Title: Deja Vu
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to UPN, Joss, Fox, etc....
Distribution: If you want you could distribute it to the writers of ME. Maybe I'll get some money so that I can quit my job. I'll even cut you in ... say .. 15%?
Setting: Season 5, right before I Was Made to Love You. Some BX overtones but they will be towards the end of the fic. Just as the saying goes, the best comes to those who wait :) well, unless it's those ketchup bottles at a restaurant. Damn things never come out on their own.
Author's Notes: Special thanks to my beta reader Monica. She makes my English speaking good. Also to Ozmandayus, Wicked Ray, Joanne, Brooke, and Lori. You guys consistently write some of the best BX fics out there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas on paper with everyone.
Now to chapter 6 of Déjà Vu …
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Sun-Mart Truck Stop
Just Outside of Los Angeles
9:40 A.M.
"Give me a pack of the Winston Lights."
The young cashier nodded as he retrieved the pack of cigarettes and tossed them onto the counter. "Twenty five sixty two with the gas," he said while yawning.
It had been a long morning for Zach Roper and it had only begun. He was forced to work not only his usually graveyard shift but would have to cover the morning shift as well. Two of their cashiers had already quit and Mike, who usually covers the morning shift, hadn't shown up yet. He couldn't really blame those who had quit. This sort of job was something that few had patience for. No benefits and there weren't many opportunities to advance other than assistant manager or manager. The current manager, Tommy Greyson, was forty five years old and had been with the store for fourteen years, eight as the manager. The amount of stress that Mr. Greyson was under each and everyday to meet quota and profit from those who owned the truck stop was, Zach imagined, unbearable. No, Zach didn't want to advance in this job one bit.
{Just give me my pay check and let me be on my way.} He thought, while the truck driver paid for his gas and cigarettes before leaving.
Zach looked up at the clock and sighed before sitting down and putting on his earphones. He turned, putting in a CD and starting blaring the music as he picked up the comic book that had been keeping him company for the last few hours.
He almost didn't hear the bells chiming as the figures walked in. Five of them dressed in all black leather suits. Each of them still wearing their biker helmets with the black tinted covers over the face shield. Zach looked up from his comic book just in time to see the last of them closing the door. He took off his earphones and lay down the comic book as he got up cautiously. The one who had entered first, removed his helmet, now standing just on the other side of the counter. Zach didn't even move. He couldn't.
"C-can I help you?"
"Yes, you sure can," the one nearest to him said while the others spread throughout the store. Zach noticed a scar that started just above the man's left eye and ran down the side of his cheek. However, it wasn't the horrible looking scar or even the gold tooth that shined through with the smile that made Zach jump, but the fact that the man's facial features changed in a blink of an eye. Gone was the one scar running down the side of the man's face. In its place, many ridges and horrible glowing yellow eyes. Eyes that bore into the young cashier's own as he backed up from the counter. Startled for a bit but not for long, Zach acted as he bent down under the counter before coming back up with a rifle. The same rifle that Mr. Greyson had put under there since they were robbed six months ago. He remembered at the time that he didn't feel comfortable with it being there but now he thanked whoever was listening for those thieves from six months ago.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Zach said, his hand shaking the rifle a little more than he would've liked.
"Is that right? Hear that guys? He wants us to leave," he said while the others chuckled.
"I don't know, I think I'd like to break him in," a woman's voice said, coming from the back. Zach watched as the person moved around the others and removed her helmet, in the process shaking free her dark, auburn hair past her shoulders. "Maybe even apart," she finished smiling.
"Just give us the money kid and we'll be on our way. No one has to get hurt."
"But you said we'd kill the people inside and then take what..."
The man with the scar sighed and turned around towards the one who interrupted him, "Luther! Damnit, do you ever listen? I told you to keep your mouth shut. Now look what you've done," he said gesturing towards Zach. "You've scared the blood bag. Now he's all startled and you know what happened last time," he finished with a sigh before turning back around. "Sorry, my younger brother just likes to talk. Family huh? They never listen. What can you do? Well, except eat them," he said shrugging.
"Excuse me? Ahem, excuse me? Could you turn on pump number two?"
After a second of confusion seeing this man standing at the door in this situation Zach's mouth functioned again, "Q-quick, get out of here. Go c-call the cops!"
"Oh, he doesn't want to do that," the woman said as she moved out from behind the men of the group. "I think he wants to play," she said looking back at Zach. Her expression made Zach feel as if he was back in high school asking Kelly Thomas out just before she laughed in his face and moved on to her next potential male victim.
