THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Joyce.
CHAPTER 27-MISGIVINGS AND MEMORIES
The dream came every night no matter what she tried to halt its assault it still came. The same dream every night, making the worst part about it being that it seemed more like a memory to her than a simple dream.
# # # # #
"Mommy…," The little girl whimpered softly with a terrified tone to her voice as she huddled down in the sea of coats on her mother's bed. Her parents had thrown a party for all of their friends and the little girl had done her best to stay up late and see what all of the fuss was about this thing called New Years. But that had all been before the monsters had come crashing through the door and the windows, killing everyone in sight. The little girl had stared on at the horrific sight in front of her for several agonizing seconds before scrambling underneath the coats, shivering uncontrollably.
Outside in the main room the battle was fierce but short lived. Having been taken completely by surprise the party guests were all dead in under a matter of minutes, all except for two. The only two remaining were the little girl's parents. The little girl had always known that her parents were special but never guessed in her wildest dreams that they could stand up against the horrors that she had seen come crashing through the windows and doors. Hands clapped tightly over her ears and tears streaming down her cheeks in torrents the little girl curled up into a ball and prayed that the bad monsters wouldn't find her.
After some time the commotion out in the main room died down and everything was quiet. Sniffling a bit the little girl dared to come out from under the sea of blankets and hazard a look through the crack in the door. The blood was everywhere, coating the floor and all of the walls. The little girl was about to scream her head off when one of the monsters picked one of the people up off of the floor and showed it off like a trophy. The little girl's heart nearly stopped as she realized that the body was that of her mother. Her father's body was soon to follow in a macabre show of taking trophies. The monsters growled deeply before ripping her parent's heads off, an act that would cause the little girl to go mute for several years and be terrified of the dark well into adulthood, without knowing why. The little girl couldn't help but whimper at that and unfortunately one of the monsters heard her and shoved the bedroom door open, glaring down at her as if she were about to become its lunch. With another scream the little girl scrambled back towards the bed only making it halfway before she was grabbed by a large hand and lifted high off of the ground.
"Stupid little bitch…can't forget about you…the master wouldn't like that," The monster squealed with glee, blood dripping from its sharpened teeth before it laughed hysterically as it snapped the little girls neck and dropped her lifeless body to the floor. The dream always ended just after the little girl hit the floor, her reflection showing in the mirror nearby. Except what was in the mirror wasn't the reflection of a little girl but instead a grown woman with blonde hair and blue eyes…her own reflection.
# # # # #
"NO…," Eve screamed out at the top of her lungs as she shot up out of bed and scrambled into the far corner of the room, pulling her legs up until she could wrap her arms around her legs and hide her head in the open space between her knees and her chest.
"Eve…Eve," Lindsey moaned softly at first as he was slowly waking up before through his bleary gaze he noticed his girlfriend curled up in the farm corner of the room, naked as the day that she was born and bathed in sweat. The frantic look in her eyes told him everything that he needed to know. "Eve…," Lindsey exclaimed with a very worried tone to his voice as he rushed over to her side and tried to comfort her, but she pulled away and only curled up more tightly upon herself.
"No…momma said to be good…I was supposed to be asleep, bad monsters came and killed everyone, me to…," Eve babbled out softly before her speech became too convoluted to understand.
"It was only a dream baby…that's it, nothing more, the monsters can't hurt you, I won't let them," Lindsey said with a very worried look on his face as he tried again and was successful in getting Eve to come out of her shell just a bit.
"Promise…," Eve mumbled softly with an overwhelmingly terrified look in her eyes as a torrent of tears rushed down her cheeks.
"I promise baby…I promise, I won't let the monsters hurt you," Lindsey replied with a reassuring smile on his face as he brushed the hair off of her face and kissed her softly on the forehead, silently praying that the dreams would stop tormenting the woman that he loved.
* * * * * *
"Buffy," Giles shouted with a completely shocked look on his face as he frantically looked back and forth between Buffy and the spot near the Hyperion's front doors that Angel was slowly picking himself up off of the floor.
"He deserved it Giles…I'm not going to apologize for it so don't even try to make me change my mind," Buffy stated with a very certain and serious expression on her face before she turned around and went back to Spike's side.
