It's times like these you learn to live again...
I wish I had something that I could say to make them stay, but the fact that Spike and Faith were the two people that would be the last to listen to me, and that they were together was an impossible task. I couldn't stand up to them because I was holding Angel up. I couldn't really say anything, because this really wasn't my town. Normally, I
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I wasn't the only one. Buffy looked concerned, too. I think that it was more concern about Faith and Spike then it was about my condition. She knew enough about vampires to know that eventually, I would fully heal, but she also knew that Faith and Spike could suffer fatal wounds at the hands of those demons.
"They can't go out there alone. Spike and Faith are both weaker, they don't know how many demons are out there, and they can't just walk out and think that the two of them can defeat them all. Did they not see the alleyway?"
"I..I know, Buffy. Spike put some of those bodies there, and went through a wall for his trouble. But, you know him...both of them. They are so damned schoolyard..."
Buffy had to be able to sense my frustration. It was practically labeled on my forehead and right now, there was no use in trying to get up. I had already tried it.
"I'm sorry. It's just that.."
Anything that Buffy said was always met by my rapt attention. It had been years since we had worked together closely, and I had fallen for Cordy in between, but Buffy was always special. Almost a year ago, she had told me that she was cookie dough, and I could still taste her lips. She was so important to me. I had lost that a little; that feeling, but Spike coming back as Casper and then more then that, and especially in Rome, with the Immortal and not finding her, it was back with a vengeance. I wasn't going to bring up the Immortal. Not now. There were more important things to say and do. I could tell that she had something important to say.
"Faith should know better right now. She should know that this is it. We're all this city has right now. We can't risk losing any of us, because the city needs us. The people out there would be better off if we went out as a team, rather than divided. Especially right now."
"Buffy, I don't want to not go out there, but three is better then two. If you have to go after them, then I will be alright here, and hopefully, I get my equilibrium back and can join the fight before...before too long..."
Even as I said it, I knew that I didn't want her to go out there and be in the fire. Protecting Buffy was never going to be something that I overlooked, and even though she had faced many things without me and beat them, I wouldn't be able to stand seeing her go too and worse, if something were to happen to her...
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Vampires are not weak creatures. It takes a hell of a lot to get them immobile, and catatonic. Angel was that way when I found him and even with the help of Faiths blood, he wasn't able to stand, much less move a muscle without cringing with about unbearable pain.
"Buffy, I don't want to not go out there, but three is better then two. If you have to go after them, then I will be alright here, and hopefully, I get my equilibrium back and can join the fight before...before too long..."
My mind was made up. I had to simply trust that Faith and Spike were going to do alright, and hope to God that faith had enough strength and sense in her like she did in Sunnydale. Well, no. I was going to give them a few hours before I would probably end up making myself crazy.
"I'm not leaving you here, Angel. You can't stand up, you can barely move much less fight for yourself if they come back. You need someone here. I just need to calm down, and find a way to get ahold of Giles. Then we can figure out our next move."
I put my hand on my neck, and felt the pain that was from the still open wound. I couldn't believe that I had almost lost both of them. I didn't know what I would do if I had come here and found out that I was alone. Especially in this situation. I had Faith here, for now. I knew that Giles was not going to send any help. He had warned me of this when I was getting on the plane... I felt that I had to tell him how bad it was though. If not now, then sometime. I owed him a checkup that I was okay.
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"I'm not leaving you here, Angel. You can't stand up, you can barely move much less fight for yourself if they come back. You need someone here. I just need to calm down, and find a way to get ahold of Giles. Then we can figure out our next move."
"You can use the phones here to get in touch with Giles. The last time I checked, Harmony was paying the bills here using Wolfram and Hart funds. I kept..kept it that way in case we needed to get out of Wolfram and Hart quickly..."
I stopped. Just thinking about us coming back here meant us, as a whole being Cordy and Fred and Gunn and Lorne and even Spike. Now there was just Spike left, and Harmony, the backstabber. I could tell Buffy was repulsed at the mention of Harmony.
"You can get a hold of Giles, and urge him to get some slayers here, pronto, Buffy. It might be the only way. Spike and Faith can hold their own. Spike has seen what those demons can do in a pact, he has to be more intelligent when he goes at them a second time..."
