Xander snuck up the stairs, he was supposed to meet the rest of the Scooby Gang at Giles' apartment and didn't want to have to explain to his parents where he was going so late. He paid rent, but they still treated him like he was a kid, when they noticed him at all. Things had been a lot better since his father had gotten the job at Zoltan, but they had a long way to go to get past dysfunctional.

He heard voices coming from the living room, 'Great, they're fighting again.' He stopped to listen when he heard his name.

"You can't just *give* him away! Are you crazy?"

"Do you want to lose everything? He'll be here tomorrow, and if I don't make a deal with him I'll be in prison and you'll be living on the streets. Is that what you want?"

"No. But why does he want Xander?"

"Jesus you're stupid. He doesn't even know about Xander. That lawyer guy from Wolfram and Hart told me to offer him Xander. He gets a new toy, I get to keep my job and everybody's happy."

"What about Xander?"

"Listen, he behaves himself and does whatever he's told. Who knows, he might like it. He's not exactly a hit with the ladies now is he? His last girlfriend dumped him what? Three months ago? And he hasn't had a date since."

"What will we tell people?"

"People disappear here everyday. Nobody will suspect a thing. Besides, he's over eighteen, it's past time he was out of here anyway."

Xander's mouth hung open in shock. He knew he wasn't exactly on top of his parent's Christmas list, but to give him to some guy? 'Giles, I've got to get Giles. He'll help.'

Xander made it up the stairs and headed for the backdoor. He tore down the street and ran to Giles' apartment as fast as he could.

*****

"Frank, maybe we should talk to Xander, try to make him understand. We don't want him to tell people we gave him away."

Frank waved a piece of paper under her nose. "The lawyer took care of that too. No one will believe a thing he says. Where is the kid anyway?"

"In his room."

"I'll go check on him, why don't you have 'another' drink."

He headed for the basement, not bothering to knock before opening the door. 'Shit. Where's he at?' He ran back up the steps and out the front door. He saw his son running flat out down the street. 'Oh no you don't, you little bastard. You aren't going to ruin this for me.'

He went back into the house to get his keys, he knew where to find him.

*****

Xander burst through the front door, startling the people inside the apartment. "Giles, you gotta help." he managed to get out between gasps for breath.

Buffy spoke first. "What is it Xander? Is a vamp after you?"

Xander staggered over to a chair and collapsed. "No. I overheard my parents, they're going to *give* me to some guy."

Giles raised a brow at that, "What exactly do you mean, 'give' you to 'some guy'?"

Xander rolled his eyes, "Just what I said. You gotta hide me, if they find me, I'm toast.

Giles polished his glasses, something he always did to give him time to think. "Xander, you're over eighteen. Even if your parents wanted to give you away, they can't. I'm sure you misunderstood."

"No I didn't. I heard them. My dad is in some kind of trouble and he's going to use me to get out of it."

"I really think you're over reacting Xander." Giles patted him on the shoulder, "If they do try something, please feel free to call me."

"That's not a whole lotta help there G-Man."

Spike, who'd been listening to the whole conversation smirked and moved to sit next to the panting young man. "So, Harris. What exactly did they say they were giving you to him for? Are you going to be some kind of 'Love Slave'?"

Everyone cracked up at that and Xander felt an embarrassed flush cover his cheeks. "That's not funny guys."

Willow wiped the tears from her cheeks, "Sorry Xan, but I can't picture you as anyone's 'Love Slave'." That just made everyone laugh harder.

Xander stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over in the process. "Thanks a lot. It's nice to know my 'friends' care." He almost ran for the door, ignoring Spike's "Oy, 'Love Slave', where are you going?"

Xander slammed out of the door, trying to block the sound of his friend's hysterical laughter from his ears, and ran right into his father.

"I've been looking for you boy. We need to have a little 'talk'."

*****

Tara sat quietly, not joining in the laughter. Willow finally noticed her girlfriend's serious expression and tried to calm down. "Tara, what's wrong?"

