Brother to Brother: Brother to Brother
by Breniah
Disclaimer: These Characters do not belong to me. They are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, WB Network, and whoever else that has rights to BTVS.
Author's Notes: This follows my other story No Way. What can I say? I'm a sucker for happy endings.

Teaser: Xander and Angel are friends and Xander has a way to change Angel's life.



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"C'mon Angel, get your Deadboy butt ready!" Xander screamed up the stairs. "I'm ready to go."

"Yeah yeah. Just a minute," Angel yelled back for the 6th time that hour.

"Argh!" Xander threw his bag in the corner and bolted up the stairs. "C'mon! If I find your lazy ass still dressing, I'm going to be very distressed." He walked into Angel's bedroom to find him zipping up his travel bag. "Ready," he said, grinning at Xander.

"Finally!"

They loaded up the car, and hit the open road. It was exactly one year since their first road trip together. Angel thought bemusedly. Since the death of Xander's parents' 4 months ago, the result of a tragic car crash, the 2 had lived together. Angel had moved into Xander's house after necessary modifications had been made to certain rooms within the house.

They still fought incessantly but their insults lacked the sting they had always had. And they had learned from each other. Angel now lived on a day to day basis, was more willing to share and come out of his shell. Xander by contrast was more mature, more willing to think before he acted.

They were pretty much the only two of the Scooby Gang left residing in Sunnydale. Buffy and Giles had moved away, the threat of the hellmouth subdued since graduation to find new battlegrounds. Oz moved to New York, living the musicians life. Willow went with him and pursued a lucrative computer career, but the 2 of them came back regularly for visits. Cordelia also came down from LA to visit, her and Xander having made peace before she left, mainly at Angel's insistence.

Angel was brought back to the present by the atrocious sounds of country and western on the car stereo. Angel ejected the tape saying, "No maudlin music this weekend," and he threw the tape out the car window.

"Nooooo!!" came Xander's anguished cry.

'Watch the road!"

Xander swerved and narrowly missed an oncoming car. He glared at Angel and said, "If you want your surprise you better not pull anymore stunts like that!"

"Are you ever going to tell me what this surprise is?" Angel asked exasperatedly.

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" At Angel's glare he continued, "Man you are over 200 years old, have a little patience."

Angel growled but dropped the subject.

Xander leant over to the back seat and retrieved a tasty treat that Joyce had packed for him. Being the only ones left, Buffy's mother had taken it upon herself to after them, especially Xander since his parents' death. Angel thought.

He pushed those thought from his mind. He and Xander were going to have some fun this weekend. He could smell it.

They drove most of the night. It was about three hours till dawn when they pulled up to the holiday house they had rented for the weekend. It was a typical seaside cottage, small but cozy, rundown but with character. They grabbed their bags and went in, beginning to block up the windows in most of the rooms. Xander had gotten used to the dark and lack of sun, after living with Angel. Besides, he could always step outside if he wanted to, unlike Angel for which he was grateful.

But he was going to change that. The surprise he had concealed from Angel for so long was a ritual, to turn vampires to humans. And then maybe Buffy and Angel could know some peace. She still loved him. Whenever she came back, she looked at Angel with anguished longing and he had seen the same look on Angel's face. That's why she didn't come back much, too painful.

Xander thought that if Angel became human they would find some peace and hopefully some happiness together. But he also knew it would take time. He'd already had Willow secretly create documents for him, birth certificate, driver's license, and passport. And those documents would be waiting for him when they got back to Sunnydale, along with Willow, Oz and Cordelia. He had been unable to contact Buffy and Giles but he thought it would be better if he left that to Angel anyway.

he thought as he and Angel got ready to crash.

They slept through most of the day and by the time the sun had set they were showered, dressed and ready to hit the beach. They lay on the sand, gazing up at the stars and the moon.

"Look at the sky, Angel," Xander said softly.

"I am looking dickhead," came Angel's reply.

