Chapter Eighteen – Nine Months is Too Long

Buffy knocked on the door then entered the room, nodding at Graham who was sitting next to the camera aimed at the bed. "It's time for his meds."

Faith was sitting in the chair on the far side of the bed and looked up from the notebook she was writing in. "We're almost done. Can it wait about thirty minutes?"

Buffy looked at Spike, noting that he looked pale and strained and like he wanted to vomit, but it didn't look like he'd been crying. "How much pain are you in?"

Spike closed his eyes briefly then said in a scratchy, tired voice, "About a five or six, I guess. I'll be able to get through thirty more minutes, ma'am."

Buffy nodded at him then said to Faith. "Come get me as soon as you're done. I'll be in the other inmate's room."

"Okay."

Buffy left the room and went down the hall to Andrew's room. His client had beaten him severely and had managed to break his arm in the process of securing him to the bench to be raped, so he was nearly as bruised and battered as Spike had been.

Buffy smiled at him as she walked over to the bed. "How are you doing? Any pain?"

Andrew woozily shook his head. "No, ma'am. I feel pretty good right now."

Buffy lowered the head of his bed. "Okay. I'm going to change your bandage. Let me know if anything hurts."

"I will. Thank you for taking care of me."

Buffy brushed his hair back from his forehead. "You're welcome, Andrew."

He was asleep before she'd even gathered the supplies she needed. She went to work changing the bandage covering the gash in his cheek where he'd been punched then she checked his fingers to make sure the circulation was good in his broken arm.

She was about halfway done with his sponge bath when Faith opened the door and stepped into the room. "We're done with Pratt."

Buffy looked up. "There's this whole knocking before you walk into a room thing that's gotten really popular. You should try it."

"Sorry. I'll knock next time. Okay?"

"Okay. Did you get enough from Spike to put those two shitbags under the jail?"

Faith nodded. "Yeah, I think so. And with this…" She motioned to Andrew. "And all the other shit we dug up, I don't think we'll have any trouble putting them away for the rest of their lives. The johns we caught downstairs probably won't do time, except the one who did this," she motioned to Andrew again, "but Walsh and Finn sure as hell will."

"Please tell me you had to tase them both. Multiple times."

Faith smirked, "Walsh was in her office, and her assistant apparently hates her, because he had us move back around the corner then went in and told her there was some sort of problem she needed to deal with. She hurried out of her office and around the corner and right into a group of armed agents."

"Did you have to take her to the ground? Did you use excessive force to do that? Please say yes."

Faith chuckled, "No. She struggled a little, but we got the cuffs on her without much trouble, and she's not a fan of the whole, 'right to remain silent' thing. We hadn't moved her ten feet before she was name dropping and implicating practically everybody in this building, including you."

Buffy barked a laugh. "Figures. What about Riley?"

"He got tased." She nodded to Andrew. "He was taking this one to the infirmary when we came in and the dumbass dropped him and tried to run. Not sure where he thought he was gonna go, but he only managed about five steps before he was hit by two agents. When they were getting him to his feet, he tried to bite one of them, so we had to bag him, too."

Buffy snickered, "He must have been the one I saw being taken to the command center, unless you bagged more people."

Faith shook her head. "No, he was the only one. Diarrhea of the mouth runs in the family, I guess, because he started talking and wouldn't shut up. For all I know, he's sitting in his cell still running his mouth."

"He probably is. And Tomkins?"

"He was… taking advantage of one of the perks of the job."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Perks?"

"Yeah. They're apparently allowed to use the inmates in the glory hole room when there aren't any paying customers in there. He didn't get to finish, and they made him put his dick away before they cuffed him."

Buffy scowled. "They should've tased him in the dick. What about the guy who already paid to rape Spike? Do you know who he is?"

"Yeah. He's already been picked up, and he wasn't at all happy about it."

"Are people usually happy when they're arrested?"

Faith laughed, "No, but that's not why he was pissed. He was more upset about not getting what he'd already paid for. Kept demanding a refund for services not rendered."

"He will be doing time, won't he?"

"Probably."

"Good. I hope he gets a taste of what he was gonna do to Spike. See what it feels like on the receiving end."

"I shouldn't agree with that, and I'd probably get written up if my boss found out, but… yeah."

"Do any of them know you're here because of me?"

Faith shook her head. "I doubt it. The agents who know you're the informant wouldn't share that information with the suspects."

"How many of them know you're my sister?"

"Just Graham and my boss."

"Why'd you tell Graham? Is he your partner or something?"

Faith snorted a laugh, "No, and I didn't tell him. He figured it out from watching how we act with each other. He has three sisters."

