Chapter 12
Barnabas watched Vicky as she laid on the bed. She was dressed in Oriana's robe, which had been quicker than trying to firnd her original clothes. He hoped Vicky would forgive him for undressing her, but he could not bear to look at her in that dress.
She opened her eyes and saw him sitting by her side.
"It is all right, Vicky" he said reassuringly "you are not hurt."
"You..." she said accusingly.
"I am sorry I had to treat you that way" he sighed :"but I had to show how it really was in 1967 and 68."
"You hurt me." she complained.
"Not much. Then worst was your wrists, and they are barely marked." he sighed again. "Maggie wasn't so lucky. It was like that for her, every day. And worse. Not for nothing she went mad."
"But she recovered."
"Not thanks to me." No, Vicky, you didn't really know me then."
"But you loved me."
"In a twisted way I did. But it wouldn't have any ended any better than it did for Maggie. How long would it have taken you to realize that it wasn't truly you I loved but my own fantasies of you? And by the time you found out, you could not go back, because I would have changed you, and you would have to cling to me."
Vicky was silent for some seconds. "Yet, I wanted it so much" she finally said.
"I know you did. And I know why. It is frightening, wasn't it? To find yourself lost, to find that no one has waited for you, that you are a stranger. Elizabeth away, David grown up, so many things changed...
"I wanted.. I wanted things to be the way they were, just for once."
"I understand." he took her hand. "I understand it so well. I want to help you Vicky. If I could bring Peter or Burke back to you I would. But I wouldn't bring back 1968, even if I could. Not even for you."
"Why?"
"Because it cost us too much to get out of it. I wouldn't want to go through all that again. I worked very hard to put it behind me. And so did Willie. I saw him work and strain himself to get where he is. I saw how he looked when he told me he was getting his own shop. I threw a party for him. For the first time in his life he was somebody. Do you know what that meant for him? And then you came back and asked him to go back to 1968 with you. As if all that effort he put was nothing, As if he had wasted all that work and dedication. You have no right to ask that of him nor anyone else.
Vicky nodded "It is strange to see him as he is now."
"It is all strange, Vicky."
"But you haven't changed. You still look the same."
"I might not look it, but I have changed. I am wiser, for lack of a better word. We have all changed, some for better and some for worse. I know how cruel this is for you. It isn't fair to ask you to accommodate yourself to it the best you can. But you'll just have to. "he smiled ruefully "there is no other choice.. And the sooner you accept it, the better it will be for you."
Vicky nodded again. "I guess I just made a fool of myself."
"No worse than me." he tapped he jaw playfully "keep your chin up. You are going to make it."
The door opened and Phillip came in carrying a mug of coffee. "Do you want this?" he asked.
"Is it coffee?"
"Yes. And don't worry. I made it, not him. The coffee he makes can be described as cruel and unusual punishment."
"You exaggerate."
"When he was working at that office, they had to get a court injunction to keep him away from the coffeepot."
"It wasn't a court injunction. They just sent me a memo.
Vicky stared at Phillip. "You were in a bottle, too. weren't you?"
"Yes. I was. I managed to escape. Then I was back here."
"Was it hard? Adjusting, I mean?"
"It was a shock. I was a Nixon Republican, and when I came back everybody was calling him a crook. Everybody but Roger. I didn't know that Roger was cracked, you see."
"Phillip!" Barnabas reproved him.
"Hell, he nearly got me killed. And then there was Megan. And I hated Barnabas' gusts too. Yes, I did have a hard time of it."
"But you made it."
"I had help."
George studied Sabrina glacially
"What makes you think I will help you get rid of Barnabas? I don't want you nor anyone else to hurt him."
"I understand that you want to protect him. But there is only way to do it. And it isn't running me out of town. Unless you can run out a lot of other people too."
George knew that she was right. Still, he cringed at the idea of helping her.
"I will not hurt him. I will only send him away."
"Where? And how could you convince him to go?"
"As to how, at gunpoint, if needed. As to where, Parallel Time. I talked with Quentin and he not only assures me that it is still working, but he has a schedule of when it changes. He says that it changes mostly at daytime, but he knows times at night. There will be one in a couple of days... Come on, sheriff, this is the best solution. He has been there. He has left friends there. They will keep him busy for a while. And I will warn him not to come back too soon... "
In spite of himself George knew that she was right. It probably was the only way, even if meant collaborating with Maggie's hatchetwoman.
