Chapter Six
And The Ass is Bitten
The
sun was just coming over the horizon when Buffy arrived back at the loft and
threw open the door. She was frantic to get out of
The
door slammed against the wall as she opened it.
Stopping dead in her tracks she was abruptly reminded of something else.
“Faith.”
She sneered as she looked at the brunette.
Faith
jumped up from the couch and ran over to her, “Thank god you’re back B. Jesus
you were gone for a long time, I was beginning to get
worried.”
Faith
smiled at her, truly relieved to see Buffy back home. But her smile quickly
faded as she saw the cold look the blonde gave her.
“Get
out.” Buffy said as she walked around Faith and into her bedroom.
Faith
looked at the straightness of Buffy’s back and the stiffness of her shoulders
and knew that the shit had hit the fan.
She followed her into the bedroom, “Buffy please listen to me. I wanted
to tell you. I should have told you. It was wrong of me not to and I apologize.
I’m so sorry,.”
But
Buffy wasn’t listening to her. The fear
of running into Parker was stronger then anything else, “I don’t have time to
listen to you Faith. Okay, so just
forget it, it doesn’t matter.”
After
Buffy left Angel at the house all she could think about was her imminent
reunion with Parker and it scared the hell out of her. She was alone now. Angel wouldn’t come to her rescue he hated
her and never wanted to see her again.
That hurt so much that she was slowly on the verge of cracking. She
couldn’t take anything else right now. The more she moved around the room and
the more she thought about it, the more unhinged she became.
Faith
watched as Buffy frantically ran around the room. She flew into the closet and
yanked out a bag. Then she moved from draw to draw pulling clothes out and
shoving them inside the bag, all the while babbling incoherently.
“Not
dead. How can that be? I have to get out
of here. I have to leave.”
Faith
grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her. “Buffy what the hell are you
rambling about?”
Buffy
stopped and looked at her, her eyes were big and frantic and she spoke in a rush
of words that Faith barely made out. “He’s alive. Angel thinks I knew. But I didn’t I swear! I
had no part in it. I just wanted to get out. I just wanted to live my life! He
hates me. He thinks I lied to him. Have to leave. Have to leave before he finds
me!”
Faith
touched her wet cheek, cupping it gently in an attempt to calm her down.
“Shhh…Buffy slow down.”
She
steered her toward the bed and sat her down. She grabbed a tissue off the
nightstand and started to wipe her face. “Now take deep breaths and tell me
what happened.”
Buffy
closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm her fears.
“Parker…he’s alive.”
“What?”
Faith’s heart lurched understanding the significance of Buffy’s panic and what
that meant.
“He’s
alive and he’s coming for me. I have to go.” She went to get up but Faith
pulled her back down on the bed.
“Buffy.
Slow down and start at the beginning.”
“I
went to Angel’s and I found a secret room and I…” her
eyes suddenly looked at Faith and they hardened. “You knew! You knew and you didn’t tell me!”
“I
know Buffy I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you but Spike said it was better for
Angel to. I was trying to talk some sense into his head but he wasn’t listening
to me. I was going to tell you tonight I swear.”
Buffy
looked at her, with sad eyes. In her heart she did forgive Faith because she
probably would have done the same thing if the tables were turned and Angel
asked her not to say anything. But it was still hard to grasp that someone she
trusted didn’t share an important secret like this with her. “I trusted you
Faith. You were my friend.” She cried and Faith’s own eyes welled up with
tears.
“Shh…Buffy I still am your friend. You’re my sister
remember? What I did was wrong and I promise you that I will never ever keep
secrets from you again.”
Buffy’s
shoulders jerked as she started to cry harder.
She wasn’t mad at Faith. She loved Faith just like she loved Angel, and
she couldn’t lose someone else she loved today. “It’s…okay. I understand. I
can’t lose you too.”
Faith
smiled at her, “Stop it B you’re not losing me!
We’re blood remember. We stay together.”
Buffy
smiled slightly at her and nodded her head.
Faith
smiled back, “Good. Now when we settle this Parker thing you can kick my ass.
But first you’re going to tell me everything that Angel said.”
