~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
Once they had managed to convince Angel to let go of Willow and Faith had
helped Spike get settled back into his
wheelchair, the odd group set out, headed for Angel’s home.
Faith pushed Spike’s wheelchair because Spike’s arms
were currently holding Willow as tightly as possible as the redehead,
no longer in tears, sat in his lap. The slender
young woman had climbed in the blonde vampire’s lap almost as soon
as Faith had gotten him settled, and she
showed no signs of wanting to get up anytime soon. Angel, on the
other hand, was still a bit dazed by the fact that
Willow had finally spoken after four excruciatingly long months,
and the brunette Slayer was having a bit of trouble
keeping the vampire focused on the task at hand. If it wasn’t for
the fact that she needed him to direct her to his house,
she wouldn’t have bothered.
“Nice digs,” Faith told the souled vampire as they came upon the two-story
house. It looked perfect for a suburban
family. Not exactly the kind of place one expected to find
two vampires living with a nineteen year old girl. It was the
kind of place Faith had always wished she lived in.
“It’s a place to live,” Angel replied absently, his eyes still focused
on Willow as the redhead finally got up from Spike’s
lap and wandered into the house.
“She’s not going to disappear, you know,” Faith told him as she released
her grip on Spike's chair, watching as the
vampire wheeled himself in the direction Willow had gone.
“She did today. She just ran out the door... and she disappeared.”
“That she did,” the brunette conceded as she entered the house in front
of Angel. She glanced over her shoulder at the
vampire as she entered the family room. “So... you going to
tell me about it? Spike promised, but apparently he’s
busy.”
“After what happened... I guess I owe it to you.”
“I tried to kill you how many times? Face it, you don’t owe me a damn thing.”
“You took care of Willow today.”
“I was hardly even there.”
“You were willing to protect her from me,” Angel reminded her, thinking
back to when she had the stake poised over his
unbeating heart. “You were prepared to kill me in order to
protect her.”
“Oh, yeah. About that... I thought you were Angelus, you know?
And, well, I’d just seen all those graves and Willow said
Angelus did it, so I thought... I didn’t know she’d gone loopy, so
I believed her.”
“She’s not loopy, Faith. And she told you the truth. I did
it. I killed them all. Spike’s the only reason that I
didn’t kill
Willow while I was at it.” He shook his head as he ran his
hand through his hair.
“But... what? How?”
“Okay. Long story short. I was drugged. Don’t know what
it was. Some type of chemically induced bliss. It was
temporary, but-”
“Angelus came out to play anyway,” Faith finished for him before slanting
a look at the vampire. He was staring at the
carpet. “So basically what you’re saying is, we put you on
barbiturates, and you’ll be good for eternity.”
“Faith...”
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think I could ever find happiness after what I’ve done, anyway.”
“God, you’re just as brooding as ever,” the Slayer said with a snort.
“Look, now that I know you’re not evil, I’ll go my
way, you go yours. If we’re lucky, we can avoid each other.”
“Wait!” Angel cried, grabbing the brunette’s arm. “Where are you staying?”
“Wherever it suits me.”
“That’s not an answer, Faith. It’s already dark outside. Do you have any clue where you’re sleeping tonight?”
“I can’t take care of myself,” the girl said petulantly as she pulled her arm away.
“I don’t doubt that. You are a Slayer after all. Stay here tonight.”
“What? Hello? Me, evil. Tried to kill you? Ringing any bells for you?”
“You really cling to that, don’t you? Faith, the bad girl. The rebel.”
“It’s what I am.”
“Maybe. You’re also the girl was protecting Willow.” With a
sigh, he decided to try another tactic. “Earlier you said I
didn’t owe you anything.
You did, after all, try to kill me. More than once, if I remember
correctly. Plus, you tried to steal my soul. So I figure you
owe me. What
if that’s what I want?”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what I want from you. I want you to stay here. That
way, I won’t have to worry about you. No fears that I’ll hear
about your body being dragged out of the water on the news tomorrow.
I’d hate to have to tell Willow that her protector
got herself killed. Today... today was the first time she’s
said anything since it happened. And she spoke to
you. That’s got to mean something. I tell her you’re
dead, she might stop talking again. You don’t want that to
happen,
do you?”
“You’re too damn good at this guilt thing,” Faith told him with a sigh.
“Years of practice.”
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
Spike found Willow in the den, holding the picture Angel had drawn.
“No, love, you don’t need to be looking at that,” he told her, trying to
pull the macabre rendering from her grasp. She
easily evaded him, still staring at the drawing, her eyes focused
on the faces of her friends. Faces that were etched
with the agony of violent death.
“Why, Spike?” Willow whispered, her voice still a bit hoarse from months
of disuse. She raised her gaze to meet the
burning blue eyes of the vampire before her. “Why did he draw
this?”
“Another form of torture, pet,” Spike said after a moment, sighing in
defeat. He knew she wouldn’t leave the subject
alone until she was satisfied. Even without her speech she
had been persistent. And now... well, now he was so
happy that she was talking again, he figured he would end up answering
any question she had, no matter how
painful. “Peaches was always good at self-flagellation.”
“This isn’t self-flagellation. This... I don’t know what this is. What’s wrong with him, Spike?”
“I don’t know,” the vampire admitted quietly as he wheeled over to her.
This time, she released the drawing when he
reached for it. “He’s done it before... drawn things like this.
And he broods.”
“He’s always brooded. Ever since I met him.”
“This is different. It’s like he’s not... aware. It’s like he’s not even there. He has no idea what’s going on around him.”
“For how long?”
“A few hours at most.”
“Not that how long. I mean... days, weeks, when did it start?”
“The whole time. Or very nearly so. I’d say at least the last
three months, off and on. He started thinking you’d never
speak-”
“So it’s my fault?”
“No! Bloody hell, I didn’t mean that. Peaches was just-”
“Guilty over what Angelus had done. And my muteness was a reminder
of that, and so is your wheelchair. Another way
to torture himself, I guess. Keep us both around, make himself
look at what the demon did.”
“That’s not why he wants you here.”
“I know. I know he cares about me and wants to protect me.
If Angelus hadn’t been the one to hurt me, Angel would
have taken care of me anyways. But...he has those memories,
Spike, those memories of what Angelus did.”
“And just what do you want to do about it, pet?”
“I want to help him. I want to be there for him, like he was for me.”
“Then I guess that’s what we do.”
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~