She gave me a look at the mention of that. That was true. What was I thinking? Spike would plunge himself into the thick of the fight, and Faith wasn't exactly one for restraint. Those slayers needed to get here quickly. I hoped that Giles would listen to Buffy.
He had to. It was Buffy, right? I didn't want anything to happen to Faith, or even Spike, but those slayers were our only hope. I was just glad that Buffy was staying here with me, even though I knew that she wanted to get into the fight with Spike and Faith. I knew that, because I wanted to as well.
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I didn't want to hear the name Wolfram and Hart, because that was what was causing all this trouble in the middle of LA in the first place. Angel and Spike being the head of it, were in charge of the funds, and all else. Even knowing that it was Wolfram and Harts money that was keeping this place Angel's was making my stomach turn. I had a feeling of relief that I didn't need to go outside to use the phone. I wanted Angel in my sight at all times, especially in this condition, and especially with those things out there.
"You can get a hold of Giles, and urge him to get some slayers here, pronto, Buffy. It might be the only way. Spike and Faith can hold their own. Spike has seen what those demons can do in a pact, he has to be more intelligent when he goes at them a second time..."
I gave him a look. I knew what the answer was going to be from Giles, but maybe Angel was right here. Maybe he could send some slayers out here, not to help Angel, but to help Faith, and I. To help the people that were dying because of this... And I knew that there were people dying. Demons don't just go away.
I walked over to the phone. I was going to tell Angel about the fight I had to give Giles in order to come here. I couldn't imagine the fight that I was going to have to pursue to get a few more slayers here. I was going to tell him about what my view was on this, but there was no room for us to be arguing as well. My best bet was for once, to keep my mouth shut.
about some things.
"Giles made it clear to me before I left, Angel. He's not going to send anyone."
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Typical of Giles. Don't try to save the world, when the world really needed the slayers, just to take a stand against me, because he was still mad at me because of Wolfram and Hart.
This was the type of thing that I needed to get me going, but even the anger that I was feeling towards Giles and his stubborn nature at the moment, wasn't enough to help me up, because as I tried it again, once more, my head felt ten times it's normal size. Buffy had to hold me up again, and put me back down as if to say without words, for the moment, that I needed to rest and that she wasn't going to let me do anything.
I suppose that it could be worse. I could be dead....again, and not come back this time, but as I thought of it, I realized, as my arms caressed Buffy's, involuntarily, that I really, for the most part, wished that I was dead. I had gotten Gunn and Wesley killed. I had lost Cordy and Fred and demons were running the streets because of me.
It made me angry and made me think of Giles again. "Buffy, he'll listen to you. If he can't be convinced that saving innocent people all over California from a pack of demons on the loose, isn't a job for slayers, then he is far more evil then I ever was for trying to destroy an evil law firm.. Because, believe me, Buffy, that's why we took over. I haven't changed. Everything that I did was to get rid of evil in the world. If Giles can't see that, then maybe a revolution is needed within the Council?"
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After he said that, I couldn't remember what Giles' argument was. Why I couldn't convince him to help me out. I heard Angel say these things, but I couldn't think about it right now. I couldn't tell him that not only was Giles in this, but I agreed with him.
... at some point.
Now, after I had seen everything, after I had almost lost the two men in my life that ever really meant something, I couldn't tell whose side I was on, or what I believed in. Usually I'd be the first one to know what I believed in, I'd make something happen... I'd fix things. Why was this one so complicated?
Giles thought that this was a lost cause, that everything was already gone when I was on my way... but even if that was the case, then someone should have come down to scope things out. It was not only our duty, but it was the right thing to do.
So something was up with Giles, I was just in too much of a hurry to get it then.
I pushed Angel back down, and held him, like I used to when he was still in Sunnydale. After a few seconds, I got up, and decided that I'd give it a try. I didn't comment to Angel on the descriptives. In fact, I didn't talk to him about it at all.
I just stood up and went to the phone, and punched in the familiar numbers. I had half the mind to yell at Giles when he got on the phone, but I wouldn't be able to since I wanted to just hear his voice.
I certainly wasn't stupid. We needed help.
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