“He
said that he knew about the scam. That the last heist, the one at the museum that I told you about?”
Faith shook her head, “went sour and that the cops were on to us. He thinks that
we staged Parker’s death to throw the cops off. He thinks that I came here to
wait for Parker!”
“What?”
Faith’s temper was slowly starting to rise with every word that Buffy said.
“He
said I was a whore. He doesn’t want
anything to do with me anymore!”
“Fucking bastard!” Faith hissed. She was going to kill him.
In
a blink of an eye Buffy’s manner changed from hysterical to very quiet. When
she looked back at Faith her eyes were clear and hard. She fleetingly wondered
out loud, “maybe he never really loved me.”
Even
though Faith was ready to kill Angel, she knew that that was not true. “No Buffy, that’s not true Angel does love
you. You know how possessive he is. When he found out that you were married to
Parker he just flipped. He’s not thinking clearly.”
“No
Faith you didn’t see him. He knows
everything; Parker, what I did when I lived in
“So
we’ll just sit him down and talk to him that’s all. He’s just shocked Buffy
he’ll come around.”
Buffy
shook her head, “no it’s over. I can’t
stay here Faith, I can’t waste any time. I have to leave LA.”
She
went to rise but Faith pulled her back down.
“Buffy slow down, what did he say about Parker? How does he know he’s coming for you?”
“He
had a file on me. A fucking file Faith! I don’t know where he got his information and
I don’t care. All I know is that I have to leave!” She jumped up and ran out of the bedroom with
her bag and headed toward the door.
Faith
ran after her. “Where are you going to go Buffy? You know as well I do if
Parker wants to find you he will.”
“I
don’t know. I just know that I can’t stay here. The club is yours Faith. I’ll
call you when I find a safe place.”
She
threw open the door but her feet didn’t move. Her hand clutched the doorknob
and her heart stopped for the second time that day, as she stared into the dark
eyes of her dead husband.
“Hi
sweetheart long time no see.”
**********************
When
Angel didn’t return to the hotel after meeting The Mayor and still hadn’t shown
up the next morning, the gang tried to call him. When his cell phone just rang and rang Spike
got worried. He told everyone to wait at the hotel while he quickly jumped on
his bike and went everywhere he thought Angel might have gone.
He
pulled into Angel’s driveway noting that there was no busted up Porsche sitting
in the driveway, he parked and walked up to the door.
“Not
locked. Not a good sign.” Angel always
locked his door and put on the alarm system.
He didn’t know what happened but he was going to be ready for anything.
He pulled his gun out and opened the door.
Silently stepping inside he started to move through the house very
slowly.
After
checking the first floor and finding nothing out of place he headed upstairs.
The second he turned the corner and saw the demolished wall to the secret room,
he cursed.
Holstering
his gun he walked inside. The room was in shambles; every piece of furniture
was broken and dismantled. All the computer equipment was sizzling and
smoking. The walls were littered with
holes the size of a man’s fists. And
Angel’s treasured cabinet that belonged to his father was smashed into tiny
bits.
“Shit.”
Looking
down he saw the papers all over the floor, squatting he picked them up and
stared to read them.
His
eyes widened with every word that he read. He couldn’t believe it. Buffy was a
thief. Or at least she had been a thief, and a very good and respected thief to
boot.
He
read over some of her jobs and he couldn’t help but whistle in awe. He
remembered every single one of those jobs because his crew was supposed to do
them. But then someone else had beaten
them to it. It was a known fact in their world that The Scourge of Europe was
the best in the business, except for one thief that no one knew the name
of. Well now they did.
Spike
could only imagine the buttons that information must have pushed in the
egotistical Angel. That was always a
sore spot with him, the thought that there was someone out there just as good
as he was or perhaps even better, and never knowing who it was. Then to find out that it’s the love of your
life! The woman that had been sharing
his bed - that must have been quite a blow.
His
eyes crinkled with confusion, that information would not have been enough to
cause this kind of damage, there must be something else in that file. He kept rummaging through the papers until he
found it. “Bullocks!”
He
jumped up and out of the room and ran down the stairs. Closing the front door he jumped on his bike
and blasted out of the driveway. He
hoped that he made it to the Graveyard before the lummox did anything stupid.
