The Guardian
Disclaimer: Well after three and a half years of hiatus, I decided it was time to finish this story. Afterall, it's always been one of my favorites. I obviously don't own any of the characters except for Sprite and Blake Williams, and the plot is all my own. I hope you enjoy this story and reviews are always appreciated! (I had 95 reviews for this story at last count; let's see if we can't top that hmm?)
-Libby :)
PS Thanks again to my bestest reviewers that I worship: Smartass Joker, Symbolism, rezmutt, newyorklghts and NEWSIExLUVR. Enjoy this chappy!
Chapter 9: Injuries Abound
Several Weeks Later
Sprite, Marit, Slider and Spark were sitting around the card table. After playing nineteen hands of poker in a row, the quartet were bored out of their minds. Spark sighed loudly.
"Yeah, I know whatcha mean." Marit said in response to the sigh. The table was quiet for a moment as the girls looked at their cards. All but Sprite put their cards down.
"Fold,"
"Me two,"
"Me tree, 'm out." Sprite rolled her eyes and put her straight down on the table.
"Dis is so borin'!" Slider yelled, sick of doing nothing all day. Since it was Sunday, the girls got a break from selling, and usually spent their time outdoors. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs outside.
"Yeah, I agree." Sprite said. Marit glanced at the group.
"I'se got an idea. What if we went ta go see Avi? Haven't seen her oah da odda Brooklyn goils since da pahty. Whatdya say?" Marit suggested trying to get her girls back into high spirits. Slider shrugged,
"Shoah. Sounds nice."
"Yeah, I wanna see Avi." Sprite said with extra enthusiasm.
"I would, but me an' Blink haven't spent any quality time foah awhile an' I miss 'im. So I'se gonna stay heah dis time. Tell Av, I said hi, dough." Spark said. The remaining three girls nodded and stood up to leave. Marit turned to Spark,
"If anybody asks, we'se seein' Avi. Bye Spahk." Spark waved and watched Slider, Marit, and Sprite leave.
Once outside, silence filled the trio. The rain stopped as the girls neared the halfway point on the Brooklyn Bridge. Once they were across, Sprite looked around to see anyone familiar. Slider slipped away from the other two, who had engaged in meaningless chatter to break the silence. Marit and Sprite continued walking until Marit thought she saw Smartass in the distance. She waved, but wasn't sure if Smartass saw her.
"Smartass?! Avi!" Sprite yelled. Avi heard voices and ran to them. Sprite could see the look of sheer panic and fear on Smartass' face as she neared them. Avi's beautiful hair was matted and tangled from the rain, and the light mist played on her face mixing with her tears. Marit drew her friend to her.
"Avi, wha's wrong?" Avi, tried to speak, but was out of breath. Finally, she managed to wheeze out a few intelligible words.
"Gang fight...Bayou...hurt." Sprite and Marit looked at each other. They needed to find Bayou. Sprite took charge of the situation as Marit tried to calm Avi.
"Where is he?" Sprite demanded.
"Follow me." Avi said motioning. She led the two girls to a deserted alleyway not far from where they were standing. Marit gagged when she saw the horrible shape Avi's lover was in. His face was purple with bruises, and his hairline was bleeding profusely. His left eye was swelled shut, and had begun emitting pus. Thankfully there were no real cut marks evident on the boy's face. His arms and legs however, were laden with the residue of an attack with knives. Smartass wailed and threw herself on the ground next to Bayou. Marit had no idea what to do, and looked to Sprite for help. Sprite was good at thinking on her feet in emergencies, she immediately took charge after mentally assessing both Bayou's and Avi's conditions.
"All right, Marit get Avi off the ground. We're gonna need to get him somewhere safe, and fast before he loses too much blood. Avi, look at me." Avi looked up, her tear stained face made her look years older than she really was. Sprite knelt down, followed by Marit. Sprite put her arms under the unconscious boy's head. Marit lifted his middle, and Avi grabbed his legs. Slowly, they lifted Bayou off the ground. "Good job girls. That's it, nice and slow. Keep his legs straight Avi. Don't worry it'll be okay." Sprite reassured the distraught newsie. Sprite turned to Marit as best she could. "Mar, we gotta get him somewhere. Do you know somewhere we could go?" Marit nodded her head.