"Gee, I don't know. I would like to but I've got some things to do," the young man in front of the doors said.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun," she said taking a step closer to him, her leather pants seemingly hugging her hips tighter each step.
The young man looked as if he was considering the offer as he looked around at the others and then looked to the back of the store, "Fun eh?" he said, the woman nodding with a smile.
"It'll be a wild ride," she said moving up to him and rubbing the front of his chest just as he took a step inside, closing the door behind him, "I promise."
"Are you crazy? Get out of here man! These guys are nuts!" the cashier said still holding the gun on the group.
"Oh, I don't know. They seem cool to me," the young man said as the woman purred while sliding up closer to him, her body making contact with his.
The other four guys started chuckling as they turned back to the cashier.
"Look's like Trina's scored tonight. Too bad for you though, that I'm not into guys."
"Uh, I could ..." Luther said raising his hand.
"Luther! Not now!"
At that moment there came a horrible noise from the door. A shrieking noise that almost made Zach drop the rifle. He looked up just in time to see the woman evaporate into thin air, the young man holding something where the woman was just a second ago.
"Sorry, but you're probably too cool for me," Zach heard the young man say.
The four guys who were with the girl just stood in shock for a moment. However, their expressions still didn't match the one on Zach's face. So much was Zach's shock that what happened next went by in what seemed like slow motion. Zach's eyes followed the two men behind the one with the scar as they moved from their position for the first time since they had came in. There was no warning for Zach, for anyone. No scream of rage. No one telling them to move. Nothing. Nothing except for their faces. Faces that seemed to shift faster than the men themselves moved. The same face that Zach got a view of close up when the first of them entered and removed his helmet. Those faces. Those horrible faces. If Mr. Greyson had been here he would've called them the face of the devil, that much Zach was sure of. Another thing he was sure of was that soon those same faces would be coming for him. The only thing that prevented that was that their attention was drawn elsewhere at the moment. Zach's attention was there as well as he watched the young man get thrown through one of the doors, shattering the glass everywhere around the three people now on the ground just outside. Just when Zach thought his heart couldn't beat any faster he saw the two men on top of the young man start to smoke and eventually catch on fire.
Zach watched the men instantly begin to realize that they were both on fire as they tried to scurry back into the store. One thing after another came in front of Zach's eyes as he struggled to keep up with the action in front of him. For some reason one of the men on fire was having a harder time getting to his feet than the other. Then he saw why. There on the ground with shattered glass all around him, and some on top of him, was the young man grabbing a hold of the struggling man. Zach watched as the young man holding onto one of them, pulled the screaming man back towards him and then on top of him. There was so much movement going on between the two, trying to win the advantage on the ground that Zach could hardly tell who was on fire and who was not. Just then he heard the same horrible shrieking sound that he had heard a few minutes prior with the woman. Then there was only one.
While this was unfolding in front of Zach's eyes, the other man who had been on fire was inside the store now, looking around in a fit of madness as the flames danced upon his head. Zach's attention went back and forth between the young man outside still on the ground and the man who had just ran back inside. Then Zach's attention was directed to a voice. A voice that his mind, as well as his eyes, tried to catch up to during the action in front of him as the voice screamed out at the one on fire. A moment later Zach flinched a bit as the man on fire was dowsed with water from a container full of sodas that was sitting in the middle of the aisle. Zach's attention was once again drawn to the sound of glass crunching just outside the store as he looked to see the young man moving. Seeing this made him want to smile despite the craziness of the situation in front of him taking place but he couldn't. He couldn't because of the craziness of the situation. This was something that you saw on TV or in the movies, not at the Sun-Mart. Yet there it was, right in front of him as he watched the young man get back to his feet amongst the broken glass.
"My face!" yelled the one who had just been dowsed with water, still wincing on the floor.
"I am going to enjoy killing you," Zach heard the one with the scar say in the direction of the young man.
The only response from the young man was him pulling out something from his pocket. The next thing Zach knew the object was flung by the young man towards the one directly in front of the counter. Then he watched as the object simply bounced off the person's body and directly on the ground. Zach looked down at the object and he couldn't help but almost chuckle. A piece of wood?
"Okay, it's obvious that's never going to work for me." Zach heard the young man say. The next thing that Zach knew, the young man was being flung down one of the aisles, sliding along the floor before stopping from the impact of hitting the wall at the end of the aisle. It happened so fast that Zach could've sworn he didn't even see the one who flung the young man move. Yet it still wasn't as fast as his finger pulling the trigger on his gun. Then he pulled it again as his ears rung from the shots until all that could be heard was clicking. Then there he was facing his target. A target that didn't seem to remember that gunshots were suppose to be deadly. Zach watched as the guy who he had shot just a brief moment before slowly starting getting to his feet and snarling at him.