"He was there…," Willow stammered out as the full understanding of Buffy's earlier words struck her in their entirety.
"God Angel…I love you and all…but you're one sick son of a bitch…," Cordelia said with a confused look on her face as she turned to Angel and tilted her head to one side slightly.
"It…wasn't me, it was Angelus…he…was the one…," Angel gasped out as his mind struggled to come to terms with what had just happened.
"Wrong Angel, you can play the name game all you want, but in the end you're still the same heartless jackass that I've always known, the soul doesn't make a damn bit of difference," Spike added with an angry and frustrated scowl on his face as he tilted his head back a bit and gently rubbed the bruises on one side of his neck as Buffy scrutinized the ones on the other.
"Are…they gonna fight now," Andrew quipped with a scared silly look on his face as he hid behind Dawn, who rolled her eyes and shook her head before pulling Andrew back to stand at her side, however she didn't unclasp her hand from his.
"No…they're not going to fight Andrew, Spike and I are going to put Joyce down for her nap, and then Angel, Spike, Giles, and I are going into the office to have a nice…civilized discussion about all of this and then go from there…everyone get that," Buffy stated with a very straightforward style as she looked around at everyone in the room before she took Joyce back from Molly and started off towards the stairs.
"Wait…," Robin started to shout with an angry scowl on his face, as he began to head off after Spike, before Giles stretched his arm out in front of him and cleared his throat.
"Not now Robin, if you want a rematch with Spike it's going to happen after the Beast has been destroyed, but I am warning you…don't get any funny ideas about a surprise attack or anything of that nature, you harm one hair on Joyce's head, even if it's not your fault, and I'll finish what Spike started back in Sunnydale, do we understand one another," Giles stated with a clear and direct tone to his voice as he made sure that Robin fully understood what he meant. Reluctantly Robin slowly nodded his head before catching Wesley and Faith talking softly to each other behind the desk. With a disgusted sneer on his face Robin started to storm towards the new couple but was stopped by a very determined Jenny, as the former computer teacher poked him in the chest with her index finger.
"And just so you know, if somehow Rupert wouldn't get to you…I will," Jenny stated bluntly with a deadly serious glint in her eyes.
"Whatever…you can defend him all you want, but that doesn't change what he is…a killer," Robin exclaimed with clenched fists as he fought to stay in control of his emotions.
* * * * * *
"I can't believe him…it wasn't my fault, I wasn't in control…God, I actually fell for that load of bull…," Buffy moaned with a frustrated and on edge pout on her face as she and Spike sat down on the foot of one of the beds after having put Joyce to bed in the room across the hall.
"Hook, line, and sinker luv…and you kept on falling every time that he used it," Spike quipped with a soft smile on his face as he ran his hand up Buffy's back until he gave the back of her neck a squeeze with his thumb and ring finger.
"No…not anymore, there will be no more, falling, of any kind for this slayer, no hook, no line, and definitely no damn sinker," Buffy pouted through with an angry look on her face before she stomped her foot and crossed her arms to emphasize her point.
"Well…if you ain't the little slayer that could…," Spike joked with a daring grin on his face as Buffy turned back around and began to glare back at him with a very poorly done look of disdain in her eyes.
"I'm serious Spike, when this is all over you, Joyce, and I are out of here…forever," Buffy stated with a very proud and assured expression on her face as she lightly pounded her fists on the tops of her thighs.
"What about Molly and Jenny pet, we just going to leave them to the wolves," Spike asked with a sly grin growing onto his face as he pulled Buffy a bit closer.
"Well…we'll just have to take Molly with us, we'll go back to Texas, she can go to school somewhere nearby and it'll be just like it was in the past," Buffy replied with another proud look on her face as she turned to Spike, punctuating her happiness at the last bit with a soft kiss.
"And Ms Calendar…what about her luv," Spike whispered softly to Buffy, truthfully not caring in the least what Buffy's answer was but asking the question just for the sake of asking.