**********************
She
couldn’t move. If she didn’t know any better she’d think she had been standing
there with her hand on the door for three days. But it was only seconds.
Parker
cunningly smiled seeing how flustered she was. It was exactly the response he
was hoping for. He moved in closer and tenderly touched her face, bringing her
closer to his. “No kiss for your loving husband?” He softly asked, just as his
lips descended on hers.
Buffy
still couldn’t move as she let him touch her face. She felt his lips on hers
and her body responded as her stomach protested, churning restlessly with
revulsion. Still she couldn’t move.
Faith
on the other hand could. And she did.
She walked up to him and grabbing Buffy tore her away from him and
stepped in between them. “Leave her alone. Get out.”
Parker’s
smile faded and he glared at Faith. “Look honey, I don’t know who you are, but
it’s not very nice to get in between a husband and his wife.”
Parker
took a step inside and Faith pushed a quiet Buffy back as she stepped away from
Parker. “No you look asshole, you’re dead and she’s not your wife anymore. So
you can just take your bullshit and get out of here!”
Parker
didn’t like that and he quickly backslapped Faith across the face. She stumbled not expecting the blow and fell
to her knees.
“Mind
your own fucking business bitch!”
Buffy
snapped out of her stupor to see Faith on the floor with blood trickling from
her mouth and she stepped up to Parker.
“’Leave
her alone!” She started to pummel him in
the chest with her fists, screaming at him that he was dead but Parker just
laughed at her. He grabbed her hands and threw her off of him. Buffy went over to help Faith up as Parker
started to walk around the room.
“You’ve
done real good for yourself sweetheart. Nice place and a big club. Oh and I can’t forget
all those explicit photos that I see everywhere.”
‘Sweetheart’, she shivered with repulsion
at hearing that endearment off of his lips.
It was his favorite word to call her and she had forgotten how much she
hated it. He had a distinct gift of making the word sound sincere and sweet,
yet at the same time it was full of malevolence and manipulation.
He
turned black eyes to her, “You know I’ll have to punish you for that
later. I mean no wife of mine is going
to get away with whoring herself off to the world.”
All
the bad memories that Buffy had pushed away came back with full force. All the
times that he would belittle her, all the times he would ‘punish’ her for doing
something that he didn’t like returned twofold, and she couldn’t contain the small
cry of fear that escaped her lips.
Faith
felt her fear and she squeezed her hand bringing her wild eyes up to hers. She
shook her head, silently telling her that was not going to happen, and gave her
all the strength that she had in her body to hold on.
Parker
continued to walk around the room touching everything until he stopped at the
picture on the table. It was of her and Angel, laughing together on the
beach. They were holding each other
close and they were barely clothed.
Parker
picked it up and his scowl darkened. “Yes, you’ve been keeping very busy
haven’t you?”
Seeing
Parker pick up her favorite picture she snarled and ran at him, reaching for
the picture. “Give that to me!”
But
Parker was fast and he moved it out of her reach laughing as she tried to grab
it.
“Damn
it Parker it’s mine!” She kept trying to grab it and Parker kept laughing in
her face at her attempts.
“Why
do you want it? It’s not like your ever going to see him again. You’re a married woman Buffy doesn’t he know
that? Don’t you know that!” he shouted at her.
“Give
it to me!” She shouted again and this time he threw it at her in disgust.
“Fine
have it.”
Buffy
grabbed it and adoringly touched the photo as Parker avidly watched her. He never saw her look the way she did in that
moment. It was clear that she loved the
man in the photo because her eyes reflected nothing but pure raw emotion. She
had never shown him sentiments like that.
The Buffy he knew had always been beautiful but she was always meek and
submissive. She always did what she was
told without asking questions. It was one of the things he loved about
her. It made her so much more
attractive.
But
this, this was a different Buffy. He took a closer look at her and saw many things
about her that he had never seen before.
Even though her face was wet from her tears and her eyes were red and
swollen, she still looked more confident and stronger then he had ever seen
her. Her defiance toward him a moment
ago was proof that he had been gone too long.
