Chapter VII: The Steamy Bath

"Molly, good, you're here and ready!" Angel Dust announced. He came in through the back so that they didn't have to encounter Vaggie. Alastor – barely conscious right now – was still slumped over him and he was still carrying several guns.

"Is that the friend you told me about?" Molly asked.

Angel Dust tossed the guns down: "Yeah, it's him, and he's in some rough shape!"

"I drew a bath while I was waiting, it should still be warm, but it looks like he's been burned bad," Molly replied.

"We need to get him cleaned up and see what the damage is! He just won a fight against his archrival!"

Angel Dust dragged Alastor into the bathroom and with some help from Molly, they began to undress him. Angel Dust could feel him tense up and hear the static.

"Hey, Alastor, I'm sorry about this, but we gotta clean you off before we patch you up. Okay? You can kill us later!" Angel Dust spoke calmly. They pulled off his coats, shirt, and it was a team effort to remove his pants.

"Leave his boxers on, Molly, we should spare him some dignity."

"They're silk! They'll be ruined!" Molly exclaimed.

"I'd rather we ruin his underwear than his dignity. Otherwise he might actually kill us! C'mon, let's get him in the tub!"

With team effort, they immersed Alastor in the water: "You scrub him while I examine and treat him," Molly spoke. She first noticed his bleeding hand and quickly washed and bandaged it.

Angel Dust quickly ran off to grab the radio in his room and clicked it on to a station playing some classical music, hoping that it would calm down Alastor… Well at least his static was gone.

"Okay, Alastor, I'm going to start with your chest since that's looking pretty rough right now," Angel Dust told him. He took a soft washcloth and cleaned the area gently, though he also felt Alastor growing tense, so Angel Dust decided to detail the fight to Molly. She was quite impressed to hear how it all went down and saying some praises to him seemed to keep him calm.

"Okay, Alastor, you're all cleaned up… Molly, did someone come in to change my sheets while you were waiting for me?"

"Yes, a little housekeeper with one eye."

"Good, he can borrow my bed so you can patch him up better and he can get some rest… Now, will you help me move him?"

Molly folded back the covers on Angel Dust's bed and helped him to carry Alastor to it. Angel Dust fitted a black robe on him that was made of silk, and they laid him down where Molly set to work to treating his wounds. Angel Dust moved the radio back into the bedroom.

"So, where will you sleep then if this is your room?" Molly asked. She was now packing up her medical kit, having treated Alastor's wounds.

"I'm staying here to keep an eye on him. I'll sleep on the floor if I have to."

"Alright, best wishes to ya, Antony, I'm headed out of here. Keep an eye on those bandages will ya?"

"Will do, thanks Molly!"

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Alastor opened his eyes to find that he definitely wasn't in his own room; looking about, he saw Angel Dust reclined in a chair, reading a book, while having some crooning music playing softly. Okay, not the worst thing to wake up to…However, feeling something move on the bed was disturbing.

"What is a pig doing on the bed?"

"Oh, you're finally awake. Fat Nuggets was just making sure that you were comfortable," Angel Dust replied, scooping up his pet pig. Alastor tried to get up, but once Angel Dust heard him hiss with pain, he pushed him back down: "Stay down, that was a rough fight you had, and Charlie and Vaggie are pissed at us. They told me that once you're up, we're going to face the music."

"It was entertaining to see you fall back to your mobster ways."

"Yeah, and I did it to back you up on top of it."

"Yes… Thank you for shooting Vox the way you did."

"Well I knew that you were going to want to end things like that."

"However, that bath…"

"Whoa there, I wasn't tryin' to do anything to ya other than to clean you off so Molly could treat your wounds. All you were to us right there was a patient."

"Well, your 'bedside manner' was better than I would have expected. You did what you had to and tried to keep me relaxed."

"Hey, I'm seeing the favor I owe ya to the end… Meanwhile, can I get ya something to eat? You've been out for a good twenty hours."

"Some rare venison and black coffee."

"Got it," Angel dust replied.

He crossed paths with the glaring face of Vaggie on his way to the kitchen: "He's awake and I'm getting him something to eat."

"We'll be coming to your room in an hour then," she replied with a harder glare.

As he prepared the coffee, he seasoned Alastor's venison and fixed a sandwich for himself. When he brought the tray of food back to his room, he saw that Alastor had managed to sit himself upright.

"Got the food, and we've got less than an hour before they come to chew us out."

Alastor snapped his fingers to open up a portal and a set of his clothes fell onto the bed. Angel Dust set the tray on his lap and took his sandwich and coffee. They ate in relative silence and Angel Dust ended up having to help Alastor get dressed before the girls came in with Cherri in their wake.

"Okay, what the fuck happened yesterday?!" Vaggie exclaimed.

"We thought that you three were doing so well," Charlie added, she now looked more upset than angry.

