Hello all! So, we're gradually coming to the climax of the story, and everything's starting to get a bit more tense. Cabe really is a psychopath, you know. This chapter leaves out Greg and the team's reactions, but I felt it was necessary to keep the flow going with Spike and his gang. Feel free to tell me what did and didn't work. Enjoy!

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

-Henry David Thoreau

Something was tapping against his face. Spike was vaguely aware of it, but he was lost in a hazy oblivion and sank back into unconsciousness before he could process anything. He didn't want to process anything. He wanted to just go back to sleep, but the tapping was getting more and more insistent, and despite his best efforts, he was being pulled gradually into awareness. All of a sudden, the pain hit him like freight train, and his eyes flew open as he shot up with a gasp.

But something was holding him down. As his vision swam into focus, the first thing Spike saw was Daniel Cabe's face.

The man was crouching in front of him, using one hand to pin the tech's chest against the wall. Someone had propped him up, leaving his legs outstretched, and he could feel every slight dip in the wood of the boat against his mangled right ankle. When Spike's eyes finally focused, he saw Cabe grinning in front of him.

"Well, hello, darling. How's our little sleeping beauty feeling?" Spike pressed his head back against the wall, fighting back a groan. Beads of sweat were starting to gather on his temples.

Cabe paused and looked down at Spike's leg. "Not so good? You know, this really wouldn't have had to happen if you'd just been a little more polite. But that's okay. No permanent damage, right?" He looked down again and raised his eyebrows. "Actually, sweetheart, it looks like it might be permanent. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words. Hmm. Nothing fatal? Yes, that does work better, don't you agree? Oh, come on, Spike- nothing to say?"

Spike was leaning back against the wall, panting. "Not to you, Danny. This isn't exactly the world's best conversation starter." He bit out, nodding toward his leg.

Cabe smiled indulgently. "Fair enough, I suppose." he jumped to his feet. "Well! I must say, I'm excited! I've spent all this time working, and finally, someone gets to see my masterpiece- at least, someone who can appreciate it." He glanced dryly at Arbor. "Behold!" He stepped aside with a flourish.

Spike took the time to examine the room first. It was the hold of the boat, but Cabe had made some changes. Ripping out the interior walls had combined what would have been the different sections, and the all the steering equipment had gone the same way. The windows were covered with steel plates bolted into place. The trawler was not designed to move.

Spike's gaze moved downward. The room itself was well lit, and there was a small door in the corner- he guessed some sort of supply room, or the engine room. He could see Arbor in the corner, standing in front of Laurel. Spike opened his mouth to say something to her, but Cabe's foot swung over to tap menacingly next to Spike's leg. "Now's not the time, sweetheart." He said lightly. "You still haven't seen the bomb."

Spike opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it. He looked toward the center of the room, and didn't say anything for a minute.

When he did, the sweat had started to drip down the side of his face. He turned his attention back to Cabe. "You know I can't-" He began, and then glanced at Laurel. He closed his eyes. "Okay." His voice was quiet, subdued. "Okay."

Cabe cackled. "Recognize it, darling? It's special for you." When no response was forthcoming, he firmly pressed down on the broken leg with one of his feet. Spike jerked and cried out. Cabe waited patiently.

"Yes." He finally ground out.

"Yes what, dear?"

"Yes, I recognize it, okay? I know what it is." His head was swimming, and he didn't know if it was from the pain or the knowledge of what was sitting in front of him.

"Oh? That's good, Spike, very good. What can you tell us about it?"

Spike glared up at him. "I can tell you that there's a good reason they stopped making them. This is ridiculous, Cabe, you know that as well as-"

"Hush, hush, love." Cabe crouched down in front of him again. "What happened to Danny?" He asked. "We were getting along so well…" He pulled his mouth into a pout. "Well, it's okay, I guess. You've had a bit of a shock today, and no one's perfect." His voice dropped. "But you're going to have to be, aren't you, Spike? One mistake and you're gone. And so is Laurel." He looked around, and when he turned back to Spike, he was smiling jovially. "It's too bad we're stuck here in this little boat, but I had to plan, you see. You can't exactly move one of these around after you've built it, and police are so pesky these days. One whiff of WP, and, boom- they're knocking at your door." He shook his head mournfully. Then he smiled and looked up at Spike. "So, can you do it, love?"

"Any bomb can be defused, Danny." But even as Spike said it, he could feel a weight settling in the pit of his stomach. Cabe seemed to realize it, and grinned ferally.

"That's a good attitude, dear. But goodness, we haven't told our guest about your present! Why don't you explain it to her, Spike?"

"No." Spike growled up at him. "She's nine. She doesn't need to hear it. We both know, so what's the point?"

"I don't need to have a point, darling. That's one of the perks of being the one in charge. So tell her what it is. Now."

