DISCLAIMER: See Part 1

Forgotten Conscience
Two roads, one path
By Christopher Andrews

 

Chapter 86
The only one I can trust


Faith's POV


God she makes me so mad. I feel like I just wanna… SMASH something. This whole situation with B makes me wanna smash something.

I've gone back to pacing around my crust old motel room.

I can't sleep. I'm not sure I'd want to even if I could. No doubt the damn PTB have cooked up another dream for them to beam into my skull to make me change my mind about breaking up with B. I'm not gonna let them. They don't get a say in my love life. Hell they don't get a say in my life at all.

I do what I want, when I want and I really could care less what they think I should do. And as if it wasn't bad enough having the PTB on my back I gotta worry about the spell too. I gotta worry that the spell is gonna make me hurt Buffy because of my feelings for her. This is all her fault. It's all…

There's a knock at the door.

What the hell is going on? Why do people keep coming to me? It can't be the manager I'm paid up for the week. The nest egg the mayor set up for me will keep me paid up for… well, as long as I want.

There's another knock at the door.

I guess I can't just let whoever it is stand out there, fun as it might sound. It better not be who I think it is.

I walk over to the door and open it.

Damn it.

"What do you want B?"

It's exactly who I didn't want it to be.

"Faith I…"

She looks at me with a mix of pain and desire. I roll my eyes at her and walk back into my motel room in a huff.

"Did you want something B? Other than the obvious."

There's a moment of silence.

"Faith can… can I come in?"

My back to the door I look at her from the corner of my eye. She looks like she could cry if I don't invite her in.

"Please?"

Not that she needs an invite.

I take a deep breath.

"I guess."

She tries to hide her smile as she steps inside hesitantly.

"So… how are you?"

Oh good, small talk.

I turn around and face her.

"Angry."

She lowers her eyes.

"Right, and who could blame you?'

I look at her with a raised eyebrow and a half frown.

"You did."

She breaths in sharply.

"And again I say right, without the blame question cause, well… god knows that could get repetitive. Faith I know I'm not your most favourite person in the world right now."

"You're not wrong about that."

"And I don't blame you for being angry with me, after what I've done. And I wouldn't blame you if you decided to hate me for the rest of your life. I don't deserve your forgiveness, after what I've done to you, and I would never ask you…"

"Were you gonna get to a point some time soon? Because I was kinda busy with the not caring."

She takes a few steps forward but my steely glare makes her stop. She looks at me with tentative hope.

"I need your help."

I just gotta chuckle.

"Is that so? Well too bad for you because I'm not in the helping mood."

"Okay I… I totally get that I have no right to ask for your help but there's no one else I can turn to, no one else I can trust. Even if you can't forgive me, you helping me would at least make us… even."

"Even?"

She runs a hand through her hair and looks at me. I shift my weight to my back foot and cross my arms over my chest.

"When you needed um, help… I was there for you. At the very least if you help me we'll be… even."

She is right. She was there when I needed her, no matter how things ended up between us she was there. And I can't have something like that hanging between us.

"This doesn't change anything, between us I mean."

"I know "

She lowers her eyes again.

"I'm still mad at you."

"I get it."

We fall into silence again for a few seconds.

"So… what kinda arsenal you putting together for this little shindig?"

"We ARE the arsenal."

"What?"

"Well um, whatever's going down with Adam it's going down tonight and…? I didn't really have time to gather the troops."

"So the Scoobies aren't coming?"

It takes her a second to answer.

Is something up with B and her Scoobies? Bah, what do I care?

"Okay so, no Scoobies."

"Yeah they could get hurt."

"Okay so, it's just you and me handing out a good old fashion slayer ass kicking. What about weapons?"

"Well I… I have a couple of stakes on me cause I was gonna go patrolling later but I guess that's out."

"Yeah I guess you've got bigger things to deal with."

"You could say that."

She takes a deep breath.

"Um, I do have something else that might help us."

"What's that?"

She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a… a knife… my knife.

I… that could help her I guess.

"That could be a real help to you. Cut the big guy open and stuff."

She closes the gap between us.

