Title: Loose Ends
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize belong to Joss & co. (all hail the crackhead). I'm just fooling around with his universe, with no intention of making money or anything.
Classification: Buffy-Angel crossover
Rating: PG13
Feedback: Yes, please! Doesn't everyone want it?
Email: janemccartney@bol.com.br
Distribution: Anywhere, I don't mind, just credit me and inform me where it's at.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Theo, who actually made this project a viable one with his amazing and wonderful work – I'm truly grateful for your help with the English grammar and all the necessary adaptations. You're my savior.
Note: This is my very first attempt at fan fiction, and English is definitely not my native language, so I'd be happy if you guys didn't go too hard on me – please. I'm just doing the best I can here.
Summary: [Buffy-Angel Crossover] Xander shows up in Los Angeles, and brings with him a secret that'll lead him into dangerous territory. Can he cope with that? And his friends, will they be there for him?
***
"Crap," was all that Faith was able to utter, as the too-well-known sensation of tiredness and, at the same time, agitation started to quickly consume her mind and body.
The set in Big Aunt Mona's little TV room was displaying the latest news, with her and Xander's faces on the screen; as their escape from St. Matthew's had been taped by the security cameras of the hospital.
The reporter babbled that the case was getting the highest priority from the L.A.P.D., and five nearby police precincts had been put on the highest level of alert.
Faith was being labeled as an immensely dangerous fugitive, and now an accomplice for one Alexander Lavelle Harris.
Xander, apparently, was being charged with the attempted murder of Cordelia Chase. And also as a matter of fact, the murder of one Lance Randolph, a beggar whose head had been ripped off of his body and found in a dark alley, along with his bloody torso.
In that same dark alley, a couple of feet away from the fallen headless corpse, a picture of a brunette girl – Xander's supposed second victim – had been found by the cops.
Apart from Cordelia, in the photo there were several other high school students, the accused himself being one of them. Survivors from the demolished school of Sunnydale High, as described by one of the witnesses at the location.
Another photograph, with a group of young people and an older man – two girls that were in the other photo, and two different girls, and also a new teenager – had also been found, by the side of a bloodstained axe.
With all three pieces of evidence, there was enough to put out an immediate warrant for Xander's arrest. And the recounting of the supposed homicide matched with some descriptions the cops had collected from witnesses, who had seen him near the murder site that very same night, a few hours earlier.
The two time-travellers exchanged a troubled and confused look. Xander diverted his eyes away first, and automatically began to search for his pictures in his pocket.
But he was surprised to discover that the two photographs he had brought with him were suddenly gone, without any trace or clue of their whereabouts for their mysterious disappearance.
When he found nothing, Xander quickly panicked and his face assumed a confused look. Quickly seeing his consternation, Faith sent a questioning glance at him.
"I didn't do it, I-I didn't..." the boy stammered.
The brunette girl seemed slightly offended, but she didn't comment on it though. "I know you didn't. What, do you think I did?"
"No," the young man replied, although a slight trace of uncertainty was easily found in his voice. "I'm sorry, I guess I just had to make sure, ya know? 'Cause I don't know what's what anymore, Faith. I, I never saw that man before in my life, I swear! And I didn't hurt Cor, I'd never hurt Cordelia..."
"Xander," Faith gazed at him intensely. "It's OK, I know you didn't hurt little Queen C, or our headless pal too. You know what's happened, right? The bastards are now throwing everything they goddamn well have at us, so we'll just have to be stronger and smarter than them..."
The dark-haired young man nodded slowly, and Faith realized that the bloodstained spot on his black T-shirt was increasing considerably. The Slayer supported his weight on her shoulders and said tersely, "Shit, we'll have to take you somewhere..."
Xander tried to protest, but the pain quickly made him wail in pain. "We can't go to a hospital, they'll find us there!"
"Can't risk it, boy toy. This is pure anti-five-by-five, you'll die, and I won't let that happen – I can't do this by myself, remember? Come on, I need you to work with me here, stud..."
The hotel's chubby owner sighed amusedly, raising her hands and then letting them fall, her face a pure sneer.
