A/N:
Sorry about the delay… Here’s the deal, basically:
I’m 17 – a Junior in high school – which means that being online, writing, or doing anything else other than studying for AP’s, subject tests, finals, and SAT’s is considered a crime. Especially with my parents being as strict as they are…
That, and they also happened to read a little bit of “Ain’t Love Grand” (because I left it up on the computer) and completely freaked out. Ugh, I can still hear the screaming… “THIS IS COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE, YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING INSTEAD OF WRITING THIS TRASH”.
That lead to this major fight… mostly me telling them that they can’t completely dictate my life – which is a lie, since they totally can – and that I was going to do whatever makes me happy. That lead to me being kicked out of the house for a little bit, blah blah blah, drama drama drama, … yeah. And I don’t even understand why they’re making such a big deal of it… it’s not like I sneak out of the house and party all night long, every single night… I’m just WRITING. Which most parents would consider a good thing, right?
Gah, whatever. So I’ll update whenever I can… most likely it’ll be after AP’s… so that’ll be mid-May.
Now that I’m done ranting… here’s your chapter guys. Hope you like it.
Chapter 19 Bye-bye Baby
New York City
“I can’t believe you!” Buffy exclaimed the second they were out of earshot and were walking through the alleyway that was just starting to darken as the sun began to go to sleep. They walked out into the main streets and were greeted with glittering lights and the buzz of cars and people walking every which way – New York City’s nightlife at it’s dawn.
“Is that… a good ‘I can’t believe you’ or a bad one…” Gabriel looked at the short blonde at his side and smiled timidly. She flung her arms around him as an answer and simply shook her head.
“I just can’t believe you’d do something like that for me,” she leaned against him as his arm went around her shoulders. “I don’t even know how to begin to thank you.”
Gabriel smiled to himself, pleased. “Well,” he began, a little grin forming at his lips, “I can think of a few ways…”
Buffy widened her eyes and shoved him away, giggling. “Pervert.”
“Hey now,” he held his hands out, surrendering, “I was gonna go for ‘let me take you out on a date’. I’d say you were the pervert…”
“A date?” Buffy asked incredulously. Gabriel shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and shrugged.
“I mean, it doesn’t have to be a date if you don’t want it to be…” he gave her a sidelong glance and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay,” she nodded.
“Okay… you’ll – “
“Okay, I’ll go on a date with you.”
If the happy expression that lit up his face didn’t give him away, the giddy tilt of his steps surely did. Gabriel reached out to grab her hand as they made their way through the lit up sidewalks back to the college.
Flashback
England - 1996
The men were whispering outside the room, unaware of the two children crouched at the end of the hallway, listening to their every word.
“She believes she’s possessed,” one man said in a hushed tone while pulling out a white handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his brow.
“The Father refuses to perform an exorcism,” a bald man shook his head, glancing back in the room that was now as silent as death.
“Understandably so,” a third, elderly man said a little louder than the first two. “By God, he can’t just exorcise any crazy folk who claims there’s a demon in them! The church would surely look down upon malpractice as such!”
“Ah, but it’s all psychology, is it not?” the first man replied, “If she believes the demon has left her, she will be well again.”
“You cannot believe such folly as that,” the elderly man scoffed, shaking his head disdainfully. “A woman like her should be locked up, if you ask me.”
“Nonsense,” the bald man ejaculated and glared, “What about the children!”
“Foster homes,” was the reply, “We pay for them and for good reason, too. I also hear they have an uncle in God-knows-where.”
The door of the bedroom opened and the three men quieted down, turning simultaneously to look at the priest and the psychologist who had both walked out, looking grim. The priest rubbed his temple and walked down the hall to leave the small, dirty house. The psychologist lingered a while longer and nodded at the three men.
“Prolonged trauma,” he said plainly, putting on his black hat and straightening his coat. “It doesn’t seem too severe. She should get well in time.”
Then, he followed the Father out the door and the three men trailed after him.