"Not me…"

I look her in the eyes as she puts her hands out to hand it to me, her steady confident eyes staring back at me.

"You."

Me? Is she serious?

I look down at my knife in her hands, the blade gleaming at me from the bad lighting overhead. I look her in the eyes again, the same look staring back.

"Are… are you sure?"

She holds it up a little higher.

"I'm sure."

I see the look in her eyes.

She means it, she really does.

I take the knife from her and hold it tightly.

"You're not worried I might…"

I twitch at her with a stabbing motion and she doesn't flinch in the slightest.

"… use it on you instead?"

She takes my hand with the knife in hers and guides it between us, blade upward. She puts it against her chest.

"I trust you."

She… she really means it. When did this happen? What could've happened that… forget it, we have more important things to worry about.

I take a step back and she lets go of my hand, giving me the knife.

"I think I have an axe somewhere here. You can use it if you want."

"Thanks."

I turn and go to the closet for the axe.

"We could use all the help we can get."

Don't I know it?

I pick up the long handled axe and turn back to her. She's pulling her hair back into a ponytail with elastic revealing her beautiful neck.

Okay, back to the world in danger.

"Here."

I toss her the axe and she catches it no problem.

"Thanks."

She looks it over.

"Pretty wicked axe."

"Yeah I know. You ready?"

"Yup."

"Let's go."

We head out the door and lock it behind us.

Chapter 87
Kane and Able


Buffy's POV


I kick the front door of Lowell House in.

"Think the government will pay to have the door replaced?"

I look at Faith standing next to me.

"Oddly? Not my biggest worry right now."

I smile at her and for a second she smiles back before she catches herself.

"Right, okay world in danger…"

She walks into the frat house/evil government Frankenstein lab and I follow her in.

"… big Frankenstein type monster looking to slaughter a bunch of people."

"Right, gotta focus. The Initiative elevator is right over here."

We head towards it.

"Yeah I know B, I do actually remember."

Oh gee that was insensitive of me.

"Oh right… I'm sorry I, I didn't mean to say that…"

She stops a few feet from the elevator/mirror.

"Look, B… can we just get through this without you apologizing every two seconds? I get that you're sorry but that doesn't change what happened."

"I know I'm…"

"Let's just do this I'd like us to be even."

Even?

"Is, is that all that… that night was to you? Just some favour to be repaid?"

"God B, are we really gonna do this now?"

"Cause it was more than that for me. It was incredible and beautiful and the rest of the world went away for me."

"Did it now?"

"Faith I… I tasted you."

"Yeah you did. But lots of people have tasted me, more than I can remember. And you know, just for the record? You're not the first girl to taste the power between my thighs either so just step off your high horse for a second and see what's really going on between us."

"But I…"

"We're ex, remember? And by the way, you were the one who brought up the whole paying back a favour thing so I don't see why you get to throw that back in my face. If anything I should be the one throwing it in your face. Besides which, this favour you got me doing? Kind of a big one, I'm thinking maybe… the scales will be tipped in my favour when all this is said and done."

"Okay… if-if that's what you want."

At this point I'll take any chance I can to spend time with her.

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?"

"What?"

"You'd love an excuse for me to come crawling to you asking for help just so you can spend time with me."

Did I say that or just think it?

"Faith I…"

"Look are we done here with this whole heart to heart thing? Cause for some reason I've got this weird urge to save the world and I kinda wanna get to it."

She takes a few steps but I grab her arm to stop her. She looks at my hand on her arm and then up at me.

"We gonna throw down here B?"

"No I… I don't know how many more times I can apologize for what I did."

"How about none? I told you I get that you're sorry and I'm tired of hearing about it. We've got innocent lives to save. It's so sad that I'm actually happy about that."

She starts to the Initiative front door again and I grab her by her shoulders, making her face me.

"Just… Faith just tell me that maybe… just maybe one day we could…"

She brushes my hands off her shoulders.

"We have work to do, are we gonna get to it?"

We have no chance. Oh god we have no chance.

"Okay we… we should go save the world."

We walk over and stand in front of the mirror. I lift my leg to kick it down.

"Wait."

I stop in mid-kick and look at her.

