tamingthemuse | Fic: The Boy Next Door: A Pirate's Life For Me, Xander/Spike, BtVS, Prompt

Written for

tamingthemuse prompt #58 - "Straight from the dead guy's mouth".

Title: A Pirate's Life for Me
Series: The Boy Next Door
Pairing: Spike/Xander, mentions of Ethan/Giles
Rating: Mature/Adults Only
Prompt: #58 - Straight from the dead guy's mouth
Spoilers: None, all human AU
Warnings: Underage, manipulation, dark!fic, daddy!kink, child abuse, overall dirty!bad!wrongness.
Summary: Xander needs some help but Spike decides to help himself to Xander.
Word Count: 1,538

And, due to the LJ Boldthrough, I am sporting a new disclaimer for this fic, thanks to

_sharvie_:

Disclaimer: No childrenz were hurt in teh making of this fanfic! *g*

Previous Parts.

Thanks to

_sharvie_ for the lovely banner beneath the cut.

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The Boy Next Door: A Pirate's Life For Me

Xander slept all the way to Los Angeles, curled in the backseat, petted and care for like a treasured child. When the car finally stopped, he sighed and stretched, the patch covering his eye slightly skewed.

"Are we here?" he whispered, his voice scratchy with sleep.

"Yeah, pet," Spike answered, helping the boy sit up.

Xander self-consciously adjusted the eye patch, making sure the injured orbit was completely covered. He smiled as Spike reached over to help move the band to make Xander's hair lay to make the patch less noticeable. The exposed hazel eye brimmed with tears that threatened to fall.

"No, no, no," Spike whispered quietly as he stroked his fingertips over the contours of the younger boy's eyebrows and cheekbones. "No crying, yeah? Everything's just fine. You'll see. We'll get you set right as rain."

Xander shook his head slightly, simply trying to rid himself of the gloom that remained despite the nerves that plagued him. As Spike helped him out of the car, Xander smiled sheepishly at the two older men waiting for them.

"Sorry," the young boy apologized quietly, staring down at his feet.

Ethan walked over, throwing his arm around Xander's shoulder, smiling widely. "Nothing to apologize for, Alexander. Let's go see what the doctor has to say, yes? I have a feeling we're in for some good news today."

Xander sighed and nodded, smiling as Ethan pulled him into a gentle side hug. Looking up, the young boy smiled at the two men watching them. Giles nodded and Spike smirked.

"Come on," Ethan said as he directed Xander inside the small, nondescript clinic with Spike and Giles following behind. As they stepped through the door, Xander looked around, trying to take in all his surroundings. He was surprised to see the amount of people sitting around the perimeter of the room, all waiting to see the doctor.

Ethan steered the young boy to the reception window where a smiling redheaded girl waited for them. When the young woman slid the window open, she greeted them warmly, "Hello, Mr. Rayne. Nice to see you again. It's good to see Alexander up and around."

"Thank you, Gwen," Ethan replied with a wink and a smile. The young receptionist giggled as she slid the window closed.

As Ethan steered the young back to his seat, Xander whispered, "You're good, you know that?"

"More than you know," Giles answered quietly as Spike laughed out loud. The three men sat, each of them chatting with the nervous boy in turn, trying to keep his mind off the reason they were here. Several long minutes later, the door opened and a young, pretty nurse stood in the doorway and called, "Mr. Rayne."

Xander looked over at Ethan for a sign of what to do. The Englishman just smiled.

"Mr. Rayne?" she called again.

Looking at Spike, Xander silently asked with his eye what was going on. Before Spike could say anything, the nurse called again.

"Alexander Rayne?"

Xander's uncovered eye flew open wide and Ethan chuckled lightly.

"Come on now, son," Ethan prodded as he helped the boy stand. "It's not nice to keep Fred waiting."

"The doctor's name is Fred?"

"No," the nurse replied. "I'm Fred."

"Okay," Xander said, confused by the entire situation.

As Ethan led him through the door behind the smiling nurse, Xander stared over his shoulder at the smirking blond boy tracking his very move. Spike winked at him, but Xander could tell the older boy was nervous and not at all pleased to be consigned to the waiting room.

The nurse took all of Xander's vital information; height, weight, blood pressure, and temperature, before escorting him to the examination room. She turned to close the door and said, "The doctor will be with you shortly."