He had let her get too comfortable and too self-assured. He needed to change that.
“That’s
right sweetheart take a long hard look, because you’ll never see him again.”
His
words reverberated throughout her and the desolation of losing Angel overrode
her fear of Parker. He was the reason
that Angel hated her. She roared with
all the hopeless anger that was inside of her and she struck out at him punching
him the face. “FUCK YOU!”
Parker’s
head whipped back from the force of her blow and when he looked back at her
there was shock in his eyes. Right
before they turned black with rage. His
hand shot out and he punched her back. “Bitch!”
His
fist landed on her temple and she fell to the floor dropping the picture. It was a hard hit; her vision blurred and
there was a loud hum in her head as she teetered on the verge of blacking out.
The
picture frame shattered everywhere and before she could grab the photo Parker
picked it up and ripped it. “Say goodbye to your lover boy sweetheart, because
you’re no one’s whore but mine!” He screamed, kicking her in the ribs as she
crawled away from him.
“You bastard!”
Faith screamed as she jumped on his back.
Parker
struggled with Faith as she got him in a headlock and started to squeeze. Bending
over, he flipped her over him and onto the floor.
He
kicked her once, “I don’t think I like the company you’ve been keeping these
days sweetheart.”
He
kicked her two more times in the stomach, “they’ve been teaching you bad
habits.”
He
sneered at Faith giving her one last kick.
Faith rolled into a fetal position to protect herself and Parker caught
a glimpse of the tattoo on her back.
“Ah
what do we have here, a sister?” He pushed her chest down to the floor with his
foot as he grabbed her jeans and lowered them revealing the tattoo and the top
of her ass.
His
finger traced the familiar design and then skimmed lower between the cheeks of
her ass. Flattening his hand on one ripe
globe he massaged it roughly. “Nice ass. Tight. Just the way I like em’.”
His
actions and words brought back unwanted memories, and Faith earnestly struggled
against him as panic consumed her. “Don’t fucking
touch me!” She sneered.
Parker
laughed at her attempts to dislodge him and then he slapped her on the ass. “Feisty.”
He
stood up straighter releasing her as his foot grinded deeper into her back.
Relieve flooded through her the second his hand left her ass. Her fear
disappeared and her temper returned.
Grabbing
a fistful of hair he jerked her head back to look at him. “So
Parker
smiled evilly at her, seeing the anxiety enter her eyes.
“Leave
her alone Parker!” Buffy shouted.
He
turned around and Buffy punched him again in the face. When she tried to do it again he grabbed her
arm and backhanded her. She went flying
across the room landing on the table. The wood splintered and shattered
everywhere. She struggled to get up and started to crawl on her hands and knees
as blood dripped out of her mouth and nose.
Parker
walked over to her and yanked her hair pulling her head up. “Disrespectful
cunt!”
He
leaned down and took a knife out of his pocket.
“I see you’ve been away from the family for too long Buffy, you’ve
picked up a lot of unladylike habits.”
Putting
it against her throat he sneered at her, “Well I’ll just have to correct that.
You know, you are one ungrateful fucking whore. Adam always told me that but I
always stuck up for you. I can see now that he was right.” He viciously yanked
her head back and she screamed in pain.
“Parker
please stop!” She cried.
“All the shit that I’ve done for you and this
is how you repay me? I should kill you now you fucking bitch!”
There
was a click of a gun being cocked and then Parker felt cold steel against his
head. “How bout’ I kill you instead, bitch.”
Faith
looked up and saw Spike standing over Parker with a gun to his head. She had
never before in her life been so happy to see him. Even though she knew she had never seen this
Spike before.
He
looked really pissed and extremely dangerous.
His face was murderous; his eyes were cold and empty, and the confidence
level that he held the gun with was a little scary. She couldn’t have been more
grateful in that moment that he did what he did.
She
quickly jumped up and ran over to Buffy.
“B, are you alright?”
“Stand
up you piece of shit.” Spike pushed the gun into Parker’s head and he slowly
stood with his hands up in the air.
“Drop
the knife.”
Parker
dropped the knife and Faith quickly helped Buffy up and out of the way.