"She and Giles…well, they're both adults, they can figure that out for themselves…meanwhile…," Buffy whispered back softly as she was becoming more concerned with how close she was to Spike rather than about what happened to the former teacher.
"Meanwhile…," Spike said back softly as he flashed her his best killer smile before their lips met.
* * * * * *
"We shouldn't have just left like that Faith…they'll get suspicious," Wesley said with a concerned and slightly disapproving frown on his face as he tossed the basketball up and down a couple of times, each time catching it with the tips of his fingers.
"Who cares Wes…Lilah did actually call you about something that needed your signature before it could go out tonight," Faith replied with a daring glint in her eye before she took a swig of one of the bottles of liquor that she had brought with her from his office.
"It was a requisition form for more rolls of toilet paper for the executive washrooms…I hardly think that qualifies to needing both of us to come," Wesley joked back with a fake pout of anger on his face as he walked out onto the basketball court.
"You got something against me tagging along Wes," Faith asked softly with a true look of concern on her face as she spun him around to face her.
"Not at all…I was just saying that you might have seemed a bit to…eager…to accompany me back at the Hyperion, I have absolutely no problem with you coming along," Wesley countered with a slightly flustered tone to his voice as the two passed the half court line and headed closer to the basket. After Wesley had signed the form the two had stared at each other a few seconds before Faith had said that she was getting antsy and wanted to work off some energy. One of the security guards had informed them of the sports complex that Wolfram and Hart owned a short distance away. The complex had been started as a community outreach program, something to make Wolfram and Hart look like a good and upstanding company to the local populace. A bit reluctantly Wesley had agreed to the daring look in Faith's eyes and it had only taken a few minutes before one of the complex's guards was letting them in, apologizing for not knowing Wesley's position and begging not to be fired for the oversight. After assuring the guard for the fourth time Wesley had finally gotten the man to calm down a bit.
"So what now…we have this whole place to ourselves, that guard was about to shit his pants when he realized who you were so no one's going to interrupt us…hey I know…ever play horse," Faith quipped with at first a bored frown on her face before she seemed to like the idea of doing something physical.
"A few times…mostly back in my rogue demon hunter days, it helped break the ice sometimes between me and those that I needed information from when force was the wrong way to go…then Gunn and I played a few times…but we haven't really had a chance to in a long time…why…," Wesley answered with a nostalgic smile on his face as he began to bounce the ball as he walked.
"I had an idea…we play horse, right here and now, but instead of the old namby pamby game of horse that everyone else plays we change it a bit…for every basket that you or I miss…we…take a drink…and lose an article of clothing…game," Faith said with an ever growing smile on her face as she pulled a hair tie from her pocket and tied her hair back into a ponytail.
"Hm…combining strip poker, horse, and just about every drinking game on the planet…I'm guessing that I really don't have a say in this matter do I," Wesley pondered the thought for a few seconds at first with a deep in thought frown on his face before he couldn't hold the frown any longer and turned it upside down into a goofy grin.
"Nope not really, so how do we decide who goes first, because you know if I go first then I'm going to have you naked in like under five minutes," Faith said with a quick shaking of her head as the two arrived at the free throw line and gazed up at the basket.
"In that case I'll go first," Wesley stated with a half smile on his face as he stepped behind the free throw line and deftly nailed his first shot.
"Wuss…," Faith groaned with a mocking smile on her face as she glared lightly at Wesley before she stepped up to the same spot and made the same shot, flashing him a triumphant smile afterwards. That particular scenario went on for a little while before Wesley backed up to the half court line and heaved the ball with both hands, releasing the breath that he had been holding in with great expectation when the ball hit the backboard and then went through the basket. "I hate you…," Faith growled with a nervous and unhappy frown on her face as Wesley went and retrieved the ball.
"You wanted to play horse remember, now take your shot," Wesley shot back with a proud grin on his face as he tossed the ball back to Faith, ignoring the tongue that she stuck out at him to show her displeasure. After taking a deep breath Faith bounced the ball in front of her a few times before she hurled the ball at the basket, cringing slightly when the ball hit the backboard, then the front of the rim, and bounced down in front of the basket. Without a look Wesley's way Faith grumbled under her breath and pulled out the button up shirt that she was wearing and set about unbuttoning it. When she got done she slipped it off and hurled it to one side.