"I won't. You can't make me." Cabe raised his eyebrows. He stood up and lifted one foot, positioning it over Spike's bad leg. Spike paled, but shook his head. "No. I won't." No one moved.

Then Cabe sighed and stepped aside. "Well, this is admirable. You're very brave, Spike, you know that? Good for you." His voice dropped again. "Now tell her or I'll kill her." Then he smiled. "I want her to hear it from you."

Spike bit his lip so hard it started to bleed. "Fine." He spat. "But bring her over here. I want to see her."

Cabe clapped happily. "Of course, of course! Mattie dear, let her go, won't you?"

Arbor frowned. "My name is Matt. Not Mattie."

Cabe turned on him so quickly even Spike jumped. "If had wanted you to talk, I would have asked, Mattie. Now shut up and let her go." Arbor stepped back dumbly, and Laurel used the opportunity to slip by him. She stepped gingerly over to Spike and sat down by his side.

"It's okay." She said. "You can tell me; I won't be scared." She smiled up at him, and Spike leaned his head back against the wall and attempted to smile back. He was pretty sure it came out more like a grimace.

"Well, as touching as this scene is, I'm really interested in what Spike has to say." Cabe said as he sat down and rested his elbows on his knees. He was the perfect picture of an attentive student.

Spike ignored him and turned back to Laurel. "Have you ever read about World War II?" He asked gently.

She nodded. "Yeah. Hitler and the Germans wanted to take over Europe, and Italy and Japan became their friends. America and Britain were trying to stop them from taking over the world."

Spike tried to smile again, and this time it came a little more easily. "I can tell you're the smartest in your class, Laurel. I'm impressed."

"I like to read. I spend a lot of my time in the library, and my mom says that that's very good for me."

"Your mom sounds like a smart person too." Cabe cleared his throat, and Spike grimaced. "Anyway, World War II. Well, it was a war, obviously, and people do a lot of bad things in wars. Things that they shouldn't do, because they hurt a lot of people."

Laurel nodded.

"Well, in this war, some scientists in America wanted to build a bomb that would hurt people. They already had bombs that could do that, of course, but these ones were going to be special. See, near the end of the war, we had started using fire in bombs to burn a lot of German cities. And the new ones were supposed to do the same thing, just more effectively. That means they could drop fewer bombs, and it would still burn just as much. And these new bombs were much smaller, too, so you could fit more of them into a plane.

"But the bombs didn't work like they wanted them to. They were so delicate that even getting them into the plane could set them off, and they did a lot of bad things to the people who were testing them, so they decided not to make them anymore. And that's it. That's what this bomb is." Spike looked defiantly at Cabe, who shook his head.

"No, no, no, Spike, you didn't tell her the best part! Come on, tell her what they did to the people testing them." When Spike didn't respond, his eyes flashed. "Tell her now. Or I'll shoot her."

Spike squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, Laurel, the scientists filled the bombs with a chemical that made them burn, like I told you. But they only knew what it would do to buildings. It was a little bit worse for people. And that's all I'm saying, Cabe."

The other man sighed dramatically. "I guess I'll just have to finish the story, then." He looked straight at Laurel. "When it exploded, sweetheart, it didn't just light people on fire. It burned them from the inside out. Did you know that in your bones, you have something called marrow? The chemical inside the bomb would light the marrow on fire, and that fire would travel to all the other bones, and the person would be alive until the second it burned their heart out from the inside. It would be a terrible way to die. Very painful."

Spike struggled against the handcuffs. "You didn't have to go there, Cabe." He said furiously. "She's a kid- they shouldn't know this stuff. That's what being a kid means-"

Laurel's soft voice interrupted him. "It's okay, Spike." She was pale, but composed.

It clearly threw Cabe for a loop. "I don't know if you heard me correctly, dear. From the inside out. They burned. That's not a good thing."

"I know." Said Laurel. "But I decided not to be scared in the car. Spike's going to take care of it, and we're not going to get hurt." She seemed completely convinced. "He's the best."

Cabe slowly got to his feet. "He is not the best." He said deliberately, venomously. "I am. And when you see that bomb go off, you'll know it."

Laurel shook her head, not seeming to realize how mad she was making him. "He said he's already beat you a couple times. I think that means that-" Before she could finish, Cabe lashed out, aiming a kick straight at her head. If it had landed, it would have broken her jaw.

Instead, Spike somehow jerked himself in front of her, and Cabe's foot connected with his ribs. He twisted violently back into Laurel as all the air left his lungs, and a sharp pain in his chest was joining the overwhelming one in his leg. His vision was swimming, and for the second time in an hour, he thought he was going to pass out.