William tightened his hold on his little sister as he waited for the last footsteps to disappear and for the door to close. Then, the yelling would surely resume and his mother would become the monster she claimed was inside of her.
Emma squeezed his index finger in her little fist and looked up at him.
“Mama better now?” she asked, wide-eyed and innocently. William shook his head, not knowing what to say. Emma’s hopeful expression darkened and she frowned.
“Don’t worry,” William stroked her hair and pecked her on the cheek. “I’ll take care of you.”
She brightened marginally, holding out a small pudgy hand towards him, “Pinky pwomise?”
William laughed and hooked his pinky in her small one. “Promise.”
And the screaming started up again.
End Flashback
Dr. Travers closed his eyes, remembering that day that could have changed the boy’s life. He knew that Spike didn’t realize and didn’t know if he would ever realize, but the doctor who had come out of the bedroom, the doctor who had cast his mother’s condition aside to something as simple as ‘trauma’, that doctor who deserved no credit at all, was him. And he remembered it all too clearly, going into the room with Father Nigel, seeing the wide eyes of the woman bound to the bed, hearing the hoarse voice ask for help, then turn to fury… but it was too long ago and he couldn’t change what was already done.
“I grew up faster than I should have,” Spike said, leaning back in the lounge chair on the balcony. They stared over the railing at the building across the street. The morning traffic was just starting to stir as the city slowly woke up to face a new day. The windows facing them reflected the morning sun as it began to rise.
Dr. Travers didn’t answer him. The cloud of guilt hovering over his head had descended upon his shoulders and his body slumped forward from the weight of it.
Spike sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his neck. “I loved my mom,” he said, “I really did. And I tried anything, but sometimes… I would just look into her eyes and be lost. So I tried to love Emma. Now I try not to think of her.”
“Does it work?” Travers asked, glancing over at the troubled man beside him. Spike made a sound that could have been a snort or a muffled cry and shook his head.
“Sometimes,” he said, reaching down into his pocket to pull out his lighter and pack of cigarettes. “Sometimes it’s numb and I can’t feel. Other times I dream about her. Then again, my dreams seem to be all bollixed up these days.” He scoffed and pulled a white cancer-stick out and put it between his lips and leaned forward to flick his lighter. “I see Buffy, I see Emma, sometimes they’re even the same person. And I dream of myself. When I was a boy.”
Flashback
England 1997
Her voice was thin and frail, but still, it was the first thing he heard as he opened the door to his flat when he came back from school. Sighing, he ignored his mother’s light singing as he tossed his schoolbag aside and made his way into the kitchen to fix a snack for himself and Emma.
“Emmy!” he called out, pulling two glass cups out from the cabinet and headed towards the sink to fill them up with water.
The singing stopped suddenly and was replaced by an eerie laughter. His hand froze over the faucet and his head turned towards the darkened hallway leading to the bedrooms. He strained his ear to try and listen for the tiny padding of footsteps that greeted him every single day. The laughing grew louder and the footsteps never came. And then the singing resumed.
“Baby sings a pretty song,
Heaven ain’t a ways too long,
Baby goes to God tonight,
Baby don’t put up a fight.”
Slowly, William set the two cups down and cautiously approached the narrow hall, dreading each and every step. As he drew closer, the singing grew louder, mingled in with a sickly giggle at the end of each stanza.
“Devil’s baby sings out loud,
Shush little babe, it’s not allowed,
Satan’s mama, vampire’s plague,
Breathing in a sickly sage.”
The floorboards creaked under his weight and his mother’s lilting voice paused for a moment and was followed by what seemed like a cackle. She whispered something unintelligible and started singing again. William saw a thin light coming from her door, which was cracked open. Through the small space, he could see her shadow rocking something and he took another step closer and held his hand out towards the knob.
“Lovely baby, Willy’s late,
He can’t save you from your fate,
Blood strewn all across the floor,
Limbs all tangled down the – “
The singing stopped immediately as he placed his hand on the wood of the door. William took a deep breath and shoved open the door.
A/N: …. cliffhanger…
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