"You got lucky Wes…next time you're the one that's going to lose something," Faith grumbled with an angry look on her face as she walked over the bench and downed a rather large gulp of the cognac.
"Luck had nothing to do with it Faith…trust me," Wesley chided with a smug grin on his face as he backed up a few steps and hurled the ball towards the basket.
"Yes…," Faith exclaimed with an overjoyed expression on her face as the ball hit the rim and bounced away from the basket.
"Damn…," Wesley grumbled loudly with an angry scowl on his face as he jammed his hands into his pockets and watched as Faith retrieved the ball.
"Prepare to lose get naked Wes…because I'm going to bury you," Faith shouted with an energized smile on her face before she took her shot. Wesley grumbled audibly as the ball sailed through the basket.
Thirty minutes later found the two nearly naked, with both clad only in their underwear, sweat running off of them in rivers. With Faith not noticing or perhaps caring that her bra was hanging on for dear life after the shoulder straps had slipped off of her shoulders and Wesley's boxers had drooped so low that more than once Faith had to slap herself to keep her mind on her next shot.
"Ready to give up yet Faith," Wesley asked in between deep breaths as Faith wiped the perspiration off of her forehead with the back of her forearm.
"Not even close, let's not forget that you only have one article of clothing on and I have two…," Faith shot back with a daring smile on her face as she walked up to Wesley and poked him in the chest. The two stared at each other with dueling daring grins on their faces for a few seconds before Wesley reached out and pulled Faith close. "Hey no…," Faith started to argue before Wesley's arms encircled her body and his lips met hers. Not caring very much about the game or horse any longer Faith eagerly returned the kiss before slithering out of her panties and wrapping her legs around Wesley's waist and pulling herself up enough so that she could look Wesley in the eye without having to look up.
"Bitch…," Wesley growled softly under his breath as he began to place gentle kisses along Faith's collarbone and then neck.
"Jerk…," Faith growled back softly with an enthralled glint of zeal in her eyes before she slipped her thumb underneath the waistband of Wesley's boxers.
"Slut…," Wesley added with a fake look of anger on his face before he divested Faith of her bra and she him of his boxers. The two were soon lost in one ecstatic rapture after another; with neither paying any heed to the four times that Wesley's cell phone went off before the two hit the showers to continue the fun.
* * * * * *
"What are you doing here…," Lindsey demanded with an angry sneer on his face as he kept his gaze straight ahead but nonetheless the demon that had shown up on his balcony seemingly out of thin air.
"Oh nothing much…just helping a young lady unravel her past before it's to late," Whistler chimed in his reply with a laid back smirk on his face as he sat down and put his feet up on the balcony's railing.
"Eve…I, neither one of us need your help, it's just a stupid dream," Lindsey declared with a still angry growl as he whirled around and glared down at the demon in front of him.
"Just a stupid dream you say…what if I was to tell you that Eve's dream…really isn't a dream at all, but instead a long repressed memory that's fighting to get out and be properly dealt with, I wonder what you'd say then," Whistler answered with an almost worried look on his face as he slowly shook his head from side to side.
"I'd say that I was a fool to ever believe anything that you had to say…now leave Eve and I alone now or else…," Lindsey stated with at first a very forceful and threatening tone to his voice and posture before his gaze settled on Eve lying in bed with the covers pulled up tightly around her, her eyes shut tightly, and tears soaking the pillow.
"If we don't do something now those suppressed memories of hers are going to kill her, if you think it's bad now then you don't want to even know what's coming next," Whistler added calmly with a very dark and worried look on his face before Lindsey cut in.
"Fine…whatever, just tell me how to help her…," Lindsey relented with a defeated and worried look on his face as he put his hands up on the screen door and tried to keep from shedding a few tears himself.
"It's as simple as a family reunion…," Whistler trailed off with an optimistic smile on his face as he stood up, rubbed his palms together like he was finally having fun, and promptly disappeared, leaving Lindsey alone to rush back into the bedroom and comfort the distraught Eve.
END OF CHAPTER 27