"Damn cops, they don't know what the heck they're talking about! Oh, well, screw 'em I say! Lemme say something kids, Big Aunt Mona ain't gonna turn you in to them, 'kay?"
Faith and Xander turned slowly their attention to the woman, as they had forgotten her presence during the whole time in the TV room.
"Creepy freaks," Big Aunt Mona exclaimed, adjusting the apron around her waist and throwing her recently smoked cigar into a nearby ashtray.
The Slayer and the former Zeppo could only gaze at each other, nodding carefully. "Thanks," Xander said awkwardly. "Uh, I guess..."
Aunt Mona smiled openly, laughing almost hysterically. "No big, kid, no big! Just pay me my rent, and I'll be your best friend!"
The young man tried to walk to the door, but he then painfully started to collapse. Faith quickly came back to his side. "Hey, take it easy," she helped him, leaning Xander's back at the wall. "You're already pretty banged up, you don't wanna get any new injuries here, OK?"
"What are we gonna do? We can't go out as regular people anymore, you know. Half the town is looking for our butts!" Xander exclaimed weakly, and the brunette girl's face blanked.
"We'll find a way, no problemo," Faith said unconvincingly. "We, we just need to take you to a hospital, Xand. You won't last much longer without..."
"I got some bandages and stuff. You can stay here as long as you need," Aunt Mona offered affirmatively, with a wide smile on her plump cheeks and ruby lips. "Just don't make too much noise if you guys are gonna get some, you know? Thin walls. Ah, the condoms are in the bedside table, by the way..."
"We won't need them," Xander and Faith uttered nervously in unison, briefly exchanging an awkward and embarrassed gaze.
"Right," the hotel's owner mused with a strong hint of sarcasm. "And I'll be the next Miss USA..."
This time, the brunette and the young man didn't have time to blush, 'cause the television started to display another scoop on their case; one that seemed to instantly grab the attention of Big Aunt Mona.
If the new Bonnie and Clyde were located, the reporter said, a generous reward of $500,000 was being offered to the citizen that helped inform the authorities of Faith and Xander's whereabouts.
And, of course, that shiny feeling of patriotism called Dollar gave birth to the chubby woman's urge to do her righteous duty as an honorable citizen of the City of Angels.
When Faith and Xander next turned their heads towards Big Aunt Mona, the previously friendly lady had an utterly huge rifle pointed right at their asses.
"Sorry, punks. But Big Aunt Mona's got a very, very important meeting with George Washington," the suddenly-hostile smile from the hotel's owner lips greeted them, wry words and fingers promptly wandering around the gun's trigger.
"Guess we'll have to pay for the cookies now, huh?" Xander's weakened voice mused dryly in full irony. But at this point, the dark-haired boy was feeling so weak he would have fainted, if Faith didn't have a secure grip on him.
"Hang on," the Slayer whispered to him, and turned her glance to the woman with a rifle in her hands and a huge smile on her lips.
"I knew it! Jesus Freaking Christ, but I knew my time was coming! Ha! $500,000!" Big Aunt Mona exclaimed happily, as she stared at the two young people that were still within her rifle's sights.
Faith's voice called her back into focus. "I thought you were gonna help us?"
Big Aunt Mona stopped laughing immediately, and her face suddenly took on a biting expression. "Life's a bitch, my dear. Gotta keep that in mind..."
She pointed the gun at Faith's forehead. "If you don't learn how to survive, dollface, then this world will crush you faster than an itty bitty bug. That's Darwin, y'know? Survival of the fittest, the weak versus the strong – and I'm one of the latter. Ain't no higher power out there to help ya, honey. And now it's just you two, me and half a million freaking dollars!"
Faith and Xander exchanged a knowing look, and the young man held his belly to try and control the bleeding, the gun still aimed at the Slayer's forehead.
Aunt Mona continued her rant, "Don't you kids learn anything in school anymore? Oh crap, you little brats – I bet you skipped classes to smoke crack or something, eh?"