But Laurel was shaking his shoulder and asking him if he was okay, so Spike hung on to consciousness as best as he could. As he slowly pulled his thoughts together, he became aware that he was lying across her lap, and the only thing he could think of was that he hoped he wasn't crushing her. He groaned, unable to move.

It turned out he didn't have to. A pair of arms grabbed his shoulders and hauled him away from Laurel, pulling him sharply upright. When they let go, he just slumped again in the other direction. This time, the hands that stopped him were smaller.

"That shouldn't have happened." Cabe was saying as he gently leaned Spike up against the wall. "I didn't mean to hurt you, darling. I just got so angry..." When Spike didn't even lift his head, the other man grasped his chin and lifted it until they were at eye-level. Spike's eyelids were fluttering, but he saw genuine regret in Cabe's face.

Cabe was softly pressing down on each rib, one at a time, and stopped when Spike jerked and shuddered. He frowned. "I've think I've broken one, dear. You have to believe me when I say it was an accident." He gestured to Arbor, who was standing above him. "Get me the first aid kit from the car, won't you, Matteo? And make it quick." He turned back to Spike. "I'm going to fix you up a bit. The leg was fine, but a rib is seriously going to restrict your movement. You'd be surprised at how many things connect to your ribs." He smiled. "And we want you at your best, don't we, sweetheart? I want to make this as fair as possible."

"So you build a cluster bomb with white phosphorus and start kicking people when they're down? That doesn't sound quite fair to me, Danny." Spike's voice was weak, but cutting.

Cabe stilled for a second, his eyes hard as steel. Spike was sure he was going to hit him again, but then the other man smiled brightly as if nothing had happened. "Oh, but I had sooo much fun building it, darling! And I was thinking of you the whole time." Arbor chose that moment to walk back in the door. "Will you look at that, help has arrived. Now, I'm going to need to uncuff you, dear, so you've got to make sure you play nice. Okay?"

Spike didn't think he could do any damage if he tried, and didn't say anything. Cabe smiled. "Thank you, Spike. That's very considerate. Now Laurel, if you could come over here, dear, I'm going to need some help with his shirt. That's a good girl."

When they had finished, Spike's chest was wrapped in gauze, and the pain, although still present and accounted for, wasn't nearly as blinding as it had been. And sure enough, he could move more easily- or at least he could have, if not for his leg. Cabe seemed to understand what he was thinking.

"Yes, well, the leg will be a problem for you, won't it? Unfortunately, you won't need to move much from the waist down, so I'm not going to bother patching that one up. Sorry." He said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. "Now lean forward so I can get your shirt back on- it's cold outside, and we wouldn't want you to get sick, would we? Although you probably won't be going back outside… hmm. Well, better safe then sorry, right?"

Spike didn't even twitch as Cabe gently pulled one arm through a sleeve, and then the other. It wasn't worth it to argue.

Cabe gave him an hour to "recuperate" before he had to start in on the bomb. Spike spent the time sitting next to Laurel, talking quietly and trying to remain perfectly still. But as their conversation got easier, he began telling a story about Raf and tried to shuffle closer to her. As a burst of pain lanced up his leg, he couldn't stop the gasp escaping his lips, and he paled dramatically. Laurel looked up at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "Is your leg hurting really bad?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah." He said through gritted teeth. "Every time I move, it jostles it, and it's not a good feeling."

"Would wrapping it up have helped?"

"Probably, but Danny over there doesn't seem to want to do it. He's pretty inconsiderate that way." He was still breathing hard.

Laurel nodded. "I know." She considered. "But why don't you do it? There's more tape right here." She picked up the roll of gauze.

"I would if I could, Laurel. But to wrap it, I need to lift it up, and I can't bend over to do that because of what he did to my ribs. So it's not really possible right now." He tried to smile down at her.

She furrowed her brow. "What if I did it for you? Would that help?"

Spike glanced over at Cabe. He wasn't paying attention to them. "Maybe, sweetheart, but I don't think he's going to let you. Plus, you'd need a splint, and your hands would have to be untied." He looked down at her reassuringly. "Don't worry about it; I'll be okay."

She looked at his leg, and then back at him, and she shook her head. "No, you won't. I'll be right back." And she pushed herself up and started marching over to Cabe.

It took Spike a second to realize what had just happened. "Laurel, stop!" He called desperately when he did. "Come back!" His shout caught the attention of Cabe, who looked over toward them. When he saw Laurel approaching, he raised his eyebrows.

"Why, hello, Laurel. What seems to be the problem, dear?" Arbor started to stand up, but Cabe stopped him with a hand on his knee. "It's okay, Mattie. I want to know."

Laurel had reached them by this point, and without preamble, stuck her hands right into Cabe's face. He blinked. Then leaned around them to peer at her diminutive form. "Is something wrong with your hands, Laurel?"

"Yes." She snapped. "I want you to untie me. Now."

