Author Note: Oh, goodness, what have I done to myself. I've started this fic and I don't have much of a clue where I'm going. Why do I do these things to myself. Which means all of you will get chapters as I write them, not days after I write them. Go figure.
To: AK8, Jess, shahid, WhiteRabbit, tp96, Imzadi, Cayt
Thanks so much for reviewing!! Lots of good suggestions and pats.
To shahid: interesting concept about Spike; it wasn't one that I had looked at yet, but you have given me some ideas.
To Imzadi: I wasn't going to include Lindsey, but because I don't know where I'm going to end up, so it's possible. I didn't include Virginia (no, it wasn't an oversight) because she was just too normal. She just wouldn't spice that scene up enough. I have nothing against her. Yes, and there will be something about Faith and Robin and trouble too!
To Cayt and anyone else interested: Yes, I did let everyone else live, because I hate it when people die!
So read and review, please. You all have been so helpful so far.
Chapter Four – Open Wounds
Someone shook Faith awake. It had taken years for her to not punch first, ask questions later when people did that. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily blinded by the stark lighting of a hospital.
"You can see your brother now, miss," the nurse instructed her.
She'd come to the hospital to check on Gunn. It wasn't exactly at Angel's insistence since he was being an asshole, but because she cared what happened to the fighter. The only way she'd be able to see him was to tell them she was his half-sister. No one questioned her claim. But she had to wait while they had run more tests on him. So she curled up in a chair for a quick nap.
The nightmares really had to go away. When they happened, she never woke up rested. One night of uninterrupted sleep would be perfect for her right then. Not dreams of her dead watcher attacking the only decent sleep she'd been able to catch in a long time.
Faith stretched, and then followed the nurse to Gunn's room.
"How did you know he was here? The woman who brought him didn't give us any information about how this happened. Just a name."
"He wasn't home. I just searched everywhere. This is the last place I decided to look."
"The police are going to want to talk to him when he wakes up." The nurse pushed open the door to Gunn's room. Faith was shocked by how many tubes and machines were hooked up to him.
"How bad is he?"
Memories flooded her, remembering what it was like to wake up with tubes in her arms. Faith was afraid to get too close. Afraid she might somehow hurt him just by being there.
"You can touch him. I'll go get the doctor so he can talk to you."
The nurse scooted out before Faith could ask any more questions. She placed her shaking hand over his. "Hey, big man. Angel wanted me to see how you were doing."
Machines beeped, but no sound came from Gunn.
"Coma. I know how those go. It'll be all right. Hey, I woke up and look at me."
"Hello," a man in a white coat said as he walked through the door. "I'm Dr. Morton."
"How is he?"
"His body went through a lot."
"Just give it to me straight."
"OK. He'd been stabbed repeatedly. Lost a significant amount of blood. There's some nerve damage. Until he wakes up, we're not going to be able to assess . . . ."
"He's in a coma, then?"
"Yes, which is the best thing for him at the moment."
"Nerve damage? Does that mean he won't be able to walk or something?"
"As I said, we don't know exactly." Gunn didn't have slayer healing like she did. He was just a normal human. And it had taken her eight months to heal. "If you would like to sit with him for a while?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice."
Faith pulled up a chair and sat next to him, just holding his hand. He was the only human connection left of Angel's people. Angel needed him desperately to pull out of this.
"You can't die, you know. Not your time. Just hold on."
At least if he did die, she'd try to be here for him. He'd die peacefully, unlike Wesley.
Faith stayed for another hour, building up the courage to go back to the hotel. The three beings left there were such a mess, it had been nice to sit quietly with Gunn for company. But she needed to go back. She'd stitched the two vampires worst wounds together. They would need supplies though to get them through the worst of it. And she also didn't know if there were still demons lurking around, ready to take revenge. She was never the planner, always the one to go bash heads. Being the appointed leader sucked.
On the way back, she found a butcher that would give her some blood. She also grabbed some food for herself. She had no idea what Illyria ate, if she did at all. Faith just wished she knew what in the world the blue-haired creature was. It was always nice to know how to crush your opponent.
As she entered the lobby, Faith noticed that the door had been semi-fixed. Either Illyria figured out how a door was put together or one of the vampires was up and about.
