Title: Seeking His Place 6/?
Author: Kate R.
Disclaimer: Own nothing and no one used
herein. The X-men belong to Marvel
Entertainment Group; the Angel
characters belong to Joss Whedon. I'm not
making any money off this so
please don't sue me.
Dinner at a boarding school was interesting, Giles thought as he and his group sat near Wesley and his teenaged entourage. The food was good though. Of, course Xander was nothing to go by, he ate anything. No, Giles' opinion came form his own tasting of the fare. It was good. He was enjoying this time, just watching Wesley interact with the younger students. Seeing Wesley happy and laughing as he'd not been or done in Sunnydale or LA was something to be treasured. Giles was glad to be able to see it. Wesley looked up at his and grinned openly.
"Have some pudding," he said to him. "I personally think it's good."
Giles nodded and took a serving of the pudding. It was as good as Wesley said it would be. Giles was watching Spike as well. He'd fed earlier, now he was just eating. Spike was odd for a vampire. He loved to eat and listen to music and watch television and all those things most vampires despised. He would watch cartoons with Dawn, play monopoly with Xander and talk Brit slang with Giles and Ethan when he was around. Spike was more human than some people Giles knew. Giles almost choked as Spike made two breadsticks do the can-can with a couple of knives. The students closest to him were laughing and Giles had to admit it was amusing. Spike and his idea of funny.
Giles looked up hearing Jean Grey comment on something and looked directly at her.
"Actually, Miss Grey," he said. I find it quite easy to contact someone telepathically even in a room such as this. If you can't do it, perhaps you aren't as powerful as you think you are."
The woman looked back at Giles almost insulted and he chuckled.
"Don't believe I'll do it?" he asked. "Don't believe I can? Very well. I suppose one such as you needs proof."
Giles closed his eyes briefly and sent a mental summons out to the one person whom he was bonded to in mind, heart and spirit from when he was much younger.
/ETHAN!!! / He called in his mind. All of the people at the head table stared in surprise as he summoned and they could feel the distance he was reaching across. All those with mind powers at any rate. A flash of light preceded the arrival of someone new to the drama. Ethan Rayne looked up at Giles from the position he had been in when Giles summoned him. Clad only in worn gray sweat pants and thin tank top, Ethan Rayne looked spell muddled and confused.
"I haven't bloody done anything this time," he muttered. Giles grinned and pulled him into a passionate kiss.
"Thank you for answering me. I was answering a false statement made by our hosts here. Ethan, this is Jean Grey. Miss Grey, my lover, Ethan Rayne. He lives in London England."
"Bloody great Ripper, can you conjure me a bleedin' shirt? It's 11:00pm where I was."
"Sorry luv," Giles said. He could see Wesley and his friends laughing and he turned Ethan to introduce them.
"Wesley, this is Ethan. Ethan, this is my son Wesley."
Ethan looked at Wesley closely and smiled when he saw whatever he was looking for.
"My pleasure Wesley," he said. Giles grinned as the two shook hands. Wesley knew who Ethan Rayne was from the Watcher records but he also knew more. He knew Why Ethan was the way he was and almost all of it could be laid at the Council's feet.
Wesley looked at Giles, his father and saw how pleased he was that Wesley had accepted Ethan. How could he not when the man obviously made Giles so happy?
"You'll have to come to the States so my father isn't so lonely all the time," he said. Ethan chuckled and nodded. He would come and be with Giles if Giles wanted him.
"Anyway, Ethan," Wesley said. "This is Illyana. I thought perhaps and you and Giles could help her. Half her soul is like yours, black as pitch. She was a child when it was done to her as well.
Ethan nodded and looked at Illyana. "I think we can help, yes," he said as he looked through her. There is no Light without darkness child," he told her. He chuckled as he caught a mental thought form Ripper. Yes, he was a prankster and he did lie and cheat a lot, but he knew a great deal about life and he planned to see this girl was spared the hell he had lived through in his life. This girl would not be warped as he was. It had taken him twenty years to get the tangles out of his own soul. No one should have to live like that.
"Ethan?" Wesley asked softly. Ethan looked at him and hid the pain quickly.
"Are you a mutant too? Like Giles is?" Wesley asked. Ethan nodded.
"Ripper and I trained ourselves. There was no one then. We also augmented it with magic. Which is what you've done whether or not you realize it."
"You trained yourselves?" Jean asked. "Then you must need our help."
"Not at all my dear," Ethan responded politely. "Ripper and I did fine on our own and no one screws with us. And we are quite content with ourselves. What is this obsession with making everyone like you? If there is no diversity, the world gets boring."
"But it was the wrong way!" She snapped.
"Really? Face me mind to mind. Try to read me, what do you find?" Ethan challenged. When Jean tried to enter Ethan's mind, Giles out right laughed. His wards, by Giles and by Janus himself, threw her out.
"Did I forget to mention? I am very well protected mentally? And that was only the very edges of my mind. You should learn something before you go spouting off. Your way is not always right or good. Sometimes another way is better. My pranks weren't always funny at the time but it usually stopped something or showed something. You should stop harassing us now. We get angry when people try to intrude on our thoughts. Ripper, can we go to bed? Since you called me here and I don't have what I need to get back?"
"Sure Ethan. I think I know how to go where I was just shown mentally."
Ethan followed Giles after his lover hugged his son good night and waved to everyone else. He noticed the boy Xander and the bleached blond vampire holding hands as they went up to bed too. Ethan was exhausted. He'd done a minor ceremony to the Gods and depleted the chaos in him before it caused an even more suicidal prank.
Giles bade everyone goodnight and led Ethan out of the hall. Wesley laughed from his place at the table at the look on Jean's face. Illyana laughed too. Wesley's father and his other friends sure knew how to give out life lessons.