Parker
turned around expecting to see the man in the photo. He was surprised when he
saw a blonde instead. “Who are you? You’re not the guy in the photo.”
Spike
snickered at him, “if I was, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. Move.”
He
moved Parker toward the door.
“You
know she’s my wife, you’re interfering where you don’t belong.”
Spike
laughed, “Yeah I have a nasty habit of doing that.”
His
smile disappeared and his face changed to a mask of steel. “Now get out, turn
around and don’t come back. Ever.”
Parker
looked at the ice blue eyes and knew that he wasn’t dealing with a pansy. Knowing that he wasn’t exactly in the
position to intimidate he yielded.
He
shook his head, smiling as he did, and put his arms down. “No problem brother.”
“I’m
not your brother.”
Parker
smirked at him and then looked at Buffy.
She was a fucking mess, physically and mentally, a little bullying and
she’ll be right back at his side.
“Buffy?” He softly said.
Her
eyes immediately were drawn to his. He smiled at her and it was warm and
loving, she swallowed. “You know you belong with me sweetheart. I love you. I need you.”
His
eyes changed and Buffy knew that look all too well. “You know where I’ll be. If you don’t come,
I’ll come for you. Don’t think you can run
I’ll find you.”
With
one last look at Faith, he turned to Spike. “I guess I’ll be seeing you later.”
Spike
cruelly grinned, “I hope so.”
Parker
turned and left, and Spike slammed the door shut. “Asshole.”
He
turned around to see Faith cleaning up one very bloody Buffy. He snarled angrily when he saw the blood on
Faith’s lips. “I’m going to kill that fucking bastard.”
Faith
turned angry eyes to Spike. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Spike
was taken back by her anger; didn’t he just save the day? “Excuse me? That’s a fine how-do-you-do after saving your
asses!”
Faith
ignored him and continued to clean Buffy’s face but Buffy pushed her away and
sat down on the couch to catch her breath and her thoughts.
“Where
the bloody hell is Angel?” Spike asked.
Faith
turned on him with the full force of her resentment. “That’s a good question
I’d like to know where that jerk is too, because I want to kick his ass!”
Spike
walked up to her, “What’s your problem?
Angel’s not the one that hit her!”
She
sneered at him, “Yes he did, right through the fucking heart!”
Spike
had to calm down, he had to calm her down because he had no idea what was going
and he didn’t want to make things worse. He lowered his voice, “What happened?”
Buffy
heard them arguing but her eyes were on the torn up picture. Parker was right; she would never see Angel
again. He hated her. He had callously and easily pushed her aside. He’d failed to even give her the benefit of
the doubt. He’d just assumed that she had known what Parker did, and he had
assumed the worse. You didn’t do that to someone you loved. There was no place for her here anymore just
like she had no life anymore. It was
over…everything was over. The fiery
walls of hell closed around her, once more suffocating her with their
heat. She could only do one thing.
Standing
up, she grabbed her bag and walked to the door.
Faith saw her move from the corner of her eye and she took a step closer
to her stop. “Buffy where are you going?”
Buffy
turned around and looked at them. “He’s
right, Faith. I have to go to him. It’s where I belong.”
“No
sweetie he’s full of shit. You don’t belong with him.”
“If I don’t things will only get worse.”
“Buffy
please don’t do this. You’re not thinking clearly right now. We can get away
from him. We’ll go together.”
“The
hell you will!” Spike said not liking that idea one bit.
“No
Faith. I have to. It doesn’t matter
anymore. Nothing does.”
She
looked at Spike, “Thank you.” It looked like she wanted to say something else
but she didn’t. She turned and solemnly
left the loft.
Faith
went after her but was stopped by Spike. “Where the hell is she going and where
the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“I
can’t talk to you right now!” She threw is arm off and chased after Buffy
leaving Spike standing there.
**********************
He
stood outside the door afraid to go inside.
His body actually shook as his hand reached for the knob. He didn’t want
to see her, not now, not yet. But he had no choice. He had left his watch on the nightstand and
he needed that to get in touch with Uncle.
Well at least he did now that he’d destroyed the computers.
He
took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked inside, hardening his heart to
what he might find inside.