"I thought Xander was your friend."

Willow nodded, still gulping for air. "He is, but sometimes he tells stories to get attention."

"I don't think he was telling stories, he seemed pretty serious to me."

Willow hugged her, "You're so sweet, but you don't know him very well."

Spike wiped tears of mirth from his face, "The silly git was scared to death. I could smell it on him before he ever came through the door."

Tara shrugged Willow's hold off, and looked at the others, still laughing but starting to wind down, realizing something was wrong. "And you didn't think he was serious Spike?"

"Who cares? Besides, you can't just 'give' someone away, not like the good old days. Now there's laws and what not."

Giles put a comforting arm around Tara's shoulder, "It's hard to believe, but Spike is correct. Xander is over the age of majority in this country. And there are laws. Even if his parents did decide to get rid of him, which I find doubtful, there are numerous authorities that would step in to stop it."

Willow snuggled up to Tara's back, wrapping both arms around her waist. "See, there's nothing to worry about. Xander will be back tomorrow. He's just upset right now. He doesn't like to be laughed at. But it was funny. Xander has been my friend since we were little, but I can't imagine anyone wanting him as a 'Love Slave'."

Tara stepped away from Giles and from Willow's embrace. "If this is how you treat your 'friends', I want no part of you."

She stood and headed after Xander, maybe it wasn't too late to talk to him. Willow jumped up after her and grabbed her by the arm, "Tara, what do you mean?"

"If I have to explain it to you, then you'll never understand. Goodbye Willow."

Everyone fell silent, this wasn't funny anymore. "I'm sorry Tara. We didn't mean anything by it."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." She pulled Willow's hand off of her arm and looked at the rest of Xander's so called friends, her contempt for them plain to see. "I hope for your sakes he's wrong. I really do." She turned and left, never looking back.

Once she'd made it out of the apartment complex, she immediately looked for Xander. There was no sign of him in either direction so she headed in the direction opposite of his house, that was the last place he'd go.

*****

Frank Harris dragged his son from the car and down into the basement. He shoved him down on the bed and stood over him. "Listen up kid. My boss is coming here tomorrow, you are going to be *nice* to the man and do whatever he says. Do you understand me?"

Xander wiped the blood off of the cut in his lip he'd gotten when his father shoved him into the car. "I'm nineteen, you can't tell me what to do. I'm so out of here." Harris knocked Xander back down when he tried to rise from the bed.

Calmy and methodically, Harris pulled his belt free from his pants, wrapping the loose end around his fist while letting the ornate silver buckle hang free. "You aren't going anywhere."

*****

Antony stared out the window of his limousine, he hadn't had much sleep the night before, and what sleep he did get had been full of dreams of a boy with chocolate brown eyes and smooth skin the color of cream.

He'd had dreams before that had come true, if this was one of them he would die a happy man. Even thinking about what they had done to each other in some of those dreams was enough to get him hard. But the one thing that really lingered had been the feelings. Happiness, love, trust, everything he'd ever wanted, and never had. He even had a name to go with the face, 'Xander'. He shuddered and forced his mind back to business. Mr. Harris had some explaining to do.

It had taken him less than an hour to realize that the new head of the Sunnydale branch was responsible for the problems he'd been having. If he could only figure out how he was doing it. There was no paper trail, and none of the other employees knew anything. Or so they claimed, Harris' secretary made him wonder, but there was nothing he could prove.

And to top it all off, Harris hadn't been in the office today. So now Antony had to go to him. There was going to be hell to pay when he finally got his hands on the bastard.

His random thoughts of torture where interrupted by their arrival at a rather shabby two story house. The new BMW in the drive with the tags 'Harris 1' confirmed the address.

The limo barely had a chance to stop before he was out of the car and heading for the front door. He pounded on it, and waited impatiently. He was about to knock again when the door opened.

And there was the boy from his dreams. Antony just stood there, his mouth open, fist still in the air. The same dark eyes and lean build. Antony lowered his hand and shook the images of that body from his mind. "I'm Antony DiBlasi. I'm looking for Frank Harris."

