A/N: Shuffled the chapters around to keep the present storyline to the forefront! Enjoy & comments appreciated, as ever!
Chapter 7: The Clean Up
Angel bolted off down the corridor, leaving a very awkward silence behind him. Molly giggled, looking sheepish as she stood up and brushed down her coat and hair. She shut the hotel door behind her, closing out the cold night, and turned and flashed the gathered group a bright smile.
"Nice to meetcha," she said. "My name's Molly."
Charlie recovered first. She looked at Molly's mandible-like fringe, her long swoop of white hair with pink highlights, and six arms. "You said you were Angel's sister?"
"Twin sister, actually," she said, a smirk at the corner of her smile that was so Angel-like she couldn't possibly have been anything else. "Fraternal, that is. 'Course, Tony got all the looks in the family, didn't he? He's the pretty one."
Alastor coughed awkwardly at that. "Perhaps someone should check on Angel? Anyone…?" He paused, clearly waiting for a volunteer, but Molly pushed through the group, heading towards the stairs. But she didn't go up them, just looked calmly at her watch.
"Give him a minute," she said to no one in particular. "His tolerance is pretty good, so he won't be ill for long." She looked over at Husk. "You guys get in a fight, sugar?"
He bristled. "Why'd you ask me?"
But she just shook her head and checked her watch again. "A'ight, that's long enough. Might as well stay put, unless some of ya really wanna come along."
Alastor followed her to the foot of the stairs. "My dear, is that wise? He did appear a little volatile earlier."
"Aww, you worried about me, sweets?" She leant down and ran her finger under her chin, Alastor jerking back with surprise. She giggled, the sound high and girlish. "Gosh, they weren't lyin' about you." She looked out over the crowd, shrugging her big coat off right there on the stairs and throwing it at Alastor, whose smile had frozen in place. Molly spotted Charlie at the back of the crowd. "Hiya, Princess! I'm gonna go check on Tony, all right?" She winked. "Let's do introductions later, yeah?"
"Wait," Charlie said, finding her tongue. "I need to talk to-"
"No point." She wrinkled her nose and twirled her hair around her finger thoughtfully as she spoke. "You gotta let him sleep it off before you try'n talk to him again. Trust me on this one."
"But...why are you here?" Charlie asked, still confused. "Did Angel call you…?"
Husk grunted. "Yeah, I didn't know he even had a sis-"
Vaggie elbowed him, hard, but Molly didn't seem to mind. She actually laughed. "Talk later, okay, guys?" and she walked off up the stairs, leaving the rest of them looking around at one another, confused.
The silence was broken a couple of seconds later, when Nifty grumbled, "This is going to stain! Nope, nope, nope!"
"Weird girl," Husk grumbled, actually looking a little disturbed by the series of events. "And what the hell was she talking about?"
"What, that she isn't the looks in the family?" Vaggie said, also looking stunned. "I don't know, I don't see it."
"No, all that other stuff." He scratched his head. "What's gotten into the damn spider today?"
"Oh," Vaggie said, blushing. "I don't know. What on earth were you yelling about before me and Charlie got here?"
Husk flared up. "I wasn't yellin'-"
"Our fine fellow came downstairs, my dear," Alastor interrupted. "And he looked terribly inebriated. Then when we asked what was the matter, he simply lost his temper!"
"Really?" Charlie said. She walked off towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go check on him anyway. Everyone else go to bed-"
"Hun, do you need-"
"Bed, Vaggie." She turned, sticking her tongue out at her girlfriend with a forced playfulness. "Let management take care of this one."
But her smile dropped as soon as she turned around, everyone else left standing awkwardly around behind her.
"Well, whatever. I didn't even say anything this time," Husk said angrily, walking off and leaving Nifty grouchily clearing up the mess.
It left Vaggie and Alastor standing there alone. She looked up at him, still unnerved by the Radio Demon's never faltering cat-like smile.
"Do you know something?" she challenged him.
"About what, my dear?"
"...I don't know," she said. "I just get the feeling that you do."
"I know a great many things, my dear! You'll have to more specific." And he turned and walked off, humming as he went.
Vaggie glared after him, planting her hands on her hips. Next to her, Nifty sighed sadly.
