Title: Jealousy Springs Eternal
Author: Adalisa
Email: [email protected]

Feedback: It helps a lot when one is depressed.
Distribution: XanderSlash's site and my site. Anywhere else, just ask. I won't say no.
Web site: http://members.tripod.com/luxshine/

Summary: Corey is back and Spike is jealous.
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Xander, Angel, and everybody else here is property of Joss Whedon, Warner Bros. And another bunch of people. Corey Raines belongs to I don't know who. But they keep treating them bad, so I play with them.

Content: X/Others
Spoilers: Season 4. But very vague.
Series: Forever Young (Buffy/Highlander crossover, now named! )

"Xander!"

"Xander!!"

The yells of his friends were the first things to occur to his quickening-dazed mind. The second was the sensation of being held by two strong arms.

Corey's arms.

It all came back to him then. Who he was, the immortality thing, the fight, the pain... The fact that he really had to keep all that a secret.

"Ooh... my head..." Xander mumbled, moving away from his friend.

"Be thankful that it still hurts." Corey said, softly.

"Xander, What's going on?" Buffy arrived at their side, standing in a very defensive position. "Buffy?" He gasped, blinking and trying to look confused. "Willow? What are you doing in Ohio?"

"This is not Ohio, Xander..." Willow whispered, moving carefully behind Giles.

"What do you mean... this is not..." Xander made a show of looking at his surroundings, before smiling nervously. "Oh... Will... What am I doing in our old high school? And what did you do to your hair?"

"Xander?" Corey was looking at him, totally confused. But the teenager didn't had much time to explain his actions, as Giles took the lead.

"What is the last thing you remember?" The ex- Watcher was frowning, and Xander knew that all depended on what he answered.

"Women's club in Ohio." He got to his feet, wondering how could he pick up his sword without calling attention to himself. "After... well... I am not going to tell you all about that... A couple of friends and I went out for a ride. That's it. You remember something more, Corey?"

Apparently the immortal thief understood as he shook his head. He didn't know anything about a Women's Club anyway.

"So I was right!!" Willow's face brightened as she clasped her hands. "The wizard's enemies possessed live bodies to try and get revenge!"

"What wizard?" This time, Corey and Xander's answer was not acted. They were truly confused about the red head's declaration.

"We will explain everything later, Xander." Giles took the command of the situation. "I believe you and your... friend... will need time to rest after this ordeal."

"Oh, sure." Xander shook his head and smiled. "I forgot. I think. Guys, this is Corey Raines, I met him in Ohio. Corey, these are the friends I told you about."

Corey nodded, politely, wondering if things would be so easy. Experience told him that things were never easy.

"You're forgetting your sword." Spike suddenly spoke up, handing Xander the Spanish steel blade that had saved his life.

"What sw...?" Xander kept his act together, as he set his eyes on the precious weapon. "What's _it_ doing here? That is one of the best blades in my brother's collection! If it dents..."

"Obviously, revenge seeking spirits don't care about your family valuables." Buffy smiled, and the subject was dropped as they all walked away.

But Corey was right. Something was already wrong with the ease with which their lie had been accepted.

Only two people had noticed the mistake, and neither had said a thing. Both were waiting for the right moment to mention that Xander had not shown any sign of surprise or shock upon seeing Spike.

It was not the sound of swords that woke Spike up.

He had not been able to sleep, lying down in Xander's basement. The teenager hadn't bothered with tying him up in a long time, which gave Spike freedom to move... but the vampire never used much of that freedom.

Except for that night. Taking advantage of the fact that Xander was up in his own room, that Raines was sleeping upstairs in the guest room... Spike had taken up residence on Xander's basement bed.

And he remembered.

He thought back to the day when he had met Xander; the day he had returned to Sunnydale and destroyed the teenager's love life; he hadn't had much time to know the boy, not really, but those brief moments spun around his mind, as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Why Xander had not been surprised... even repulsed by seeing him there, if the boy had really been possessed when Spike first returned?

Why had that made Spike feel relieved?

"Ah, Dru... Things were much simpler with you." He sighed, as he closed his eyes and remembered another night, years ago, when he had seen a glimpse of Xander.

It had been a Halloween night when things in Sunnydale were more chaotic than usual. Spike had enjoyed it greatly. He had almost killed the Slayer, turned into some brunette ditz. But her friends, the damned witch and Xander, had saved the day.

Xander had looked different that day, affected like everybody else by whatever spell had taken place. Xander had been a soldier, the one in charge.

He had still been somewhat close to that soldier when the Judge disaster happened.