"You're next," he said looking at the cashier before turning towards the young man on the floor down the aisle. "But you, you're firs..."
Zach flinched as he watched the guy look directly in front of him and then down towards his chest where the object was piercing him. Then in an instant, he too was gone. The young man stood there for a second dusting himself off before looking back up at the only one left of the group. The same survivor who had just gotten himself off of the ground, obviously still reeling from the burns to his head as he looked around at the scene before him.
"I'm afraid we are going to have to ask you to leave."
Zach looked back at the guy who just stood there for a brief moment before looking around at the scene before him once again. He watched as the guy retrieved his helmet from the ground and put it on, wincing from his burns still evident to his head while doing so. Once his helmet was on, the guy took one last look at the young man before running out through the shattered front doors of the store. Zach just stood in amazement for a second listening to the guy start his motorcycle before driving off down the road.
"Wha... Wha... What just happened?"
The young man smiled for a second before looking to his left and picking up an item. He then walked up to the counter where Zach stood on the other side.
"How much I owe you?" the young man asked, flopping the bag of chips on top of the counter.
"Wha? .. How much? A-are you crazy? Do you know what just happened here? I-I... I have to call the cops. Call Mr. Greyson. Oh God, he's going to kill me! I-I... what... who were those guys? They were... they just..."
"How much?"
"And you just... just ... what did you do to them? You... you just... you just let one of them go."
"Relax, he won't get far. Three miles tops. I just about emptied their gas tanks before coming inside. Which reminds me, don't worry about pump number two," the young man said smiling.
"Three miles? Wha..."
"You know what, just keep the change," the young man said tossing a fifty on the counter before turning around to leave. Zach looked down at the bill on the counter and then back up just in time to see the young man turn back around towards him near the shattered doors, "Oh, and you may want to have someone take a look at the slushy machine. Tasted kind of ... uh, slushy the last time. Made me sick the whole day."
Zach looked over at the slushy machine slowly and then back at the young man, "Who the hell are you?"
The young man stared back at the cashier for a minute before his face broke out into a slight grin. Then shaking his head no to himself, the young man turned around and walked out through the shattered doors.
Once outside he got back on top of his Harley, retrieving the shades from the bike handle as he started up the engine. {I'm Batman would've been way too cliché' to say} Xander thought to himself as he shook his head once again before riding out into the same direction that the vamp had, passing along the way a sign that read Los Angeles twenty miles.
*******************
Current Angel Investigations Office
Downtown Los Angeles
1:25 P.M.
Those around you help you become who you are. They help shape and mold you. Over time they, along with your own experiences, help you become the person you are today. It happens so fast you don't even know it. You come into the light and everything is so new. You're like a kid in a candy store. You think you know it all and then someone steals your candy from you. That is when you find out that you are not as skilled as you thought you were. So you learn. You grow. Take the knowledge that others give to you and run with it. Until one day it is your time to shine.
"No!"
Unfortunately for one Charles Gunn and his beloved Los Angeles Lakers, today was not that day.
"You have to be kidding me! He got all ball!" Gunn yelled at the screen as he watched the referee call a foul on the Lakers.
In fact, the past week or so hadn't been great either. The gang had been fired by Angel, who apparently had his own vendetta going against Wolfam & Hart. Wesley had been shot less than a week ago saving Gunn no less, and business was terribly slow. There were only two cases since they had opened their own office over a week ago. The first was the case that Wesley's friend had them look into, which didn't bring in any money. And then there was the one they were working on currently which involved a couple that had brought in their child to them because she had a third eye growing in the back of her head. The child had apparently been bitten by a demon late one night and now they were trying to find a cure. Wesley had some leads, but case was still undetermined. Leaning back into the couch with a sigh, Gunn was wishing that he could find that demon because the referee was definitely in need.
"It could be worse," Wesley said from his wheelchair, watching alongside his brother in arms.
"Could be worse. How could it be worse?" Gunn asked looking at Wesley just as the whistle could be heard again on the television.
"That's how," Wesley said as Gunn turned back towards the TV in time to see Shaquille O'Neal foul out of the game.
Gunn added a few more expletives as he got up and turned the TV off.
"Why are you getting so agitated? It's just a game. A game where grown men like to throw a round object into a small shaped circle if I might add," Wesley said turning his wheelchair around to face Gunn. "Besides, it was taped from last night. You knew the outcome."
"Yeah, but you can't truly feel the impact of the game unless you've seen it, you know?"