As soon as the door clicked shut, Xander turned and asked Ethan, "Why did they call me Alexander Rayne?"

Ethan sighed, remaining silent for a moment before answering. "It was easier to get you in here without questions asked by saying you were my son. Besides, there was paperwork that needed to be signed and the procedure required parental permission considering the fact that you are still considered underage by American standards."

"Okay," Xander drawled slowly. "But I thought you said that my dad's insurance was paying for all of this. How does that work if they think you're my dad?"

A look of panicked shock passed across Ethan's features for a split second before the older man simply smiled. "It's simply a matter of preparing the billing paperwork just right."

"Sure," Xander scoffed. "Did my dad actually have an accident at work?"

Ethan paused for a moment before shaking his head. "He was found on his worksite badly injured. Paperwork was found in the office signed by the foreman stating he had permission to work overtime and he is actually receiving disability pay while he – recovers."

Xander sat silently, taking all the information in. Finally, he whispered, "Just tell me Spike wasn't involved."

"He was busy taking care of you," Ethan answered. "Ripper on the other hand..."

"Giles?!" Xander exclaimed. "Giles really..?"

"Yes," the older man whispered quietly. "He really did. He cares for you, you know. We all do."

Xander's head dropped and he forced himself not to cry.

"I'm going to pay you back someday, you know that, right?"

Ethan chuckled as he pulled the boy into a gentle hug. "I would expect nothing less from you, son." A soft kiss was placed on top of curly sable locks. "You really are smarter than others give you credit for."

Xander was about to respond with his normal self-deprecating comments when a small knock was heard on the exam room door. The doctor entered, smiling at the two.

"Hello again," he said as he sat on a small, rolling stool before extending a hand toward Xander. "It's nice to see you awake, Alexander. I'm Doctor Tam. Let's see how you're healing, alright?"

Xander scowled at the young man. "You look awfully young to be a doctor," he complained before turning to the man sitting next to him. "Have you checked his credentials? He doesn't look much older than Spike."

The doctor laughed softly for a moment before saying, "It's alright. I understand that I look young, but don't worry. I graduated at the top of my class and I do know what I'm doing. You're not the first person I've performed this procedure on."

"And he'd tell me you did a good job?"

"Sure," the doctor answered, smiling. "You could get it straight from the dead guy's mouth."

Xander simply glared at the young man.

"Was he this funny when I was unconscious?" he asked completely deadpan.

Ethan laughed loudly. "Even more so. I think it's a nervous reaction."

The doctor chuckled softly. "There really is nothing to worry about. My sister River is helping me work on my bedside manner, but I don't think she's doing such a great job."

Xander smiled at the embarrassed doctor. "No, you're doing fine, I just want to know whether or not I'm going to have to learn to sing 'Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me' or not."

Dr. Tam chuckled lightly. "Well, let's take a look then, shall we?"

The eye patch came off and the doctor performed several tests, pressing on the previously shattered bones, shining a light in the injured orb and making Xander track his finger visually. The light seemed too bright and the strain of trying to focus his injured eye was giving him a headache so he was happy when the doctor gently replaced the patch over his tired eye.

"Well," the doctor finally started after he completed his notes in Xander's chart. "It looks like you can forget about finding your sea legs."

"What?" Xander asked, afraid to believe what Dr. Tam was telling him in his own, teasing way.

"Your eye seems to be healing just fine," the kind doctor replied. "For the next two weeks, I want you to take off the eye patch in the evenings when you are at home. Dim the lights, if you have to, but you should go at least two hours every night without the patch on. You need to exercise the eye gently at first. After two weeks or so, start going outside without it, just make sure you wear good quality sunglasses while outside. I'll refill your pain medicine prescription because I'm sure you'll be getting headaches from the eyestrain, but you should be just fine within the month."

"So, no eye patch, no pirate jokes?"

"No pirate jokes, not permanently, anyway."

Xander's smile was blinding. He turned to Ethan and the older man gathered him into a crushing hug.

"That's excellent news," Ethan crowed before relinquishing his hold on the young boy to shake the doctor's hand. "Thank you so much. We really appreciate your discretion in this matter."

"As I have always appreciated yours," the young doctor replied.

Xander probably would have found the comment odd had he not been beside himself with the need to go and tell Spike the good news.

Tbc...