Angelus hadn't noticed.

Dru hadn't cared.

But Spike had seen that spark... even then.

That admission, that simple and short knowledge, had kept him awake long enough to hear the swords clashing in the living room.

After cleaning himself up, and making sure that Spike was downstairs, Xander had shown Corey the guest room.

Although he had grown fonder of the basement, where he could have a house within his family's home, and learn to live in a small apartment, Xander had decided to return to his own room that night, unwilling to give Corey the wrong idea of his relationship of mutual hate with Spike.

As things stood, he didn't know how to tell Corey about the strange Sunnydale's nights.

"What do you think of a friendly spar?" The thief said, probably noticing that Xander was nervous and tense after his quickening.

"Sure!" The younger immortal smiled and soon both were in the living room, moving around some furniture. They started with a simple drill, warming up, Xander using his sharpened kendo boken, and Corey his normal sword.

By the time that they moved to the actual duel, they were also chatting. Corey told Xander about his latest brush with the law, when a cop woman in L.A. had shot him and he had waken up to see her checking up his wallet, and Xander told him all the small things in his life.

He was so at ease with Corey that he really didn't notice when his movements began to change from what Corey had taught him to a completely different technique, until the older immortal yelled in surprise when he actually managed to break his defense.

"What was that?!" The thief yelped, getting out of the way just in time to avoid the wooden sword's path.

"I... I don't know.." Xander paled, looking at the sword in his hands, and dropping the attack stance. "I've never done that before..."

Corey frowned. The older immortal left his own sword near the edge of their improvised mat and looked at him closely. "Do a basic drill with the boken. " he said, walking behind Xander.

"The one you taught me?"

"No." Corey was adamant in his answer, trying to decide how to continue.

"Close your eyes, concentrate in the fact that you're using a kendo boken and let your body guide you."

Unknown to both immortals, Spike was hidden behind the basement' door, listening. Xander executed a perfect kendo kata with his eyes closed, as if he had been doing it for years, using the sword not as a foreign object, but as a part of his own body.

"How did I do that?!" Xander asked when he finished, breathing hard and covered with sweat.

"It's the quickening." Corey answered with a smile. "You absorbed Lao-Tsu's abilities."

"Is that a good thing?" The boy said, suddenly serious. "I don't think I have more space inside my head."

"What?" Corey blinked at this, and Xander only laughed, remembering that he had never told his friend about his two brushes with possessions.

"Never mind. Will this happen every time?" Xander asked, as he placed the boken near the fireplace. "With every quickening?"

"No." Corey shook his head, sitting down. "But sometimes you risk being completely overwhelmed by your opponent's personality."

"Not good." Xander sighed. "We have to talk about those things. You didn't tell me anything about quickenings..."

"But first we have to rest..." Corey agreed, stretching out in the coach. "I don't know about you, but I'm dead!"

Both men laughed, and suddenly, Spike couldn't hear any other sound.

Corey lay awake in the Harris' guest room while trying about the situation he had stumbled into.

When he had first decided to come to Sunnydale after his bad slip in L.A., his plan had been to see if Xander had thought about his offer, if the boy had changed his mind about staying in the little town... And if he wanted to continue with the kiss he had started or not .

But now... Now he was very intrigued by the little town.

In his 400 something years of walking around, he had seen many weird things. Most in Duncan's company, some on his own. What he had never seen was a mortal who interrupted a duel so... non-chalantly. Or such glee when speaking about demons and possessions.

Something weird was going on there.

Then, there was the Spike thing.

Corey hadn't liked the blonde British guy from the moment they had been introduced. Although Xander had tried to be polite, Spike had been down right challenging. It was as if the other man saw Corey as a threat to his territory: Xander. It didn't seem as if the boy actually was in a relationship with the other man... but if it was not so... Why was Spike living in Xander's basement?

Jealousy, worry, and curiosity struggled in his mind until he fell asleep, dreaming of Xander's soft brown eyes.

A couple of days passed quietly, with routine setting in again. The girls were in college, Xander had his work at the bar, and Corey accompanied him.

Spike went to Giles' house, aware that Xander wanted to be alone with Corey, but unwilling to leave the young man for long periods of time.

He was getting obsessed about Xander, but Spike was no longer concerned about that.

Although he had tried to analyze his feelings before, all had been forgotten when he had overheard Xander and Corey's talk.

He suspected that the older man had something to do with Xander's sudden change. The cause of Xander's lies about being possessed. But he didn't want to discuss it with the Slayer or the Witch... so he had waited until he was alone with the Watcher.

