Backfire - Spander Files

“Fine. But you know you can still come to me whenever you need.”
“I know. Giles?”
“Yes?”
“Does Willow know?”
“She does. Buffy insisted Willow stay in the room when I told her. You’ll need to
talk with her, too, I’m afraid.”
“Joy.”
*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*
After they said their goodbyes, Xander’s scar was screaming at him to get home.
However, he felt oddly determined to defy the pull (for no other reason than to
practice the control that he felt he should have), and instead of going to Angel’s, he
made a detour to his parents’ house.
The house was quiet, even though his dad’s truck was in the driveway. Without his
mother there, Xander couldn’t steal from her purse. And he wasn’t about to take
from his dad’s wallet, wherever he may be in the house. So Xander found the old
hillbilly-esque coffee can that was stashed behind the baked beans and spinach and
liberated eighty dollars. Enough to get by for a few weeks, but hopefully not
enough to be missed when they checked. Before replacing the can though, he took
out forty more, remembering that he was about to start openly dating Cordelia and
would have to keep her in the style to which she was accustomed.
Shame then, that it was that last minute decision that got his hand caught in the
cookie jar. The basement door banged open just as Xander was replacing the plastic
lid, hand still clutched around a fist of twenty dollar bills. He locked eyes with his
father and he felt a fear that he had not known since his first encounter with Spike.
Tony Harris approached his son slowly and Xander found himself frozen. But
instead of yelling or hitting, Tony simply took the money out of Xander’s hand,