49

Time Ticks

A green hand reached out and snagged the neck of a bottle. He wasn't sure what was in it, not at this point in time. All that he cared about was that it contained a few more shots of painkiller. Not that it was doing a whole hell of a lot on that score. His whole body felt abused, but not as abused as his aching heart. He wondered if even Harmony, dizzy as she was had bought the virus story. Yeah, a virus all right. Bitten by the love bug. Right on the ass. He groaned and tossed back another double's worth.

&&&&&&

Ethan was pacing the confines of his cell. If he had been capable of it, he would have been climbing the walls. He could see what they were up to. Little mind games, intended to make him sweat.

They were working admirably well, too. Add to that he had no way to keep track of the passage of time. No windows, no clocks, and the meals seemed to be served, from what he could tell, at irregular intervals. Tremendously disorienting. He grabbed hold of the bars and gave them a futile shake, then slumped down onto his uncomfortable cot.

He still didn't know just what they were going to do with him.

&&&&&&

Oz checked on the kids again, making sure that they actually were taking their naps. This morning's episode bothered him more than he'd care to admit, and it had hurt him a little too. Although the twins had accepted comfort from him, allowing him to cuddle them while they cried, they'd still adamantly refused to tell him what was wrong. He sighed. They were cute, adorable, smart, precocious as all get out, at times excessively irritating, but he had become very attached to them and he hated seeing them so upset. He resolved to have a longer than usual talk with Spike tonight. And along more serious lines than usual. Whatever was going on, something would have to be done about it. For the kid's sake.

&&&&&&&

Spike heard the pounding footfalls of someone who was moving too quickly to have a care about being quiet. Almost instinctively, he dropped to the floor, and rolled towards, not away from, the approaching figure, tripping him up, and laying him out on the floor.

Spike sprang to his feet. "What in hell did you do that for, you big ponce?" His tones were an equal measure of irritation and surprise. "Did I hurt your little feelings?"

Angel got to his feet. "Maybe I'm just sick of your smart mouth, Spike," he snarled. "Tired of your attitude."

Spike eyed him speculatively. "That's always been a given," he remarked. "Was never enough to make you try'n attack me from behind."

Angel returned Spike's gaze, and came to the realization that he couldn't tell him the real reason he'd felt goaded into the action. While he didn't give a tinker's dam about Spike's feelings, if he opened his mouth now, it was likely to rebound on Rose. He didn't want to hurt Rose. "Go screw yourself, Spike," he said tiredly, then turned and walked away.

Spike watched the retreating figure for a moment, then shook his head. He still couldn't bleeding figure out what had prompted the outburst. But his grandsire was being as close-mouthed as the light of his existence was.

Never once did it occur to Spike to make a connection between the two.

&&&&&&

"Rose." Fred looked at her lunch companion. "Is something wrong? You act like you're a million miles away."

"What?" Rose looked back at Fred with a guilty start. She'd been daydreaming about those few moments alone with Angel in her office. "Did you say something, Fred?"

"I asked if something was wrong," Fred repeated. "You haven't been here at all today. Is the Drusilla thing bothering you? I mean, what with her and Spike having been together for over a hundred years and all."

"No, nothing like that," Rose replied. "Spike set me straight on that score when I was having the nightmares about him and the Slayer. I know that Spike would never leave me for another woman."

"Then what is bothering you?" Fred pressed. "Because you really haven't been yourself lately. I'm not the only one who's noticed it, either. Harmony said you walked on by her yesterday without so much as a hello, let alone stopping a minute to chat about the kids like you usually do."

"I've just been a little.., oh, I don't know.., fuzzy headed lately," Rose admitted. "Maybe it's just the stress of coming back to work. I had been gone for quite a while."

"And you've been back for over a month now," Fred pointed out. "So why would it be kicking in now? After this much time you should be adjusted to things."

Rose shrugged. "I don't know, Fred," she answered. "Maybe it's, what do you call it? Just one of those things." She looked mightily pleased with herself at having dredged up the appropriate phrase. "I'm sure it will pass of its own accord before long."

"If it doesn't," Fred remarked. "You may want to see a psychologist."