"Spike knows and so do Xander and Willow."

"How likely is it that they've told Walsh or Finn that you were snitching to your sister in the FBI? Or even that you had a sister in the FBI?"

"Not likely at all."

"So it doesn't matter if they know, does it?"

"No, I guess not, but Maggie and Riley both threatened to kill me at just a hint of me having a problem with this bullshit, so how could they not figure out it was me? Their brand-new brothel gets busted a few days after I start working here? They'd have to be completely brain-dead not to put two and two together, because that math is totally mathing."

"I could assign protection for you."

Buffy snorted. "Yeah, because I want an agent up my ass 24/7. They're annoying enough just standing in my office. No offense, and I'm happy you guys showed up and everything, but being surrounded by a bunch of people with guns is starting to wig me out. You know I'm not big on guns." She nodded to the pistol on Faith's hip. "Even yours makes me nervous."

"Yeah, I know, but if you've been threatened, you should have protection."

"I'd only need it if they make bail or something. I'm good at hand-to-hand, which Riley is fully aware of, but if he comes at me with a gun or something, then yeah… not so good. Is them making bail something you think will happen?"

"No, especially if the threats on your life are mentioned to the judge, which they will be."

"Then I'll be fine. So what happens now?"

"We've started working on getting the inmates transferred, and when they're all gone, the remaining employees will work with my agents to close this place down."

"How many weren't part of the brothel?"

"Like half a dozen guards, and the cooks and cleaners. Everybody else was in on it, including some of the wives, so CPS is packing up their kids."

"How many wives weren't in on it besides Willow?"

"Just one, but her husband was, so she took her kids and hightailed it out of here about two hours ago."

"Were they actually doing stuff or just being paid off because they knew about it?"

"They were the inmate prep and cleaning crew. They'd agreed to administer the enemas and clean the inmates after clients."

"They must have been getting a pile of cash because enemas are probably my least favorite part of being a nurse. I can't imagine a regular person would be jumping at the chance to do them."

"Yeah, they were going to be getting a large chunk of change."

"And you just let that wife go? You're sure she wasn't in on it?"

"Her name wasn't on the roster of participants. Walsh had an elaborate spreadsheet that listed what everyone's jobs were and what percentage of the profits they'd be getting. Made sorting out who was involved go a hell of a lot faster." She laughed quietly. "Her assistant was only too happy to 'accidentally' unlock her computer instead of shutting it down like she'd yelled at him to do after we arrested her. That's why he had her leave her office instead of us going in. She had some sort of kill switch on it that would've destroyed the data."

"Was the assistant in on it? Because he just happily shot himself in the foot if he was."

"No, he wasn't, but he knew about it. He didn't know who to contact to get it stopped, though, not having a sister in the FBI or anything, so he's just been gathering evidence this whole time, hoping he'd eventually be able to turn it over to someone. You should've seen the smile on his face when he showed us the spreadsheet."

"If you'd come in a day later, you probably would've found my name on it. I had to tell Riley I wanted a cut because I felt like he was doubting my sincerity. How much trouble would I have been in?"

"None. You were basically an undercover agent, although, you wouldn't have been able to keep any money they paid you."

Buffy smirked. "How much does being an undercover agent pay? Because I'm pretty sure my employment at this prison ended about five minutes after I got your text." She motioned to Andrew's shin that she'd just wiped with a wet cloth. "I'll have to put this down as volunteer work on my resume, since I don't think I'm being paid for it. I probably won't even get my first paycheck, so this whole prison nurse experience will be volunteer work."

"I could see if I can get you informant compensation. It's not a lot of money, but it's something. And if it's not enough, I could cover you."

Buffy shook her head. "No, you don't need to do that. I think I have enough of my inheritance left to hold me until I can find a job."

"Where are you going to go? You said you had other offers."

"I do, but they're all in places I don't really want to move to, especially by myself. I'm kinda over the whole forging a solo path, because my first try ended up being a complete dumpster fire, so I'm gonna go with Xan and Willow. We're gonna try team adulting for a while, but we're not sure where that'll happen yet. We'll obviously have to stay here until the baby's born because she's too far along to move right now, and I don't want to try to deliver a baby on the side of the road, so we'll probably be the last out."

"I'll have a couple of agents here until you leave, too."

"I figured. Do you know where Spike's going yet?"

Faith quirked an eyebrow. "You know you can't have any contact with him while he's still incarcerated, right?"

Buffy sputtered, "What? I wasn't… I'm just curious. Want to make sure he'll get the medical care he needs."

"Bullshit. You've fallen for him, B. It was all over your face the first time I saw you with him." She motioned to Andrew. "You don't look at him the way you look at Pratt."