Faith shot a quick look at Xander, who nodded painfully in as short a time as possible.
The brunette's voice surprised the older woman, makings her eyes go wide at Faith's hard stare straight in her direction. "You know what, Mo? It's times like this I think I learned my lessons just damn fine!"
And before Big Aunt Mona could blink, a Slayer-strength side kick blasted the rifle out of her hands and a hard punch slammed her in the solar plexus, which was enough to make her recoil against a corner in agony and pain.
Xander supported his arm on the table. "Now what?"
But the brunette Slayer was looking horrified at Big Aunt Mona's slumped figure in the corner of the room, several flashbacks and memories forcefully hitting her mind.
All the pain, all the suffering, all the dread and horror in innocent people's eyes, caused exclusively and intentionally by her...
The deception and hatred, the growing feeling of emptiness and loneliness aching inside of her, consuming her soul and briskly replacing her fear with savage rage...
The vicious taste of Evil and its presumably easier road, the tricky temptation and provocation of hiding you from yourself, and from the world.
After all, wasn't she nothing but trash? Her mother used to say it all the time. And wasn't she the reason why her father had left? Another constant remimder of her beloved mom, of course.
What good could she bring to people?
"Faith!" Xander's voice finally succeeded in snapping the brunette girl from her thoughts.
"I, I hurt her. Just like I hurt the hospital guards... I swear, I didn't mean it! They're regular people, and I wasn't supposed to... I'm supposed to protect them, but I, I just had to, I swear-!"
"Look, Faith," the young man managed to say, his bloody left hand holding his wound and his right grabbing the Slayer's arm, staining the brunette's skin with the vital fluid and making her turn and stare at him with panicking eyes.
Xander continued, his voice cracking a little, "It's OK, you had to do it. But, listen, we gotta move out! Sergeant Rock, the rules of war and all that. You didn't do anything wrong, she didn't give us any other choice – get it? And, God owes us that much, right? We're on a mission, there's bigger things at stake... and like you said, I need you here with me."
"Okay. Right. We're cool, then. So, so let's go," Faith's dry voice said, as the young woman suddenly unplugged Big Aunt Mona's telephone and smashed the receiver.
She paused for several seconds, looking straight at one of the little TV room's walls. Faith then finally uttered, in a small and slightly enraged voice, "Let's just go."
***
Angel wasn't happy. Not at all.
The dark-haired vampire didn't really know when things had started to go completely south, when the Hyperion's atmosphere had become so heavy and everybody's tension levels had been that full of apprehension and uncertainty.
OK, so maybe that was a lie.
As there had been this weird demon that had released an odd, creepy phlegm last week, and a couple of vampire lovers a few days ago had tried to conquer the world with poisoned candies for kids.
Right, and also a gigantic brown-haired werewolf had kindly decided Los Angeles would be a wonderful and pleasant place to procreate its children...
The truth was, that the list of reasons why things were tense in the Hyperion was interminable – and doubtless, it would keep growing every day.
Well, the Fang Gang was always dealing with problems, that was pretty much an undeniable fact – but that night, that night everything seemed a thousand times worse than normal.
Plus, the duality of it all.
Angel, for the first time in a very long time, felt completely helpless in the face of the odd web of happenings that were coming together. Coming together in fact at full force, into that bizarre puzzle they'd all been living through during these last few hours.
And to stand there, hearing Wesley's words about Kate Lockley's motivations to call after seeing the former Watcher's expression changed into a darkened parody of its previous self – that didn't increase his coolness factor at all.
"What do you mean by Xander being labeled as the prime suspect, in an investigation about some homeless guy's death?"
"For the last bloody time, Angel, it means Xander's being labeled as the prime suspect, in an investigation about some homeless guy 's death!" Wesley grunted, annoyed.
As that was the third time Angel had asked the exact same question.
"He's Ricky," Fred muttered more to herself than to anybody else, and the three men turned around to face her, tired and confused looks on their faces silently questioning her frowning features.
"Ricky?" a baffled Gunn finally demanded, after an awkward moment of silence with him, Angel and Wesley just staring questioningly at the Texan girl.