"Just don't let Cordelia in on that fact or else I'm afraid you will feel the impact," Wesley said rolling himself to and around the desk in the corner.
"Man, this is not what I signed up for. Sitting around when we should be out there kicking demon ass," Gunn said a little agitated, walking out into the middle of the room.
"What did you sign up for?"
"Not this, that's for sure."
Wesley wheeled himself around as he faced the young man.
"I signed up because I wanted to make a difference. I thought Angel..."
"Angel isn't here anymore. He's out of the equation. None of us signed up for this but it's what we have left. Us. Angel left his post. We won't. I won't."
After a moment Gunn exhaled and nodded his head, "And neither will I," he said before extending his hand out to Wesley who took it with a firm hand of his own, "I'm sorry man, I'm just a little on edge."
"No problem. It's understandable with all that's been going on. And if it's any consolation I do believe the big chief did get all ball."
"Big fella, not chief." Gunn corrected.
"Oh right, yes."
"Besides, who's going to watch your scrawny ass if I leave," Gunn said, earning a chuckle of his own from Wesley.
"Definitely not me that's for sure," Cordelia said coming into the office, shutting the door behind her.
"It's about time. I'm starving," Gunn said heading over and taking the pizza boxes out of Cordy's arms before placing them onto the desk.
"Business better start picking up pretty soon because I'm tired of driving clear across the city to get the food just because we don't have enough money to tip the delivery driver," she said sitting down and taking off her shoes. A sigh following, "Speaking of which, what happened to the big game that you couldn't leave, thus being the reason for my achy feet."
Gunn just glared at Cordy while Wesley spoke up, "So pizza huh?" he said wheeling over to one of the pizza boxes and opening it up, "Tell me again why we had to eat pizza this early?"
"Because you can't watch a Laker's game and not have pizza," Gunn said, taking a slice of his pepperoni into his mouth, "Besides, no one told you that you had to eat that crap."
"What anchovy supreme?"
"It smells like the insides of a fish."
Wesley held the piece up to his mouth, stopping halfway to look at Gunn before taking a bite.
"So any news on the Sharp's little girl and the," Cordy said pointing to the back of her head, "blinking problem?"
"Yes, I believe I may have found the way to reverse the process with a spell. The spell requires a curative charm. One of which I will recieve through the mail tomorrow." Wesley said biting into his piece, Gunn turning away from the scene and shaking his head.
"The mail? What, did you Federal Express it or something?" Cordy asked.
"UPS, actually."
"What can brown do for you," Gunn said grinning at Cordy while stuffing the last contents of his piece of pizza into his mouth.
"Well, do you think they could send a hot, ripped delivery driver... to catch me when I fall!" she said, grabbing her head as she fell to the ground. Gunn ran to her side in an instant with Wesley following.
Gunn yelled her name but she couldn't hear him. The only thing she could hear was the scream of the young lady she saw. And then the thing that was the reason for the scream as her vision ended.
"Cordy! Are you alright? What did you see?" Gunn said holding her back against his as she caught her bearings.
"A woman. She was being attacked. And let me tell you, this thing was not small."
"So he was like the big fella," Wesley said, drawing a look from Gunn before giving an apologetic look the young man's way.
"Do you know where this is?" Gunn asked looking back at Cordelia.
"Yes."
"Then let's go," Wesley said wheeling around before realizing what he said.
Gunn and Cordelia, now on her feet, looked at the man across the room.
"We'll take care of this thing Wes," Gunn said seeing the hurt on the former watcher's face at not being able to help on this one. Gunn made sure Cordelia was okay and then went over to Wesley, "We'll be okay. Look, if it makes you feel any better I'll call my gang in on this one. Even though they and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things anymore I know they'd be up for a good ole' demon fight. Besides, before long you and I will be out there side by side again," Gunn said, while Wesley nodded, "I wouldn't have it any other way," he said nodding, "Be careful."
"We will," said someone from the front door of the office.
Wesley and Gunn both looked to see a young man standing at the door as Wesley spoke up surprised, "Xander? What are you doing here?"
"Oh God, the world is going to end isn't it?" Cordelia asked.
"Probably, but Giles isn't here giving speeches so I think we're safe for now," Xander said, slightly grinning before receiving a hug from the former Sunnydale cheerleader.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here Xander?" Wesley asked.
"Just thought it was about time I dropped in and saw how some of the old gang is doing. Well, actually, I just came to mess with Angel some but since I'm here why not? Which reminds me, who are you?" he asked Gunn's direction for a second before continuing, "And where is dead man walking anyway?"