Buffy thought about arguing, but Faith knew her too well and it would be pointless, so she sighed, "Yeah, I have."

"While I don't blame you… he's a decent guy and hot as fuck, and I'd do him if he wasn't a felon… prison staff can't be in a relationship with an inmate. I don't think your fraternizing is a problem just yet, as long as you don't make it obvious to anybody else the rest of the time he's here, but if you keep in contact after he's transferred, it could become a problem."

"Why? If I'm not employed by a prison anymore, why would it matter?"

"It might not, but depending on the laws of the state he's transferred to, it could be illegal even if you're a former employee, and some correctional facilities punish the inmate for that, too."

Buffy scowled. "I think Spike's had more than enough punishment, thanks very much, so I won't contact him. Will I ever be able to see him again?"

Faith nodded. "Yeah, after he's released. He won't be on parole, so when he's out, he can go wherever he wants and date whoever he wants. So instead of dating an inmate, you'd just be dating an ex-con."

"Which I have no problem with."

"Are you in love with him, B? You haven't even known him a week."

Buffy thought about it for a few seconds then said, "I don't think I'm in love with him yet, but I'm in strong like. Really really strong like, teetering on the edge of falling into love. I want to be with him, Faith. I want to give us a chance."

"And he feels the same?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, we haven't explicitly discussed it – with all the beatings and sexual assaults and FBI raids and everything, we really haven't had the chance – but yeah, I think he wants to be with me, too."

Faith crossed her arms over her chest and nodded toward Spike's room. "And what if he can't get his shit together when he gets out? He's never been fully on his own, taking care of his own shit, so even though he's older than you, he's like a kid fresh out of high school moving out of his parent's house for the first time. You gonna support him for the rest of your life if he can't hold down a job or decides that robbing liquor stores is the easiest way to make money?"

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, but I'm at least going to give him a chance. I feel like he'll be able to function as a productive member of society with a little help to get going, but if he fucks it up and goes back to a life of crime, then I'll cut him loose."

"Okay, but just be aware that I'll be keeping an eye on him. He may not be on official parole, but he'll be on big sister parole."

"I don't need you to babysit me, Faith."

"I'm not, but you can still be taken advantage of by a manipulative convict. I just don't want you to get hurt, so be careful, okay?"

"I will, I promise."

XXXX

Buffy walked into Spike's room and closed the door then asked, "How are you feeling?"

He was leaned back against the upright head of the bed hugging his pillow and staring at the wall. He turned his head, his features drawn, and said quietly, "Been better, luv."

Buffy sat down next to him. "How's the pain?"

"The physical pain is tolerable. The other… not so much."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be in here with you when you were talking to Faith."

"Not your fault, pet. Rules and whatnot. Your sis is thorough, though, I'll give her that. Was excruciating havin' to go through it all from start to finish and then back over it again and again until she'd exhausted all her questions." He reached up and rubbed at his throat. "Throat hurts like blazes from talkin' so much."

"How's your jaw?"

"Sore, but not as bad as yesterday."

"Okay. Are you hungry at all? You didn't eat much breakfast and you slept through lunch. Do you want me to get your dinner?"

He swallowed hard and shook his head. "No. Don't think my stomach could handle it just now."

Buffy walked over to the supply cart and came back with several lozenges. She unwrapped one and handed it to Spike then put the rest on the rolling table and pushed it next to the bed. "Where's the lip balm?" Spike unfolded a bit of the blanket over his lap and picked up the tube then handed it to Buffy. She uncapped it and leaned close. "Can I kiss you?"

Spike nodded. "Don't need to ask permission each time, luv."

Buffy pressed a kiss to his lips then said quietly, "Yeah, I do. I don't want to kiss you if you're not okay with being kissed, so I'll ask to make sure for a while, okay?"

"All right."

She kissed him again then applied the lip balm. "I think it's helping. Your lips don't look as chapped as they did this morning." She capped the tube and set it on the table next to the lozenges.

"They feel a bit better." He cut his eyes to the door and asked, "Did your sis fill you in on what happens next yet?"

Buffy sat down and took his hand. "Yeah. They're gonna get all the inmates transferred then shut this place down."

"They're shutting it down? What about all the employees? What are you and Xan gonna do?"

"I'm gonna go with Xan and Willow to wherever he can find a job. I'll be able to get work practically anywhere. Probably won't be high paying work, but I'll find something."

Spike looked down at their joined hands then quietly asked, "And what about this?"

"I can't contact you once you leave here because I could get in trouble, and depending on where you go, you could, too."

Spike nodded then turned his face toward the wall as he pulled his hand out of Buffy's grasp and sadly whispered, "So that's it then."