"Hello," she called out, not wanting to be a surprise.
"In here," Spike yelled from the office.
Since he had been in a little better shape, he was the logical one to be walking around. She noticed that he had cleaned up most of the blood in the lobby, just in case someone walked in, including removing the bloodstained covering from the round sofa. Entering the office, Spike still moved slowly, wincing every so often.
"You should have left it all. I got some supplies."
"Yeah." Spike touched his head, feeling for hair that was now gone. Faith had to shave it off to stitch his head wound.
A much different Spike stood before her. The bleached-blonde hair had covered dark roots. This shorn cut made his blue eyes stand out even more, although at the moment they kind of had a dull sheen to them.
"Got some blood for you."
"Angel needs it more."
"I can't do this alone, Spike. You both need to eat. Besides, you can barely stand. Let me call in reinforcements."
Faith pulled out her cell phone to dial. Spike stopped her with a hand, closing the phone for her.
"Don't."
"Whatever happened here, we need help."
Spike laughed. "Just like when Illyria was taking over Fred. Called for help then. Never came."
"If I had known."
"Yeah. Seems that it's business as usual for those wankers. Your kind needs help, we come running. We ask to save one girl, people tell us to fuck off."
Faith hadn't known any of this. She hadn't known that they had asked for help and were turned away.
"I'm here now, Spike. Please tell me what happened."
"Gunn OK?"
"Alive. Coma. Doctor said it's a good thing. Give his body time to heal."
Spike sat down on the couch with a thump, rubbing his head.
"Spike, you were gone. How did you come back?"
"I see Andrew didn't open his little mouth?"
"No. He knew?"
"Yeah."
Faith sat down beside the vampire, wanting the whole story of the past year.
"That amulet. Someone, we're thinking maybe Lindsey McDonald, brought me back to annoy Peaches. You see, Angel and company had taken over Evil Incorporated."
"Wolfram and Hart?" Now that was unbelievable. Angel despised the place.
"Yeah, I know. Workin' from the inside and all that. I was a ghost for a while. Then they upped the stakes, made more corporeal. Probably decided that I hadn't done my job well enough. Didn't think I'd join forces with the big poof. He kinda grows on you, like a fungus."
Faith wanted to scream at him to stay on topic, but she could tell he just needed to vent.
"Oh boy. Did they have our number? Challenged those bloody losers to a fight."
"Is that what happened? Because, hey, not hiding all that carnage out there. Lots of talk in town."
"Kinda hard to hide it when you're fighting for your life."
Faith kept waiting for someone to start asking questions around the hotel. No one official had visited yet.
"Start from the beginning."
"Seems that the cheerleader, before she bit the bucket, gave Angel a vision on how to take down this big, bad evil group called The Circle of the Black Thorn."
"So he put a plan in place?"
"Yeah, the stupid wanker. Angelus, best planner in the world. Angel, couldn't plan to save his life on a sunny day. But he got their attention. Got some invitation to join them in fact. He figured out their strengths and weaknesses, how to take them down."
"All on his own?"
"Apparently. Brought us in at the last moment. So we took the leaders down."
"It worked. Right?"
"Sort of. Let's just say that evil has taken a holiday, at least for now. The price though. I'm not sure I'd be willin' to pay it."
"What do you mean?"
"Faith, you and I, we've always been sort of loners. Never really fit in. I watched them, when Cordelia came back that one day. They all fit together. Well-oiled machine. Reminded me of something."
"Yeah. Buffy and her little gang."
Spike shook his head in acknowledgement. "They're all gone now. Cordelia, Wes, Fred, some guy named Doyle. I'm not sure I could sacrifice them all. One reason why I went all 'Great Balls of Fire' in Sunnyhell."
"Why?"
"Because I knew that you all would live on."
"And now Angel has to without them."
"Yeah."
Faith finished cleaning up while Spike downed his blood in record time. She could see why Angel would be devastated, but Spike had gotten close to the bunch. He was feeling the effects too.
"Spike, that Illyria chick?" Faith asked, as they made sure no other blood was present in the lobby.
"An Old One. Walked the earth a long time ago. Some idiot at the evil law firm released her to take over Fred. Nothing we could do. Angel even stooped and asked Giles for help."