&&&&&&

Angel felt fidgety. He wanted to see Rose. But he couldn't just send for her out of the blue. And he couldn't keep popping down to her office, either. The Wolfram and Hart rumor mill would be in full swing if he did. He had to have a reason. One that people would accept as perfectly innocent. And he had to see Rose. Have her near him, hear the sound of her voice, breathe in her sweet scent. He stopped his musings abruptly. What was he thinking about? Rose was with Spike. She was, inexplicably by his lights, totally in love with Spike. He shouldn't even be thinking about her except as a friend. But she had wanted him to kiss her. He could tell that. She had wanted him to kiss her, and he would have if Wesley hadn't interrupted them. He had to find a way to get Rose all to himself. At least, for a little while.

&&&&&&&

Rose's eyes flicked back and forth between her book and her computer screen while her fingers clicked away at the keyboard. But her angry muttering had nothing to do with the work at hand. "Spike thinks I need an eye doctor," she growled, even though, or perhaps because, there was no one there to hear her. "Fred thinks I ought to see a psychologist. Why can't people mind their own business?" She reached down to turn a page. "Wesley acts like it's a crime for me to spend time talking to Angel. Even the children were looking at me oddly last night." She stopped and brushed her hair out of her face. "What on earth is wrong with everybody? The only person who hasn't been acting like I'm some sort of freak or mental case lately is Angel." She went back to work for a few minutes, typing furiously. She halted abruptly. Angel was her friend, her best friend. The one who never treated her differently no matter how strange everyone else had become. Somehow, it had conveniently slipped her notice that Angel had never tried to kiss her before, not like that. She wished there was a way that she could go spend some time with Angel, just to feel relatively normal again. But if she just went to his office on anything but official business, people would talk. And eventually, Spike would hear. Angel was always a touchy subject with Spike anyway. But she wished she could be with him. For a little while.

&&&&&&

"I'm not sure I should be reading this to you," Oz said slowly. "It's not exactly..,"

"You mean it's not a little kiddie book," Ariel interrupted.

"We went right off those a long time ago, didn't we, Ari'l?" Alaric added.

"We want you to read us that one, Oz." Ariel looked up at him pleadingly, and somehow, Oz got the idea that the answer to what was upsetting them might be in this book. Or at least, they thought it was. And that was all it took for him to cave in.

Oz plopped down on the sofa, and the children swarmed up onto his lap so they could see what he was reading and test their meager skills by trying to follow along. "Effective Mind Control Through Spell-Casting." He started in with the title. He didn't know what was going on, just that the twins thought there was something wrong with their mother, and evidently that someone had cast a spell to tamper with her mind. Rose had seemed perfectly normal to him last night. But then again, he couldn't see into her mind the way her children could. And it was little enough to do if it would help soothe their fears.

Alaric and Ariel snuggled back against the werewolf, eyes following his moving finger as it pointed out the words. They'd find out what was wrong with mummy. Somehow, they'd find out. And then daddy could fix it and make everything all better again.

"Spells controlling the mind are the most difficult, since each mind is different," Oz read. "Therefore, each spell must be tailored to suit the subject of the casting." He glanced down at his rapt audience and wondered just how much of it they understood. Probably more of it than he did. "That is why spells to control emotions are more widely used, being easier and in less need of altering."

"Wait," Alaric demanded. He immediately went into telepathic conference with his sister. It didn't take long, and then the two children looked back up at him.

"We don't think that's the right book, Oz," Ariel explained.

"So I'm guessing that you want a book about spells that control emotions?" Oz suggested tentatively.

Alaric nodded. "Look and see if mummy has one," he ordered. "If she does, that's the one we want you to read."

"What if she doesn't?" Oz inquired.

There was another brief, silent conversation.

"Then we'll have to ask Uncle Wes," Ariel decided. "Uncle Wes has all the books in the world."

&&&&&&

Harmony bounced into Angel's office. "Boss," she chirped. "Can I take off a little early today? I have a date tonight, and I don't have anything to wear."

Angel couldn't recall seeing Harmony in the same outfit twice, so he couldn't see that as having nothing to wear. On the other hand, he didn't really need her right now. And if she wasn't here, she wouldn't be coming into his office and bothering him. "Sure, go ahead," he replied. He looked at the time. It was over an hour till office hours were over. Oh, what the hell. "You can leave now if you like."

"Thanks, boss," Harmony squealed. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Then, it fell. "Oh darn," she muttered. "I forgot. I don't have any money." She gave Angel an appealing look. "Do you think I could have an advance on my paycheck? It's only a couple of days till payday anyway."

