Retrograde 17 - R - Spuffy
Title: Retrograde Chapter 17
Author: guardian_erin
Rating: R overall
Warnings: strong language, adult themes, and mature concepts overall
Pairing: Galen(Spike)/Buffy
Summary: With Galen sick and the clock ticking, Eamon does what he can to protect his friend.
Previous Chapters (1-15)
Chapter 16
Blood trickled through gritty metal grates, and dripped through into an endless pipe where only darkness and demons lived. From within the darkest depths, the unmistakable sound of swarming insects rose to deafening levels.
A quick tempo separated from the din, which then slowed and deepened to a steady pulse. The quiet drumming made the other sounds fade away, and sent ripples over dark waters.
Blackness swept in with consciousness and Galen opened his eyes to semi-darkness when the world shifted underneath his head.
"Lay back down," Rachel murmured, disappointed when he pulled away from her overly warm body instead, leaning his fevered head against cooler fabric.
~~
It was difficult to even keep his head up now to listen to the woman blather on. Angel had promised himself not to slay clients - especially the purportedly not evil, human ones - but it was damn tempting just to get rid of the screaming in his brain.
"-got to be some sort of little she-devil. My husband, Marshall, used to be so attentive and sweet. Now he seems to make any excuse to get away from me and the only time he's even home he'll barely get his lazy hide off of the couch. I have half a mind to-"
"Excuse me," Angel cut into the unending stream of words, beginning to understand why her husband apparently avoided her. "Is there something I'm supposed to help you with?"
She looked deeply offended - he still wasn't sure of her name, or had forgotten it - and then puffed herself up. "I want you to track my husband and see if he's actually at work or at that she-devil's house. I'm sure that he is, and if that's his idea of 'overtime,' then he's-"
"Sorry," Angel said curtly, pushing the materials she'd laid on his desk towards her in a gesture of turning her away. "We aren't that kind of detective agency."
Her hand went to her chest, surprised. "You won't take my money?"
"No."
"Well what sort of cases are you looking for, then?" she demanded, pulling the papers away slowly and tediously stuffing them into her purse, as if to draw out the process in hopes that he would change his mind. "Missing persons?"
"Among other things," Angel replied.
"Well, that's awfully noble of you, but I don't see how you'll ever make a profit if you treat your customers this way. Really, you shouldn't turn away legitimate business offers."
"We just have our priorities in order," Angel answered.
"Well, then," she said, standing up and slinging her purse over her shoulder. "Well, then. I know my way out."
Angel stood up as she opened his office door and watched her march out of the lobby, casting a final sneer at Cordelia, who only twitched an eyebrow in disapproval.
"What was that about?" Cordelia questioned after the woman left and Angel exited his office.
"I turned away her case," Angel replied, feeling only slightly guilty about it.
"What? An actual case? Like the kind that pays us money?"
"We're a detective agency, not a marriage counseling service," Angel said. "And we have bigger things to take care of right now, other than juggling around trivial cases."
"I'd say," Lorne agreed. "Because your boy being here - a vampire mystically returning from the dead - that's gonna bring some sort of troubles in the form of I-don't-what."
"If undead human means vampire, does undead vampire mean human?" Dawn queried thoughtfully.
The front door swung open, and Buffy entered in a small whirlwind of motion, stripping off as much of her uniform as possible. "Guess who I ran into today?"
"You never get tired of guessing games, do you?" Cordelia sighed.
"Your boyfriend?" Dawn guessed.
"His doctor."
~~
"You've been sleeping for hours," Eamon said, patting Galen's face vigorously to make the other man more alert. "You need to look alive, or we might not get out of here. Don't you want to see your pretty girlfriend?"
"Blind."
"Well… shut up," Eamon frowned. "No need to get all shirty about it. She's head over heels for you. Can't deprive the lady of your presence."
"When did you find time to get a girlfriend?"
Galen jumped at Rachel's voice. "Satan!"
"This is the men's room," Eamon said disapprovingly, staring at Rachel who was leaning into the doorway.
"Excuse me? This is the only bathroom," Rachel said, pushing the doorway open further to lean inside more. "What are you two doing in here? …With each other? And more importantly, why haven't I been invited?"
"You would never be invited," Eamon informed her. "Go away."
"No," Rachel pushed the door open further and slipped inside. The door clicked shut behind her with a sense of entrapment to it. "You stole Galen out of my lap to play the groping game in the bathroom and I really need to pee. Now why do you have a girlfriend? Actually, what I mean is, how?"
"Don't tell her anything," Eamon advised Galen.
"She isn't my girlfriend," Galen fussed.
"You've been seeing other girls?" Rachel asked. "Is she pretty at least?"
"She's a real woman, if that's what you mean," Eamon retorted.
The idea that Eamon knew what Buffy looked like made Galen heatedly jealous for a minute, but when he remembered that Eamon didn't know her true sides, it made him feel better.
Rachel was watching Galen carefully, and was a bit appalled by what she saw. "You want her."
"What? I don't want anyone."
"That's bull. Look, I could understand if you were gay for Eamon, but if you actually fall in love with another woman, I'd have to be upset," Rachel told him. "What does she have that I don't have?"
"Self-respect."
Rachel froze for a second, considering. "Alright, that is a problem, admittedly. Fair enough. Is she a good kisser?"
"I'm… I'm not discussing this with you."
"You haven't even kissed her? Jesus, she could kiss like a drunken elephant for all you know."
Galen's lips quirked in withheld laughter. "Like you?"
"Shut up. You really should kiss her," Rachel encouraged. "Since you think Eamon is such hot stuff, you'll have something to compare her against. If she's better than him, then you're in the clear, but if she isn't, or if you don't try, then how do you know you're not just hot for man tongue? Or Eamon's tongue?"
"Guh. Blegh. I think I vomited a little bit in my mouth," Galen gasped out, shoving past her to get to the door. "Excuse me."
"You'll never get her to kiss you with vomit breath," Rachel said, exasperated by his leaving. She gave Eamon a lengthy glare before snatching a bottle of mouthwash and thrust it at him. "Take care of your boyfriend, just get the hell out of the bathroom already."
"If you tell anyone about this, Galen is going to drive silverware through your eye into your brain," Eamon warned her.
Rachel didn't so much as blink. "I'm never going to get to watch or participate whether he chooses you or Miss Sally May, so why should I care?"
The man sighed and twisted the cap on the bottle of mouthwash while he decided. "If you'll be good, I can get you and Galen out of medication tonight."
Her head cocked slightly in surprise, trying to judge Eamon's sincerity. "You'd do that for me?"
"No. I'm doing it for him."
~~
More to be added later - interrupted by a family emergency (baby on the way) and too exhausted to stay awake any longer.