"Angel's... well, that's a long story," Wesley said before continuing, "And this is Gunn. He's a partn ... a friend of ours," Wesley said correcting himself. "Gunn, this is ..."
"Xander Harris. So this is the guy you've told us about," Gunn said looking at Cordelia.
"You've talked to them about me?"
"Only a little. It was a bad month okay," Cordelia said looking at Xander as he nodded slightly with a smile.
"Uh, not that I don't mind this nice reunion or anything but there is a girl out there somewhere who's going to be attacked by a demon tonight," Wesley said.
"He's right. We need to get moving."
Cordelia nodded at Gunn as she took a crossbow from him, "You want to come along? We could use all the help we can get."
"I'm always up for a little demon hunting. Well, unless the demon is hunting me," Xander said taking a small axe Gunn handed to him.
"You've got your cell Cordy?" Gunn asked as she nodded, "I'll call Rondell and the group. Have them meet us."
"Good, I'll follow you."
"Follow? Why not ride with us?" Cordelia asked Xander before walking out of the office to see Xander hitching himself up onto the Harley.
"Oh God, the world really is coming to an end isn't it?" was all that Wesley heard Cordelia say as the office door shut behind them.
*******************
Ardmore Park
Los Angeles, CA
7:55 P.M.
"So you're saying that Angel is being harassed by these lawyers? And that they intend on bringing about the end of the world? Man, just when you think stereotypes are wrong," Xander said along side Gunn and Cordelia.
They had been sitting in wait in Ardmore Park for nearly four hours without any signs of trouble. While there, Cordelia started filling Xander in on the Angel situation as well as their own.
"So how did you find us anyway?" Cordelia asked while Gunn continued to scan the park from behind the trees they were taking cover in.
"Well, I went to the address that Buffy had gone to before but no one was there. Well, except for the wino sitting in the alley behind the burnt down place who tried to persuade me he was one of the two old guys who played in Trading Places," he said as Cordelia smiled a bit. "It took me three, I guess you could say, days to find you. One of which I ran into some green looking guy with horns at a bar who made me sing On the Road Again and that is a story that you will never hear."
"You sang?"
"Like I said, never."
Cordelia chuckled to herself for a second before Gunn got her attention, "Wait, here comes someone."
They all three watched as a young woman came out of the shadows while shrieking as a group of men pursued her. The woman only made it a few steps out into the open before one of the men grabbed her from behind and flung her to the ground, the others surrounding her. Gunn, Cordelia and Xander all three did a quick check of each other before diving out from behind the trees and into the fray. Being the first to dart out, Gunn made it to the scene first as he took one of the guys out by surprise with a blow to the back of the head. This alerted the other four to his presence just as Xander and Cordelia came running up next to Gunn.
"Well, it looks as if our fun just got tripled for the night guys," one of the men said.
"Uh, not that I'm questioning your leaping into the fray here but how are we going to fight them? I mean, our weapons are made for demon fighting. Not really into killing humans here. Even if they are the high on the scum scale ones," Cordelia said quietly to Gunn.
"Uh, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Gunn said, his look drawing the attention towards the men as Cordelia watched them transform into four gray skinned demons, "Your vision. You didn't by chance happen to see more than one demon did you?"
Cordelia just stood next to him, unable to say a thing. Just when Gunn was about to go on the attack the one who was knocked to the ground by Gunn grabbed Cordelia's leg as she yelped. She was able to pull away from the one on the ground, now in demon form, as soon as Xander brought down his axe onto the arm grabbing a hold of her. The only problem was it was still holding her leg as she fought to get the severed hand off of her leg. Meanwhile Gunn was already on the offensive, swinging his axe at one of the demons. The demon sidestepped him and moved to block his next swing. Gunn came back with a swing at the demon but only succeeded in getting his axe knocked away when the demon blocked his attack. Soon Gunn found himself in the same position as the girl he was trying to save, on the ground as two of the demons started surrounding him. Nearly ten yards away Xander and Cordelia weren't doing that well either as they struggled to fight back the other three fast approaching ones. Then just as one of the demons reached down and grabbed a hold of Gunn, a light flashed upon all of them catching everyone's attention.
It was followed by a huge metallic spear piercing one of the demon's neck as he fell to the ground. Gunn looked up to see a pickup truck's headlights shining on them. There, on top of the truck, was Rondell aiming the weapon that had just taken out one of the demons. Gunn used this distraction to kick the legs out from under the demon holding him. Then getting up himself he kicked up his axe lying on the ground beside him, and in one motion turned around and chopped off the demon's head.
