Sooner or Later (Gonna Cut You Down) [Reid & Giles, Faith]
The smell of hospital coffee did little to shake Rupert out of his quiet panicking. His footsteps echoing ahead of him as he made his way back to the ICU where Faith was hanging on by a thread didn't even register in his ears. All he heard was the sounds of screaming and maniacal laughter chasing after the group as they fled the YMCA. That and a buzzing in his ears, as if someone had turned a radio on to a station that wasn't broadcasting any longer.
Once he stepped into the room and crossed to hand Reid a coffee with an obscene amount of sugar in it, the sounds faded away and he focused on the problem at hand. Rupert didn't speak -- the plans in his head were still rolling together, trying to get organized and make sense of what was happening. He flipped open the cell phone the girls had all badgered him into carrying to check for any news from Abigail and finding the phone blank. What was the point if no one was going to use it?
Rupert sighed, paced back across to the doorway without looking down at the battered slayer. Getting angry at the moronic technology wasn't going to help anything. Standing around here wasn't going to help either, but he wasn't sure he could pry Spencer from the bedside. He wasn't even sure he should try.
He flipped the cell phone open again. No message back from Angel, either. Rupert wasn't unused to having to lead and dictate plans but he didn't like doing it with Buffy missing, Faith out of commission and most of the younger slayers unaccounted for. Probably dead. Hopefully that surprise bunker that Cassie and Jack had presumably built was enough of a safehouse for now. He'd forbid the rest of them from coming to the hospital, and instructed Hellboy to take point as best he could. At least until Angel's arrival, if in fact he'd gotten the message and would answer.
Spencer looked completely ravaged. He'd been healing well but the rings under his eyes were turning red, and Rupert hadn't seen him eat since they arrived. He spoke quietly, in the attempt not to startle him or disturb the tone of the room. "Spencer. The food court's still open; I think you -- well, it's best if you keep some sort of strength up. Perhaps you'd like something to eat? Or maybe a nap."
Once he stepped into the room and crossed to hand Reid a coffee with an obscene amount of sugar in it, the sounds faded away and he focused on the problem at hand. Rupert didn't speak -- the plans in his head were still rolling together, trying to get organized and make sense of what was happening. He flipped open the cell phone the girls had all badgered him into carrying to check for any news from Abigail and finding the phone blank. What was the point if no one was going to use it?
Rupert sighed, paced back across to the doorway without looking down at the battered slayer. Getting angry at the moronic technology wasn't going to help anything. Standing around here wasn't going to help either, but he wasn't sure he could pry Spencer from the bedside. He wasn't even sure he should try.
He flipped the cell phone open again. No message back from Angel, either. Rupert wasn't unused to having to lead and dictate plans but he didn't like doing it with Buffy missing, Faith out of commission and most of the younger slayers unaccounted for. Probably dead. Hopefully that surprise bunker that Cassie and Jack had presumably built was enough of a safehouse for now. He'd forbid the rest of them from coming to the hospital, and instructed Hellboy to take point as best he could. At least until Angel's arrival, if in fact he'd gotten the message and would answer.
Spencer looked completely ravaged. He'd been healing well but the rings under his eyes were turning red, and Rupert hadn't seen him eat since they arrived. He spoke quietly, in the attempt not to startle him or disturb the tone of the room. "Spencer. The food court's still open; I think you -- well, it's best if you keep some sort of strength up. Perhaps you'd like something to eat? Or maybe a nap."