"Yeah, Spot's place. 's 'bout a block oah so. Cimon." Swiftly, the three girls carried Bayou to the Brooklyn Lodging House.
Meanwhile in the Brooklyn L.H.
Slider wandered around, looking and revisiting old memories of her once permanent homestead. Slider was so busy reminiscing; she failed to notice the steel blue eyed leader of Brooklyn's eyes on her back, taking in her every move. After minutes of gazing at his lost love, Spot spoke.
"Ya miss it?" Slider didn't turn around as she spoke. She had been able to sense Spot's presence within a few minutes and wasn't surprised when he spoke to her.
"Yeah, now an' den. It was me home foah so lon', sometimes it seems I should come back heah aftah sellin'." Slider finally turned to face her ex lover. His eyes were riddled with passion and wanting for her, but she refused to give in.
"Slidah, why can'cha jus' foahgive me? I love you'se moah dan evah an' I knows I won' be happy 'til you come back in me life." Spot's face was mournful, and his eyes held the small tears he refused to shed. What if he was telling the truth, and he really did love her? Slider shook her head violently. He didn't love her, he just loved the sex and the companionship he felt when he was with her.
"No Spot! You hoit me; I don' t'ink I'll evah be able ta git ovah dat. 'm sorry." Slider turned to leave, when the leader of Brooklyn grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Please Sli. Please jus' give me anodda chance. I promise I'll be fait'ful to ya forevah." A parade of tears trickled down Slider's face, onto Spot's shoulder, but she didn't give in.
"No, Spot. I love you'se, an' I wanna believe you've changed, but I jus' can't righ' now." Spot's face was set in a hard glare as he pulled away from Slider. Loud voices were heard from downstairs, and Slider rushed out of the room.
"Well, den I'll jus' have ta prove to ya I love you'se." Spot said in a determined voice, before following the sounds down to the lobby.
Spot saw Smartass, Marit, and some unknown blonde girl carrying one of his newsies, Bayou. Bayou was beat up bad from the looks of it, and Smartass wasn't in the best shape herself. Before he could say anything, the blonde called out to him,
"Quick, we need to put him down. Where's an empty room?" Spot led the group upstairs to his vacant room. Sprite, Marit, and Avi gently lay Bayou down on Spot's bed. Sprite turned to direct Marit. "Clue, I need you to go boil me some hot water, and get as many clean bandages as you can find." Marit nodded and quickly left the room. Sprite then looked at Smartass who was in much worse shape than she had previously been in. "Avi, you need to listen to me." Avi looked up into Sprite's dark green eyes. "Avi, are you gonna be able to be in the room with Bayou? By the looks of his injuries, I'm going to need to give him stitches, and I can't have you in shambles with me. I'll need some one who can stay calm and help me give him the best care I can. It's okay if you need to leave Avi, but I need to know right now!" Smartass looked over at her injured boyfriend. She took in all his cuts and bruises, and grasped his hand, gently squeezing it.
"No, I'se sorry Sprite. I can' stay heah wid him. Is' too hahd. If somet'in happens, get me dough. K?" Sprite nodded, and gave Smartass a tight hug.
"'s all right. Go get cleaned up and get some sleep." Avi nodded and tried to smile. Once Avi left the room, Sprite smoothed back Bayou's hair, in order to see the amount of damage inflicted on the poor boy. Spot stood in the room, unsure of what to do. Sprite remembered the rude boy from the party was still there. "'scuse me, can you help me?" Spot pulled his gaze from his friend, to the girl speaking.
"Yeah shoah." Spot said.