"Xander was lying. He was _not_ possessed when he killed the 'immortal' wizard." The vampire was sitting in front of the Watcher's t.v., drinking the last remains of his dinner.

"I know." Giles answered, absent mindedly. "Do you know why?"

"Corey Raines." Under the intrigued gaze of Giles, Spike told him all: About Xander's constant practices, his final duel, his carrying of the sword and the talk he had overheard. The only thing he kept for himself was the mortal wound that had healed by itself. Spike was still trying to explain that one to himself, because Xander's scent was still human. And nothing human survived a carved chest.

"Quickening, they said?" Giles had took off his glasses to clean them, a clear sign of nervousness. "I don't remember having read that term in any book... Are you absolutely sure that Xander's life is in danger?"

"He has been preparing for duels like the one Buffy stopped, mate. And they seem to be to the death." Spike growled, and stared intently at him. "I'd say that means he is in danger."

Giles lifted his eyebrows at this surprised by Spike's reaction. Another piece of the puzzle, this sudden caring coming from the vampire. But there was no time to ponder it, as the more pressing business of Xander's mysterious friend had to be investigated.

In a bar in L.A., a phone rang.

A man in his forties picked it up, as the only other man in the room watched intrigued.

"Mmmm... I see." The first man said, after listening to the voice on the line. "Too many questions, right? Sunnydale is not far from..."

"I'll go." The second man interrupted. "Without Adam and Amanda around, I need a distraction."

"Hey, look who lost his shadows!" Buffy joked as she saw Xander walk towards the table where she and Willow were having lunch.

"I will just pretend I didn't hear that, Buff." He smiled, sitting down. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. Couple of vampires here, demon there... The initiative in between. What about you, stranger?" The Slayer offered him a soda, without much thought. "We haven't seen much of you since your friend arrived."

"The after effects passed yet?" Willow added, smiling with eager eyes.

"Ah?" Xander blinked, confused for a moment until he remembered the lie he had waved to explain the duel. "Yeah, yeah. We've been working on remember those months but... zip... nothing there."

"What about Spike?" Buffy asked, frowning slightly. Something didn't sound right but she couldn't place her finger on it. "Has he given you two have any troubles? Does Corey know about... you know...?"

"Dark things that bite?" Xander joked. "No, Buffy. I don't use my slayerette status to impress dates."

Both girls looked at their friend, stunned. Seeing them, Xander realized what he had said and blushed immediately. But didn't try to cover up the slip.

"Oh... so..." Buffy was the first to find her voice. "Does this have anything to do with your secret adventure at the strip club?"

Two nights later, midterms began.

Buffy and Willow had an upcoming test, so they couldn't do patrol, and since Giles promised Joyce that he would help her to fix the gallery because a probable partner was coming to see the place, Xander had volunteered to do the rounds after his work.

He was fervently hoping that it would be a quiet night, because Corey and Spike were with him. Just like Buffy had said, the vampire had become his shadow, and since the thief didn't like Spike, when he had heard that Xander was going to be out all night, he had insisted on coming along.

"So, what are we doing?" The immortal man was asking, while they rounded the crypts. Spike was a few steps behind, checking the two of them out. It was an unnerving situation for Xander. A very tense one.

Suddenly, a vampire rushed towards them, trying to knock Xander out of the way. Caught off guard, the young man staggered and could not prevent Corey from following the undead creature.

"Hey!! Where do you think you're going?!" The thief yelled as the attacker fled into an old crypt.

"Spike, stay back!" Xander ran behind them, hoping that his friend had not seen the wrinkled brow of the vampire.

As he got in the crypt, he barely got time to see Corey's trench coat when he noticed a glint of light in a nearby statue. It was the only warning before he saw the vampire draw a sword... aiming right at Corey's neck.

Without thinking, Xander jumped forward to push Corey... getting in the way of the sword that crossed his heart neatly. "... hit... chest..." he managed to mutter, before every thing went black .

Corey saw how Xander's lifeless body fell and then turned to face his killer.

"XANDER!!" Before the immortal could do anything, Spike entered the crypt, furious. With superhuman strength, the albino blond threw the attacker against the wall, hitting him mercilessly before plunging a stake into the thug's chest... making the thug explode into ashes.

Corey was trying to recover from that shock, pulling the sword out of Xander's chest, when Spike turned on him, tackling him to the ground.

"You're dead!" Spike growled, and his face shifted. In a mere second, his brow wrinkled and deepened, his eyes turned yellow... and his fangs grew. "And it's going to be very slow and painful..."

"Wha... What are you?"

"Your worst nightmare, mate."

The End.