She's checking herself in the mirror.

"What?"

She leans forward, checking her bra to make sure everything fits properly.

"Gotta make sure all the goods are in the right places. Don't want anything getting bruised or broken you know?"

I put my leg down as she pulls her pants up, making it cling to her incredible ass. She uses her hands to puff up her hair a bit.

God she looks incredible.

"Your goods look pretty good to me."

Did I really just say that?

She fake coughs and straightens up.

"Okay let's go."

"You're ready?"

"Did I just say let's go?"

"All right."

I lift my leg again and sidekick the mirror, shattering it completely.

"That's a waste of a good mirror."

I smile at her and she brushes me off.

I guess it wasn't as funny a joke as I thought it was.

"I bet the party's already started. Spike told me Adam's got nothing left to lose."

She saw Spike?

"Spike told you?"

I don't know whether to be worried or not.

"Yeah… oh don't worry I threw him out on his ass quicker than he can say apocalypse."

She goes to pry the elevator doors open and I decide to help her. The doors start to open.

"I wasn't about to save the world on the advice of some Billy Idol wanna be."

"Sounds like a good idea."

The doors come open enough that we can get in.

"Actually I wasn't planning on saving the world at all, not until you came by that is."

"Yeah I…"

She doesn't want me to apologize.

"Look I know you asked me not to apologize for stuff but… I'm sorry I didn't leave you alone. I wanted to, I really wanted to but, well, world in peril and you were the only person with enough power to help me."

"So I was your last resort? I'm not sure whether to feel proud or just disgusted."

"Like I said, I'm really sorry."

"Yeah well, life goes on you know?"

She looks down into the elevator shaft and smiles.

"Looks pretty steep, you ready to take the plunge?"

"Sure, why not? But don't worry I'm pretty sure the party hasn't started yet."

"What makes you say that?"

"He wants us there for the death count."

"Sounds like a trap."

"Yeah it probably is."

"Well only one way to find out."

She steps off the edge of the elevator doorway and drops the probable 20 feet to the top of the elevator car.

All right fine, I better go after her.

I jump off the edge.

Chapter 88
The Initiative


Faith's POV


I hit the roof of the elevator and my slayer shock absorbers absorb the shock of the probable 20 foot drop.

Well that was fun.

After a second something drops beside me. I look over.

Oh, right… HER.

"Are you okay?"

I wish she'd stop asking stupid questions.

"I'm fine… you?"

"I'm good, one of the benefits of having slayer shock absorbers."

I watch her ass jiggle as she slaps it, indicating her absorbers. I roll my eyes at her. I look down and unhook the latch on the currently underfoot overhead escape hatch, opening it. I motion for her to go first.

"Ladies first."

She comes over and stands over the hatch.

"Oh that's right, you're not a lady… but you're one hell of a hot woman."

She smiles at me before jumping into the elevator.

God that's even worse than the mirror joke.

I jump in after her. I hit the elevator floor and Buffy's already working on the door. She doesn't need help as the doors come open.

"Okay let's…"

The elevator comes open and all we hear is guns cocking.

"… go."

Outside the elevator there are six soldiers with their guns pointed at each of us.

Oh good, this looks like fun.

"The slayer… what are you doing here?"

"Looks like the party's already started eh B?"

"Maybe so."

"Party? What party?"

Buffy explains.

"The big massacre party Adam has planned for you and your boys."

"A massacre? Have you gone insane? We've had every possible entrance under constant surveillance since Adam woke up. There's no way he could get in without us knowing much less commit a massacre."

Are these people morons?

"You really think one little guard is gonna stop an evil killing machine?"

"All right I've heard enough these two are under arrest for breaking into a secret government building, and the murder of Agent Riley Finn. Let's go."

The toy soldiers cock their guns again.

I bet it's not the only thing they cock themselves.

I look over at B and she rolls her eyes at me. I let out a deep sigh before I step out of the elevator and surrender to the army brats.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

One of the action figures pokes me with his big stick, urging me to walk faster.

These boys are really starting to annoy me. Boys didn't used to annoy me, even the insane ones. Maybe it's this whole new orientation thing that's making these guys seem a little less than interesting. Bah, whatever.

