A/N: Hi-Hi! ^^ I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!! Wow, u guyz are AMAZING!!! I luv u!!! =^-^= ~hugs u guyz~ Thankiez 4 all of the AWESOME reviews! U have NO idea how much they mean 2 me! ^^ Welp, I hope that u'll all enjoy ch 21....I wuz gonna write it on Monday since we're off of skool on Tuesday cuzza election day, but I'm gonna b @ a friend's house, so I can't, lol. Welp, n-e-who, pleaze R&R, & of course...ENJOY! ^,~
"Good morning, Frenchie," Faye greeted, much to the middle-aged woman's deep surprise. "Ooh....something smells good! Are we having pancakes again?"
"Um....yes," she acknowledged, laughing nervously as a light sweat gently crept across her slightly wrinkled brow. "They'll be ready in a few minutes, dear."
Faye raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Frenchie? You're a wreck!"
"Oh....well thank you," she acknowledged, hardly seeming to have heard her stepdaughter as she pressed her lips together in a tight, grim line and flipped the pancakes over upon the griddle.
Giving her a funny look, Faye took a step forward and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder, demanding gently, "What is it? Please tell me what's wrong, Frenchie!"
"A man came looking for you this morning," she replied simply, her fist clenching tightly upon her spatula as she bowed her head in dismay. "I shouldn't have told him that you live with me, but I did! Oh, Faye....I am SO sorry! Please forgive me, child....please!!!"
"B-but why should you be sorry?," Faye demanded, her heart pounding wildly within her bosom with great celerity as she gave her stepmother a fearful look. "Who was this man?!"
"Randall," Frenchie returned shamefully in a voice barely above a whisper, "Randall Buetonski."
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"You're what?!"
"Engaged," Spike replied, laughing as he adjusted his cell phone from one ear to the other. "Pretty awesome, huh?"
"Weeell-"
"C'mon, Vicious.....you know you're jealous," he teased, grinning from ear-to-ear as he flopped back onto his bed in the guest bedroom and stared up at the cracked ceiling with an abundance of mirth glimmering about within his beautiful two-toned irises.
After a brief moment of silence, Vicious admitted grudgingly, "Yeah, yeah, I'm jealous, alright?! You get everything, after all.......the brains, the grades, the style, and now the fuckin' girl! My God, where's MY lucky break?!"
Spike smirked. "Life's not easy, my friend. Some get it all, and some don't."
"Aw, shut up!," Vicious snarled, fuming silently as he gruffly ripped open the door to his refrigerator and peered inside. "I mean, my God, stop rubbin' it in my face, man! I've got a shit-ass apartment, a lousy job, and now Nami just walked out on me cuz she knows that I'll never be able to provide for us both!"
Spike suddenly grew silent, apologizing ruefully, "Oh.......man, I am so sorry, I-"
"Just forget it," Vicious cut in sourly, rolling his eyes as he opened up a can of Coke and shut the refrigerator door with just as much vehemence as he had executed before. "After all, life goes on......right?"
"Right," Spike agreed, sighing. "Just do me a favor and get Nami back, alright? You two were made for each other, so nothing as simple as financial problems should tear you guys apart."
Vicious stopped sipping his Coke and closed his eyes, agreeing softly, "Yeah.....a-alright. I'll try."
"Good," Spike acknowledged, smiling warmly. "It's not healthy for you two to be separated......remember last Christmas?"
Vicious chuckled. "Yeah.....how could I forget? I went absolutely crazy whenever she had to go to California to visit her grandparents for the holiday. I-I guess that you're right......I really do need to get Nami back. She's apart of me."
Spike smirked. "Ok, ok....you're starting to make me feel all pukey inside, so just call her and quit makin' me sick, already!"
"Then you hang up," Vicious retorted, grinning broadly. "Bye, you lucky ass."
"See ya," Spike returned, chuckling lightly as he pressed the 'end call' button and tossed his cell phone to the side on his pillow with a sudden air of indifference.
Turning his warm, mirthful gaze over towards the broad bedroom window, he conceded good-naturedly, "Hmph....lucky ass, indeed."
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"Faye.....are you alright?"
Sighing as she set the dish rag that she had been using down upon the counter, Faye turned around in order to face her boss, Damien Eckerd, then replied rather drearily, "Yeah....I-I'll be alright, sir. It's just been a pretty shitty day, I suppose."
"Well get some rest, then," he suggested, looking his employee over with concern. "Go ahead and take the day off, ok?"