"Just look at it."

They spent the next several hours just staring at the sky and talking quietly not wanting to disturb the peace of the night.

Xander began rummaging through the backpack he brought with him. He pulled out a bottle of his blood he had prepared earlier, some herbs, a crumbled piece of paper and a torch.

Angel looked over curiously as Xander sifted the herbs into the blood. He swirled it around for a bit then spat in it.

"I hope you aren't making that for me," Angel said grimacing.

Xander grinned at him. "Just drink Deadboy. And keep drinking till it's all gone."

Angel looked at the bottle, then the grinning Xander and then the bottle again. "Don't you trust me?" asked Xander.

Angel grabbed the bottle and began to drink, making faces as he did. Xander began reciting the Latin on the page by the light of his trusty torch. When they both finished Xander looked intently at Angel.

"OK so what did that accomplish? Apart from me drinking your spit?" Xander was about to reply when Angel doubled over, retching and choking.

Xander smacked him in the head, "Breathe you idiot."

Angel lay gasping softly, and Xander watched his chest move up and down.

"Surprise, Deadboy!" he cheered ecstatically. "You are Deadboy no more!"

Angel sat up, still breathing with difficulty. He finally got it under control and looked up at Xander, smiling. His smile became a beam of pure sunshine and grabbed Xander into a rough hug.

Xander was still grinning and laughing like an idiot but he still managed to get out, "I'm still gonna call you Deadboy!"

As the sun came up that morning, they were waiting for it. Angel looked around bemusedly, watching the light colour all it touched. Xander produced a football and stood. "C'mon Deadboy, let's teach you to breathe."

Angel grinned and they ran up and down the beach tackling each other. They finally collapsed, exhausted and breathing hard, the long night taking its toll. They trekked up to the house and fell asleep.

Angel woke to the smells of pizza. His stomach grumbled loudly. He looked over at Xander happily stuffing his face with pizza, cheese sticking to his chin.

"Angel let me introduce you to the greatest gift ever bestowed on humans… pizza," he said reverently.

And so they ate. And ate. And ate. They sat back groaning, stomachs full.

"C'mon, let's go home."

"Yeh. Hey Xander, can I look at the spell?"

"Sure thing," Xander said pulling out the crumpled paper.

"What was with the spit thing?"

"My blood, my spit. Brother to brother."

Angel smiled at him. They packed up and trekked back to Sunnydale. They arrived as the sun was setting over the town. They stopped at Joyce's first Xander having planned for everyone to be there to see Angel. Joyce had prepared a banquet for them, and as they sat around eating and talking, Willow and Oz produced the fake documents. Angel looked over his papers and smiled. "Angel Harris," she muttered quietly.

"Brother to brother," Xander reminded him.

"23. Hmm a decent age. And older than you." He paused, "Little brother."

They all laughed at Xander's disconcerted face. Angel thought about the day's events. He was human. He still couldn't believe it. And everyone was here except Buffy and Giles. It was perfect. He still wanted to see Buffy but wasn't sure whether or not it was a good idea.

"Well Angel, what do you want to tomorrow?" Cordelia asked.

"Beach, football, food," he replied immediately.

"Yes, I have corrupted!" Xander exulted.

Joyce decided that she would stay and cook up a storm, having no interest in the kids playing football on the beach the next morning.


* * *
Joyce was frantically cooking, knowing when the kids came back they would be ravenous. She heard the door open and groaned, she was no where near ready.

"Mom?"

"Buffy?"

"Hey! Giles and I came back for a surprise visit, thought we'd say hi."

"Buffy!" her mother said again and ran up hugging her.

The 3 of them sat in the living room and began to chat. Joyce was about to tell Buffy about Angel becoming human when they heard voices coming up the drive.

"No way, that was unfair. Could you have thrown the ball more out to sea?" came Xander's plaintive whine.