"Ricky," the brunette sighed in reply, as if she was talking about the most obvious thing in the world. "Rick Gloove, a boy who lived in Apartment 4B down the hall of our old apartment building in Texas. Mom used to be a friend of his mother, that woman made the best cookies ever," she whispered thoughtfully.
"It was strange, because he used to be pretty much a normal guy – but then he just, bam, snapped! Woke up thinking he was Batman one day, and ended up in a mental institution. Poor Ricky," Fred finished up, whispering in sadness. "He was never lucky, anyway. You know what, the most ironic thing's that he always kept this weird medallion, saying it was his lucky charm..."
The trio of men promptly exchanged suspicious glances.
"Poor Ricky. He was unlucky, but kinda cute. We made out in a closet one day, you know," Fred kept on talking, completely oblivious to what was happening around her.
And that was, Wesley, Gunn and Angel gazing at her with puzzled looks.
"What?" the Texan girl demanded, finally noticing them. "Okay, okay, we just got stuck in there and he made fun of my dental braces. Happy now?" she blurted out, sounding slightly indignant.
"Fred... you, you're talking about this Rick person, right? Could you perhaps describe to me this... lucky medallion of his?"
At hearing Wesley's voice, the brunette Texan looked at him confusedly. "Uh, I guess. I mean, it was quite a long time ago, but I think it was a silver medallion. Yeah, silver, and with a weird symbol in its center. Creepy. Used to give me the chills..."
Angel glanced at the Englishman with a worried expression, "Sounds familiar?"
The former Watcher sighed in alarm and trepidation. "I hope not, Angel. I really do."
***
Hey! Jane again!
I know this is a short chapter, shorter than usual - and, also, I didn't really like this, but - oh well. Sue me. I just sent it.
And, please, review! I love your kind reviews - I'll send you all big thanks for them.
Go and check 'A Faithless Rhapsody' too, my second fic - deals with X/B friendship, and it's from Buffy's POV.
So, that's it - I'll let you with the famous three letters... TBC
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize belong to Joss & co. (all hail the crackhead). I'm just fooling around with his universe, with no intention of making money or anything.
Classification: Buffy-Angel crossover
Rating: PG13
Feedback: Yes, please! Doesn't everyone want it?
Email: janemccartney@bol.com.br
Distribution: Anywhere, I don't mind, just credit me and inform me where it's at.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Theo, who actually made this project a viable one with his amazing and wonderful work – I'm truly grateful for your help with the English grammar and all the necessary adaptations. You're my savior.
Note: This is my very first attempt at fan fiction, and English is definitely not my native language, so I'd be happy if you guys didn't go too hard on me – please. I'm just doing the best I can here.
Summary: [Buffy-Angel Crossover] Xander shows up in Los Angeles, and brings with him a secret that'll lead him into dangerous territory. Can he cope with that? And his friends, will they be there for him?
***
"Crap," was all that Faith was able to utter, as the too-well-known sensation of tiredness and, at the same time, agitation started to quickly consume her mind and body.
The set in Big Aunt Mona's little TV room was displaying the latest news, with her and Xander's faces on the screen; as their escape from St. Matthew's had been taped by the security cameras of the hospital.
The reporter babbled that the case was getting the highest priority from the L.A.P.D., and five nearby police precincts had been put on the highest level of alert.
Faith was being labeled as an immensely dangerous fugitive, and now an accomplice for one Alexander Lavelle Harris.
Xander, apparently, was being charged with the attempted murder of Cordelia Chase. And also as a matter of fact, the murder of one Lance Randolph, a beggar whose head had been ripped off of his body and found in a dark alley, along with his bloody torso.
In that same dark alley, a couple of feet away from the fallen headless corpse, a picture of a brunette girl – Xander's supposed second victim – had been found by the cops.
Apart from Cordelia, in the photo there were several other high school students, the accused himself being one of them. Survivors from the demolished school of Sunnydale High, as described by one of the witnesses at the location.