"It went through the whole carpet…" she said sadly, her one eye staring sadly at the stain.
When Molly found Angel's room, he'd already stopped being ill, just like she'd predicted. He was sitting miserably on the ensuite floor and leaning up against the bath with his legs stretched out in front of him, his skin that pallid colour of the recently sick.
She knelt down near him, gently popping his nose with her finger. "Hey, Tony. I got your message."
He met her eyes, more sober but with bloodshot eyes. "Pops told you?"
"Nah. 'Niss did." She settled on the floor, resting her arms against her thighs as she leant down to look at him more closely. "What's going on, Tony? Niss said someone's threatening you?"
"I left the guy I was working for... Overlord, Molls." He hugged his knees to his chest, all three sets of arms holding on tight. "Gave it all up, and now he's – he's gonna come afta me. And he's gonna go afta anyone else he can hurt while - while he's at it." Angel ducked his head against his knees, mumbling, "Ain't safe here, neither. Ya gotta get Niss and Pops and just go, go somewhere else…"
And he devolved into a slurred mumbling that Molly couldn't quite work out.
"I ain't goin' anywhere, Tony," she said, scooting over to hug him. "I came ta see ya. 'Cus you're my twin, and you're always gonna be my twin."
He was saying something else, shaking his head, but she ignored him, stroking his hair. "Still so fluffy," she teased, rubbing the heart-shaped splotch on the back of his head and humming happily when he reached up to hug her with all his arms. She hugged him back and the two of them stayed locked like that, breathing in sync. Molly loved her family, even if her Pops especially drove her nuts pretty often, but Tony was special to her. He was her twin, and she was always going to feel like he was a part of her, no matter what anyone said.
"Anyways, it's super late, Tony. Don't throw me out until mornin', OK?"
"You gotta get to safety," he said, not quite focusing on her as his face screwed up. "You gotta…" And he looked up, checking around the bathroom like he wasn't quite sure of where they were.
"Come on, Tony," she cajoled him, extricating herself from his arms and tugging him onto his feet. "Let's getcha to bed, OK?" She led him out of the bathroom, struck with deja vu over all the times they'd taken care of one another and covered for one another after coming home from sneaking out somewhere. No one knew Tony's habits better than her, and it reassured her that in all these years of him keeping his distance from the family, some things never changed.
She got the covers back and tugged his tux off his shoulders, looking respectfully the other direction as he climbed into bed and got the covers over him. The whole world might look at him like public property, but Molly was determined not to.
He sank back into the pillows, his hand automatically petting the cute little pig that had jumped up onto the duvet and snuggled against his hand. She sat by the end, holding his other hand that had sought hers out. She was struck with remembering their youth, all over again.
"I wish you took me with you," she said softly. "'S not been the same without you, Tony."
Someone was in the doorway, she could sense it. Molly didn't look around, letting them choose whether they wanted to come in. She could see by the shadow on the floor that it was probably the Princess.
"I looked up what you're doing on the news," she said. "Hell, it's the craziest thing I ever heard, and I been down here almost as long as he has. Leave it to Tony to get mixed up with somethin' like that."
"Are you angry?" the Princess asked.
"Hmm, no. Not wit' you, doll. None of the others are, either."
"Others? Angel has family besides you?"
She turned around to look at the Princess, who stood in the doorway like she needed an invite to come in. "Yeah. 'S me, my Pops, my brother Niss, and Tony. We have a lot more relatives besides, but that's all ya gotta know about for the time being."
"Did Angel – your brother – go visit you today?"
"He spoke to my Pops. Apparently we're all in some sort of danger."
"Have you…" Charlie took a step inside, the light from the corridor casting her worried features in shadow. "Have you met Valentino?"
"Once," she said. "Pops only met him once, too. Weren't long after that Tony cut ties with the family."
"Oh."
Molly looked at her sharply, sensing a lot unsaid in that one loaded syllable. "I love Tony. Always have, always will. I don't care who he loves, I don't care what his job is. I'm not my Pops."
"But you still kept away from him?" Charlie said, no judgement in her gaze, just confusion.
"Not quite, sweetie," she said, looking back down as Angel fidgeted in his sleep, turning over and hugging closer to his pet pig. His hand stayed in hers. "He's the one who kept away from us."