Ten feet away Xander brought his axe down for a finishing blow on one of his demons as the two others took off into the night.
"Follow them!" Rondell yelled out behind him, two other trucks moving out beside him, then taking persuit of the demons.
Rondell got out of the back of his truck as he walked over to Gunn, "I'm always saving your ass man," he said, Gunn and him exchanging eye contact for a minute before Rondell broke a smile, Gunn's soon following.
They clasped hands together while patting each other on the back before pulling away, "Yeah, well, now you only owe me five lives," Gunn said.
"Please, five. You know I owe I only owe you two," he said earning a nod from Gunn, "Sorry bout' being late. Had a nest of vamps we had to take care of first. Got here as soon as we could. So," he said turning towards Cordelia and Xander, "this your posse now? One man and a frightened woman?"
"Hey, I am not a frightened woman! I'm his frightened co-worker," Cordelia said before Gunn interrupted, "It's a long story."
"Angel's busy trying to kill lawyers," Xander said nodding matter of factly.
"Evidently not long enough," Gunn muttered under his breath.
"Angel? The holier than thou Angel?" Rondell said snorting, "I thought he wasn't into that scene. I knew it was only a matter of time until that vamp showed his true colors. And you still hang with him?"
"Not anymore."
Rondell looked back at Xander and Cordelia with a slight chuckle, "Yeah, seems you've moved on to bigger and brighter things," he said receiving a glare from Gunn, "Well, if you don't mind I've got a posse of my own to catch up on."
"Knock yourself out."
Rondell looked back at Gunn almost as if trying to read his face before slightly snorting, "Well, if you ever need someone to save your ass again, give me a call. I'm always up for a good fight," he said before turning around and getting back onto the truck as it drove off.
"Poster childs for problem teens much?" Cordelia said watching the truck leave.
"What does that suppose to mean?"
"Uh, I think it means poster child for problem teens," she said looking blankly at him.
Gunn turned away.
"I don't get it. What's your deal?"
"You're right. You don't get it," he said turning back around towards her.
"Why do you continue to take up for them?"
Gunn just shook his head, "You don't get what's it like being out on the streets. Having to live your life day by day without any shelter except abandon buildings and then having to make those same buildings into strongholds against vampires. Having to scrounge around for food any way possible, even if it means doing what you have to do to survive. Things that you don't want to do. Not only for yourself but for those around you as well."
"They chose that life. They chose to fight demons. No one forced them to take up that fight."
"I did. I chose for them. I recruited most of those what did you call them, problem teens, into this life. If it weren't for me they would be..."
"Dead," Xander said speaking up for the first time, "They would be dead. Either by the streets or other means. Either way, what you did. By bringing them in like this. It saved them."
Gunn chuckled, "Saved? Yeah, that's what I did."
"Wake up. You saw the way they treated you? How one of your so called best friends treated you just now. They are not your family. Your family doesn't abandon you like that."
"What? You mean like the way I didn't abandon them to take up fighting demons with a vampire? Or do you mean like the way Angel didn't leave?"
After he said it, Gunn wanted to take it back. Truth was, he wanted to take a lot of things back but time has a way of sneaking up on you. A way of twisting things so much that they don't make sense anymore until one day you wake up and it's too late. Too late to even get back on the path that you were on. Gunn sighed. He didn't want that to happen here. He wasn't going to allow that to happen here.
"Look Cordelia, I..."
"No. No. You're right. Angel's gone. He's made his decision," she said looking solemn, pausing for a minute before continuing, "I guess we all have our ways of dealing with things. Mine seems to be bitching," she said, letting out a small breath.
"A time honored tradition," Xander said, his comment drawing a slight smile from Cordelia.
"What do you say we get out of here and grab a bite to eat," Gunn said, looking at the two of them.
"Yeah, I could eat. Didn't have time to eat earlier," Cordy said picking up her half broken crossbow from the ground before tossing it into the dumpster near by.
"Pizza?"
"We already had that earlier." Cordelia said as they began walking back to their rides.
"But the Laker's game is coming on in an hour and you can't..."
"Can't watch a Laker's game without pizza. Yeah, yeah, we know," both Xander and Cordelia said in unison.
"Damn straight," Gunn said following them, carrying his axe over his shoulder.
*******************
The Current Angel Investigations
Downtown Los Angeles
10:53 P.M.
"So you fight alongside the actual slayer? I'm sure you have some stories to tell huh?" Gunn said, sitting in one of the office chairs facing Xander who also was seated, along with Cordelia, Wesley nearby as well.