Another photograph, with a group of young people and an older man – two girls that were in the other photo, and two different girls, and also a new teenager – had also been found, by the side of a bloodstained axe.
With all three pieces of evidence, there was enough to put out an immediate warrant for Xander's arrest. And the recounting of the supposed homicide matched with some descriptions the cops had collected from witnesses, who had seen him near the murder site that very same night, a few hours earlier.
The two time-travellers exchanged a troubled and confused look. Xander diverted his eyes away first, and automatically began to search for his pictures in his pocket.
But he was surprised to discover that the two photographs he had brought with him were suddenly gone, without any trace or clue of their whereabouts for their mysterious disappearance.
When he found nothing, Xander quickly panicked and his face assumed a confused look. Quickly seeing his consternation, Faith sent a questioning glance at him.
"I didn't do it, I-I didn't..." the boy stammered.
The brunette girl seemed slightly offended, but she didn't comment on it though. "I know you didn't. What, do you think I did?"
"No," the young man replied, although a slight trace of uncertainty was easily found in his voice. "I'm sorry, I guess I just had to make sure, ya know? 'Cause I don't know what's what anymore, Faith. I, I never saw that man before in my life, I swear! And I didn't hurt Cor, I'd never hurt Cordelia..."
"Xander," Faith gazed at him intensely. "It's OK, I know you didn't hurt little Queen C, or our headless pal too. You know what's happened, right? The bastards are now throwing everything they goddamn well have at us, so we'll just have to be stronger and smarter than them..."
The dark-haired young man nodded slowly, and Faith realized that the bloodstained spot on his black T-shirt was increasing considerably. The Slayer supported his weight on her shoulders and said tersely, "Shit, we'll have to take you somewhere..."
Xander tried to protest, but the pain quickly made him wail in pain. "We can't go to a hospital, they'll find us there!"
"Can't risk it, boy toy. This is pure anti-five-by-five, you'll die, and I won't let that happen – I can't do this by myself, remember? Come on, I need you to work with me here, stud..."
The hotel's chubby owner sighed amusedly, raising her hands and then letting them fall, her face a pure sneer.
"Damn cops, they don't know what the heck they're talking about! Oh, well, screw 'em I say! Lemme say something kids, Big Aunt Mona ain't gonna turn you in to them, 'kay?"
Faith and Xander turned slowly their attention to the woman, as they had forgotten her presence during the whole time in the TV room.
"Creepy freaks," Big Aunt Mona exclaimed, adjusting the apron around her waist and throwing her recently smoked cigar into a nearby ashtray.
The Slayer and the former Zeppo could only gaze at each other, nodding carefully. "Thanks," Xander said awkwardly. "Uh, I guess..."
Aunt Mona smiled openly, laughing almost hysterically. "No big, kid, no big! Just pay me my rent, and I'll be your best friend!"
The young man tried to walk to the door, but he then painfully started to collapse. Faith quickly came back to his side. "Hey, take it easy," she helped him, leaning Xander's back at the wall. "You're already pretty banged up, you don't wanna get any new injuries here, OK?"
"What are we gonna do? We can't go out as regular people anymore, you know. Half the town is looking for our butts!" Xander exclaimed weakly, and the brunette girl's face blanked.
"We'll find a way, no problemo," Faith said unconvincingly. "We, we just need to take you to a hospital, Xand. You won't last much longer without..."
"I got some bandages and stuff. You can stay here as long as you need," Aunt Mona offered affirmatively, with a wide smile on her plump cheeks and ruby lips. "Just don't make too much noise if you guys are gonna get some, you know? Thin walls. Ah, the condoms are in the bedside table, by the way..."
"We won't need them," Xander and Faith uttered nervously in unison, briefly exchanging an awkward and embarrassed gaze.
"Right," the hotel's owner mused with a strong hint of sarcasm. "And I'll be the next Miss USA..."
This time, the brunette and the young man didn't have time to blush, 'cause the television started to display another scoop on their case; one that seemed to instantly grab the attention of Big Aunt Mona.