"And I'm thinkin' that was a no go."
"Nope." Spike sighed, sitting down to hold his head. "Watcher boy kind of lost his marbles after that. Drinking, shooting people. Thought Angel was gonna have to send him off to the funny farm. Seems that he had a thing for the girl."
Faith never knew that Wesley liked Fred at all. He hadn't been too nice to anyone while she was in Los Angeles the last time. They had focused on Angelus.
"Kill anyone?" Faith wondered out loud. She'd seen that sadistic side of him when they had gone hunting for Angelus.
"Yeah. The idiot, Knox. Deserved it. I would have snapped the guy's neck if given half the chance," Spike growled.
Did Spike have feelings for the girl also?
"I should have stayed. Or at least come back. I said that I would."
"You did what you could. No one else even cared."
"I'm still calling Giles though. Not for help."
"Then why?"
"Tell him that I quit."
"Can't exactly not be a slayer anymore, luv."
"Doesn't seem to matter anymore, now does it?"
"Suit yourself."
"You went to see the human?" Illyria quietly came down the stairs, this time dressed in regular clothes. Her body still held the blue glow and eyes still turned Faith's skin cold. Faith jumped a little at her voice. She hadn't seen her since that first encounter.
"Alive, still."
"That pleases me."
"Blue, I need to take a look at your wounds."
"Half-breed, I am adequate."
Faith didn't understand why Spike was being pleasant with the creature. She wanted to avoid the bitch at all costs. Even though she really hadn't known Fred all that well, she figured since Wes had a thing for her she must have been pretty special.
"I'll see about Angel," Faith said, pointing up the stairs.
"Wounds, now Blue. Even if I have to sit on you."
Most humans would sputter at the way Spike was talking. Illyria obeyed him, following him into the inner office.
Faith grabbed a container of blood for Angel. The thought of him drinking it in front of her didn't make her squeamish. It's the thought of him not drinking that had her worried. Tapping lightly on his door, Faith got no response. She slowly inched her way into the room. One small light was on by the bed, nothing more. Angel's familiar shape did not grace the bed. Matter of fact, she didn't see him anywhere.
"Angel?" she spoke.
"Go away," a voice came from a dark corner.
"I brought you some blood."
Faith came closer to the voice. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she picked out the dark figure in a chair.
"You should be in bed. Gather your strength."
"Leave."
Faith laughed a little. The vampire wanted to wallow in self-pity. That was a first. Usually he was the one helping from everything she had ever seen of him.
"I can't. Seems there's this stubborn streak in me. Comes out when dumbass vampires are too stupid to know any better."
Faith slowly eased herself down on the end of the bed. She figured she might be there for a while, so might as well be comfortable.
"I know you're not big on conversation, but we need to talk." She heard Angel sigh angrily. "I got the Reader's Digest version of what happened from Spike. Just wanted to hear your side."
"Not much to say. I fucked up."
Great, the man never used that word. That was her word. And she was the one usually screwing up. Angel never did.
"How so? I mean, if you want to talk about it."
Angel leaned forward in the chair, eyes turning yellow, fangs showing. "Not really."
So, he was trying to intimidate her? "Down boy. No talking about you then."
Angel leaned back into the shadows.
"I checked on Gunn. He's in a coma, which according to his doctor is a good thing. If you want, I'll go see him again tomorrow, or for as long as it takes. Should I patrol? Not sure what to do, really."
"Shut up and go away."
Faith squeezed her eyes closed, trying to control her anger. She desperately wanted to help. She also figured that Angel wouldn't accept it in the beginning.
"There's too much to do here."
"Go back to your Hellmouth and your watchers and your slayer friends."
"I can't do that. Besides, I'm probably going to be out of a job anyway. Right after I break a couple of bones in Giles's body for being such a fucking idiot for not helping."
"Don't blame him."
"Sorry. I already do."
Faith set the blood down on a table, and then backed out of the room slowly, hoping that Angel might call her back. He didn't. He sat in the dark. Not just being his broody self, she thought. This was a man with nothing to live for. And there wasn't much for her to do to change that at the moment.
TBC
Next: Wesley makes a choice that he may regret, and Faith tells Giles where to go shove it.