"Well, alongside wouldn't be the word I'd use. More like behind, but yeah there are stories to be told. Most of which you wouldn't want to write Dr. Seuss books about, though."
Gunn nodded as the Laker game came back from commercial, his attention immediately drawn away from the previous conversation.
"So, how long are you going to be in town for anyway?" Wesley asked.
"Not much longer. Once more maybe. Uh, one more day." he nodded, correcting himself.
"Where are you staying?" Cordelia asked.
Xander shook his head, sort of caught off guard from her question.
"Well then, I insist that you stay here. I'll show you around L.A. tomorrow. It'll be just like old times. Uh, except for the fact that I have never really showed you around before."
"I don't know. I seem to remember being shown around a fair amount of broom closets in my youth," Xander said smiling, drawing Cordelia to roll her eyes a bit before smiling herself.
"So, will you stay?" Wesley asked, glancing a look towards Gunn who at the moment was literally on the edge of his seat watching the game.
Xander leaned forward and out of his chair, "Thanks for the offer, but I have somewhere I have to be ... tomorrow," he said before receiving a hug from Cordelia.
"Well, you take care of yourself and tell the gang back home that I miss them."
Xander gave her a surprised look, "Well, okay, no I don't but work with me here. I am Cordelia Chase after all," she said.
"Same ole' Cordy," Xander said smiling.
"Be safe," Wesley said, shaking hands with Xander. "Nice to meet you Gunn," Xander said turning around, Gunn only passively waving because of his attention completely on the game.
Xander nodded in acknowledgement with a smile before walking to the door. Once at the door he stopped and turned around, "No, you know what?" There's more to this Cordy than meets the eye. Something better."
Cordelia gave him a look of gratitude for a moment before finally being able to respond, "It's the hair. You like?" she said smiling.
Xander let out a small chuckle, "Yeah, I like. It looks good on you. The hair that is," he said just as the light came to take him back to his bed at the beginning of the morning again.
*******************
California Women's Facility
San Diego, California
2:15 P.M.
Solitary Confinement.
The single most dreaded thing on the inside. Some may say that the fear of death would be reserved for that mantle but for most that was not the case. Some who came into these walls would welcome death out of fear of having to endure such a life inside these walls. A life that many imagined but never truly grasped. A life of seclusion. Of rigors so harsh that it would change even the bravest and strongest of men. Others, however, over time grew accustomed to it. To their new life. So wrapped up in it that there came a point to where they knew nothing but it. A life of solitary. Not only from the outside world and it's fears and doubts but from their own as well.
She lay there, battered and bruised, not only from her last encounter with one of the inmates, but from the scars that never seemed to heal. Never seemed to fade. Some of which were playing through her head at this very moment.
There was a time when she didn't care about the outside world. About the people in it she had affected a number of times. She couldn't. She couldn't because every time she thought about them she came in direct contact with her own fears. Her own doubts. Her own solitude.
Being inside these very walls, in this solitary confinement she found herself to be in now. She could be heard laughing at times to herself because she found it no different than what she had before. Out there. She was still alone, only this time it was in the dark instead of under the light. No matter how much she tried to convince herself she wasn't alone, she was. The way she would listen to everything that someone else thought to be important and then dismiss it as anything but. The way she hid behind her tough exterior in the same manner that she now hid behind these very walls. They were all part of her flaw. Part of her denial. Part of her fear.
It all scared her to know these facts and that's what she hated the most about solitary. Not the walls that held her in this compact space, or even the walls that held her inside this very prison. But the truth that she could truly only understood these fears in these very walls. In a place that she never realized she had been her whole life until she came here. A place that she hated to admit that she needed. A place that a part of her liked. She needed it and that was something that she not only hated, but feared.
She did not fear getting out and being able to see beyond these walls again. No, she feared the day when she was able to get out. When or if that day came would she be able to realize her fears on the outside or would she fall into the same trap that so many others get into when they themselves get out from behind these very walls? Going back to the life that they had. The only life that they knew. Back to a place where everyone knew, and yet no one knew. Out there. Beyond the walls. Under the light. Solitary.
A loud clanking of metal was heard as the light shone through and for a moment, only for a moment, her heart clutched in her chest. Then she looked up. Up into the light as it finished it's journey and shone through the once darkened place.
"Up and at'em sweet cheeks. Thirty days are up."
"Aww... come on chief. I was playing I Spy with Mickey," she said, the mouse scurrying back into the cracks in the wall.
"Let's go Faith."
Faith's face broke out into a small smile before she got up and stepped out of the confinement area.
"You know the routine," one of the guards said, the other five looking on.