If the new Bonnie and Clyde were located, the reporter said, a generous reward of $500,000 was being offered to the citizen that helped inform the authorities of Faith and Xander's whereabouts.
And, of course, that shiny feeling of patriotism called Dollar gave birth to the chubby woman's urge to do her righteous duty as an honorable citizen of the City of Angels.
When Faith and Xander next turned their heads towards Big Aunt Mona, the previously friendly lady had an utterly huge rifle pointed right at their asses.
"Sorry, punks. But Big Aunt Mona's got a very, very important meeting with George Washington," the suddenly-hostile smile from the hotel's owner lips greeted them, wry words and fingers promptly wandering around the gun's trigger.
"Guess we'll have to pay for the cookies now, huh?" Xander's weakened voice mused dryly in full irony. But at this point, the dark-haired boy was feeling so weak he would have fainted, if Faith didn't have a secure grip on him.
"Hang on," the Slayer whispered to him, and turned her glance to the woman with a rifle in her hands and a huge smile on her lips.
"I knew it! Jesus Freaking Christ, but I knew my time was coming! Ha! $500,000!" Big Aunt Mona exclaimed happily, as she stared at the two young people that were still within her rifle's sights.
Faith's voice called her back into focus. "I thought you were gonna help us?"
Big Aunt Mona stopped laughing immediately, and her face suddenly took on a biting expression. "Life's a bitch, my dear. Gotta keep that in mind..."
She pointed the gun at Faith's forehead. "If you don't learn how to survive, dollface, then this world will crush you faster than an itty bitty bug. That's Darwin, y'know? Survival of the fittest, the weak versus the strong – and I'm one of the latter. Ain't no higher power out there to help ya, honey. And now it's just you two, me and half a million freaking dollars!"
Faith and Xander exchanged a knowing look, and the young man held his belly to try and control the bleeding, the gun still aimed at the Slayer's forehead.
Aunt Mona continued her rant, "Don't you kids learn anything in school anymore? Oh crap, you little brats – I bet you skipped classes to smoke crack or something, eh?"
Faith shot a quick look at Xander, who nodded painfully in as short a time as possible.
The brunette's voice surprised the older woman, makings her eyes go wide at Faith's hard stare straight in her direction. "You know what, Mo? It's times like this I think I learned my lessons just damn fine!"
And before Big Aunt Mona could blink, a Slayer-strength side kick blasted the rifle out of her hands and a hard punch slammed her in the solar plexus, which was enough to make her recoil against a corner in agony and pain.
Xander supported his arm on the table. "Now what?"
But the brunette Slayer was looking horrified at Big Aunt Mona's slumped figure in the corner of the room, several flashbacks and memories forcefully hitting her mind.
All the pain, all the suffering, all the dread and horror in innocent people's eyes, caused exclusively and intentionally by her...
The deception and hatred, the growing feeling of emptiness and loneliness aching inside of her, consuming her soul and briskly replacing her fear with savage rage...
The vicious taste of Evil and its presumably easier road, the tricky temptation and provocation of hiding you from yourself, and from the world.
After all, wasn't she nothing but trash? Her mother used to say it all the time. And wasn't she the reason why her father had left? Another constant remimder of her beloved mom, of course.
What good could she bring to people?
"Faith!" Xander's voice finally succeeded in snapping the brunette girl from her thoughts.
"I, I hurt her. Just like I hurt the hospital guards... I swear, I didn't mean it! They're regular people, and I wasn't supposed to... I'm supposed to protect them, but I, I just had to, I swear-!"
"Look, Faith," the young man managed to say, his bloody left hand holding his wound and his right grabbing the Slayer's arm, staining the brunette's skin with the vital fluid and making her turn and stare at him with panicking eyes.
Xander continued, his voice cracking a little, "It's OK, you had to do it. But, listen, we gotta move out! Sergeant Rock, the rules of war and all that. You didn't do anything wrong, she didn't give us any other choice – get it? And, God owes us that much, right? We're on a mission, there's bigger things at stake... and like you said, I need you here with me."