There was a long moment of silence. Even Cabe seemed to have no idea what to say to that. Arbor just stared, wide-eyed, and Spike closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. Laurel just wiggled her arms. "Now."

Finally, Cabe got it together enough to speak. "Laurel dear, I don't think you quite understand the concept of being tied up. You see, the general purpose of the idea is to-"

"Untie me."

"Again, Laurel, the-"

"Shut up."

Cabe shut up. Spike almost felt sorry for him. "Okay… May I ask why I'm untying you?"

Laurel nodded. "Yes."

Pause.

"…Why am I untying you, Laurel?"

"Because I need to find a splint, and then I need to help Spike wrap up his leg." She wiggled her hands again. "So you need to untie me."

No one said anything for a moment, and then Cabe began to laugh. It was an odd, breezy laugh that seemed entirely out of place, and it was somehow unsettling. But he kept laughing, and before long, he was doubled over in his seat, and Spike and Arbor couldn't do anything but stare. Laurel took a step back, but waited for him to finish. Eventually, he did, straightening up and wiping tears from his eyes.

He patted Laurel on the cheek. "Ohh, darling. That was wonderful. Never let it be said you don't have guts, dear." He suddenly sobered, and rolled his shoulders slowly, popping each one. His voice went flat. "Matteo, hand me your knife." Spike began to struggle madly on the floor.

"Don't you dare, Cabe! Hurt her and I'll kill you!" Cabe just glanced at him coldly.

"Spike, darling, you're sitting handcuffed on the opposite side of the room with a broken leg and at least one broken rib. You couldn't get up if you tried, and I seriously doubt you could roll your way over here before one of us could shoot you. Try not to be so melodramatic, dear. You need to be at least semi-credible before you threaten anyone with death. Otherwise, it just loses its pizazz, you know what I mean? Now Laurel, come here." He said as he took the knife from Arbor.

When Laurel didn't move immediately, he grabbed her by the arm and yanked, twisting her around so that her back slammed up against his chest. When she was flat against him, he rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped one of his arms gently around her waist. "Darling," He said quietly into her ear, "That's not quite the way things work around here." He began idly tracing patterns on her arm with the tip of the knife. "Here, I tell you what to do, and you do it. Not the other way around. Capiche?" Laurel didn't answer, her jaw jutting forward. Cabe dragged the knife across her skin a little more forcefully, leaving angry red marks where it passed.

"Cabe, I swear to god…"

"Spike, be a dear and don't interrupt anymore, or whoops-" The knife jumped to her throat, pressing against her trachea. "My hand might slip." His eyes were cold and focused, and Spike stilled immediately. Cabe smiled. "Thank you."

He turned his attention back to Laurel. "Do you understand what I'm getting at, love? It really is quite an important part of our implied relationship in this situation." She still didn't answer, and Cabe's eyes narrowed. The knife moved down to her hands. "You know, darling…" His breath was tickling the wisps of hair at her temple. "I could cut off one of your lovely little fingers here-" He started running the knife down the valleys between each one. "And it wouldn't really affect your worth to me at all. I'd suggest you cooperate." Laurel remained stubbornly silent, and his hands tightened on the knife. A quiet moan came from Spike's direction. Cabe ignored it. "Or maybe a thumb…" He said contemplatively, moving the blade over. He looked up at Spike. The tech was pale and shaking, entirely focused on the knife in his hands. "How does a thumb sound, Spike dear?" Spike just shook his head, not taking his eyes off the knife. "Hmm… no one seems to want to say anything to me-" He looked down at the blade, still playing with the digit in question.

Suddenly, he yanked the knife back towards him viciously. Laurel jerked, and Spike yelled furiously, but Cabe just raised his eyebrows. He held out Laurel's arms, and the duct tape was dangling limply from each wrist, having been slit cleanly up the middle. Cabe released her and sat back in his chair. "Go to it, darling." He said calmly, and then paused. "Actually, wait." He turned to Arbor. "Get up. Now." Arbor got up slowly, and Cabe, in one burst of motion, stood up and grabbed his chair, swinging it violently into the wall. The chair gave way upon impact, and when he stood back, there were chunks and slivers of wood strewn all around him. The leg was still in his hand.

Nobody moved, in total shock. Cabe paused, and looked down at the piece of wood he was carrying. Then he held it chivalrously out to Laurel. "A splint, dear, for the lady." Laurel took it slowly, and he smiled warmly at her. "Good girl. Now go on, do your thing." He gently turned her around and nudged her in the right direction, still smiling. "Spike's waiting for you."

This may be wrong, but I have a lot of fun writing Cabe. He's really a story unto himself. Let me know what you think of him, and of course, the other parts of the chapter as well. I know I say this all the time, but your feedback really does make me post faster.

Review review!