Buffy reached for his hand and gripped it firmly. "No, that's not it. Once you're out, we can do whatever we want."

Spike turned his head and looked at their rejoined hands. "And you want this? Me?"

Buffy smiled. "Yes, I want this. I want you." She lifted Spike's hand then twined their fingers together. "Do you want this? Me?"

Spike nodded. "I do, luv. More than you know."

"Then in nine months we can have it." She reached up with her other hand and cupped his cheek. "You're sure you don't want to try to eat something? Even some soup?"

He leaned his head into her hand and said quietly, "No, luv, I just want to sleep. Need to shut my brain off for a bit."

"Okay." She slid her thumb along his cheekbone then stood and laid the head of the bed down. "I'll be right back."

When she returned to the room, Spike had rolled onto his belly with his face turned toward the wall. Buffy pulled the blanket up to his shoulder blades then moved the call button to the other bed rail and administered the medication.

He mumbled, "Thank you, luv."

She leaned down and moved his hair off his face so she could press a kiss to his cheek. "Buzz if you need anything."

"All right." He opened his eyes then swallowed hard and whispered, "You're sure you want this?"

Buffy pulled the chair close and sat down so her eyes were level with Spike's. She reached out and cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb along his cheekbone. "Yes, Spike. I want to be with you."

"Nine months is a long time, pet."

"Yeah, but I think you're worth the wait."

He smiled slightly and his eyes drifted shut. Buffy sat with him until he was asleep then raised the bed rail and left the room.

XXXX

"Is that really necessary?"

The guard squatting next to Spike's feet looked up. "He has to be secured for transport."

"Okay, I get that, but how's he supposed to walk with his ankles chained together? Wouldn't a pair of handcuffs be enough? He's not gonna do anything stupid and it's not like he'd get very far if he tried. This place is practically wall to wall FBI agents. You can't take two steps without tripping over one."

"It's procedure, ma'am."

Spike said, "I'll be fine, ma'am. Not the first time I've been trussed up like this."

Buffy tried to smile at him as the guard finished applying all the restraints. Aside from the leg irons, Spike had a chain wrapped around his waist with a cuff on a short chain attached to each side. A chain also attached the waist chain to the leg irons. He'd been issued a new orange prison uniform with the word 'inmate' in large block letters across his back and down one leg, and an ugly pair of blue boat shoes. The orange clashed with the bruises still visible on his face, neck, and arms.

Spike was looking at her around the guard as he moved around, trying to etch her features deep into his memory so he'd be able to get them down on paper once he got his notebooks back. He was being transferred to a prison four states away to serve the remainder of his sentence, due to all the prisons in this state and the ones near it being at or over capacity. Suddenly having to find space for just over one hundred inmates had been quite the undertaking, but it had been accomplished, and now buses, vans, and sedans had been leaving the grounds every thirty minutes or so headed to prisons all across the country.

Spike was the only inmate being transferred to this prison, as far as he knew, so he'd be making the journey in the back of a sedan. The guard finally finished and stood up then pointed at the bed. "Sit there. I need to go get your personal effects and your paperwork."

"Yes, sir." Spike shuffled backwards and sat on the bed, clasping his hands in his lap.

The guard left the room and Buffy closed the door then walked over and sat down next to Spike, wrapping an arm around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "I hate seeing you like this. Orange is not your color."

Spike chuckled, "Orange isn't anybody's color, pet, and I don't much care for the restraints, either. My nose only seems to itch when I can't bloody scratch it." He turned his head away from her and rubbed his nose on his sleeve.

"This is the last time we'll see each other for nine months and you're chained up like freaking Hannibal Lecter. It's bullshit."

Spike said quietly, "I'm only in shackles, luv, not a straitjacket and facemask."

Buffy slid her hand down his forearm and rested her fingertips on the cuff around his wrist. At least the guard hadn't put them on very tight, so hopefully Spike wouldn't arrive at his new prison with fresh bruises on top of the ones he already had. "You're gonna be traveling for two days, so you'll have to stop somewhere for the night. Are they gonna make you sleep in this crap?"

Spike shook his head. "No. Your sis told me I'd be stored in a holding cell at the local jail while my driver gets a nice, comfy hotel room."

"Holding cells don't even have beds, do they? All the ones I've seen on TV are just benches in a big room."

"I doubt I'll be put in an actual holding cell, unless nobody manages to get pinched today wherever we're stopping. Probably against the rules to put a convicted felon in with blokes who haven't even been arraigned, so they'll likely dump me in a regular cell and I'll be locked down and not allowed to leave it until my escort arrives to collect me."

"You're a lot calmer about this than I would be."

