Another Day - 25
Title: Another Day
Author: Snag
Rating: FR18
Crossover: Rescue Me
Pairing: Faith/Xander
Word Count: 1,089
Disclaimer: Copyrighted characters are copyrighted. Property o' Joss Whedon and Denis Leary.
Summary: The firefighters of 62 Truck in the FDNY get a woman in their house. Is she more woman than they can handle?
Warning (if any): Strong language, adult situations, violence, graphic descriptions of burn victims, and gender, religious and racial epithets.
Author's notes: Start yer engines!
As it turned out, Tommy's cousin Mickey didn't need much convincing. It started off with a phone call while they were in the car with Tommy asking him to meet at a friend's place.
"Hey, Mick? I'm havin' kind of a crisis. If you're willing to help, I'll explain when you get here. It's too long for the phone. Yeah. Meet me at this address." He paused as Dawn whispered something to him. "And bring your kit that you use for Last Rites." Tommy gave the address that Faith supplied and he flipped his phone shut.
"That's it? That's all you had to say?" Xander asked.
"Getting him to show is easy. Getting him to stay is your job."
"Actually, that would be Dawn's job." Xander shifted in his seat and quirked a half smile at Tommy's curious look. "More of that long, honking backstory we owe you. And by the way, telling a priest to bring their Last Rites kit without saying why is the creepiest of creepies."
"Ah." Tommy smelled issues, but not of the kind he would normally bust someone's balls over.
Once they reached the house, Dawn took charge. "Okay, we need to clear the living room out as much as possible. See if we can keep Xander from having to rebuild too much of his own furniture."
"I appreciate that." Xander and Faith began to work on getting the furniture moved to other rooms, along with Robin and Jerry.
Once the couch and coffee table were gone, Dawn motioned Tommy over. "Okay Mr. Gavin-"
"Call me Tommy," he interrupted. "Anyone who goes to this kind of trouble for me, well, you get a free pass no matter how young you are."
"Fair enough." Dawn gave him a winning smile. "This is gonna seem wierd, but you need to do what we say once we get started. Any unexpected changes will make it that much harder to get your ghosts to leave you alone."
"In other words, follow the procedure?"
"Exactly. Once the furniture is cleared, we're going to draw a circle on the floor and you have to sit inside of it. Do not leave the circle. The ghosts won't be able to get to you in there, but they will be able to talk to you, which is kind of the point. They've latched onto you as an anchor to tie them to the mortal world, so you're the one that has to give them a reason to let go and move on.
"While this is going on, we may end up getting visited by other creatures. Demons, vampires, other stuff. They'll be able to pick up on the magical energies and they'll want to bask in it, kind of like a spiritual tanning spa. We'll take care of them. Or rather, Xander, Faith, Robin and Jerry will. I'm going to help you figure out what the ghosts want, you're going to talk to them until it seems like you've found what they want and once you get that, your cousin is going to say the Last Rites prayer."
"And nobody else here can do that?"
"For it to work on the spiritual level, it has to be an actual ordained priest."
"Why did I know you were going to say that?"
From there, other than setting the house to as secured as it could be, which was pretty darned secure. Xander had discovered the metal shutters that were used to protect ones windows during a hurricane and had apparently had a field day. Once they were all shut, the hope was that it would force any nosy demons
into bottlenecking at the front and back doors.
While the preparations to the living room floor were underway, there was a knock at the door. Jerry went to have a look through the peephole. "Tommy, it's your cousin."
Faith waved to Jerry to bring the new arrival in, and drifted back to stand between Xander and Tommy's cousin. An older man with thinning hair, wearing the traditional Roman collar and carrying a small, simple wooden box was led in.
"Hey Mick," Tommy greeted, somewhere between weary and resigned.
"Tommy. What's the emergency?"
Dawn stepped forward. "Hello Father Gavin. Nice to meet you."
He waved a hand. "Eh. Call me Mickey." He glanced around at the 'redecoration' that had been going on and raised an eyebrow. "What's all this?"
"So glad you asked." With that, Dawn launched into a very quick explanation of the troubles that Tommy has been enduring, how Faith, Xander, Robin and Dawn were able to do something about it, and how Jerry had done much the same thirty years prior.
Mickey scratched his chin. "So basically, I'm saying the Last Rites without any physical body to administer the sacraments to?"
"Not exactly. It's more like an exorcism, only there's no actual body to exorcise the spirit from," Dawn clarified. "But the shawl that you wear for Last Rites has power of its own and it symbolizes how you're helping the souls that can't move on."
"And you think this'll help Tommy stop seeing his dead cousin and comrades and all?"
"Can it hurt?"
Mickey leaned back in surprise for a moment. "I guess not."
"So long as you're willing to suspend your disbelief until you can't anymore, I'm good with that." Dawn replied. She glanced around at the circle and the layout of the room before nodding decisively.
"Okay you guys, I think we're about ready to start. Xander, did you want to say something before we get started?"
Xander padded forward, standing so that the others in the room could see him. "Alrighty guys. We're about to embark on some serious Wierd here. Two of you have never dealt with this sort of thing before, and one of you has been out of it for a long time. Just stick to the game plan, and if one of us, meaning myself, Faith, Dawn or Robin tells you to do something, don't ask questions until we're all done here. This is gonna be a little scary. Or maybe a lot scary. If you stick to the plan, we'll get through this. We always do." He paused and glanced to Dawn. "You ready to take down the wards?"
Dawn nodded. "Willow told me how."
"Okay. Then the last thing I have to say is, if you have to go to the bathroom, do it now. If you're not sure, do it anyway. Better now than in the middle of whatever's about to happen."