"Yeah. He's here. Come in."

Antony followed the boy down the hall, trying desperately to keep his eyes off the firm ass barely hinted at by baggy jeans.

"Dad, your boss is here."

A middle aged man, who born little resemblence to his son, hurried across the floor. "Mr. DiBlasi, it's a pleasure to meet you sir. Xander, go get us some coffee."

That cinched it, it was definitely the same boy. Now, all he had to do was get him. Easier said than done. Especially since he'd come here to rake the boy's father over the coals and then fire him. Stay calm Antony. You can't blow this. You'll regret it forever if you do.

"Mr. Harris, it has come to my attention that there have been some serious problems with the Sunnydale branch. I'd *really* appreciate it if you could tell me just what is going on here."

The other man paled and began to sweat. "Well, you see, it's like this."

Whatever else he was going to say was interrupted by Xander's arrival with the coffee. Antony noticed he was moving stiffly, as if he were in pain, and wondered at the cause.

Harris waited until Xander had left the room to continue. He'd noticed DiBlasi giving Xander the eye. McDonald was right, this was going to work.

"I know there's a problem, and I think I can fix it. I realize things got out of hand, but we've been having some problems with our son and I've been distracted. It won't happen again."

"What sort of problems? He seems like a nice kid."

Gotcha. Harris thought. "He's been running with a bad crowd. Staying out til all hours, and causing trouble. We've tried everything, but he won't listen. He'll end up in jail or worse if it keeps going." Harris shook his head sadly, "We didn't want to do it, but we went to a judge and had all of his rights as an adult severed. Now we're looking for a place with people who can help him."

Antony felt all his dreams fading away, "Surely there's another way."

"Well, the judge did say if we could find someone who would be willing to accept complete responsibility and control over him we could go that route. But I don't know who to ask." He took a small sip of his coffee, "I don't suppose..., no forget it. That's too much to ask."

"No, please, what were you going to say?"

"Well, you're a powerful man, someone he could look up to, use as a role model. If you were to take him on, maybe he would straighten out."

Antony's heart was pounding in his chest, but he managed to appear calm, "Would I have complete control over him?"

Harris repeated McDonald's words verbatim, "Oh yes. The judge thinks it would be better if we were to stay away from him after we got him placed. Give him time before we tried to rebuild a relationship with him. He said in his experience that was the best way to handle these things."

"I see. Well, Mr. Harris, if you can guarantee the problem with your branch will be straightened out, and quickly, I'll take on your problem child for you."

Harris actually felt tears well up, this was perfect. "Oh thank you Mr. DiBlasi. Thank you so much. I can absolutely guarantee things will be great from now on. Let me go get the paperwork, and I'll sign over control to you right now."

Harris grabbed the papers McDonald had given him from his desk. He quickly signed his name and handed them to DiBlasi. He watched gleefully as the man signed what would ultimately be his downfall. "This is such a relief, I just can't tell you how much this means to us. My poor wife has been so upset she's had to be sedated."

Antony felt a momentary chill of apprehension, but the memories of his dreams chased it away. He signed the dotted line with a flourish and handed them back. "I hope this helps ease her mind." He stood suddenly, eager to get Xander and get out of this house. "Now that that has been taken care of, I believe we should go."

"Of course, let me get Xander and have him pack his things. It'll only take a moment."

Antony thought about the way the boy had been dressed, that just wouldn't do. "I'll see to his needs, Mr. Harris. Just have him grab any personal items."

"Certainly Mr. DiBlasi. Xander, come here please."

Xander appeared at the door, he'd obviously been listening to everything that had been said. "I heard." He looked at Antony, resignation in his eyes. "There's nothing here I need. We can go whenever."

Antony smiled at the boy, he knew this wouldn't be easy, but he'd make it work. He had to. "My car is out front. I'll be there in a minute." Xander nodded and without looking at his father, walked out of the house he'd lived in his whole life for the last time.

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