He shrugged. "Gettin' upset about it won't change anything, and throwin' a strop would likely only get my restraints put on tighter than I'd like." He unclasped his hands then twisted his wrist inside the cuff before moving his hand the short distance the chain would allow. "I have a bit of movement and the cuff isn't particularly irritating, but the guard could fix it so I'd not be able to move my hands at all."

"It's still bullshit."

He chuckled, "Not gonna argue with you on that point, luv." He tipped his head back then shook it to flick his hair out of his face and asked, "Could you tie my hair back? Can't keep it out of my face with my hands bound."

Buffy walked around to the other side of the bed and brushed her fingers through his hair then gathered it together at the nape of his neck, securing it with the hair tie she had on her wrist. "There." She resumed her previous position and asked, "Have you always kept your hair long?"

He shook his head. "No. Kept it short when I was livin' with my father so he wouldn't be able to grab hold of it when he was poundin' on me. Started growin' out after I was pinched while I was goin' through the trial and what all. Pretty much just been lettin' it go since then and get it trimmed when it gets about to the middle of my back."

Buffy slid her fingers through his ponytail. "Your hair is softer than mine and I'm guessing you don't use all the special shampoos and conditioners and crap I do, either."

Spike shook his head, "No, just the stuff I'm issued in my monthly hygiene pack, but I've been usin' your shampoo while I've been in here, so maybe that's why. Gonna miss it smellin' like lavender."

Buffy wrapped her arm around him and squeezed. "This sucks."

"Yeah, but there's nothin' we can do about it and it's only nine months."

"I've decided that nine months is too long."

"We'll get through it, pet."

She slid her hand up his back and grasped the back of his neck then whispered, "Can I?" He nodded and she pulled him into a long, slow kiss. When they broke apart, she pressed her forehead to his. "It's gonna feel like nine years. I'm gonna miss you so much."

Spike whispered, "Gonna miss you, too. Don't forget about me, yeah?"

"I won't. I just don't know how I'm gonna go that long without even talking to you."

"Talkin' to me isn't worth you gettin' in trouble, Buffy. I don't want to get out only to find you've been locked up because you contacted me."

"I know, and I won't, I promise. It's just gonna be hard."

"We'll get through it."

"Yeah. Can I kiss you until the guard comes back?"

Spike smiled. "Snog away, luv."

She stood and leaned close, cupping his cheek as she pressed her lips to his. The kiss turned heated as her hand slipped around to the back of his neck to hold him tight while the other gripped his sleeve in a tight fist. Buffy's mouth had already visited Spike's earlobe and was nibbling down his neck when they heard the infirmary door open. She whipped her gaze toward the door then turned back to Spike and pressed her lips to his for a second before moving quickly to the other side of the room.

Spike was breathing hard and looked a little dazed when the guard entered the room, so she said, "Pratt has been on pain medication for his cracked ribs. Do I need to pack some for you to take with him?"

The guard stopped and turned to face her as he shook his head. "I'm not authorized to give medication."

"So what's he supposed to do about the pain for the next two days? Can I give him something now to at least take the edge off for a few hours?"

"Will the meds make him sleep? Because he can't lay down in the car."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I can't give him narcotics or opioids if I'm not monitoring him, so I'll give him some Ibuprofen. Can you give him at least that much? It's over the counter, not prescribed."

The guard nodded. "Yeah, I can give him that. It's part of the first aid kit."

"Okay. I'll give him a couple pills now and send the rest of the bottle with you."

"That will be fine."

Buffy glanced at Spike, noting that he had himself back under control, then nodded and said, "I'll be right back." She went to the drug cabinet and pulled out a bottle of prescription strength Ibuprofen, figuring the guard probably wouldn't know the difference. It was only strong enough to blunt the pain, not erase it entirely, but with Spike's high pain tolerance, she thought he'd probably be okay. She shook two pills into a small paper cup then calculated how many he'd need for two days of travel and put those pills in an unmarked bottle that she tucked into her pocket. She filled a cup with water at the sink then went back to Spike's room.

She walked over to him and held up the paper cup. Spike opened his mouth and she poured the pills into it then held the cup so he could drink. She was dying to kiss him one more time, but instead mouthed, "I'll miss you."

Spike swallowed the pills then smiled at her and said, "Thank you, ma'am."

She smiled back then turned to the guard, holding out the bottle. "There are enough in here for him to have two pills every six hours as needed."

The guard nodded and pocketed the bottle then stepped up to the bed and grasped Spike's elbow. "On your feet, Pratt."

Spike stood and Buffy stepped to the side then reached out, trailing her fingertips down his back as he shuffled away.