It
was not what he expected. The table was
broken. Pieces of wood were scattered all over the living room. It looked like there had been a wrestling
match in the living room. His eyes darkened with unease as he noticed spots of
blood that colored the rug. What the
fuck happened in here?
He
took another step and saw broken glass and as he walked closer to it, he
noticed the torn photo. Knowing which photo it was he thought the worse and he
scowled irritably.
“It
wasn’t her.”
He
stood up and turned to look at Spike.
“What
happened?” he asked quietly.
“Parker that’s what happened.”
Angel
tensed at hearing the name, as his eyes scanned over the blood on the rug.
Horror gripped his heart with the thought that something happened to Buffy and
he found that he couldn’t speak. He wanted too. But he was paralyzed.
Spike
took a step further into the room. He had been waiting for Angel for hours. He
figured that eventually he would see reason and come back here.
If
he heard Faith correctly, then Angel thought that Buffy was part of some plot
to fake Parker’s death. And like Faith, Spike knew that was not the truth.
Knowing Angel, he knew that she was also right when she said that he had just
flipped out.
Spike
watched him now and he saw the scared look on his face for a flash of a second
but then it disappeared.
Angel
walked out of the room and into the bedroom to grab his watch. He noticed the
clothes haphazardly thrown all over the room. He noticed her personal items
gone. And he noted the absence of her overnight
bag.
“Where
the hell were you?” Spike asked as he walked inside the bedroom.
“I
had to think.” Angel replied softly as he walked back out of the room and into
the living room with Spike close on his heels.
“Okay.
Well now that you got your shit together. Where should we start?”
Angel
walked around the room picking up anything else that he saw was his. “Start? What are you talking about?”
Spike
looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Start to look for them?”
“I’m
not looking for her.” He answered
flatly.
Spike
glared at him, “What the hell are you talking about! Of course you are!”
“No
I’m not.”
Spike
couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Angel was just giving up just like
that! Well he knew how to push his
buttons. “Oh you’re not eh?”
Angel
shook his head.
“Oh
okay then, we’ll just let her go with Parker, her sweet and loving husband who
was attentive enough to greet her with his fists.”
Angel
stopped walking, his body tensing with growing antagonism as Spike continued to
talk.
“But
you know what really impressed me the most, when he was thoughtful enough to
put a blade under her throat and threaten to kill her. That to me was truly the
actions of a loving and gentle man.”
Spike said and Angel couldn’t control his snarl of rage.
His
hands flexed as his wrath grew. The
image of a bloody Buffy with a knife to her throat ruthlessly tormented him and
he shut his eyes trying to block them out.
She had betrayed him. She had made her choice.
He
opened his eyes and turned to leave. “That’s not my problem.”
Spike
shook his head with disbelief and he got pissed off. He grabbed Angel’s arm, spinning him around.
“What
the fuck is wrong with you?” he screamed at him. “You’re just going to turn a
blind eye and let the woman you love walk away with a fucking lunatic!
Angel
gritted his teeth, “She made her choice.”
Spike
couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“She made her choice! Bloody hell
you actually believe that she knew he was alive!”
Angel
didn’t answer. He pulled his arm out of Spike’s grasp and tried to leave once
again.
Spike
was completely stunned; the poof really had flipped his lid. He grabbed him again. “Why don’t you open
your fucking eyes brother and see what’s right in front of you! Do you seriously think that Buffy knew he was
alive? Do you see the damage in this
room? Does it look like a loving reunion to you? “
Angel
couldn’t help but look at the room once more and he couldn’t control the fury
that boiled to the surface.
“Do
I need to go into details for you? Do
you want to know how great she looked scared out of her mind, blood coating her
face and her devoted husband’s knife ready to slit her pretty little throat!”
“What
do you want me to do Spike! She’s
married to him!” Angel screamed back.
“Oh
okay so that settles everything then. I guess you don’t give a shit what
happens to her anymore. I guess the thought of that slime ball sticking his
cock inside of her doesn’t mean shit to you!”
Angel’s
control snapped and he roared ferociously as he grabbed Spike by the neck and
threw him up against the door.
