Author's Note:
This is my first foray into the mind of Fred, so please be gentle. Set during the beginning of ATS season three.
Went to www.silentobsession.com and this is the result of their Unrequited Love challenge. Not quite Fred's POV, but this is what felt right to me.
Disclaimer:
All characters, etc. belong to Joss. I just play with them.
Feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Enjoy!
Fred opens her door slowly, cringing behind it, as she peers into the dimly lit hallway.
She can't see too far past the shadow of her room, but decides to brave the dark corridor anyway.
Because sometimes the cravings of the ice cream beast cannot be silenced.
Tiptoeing softly, she makes her way to the head of the stairs, and drops into a crouch at the sound of the front door of the hotel banging open.
Risking a quick peek around the bannister, she sees the source of the recent noise shuffle across the lobby and plop itself into one of the hotels round couches. Standing bravely, she heads down the stairs to confront the gooey, angry form now invading her quiet time.
"Hi," she says kindly, her slight Texas twang making the word sound like it has a couple of extra syllables in it.
"You look kind of, well, gloppy. And dusty."
The exhausted and dirty vampire occupying the couch squints at her, then drags a hand across his face, smudging the grime away from his eyes, and widens them.
"Oh, hey, Fred. Everything okay?"
"Oh, couldn't be peachier. I mean, nicer or quieter. Well, until you banged open the door, that is. Not that I mind the company. You know?"
Angel regards the brown haired girl with some sympathy, and stands wearily, as if to offer her some companionship beyond that of the mice currently residing in the basement.
As he does, the metal shackles in his pocket make a metallic CLANG onto the floor.
Fred's eyes pop almost out of her skull, and Angel dives for the cuffs, hastily shoving them back into his coat.
"Trellnor demons. Not too fond of Iron. Usually works pretty well…if you can get the cuffs to stay on them. They tend to be a little…greasy."
Fred smiles at Angel, and nods her head as if she completely understands him. He could recite the phone book to me, and that would be okay too.
"You seem as if you got into a fight, Angel. Are you hurt?" she asks him, hoping in a slight way that he is, because as she's proven before, she's good at taking care of him. Really good. And he was gone for so long this summer. Or at least it seemed that way to her.
"Oh, no. Just a little…gloppy?" he responds, and she grins as he uses her earlier word.
"Well, I could get you some more clothes…or tea! Would you like some tea? Or blood? Or what about those new chocolate cookies we have in the fridge? I know I'm not supposed to know Cordy stashed them there, but you know me, can't hide anything from me. I'm an expert at squirreling things away-"
"No, I'm fine, really, Fred. I just need a shower and about four hundred hours of sleep. Where is everybody, actually?"
She shakes her head. "Well, Gunn and Wes are out getting some new books that Wes had ordered, and Cordy's, well, Cordy's doing Cordy things. I think she's shopping? Or hair something or other. Or maybe she's at home? Did you want me to call her? Cause I can, I've got the phone here down pat, it's easy, it's funny what you remember after being away for so long…"
Angel puts his hand on her arm to interrupt her monologue.
"Everything's good the way it is, Fred. But thanks for the offer. I'm just gonna go…clean up. And get some rest. Maybe you should too. You look a little peaked."
Her hand flies to her face, and tries to cover the blush already rising there.
"Oh! I do? I mean of course I do. It's been a weird day."
"I definitely agree," he tells her, and smiles. Her knees wobble a bit at the brief flash of his teeth. Handsome man…
"Well, get some rest, okay? Don't want to wear you out your first few months here." He turns and heads up the stairs, and she watches as he ascends, a squelching noise coming from his wet, goo covered shoes.
"Angel?" she asks after him, and he turns to face her.
"Yes, Fred?"
"Well, I, um, things will look up soon, I know it. There's always a silver lining in that dark cloud bank somewhere."
His mouth crooks up at the corner, and answers her. "Well, you know what Monty Python always say-"
Her face brightens. "Yeah! 'And after the oral sex, the spanking!' I love them."
Angel just stands and stares at her for a moment, then clears his throat. "Well, I was going to say 'always look on the bright side of life' but I guess that will do in a pinch as well…you know, like in that movie we watched the other day? Sliding Doors…?"