The Colonel tries to assert his manly dominance over his prisoners as we walk by a big pit with demons strapped to gurneys and scientists doing experiments on them at the bottom.

"Take the slayer and her bitch to a holding cell."

Her bitch?

"There are no more…"

Okay that's it.

I spin around, grabbing the gun of the guy behind me and use the handle to hit him in the forehead, knocking him out. I point the gun at the Colonel's head.

"Her BITCH? YOU BASTARD! I am NOT her BITCH!"

I aim the gun and put my finger on the trigger. Four of the five guns are pointed at me, the last one still pointed at B.

"Faith calm down."

"Calm down? Did you hear what he called me? He called me your BITCH."

"I know."

"I'm NOT your BITCH."

"No, no you're not. You're far from it, but now is not the time."

"I'm not gonna let this Colonel Clink reject talk to me like that."

Fucking bastard.

"Faith this isn't the time."

Not the time?

"Why not?"

All of the sudden the lights go out and the emergency lights come on. The alarm sounds and I look at B.

"Because we've got bigger things to worry about right now."

I look around at the flashing orange lights spinning against the poorly lit blue over head lights.

She's right.

I lower the gun and take my finger off the trigger.

"Adam must know we're here."

"That'd be my bet."

"I told you people, Adam is NOT here."

B and I look around the room and we both have the same thought.

"Your security system begs to differ."

All seven guys look at us like we're insane. We look at each other and shrug. I speak first.

"It's a slayer thing. We're both slayers by the way."

One of the toy soldiers breaks in.

"Sir, what do we do?"

"Well I…"

He doesn't finish as one of the scientists bursts through a door on the other end of the room.

"They've escaped, dear god they've escaped!"

The Colonel yells at him as he approaches.

"Who? Who's escaped?"

A demon bursts through the door, chasing the panicked scientist.

"The…"

The demon catches up and tackles the scientist and sinks its teeth and claws into him. It almost looks like a werewolf with all the fur covering it, except there's no full moon tonight, or this morning I should say since it's almost dawn. The situation finally clicks in for the Colonel as the demon finishes off the scientist about 10 feet from us and starts looking for its next victim.

"The H.S.T.s… they've escaped."

You think?

One of the action figures with brains speaks up.

"How many do you suppose sir?"

I guess having brains was going too far.

"If I had to guess, probably all of them, but maybe that's just me."

Three more demons burst through the door and they are joined by a couple more demons from some other part of the Initiative.

"It's not just you Faith."

She smiles at me and I check my gun.

"We have to take the armoury before it's too late."

If I were him? I'd know it's already too late, but that's just me.

"But sir, what about… them?"

The Colonel looks at me and B.

"Leave them, with any luck the H.S.T.s will take them out for us. Move out."

Not likely.

I look down at the gun in my hands.

What do I need this for?

"Hey kid."

The guy I knocked out starts to get up and tries to shake it off. I lob the gun to him and he catches it.

"You'll need this more than I will."

He turns and follows his troop toward what I'm assuming is the armoury, fighting demons along the way. Screams start to come from the pit as the demons in there start to break free of their restraints.

"Rude much? HEY! Where's my thank you?"

I turn to B.

"See, this is why I hate helping people, they're never grateful."

"Yeah, I know."

I look around at the growing number of demons and soldiers in the room.

"Hmm, quite a little massacre Adams' got going eh?"

"Yeah pretty good plan, he doesn't have to do any of the massacring himself."

"Well, what do you want to do now? Take the demons down one by one till there aren't any left? Cause I could use the big fight about now."

"Nah, we'd never make it. I have a feeling this place is gonna be swarming with demons in a matter of minutes. I say we go for the head. We go for the master in this master plan."

"Adam."

"Any idea where to start looking?"

"Well, he was created in room 314. I figured we'd start there."

"Sounds like as good an idea as any."

"It's over this way, let's go."

I follow her to that room 314.

Chapter 89
The Power of Love


Faith's POV


I kick the door to 314 down with very little effort. Buffy goes in first axe raised and I follow moments later pulling my knife out of my belt ready to attack. The room's empty. We look at each other.