Faye smiled, agreeing gratefully, "Alright......thank you very much, sir."
"No problem.....I'll just get Liz to fill in for ya for a few hours," Damien acknowledged, grinning broadly as he gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder and watched her laggardly egress the kitchen's double doors. "Have a nice day, young lady."
"You, too," Faye returned softly, feeling the air whoosh behind her as the hideously tacky purple doors gracefully shut abaft.
"I've gotta get home," she suddenly realized, conceding inwardly that she was currently missing her favorite show. "I hope that it's a repeat!"
Hurriedly grabbing her coat off of the coat rack by the restrooms, Faye slipped it upon her slender frame, then turned to egress the building, freezing in midstep.
Her mouth hanging slightly agape, Faye trembled as she laid her eyes upon the man by the door of the restaurant, a hauntingly familiar smirk upon his thin, pallid lips leaving her heart constricted by sheer consternation.
"Randall," she breathed, shaking her head back and forth in denial. "No....it can't be him....it can't!"
Closing her eyes as if to rid herself of the terrible image before her, Faye prayed inwardly that what she had seen was just a mere figment of her imagination, and that it had actually been some friendly young man perusing the menu taped to the broad window beside the front door.
Suddenly regaining her composure, Faye opened her eyes, only to find that the man whom she had assumed to be Randall was no where to be found.
"Where on earth....?," she questioned aloud, beads of perspiration gradually forming upon her brow as she tentatively approached the door and peered outside the broad window from her right, and then ever-so-slowly to her left.
Finding that the coast was clear, Faye immediately bolted through the only exit to the restaurant and out into the cool, crisp night air, her nerves gradually settling down as she became more and more positive that what she had seen was just a ridiculous nightmare of some sort.
"There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of," Faye told herself inwardly, wringing her hands about as she apprehensively approached the curb and raised her arm with the hopes of getting a Taxi driver's immediate attention. "Just go on home to Spike, and then everything will be ok once more. With that beautiful, amazing man everything is always ok."
Just as she was realizing this, a Taxi cab pulled up alongside her and she hastily ripped open the door and hopped inside, acknowledging enthusiastically, "Thank you SO much for stopping! I felt as if this crazy lunatic was following me, and-"
Click.
Faye gasped and stopped talking the moment that she realized that the driver had locked all of the doors, a look of absolute terror spreading across her facial features as she managed to squeak, "Who-who are you?"
"It's me....Arexu," the driver acknowledged, immediately withdrawing a Raptor Magnum forth from within the depths of her trench coat and threateningly placed it against her forehead. "Just stay quiet and I'll let you live."
Faye nodded vigorously in agreement, pressing her lips tightly together in order to assure her nemesis that she would not speak.
Instantly realizing this, Arexu continued softly, "I don't wanna do this, Faye, but I have to. If I don't bring you to Randall as requested, he'll kill my little sister, and I just can't let that happen!"
"He'll kill Nami?," Faye squeaked, absolutely disbelieving her ears. "What a sick bastard!"
"Tell me about it," Arexu agreed, frowning deeply just at the mere thought of her hated boss. "I don't even know what he's gonna do to you, but I'll try my best to keep you alive."
"You don't have to do anything......I'll just go and receive my comeuppance," Faye argued bitterly, averting her gaze down to her trembling hands within her lap. "After all, I'm sure that I've done something terrible along the way to deserve this, so please don't try to defend me and end up risking your life. I'm not worth it."
"This isn't right," Arexu contradicted stubbornly, a pained look glazing over her dark irises as she slowly withdrew her firearm from her hostage's brow. "I never truly got to pay your lover back for saving me and my sister's lives those many years ago whenever we had that showdown under the Ellewood Bridge. Oh, if only there was something that I could do......something that-yes! I know!"
Faye raised an eyebrow as Arexu tossed her firearm carelessly over to the side of the car and shifted the vehicle into drive, her voice quivering as she demanded fretfully, "W-what on earth are you doing, Arexu?!"
Arexu just smirked, her dark irises glimmering over with mischief as she replied slyly, "You'll see."
A/N: Heehee....wut doez that crazie Arexu have up her sleeve NOW??? =P lol, u can never tell w/ her...iz she friend...or iz she foe? And wut will happen 2 Faye? Will Arexu protect her & Spike from her hated nemesis, or will she turn them in? R&R 2 find out!!! Luv ya bunches! ^,~
3 Kendra Luehr =^-^=