"Okay ya broads, I'll lay everything out for ya. This all started when Vox interrupted our Disney double-feature. He was challenging Alastor to a duel, one that would've leveled the hotel if he decided to track him down here. Well, I owed Alastor a favor after what he did for me."

"You threw Charlie's kingdom into chaos!" Vaggie exclaimed.

"Hey now, you're givin' me too much credit, Toots. We didn't know what Vox was going to bring to the table, but we were prepared for the fight. So we planned it so that Cherri and I would keep Vox's minions from attacking Alastor while he dealt with the boss man himself."

"You were in on it the whole time, Cherri?" Charlie asked, she looked like she was about to start crying.

"From what I've heard from Angie, you also owed Alastor a favor. However, he's too much of a gentleman to ask you to help him out in a fight, but we knew that you'd want to keep Hell in order. So it was my task to bring you into the midst of the chaos so you'd help us out without needing to be asked… Honestly, I'm sorry, it felt really dirty to trick you like that."

"Hey, Sugar Tits, it was my idea. I know that you're better than that," Angel Dust told her.

"Alastor, don't you have something to say for yourself?" Charlie asked.

"I've been mulling over the things that led up to the fight… I don't see how we could've ended up with a better outcome. I killed Valentino for Angel's sake, we didn't know how closely connected he was to Vox, Vox was my archrival and challenged me – they're not wrong in saying that he would've tracked me to this location, then Angel and Cherri risked their chance of redemption in order to help me because they felt they owed me, and Vox is no longer a threat to us."

"Well you three clearly aren't the aggressors, but I'm still upset with you," Charlie told them, Vaggie grabbed her hand for comfort. Alastor noticed this and continued: "Reflecting on this in contrast to my life, I believe I see the error of my sense of justice."

Now that caught everyone's attention, so Alastor continued: "When I killed in life, I killed some very bad people – I don't have any remorse for it – but I killed to punish them, not to save those they've hurt. At least with Angel I did it to protect him, at least then I knew that the tormented was on a better path."

A quiet shock filled the room.

"Whoa, Alastor… perhaps there's a chance for you after all," Vaggie stated, Charlie's dismay seemed to wash away.

"Now, if you darlings will excuse us, I'd like to go over some rehabilitation ideas with these two and I believe that we have a special event coming up," he replied in his radio host voice. Well, Charlie and Vaggie left in much better spirits.

"Did you mean that?" Cherri asked.

"My dear, I've always had a strong sense of honesty…Now, shall we focus on our plans for Charlie's birthday?"

"Angie's going to pop out of a cake and we're going to sing a duet. After that we'll let her sing. For her final birthday present, we'll put up flyers for the hotel."

"We'll need some choreography, Alastor, I think that you can help us out with that," Angel Dust spoke.

"I can."

"Let's talk about this some more once he's in better shape. I think I'll go to the jazz lounge – or maybe the art room," Cherri told Angel Dust and she left.

"Yeah, Alastor, ya look like you could use some more rest. I'll leave ya to it," he spoke. He got up to leave.

"Wait."

"Ya need something?"

"Angel… I've taken notice of how Charlie and Vagatha look at each other."

"Yeah… and?"

Alastor turned his head to look at Angel Dust more directly: "I think that I would like for you to look at me the same way."

"I'm sorry, what? Are you tryin' ta hit on me?"

"You and I seem to have a lot in common: we lived at around the same time period as criminals, we have a flair for killing and show business – well, maybe the killing is more my area – we both seem to enjoy good food, and it seems that the both of us never really experienced the same affection that Vagatha and Charlie have. Apart from that, we've been through a lot together in such a short time: talking about or lives, getting into fights, and I know now that I can trust you."

"What's trust got to do with anything?" Angel Dust asked.

"You stripped me, I was vulnerable, but the only intentions that you had were to help me recover… Well, if you still want someone who looks at you like Vagatha does to Charlie, I think that I'm willing to give it a try."

Angel Dust wrapped his lower arms around himself and brought his upper arms to his face: "Y-You're serious? Don't go playin' a joke like this on me!"

"I wouldn't dare!" Alastor exclaimed, he then motioned towards the armchair Angel Dust sat in earlier, and he used his magic to draw it closer to the bed: "Will you keep me company?"

Angel Dust sat down and Alastor held out his hand, looking a bit shy but his smile was welcoming: "Go on, take it."

Angel Dust reached for it with his lower hand, their fingers curled until the other's hand was in their grip. He looked over to Alastor and saw that his face had turned slightly red, he brought another hand up to his face and gave a small snort: "Are you getting flustered just from holding hands?"

Static and feedback was his response.

"Okay, I gotta admit, that is stinkin' adorable. After working the sex industry, I've never had a client to get bashful or flustered from something I'd consider very innocent – more than likely they'd just jump on me right when we got into the room, sometimes quite forceful. Now you, the big bad Radio Demon… At least I know that I'll get some respect from you. "

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