"I guess he's not here."

We both let our guards down.

"I guess not. Well, there goes my plan."

Maybe he's somewhere else, like command central wherever that is.

"Any idea where we should look now?"

"I was kinda hoping that this would be the last place we look but…"

The door behind us slams shut and locks automatically.

"Well this can't be good."

"I'm gonna have to agree with you there B."

"Lock in a room, with no way out… this almost looks like a trap."

All of the sudden, a secret door opens out of the wall at the other end of the room.

Obvious much?

"Okay this is officially a trap."

Yeah I'd say so.

"You ready to take the bait?"

"It's not like we have a choice."

"True."

We head toward the secret door but just before going through B stops me.

"Faith?"

Aw geez.

"Yeah?"

"Look I know that we're, you know, not on the best of terms right now but… well one of us might not come back from this and… just in case it's me I… I want you to know that I, I love you."

Oh she just HAD to say that, didn't she?

"Can we go yet?"

She gets a little teary eyed.

"Sure…"

We start walking through the door and down the mysterious hallway.

"Okay, Graham told me the only way to stop Adam is to remove the power source in his chest."

"So what do we do? Ask him to lie down while I cut into him with my big knife?"

"Do you think that it would work?"

I laugh at her.

"Probably not."

She smiles at me sheepishly.

What am I doing? Focus on the end of the world.

"We should probably have a plan B just in case."

"Well I was thinking about that and I figured… Adam is probably expecting me but, he's not expecting you. He may not even know about you, and if he does know about you he's never fought you. He doesn't know your fighting style. I figure if you attack him head on he'll be caught off guard and I'll use the distraction to bury my axe in his chest or something. Once we open him up it's only a matter of time before we take him apart."

"Or he kills us."

"Either way."

We see the end of the hall 10 feet away.

"You ready for this B?"

She takes a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Okay."

We walk into the secret room at the end of the secret hallway behind the secret 314 room in the secret government base.

There sure are a lot of secrets in this place that could be why no one who works here has a clue about anything.

Anyway, we walk in and there's a huge guy who looks like a bad 3-D jigsaw puzzle standing over a monitor.

"You must be Adam."

He turns around making big thumping noises with his feet as he does.

Boy I bet this guy has a hard time sneaking up on people, then again why would he?

B starts moving around the room, trying to surround him. Adam looks at me with a lack of emotion.

"And you must be the infamous Faith."

Infamous? I'm infamous? Cool.

"Infamous? B did you hear that? I'm infamous."

"Yeah I heard."

She's a little nervous. Who wouldn't be? Well me actually.

"I suppose it's better than being a botched science experiment like you."

"What happened to you Faith?"

Happened?

"Uh, not to point out the obvious but, we haven't known each other long enough to talk about my past."

"I was told you were once a pretty evil killer. What happened?"

Happened?

I look over at B, who's almost behind Adam.

She happened.

I look back at Adam.

"Stuff."

"Come over to my side, you can do all the killing you want."

Ooh what an offer.

"Well gee, let me think about that."

I put my index finger to my cheek as if I'm thinking about the offer.

"Um okay."

Buffy almost panics.

"How about I start with you?"

I rush at him at full speed and B joins me. Buffy was closer so she strikes first, swinging her axe. He blocks it with the metal on his left arm. He uses the same arm to knock her across the room.

Bastard!

I hit him in the metal side of his face, denting it slightly.

Well that was hard.

"Wow, I thought you were though."

He backhands me in the face, sending me crashing into the wall.

Ow! Damn it that hurts.

"Tougher than you."

I shake off the pain and stand up.

"Wanna bet?"

I smile at B's words as she comes at him from behind and buries her axe into the demon half of his back. He stumbles a bit at the force of the blow, leaning forward slightly but staying on his feet.

"Ow!"

Ow?

"That's it? You've got an axe in your back dude. What the hell is this thing made of B?"

"Why don't we ask him?"

Adam turns around pulling the axe out of his back as he faces Buffy and throws it aside. He punches her in the face, knocking her down.

"Better things than two apparently."

He hurt her, I'm gonna kill him for that.