"Okay. Right. We're cool, then. So, so let's go," Faith's dry voice said, as the young woman suddenly unplugged Big Aunt Mona's telephone and smashed the receiver.
She paused for several seconds, looking straight at one of the little TV room's walls. Faith then finally uttered, in a small and slightly enraged voice, "Let's just go."
***
Angel wasn't happy. Not at all.
The dark-haired vampire didn't really know when things had started to go completely south, when the Hyperion's atmosphere had become so heavy and everybody's tension levels had been that full of apprehension and uncertainty.
OK, so maybe that was a lie.
As there had been this weird demon that had released an odd, creepy phlegm last week, and a couple of vampire lovers a few days ago had tried to conquer the world with poisoned candies for kids.
Right, and also a gigantic brown-haired werewolf had kindly decided Los Angeles would be a wonderful and pleasant place to procreate its children...
The truth was, that the list of reasons why things were tense in the Hyperion was interminable – and doubtless, it would keep growing every day.
Well, the Fang Gang was always dealing with problems, that was pretty much an undeniable fact – but that night, that night everything seemed a thousand times worse than normal.
Plus, the duality of it all.
Angel, for the first time in a very long time, felt completely helpless in the face of the odd web of happenings that were coming together. Coming together in fact at full force, into that bizarre puzzle they'd all been living through during these last few hours.
And to stand there, hearing Wesley's words about Kate Lockley's motivations to call after seeing the former Watcher's expression changed into a darkened parody of its previous self – that didn't increase his coolness factor at all.
"What do you mean by Xander being labeled as the prime suspect, in an investigation about some homeless guy's death?"
"For the last bloody time, Angel, it means Xander's being labeled as the prime suspect, in an investigation about some homeless guy 's death!" Wesley grunted, annoyed.
As that was the third time Angel had asked the exact same question.
"He's Ricky," Fred muttered more to herself than to anybody else, and the three men turned around to face her, tired and confused looks on their faces silently questioning her frowning features.
"Ricky?" a baffled Gunn finally demanded, after an awkward moment of silence with him, Angel and Wesley just staring questioningly at the Texan girl.
"Ricky," the brunette sighed in reply, as if she was talking about the most obvious thing in the world. "Rick Gloove, a boy who lived in Apartment 4B down the hall of our old apartment building in Texas. Mom used to be a friend of his mother, that woman made the best cookies ever," she whispered thoughtfully.
"It was strange, because he used to be pretty much a normal guy – but then he just, bam, snapped! Woke up thinking he was Batman one day, and ended up in a mental institution. Poor Ricky," Fred finished up, whispering in sadness. "He was never lucky, anyway. You know what, the most ironic thing's that he always kept this weird medallion, saying it was his lucky charm..."
The trio of men promptly exchanged suspicious glances.
"Poor Ricky. He was unlucky, but kinda cute. We made out in a closet one day, you know," Fred kept on talking, completely oblivious to what was happening around her.
And that was, Wesley, Gunn and Angel gazing at her with puzzled looks.
"What?" the Texan girl demanded, finally noticing them. "Okay, okay, we just got stuck in there and he made fun of my dental braces. Happy now?" she blurted out, sounding slightly indignant.
"Fred... you, you're talking about this Rick person, right? Could you perhaps describe to me this... lucky medallion of his?"
At hearing Wesley's voice, the brunette Texan looked at him confusedly. "Uh, I guess. I mean, it was quite a long time ago, but I think it was a silver medallion. Yeah, silver, and with a weird symbol in its center. Creepy. Used to give me the chills..."
Angel glanced at the Englishman with a worried expression, "Sounds familiar?"
The former Watcher sighed in alarm and trepidation. "I hope not, Angel. I really do."
***
Hey! Jane again!
I know this is a short chapter, shorter than usual - and, also, I didn't really like this, but - oh well. Sue me. I just sent it.
And, please, review! I love your kind reviews - I'll send you all big thanks for them.
Go and check 'A Faithless Rhapsody' too, my second fic - deals with X/B friendship, and it's from Buffy's POV.
So, that's it - I'll let you with the famous three letters... TBC