by You-Know-Who and Drucilla
Tara was rather relieved when her fever broke and her injuries began to recover. She wondered how much time she had spent down here. Her job was definitely gone by this point. However, being able to overcome her illness gave her more time however to focus on the abyssmal living conditions of Holtz. Whoever or whatever he was or had been, nothing about him could be helped by living in the underground crypt that he did. Even Spike had better surroundings than this. And he really did live in a crypt.
She shrugged and decided that since she had nothing else to do for the time being and truthfully was in no real hurry to get back to dealing with LA, to clean the place up a bit. If nothing else she didn't know where she was, or how to get out of there. While she had the feeling that Holtz would be pleased to see her go, assuming she was recovered enough to do so, she wasn't sure the demon shared the sentiment.
She focused on cleaning rather than nervousness. She had to do something at least in return for him saving her life, or at least felt she ought to. She worked on cleaning perhaps longer than she should have more as a result of having nothing else to do than anything else. Not condusive to her recovery, but she didn't really notice how of a strain cleaning was until afterwards.
It wasn't even like there was much TO clean. The man could have given a monk lessons in asceticism. Weapons, a computer she didn't think he actually touched, television sets. A bed. A few chairs. The remainder of some food.
She sighed and staggered back to her bed. Did he ever get lonely? That demon couldn't be much company. How could he possibly enjoy this barren place. Not to mention the food he ate. He was bound to keel over and die from eating so many hamburgers. He didn't seem to care, but honestly.
She sighed, gave up and admitted it to herself. He might not have been lonely, but she was. A silent, bitter old man who killed vampires for a living wasn't much company, and her only other choice was the demon. Considering all his unpleasant scowling, she didn't think he was interested in keeping her company so much as killing her. There weren't even any books to read down there.
The few times she'd managed to pry conversation out of Holtz since that one disastrous attempt, he'd assured her that she would be fine in another couple of weeks. Well, that time was almost up now. Which partly made her happy...but...at the same time, even Holtz was more charitable then the people were where she worked and lived.
Tara sighed. She had no idea what she wanted. She wanted to go back to Sunnydale, but that would mean facing the Scoobies again and after Willow, after her disappearing like that, she wasn't sure she wanted to face them again. And on a more practical note, she wasn't sure she had the money anymore. Come to think of it, she didn't have any money....Great. So not only was she dependant on the mysterious Holtz to take care of her, fix her up, she was dependant on him and the demon for food, and a roof over her head. This was bad, very bad.
She groaned and collapsed onto the bed. None of these were really choices at all. So much for ever being normal. She thought maybe it would have been better if she had turned into a demon on her 20th birthday. Or just about anything else for that matter. As it was, she was useless....
***
Sahjhan was beginning to wonder why he even bothered wasting his time with Holtz. The man was supposed to have killed Angel weeks ago. Instead he sat around staring at the girl. That was really productive. What part of no mercy was being lost on the guy? He figured it was something stupid and sentimental like the girl looking like Holtz's dead daughter, but really. That should have just made the man more inclined to kill Angel, not less. "So.....about the girl?" He began trying to tone down his irritation.
"What about her?" Holtz asked indifferently. As though he hadn't spent most of the hours he should have been reviewing Angel, or better yet, killing Angel, staring at the girl and bathing her wounds or something stupid like that.
"She's better now isn't she?" The demon said crossing his arms.
"She's still very weak," Holtz said, as though that ended the issue. "She needs time to rest." In pieces, Sahjan thought to himself.
"You've been saying that for the past three weeks," the demon said, forcing a calm tone. "Maybe we should just take her to a hospital."
"Would taking her to a hospital cause uncomfortable questions to be asked?" Holtz asked pointedly. "Considering I don't exactly know what the thing is..."
"Okay. I'll give you that, but still.....She's fine now," The demon replied shrugging.
"She is far from fine," Holtz said acidly. "She is still recovering from the fever from her wounds, her chest is still healing from the broken ribs, and she cannot move around for more than an hour without becoming tired and nauseous. She can stay where she is as long as she needs to. She's doing no harm."
"She is a nuisance," the demon retorted.
"You might find her a nuisance. I find her company... pleasent."
"What?" Sahjan was flabbergasted. "Pleasant?"
Holtz hid the smirk. It had been worth it just to hear that tone from the demon. He did find her company pleasent, and he'd been mildly surprised to realize it; it had been a very long time since he'd felt anything in the company of others. But more than that, it annoyed the demon who, Holtz was sure, thought of him as only a tool. And a rather defective one at that. "Yes."
