as she hurried to catch up.

"Not for us."

"Dammit, Vo. Why don't you ever warn me first?" Kaiya grumped.

Vo stabbed the elevator button, "What the Hell are you talking about?"

"Popcorn. I never have any popcorn to eat while I'm watching you shred some asshole. I swear, watching you on a rip is better than Spielburg."

*****

Xander looked up from his intent study of his shoe laces when a huge silver limosine stopped in front of him. The driver ran around the side of the car and helped Vo and another woman out of the back seat. Tony's sister hurried over to where he sat huddled on the bench put a comforting hand on Xander's shoulder. "You okay, Xander? What did that asshole say to you?"

Xander shrugged, "He said I wasn't good enough to get into their college and that Tony's money wouldn't buy me any favors."

Vo held onto her temper with both hands, and asked gently, "What else, Xander?"

He refused to look at her when he said, "Dr. Wyatt said Tony was a pervert." Xander finally raised his head and gave Vo a sad smile, "I get the idea that even if my grades had been perfect I wouldn't be welcome here."

The other woman sat down on his other side, "Hi, I'm Kaiya. Don't worry about it, Xander. This college is no place for you anyway. They brainwash the students here." Leaning closer she whispered, "They're Republicans, all of them." Giving a dramatic shudder Kaiya said, "Would you really want to spend the next several years of your life surrounded by a bunch of cultural elitist snobs? I mean, they have no clue."

Xander just looked back down at his shoes, "Tony really wanted me to go to college. What am I doing to do now? He's gonna be pissed."

Vo stood up and pulled Xander to his feet, "There are other colleges, Xander. And Tony would never, ever, be pissed at you for something like this. Now, I think it's time for me to have a little talk with Dr. Wyatt."

Kaiya grinned and got a good grip on Xander's arm, "Come on, you don't want to miss this. Vo is Hell on anyone that hurts someone she cares about, and Tony's just as bad. Dr. Wyatt is going to have a really bad day."

*****

Vo swept through the outer office like a hurricane, once she'd gotten inside Dr. Wyatt's office she immediately commandeered his phone, completely ignoring his incoherent sputtering. "Jane? It's Vo. We need to make some changes in Recruitment and the Scholarship program. Yes. I want Seaver College and Pepperdine University removed immediately from the rosters. And any interns from those two are to be released. I'll take responsibility for it. No. Tony would do worse. Yes. Apparently, these people believe my brother is a pervert. Of course, we wouldn't want to subject such nice, Christian people to our evil ways, now would we? Thanks, Jane. No. Don't worry about it. I'll tell Tony. There's no reason for you to suffer when he finds out about this. Okay, later, Jane."

Hanging up the phone, Vo finally looked at the little worm that had insulted her brother and hurt Xander's feelings. "Well, Dr. Wyatt is it? I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time explaining how your institution lost several million dollars in allotments and scholarships to the board of Regents. Have a nice day!"

Dr. Wyatt had collapsed in his chair, his face pasty and covered with sweat. Xander just gaped at Voracity while Kaiya was having a hard time controlling her giggles. "Vo," Xander whispered urgently, "you can't do that. Can you?"

Vo patted his face, "Of course I can, Xander. Besides, what are big sisters for? Now, how about lunch? Tony is still stuck in that meeting, it'll be hours before he gets loose."

Xander and Kaiya were swept along in Vo's wake like flotsam after a tornado. "Uh, Vo? What about me getting into college?" Xander asked.

Vo settled into the leather seat of the limosine, "Well, we should probably get you a tutor and then check into some Junior colleges for you. That's if you really want to go. You don't have to, you know."

"Tony wants me to learn how to run the company."

Vo shuddered, "Better you than me, sweetie. I already have more money than I could ever possibly spend and I'd hate to be stuck in the office for hours and hours everyday. We'll talk to Tony about it, I'm sure we'll work something out. Now, where would you like to go for lunch?"

*****

Tony finally made it home just before midnight. He dropped his briefcase on the couch and staggered tiredly towards his bedroom. Opening the door as quietly as possible, he stuck his head into the room, pleasantly surprised to see Xander sitting up in bed, waiting for him.

Tony kicked off his shoes and crawled into the bed, easily pulling Xander into his arms. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked when Xander stiffened and pulled away from him.

The younger man shrugged, "I, uh, didn't get into Seaver College, Tony. My grades weren't good enough."

Tony sighed and kissed the top of Xander's head. "Vo came to see me, Xander. I know what happened. Don't worry about it. There are lots and lots of schools out there. And maybe college isn't the way to go. There are tech schools, they place more emphasis on hands on learning, not just books. Would you like to try something like that?"

Xander just shrugged again, completely miserable. "I thought you wanted me to get a business degree."

Tony pulled Xander's head up and made Xander look him in the eye. "Xander, I went to a city college, not some huge university. There all kinds of things that are important to know when it comes to running a company. Zoltan deals in electronics and computers. Learning about either of those would work just as well, if not better, than a business degree. I was completely lost the first couple of years I was with the company." The older man started laughing, "I couldn't even turn my computer on, my secretary had to do it for me."

Xander finally lightened up and started to laugh, "Geez, Tony, even I know how to do that."

Tony smiled, "See you're already one up on me. Don't worry about it too much, Xander. There's always on-the-job training." Tony said in a perfectly innocent voice.

Xander settled against Tony's chest and let out a sigh of relief, "I am sorry about losing all those interns though. Man, Vo can really put it to a guy, can't she?"

Tony nodded, "You have no idea. She and Kaiya are at Pepperdine right now."

Xander looked up, curiosity plain on his face. "They are? Why?"

Tony reached up to turn off the light, "Well, Vo decided that Pepperdine and Seaver should give up all the free computers Zoltan had given them. So the two of them are over there right now making sure nothing is missed. They're going to have to dish out some of there own money to get new ones."

Xander stared into the darkness of their room. "Tony? That's not really fair. I mean, those students that use those computers didn't do anything wrong."

"We'll give them back in a couple of days, as soon as the Board of Regents is done grovelling at Vo's feet. I swear, she's enjoying this way too much."

"Maybe we should go help?"

Tony just wrapped his arms around Xander's chest and held him tightly. "That would be a really bad idea, Xander. They're both hopped up on caffeine and chocolate. I heard them talking when they were leaving my office. Something about cats, evil fairies, pushy muses and temples. Vo and Kaiya live in a strange and wonderful world, one that personally frightens me."

"Ooookkkkaaayyy. Whatever. I like 'em anyway."

"That's good, Xander. They like you, too. Now let's get some sleep. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow."

Xander yawned, "'kay. What time do I need to get up?"

Tony kissed him seriously and said, "Who said anything about getting up?"

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