“She’s
not mine! Do you understand that? She was never mine!” He shouted at him.
Spike
saw the anguish in his eyes and he understood where it was coming from. But it didn’t matter. He was letting his
pride take over and Spike knew he would regret it.
“Angelus,
are you so blinded by your pride that you can’t see the truth?”
He
wrestled Angel’s hands away from him and pushed him back. “She LOVES YOU, you
fucking poof! I saw the look in her eyes
when Parker was here, she was shocked and she was scared out of her bloody
mind! She had no idea that he was still alive!”
Angel
ran a hand through his hair. He was
confused. He wanted to believe it but everything was still to raw and his anger
too great. The combination muddled his thoughts and his logic, confusing him
even more. He did what he always did
when feeling completely overwhelmed by emotions he wasn’t used to feeling. He
held on to his anger.
He
pushed Spike back and looked at him with complete detachment. “She’s a good
actress.” He walked out of the loft.
Spike
was shocked by Angel’s dismissal and he kicked the door with his foot.
It
was up to him then. He knew what he had to do.
If the poof wanted to wallow in his stupid shattered male pride then let
him. He knew that eventually Angel would come around. He loved and coveted
Buffy too much to just let her go like that.
In
the meantime, he had to find Faith and Buffy.
**********************
After
much arguing Faith finally got Buffy to agree to go to Willy’s until she had a
chance to rest and think things over.
There was no way in hell that Faith was letting Buffy go to that psycho
in the frame of mind she was currently in.
It
had been too much in too short a period of time. She was in shock and she was
barely talking. As Faith cleaned her
bloody lip and nose up, she just sat there dumbly. Faith was worried out of her mind and as a
concerned Willy hovered at the door, she tried to think of her next move.
“Jesus Faith who did this?” Willy asked.
“Parker.”
Willy
stood up straight, shocked, “Parker! But he’s dead!”
Faith
snorted, “Apparently not.”
Seeing
a traumatized Buffy just sitting there lifelessly struck a chord of distress in
Willy. He had known Buffy since she was twelve years old and stepped inside her
first bar…his bar, back in
In
fact, she was the reason he left
When
she showed up on his door step eight months later and told him what happened he
had been so happy for her. Finally she
had a chance to live the life she deserved. He witnessed her transformation from
an animated fragile girl into the beautiful strong woman that she was
today. And in the last eight months her
beauty both in face and spirit glowed even more. Willy knew it was love that
did that to a woman and nothing else. He had been thrilled that she had finally
found someone that treated her the way she deserved.
Now
that asshole was back and Willy wasn’t going to stand aside anymore and watch
her fall into oblivion again. He had no
ties to the Brotherhood here. When he arrived in
“What
can I do to help?” he eagerly asked.
Faith
smiled at him. Willy might be a perv but underneath that he was a good decent
man. It was way she came here. “How about a glass of
water?”
“I’ll
be right back.” He turned and left them, and Faith sat back and looked at Buffy
who was staring straight ahead.
“Everything’s
going to be okay B you’ll see.”
Buffy
didn’t answer her.
Willy
ran back in and handed Faith a glass of water.
“Here
B drink this.”
Buffy
obediently opened her mouth and drank the water.
“Good
girl.” Faith said handing the glass back to Willy.
She
gently pushed Buffy down on the bed, putting her feet under the covers. Then
she pulled them up and over her. “I want you to rest for a little while B.
Okay. Just sleep. I’ll be outside. Don’t worry I’ll protect you.”
Buffy
didn’t say anything she just kept staring out into space, seeing only the fires
of hell – her future with Parker.
Faith
pushed Willy out of the room and then locked it.
Willy
followed her as she headed out to the front of the bar. “Where’s that boyfriend
of hers anyway? Where the hell was he
when she was getting the shit kicked out of her?” he asked.
“That’s
exactly what I’m going to find out. You keep her here Willy. Don’t let her
leave and don’t let anyone take her. Call Bubba at the Graveyard and tell him
to get his ass over here and to protect Buffy!”
She
didn’t wait for an answer she flew out the door.
Her
mission was simple – find Angel and kick some sense into his thick head.