"I....I'm going away now," Sahjan said appalled. "You be delusional on your own time. Just kill Angel soon." Holtz actually chuckled at that. Sahjahn sighed and walked away.
Holtz went into the underground chamber, still smiling slightly. It was a small victory over the demon, but a victory nonetheless. The demon might have given him what he wanted, but he would take it on his own terms. He walked in... and stopped. And stared.
After relaxing for awhile, Tara had gone back to cleaning what little there was to clean. She didn't notice him right away and continued cleaning humming to herself.
"Tara..." he said quietly. "What are you doing?"
She looked up smiling softly. "Just cleaning a little....."
"But... there's nothing to clean."
"Yeah," she said sheepishly. "So I've been noticing." He stared at her, utterly flabbergasted and feeling rather confused and poleaxed. Tara chuckled. "Would it help if I said I was sorry and that it will never happen again?" He just kept staring, not... really sure how to deal with her. Tara smiled brightly. "Didn't think so." His mouth twitched upwards slightly in what looked like it was trying to be a smile.
She yawned softly covering her mouth with her hand. She was getting tired of being tired. Holtz stepped forward, ready to catch her if she keeled over. "You should...." "Rest?" she finished helpfully. He nodded. She chuckled. "Probably."
"Would you sing for me again?" she asked brightly. He had to fight to keep from gaping obviously. This girl either was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid... or she had just gotten used to him. He wasn't sure which. She flushed. "Sorry."
Now he wanted to apologize, for making her feel as though she should apologize. He wondered briefly why, confused and a bit annoyed. He supposed it was simply that she needed to be cared for, still. And he hadn't had to look after anyone but himself in so long...
Tara was a bit confused as well and debated going off to bed but was too uncertain to actually do so.
Holtz leaned against a convenient pillar, scowling at the unoffending stone. He didn't need these complications, despite his irritating words to the demon. He didn't need anyone to have to care for, or anyone to care for him.
"Ummm....." Tara said timidly. "It's okay...." Holtz muttered something that could have been a "yes" or a "no" or a "sod off" for all she knew. She turned around and walked back to her bed feeling a bit hurt and unsure why exactly. Holtz continued to lean against the piller and scowl at it. Perhaps she should have concentrated more on walking than feeling miserable, she thought as she tripped while walking away. She went sprawling, falling hard onto the ground. She groaned unhappily after falling and blinked surprised to find her eyes watering. Great. Just what she needed. Hands fell lightly on her shoulders, steadying her. She sighed. "Now I really am sorry..." She really was absolutely useless....
He made an exasperated noise and picked her up, easily as he might pick up a doll and gently as she could have wanted. She blinked a bit and sniffled softly. No wonder he was fed up with her. He laid her gently down on the bed, pulling the covers back over her and tucking her in like a small child. The expression on his face suggested that he'd half-forgotten she wasn't a small child: scolding, exasperated, and affectionate all at the same time, all hidden behind a thin veneer of indifference.
She wiped at her eyes feeling incredibly stupid and resisted the urge to apologize again which she had been doing a lot lately....He tucked the covers up around her chin, smoothed her hair over the pillow awkwardly. It was as though he was treating her as a small child because he didn't know how else to handle the situation. Tara felt oddly comforted by this and curled up against the head of the bed. After a little while he did start to sing a lullabye, albeit hesitantly, as though unsure treating her like a child was really the prudent thing to do.
Tara relaxed and hugged her pillow sighing softly. She enjoyed the singing but it was more the company that he was that made her feel better. And he was good company when he was tucking her in at night. She wished he could be like this during the day, but he did the best he could....and she wondered briefly why that mattered....
Holtz stared down at the girl curled up in the bed, still singing softly but now more by habit than by concentration. Again the thought crossed his mind that she would have been five or six years older... he pushed the thought away. He wondered why she'd been tidying... tidying. Of all things. What was the point of tidying something like this tomb? But she'd seemed more healthy, more happy when she'd been up and about and even doing small cleaning chores than she had all in the past weeks... and then he wondered why her happiness should matter...
Tara closed her eyes and dozed off determined to be more useful the following day.
Holtz watched her for a bit and then stood up, turning to pace through the rooms that now suddenly felt like a dungeon, determined not to let this resurgence of feeling stand in his way.