I run at him, hitting him with a drop kick but it doesn't faze him. He spins around, knocking me back a few feet. I'm about to strike back when I notice B, sporting what looks like it might become one hell of a shiner, getting to her knees and hits him with an uppercut to his nether regions. Again he's not fazed.

"Damn, I guess he's got no stones."

She backs up out of reach of Adam. I come at him but the pain is too much. I can only watch as Buffy tries to take him on herself. She punches him in the face and he barely feels it.

"Faith, are you okay?"

I manage to get to my feet.

"Peachy."

While she's worrying about me, Adam punches her in the face again. She kicks him in the side and again he stumbles but doesn't feel any real pain.

We need a new plan.

He hits her in the stomach making her double over.

Maybe one involving a little less pain.

He hits her again in the face and she drops to her knees.

He's hurting her, I have to help her. I have to stop him.

She gets up and kicks him in the stomach. He barely flinches.

Why aren't I helping her?

I feel my blood start to boil, a feeling I haven't felt since…

No I, I can't do this. Not now. I have to help her, I can't hurt her.

He grabs her by the throat and lifts her off her feet. She starts to choke.

"Faith, help..."

I have to…

Something snaps inside me and I charge at him, faster than I ever have. My forearm comes down, hitting him on the underside of his elbow and I swear I hear something snap as he lets go of B and she falls to the floor.

Is she?

I hear her cough, getting her breath back.

She's still alive, thank god. I must've broken his arm, I can use that.

I grab him by the wrist and twist it and he grimaces in pain.

He tried to hurt her.

"You tried to…"

He tries to back up but I twist his arm and he stops.

He tried to hurt her.

I catch his fist in mine as he tries to punch me, crushing it. I hear the bones in his hand crack and it brings him to his knees. He looks up at me.

"H-How?"

"YOU TRIED TO HURT HER!"

I let go of Adam's wrist and I use my free hand to punch him in the chest and it goes right through him. I grab his power core and rip it out of him. His broken hand loosens in my grip and he collapses dead on the floor. I look down at the glowing power core in my hand.

I, I did it. I stopped him I… How did I do it? I thought the spell was supposed to make em hurt Buffy but… I don't understand I…

"Faith… how did you…?"

I look down at Buffy, holding herself up by her arms weakly.

"I don't know I…"

She coughs and collapses on the floor unconscious. I throw the power core aside and kneel down next to B.

"Buffy?"

I roll her over on her back and she has her eyes closed.

She's not moving.

"BUFFY?"

I gently tap her on the cheek, trying to wake her up.

"Buffy speak to me."

I check her neck.

It's not broken, she's all right.

I press two fingers against her pulse point.

She's still got a pulse, but its weak and getting weaker. She must be hurt somewhere else.

I check her breathing.

She's still breathing but if her pulse gets any weaker she might not be for long.

I start checking her ribs for broken bones. I count two maybe three broken ribs and possibly internal bleeding.

"God Buffy, what did he do to you?"

I run my hand over her face the bruises on it are starting to turn purple.

"Buffy please speak to me."

I check her arms and legs.

They aren't broken but her right leg feels like it might be fractured. I have to get her to a hospital.

I hear noises coming from down the secret hallway, probably demonic.

The initiative is probably swarming with demons by now and those soldiers are probably fighting for their lives with no way out. And I don't care.

I pick her up my left arm under her neck, my right arm under her knees. I hold her close to me as I stand up.

I have to get her to a hospital and I don't care what it takes.

A demon comes barrelling down the secret hallway at us. I shield B from the oncoming evil and use a high kick to kick it in the head, kicking it clear off. I look down at Buffy in my arms.

I don't have time to kill every demon in this place I have to get her out of here.

I hold her tight and take off at half speed down the hall.

I can't go at full speed or I might hurt her.

I reach the end of the hall and the door to 314 is wide open from when the demon broke in.

I have to get her out.

I run through the door to 314 and look around.

I was right, the place is swarming with demons and the soldier boys are trying to stop them. They can do whatever they want all I care about is getting her out so she can be safe.

I look toward the elevator we came down.