Angel sighed and scribbled a note for her to show at accounting. "Don't count on this happening again, Harmony," he warned. It wouldn't have happened now, except that he didn't want her around. He didn't really want anyone around right now. Except Rose.

"Scout's honor," Harmony said, forgetting that she hadn't even been able to make it past the brownie stage of girl scouts. "Thanks a million." She practically skipped out of the office.

&&&&&&&

Wesley saw Rose locking up her office nearly half an hour early. "I don't recall you ever leaving early without being told to, Rose," he remarked. "I hope there's nothing wrong with the children."

Rose flushed, embarrassed at having been caught playing hooky. "I've just been obsessing about that gold pen of mine," she confessed. "I thought maybe if I retraced my steps from the day before it turned up missing, I might figure out where it's gotten to."

Wesley started to laugh, but suppressed it. She was really serious about it. Well, maybe that was why she was so good at her job. A mind that could deal with details. "Go ahead, Rose," he replied. "I wish you luck, but I'm afraid that you're going on a wild goose chase."

Rose got that confused look on her face again. "No, Wesley," she argued. "I'm looking for my pen."

&&&&&&&

Spike was mildly surprised, but not unduly concerned, when Rose didn't meet him at the lift to their flat. Probably had her nose stuck in a book and lost track of the time, he thought. Wouldn't be the first time it had happened. He was torn between wanting to go fetch her, and wanting to see the kids. He finally came to the conclusion that Rose was a big girl and could find her own way home, but that it wasn't fair to Oz to be late. With a sigh, he punched the lift button and got in.

&&&&&&&&

"Come along then boys," Drusilla coaxed. "I'll find you a nice, fat puppy dog for dinner."

"We ate before we left the law firm," Val said.

"Yeah, Spike gave us some blood," Den added. "He said he knew how hard it was to come by when you didn't have any bread and couldn't feed off humans."

"What's with that, anyway?" Val wondered aloud.

"Once upon a time," Dru began, swaying slightly, as though to unseen music. "Some very nasty army boys caught my darling Spike. They put little wires in his head that made it hurt, oh, so bad, when he hurt a human."

"You mean he's some kind of cyborg or something?" Den asked in awe.

Drusilla shook her head. She didn't understand the term, but whatever it was, Spike wasn't one. "No," she replied dreamily. "The naughty little wires are all gone. I don't know why Spike wants to be a good boy now. Unless." Her voice slipped down to a whisper. "It's because of the girl. Spike will do anything for a girl he fancies."

"Wait a minute." This didn't tally up with Val's notion of what the Big Bad should be like. "Are you telling me that Spike is whipped?"

Drusilla's expression became rather pensive. "I don't believe so," she replied. "At least, not recently." She grinned. "But I'll take care of that when I get him back."

&&&&&&

Rose was mumbling to herself as she walked from place to place around the law firm. She knew that the pen wasn't really all that big a deal, but it bothered her, not knowing what had happened to it. She had made her way through about half of her day, the day when she'd last seen it.

"Let me see," she muttered. "Then, I went to lunch with Fred, but I didn't have my pen out. That would be silly, eating with your pen. Then, I went back to my office. But that's the one place I know it's not. And after that..," She stopped a moment, concentrating, remembering. "After that I had to go have Angel sign an authorization form for some classified files," she finished triumphantly. "Angel's office it is."

&&&&&&&

Spike felt almost naked, walking in the front door without Rose. And the look the kids gave him. They looked positively petrified that he'd arrived alone.

"Where's Rose?" Oz asked, just barely beating the twins to the punch.

"Probably still at her desk," Spike replied. "Sometimes the time gets away from her. But I didn't think I ought to keep you waiting, Oz."

"I don't mind," Oz said. His eyes flicked towards the room's other occupants. "But I think I know some people who do. Why don't you go ahead and get her? I don't mind staying a little while longer."

"You're sure then?" It was what Spike had wanted to do in the first place anyway. He abruptly dropped to one knee. "Here you two. Why don't you give your dad a quick kiss? Then, I'll go find your mum."

The twins flung themselves into his arms, and Spike squeezed them as tightly as he could without hurting them. He could smell traces of salt tears on them. He'd have to ask Oz about that when he got back. With Rose.