"Just trying to push you little bro. Admit it, you loved getting wet."

"Well I for one didn't. Xander why on earth did you take me with you? Do you know how long its going to take to get my hair normal again?" Cordelia screeched.

"Hey, blame him," Xander said, pointing at Angel.

"Yeh all blame Angel!" cried Willow.

"Stacks on!" cheered Oz.

And they all jumped on Angel, wrestling and trying to pin him down. Buffy raced outside at the sound of his name to find her friends in a midst of arms, legs, and heads with the occasional, "Ow" and tons of giggling.

Angel stood, throwing them all off him. "Yeh heh! Still got the old vampire strength," he said grinning.

Buffy watched him intently. How good he looked in the sun, tall, proud and even more handsome than ever. He had his eyes closed, his face towards the sun, smiling.

Xander crept up behind him and jumped on his back, bringing him to his knees. "Agh!" They began wrestling again. Angel had Xander in a head lock and Xander was pleading, "C'mon big brother, Deadboy, buddy, pal…"

Suddenly Angel caught sight of Buffy watching them from the doorway, Joyce and Giles just behind.

"Hey, everyone," she said softly.

"Buffy!" cried Willow.

They all surrounded her with hugs and kisses, except Angel who stood frozen on the lawn.

"Sun is a good look for you," she joked weakly.

"I always told you, you'd look beautiful in sunlight. And you are."

They stopped and looked around nervously, desperately trying to find something to say. Joyce came to their rescue, informing them all that dinner was on.

During lunch, Buffy and Giles were filled in on Angel's transformation. Angel himself kept his eyes on the table, rarely speaking. He was confused, uncomfortable. Buffy was here. What should he do? Normally, he'd do that thing where he was gone but this time he knew he really couldn't.

Angel helped when Joyce started to carry the dishes into the kitchen. He thought He waited till Joyce had turned around and he began to sidle towards the door. He was halfway through when he heard Joyce scream, "Angel Harris, don't you even think about it!" He paused, wondering if he should just bolt. "Inside. NOW!!" made him quickly close the door, with him on the inside. He smiled ruefully at her. She opened her mouth to berate him when a new, slightly strangled voice interrupted them, "Angel Harris? Harris?" Buffy looked stunned until Xander came up and clapped an arm around Angel's shoulders. "Yeh brother's. Who'd ever thought?"

"Buffy. I think we need to talk," Angel said, looking straight at her.

"Yeh," she said softly.

"A walk? The graveyard?"

"Where else?" she muttered sarcastically. They walked a few blocks in silence. When they reached the graveyard they sat, staring up at the blue sky.

"So…"

"Yeh.. so…" she replied looking at him.

He grabbed her and kissed her. He kissed her until the blood pounded through his body and his lungs burned from lack of oxygen. And she kissed him back, putting her arms around his neck and drawing him closer. They finally paused for breath still holding each other tightly.

"I know this doesn't change anything. All the things I have done and things I have said still hurt you. But I will be damned if I let this chance go. We can have a real life together Buffy. I love you so much, you're still the only thing I think about. I love you," he said again, kissing the top of her head gently. "And I will not let you leave me again."

She looked up at him, tears rolling softly down her face. "Angel, I love you too. I never stopped. I kept running away, hoping it would lessen but the more I ran the more it hurt. And now we have a chance to be together." She kissed him gently saying, "You're mine."

He picked her up, swirling her around and around in the afternoon sun, laughing joyously. Angel stopped suddenly and looked around.

"Come out Xander," he sighed.

"It is a well known tradition that younger siblings must spy on the older ones. I never had an opportunity before," he grinned insolently.

Angel growled at him good-naturedly. Buffy forestalled any more rumbling by stepping between them. "Xander, I want to thank you for what you did for Angel. I am so happy, more than you can ever know."

"You're welcome," he said solemnly before spoiling it with a grin.

And laughing the three of them walked back to Buffy's house.

The End


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