We can't go back the way we came. I'd never be able to climb all the way up and carry her with me. And I am NOT leaving her here. If she stays I'm staying. I'll die with her if I have to.

One of the soldiers runs by us and I bring him to his knees with my feet.

"YOU! Tell me how to get out of here."

"What?"

I kick him in the head, knocking him on my back. I put my foot against his throat and press down, enough to hurt but not enough to keep him from talking.

"I need a way out."

I readjust B in my arms.

"WE need a way out, and we need one that doesn't go straight up."

A demon comes at me and I step off the soldier's neck long enough to kick the demon in the stomach, sending it 20 feet across the room and stepping on his neck again.

"A way out… NOW!"

He points to the elevator.

"There."

I step on his neck a little harder.

"That's the elevator. I said I wanted one that doesn't go straight up."

"N-Next to it… there's a… a stairwell but the door's locked and it's solid. We can't get through it."

I take my foot off his throat and shift Buffy in my arms before heading towards the door.

"Not a problem for me."

I'll break it down if I have to use all my strength to do it.

A few demons come at me as I head to the door and I kick them away, never letting them get too close to Buffy.

I can't let them hurt her, she's too important to me.

I reach the door, surrounded by bodies, some demon some human. I kick the door and it barely vibrates.

I have to get out.

I kick the door again and I hear it crack.

I have to save her… I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her.

I kick it again near the doorknob and it comes open. I burst through the door and fly up the stairs as fast as I can without hurting her.

I have to get her to a hospital before…

I make it to the top of the 3 flights of stairs and burst through the door and I'm back upstairs in the frat house.

"Buffy?"

She hasn't moved, voluntarily or otherwise so I check her breathing and her pulse. It's weaker but she's still alive.

I run out the door, Buffy in my arms, looking for a hospital.

Chapter 90
Remorse


Faith's POV


What am I gonna do?

She's lying in that hospital bed in the room they put her in for her to recover.

What am I gonna do if she doesn't wake up? They made me wait out here, in the chair outside her room. If they hadn't insisted I stay out then I'd be in there now, sitting by her bed waiting for her to wake up. I don't know what I'm gonna do if she…

My head drops into my hands and I feel like I'm gonna cry.

No, I can't think like that. She WILL wake up. She WILL get better… and I'm gonna be there when she does. She has to be okay, she just has to be. No matter what else might be going on between us, I don't want her to be hurt I don't want her to…

God I don't even want to think it. She's the woman I… I care about her too much to want her to… She obviously trusts me now she wouldn't have given me my old knife back if she didn't. But I can't forget what she did, no matter how much I might want to. When she gets better I'll have to leave. Leave before we get to the talking thing and the forgiveness thing which of course leads to the making up, and you know the making out.

Which sounds all well and good but that's not what we need. I told B that whatever went down wouldn't change anything between us and I meant it. We still have to deal with what happened, no matter how beat up she is. I'll be here for her until she wakes up and then I'll bail. It's what I'm good at.

I look up at the door to Buffy's recovery room and my eyes get watery.

Things are really screwed up aren't they? What if I never get a chance to tell her how I really…

"Sir… sir…"

My slayer hearing perks up unexpectedly.

"What was so important?"

Those voices… I know them from somewhere.

"They're here."

"They?"

The vampires…the ones who murdered Riley.

"The two of them."

I wipe the tears from my eyes.

"You're not giving me enough info Dave. Who's here?"

What are they doing here?

I look down the hall they're about 30 feet away.

"The slayers, they are both here."

"What? How?"

"They went to fight Adam."

"And?"

"He's dead."

"Damn it."

"But all is not lost. Apparently one of them took a real beating she's lying in a hospital room down the hall. We stopped the internal bleeding for the moment, but if you need her to she could have… complications."

Evil doctors, the doctors here are evil. What are they gonna do to her?

"What are you waiting for? Why haven't you done it already?"

"We were waiting for you John."

I stand up and look at the door to Buffy's room.

They're going to hurt her, I have to do something.

"Let's go."

They're coming to kill her I have to get her out of here while I still can. She's still hurt and I can't fight off the entire hospital staff and keep her safe.