"Can you get me some thread and a few needles? If possible, please burn the needles, I need them sterile. I'm going to have to sew this gash back up as quickly as possible." Spot turned and dashed out of the room on a mission for needles and thread. Marit came back soon after, carrying hot water and clean rags. Sprite ripped Bayou's shirt off and used the rags and water to cleanse the wounded areas on the boy. After covering most of Bayou's cuts, Sprite sat back, waiting for the needles and thread. Spot burst into the room with the desired objects, and Sprite asked Marit to leave while she "operated." Spot winced in pain just from watching the needle strike in and out of Bayou's silky caramel skin. Finally, Sprite finished, and gazed at her patient. His cuts were looking a bit better, as was his head. Sprite sat back on her heels and wiped her hands on her borrowed cut off shorts.
"The next few hours are going to be the most crucial. We really need to watch him and make sure nothing happens, and the cuts don't get worse." Spot nodded and finally spoke,
"T'anks foah youah fast t'inkin' jus' now. I don' wanna t'ink 'bout what woulda happened if you wasn't heah." Sprite bowed her head modestly.
"Wasn't much, just helpin' some one in need. Now what we really need to do is keep checkin' on him, and make sure Avi's okay. She seemed really shaken up." Spot nodded in agreement. He finally got a chance to look at the girl who had quite possibly saved Bayou's life. Her long blonde hair was pulled back with a few small clips, and her face was stained with sweat, rainwater, and just a bit of mud. She was not thin by any stretch, but had lovely curves to her body. Her dark emerald eyes stared at him in total recognition.
"What?" Spot asked her, tired of silence.
"It's you! You're the guy from the party. You bumped inta me an' went ballistic." Sprite said, brushing a few stray hairs out of her flushed face. Spot's brows knit in deep thought.
"I soahta 'membah you. Was really drunk dough. Did I say somet'in to ya?" Spot asked. Sprite decided she didn't need another enemy and simply shook her head.
"No, 's all right. I forgave you." Sprite turned back to look at Bayou who had groaned so she didn't have to look at Spot. His eyes were extremely unnerving and cold like ice; completely unlike Mush's eyes. Mush had eyes made of hot dark coffee that sparkled and shone with every word he spoke. Liz missed her guardian at that moment. Even though she had only been in Brooklyn a few hours, she already felt exhausted. Pushing indecent thoughts out of her head, Sprite looked at her guardian's near twin. His face looked much more ruddy and warm than it had before, and Sprite was afraid a fever had set in. She placed her hand on his cheek and then forehead, and was disheartened to learn she was correct in her assumption.
"Spot right?" Spot looked up from the wooden floor when he heard his name spoken.
"Yeah."
"I need you to get me some cold compresses. You know, rags doused in cold water. Bayou has a fever, and we need to bring it down as soon as we can." Spot left the room for the second time since the girls' and Bayou's arrival. Bayou rolled over in his sleep and started mumbling unintelligible words. Sprite spoke in a soothing voice, and continued rubbing his forehead softly in an attempt to relieve his discomfort. Spot returned with the requested rags and water in record time. Sprite began applying the compress and sat back to watch her patient.
Smartass was called back into the room to see her beloved. Her aura seemed to be soothing him, because his fever dropped dramatically in the time she stood with him. Hours later, Bayou slept comfortably, his fever gone. Sprite also found the land of dreams, and stayed there until morning. Spot meanwhile moved Sprite to a more comfortable bunk, and went to inform Slider of everything that took place.
When Sprite awoke, she was surprised to see Mush sitting next to her. His hand held hers, and his eyes were shut. Sprite would have been content to just watch her guardian sleep peacefully, when Spot appeared at the doorway. He spoke quietly so as not to disturb Mush.
"Sprite, I really wanna tell you'se t'ank you. I tawked ta Fiah, an' found out what I said to ya. I was a total jackass. Heah you save Bayou's life, an' I'se a joik. Can you foahgive me? I really wanna be yoah friend if possible." Spot spit (sounds funny lol) on his hand and held it out. Sprite looked at it for a moment before smiling and spitting into her own. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship, and maybe something more...
TBC!
What did everyone think?? Reviews are love!
-L.