Faith held out her arms in front of her, not breaking eye contact with the guard for a second. One of the guards handed the one directly in front of Faith the cuffs. The guard took them and walked up to Faith and placed them on, snapping each securely around her wrists. Even after the guard was done, Faith kept eye contact with the guard for a second. Her smile now gone. Then she walked past him followed by the two guards to her side and the others directly behind her.
The light was a little hard to adjust to in the prison yard but just like anything she went through in her life, she adapted. That's what survivors do. She made her way through the yard slightly shielding her eyes with her cuffed hands. While doing so she felt them watching. She looked across the other side of the yard either though she didn't have to. She already knew. There on the other end stood Rosa and her entourage. Rosa still sporting some of her injuries from the very fight that had landed both of them in solitary confinement. However, seeing as how that Rosa had more connections on the inside her confinement was cut down in time. Faith wasn't as lucky. She wouldn't have had it any other way.
Her eyes came into focus for the first time while looking across the yard. Faith smiled into the sun, into the light, directly at the young lady while continuing on her destination. A minute later Faith was being lead inside the compound. Walking down the corridor, Faith was led the same direction she always went after one of her "vacations." Directly to the Warden's office. However, when they came upon the corridor leading to the Warden's office the guards gave her a nudge to continue forward, "Mr. Layden had to prepare for the new arrivals. You are to be put back into your cell until he is finished."
"My cell? What about my shower?" Faith asked still moving forward.
"It'll have to wait."
Faith seethed as she felt the cuffs around her wrists tighten. Every single time she had gotten out of solitary confinement she would go see the Warden and then the shower. Now, though, she was left to go to her cell in her rags smelling of thirty days of stink and she would have to wait for her shower. Oh yes, those cuffs were very tight around her wrists.
Just when she was being lead to her cell block, a guard down on the other end of the corridor flagged down one of the guards escorting her. They came to a stop as the guard walked up to them. Faith looked up and let out a sigh as one of the guards stepped aside with the guard that flagged them down.
Faith turned to a couple of the other guards shortly behind her, "What do you say while the two of them catch up on ole' times you let me hit the shower?" she asked as the guards looked at one another with smirking expressions.
"Oh come on, it'll only be for a bit. In fact," she said letting her words draw out, "I'll even let you watch."
"Who says we don't already," one of the guards said, the other chuckling.
The thought of spending more time in confinement went through Faith's mind as she looked upon the two guards having a laugh.
"This way," the guard who had been pulled aside said, leading Faith towards another destination.
"Whoa, where..."
"You have a visitor," the guard said.
"A visitor?" she said unbelievably. The only person who had ever visited her was Angel. But it was still day and the last time she knew the prison didn't have a visitor's lounge in the sewer system. As much as she wanted a shower her curiosity couldn't help but get the best of her as she tried to imagine who would come to see her. However, the more she thought about it, the more it made her want to turn back and have that shower. Before she knew it they were at the visitor's room door. She stopped at the door, waiting for the guard as he opened it to let her in. Once the guard had the door opened she held out her arms, waiting for the guard to unlock her cuffs. The guard simply shook his head, "I won't make that mistake again," he said, earning him a wicked smile from Faith before she walked past him and into the room still handcuffed.
Inside the room there were two guards standing on opposite corners of it as well as security cameras located on each corner of the ceiling. Faith walked past one of the inmates who was seated, talking to she guessed the girl's boyfriend. The girl was holding the phone with one hand as she placed her finger slowly onto her lips and then onto the glass. She looked broken, weak, everything Faith would not expect of someone who was on the inside. Then the girl stood up and Faith couldn't help but flinch as her eyes met with Rosa's. The moment she stood up and saw Faith, Rosa's whole attitude changed from the weaken demeanor she was a second ago to her raw, and toughen exterior that Faith was more use to seeing. She tried to hide it but even Rosa was a bit taken back at seeing Faith in that instance. Then she walked past Faith as the guards escorted her out of the room. Faith slightly shrugged her shoulders, shaking off the event that had just occurred, "Now that's not something you see everyday."
Faith heard a knocking on one of the glass shielded windows as she turned around, "Well, it seems strange things do occur in pairs," she said sitting down, and picking up the phone with a blank expression on her face.
"If I'd known you were going to bring the handcuffs I would've tried to arrange for a conjugal visit instead," Xander said through his phone with slight smile.
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I am currently working on part 7. If it had a Faith shower scene I'd probably have it out in ten minutes tops lol. I am also working on a new piece titled, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep." It's just something that I hope will get some to think a little more. I should have it done real soon.
TC