I burst into Buffy's room.

She's still alive the heart monitor's beeping away.

I rush to her side and check her over.

Her ribs are still broken, I think, and her leg is still hurt but I'm pretty sure they weren't lying about stopping the internal bleeding. We have to get out of here. The window, I can get her out of here through the window.

I run over to the window and try to punch through it, it doesn't shatter.

Damn it, where's that incredible strength I had when I killed Adam?

I punch it again and it only wobbles.

Crap, it must be some kind of Plexiglas or something.

I look at Buffy, lying in the hospital bed.

I'll get you out of here I promise. I need something to help me break the window.

I pick up the chair next to her bed by the backrest. I try and smash the window with it but it doesn't break.

I have to get her some place safe.

I hit it again and it starts to crack.

I thought she'd be safe here.

I hit it again harder.

I was wrong.

I hit it harder and it cracks more.

It's my fault.

I hit it again.

It's my fault that she's in danger and now I have to save her from it.

I hit it one more time and it shatters. I throw the chair aside and rush to Buffy's side.

"Buffy?"

She doesn't move.

"I'm gonna get you somewhere safe, I promise."

I take all the monitors off her. I pick her up and rush her to the window as someone comes through the door. I jump up on the main floor window sill look back at the vampires at the door.

"Get her!"

Not gonna happen.

I jump out the window clutching Buffy to me, protecting her.

I'll take her to Giles. He can help her, I can trust him.


Spike's POV


"Willy! Give me another one."

"Sure thing sport."

He comes over with the blood and vodka, pouring me another.

"I told you not to call me sport."

"My bad Spike, but then again… what are you gonna do if I keep doin it? Bite me?"

I grab him by the collar and pull him to me till we're face to game face.

"No… but I still know a few demons in this town who, if I beat them up enough, won't mind tearing you apart."

"Exnay on the port snay."

I let go and he straightens up.

"So… Adam's on the dung heap is he?"

"That's the word from the big and nasty."

"Bollocks, I guess that means I don't have to keep saving for that chipectomy I was hoping for."

"I guess not… I guess you're not gonna be going all big and bad any time soon."

I glare at him evil like.

"No, suppose not."

I down the drink in one shot.

"Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Gimme another."

He pours another one and then gets called away by a demon.

"Hey…"

He stops.

"Leave the bottles."

He sets the bottles down and goes to serve the other demon."

I start pouring myself a new drink.

So, what do I do now? Adam's dead. I've lost my chance to go frolicking through the park, have myself a happy little massacre. Lost my chance to dance on the slayer's grave after I suck the marrow from her bones and drain her of every last blood cell.

Ah well, life's a bitch and her name is BUFFY. So… what do I do now? Do I go to John and see if I can get in on all the death and destruction of the coming Omega apocalypse?

I take another drink and start pouring a new one.

Omega apocalypse? Isn't that a little redundant? I mean omega stands for the end and an apocalypse is all about bringing everything to an end so… yeah I guess it is a little redundant.

I down another drink.

Bah, John bugs the hell out of me. I don't know how I sired such a ponce. Following that idiot Omega, doing all his dirty work… screwing with the slayers and all that like some kind of, well… ponce.

I must admit though screwing with the slayers is rather enjoyable. Though I bet screwing the slayers is a lot more fun, at least according to Angelus. I'd love a go with that Faith chick, she looks like she's good for a tumble. But she would never give me the time of day, not that I'd want one with the attitude on her.

She'd probably just do me to find out what Buffy felt when she boned Angel. Slayers these days do seem to have a thing for making it with vampires. But then Faith would probably just stake me afterwards. She seems just that impulsive. Wouldn't want me bragging to all my friends, and I would brag. Banging a slayer isn't something that happens every day.

No I'm guessing I'd have a better chance with Buffy, and she hates my guts.

I take another drink and pour a new one, downing it quickly.

But then she did give me that kiss I'm trying SO hard to forget. Faith was kinda put off by the whole thing though. I can't quite figure out what's between those two birds. I should go find out. At least with them I get to kill things… some of the time. But then I'd have to leave these wonderful drinks of mine.

I pour myself another.

Part 91

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