Author: Snag
Rating: FR18
Crossover: Rescue Me
Pairing: Faith/Xander
Word Count: 1,089
Disclaimer: Copyrighted characters are copyrighted. Property o' Joss Whedon and Denis Leary.
Summary: The firefighters of 62 Truck in the FDNY get a woman in their house. Is she more woman than they can handle?
Warning (if any): Strong language, adult situations, violence, graphic descriptions of burn victims, and gender, religious and racial epithets.
Author's notes: Start yer engines!
As it turned out, Tommy's cousin Mickey didn't need much convincing. It started off with a phone call while they were in the car with Tommy asking him to meet at a friend's place.
"Hey, Mick? I'm havin' kind of a crisis. If you're willing to help, I'll explain when you get here. It's too long for the phone. Yeah. Meet me at this address." He paused as Dawn whispered something to him. "And bring your kit that you use for Last Rites." Tommy gave the address that Faith supplied and he flipped his phone shut.
"That's it? That's all you had to say?" Xander asked.
"Getting him to show is easy. Getting him to stay is your job."
"Actually, that would be Dawn's job." Xander shifted in his seat and quirked a half smile at Tommy's curious look. "More of that long, honking backstory we owe you. And by the way, telling a priest to bring their Last Rites kit without saying why is the creepiest of creepies."
"Ah." Tommy smelled issues, but not of the kind he would normally bust someone's balls over.
Once they reached the house, Dawn took charge. "Okay, we need to clear the living room out as much as possible. See if we can keep Xander from having to rebuild too much of his own furniture."
"I appreciate that." Xander and Faith began to work on getting the furniture moved to other rooms, along with Robin and Jerry.
Once the couch and coffee table were gone, Dawn motioned Tommy over. "Okay Mr. Gavin-"
"Call me Tommy," he interrupted. "Anyone who goes to this kind of trouble for me, well, you get a free pass no matter how young you are."
"Fair enough." Dawn gave him a winning smile. "This is gonna seem wierd, but you need to do what we say once we get started. Any unexpected changes will make it that much harder to get your ghosts to leave you alone."
"In other words, follow the procedure?"
"Exactly. Once the furniture is cleared, we're going to draw a circle on the floor and you have to sit inside of it. Do not leave the circle. The ghosts won't be able to get to you in there, but they will be able to talk to you, which is kind of the point. They've latched onto you as an anchor to tie them to the mortal world, so you're the one that has to give them a reason to let go and move on.
"While this is going on, we may end up getting visited by other creatures. Demons, vampires, other stuff. They'll be able to pick up on the magical energies and they'll want to bask in it, kind of like a spiritual tanning spa. We'll take care of them. Or rather, Xander, Faith, Robin and Jerry will. I'm going to help you figure out what the ghosts want, you're going to talk to them until it seems like you've found what they want and once you get that, your cousin is going to say the Last Rites prayer."
"And nobody else here can do that?"
"For it to work on the spiritual level, it has to be an actual ordained priest."
"Why did I know you were going to say that?"
From there, other than setting the house to as secured as it could be, which was pretty darned secure. Xander had discovered the metal shutters that were used to protect ones windows during a hurricane and had apparently had a field day. Once they were all shut, the hope was that it would force any nosy demons
into bottlenecking at the front and back doors.
While the preparations to the living room floor were underway, there was a knock at the door. Jerry went to have a look through the peephole. "Tommy, it's your cousin."
Faith waved to Jerry to bring the new arrival in, and drifted back to stand between Xander and Tommy's cousin. An older man with thinning hair, wearing the traditional Roman collar and carrying a small, simple wooden box was led in.
"Hey Mick," Tommy greeted, somewhere between weary and resigned.
"Tommy. What's the emergency?"
Dawn stepped forward. "Hello Father Gavin. Nice to meet you."
He waved a hand. "Eh. Call me Mickey." He glanced around at the 'redecoration' that had been going on and raised an eyebrow. "What's all this?"
"So glad you asked." With that, Dawn launched into a very quick explanation of the troubles that Tommy has been enduring, how Faith, Xander, Robin and Dawn were able to do something about it, and how Jerry had done much the same thirty years prior.
Mickey scratched his chin. "So basically, I'm saying the Last Rites without any physical body to administer the sacraments to?"
"Not exactly. It's more like an exorcism, only there's no actual body to exorcise the spirit from," Dawn clarified. "But the shawl that you wear for Last Rites has power of its own and it symbolizes how you're helping the souls that can't move on."
"And you think this'll help Tommy stop seeing his dead cousin and comrades and all?"
"Can it hurt?"
Mickey leaned back in surprise for a moment. "I guess not."
"So long as you're willing to suspend your disbelief until you can't anymore, I'm good with that." Dawn replied. She glanced around at the circle and the layout of the room before nodding decisively.
"Okay you guys, I think we're about ready to start. Xander, did you want to say something before we get started?"
Xander padded forward, standing so that the others in the room could see him. "Alrighty guys. We're about to embark on some serious Wierd here. Two of you have never dealt with this sort of thing before, and one of you has been out of it for a long time. Just stick to the game plan, and if one of us, meaning myself, Faith, Dawn or Robin tells you to do something, don't ask questions until we're all done here. This is gonna be a little scary. Or maybe a lot scary. If you stick to the plan, we'll get through this. We always do." He paused and glanced to Dawn. "You ready to take down the wards?"
Dawn nodded. "Willow told me how."
"Okay. Then the last thing I have to say is, if you have to go to the bathroom, do it now. If you're not sure, do it anyway. Better now than in the middle of whatever's about to happen."