Fred's cheeks flush the color of a newly ripe tomato, and she stammers back to him. "Well, of course that's the one you meant. I'm not sure why I thought you were referring to the Holy Grail, and honestly I had forgotten we had watched that movie, and well, Holy Grail's my favorite, and I used to always quote that one to my friends in school, and that whole knights who say nee is so funny, and then there's brave Sir Robin, and the Trojan bunny rabbit and all and the thing with the holy hand grenade! I almost forgot that one." She trails off, realizing he's looking at her like she's suddenly grown a second head.
"…anyway, you should go get cleaned up. Sorry for holding you up, Angel." Her eyes downcast, she turns toward the kitchen, her idea for a late night snack pretty much a moot point now. She's too embarassed to be hungry.
Angel casts his eyes for upward for a moment, not sure what to say to the obviously mortified young woman now heading away from him.
"No Fred, wait," he calls after her finally, trundling back down the stairs and following her into the kitchen.
"It's fine, Angel, I'm just gonna get a little snack. You hungry? I could make you something," she asks him as she flips the light switch in the large cold room. The refrigerator hums gently as the fluorescent lights blink on.
"Uh, no thanks. I'm really beat…are you okay?"
She gives him a funny look, and smiles brightly, inwardly jumping for joy that he actually would spare the time to ask about her. He's been gone for so long, after all that mess with Bunny…Betty? The girl with the funny name. His girlfriend. Of course he has a girlfriend. Or had one.
"Oh, yeah, I'm great. In fact, I had a good day today. Cordy brought me some stuff from her house that she didn't want anymore. Some clothes? And makeup. We had a good time with the strawberry flavored lip gloss, I can tell you that. Do you think it's too sticky? Sometimes I do. And then you get it in your hair…Oh, here's the ice cream."
Angel shakes his head as the stream of words flow out of Fred. It's amazing to him how she can keep up the stream of consciousness that apparently is her forte. And he's even more amazed that he actually likes listening to her prattle on. It's kind of soothing, in a different and a what the hell? kind of way. She's definitely different than anyone else he's ever met.
She pulls the frozen dessert out of the the fridge, and sets it down on the counter, reaching now for two bowls. She spoons some into each one, then grabs a bottle of Magic Shell sitting on the counter that Gunn must have left there.
"You know, it's funnny about Magic Shell. It always reminds me of true love."
"…true love? How's that?" Angel asks her, taking a seat on one of the counter stools, placing his chin in his hand.
"Well, at first it's runny. And sloppy. And exciting and malleable. Then slowly, it begins to harden and form a hard exterior. You know, settling into things. Or onto things," she says, and snorts back a laugh. "Then, just when you get used to looking at it in what you think is its true form, you crack it with your spoon, and it changes again. And you can stir it and it changes even more. You can add nuts, or sprinkles, or even whipped cream, but no matter how much stuff you add to the mix, it's still fundamentally just Magic Shell. Still perfectly matched to the ice cream. You see?"
She plunges her spoon into the bowl, cracking the chocolate shell, and takes a huge bite.
"Mmmmmm. Perfect."
Angel stands. He watches her for a moment, perplexed and surprised all the same.
"You're…an interesting person, Fred. Goodnight."
"Goodnight to you too, Angel! Get some rest," she yells at his retreating back, mouth full of frozen dairy product.
A few hours later, Fred lays curled on her bed, trying desperately to remember the Bunny girl's real name, and trying desperately not to cry at the thought of Angel, just down the hall, alone, and her silly diatribe on dessert toppings.
And Monty Python.
And oral sex.
She cringes inwardly at that one, and decides that there's nothing to be done about it, after all, when you're so head over heels for someone that all you can think to talk about is oral sex, you're already a lost cause.
And again, as she finally turns out the light, she gets weepy eyed at the thought of her handsome savior alone again, miserable again, and not even able to understand the deep karmic meaning of true love and Magic Shell.
"I'll just explain it to him again tomorrow," she says outloud, "he's just gotta let it sink in. It is a bit of a radical notion, after all."
Her eyelids ultimately drift closed, and she sleeps the sleep of the righteous, and of the unrequited, sure in her belief that she'll be able to bring him out of his funk, somehow.
Even if she has to force feed him the chocolate chunk ice cream for the rest of the week.
Fin.