"Well, sheriff, yes or no?"
George got up "I will try to talk to him again. Then I'll give you my answer."
"Why do you keep at it?" George asked Barnabas, pleadingly.
"Do what?"
"You know what I mean. The attacks o the girls in the shopping center. I got requests from the next town for information on the 1967, 1968,and 1970 attacks. They also got curious about Maggie's kidnapping. They may even try to pin that girl's murder on you."
"You know that I didn't kill her. And if there had been proper transportation, that would not have happened."
"I know. I understand what you are trying to do."
"So why shout at me? Get angry at the ones who stop the buses so early."
"I shouted at them. Look you area right. in what you are doing But not this way. For one thing, Sabrina Jennings is here, and"... he caught himself before he said he had been approached by her.. "you know what she is capable of. Than as long as they are hunting for you. they are not hunting for Donna's killer."
"I know."
"You don't care that he might go free?"
"I do care. But you know as well as me that the moment you put the handcuffs on him, everything will go back to the way it was, and the girls will go back to hitchhiking until the next creep comes along."
'"But what's wrong with the legal route? I am putting pressure myself? Why do you have to play Russian roulette?"
"I found out how long the legal route takes. Frank told me about it."
"And you don't care what happens to you?"
"I worry." Barnabas was thoughtful "and not only because of what anybody can do to me for it. It is hurting me inside too. But I have to do it."
"But why go on with this madness? To give Oriana a story?"
"This has nothing to do with her."
"Doesn't it? Apart from you ambitious journalist friend, who else can you find who supports you in this?"
Barnabas gulped "Dave does."
"Dave..? You mean?
"He's shown himself to me, several times... we talked. And, I don't know how to explain it, but I found out that I can talk to him. And he supports me in this."
"Of course, he does!"
"He's not out for revenge."
"No, he's not." George grumbled "I wish I could say it was. But it is just the kind of dumb stunt that'd appeal to him. There is nothing like a grandstand player advising another."
"You are wrong..."
"Let me tell you about him. He had this compulsion to tell a firing squad that he'd rather not be blindfolded. And you have inherited it,. Somehow I can't help falling in love with that kind of nut."
"What do you mean, falling in love?"
George sighed. It had come out. He might as well tell the rest of it.
"Dave was my lover. My first lover. You see, he was gay and so am I. And to top it, I fell in love with you."
Barnabas could not think of what to say.
"You never suspected. I would have never told you of it. I know that you... you don't swing both ways. And I am too proud to demand anything of you because you owe me a lover. All right, don't say anything. You don't have to. Just remember that I may be asked to hunt you down, if you don't stop." there were tears in his eyes. "as I never asked you to be my lover, don't you ask me to be your executioner."
Vicky was polishing the silver candlesticks the next morning.
"You don't have to do that. I cleaned them a week ago."
"I see who well you did it." she shrugged "Men!"
"You are not trying to get my job, I hope."
"No, I am not. But I figured that if I keep busy my imagination will leave me alone for a while."
"I know how it is" Phillip agreed. "I know what happened when my imagination got loose in the hospital and the result was that I nearly got shot by Roger."
"Yes. That's why I decided to do something around the place."
"You could go out with Oriana."
"No, I don't like her."
"Jealous?" Phillip sounded amused.
"No. But she's the one who's pushing him in this. And he's in danger because of it."
"I know" Phillip said grimly. He opened his coat to show he was wearing a gun "But they'll get him over my dead body."
"You win." George said to Sabrina "I will help you. But he will not be harmed in any way."
'He won't be."
"Well,, what do you want from me?"
"You could have Vicky, Oriana and Phillip picked up on any kind of charges, and put behind bars, so they don't interfere. Specially Phillip. I have seen him a couple of times, I am sure that he carries a gun."
"All right, I will handle it. With one condition."
"Which is?"
"I will come along with you to make sure you deliver Barnabas in one piece to Parallel Time."
"You don't trust me?"
"I know what you did to Kira."
"And aren't you afraid that I might do the same to you?"
"You are too smart to kill a cop."
